Neal Parker’s death at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park marked the second time a driver had lost his life in the shutdown area of the famed facility located in Englishtown, NJ.

Parker, 58, of Millville, NJ, died after his Chevrolet Monte Carlo Funny Car crashed through the containment device following the failure of his parachutes to deploy.

The cause of Parker’s death was unknown as qualifying concluded on Friday evening. The New Jersey State Police is investigating the accident. A spokesperson confirmed on Friday evening Parker had suffered head injuries.

Neal Parker’s fatal high-speed shutdown accident at the NHRA SuperNationals in Englishtown NJ had the pits buzzing on Friday afternoon about making racing safer.

Top Alcohol Funny Car racer Dr. Tom Carter said he wouldn’t have a problem with racing to 1,000 feet after witnessing the untimely death of his fellow TAFC driver.

Former TAFC racer Bob Tasca believes the nitro’s feeder class needs the same safety devices his Ford Motorcraft Mustang uses to keep him safe.

Gary White’s remarkably consistent and impressive runs do not seem to have stopped in Richmond.

After one day at the ADRL’s Ford Drive One Summer Drags VI at U.S. 131 Motorsports Park in Martin, MI, the Extreme 10.5 points leader’s hot streak appears to have continued.

His six-cylinder 2007 Scion put together two more strong passes on Friday, with his 3.95-second pass leading the rest of the field by a wide margin after the first of qualifications.

“We want to enjoy it while we can,” White said. “Weekends like Richmond don’t come around often. It makes you feel pretty good. We’ll ride this as long as we can.

Dr. Tom Carter only needed to see the dust fly in the air from the Old Bridge Township Raceway Park shutdown area to know prayers for a friend were needed.

Carter, who races in the NHRA’s Top Alcohol Funny Car division, was next in line to run during qualifying at the NHRA SuperNationals in Englishtown, NJ, as Neal Parker was killed when his Funny Car went through the containment system at a high rate of speed.

Hours earlier Parker was the first person he spoke to at the track.

“He was the first guy I saw this morning [when I got to the track],” said Carter as he shook his head in disbelief. “I asked him where my guys were. And now, he isn’t here.”

Robert Hight stayed hot on Friday with a 4.025-second pass at 313.00 mph to earn the provisional Funny Car pole at the 41st annual NHRA Supernationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park.

The other provisional No. 1 qualifiers at the 11th of 23 races in the 2010 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series season were Cory McClenathan (Top Fuel), Mike Edwards (Pro Stock) and Michael Phillips (Pro Stock Motorcycle).

The No. 1 qualifier would be the third in a row for Hight and his fifth overall this season. Hight has also been to four straight final rounds - winning three times - to assume the points lead in Funny Car.

Michael Philips doesn’t claim to be an NFL General Manager but he knew a good player when he saw one on the waiver wire earlier this week.

Philips, of Baton Rouge, La, and rider of the Racers Edge-sponsored Suzuki put Craig Treble to work shortly after Don Schumacher Racing ceased operation of their Pro Stock Motorcycle team.

Last weekend in Chicago, Treble was the No. 1 qualifier. After the first day of qualifying at the NHRA SuperNationals in Englishtown, NJ, Phillips borrowed a measure of Treble’s momentum to claim provisionally the No. 1 spot with a 6.855, 197.16 pass.

“I had been fighting this bike and was unable to get it off of the starting line the way it needed to but [Craig] Treble came over and showed me a few things on the clutch,” said Philips, who established both ends of the track record on the run. “We’ve always had big power, just couldn’t get the big to run to the 330. I knew if we could get to the 330, we could beat the [track] record.”

The current national ET record is a 6.847 held by Karen Stoffer while Andrew Hines holds the speed mark at 197.45.
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Ray Commisso raced to the qualifying lead Friday in the NHRA Get Screened America Pro Mod Drag Racing Series portion of the 41st annual NHRA SuperNationals.

Commisso powered his R2B2/ProCare Rx Camaro to a leading performance of 5.815 seconds at 250.64 mph to pace the 16-car field.

Commisso’s R2B2/ProCare Rx Camaro was in victory lane at the most recent Get Screened America Pro Mod Series event, in Atlanta, but it was Michael Gullqvist and not Commisso who drove it to Victory Lane. Commisso couldn’t attend the Atlanta event because he was home in Canada attending to family matters following the passing of his father.

Mike Edwards can count the number of times he’s made a perfect run on one hand. Friday night he used one of those digits to quantify his Friday evening run at the NHRA SuperNationals in Englishtown, NJ.

Edwards’ 6.513 second pass was the second quickest run in NHRA Pro Stock history and his 211.49 mph speed enabled him to grab both ends of the Old Bridge Township Raceway Park track record en route to the provisional pole position.

“I think it paid to be in the back of the line,” said Edwards, who is the current national record holder with a 6.509 elapsed time. “The conditions just kept dropping drastically. It really paid off for us. I knew when I threw out the parachutes I couldn’t get any better than that run.

Sometimes a driver knows when his crew chief is going to throw everything including the kitchen sink into the tune-up. Friday evening at the NHRA SuperNationals in Englishtown, NJ, was one of those moments for Top Fuel racer Cory McClenathan.

With the adjusted altitude dropping like a brick, and the aggressive nature of co-crew chiefs Todd Okuhara and Phil Shuler, McClenathan knew he was in for the ride of his life as he strapped in.

His intuitions were spot on.

If at first you don’t succeed, then swing for the fence the next time.

Days after losing a final round race to a world record run, Robert Hight issued a bit of payback during first day qualifying for the NHRA SuperNationals in Englishtown, NJ. Hight drove his way to a provisional national record of 4.025 to land in the top qualifying position.

“No doubt that was a great run,” said Hight, whose run came alongside of 14-time champion and father-in-law John Force. “Where was that 4.02 when I needed it against Hagan last weekend?”

Maybe it was waiting for the Englishtown magic and John Force Racing, there’s a lot of it at the facility located outside of Newark, New Jersey.