Ken Prather, 68, of Erie Pa., has a passion for the old school. And, his 1962 Volkswagen bus is easily the apple of any teacher's eye.

Still a work in progress, Prather purchased the German-made van so popular with hippies in the age of the “Flower Child” in 1998 with the intention of just making it into an around the town driver.

Those thoughts morphed into a reality which is to this day still a work in progress; which explains why the chopped top German automobile with a 355 ci Chevrolet V-8 tucked in the back seat area, still spends most of its time on asphalt tooling around the streets of Erie, Pa.

The cylinder head to a Competition Eliminator-style Super Stocker is the equivalent of a foundation for a home. You begin with the cylinder head and build your engine around it.

The leader in Super Stock cylinder head technology is Carl Foltz’s CFE Racing Products, Inc.

“The cylinder head is a key ingredient in a powerful racing engine,” confirmed Scott Kieffer, a sales and technical support agent for CFE. “The other elements of the engine will be determined by the direction of the cylinder head.”

A late season shake-up can be a scary thing for a Countdown contender, but Rodger Brogdon and company truly felt that something had to be done to right the ship of their Attitude Apparel/Kent Services team, and they have hopes that the decision to release longtime crew chief Tommy Utt during the NHRA Supernationals in Englishtown and subsequently bring veteran tuner Tim Freeman on board will pay off in the 11th hour. So far, they’re pleased with the results and optimistic about the future.

“We knew we had to make a change, and Tim is a perfect fit for our team,” said Brogdon, who competed against Freeman in his days of Comp Eliminator racing. “He’s a real smart guy, and he knows what he’s doing. What we were lacking was the ‘team’ concept, and now we really feel good together. I think that’s going to pay huge dividends.”

NMCA Nostalgia Pro Street competitor Barbara Nesbitt remains in intensive care at Carolina Medical Center in Charlotte after sustaining injuries when the drivetrain in her ’68 Camaro let go just as she crossed the finish line at nearby zMAX Dragway in Concord, North Carolina.

Team owner Roger Burgess led the R2B2 Racing charge late Saturday night by finishing runner-up in the Pro Mod class at the inaugural NHRA Unleashed event at O'Reilly Raceway Park.

"It was an interesting experience," Burgess said. "We got back into a competitive mindset under some pretty challenging conditions. In all, it was a good weekend for everybody. It's always fun to drive my racecar."

All three of R2B2 Racing's cars reached the semifinals of the event with Burgess advancing to meet Danny Rowe against whom he went red by -.008 seconds.

The newly formed Pro Alcohol Funny Car Association based in Oak Hills, Calif. announced the addition of 21 new corporate partnerships which will provide racers, crew members and fans with significant discounts on travel and other services.

The PAFCA, formally known as the California Independent Funny Car Association (CIFCA) is a professional group of touring Alcohol Funny Cars based in the southwestern region of the United States. Their focus is to put on cost effective 6-second 200 mile per hours Alcohol Funny Car shows for  track promoters, racers, & fans  in California, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Idaho, and Oregon. They strive to provide an exciting, entertaining and enjoyable Funny Car racing experience in a cost effective manner while upholding safety and consistent rules application as a priority.

Mike Stawicki fired off an upper deck shot over the weekend.
 
The Medina, NY driver of the G-Force Race Cars 1968 Firebird not only set the pace as top qualifier in the latest round of the Pro Modified Racing Association during the Stratford Spectacular Hot August Nationals presented by Ideal Supply & NAPA Auto Parts at the Grand Bend Motorplex, he once again broke the elapsed time record for the class in Canada.

After placing fifth in the supercharged Pro Extreme class with a 3.71-seconds qualifying pass in his 1970 Camaro, Alex Hossler initially eliminated Steve Wiley with a 3.74 and then had to face ADRL elapsed time record holder Frankie Taylor. Hossler made it past a traction-challenged Taylor with a 3.76 effort, only to meet up with number-one qualifier and winner of the previous night’s rain-postponed ADRL Independence Drags from Topeka last month, Sheikh Khalid Al-Thani of Qatar.

Hossler put Al-Thani on the trailer with a 3.75 run, but the Canton, Illinois-based driver said he and crew chief Chris Duncan knew they’d have to step up for the final against Texas racer Gaylen Smith, who held lane choice with his ’57 Chevy after going 3.72 in the semis to beat defending class champion Todd Tutterow.

Chuck Demory was as proud of his son as a father could be. In incredibly terrible weather conditions, Chuck Demory Jr. ran a 7.38 and 7.39 with a naturally aspirated car during the NMCA/NMRA Super Bowl of Drag Racing at Route 66 Raceway located outside of Chicago, Ill.

Not a bad run when you consider the run was made in air the equivalent of 4,200 feet above sea level.