Alan Johnson, owner of Alan Johnson Performance Engineering, issued the following statement regarding the current NHRA investigation of AJPE Superchargers provided to NHRA teams during last weekend's NHRA event in Pomona, Ca., and this weekend in Chandler Az:

“All Alan Johnson Performance Engineering parts are manufactured to meet NHRA specifications. NHRA is currently examining an AJPE Supercharger that was used by six teams in Pomona (Calif.) last weekend. Four of the six teams used the same supercharger during the 2009 NHRA Full Throttle Drag season, including the Al-Anabi Racing Top Fuel team."

A second fiery explosion in as many 2010 events was enough cause for NHRA officials to disqualify Funny Car racer Terry Haddock from the NHRA Arizona Nationals.

Sitting in his cozy new motorcoach at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway three weeks ago, Roger Brogdon was smiling, despite some minor grumbling. It must have been one of those sly types of grins.

The Pro Stock Showdown at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway was quickly turning into a veritable waste of time and resources. Or at least it was the picture Brogdon was painting.

“Nothing impressive,” said Brogdon of his first two days of testing and qualifying in Vegas. “We had to abort two out of four runs, we chipped a tire so bad. Track's not that good, matter of fact it's terrible. They sprayed it one time this morning and haven't done nothing to it all day long. The two runs we did make it down, my car spins from the time I go to third gear to the finish line. So it's nothing to write home about.”

Jim Head almost made a big mistake at the Racer’s for Christ chapel service last weekend in Pomona. The parishioner seated in front of him wore a jacket which he deemed offensive. The average person wouldn’t have been bothered.

Head’s internal anger made him see the display of First Amendment right as more than he could handle.

Head is very glad today that he didn’t throw in his two-cents worth.

So what did the jacket advertise that was so offensive to the Funny Car driver?

Top Fuel Doug Kalitta wondered if the NHRA still held press conferences after qualifying. Friday night in Phoenix, his questions were answered.

For the drag racing veteran, the last time he’d been to one was in November 2006, when he qualified on the pole for the NHRA Finals in Pomona, Ca. This weekend, he has the quickest Top Fuel dragster at Phoenix with a 3.825, 317.05.

Admittedly, Kalitta and his crew, led by Jim Oberhofer, have stumbled on to something that is working. Based on their runner-up finish last weekend in the season-opening Winternationals, it’s working well.

When the NHRA announced Thursday evening the temporary suspension of mandatory use of the Electrimotion Shutoff Receiver, Ron Capps was pleased.

While not the only driver to experience issues with the device, Capps, driver of the NAPA Dodge, was one of the more vocal after suffering damage to not one, but two, blowers.

The system is not being used on the NAPA Dodge this weekend. In between first and second round qualifying the California native took the time to describe his experience with the device at Pomona.

When you’re on top there’s only one place to go and defending NHRA Pro Stock world champion Mike Edwards knows that all too well.

Driving the Penhall-sponsored Pontiac GXP, Edwards stands on the cusp of his eleventh consecutive No. 1 qualifying effort with a 6.609 elapsed time at 209.46 during the NHRA Arizona Nationals in Phoenix.

Edwards has now led 24 consecutive qualifying sessions dating back to July 2009 in Denver.

“I want to get every inch of the race track that I can get and that first sixty feet is just as important as the last sixty feet,” said Edwards, when asked if his qualifying philosophy began with an aggressive launch.

Less than 24 hours after announcing they impounded several superchargers, NHRA officials Graham Light and Glenn Gray, answered questions surrounding the situation.

Four different superchargers were taken by the sanctioning body at Pomona following the 50th Winternationals. Superchargers from the race cars of Larry Dixon, Tony Schumacher, Bob Tasca and Ashley Force Hood were impounded for later inspection. The result of the inspection – three superchargers passed and the fourth, from Dixon's dragster, did not.

Gordie Rivera, longtime NHRA Pro Stock racer from Yuma, Az., crashed his Pontiac GXP during Friday afternoon qualifying.

Rivera’s Pontiac appeared to break something in the left rear forcing the car sideways and into a slow roll onto its roof where it skidded to a stop after crossing into the right lane.

He climbed out of the car under his own power.

NHRA officials announced today that Tire Kingdom, a leading brand of service centers for Florida-based TBC Retail Group, Inc. (“TBC”) has signed an agreement to become the title sponsor of the tradition-rich NHRA Gatornationals, held at historic Gainesville (Fla.) Raceway.

The Tire Kingdom NHRA Gatornationals, held March 11-14, is the third event in the 23-race NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series in 2010. The race will be televised by ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD.

It is the first event sponsorship for Tire Kingdom and TBC with the NHRA.