All season, Mike Edwards has been a dominant force in the Pro Stock ranks.

That didn’t change Friday at Topeka.

The reigning world champ ran a 6.638-second time at 206.99 mph to take the top qualifying spot at the O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Summer Nationals. The time and the mph were both Heartland Park track records.

Mick Snyder has grown up around drag racing and learned at an early age; do-overs in drag racing are a rarity. Friday, the former Top Alcohol Funny Car racer from Demotte, Ind., was granted a second chance.

During Friday’s Pro Extreme qualifying at the ADRL U.S. Drags III in Richmond, Va., Snyder was given a second chance to make a first impression.

Robert Hight took the provisional No.  1 qualifier position on Friday and showed he is a contender to win his third race of the season during the first day of qualifying for the 22nd annual O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Summer Nationals at Heartland Park Topeka.

Antron Brown and Mike Edwards also take No. 1 qualifying positions in their respective categories during the ninth of 23 events in the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series season.

Chalk one up for the little guy. Or at least for the littler guy, as Frankie “Mad Man” Taylor made the quickest run in “doorslammer” history to lead Pro Extreme qualifying after the first day of the ADRL Speedtech U.S. Drags III at Virginia Motorsports Park (VMP).

Taylor, an automotive repair shop owner from Dickinson, Texas, covered the VMP eighth mile with his supercharged 2005 Corvette in 3.60 seconds at 208.71 mph to edge the 3.64 at 210.97 combination by His Highness Sheikh Khalid bin Hamad Al-Thani of Qatar for the top spot. Also carrying number-one status into Saturday morning’s fourth and final qualifying session were Shannon Jenkins in Pro Nitrous, Gary White in Extreme 10.5, Pro Extreme Motorcycle’s Ashley Owens and Bob Bertsch in Extreme Pro Stock.

To stay in or get out, that is the question.

It's hot. It's humid. Three pairs in front of you the competitor in the left lane oils down the track. Immediately a call goes out – how long to clean up the mess? Ten minutes? Fifteen minutes? Twenty five minutes?

If you're Cory McClenathan and the answer is 15 minutes then the answer to the question is simple.

“I'm the first to get out,” admitted the driver of the Fram Top Fuel dragster from the Don Schumacher Racing stable.

When 49-year-old NHRA Pro Stock Rookie Bob Yonke started the 2010 season few people expected the Kansas native to make it to two finals and be

ninth in the standings after eight races. Accomplishing so much without the backing of a primary sponsor is even more amazing in the world of NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing. Now he hopes to have a big weekend in front of family and friends.
 
 “It’s no secret in racing that sponsorship support is critical to being competitive on a consistent basis and having the chance to win,” Bob Yonke says. “The team has been working extremely hard and we’ve had a solid season so far. We’ve had some promising discussions with potential sponsors and, as we continue to prove ourselves on the track, we will get more interest. We are looking forward to a good showing in Topeka.”

From a very young age Mike Manners knew he wanted to go fast.

Growing up in the United Kingdom Manners didn’t get to see much racing in person, but what he did see was enough to keep him interested throughout his childhood. Then one day, on a sunny afternoon at Santa Pod Raceway, Manners got to see the legendary Don Garlits make a pass behind the wheel of his Top Fuel machine.

The recently formed Fight Me MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) league was introduced today as the new major, multi-year sponsor of American Drag Racing League (ADRL) competitor Joshua Hernandez and his supercharged Pro Extreme 1957 Chevy.

Hernandez, last year’s championship runner-up and winningest driver in Pro Extreme history with six career race titles, will debut his new Fight Me look in this weekend’s ADRL Speedtech U.S. Drags III at Virginia Motorsports Park.

“It is so exciting for me to help introduce Fight Me to the ADRL audience,” the Conroe, Texas-based driver said. “I’m also looking forward to attending Fight Me events later this year and introducing the ADRL’s unique brand of eighth-mile drag racing to the millions of MMA fans around the world. It’s a knockout combination.”

Here's a sneak peek of Terry Leggett's new Mustang Pro Extreme entry built by Spartanburg, SC.-based Tommy Mauney Race Cars. The car will be powered by a blown Brad Anderson engine. The car is expected to debut this weekend at the ADRL Speedtech U.S. Drags III in Dinwiddie, Va.