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.

NHRA STATEMENT REGARDING HIGH-SPEED CRASH AT NHRA SUPERNATIONALS

Jack Beckman should have plenty to smile about this weekend in Englishtown. While he didn't win in Joliet just last week, the outing was by all other measurements extremely successful.

With testing limited to four days throughout the entire season, bringing out a new car halfway to the Countdown to One could have been viewed as a rather risky endeavour. As it turned out the debut of the newest generation DSR Funny Car chassis was a rousing success.

Prior to making his first runs on Sunday morning at Joliet, Beckman sat down and talked about the risk, the reward and the new chassis.

His first revelation, at least for a guy with a stock car background, involved the driver's seat.

The ADRL’s Pro Nitrous points leader will be missing from its race in Martin, Michigan, this weekend.

Mike Castellana will instead be in Englishtown, New Jersey, with nitrous racing legend, past NHRA and IHRA class champion and Al-Anabi teammate Shannon Jenkins turning the wrenches and calling the shots as crew chief for him at the halfway point of the 10-event 2010 NHRA Get Screened America Pro Mod series.

“My plan was to run all of the NHRA races this year, but unfortunately, there’s one event that conflicts (with the ADRL schedule) and it happens to be at my hometown track, so I’ll be at Englishtown this weekend,” Castellana said.

The American Hot Rod Association [AHRA] has postponed another event.

Yesterday, the AHRA announced the cancellation of their Race City Motorsports Park event in Calgary. The postponement was due to the incompletion of repairs to the track surface as required by AHRA through the Sanctioning Agreement, according to the AHRA.

All of the excitement, thrills, and highlights of the 2010 JEGS Allstars event will air two times this weekend on ESPN2 during the Lucas Oil Sportsman Show. The first broadcast will come from 1:30-2:30 p.m. EDT with a rebroadcast running from 10:30-11:30 p.m. EDT. Both shows air this Saturday.

Day two of the Castrol EDGE Winternationals has seen a lucky escape for two sportsman competitors, high-emotion qualifying for the ANDRA Pro Series categories and a couple of records thrown in at Willowbank Raceway today.

Following this morning’s incident in the Supercharged Outlaws category where Neil Murphy and Paul Stephen walked away unhurt from a miraculous crash (more details below), the first two of four qualifying sessions for the Pro Series brackets got underway.

At this point, top qualified are Martin Stamatis (Top Fuel), John Zappia (Top Doorslammer), Gary Phillips (Top Alcohol), Chris Matheson (Top Bike), Peter Ridgeway (Pro Stock) and Peter Cochrane (Pro Stock Bike).

Supercharged Outlaws competitors Neil Murphy of Kippa Ring and Paul Stephen of Raby in New South Wales have had a lucky escape at Willowbank Raceway today when their vehicles collided in a spectacular crash.

Today is day two of the Castrol EDGE Winternationals, and the incident came during the second round of qualifying for the Outlaws bracket, with both drivers emerging unscathed from the incident which drew gasps from the crowd.

Murphy and his Mustang were in the left lane while Stephen and his Altered dragster were in the right lane,and when Stephen experienced issues following leaving the startline he chose to shut off the car and roll to a stop close to the wall of his lane.