Ashley Force Hood raced to the qualifying lead in Funny Car Friday at the SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals.

Antron Brown and Mike Edwards also were qualifying leaders in their respective categories at the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series event at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Force Hood powered her Castrol GTX Ford Mustang to a leading performance of 4.195 seconds at 295.14 mph to pace the 16-car lineup. If the performance stands through Saturday’s two qualifying sessions (11:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m.) it would be her first No. 1 of the season and 10th of her career.

Recently there has been an internet rumor making the rounds suggesting 14-time Funny Car world champion John Force has purchased Don Prudhomme Racing’s entire operation.

“Just not true,” said Skip Alum, DPR General Manager. “He’s [John Force] had some of his employees come over and look at one of our trailers. Force hasn’t bought anything.”

Drag racing fan Bill Swanson got into the Drag Racing Fantasy game presented by MotorsportsPromos.com [formerly sponsored by CSK] as a means of trying to redeem himself from poor choices in office/plant sports pools.

Swanson, born and reared in Chicago, ranks second out of 2,756 participants in this season’s competition. He’s currently leads the Attitude’s CompetitionPlus.com Private League.

In preparation of the the American Drag Racing League Hardee’s Georgia Drags VI, team owner and driver for Al-Anabi Racing, KH has organized a pre-race test session at South Georgia Motorsports Park located outside of Valdosta, Ga., will be open to all ADRL competitors this coming Friday and Saturday (April 16-17, 2010).

“I would like to extend a personal invitation to all the ADRL racers to join us at South Georgia Motorsports Park this Friday and Saturday for an open test session,” said KH, who recently arrived in Valdosta from New York where he had been spending time with his crew chief, Frank “Ace” Manzo. “I’m excited to have the opportunity to get some more seat time in my Pro Extreme Camaro, especially here in Valdosta, and I assume my fellow racers would like to have the same opportunity to test their cars and motorcycles on a world-class racing surface prior to a national event.”

"D2681" sounds like some code that factors into a high-tech thriller movie. But it's the designation of Goodyear's latest drag-racing tire, and Funny Car veteran Ron Capps said it's going to play a major role in this weekend's Summitracing.com Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
 
In a statement released Wednesday, Goodyear said full conversion to the D2681 from the current D2550 edition is expected to begin at the following event, the AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals, at Madison, Ill., near St. Louis.
 
But Capps said, "We're not going to wait until St. Louis to run it."

Larry Dixon, John Force and Mike Edwards are favored win the NHRA SummitRacing.com Nationals’ pro-category finals Sunday afternoon at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Fred Crespi, oddsmaker for The Palms Resort Casino in Las Vegas, tapped Dixon (5/2) over defending champion Tony Schumacher (7/2) in the Full Throttle Drag Racing Series’ Top Fuel Dragster class. NHRA veteran John Force leads the Funny Car parade at 2/1. Defending Pro Stock champion Mike Edwards, who was eliminated in the semi-final round last weekend in Texas, is favored at even money.

Lincoln Electric dubs itself as the “welding experts.”

The company, which is based in Cleveland, Ohio, is always on the cutting edge of technology.

Its latest innovative product is the VRTEX 360, a Virtual Reality Arc Welding training solution. The vrtex360.com website states the VRTEX 360 offers the combination of realistic puddle simulation and arc welding sound tied to the welder’s movement to provide a realistic hands-on training experience.

Jack Beckman competed in his first National Hot Rod Association Top Fuel race at Las Vegas in 2005.
 
He has won in Funny Car once in two fall final-round appearances since 2006 at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
 
He returned there as a new daddy in 2007.
 
During his pro-ranks tenure, Beckman has visited the military hospital at Nellis Air Force Base, ridden with the USAF Thunderbirds, participated in a handful of autograph sessions at various casinos, and has bowled and played poker for Speedway Children's Charities.

Veteran NHRA Sportsman driver Michael Iacono will be at the controls of the 1987 Nitro Fish Chevrolet Camaro in the Summitracing.com Nationals, Thursday through Sunday, at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

“Michael is a great guy and a top-notch Sportsman driver.  We are pleased to have him racing with us,” said Nitro Fish owner Kenny Koretsky.  “He and my youngest son Kyle (Kid Chaos) have been working together for a year.”