NHRA Funny Car driver Matt Hagan and ESPN stats guy Lewis Bloom will headline tonight's WFO Radio NHRA Tuesday with Joe Castello, live at 7 p.m. ET.  To listen live or on-demand, go to http://www.wforadio.com
 
Hagan, who drives the DieHard Dodge Charger Funny Car for Don Schumacher Racing, is coming off a fourth place finish in the inaugural NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at ZMax Dragway.  The second-year NHRA Full Throttle Series driver currently sits in fourth place in the NHRA Funny Car championship point standings.

Despite the hype, and no doubt in part because of rain, NHRA's Four-Wide Nationals didn't do much to move the ratings on ESPN2.
 
Saturday qualifying, in good weather, produced a 0.4 rating. That's the same as the average of last year's qualifying shows. The 0.4 translates to a household average of 409,000 and 556,000 viewers.

Canadian Kenny Lang, a veteran Pro Mod racer who has won his share of races and series titles in other drag racing organizations, made history in March as the first Pro Mod racer to ever raise a Wally – NHRA’s highly-coveted national event winner’s trophy – in an NHRA winner’s circle.

Lang flew under the radar by qualifying sixth in his green ’53 Corvette, but he ultimately raced to victory over Sweden’s Michael Gullqvist in the Tire Kingdom Gatornationals final round to win the inaugural race in NHRA’s newest touring series – the Get Screened America Pro Mod Drag Racing Series.

Now Lang’s focus is on race No. 2 in the 10-race series, when the tour visits Houston Raceway Park, April 9-11 for the 23rd annual O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Spring Nationals presented by Pennzoil. The race will be televised on ESPN2 HD.

Numerous makes of automobiles have come and gone over the years.

The musclecar, however, has held its ground over time. The car was a by-product of 1960s America. The country at that time was being fueled by rebellious youth and automakers capitalized on this prevalent attitude by introducing the muscle car.

In 1962, Dodge and Plymouth immediately found muscle car success by making revolutionary high-performance cars that were sleeker and lighter than other cars on the market, but also had big-car power. The ’62 Dodge Dart 413 was a poster child for Dodge’s early muscle car innovation.

Not surprisingly, these early 60s Dodge and Plymouths ruled the NHRA landscape in the new Super/Stock class.

It's going to be another double-duty weekend for Melanie Troxel as she'll wheel both the In-N-Out Burger Funny Car and the In-N-Out Burger Pro Mod racecar at the upcoming 23rd annual O'Reilly Auto Parts Spring Nationals, which run Friday through Sunday at Houston Raceway Park.

It's the second time Troxel has raced two cars in the same weekend with the Gatornationals in Gainesville, Fla., her first double-up experience.

"I've certainly got a much better idea of what to expect out of this weekend," Troxel said. "Strangely enough the things I was worried about going into the season weren't the things that caused me problems.

New York, New York Hotel and Casino is the Official Las Vegas hotel partner of Don Schumacher Racing, announced team owner Don Schumacher today.

“New York, New York Hotel and Casino is a great property right in the heart of the famous Las Vegas Strip," said Schumacher. "The DSR teams will be staying at New York, New York as will our drivers. We welcome all the drag racing fans attending the Las Vegas NHRA races to come over to New York, New York and hang out with us. There will be many activities there including a special autograph session on Friday evening, April 16.”

Four-time Pro Stock champion Jeg Coughlin Jr. has amassed 48 victories in the sport's toughest category, a total that has him ranked among the best in NHRA drag racing's 59-year history. He's managed to win at almost every track on tour, except the one in Charlotte that was just recently added to the schedule.

Yet for all his victories, the one that remains his favorite is his first, which took place in 1997 at Houston Raceway Park in just his second professional start. He hopes to recapture that glory April 9-11 at the 23rd annual NHRA Spring Nationals in the Houston suburb of Baytown, Texas.

J.W. Performance Transmissions now offers SFI re-certification of the popular “Ultra-Bell” and “Ultra-Case” at all NHRA National events via Hyatt Racing Services. Service will begin at the NHRA event held in Houston, Texas April 9th to 11th, 2010. 

The product must be removed from the vehicle for the certification to be complete. Hyatt Racing Services is located on the manufacturers midway at all NHRA National events.  Plus, a select number of GM flex plates will be available to accommodate racers during the NHRA national events. 

In order to continue to reduce the risk and help keep national events running efficiently, the American Drag Racing League (ADRL) is introducing a starting-line dress code for its race teams at all national events.

Beginning Apr. 23-24, at the ADRL Hardee’s Georgia Drags VI at South Georgia Motorsports Park, all ADRL crew members are strongly encouraged to wear matching collared shirts. These uniform shirts will become mandatory for all starting-line crew members May 21-22, at the ADRL U.S. Drags III at Virginia Motorsports Park.

“As the ADRL grows we want to recognize and address things to reduce the risk and make things more efficient for everyone involved,” ADRL Director of Security William Vandiver said.