One day after completing the NHRA Route 66 Nationals, members of John Force Racing and Don Schumacher Racing tested various combinations as part of the NHRA’s ongoing data-gathering process regarding nitro engines.

John Force Racing tested the 75 gallons per minute [GPM] fuel pump as well as the smaller displacement engine while Don Schumacher Racing worked with a restrictor plate device.

“Depending on how you were looking at the test, it went okay,” confirmed Mike Neff, a co-crewchief for John Force. “It definitely ran better than the 60 gallon pump. We didn’t do a lot with it, just a couple of runs.”

A source close to Don Schumacher Racing has confirmed the team will park the Pro Stock Motorcycle team ridden by Craig Treble effective immediately. This comes days after rider Treble scored the No. 1 qualifying position at the NHRA Route 66 Nationals in Chicago.

While multicar teams are certainly not uncommon in the sport of drag racing, they aren’t exactly the norm.

Drag racing, unlike other top tier motorsports, thrives on the backs of single car teams and small, often time’s family-owned operations competing alongside massive teams with two, three and sometimes four cars making up their camp.

And then of course there is Mitch King.

During the 30th annual NHRA Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway last month, Danny Lowry made a 4.36-second exhibition pass in his turbocharged Outlaw 10.5 Ford Mustang. It was no record setter, but as Johnny Fenn watched from the starting line, he couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed by a sense of pride and accomplishment.

“It was the first time an Outlaw 10.5 car had ever performed at an NHRA national event and the crowd just loved it,” the Outlaw Racing Street Car Association (ORSCA) president recalled. “Six, eight years ago there’s no way that could have happened. Our cars, our drivers, just weren’t ready, but to see an ORSCA driver out there at an NHRA event, it was very satisfying.”

Gearstar Performance Transmissions, a leading high-performance transmission manufacturer, has partnered with the Super Chevy Show, which combines a car show with first-rate drag racing, to become a sponsor of the touring series, which is celebrating his 30th anniversary this season.

Gearstar transmissions are used by many car show and racers who compete in the Super Chevy Show sportsman racing events. "Gearstar Performance Transmissions is proud and excited to be a part of these fantastic events," said Zack Farah, owner and founder of Gearstar. "We look forward to all the action that the Super Chevy Show provides."

Mark Mariani is looking to be the first multiple Australian Top Fuel championship series event winner this season at this weekend’s Castrol EDGE Winternationals at Willowbank Raceway, Ipswich, after winning the recent Nitro Champs.     

With five different winners from five Australian National Drag Racing Association (ANDRA) Pro Series Top Fuel championship events, Mariani believes he and the Sydney-based Rapisarda Racing/Titan Cranes team have the form to win back-to-back events.

Mariani, who is in his first full-season driving for the highly respected two-car Rapisarda team, won his first Top Fuel championship event at last month’s Nitro Champs at the Sydney Dragway (SD).

Two high-profile Hollywood television personalities have signed on to serve as co-hosts of NHRA Unleashed, which will be featured nationwide on Fox Sports Net in November and December 2010.

Steve Watson, current host of HGTV’s “Don’t Sweat It,” and Sarah Karges, who just finished hosting Brain Rush on Cartoon Network, will lead the half-hour shows produced by Disrupt/ive Studios at the upcoming four NHRA Unleashed events.  

Watson, a hobbyist racer and self described “gear-head” noted, “I’m thrilled to be working with Disrupt/ive Studios and the NHRA on this exciting new series. I cannot wait to get out to the tracks, feel the horsepower, and meet America’s greatest grass roots racers at NHRA Unleashed!”

Number-one qualifiers registered wins in three of four heads-up, no-breakout classes at the Attitude’s CompetitionPlus.com South Carolina Spectacular at Orangeburg Dragstrip this weekend, the first of six scheduled events this year for the newly formed Coca-Cola Outlaw Doorslammer Series (ODSS) presented by Hooters.

Among those prevailing from the top starting position were Tony Johnson in Outlaw 10.5, Greg Godwin in Pro Modified and Outlaw 275 Drag Radial racer Wes Whittle. Only local driver Chris Tuten from nearby Pelion, South Carolina, broke the trend, winning in Limited Street from last place in the qualifying order. Todd Sinclair also picked up his second race win in as many days in a combined 6.0 and 7.0 index class.

In a short, four-car field due to breakage and accidents for several competitors during Saturday’s three qualifying rounds, Johnson opened with a 4.52 pass on Sunday to beat Curtis Rhodes and his ’68 Camaro from Childersburg, Alabama, before facing off with Mark Swanson in the final.

When Ashley Force Hood begins to mentally prepare for the intense challenge of a 300 mph side-by-side race in the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series, part of her routine is to evaluate her competition. She analyzes her opponents’ strengths and examines their tendencies during their pre-race routines at the starting line. Ultimately she will try to exploit any weaknesses that she sees.

While that process works well for the majority of her rivals in the ultra-competitive Funny Car category, there are two drivers that she feels like she may know just a little bit too well: her father, John Force, and her brother-in-law, Robert Hight.

  Two giants met in the NHRA Route 66 Nationals Funny Car final – one in performance and the other

nhra

in stature.

Score one for the big fella.

Matt Hagan, who stands 6’1”, 210 pounds, showed not only was he big in person, but large in driver performance.

Hagan stopped a streaking Robert Hight at three wins and secured a national record en route to the winner’s circle. In the final round, he ran a 4.035 elapsed time to back up a 4.022 second run recorded a round earlier.

"This was (crew chiefs) Tommy DeLago and John Medlen's race,” said Hagen, whose victory marked the second of his career. “These guys put a great race car underneath me all weekend long. We've kind of been testing some stuff the last three races. It's been tough because we don't have the testing time to do that. That's why we struggled a little bit. But these guys made a decision together to come back and put back what they knew in the race car and it's just been great ever since.”