All four event winners from last weekend's NHRA Full Throttle Series Spring Nationals at Houston Raceway Park will be guests on WFO Radio NHRA Tuesday with Joe Castello, live tonight at 7 p.m. ET.  To listen live or on-demand, go to http://www.wforadio.com
 
Spring Nationals winners Larry Dixon (Top Fuel), Matt Hagan (Funny Car), Jeg Coughlin (Pro Stock), and Andrew Hines (Pro Stock Motorcycle) will all appear in one-on-one interviews with host Joe Castello.
 
Dixon, driver of the Al-Anabi Racing Top Fuel dragster, won Sunday for the second time this year in a pedal fest against Antron Brown.  The win was Dixon's 50th of his NHRA professional career moving him into eighth place on the all-time list, breaking a tie with Don "The Snake" Prudhomme.

Steve Spiess is a man who thrives on the challenges of life, as well as those behind the wheel of his Billet Specialties-sponsored Chevrolet Cobalt Pro Stocker.

Armed with major sponsorship from the custom wheel manufacturer, Spiess decided to upgrade to a full-time pursuit of the NHRA Full Throttle championship.

Five races into the 23-race schedule, Spiess has two first round losses and two DNQs. A year after producing a strong part-time effort, the former IHRA mountain motor Pro Stock champion has experienced one shortcoming after another, yet he remains confident better days are ahead of him this season.

“We’re having our times right now,” Spiess admitted. “This is Pro Stock racing. We are gaining on it. I think we should be fine from this point forward.”

Past multiple Australian Top Fuel drag race champion, Steve Read, will have a rather unusual lead-up to the Enzed Top Fuel Championship at Willowbank Raceway, Ipswich, April 17-18.

Read, affectionately known as 'The Pom', will marry long-time partner Heather Bond at Willowbank on the Saturday morning (April 17), then after the wedding breakfast, take part in qualifying for the Australian Top Fuel championship series round five.    

The Brisbane-based English couple first met when Read was racing at Avon Park Raceway, Warwickshire, England in 1989, where Bond, who was educated in Australia in the early 1970s, was an official and later Avon Park Chief Executive Officer.

The $300,000 worth of upgrades to the dragstrip at Maple Grove Raceway should be completed within a week and be ready in plenty of time for May 1, the first scheduled day of racing for the 2010 season.
 
Concrete was poured earlier this week for the extended concrete launch pad that will stretch an additional 300 feet for a total length of 820 feet.
 
The asphalt beyond the new pad was milled by 2 inches and a new paving mix that will run to 250 feet beyond the finish line will be installed.

By virtue of a special drawing, the Top Sportsman and Top Dragster “Blocker” positions for the 2010 JEGS Allstar event will go to the NHRA Pacific division and the NHRA Southeast division, respectively.  The two classes were added to the prestigious program at last year’s 25th Anniversary JEGS Allstar event with 2010 being their first year of competition.  Officials held the drawing this past weekend at the O’Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals presented by Pennzoil.

The 2008 Nitro Jam season was an especially memorable one for Top Fuel star Spencer Massey.

As a rookie that year Massey produced an unheard of four victories and five final round appearances on his way to winning the ’08 IHRA Top Fuel championship all after earning his license just one week prior to the start of the season.

For Kingsport’s Van Greer, Sunday’s victory in the Pro Division at Bristol Dragway was the perfect way to honor the memory of his famous drag racing father.

Shirl Greer, who passed away in March, was the 1974 NHRA Funny Car World Champion. While his most famous race car was the “Chained Lightning” Mustang he used to win that championship, he raced a series of funny cars named “Tension” in his earlier days.

O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Nationals Sept. 16-19; Second event in NHRA Full Throttle Countdown to the Championship

NHRA announced today that O’Reilly Auto Parts has agreed to a multi-year deal to become the title rights sponsor of the third annual O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Nationals at zMAX Dragway, Sept. 16-19.  

The O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Nationals is the second of six races in the NHRA Full Throttle Countdown to the Championship, NHRA’s playoff-style format to determine the world champions in each of its four Full Throttle Series classes.

Cary Goforth of Holdenville, OK had an almost perfect weekend of racing as he grabbed the number one qualifying spot and almost set a new national record in doing so during the MMPSA opener in Rockingham, NC.. During the Saturday night qualifying session, Cary laid down an earth shaking 6.258 at 220.84 mph- just .008 from eclipsing the record currently held by Frank Gugliotta at 6.251.

Although he received a bye run first round by virtue of being number one qualifier, he had his hands full with a host of tough competitors the remainder of the day. In round two he met up with J.R. Carr and the Agri-Pack backed Pontiac GXP. Carr laid down an impressive 6.43, but it wasn't enough for Goforth's 6.32.

Sometimes national event victories can get lost in the memory bank of a veteran NHRA driver.

It’s safe to say, however, Larry Dixon will never forget his win at the O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Spring Nationals.

Dixon won a pedal fest against Antron Brown, clocking a 4.541-second time compared to Brown’s 4.638 effort Sunday at Houston Raceway Park.

It was a milestone victory for Dixon as it was his 50th national event win, since begginning his racing career in 1995.