The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company said today it will debut a new drive tire for the National Hot Rod Association’s Top Fuel and Funny Car categories during the SummitRacing.com Nationals at the Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway April 16-18.

The new tire, designated the D2681, employs a new tread compound but no other changes to the existing tire. The new compound, Goodyear’s D2F, has been developed from the same compound family as the current compound.

Dan Fletcher's name is way, way up the list of all-time sportsman greats, right up there with Peter Biondo, David Rampy, Scott Richardson, and Edmond Richardson. So how does he do it? How does he win national event after national event, year after year after year?

"I don't know," said Fletcher, who'd sooner whack his index a tenth than brag. "It's a lot of hard work, a lot of preparation. There's no 'Don't worry about it,' no 'Oh, that'll be okay for one more run' with me. I don't know how anyone could ever think they're going to win when they don't put everything they have into every single detail. It's hard enough to win when you do. I check everything three times. I'm anal to a fault, and I obsess over everything."

No doubt he does. So do lots of people – they just don't win nine national events a year, like Fletcher did in 2009. He has an ability to concentrate under pressure and a knack for making the right calls at the top end that few drivers will ever possess.

The NHRA, on Page VI of its 2010 Rulebook, lists in the basics of drag racing section, a definition of drag racing.

“The sport of drag racing is an acceleration contest between two vehicles racing from a standing start over a straight race course.”

It is that one simple line in the rulebook which has the Professional Racers Organization up in arms over the recent NHRA 4-Wide Nationals to the point the board issued a letter to both the NHRA’s upper management and zMax Dragway’s Bruton Smith stating their intentions of not racing another four wide event for points.

They did, however, point out a willingness to discuss participation in a non-points earning version of the event.

Melanie Troxel, a winner in both the NHRA Funny Car and Top Fuel classes, will be the Newsmaker of the Week on The Race Reporters radio show, Wednesday, April 14, 7 p.m. EDT, on www.PowerUpChannel.com.

This season, Troxel is driving the In-N-Out Burger Dodge Charger in select Funny Car events as well as in the Pro Mod class. She was runner-up in last weekend’s Pro Mod race, near Houston. In 2006, she won two Top Fuel races and finished fourth in points. She won twice again in TF the next season and then moved into Funny Cars in 2008 and got one victory.

Troxel will be racing this weekend at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Dan Parker, substituting for a vacationing Lynne Milner-Baxley behind the wheel of Ellis Milner's 1957 Chevrolet, survived a race of upsets and won the Dixie Pro Mod Association season opener at Phenix Dragstrip in Phenix City, AL.

Breakage claimed two entries before the race ever started and handling problems in the semi-finals eliminated former ADRL champions Keith Baker and Jamie Hancock. Baker had qualified number one and Hancock number three. Parker was sandwiched in between at number two.

Steve Torrence is going to Las Vegas for his 27th birthday.

He didn’t plan it that way, but NHRA scheduled the 11th annual Summitracing.com Nationals for April 16-18, so the driver of the Torrence Racing/Tuttle Motorsports Top Fuel dragster will already be there . . . and he might as well take advantage of it.

“My birthday is Saturday and we hope to finish the weekend with a race win on Sunday,” said Torrence.  “That would be a good reason to have a big celebration.  This is the first time I’ve raced at Las Vegas in the spring.  I have been at the last two fall races and have done fairly well.

It's not often when four-time world champion Jeg Coughlin Jr. arrives at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway that he doesn't leave a winner.

Coughlin, driver of the JEGS.com Chevy Cobalt in Pro Stock, is the defending champion of this weekend's event, which will be run from April 16-18. Last year was the fifth time in his career Coughlin won at Las Vegas. He's raced to the Vegas money round seven times in all.

"It's a Bruton Smith track so you are always fired up when you pull through the gates," Coughlin said. "It's a first-class facility, second-to-none, and I love the place.

Drag racing's most well-known newbie, 2004 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Kurt Busch, will be attempting some unusual double duty on Saturday, April 24. Barring inclement weather, Busch will qualify his No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge at Talladega Superspeedway, then fly to Concord, N.C. to race his 1970 Dodge Challenger at zMAX Dragway during PINKS All Out.
    
Busch, who recently got his NHRA competitor's license at zMAX Dragway through Roy Hill's Drag Racing School, participated in the NHRA
Gatornationals in Gainesville, Fla., during a recent off weekend for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

Don Schumacher Racing drivers will visit with NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series fans and sign autographs at New York, New York Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas on Friday, April 16.

New York, New York is the official Las Vegas hotel of Don Schumacher Racing and DSR Top Fuel and Funny car drivers Tony Schumacher, Cory McClenathan, Antron Brown, Ron Capps, Jack Beckman and Matt Hagan will be available for a free autograph session from 7:30-9:30 p.m. The hotel is located at 3790 Las Vegas Blvd. South, Las Vegas, NV 89109, and fans are asked to enter the hotel front door on Tropicana Blvd. for easier access to the autograph session.

At this moment Jason Line must feel like he’s on one of the world’s biggest roller-coasters. This wild and wacky thrill ride resembles your every day street sedan, but goes through its ups and downs at more than 210 mph.

While the 2006 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series world champion has shown at times he’s certainly capable of adding a second championship crown to his resume, there are other times when he’s trying simply to hang on as his season speeds sharply into a double-loop.

The former head dyno operator for Joe Gibbs Racing on the NASCAR circuit hopes to turn his fortunes around in the hometown of his team owner Ken Black, who continues the recovery process after a recent bout with some health issues.