When the team from Attitude's CompetitionPlus.com descends on an event, the primary goal is to convey to the readers, the intensity and inside stories from an event. Just as our talented reporting team searches high and low for the scoops, our lensmen wait patiently for those explosive shots. Here's a few samples from what proved to be an expensive NHRA Fram Autolite Nationals in Sonoma, Ca., for some racers.

The rivalry between Pro Stock Motorcycle riders Michael Phillips and Matt Smith has blown up into an intense feud.

On Sunday, Phillips beat Smith in the second round of the Fram-Autolite NHRA Nationals. Following his win, Phillips’ feelings about Smith became apparent in an interview with NHRA announcer Al Reinhart.

“We’re out here just trying to go rounds,” Phillips said. “Matt’s got a little racial issue with me, but I’m not worried about it, he can’t get me out of my game.”

The celebration of Mark Niver's life will take place Friday, July 30, at 7 p.m. at Scottsdale Airpark, 15100 N. 78th Way, Scottsdale, AZ 85260. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to Racers For Christ (P.O. Box 1208, Gilbert, AZ 85299-1208) or The Phoenix Rescue Mission (P.O. Box 63005, Phoenix, AZ 85082-3005).

For Corning, Calif. NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle rider Katie Sullivan, racing this weekend at the 31st running of the Mopar Mile-High NHRA Nationals at Bandimere Speedway in Morrison, Colo. is a prime opportunity to improve over last week’s lack-luster performance in Sonoma, Calif.

The 19-year old NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle sophomore enters the event after failing to qualify at her home-town race, last weekend at the Fram-Autolite NHRA Nationals contested at Infineon Raceway. Sullivan was only able to muster an event best 7.318 second elapsed time recorded in Friday night’s second qualifying session due to electrical problems encountered the entire weekend. Be that as it may, Sullivan is anxiously awaiting the opportunity to race in the rare-air of Bandimere Speedway.

The Inaugural ADRL Texas Drags is fast approaching. This doubleheader weekend will certainly provide lots of action and Pete Berner hopes that part of that action will be to bring his efforts in Extreme Pro Stock to fruition.

The annual North Central Division Lucas Oil Series event at National Trail Raceway will once again feature a host of familiar yellow and black race cars as the JEGS Mail Order team descends on their home track en masse. The event, which is the fifth of six events on the 2010 NHRA North Central Division schedule, will include  John Coughlin racing in Comp and Top Dragster, Troy Coughlin Jr. in Super Comp, and no less than three JEGS entries in the Jr. Dragster class with cousins Cody and Jack Coughlin, being joined by their niece, McKenna Brown.
           
“We will be very busy this weekend, that’s for sure,” said John Coughlin, the reigning Division 3 Top Dragster champion. “I’m pretty excited to be racing here at National Trail Raceway again. This is our home track and our team has always done well here. We recently made some changes to my Comp car in an effort to get it to go straighter and make it more consistent. Our engine builder, Jeff Taylor, along with our crew, Greg Cody, Tony Collier and Rick Rossiter have been working with my dad [Jeg Sr.] and they have made a lot of improvements to this car. We not only worked on the chassis but we’ve also found more horsepower so I’m really excited to try it out. We’re going to test on Wednesday before the race so we should be very well prepared.

The last seven weeks have been really good for Tim Wilkerson.

The driver of the Levi, Ray & Shoup Shelby Mustang Funny Car has earned a pair of race victories and a runner-up finish, while simultaneously while vaulting his won/lost record from 9-8 to 21-12 in just six races.  The end result has been a berth in the Countdown to 1, the NHRA's playoff system.

Wilkeerson now heads to Denver this weekend to compete in the NHRA Full Throttle tour's seventh race in eight weekends still stinging from a first round loss in Sonoma to eventual winner Ron Capps.

Hector Arana's answer might be in the oversized banner featuring him at Lucas Oil Stadium, home of the NFL's Indianapolis Colts.
 
It might be in all the promotional photos of Arana when he won last year's NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle championship.
 
It might be in the awareness he raised Saturday by overtaking Matt Smith to capture the No. 1 qualifying position for Sunday's FRAM-Autolite Nationals at Infineon Raceway.
 
The question he said he wrestled with was one about Lucas Oil.

While there is no question safety is a top priority for the NHRA, veteran crew chief Jim Oberhofer believes the sanctioning body isn’t adequately protecting the drivers.

“I don’t want people to think the NHRA powers-to-be are not concerned about the safety of their drivers,” said Oberhofer, who has been working with Kalitta Motorsports since 1983 and is presently the crew chief on Doug Kalitta’s Top Fuel dragster. “I know they’re not just sitting in their offices twiddling their thumbs; they do care about safety and they do stuff, they just do not do the stuff we want them to do.”