Old-school drag racers will remember days gone by where expending the effort to become a champion in drag racing was more for bragging rights than how much cash one stood to win if they were lucky enough to be the last man standing.

Perhaps no track manager in the country understands the thought process of the old-school racers like Chris Baxter of Milan Dragway, in Milan, Michigan.  

As the closest dragstrip to the Detroit area and the Big Three’s engineering- and racer-heavy landscape, ‘Milan’, as the locals call it, has, over the last few years, put together a nationally-recognized, once a month Friday night Heads-Up program with major sponsorship and national-level exposure for their racers.

A year ago, the NHRA’s Countdown to 10 Regular Season ended at the U.S. Nationals.

There was no shortage of drama at Indy, especially from John Force Racing.

Robert Hight, the eventual Funny Car world champion, just barely qualified for the Countdown in the No. 10 spot by capturing a controversial win over his boss and father-in-law John Force in the semifinals.

Hight’s victory also set off a firestorm between Tony Pedregon and Force because Hight’s win knocked Cruz, Tony’s brother and defending NHRA Top Fuel Funny Car world champ, out of the Countdown. Force beat Cruz Pedregon in the second round.

The American Drag Racing League (ADRL) has an extensive new television agreement with MAVTV, a national television network that caters to a motorsports audience.

The agreement calls for 13 one-hour shows on the high-definition network, giving the ADRL a national television presence for all of its 2010 events. The television show will provide highlights, interviews and coverage of the 2010 ADRL Racing Series.

MAVTV is currently available in more than 35 million homes and is growing at a rapid rate. It features a lineup of thrill-seeking programming that targets a male audience, ages 18-to-54.

Flood waters devastated Clay Millican’s shop but not his spirit

Remarkably resilient Top Fuel pilot Clay Millican is filled with energy, enthusiasm, and optimism, even after flood waters engulfed the MPE Motorsports headquarters earlier this year, putting a serious delay in the team’s return to drag racing. Following major clean-up efforts, Millican is ready and waiting to get back on the track.

A six-time IHRA champion who finished in the top 10 in NHRA’s Full Throttle Series for the first time last season, Millican was faced with sponsorship challenges entering 2010 that had his Mark and Lauren Pickens-owned operation on hold. The severe flood that brought major damage to their Munford, Tenn., home base could have been too much to overcome, but a strong community effort buoyed their spirits from the minute the flood waters subsided.

Although Pro Stock driver Rickie Jones didn’t qualify for the NHRA national event at Norwalk, Ohio in June, it didn’t ruin his season.

Jones, who pilots the Elite Motorsports Pontiac GXP, was still 10th in the point standings.

However, with the West Coast swing – consecutive races in Seattle, Sonoma, Calif., and Denver to follow – Jones’ team decided to change its focus and sit out those events.

“We took time off so they (the team) could work on the engines,” the 23-year-old Jones said. “If we were out West, those three races in a row would have made it really hard for them to improve our engines from now until Indy. We want to make gains before Indy and try and focus on running well the rest of the year.”

After 16 races and almost seven months of chasing a starting position in NHRA’s Countdown to 1 six-race championship playoffs, Steve Torrence isn’t about to let his season-long effort end without that all-important top 10 finish.

Torrence and the Capco Racing/Tuttle Motorsports team have been holding steady in ninth place since June and don’t plan to surrender it in the Lucas Oil Nationals, the regular-season finale this weekend at Brainerd, Minn.  He leads David Grubnic by 64 points, 673-609.   

The quickest path for Torrence to make it official would be to qualify for the race and win the first round.  It wouldn’t matter what Grubnic did.

Two years ago legendary sportsman competitor Peter Biondo made the conscious decision to scale back his personal racing efforts to a degree, in an attempt to focus on other interests.  While one could certainly argue that the five-time NHRA world champion and multiple big dollar bracket winner has nothing to prove behind the wheel, Biondo says that isn’t necessarily the reasoning behind his decreased on track schedule.
 
“Racing has been very, very good to me and my family,” he said.  “But I chased points and big dollar events, and I raced nearly every weekend during the season for nearly two decades.  I had a lot of other interests that I put on the back burner for so long I felt like it was time to re-prioritize.”
 
Some of Biondo’s endeavors outside the drivers seat include a key role in his families longtime business, Biondo Racing Products.  Biondo Racing Products is the exclusive drag racing dealer for Sparco safety equipment, and carries a variety of racing components and accessories for the sportsman racer.  Peter is joined at the family business by his brother Sal (also a former NHRA Champion), family patriarch Sam, and a host of talented employees.

After a brief hiatus, the NHRA’s Full Throttle Drag Racing Series returns to action this weekend with the Lucas Oil Nationals in Brainerd, MN.  As the last race before the start of the Countdown to One championship playoffs, there is a tremendous amount at stake in all four professional categories.  

However, for Summit Racing Pro Stock driver Greg Anderson, the event carries added significance as it represents an opportunity to race in front of a hometown crowd.  Although his 62 career national event wins include some of the biggest in the sport, it can be argued that the Duluth native’s twin successes at Brainerd International Raceway rank among his favorites, a total he looks to add to this weekend.  As he prepared to head to the North Star State, Anderson took time to answer a few questions about racing in his home state, as well as his take on his 2010 season to date.

Chuck Demory had no idea. From the outside everything looked normal.

Demory was on a lazy ride on his golf cart down the strip to retrieve his driver, his son, Chuck Demory Jr., after the NMCA Nostalgia Pro Street racer had just finished racing Kevin Parent in eliminations during the NMCA/NMRA All-Star Nationals at zMax Dragway.

When he  started the long trek, Barbara Nesbitt launched on a single pass. By the time Demory reached the top end, Nesbitt’s car was at a stop in the shutdown area short of the turn off, sitting still in the middle of the track.

Nesbitt has been a friend to the Demory family for years, so once he’d driven his admittedly “slow” golf cart to the final turn-off, he handed his son his time slip, then drove 400 feet further up track to give his friend a ribbing.

Most NFL players use an off day from training camp to rest and prepare for the rigorous demands of the coming season - not Tyler Brayton, the defensive end for the Carolina Panthers.

Saturday was an off day for the team but not for Brayton who used his time off to keep his competitive juices flowing. Brayton drove to Mooresville, NC, to participate in one of the weekly drag races with his 1964 Chevelle.

Brayton won first place in the Footbrake division at Mooresville Dragway. This is a class void of any electronic devices to aid a driver scoring a better reaction time. Brayton didn’t need any devices because his foot worked just fine.