The National Association of Letter Carriers (AFL-CIO) announced today that partial reports on this year’s nationwide “Stamp Out Hunger” Food Drive have pushed total donations collected along postal routes since the drive began 18 years ago to more than one billion pounds.

NALC President Fredric V. Rolando said preliminary data received already from 404 NALC branches on this year’s May 8 drive shows 19,724,393 pounds, with more than 1,000 local branches yet to send in collection information.

After the first 17 years of the nationwide drive, held annually on the second Saturday in May, donations had totaled 982.7 million pounds. Last year, a record 73.4 million pounds of food were delivered to community food banks and pantries. Rolando said the early figures indicate that this year’s total could match or exceed the 2009 level despite the poor economy.

Antron Brown, driver of the Don Schumacher Racing-owned Matco Tools/U.S. Army dragster, will visit with students at OSU Institute of Technology in Okmulgee, Okla. on May 19. The former college track star at Mercer (N.J.) Community College will speak to students at OSU about education and career choices before competing at the 22nd annual O'Reilly Summer Nationals, May 21-23, in Topeka, Kan. Brown's 7,000-horsepower Matco Tools/U.S. Army dragster also will be on display.
 
"I really enjoy these school visits we do for Matco (Tools)," Brown said. "I was just like many of these students not too long ago when I was a student at Mercer College in New Jersey. It's nice to give back and speak to the students about career paths and the importance of focusing on education. These are the technicians and mechanics of tomorrow and it's great to meet the students and hopefully deliver a positive message to them. I think it's great that Matco makes this a top initiative for the company. I'm looking forward to getting back to OSU again this year as we had a great visit to the school last May in Okmulgee."

UCoat It® America LLC, a leading provider of commercial-grade epoxy floor-coating systems for consumer and trade markets, will see its familiar red, blue and white checkered-flag logo on the rear quarter panels of the DieHard Dodge Funny Car driven by Matt Hagan at the next two events of the 2010 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series.

UCoat It America will partner with Shelor.com to be a major associate sponsor on the DieHard Dodge at this weekend's NHRA Southern Nationals in Commerce, Ga., and at the NHRA Summer Nationals in Topeka, Kan., May 21-23.

Shelor Motor Mile, owned by David Hagan in Christiansburg, Va., recently contracted UCoat it America to provide floor-coating work at its automobile dealerships. A business relationship ensued, and a sponsorship agreement was formed for the two events.

High speeds and horsepower combine for the adrenaline rush of danger in drag racing, and the American Hot Rod Association has formed an alliance with Sarasota, Florida-based TRACK RESCUE (R) to keep fans and racers safe at all 2010 AHRA Reunion Tour events.
 
Founded in 1982 by Chief Craig Clarke to protect racecar drivers and events, TRACK RESCUE is one of the only private Fire/Rescue departments in North America dedicated solely to motorsports safety.

As crazy as it sounds, only five racers have qualified for every event so far, with third-ranked Joe Baker and fifth-place Jay Payne the only men currently in front of Coughlin in the points to have contested all three trophies. (No. 8 Tony Pontieri and No. 10 Tim Tindle are the others).

"Our goal in Atlanta sounds pretty simple but I think it will work best for us," said Coughlin, the reigning NMCA Pro Street champion. "We want to come out swinging, make sure we put up a strong run in the first round of qualifying, and tune the car from there. We need to get everything we can out of this set-up to have a chance.

If there is one thing that can be said about life it is that you only get to make a first impression once.

For Cherissa Smallwood that first impression, made in front of thousands of screaming North Carolina fans at the Spring Nitro Jam earlier this month, was certainly one that will not soon be forgotten.

Making her Nitro Jam debut behind the wheel of the Innovative Chassis Pro Fuel Dragster, Smallwood won three of four rounds during the two-day event at Rockingham Dragway, but it was her quick thinking and swift actions that she will certainly be remembered for the most.

All the information from TeamJEGS.com now fits into the palm of your hand.

TeamJEGS.com, in cooperation with Horizons Companies, has launched a mobile edition of the informative site, with the same photos, videos, bios, standings and news of its desktop edition.

Warren Johnson, the six-time Pro Stock champion, said he "had to go along with" the retirement plan that General Motors drummed up for him in 2005.
 
"That was really nothing of my own doing," he said. "That retirement was almost a forced retirement, because one individual at GM had aspirations of getting all the money out of drag racing, and that was one way of her being able to do that. I just had to go along with it because of the way it was constructed."
 
Perhaps if GM had constructed its own financial dealings as decisively as it meddled in Warren Johnson's successful private drag-racing business, it wouldn't have had to come hat in hand to the federal government or answer to a Congress already tainted by its own inability to secure the public trust.
 

Mopar has announced a three-event schedule for the 2010 Mopar HEMI® Challenge Race Series. The popular racing series will make its first-ever appearance at the 2010 Holley NHRA National Hot Rod Reunion (NHRR) at Beech Bend Park in Bowling Green, Ky., June 18–20.

Following the NHRR event, the Mopar HEMI Challenge Race Series will head to the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis, Ind., Sept. 1–6, and then wrap up at the JEGS Northern SPORTSnationals at National Trail Raceway outside of Columbus, Ohio, Sept. 24–26.

The winners of the Hot Rod Reunion and SPORTSnationals events will haul in $5,000 paydays.  The U.S. Nationals victor will take home a $10,000 winner’s purse. Each event is a stand-alone HEMI Challenge event.

Three races into the first season of the NHRA Get Screened America Pro Mod Drag Racing Series and there have been three different winners.

If that’s a trend that will continue during the remaining seven events, determining a world champion may come down to the final round of the final race of the season.

If that scenario plays out, it will be just fine with the circuit’s most recent winner and emerging title contender, veteran drag racer Von Smith, of Oak Ridge, Tenn. With a very talented field of competitors racing for the inaugural NHRA Pro Mod crown, Smith and his peers expect nothing less than a memorable, thrilling duel to determine the champ.