“It is with a great deal of patriotic pride that we welcome the United States Air Force as an associate sponsor on our Copart/Lucas Oil Top Fuel dragster beginning this weekend at the Inaugural Four-Wide Nationals at zMax Dragway,” said team owner and six-time NHRA champion Kenny Bernstein.

“Our team will be used as a marketing and recruiting tool for the Air Force for the remainder of the 2010 season and will be instrumental in working with influencers who will in turn open doors for recruiters.

"We are excited about our new partnership with the Kenny Bernstein Racing Team for the 2010 NHRA race season," said Brig Gen AJ Stewart, Commander of Air Force Recruiting Service.  "We know how professional the KBR team is and believe they reflect the standards that personify the Air Force personnel. I'm positive this will lead to an increase in exposure for our Air Force and allow us to reach out to those eligible men and women who may be interested in joining our team."

Pat Musi had a simple game plan headed into his return to the ADRL’s Pro Nitrous division at the recently contested ADRL Dragpalooza event hosted by Houston Raceway Park in Baytown, Tex.

Musi, a past multiple Pro Street champion from Carteret, NJ, figured he’d use the Buford Pusser approach to his first eighth-mile event with his new Dodge Stratus using an 864-inch, EFI-equipped engine. The engine is equipped with the Sonny’s Racing Engines Wedge head configuration.

He simply wanted to walk tall and carry a big stick into competition.

On the eve of the NHRA’s inauguaral 4-Wide Nationals at Bruton Smith’s ZMax Dragway, John Force told his team that this week’s four-lane competition isn’t rocket science.  The thing to remember, said the 14-time champion, is that just because everything’s different, doesn’t mean anything’s changed.
 
As strange as that may sound, it contains a profound truth, which is that no matter how advanced the technology, no matter how many opponents are lined up on either side, no matter what the configuration of the Christmas Tree starting system, the basic premise remains the same and that is to get one’s car to the finish line ahead of all the others.
 
Over 35 years, Force has done that better than anyone in history, getting to the finish line first 1,047 times, which is one of the reasons the 60-year-old legend has been installed as the pre-race favorite in a suddenly resurgent Castrol GTX High Mileage Ford Mustang that celebrates his 25-year association with BP/Castrol.

Four different racers. Four different reactions. And yet they all had, as Karen Stoffer so plainly put it, “fun.”

Karen Stoffer, Hector Arana, Doug Horne and Morgan Lucas took three-lap rides courtesy of the Richard Petty Driving School at Charlotte Motor Speedway Thursday afternoon.

The NHRA technical department announced as of today, the GSA Pro Modified division will be prohibted from using automotic transmissions as well as automatic shifting devices.

Terry Haddock, benched after flaming performances at both Pomona and Phoenix, could return to both Top Fuel and Funny Car racing in the NHRA.

Before Haddock can make his return he will have to satisfy certain requirements. Haddock needs to make six (6) incident free runs in the Funny Car and three (3) incident free runs in the Top Fuel dragster before the NHRA will allow him to compete once again.

NHRA Drag racing is on the brink of a historical moment.

The NHRA is hosting the inaugural Four-Wide Nationals Thursday through Sunday at zMax Dragway in Concord, N.C. This is the first time in the modern era of drag racing Top Fuel dragsters and Funny Cars will race in four-wide competition at an NHRA national event.

Not lost in the excitement of the upcoming event is if the NHRA is going to push the envelope even farther.

Kurt Busch, driver of the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, had a choice to make. He could venture to Italy with his lovely wife, on a rare weekend off from the grueling 38-race Sprint Cup schedule or he could haul his Super Gas car to Sonoma.

He's going to Italy. But, he's not giving up on drag racing.

Irwin Tools will be the primary sponsor of veteran Top Fuel driver Doug Herbert for 2010 NHRA races taking place at zMax Dragway, just outside of Charlotte, NC.

Herbert will first showcase the famous blue and yellow colors of Irwin Tools on his “Top Fuel” dragster this weekend during the inaugural NHRA 4-Wide Nationals. He will will continue his association during the NHRA Carolina Nationals taking place September 16-19, 2010.

“Our team is really excited to kick off this program with Irwin Tools,” said Herbert, a 10-time winner in the NHRA. “This is Irwin’s first venture into NHRA, so we want to make them proud. Irwin has a great history of winning in motorsports, so our hope is to continue that tradition. Irwin’s tools are simply the best, and I am proud to be going to zMax Dragway this weekend to fight for the win with the Irwin colors on our dragster.”

Creating drag racing history will generate more than the average share of challenges, according to the NHRA’s leading professional drivers scheduled to participate in this weekend’s NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at zMax Dragway in Concord, NC.

This will be the first national event in NHRA history in which teams will compete in four lanes instead of the traditional two. Drag racing’s basic rules will be in place, except this time four professional vehicles will roll to the starting line for each round.

All four will perform their burnouts side-by-side-by-side-by-side and launch the same in each qualifying session and elimination round; Sunday’s eliminations will consist of three rounds instead of the traditional four.