In the 2009 edition of the JEGS Allstars competition, the $20,000 top prize awarded to the overall winning team wasn’t claimed until the final run of the event when reigning NHRA Top Alcohol Dragster champ Bill Reichert turned on the win light to seal a narrow victory for the host team from the North Central Division. Reichert’s final round victory over Chris Demke gave the title to the home team by just one round; denying the North Central Division team what would have been their fourth-consecutive title. That type of 11th hour drama has become commonplace in the JEGS Allstars event, an annual competition featuring the sport’s best Lucas Oil Series racers, held each year during the United Association Route 66 Nationals in Joliet.
           
Racers can qualify for the JEGS Allstars by earning points during a yearlong battle within their home divisions. Each team is composed of one racer in the following NHRA eliminators; Top Alcohol Dragster, Top Alcohol Funny Car, Competition Eliminator, Super Stock, Stock, Super Comp, Super Gas, Super Street, and new for 2010, Top Dragster and Top Sportsman. In addition, the reigning JEGS Allstars champions are invited to return each year as (non-points earning) blockers. The racers compete for a share of nearly $120,000 including a $20,000 bonus which is split among the winning team.

Nitro Jam announced a new and unique partnership with the Utah Sports Commission for the upcoming Salt Lake Nitro Jam June 18-19 at Rocky Mountain Raceways in West Valley.

After an extremely successful partnership with Feld Motorsports’ Supercross Series last month in Salt Lake City the Utah Sports Commission is pleased to be a part of the first ever Nitro Jam in the state of Utah June 18-19 at the world-renowned Rocky Mountain Raceways.

“It’s great to partner with Feld Motor Sports and Rocky Mountain Raceways on another major motorsport event that will bring an estimated $3 million in economic impact to the State of Utah and be broadcast nationally on SPEED Channel. Along with Supercross, FIM World Superbike, Utah Grand Prix, Motocross and other action sports events, Nitro Jam is another event that continues to showcase Utah as a destination for motor and action sports events and allows Utah to leverage its significant world-class venues, related infrastructure and enthusiastic fan base,” said Jeff Robbins, President & CEO of the Utah Sports Commission.

Four winners walked away with big paychecks after last weekend’s Thunder Valley Bracket Challenge at Bristol Dragway.

Chad Hedgecock of Loudon defeated Milton’s Chad McKee on Thursday to take home the top prize. Hedgecock’s winning run included a .013 reaction time, with a 4.724 elapsed time (4.71 dial-in) at 141.68 mph. McKee ran a little faster than his dial-in (4.754 E.T. on a 4.76 dial) to receive the disqualification.

Jason Lynch of Pleasant View earned Friday’s victory at the Bracket Challenge. Lynch defeated Sevierville’s Carrol Click with a .006 R.T. and a 5.314 second run (5.29 dial-in) at 127.01 mph. Click’s losing effort had a .015 R.T. and a 4.726 E.T. (4.71 dial-in).

Extended winning streaks in the ultra-competitive world of NHRA Funny Car racing are very rare.

The competition is simply too tough.

In a single Funny Car season, the most consecutive races ever won is five. The three drivers in the history of NHRA competition who have accomplished that feat are widely recognized as three of the sport’s greatest champions: Don Prudhomme (1976), Cruz Pedregon (1992) and John Force (1993 and 1994). Another NHRA legend, Kenny Bernstein, won four in a row in 1987. Force also won four in a row in the 2000 season.

Those four drivers are the most successful Funny Car racers in the history of the sport, accounting for 24 world championship titles since 1975.

Cory McClenathan, driver of the FRAM Top Fuel Dragster in the 2010 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series, will participate in a charity softball game on June 3 in Indianapolis, in memory of his young friend Caroline Symmes, who passed away from cancer at the age of 5 last December.

Gates will open at 5 p.m. for the Tony Stewart Foundation Presents the Caroline Symmes Memorial Celebrity Softball Challenge, benefiting the Indiana Children's Wish Fund, at Victory Field in Indy. Besides McClenathan, Colts all-pro defensive end Robert Mathis and Pacers forward Roy Hibbert will join a group of other local Indianapolis celebrities to play in the event.

Mother Nature put an end to the racing action this past weekend for the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series and the LORDCO B.C. Nationals at Mission Raceway Park.  NHRA and track officials finally postponed and re-scheduled the event on Monday morning with rain continuing to fall in Mission.

Top Alcohol Funny Car will complete their elimination rounds at the NHRA Full Throttle National event July 9-11 at Pacific Raceways outside of Seattle during qualifying for the NHRA Northwest Nationals.  The Sportsman Motorcycle class presented by Harley Davidson along with Super Pro will run eliminations on July 24 at the Mission Raceway National Open event.  All remaining classes including Top Alcohol Dragster will complete the event on Thursday, August 19, prior the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series Olympics of Drag Racing event at Pacific Raceways.

If you're in the Carolinas on the weekend of June 4 - 6 and you're looking for some hot doorslammer racing, then make the trip down to Organgeburg Dragstrip for the second scheduled stop on George Howard and Roy Hill's OutlawDoorslammer Series. This event will be sponsored by Attitude's CompetitionPlus.com and presented by Hooters.

Melanie Troxel's competitive day at the FIA Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway was short, but she didn't leave the fans disappointed.

After losing in the first round of eliminations, Troxel returned for an exhibition run where her R2B2 Racing Camaro ran the fastest Pro Mod pass in European drag racing history -- a stunning 5.937 at 242.42 mph. Aside from the historic speed, her elapsed time was just the second five-second run on European soil.

The pass was the cherry on top of an interesting racing adventure for Troxel and team members Al Billes, Jim Elliott, Daren Mayer, Johnny Maguda, Mark Savage, Travis Rice, and Craig Wack, who all made the trip across the Atlantic.

Bob Yonke wants to become a killer—on the starting line, at least.

Back in the mid-‘80s, Yonke was a defensive-minded shooting guard for the Emporia State University Hornets basketball team, a position that taught him a lot that still applies to his new role as a first-year NHRA Pro Stock driver.

“From an individual standpoint, basketball’s a game of concentration and from a team standpoint you’ve got to get along with others and understand what they bring to the table, what their strengths and weaknesses are, just like a drag racing team, whether they’re driving, or setting the clutch, or adjusting the four-link, or tuning the carburetors,” said Yonke, who after nine races this season has made it to a pair of final rounds (Phoenix and Charlotte), but also suffered five first-round losses and a couple of DNQs.

Bill Reichert and Frank Manzo led this weekend’s winners for the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series at Maple Grove Raceway.  Both are the current NHRA Lucas Oil National Champions and Reichert of Owosso, Mich., is also the defending event champion in Top Alcohol Dragster.

Reichert qualified No. 4 and took out Arthur Gallant, Boxboro, Mass., and Dan Mercier, Laprairie, Quebec. in rounds one and two before meeting up with John Finke in the final round.  Reichert ran his best pass of the weekend at 5.369 seconds, 268.06 for the win while Finke had trouble and slowed to a 9.820 second pass.

Manzo, Morganville, N.J., qualified No. 1 and ran low elapsed time of each round posting laps of 5.58, 5.56, and 5.56 during eliminations.  Manzo’s 5.568-second, 259.81 mph run gave him the win over Thomas Carter, Cuero, Texas, in the final of Top Alcohol Funny Car.