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.

In the final results from Thunder at the Lakes event at Brainerd International Raceway and the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series, Chris Demke, Sunland, Calif., and Kirk Williams, Glenwood, Iowa, took home the wins in Top Alcohol Dragster and Top Alcohol Funny Car respectively.
Demke worked his way through the field and ran 5.375 seconds at 269.83 mph in his final round victory over Scott Palmer, Marionville, Mo., who clocked in at 5.686 seconds, 235.93 mph.

The 2010 Rockabilly Rod Reunion/NHRA Heritage Series weekend at The Las Vegas Motor Speedway now is history and Tim Boychuk is celebrating all the way back to Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, after winning the Nitro Nostalgia Funny Car final over Utah’s Steve Macklyn. Boychuck qualified fourth in a field of 25 entries to make the eight-car cutoff. Boychuk blazed the quarter mile in the first round of eliminations – 5.777 sec./247.20 mph – despite the fact that his opponent, Mark Sanders of Maple Valley, Wash. fouled on the starting line. In the second round, Boychuk put Steve Rajcic and the L.A. Hooker Plymouth Arrow on the trailer with a pass of 5.87 sec./240.38 mph.

Paul Page has been long known as the voice of the Indianapolis 500 and now calls the NHRA Drag Races for ESPN2.

What is not largely known is the iconic voice served his country in a different capacity during the Vietnam War from 1965 – 1971.

“I still argue with the government that I had twenty years of service as a military brat,” Page joked. ‘I grew up around the military and my stepfather was in the Army … infantry. I grew up on military bases but the government won’t count that. I changed schools twelve times from the first grade and graduation.”

Ever Wonder Why He’s Got Those Patriotic Ads?

You can’t miss his ads in National DRAGSTER or in Attitude’s CompetitionPlus.com. They are the ones adorned in an American Flag bearing a patriotic message.

They are ads which command national pride.

Some of the ads make it to the printed pages of the NHRA’s house organ and sometimes they are rejected for the overly political tones. Regardless if you are conservative or liberal, you can’t deny the fact piston and rod manufacturer Bill Miller is a proud American who served his country.

The skies over Santa Pod Raceway cleared up on Sunday, but the season-opening FIA Main Event did exhibit more than its fair share of first-race stumbles -- chief among them was Pro Mod driver Rolf Amman of Switzerland running the Christmas Tree over during his burnout and Andy Robinson of England dumping oil down a large stretch of one of the lanes.

The mishaps and a six-hour-plus opening pro session cut the number of qualifying rounds from three to two.

American Melanie Troxel had no problems during her two Pro Mod runs during the day. She got down the track both times in the R2B2 Racing Camaro with a best pass of 6.243 at 239.85 mph. She is seventh on the ladder and will face No. 10 Adam Flamholc, who had a best pass of 6.436 at 166.07 mph, in Round 1 of eliminations.

The excitement of bringing Ford Motor Company's big blue oval back to Pro Stock drag racing has been replaced by frustration for veteran driver Larry Morgan as the engine builder from Newark, Ohio, continues to search for an agreeable tune-up for his BOSS-powered Lucas Oil Ford Mustang.

Morgan insists his 500-inch motor is making plenty of horsepower and he's got plenty of data from the dyno room to prove his point. He says the chassis and body of his flashy red, white, and blue 2010 Mustang is definitely slick enough to carry him to the winner's circle. The problem, it seems, is the fuel delivery system, which has been so temperamental he's literally run out of parts repairing the stuff he's broken.

"I'm like a Top Fuel guy I've been blowing up so much stuff this year," Morgan said. "I love those guys but I don't want to be like them, especially in that department. I've scuffed up so much stuff my suppliers can't keep up. That never happens in Pro Stock.