Charles Carpenter, King of the 1955 Chevy Pro Modifieds, has a new look for the 2010 season, and most importantly the 20th anniversary of Pro Modified, a class he helped to pioneer. Carpenter will compete in the ADRL's Pro Nitrous division this season.

Larry Dixon has been wondering about one thing for awhile. The two-time NHRA Top Fuel champion, and driver of the Al-Anabi Top Fuel dragster, wonders what it will be like to enter a season as a relaxed challenger.

Dixon entered the 2009 season, after a whirlwind off-season of leaving one team to join another, with a team scrambling to gather parts, pieces and personnel. For all their efforts, the team failed to make the cut in the first race of the season, an event marred by rain with limited qualifying.

The good thing for Dixon and the Al-Anabi team is that a season isn’t judged by how you start. It’s how you finish that matters most.

Jim Dunn Racing's Driver for 2010 Fulfills Life-Long Dream with Full-Time Ride in the CANIDAE/Lucas Oil Funny Car
When Funny Car driver Paul Lee straps into the CANIDAE Pet Foods/Lucas Oil/WileyX Chevy for the first time at this weekend's season-opening 50th annual Kragen O'Reilly NHRA Winternationals at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona, there will probably be the requisite butterfly or two that any NHRA rookie racer might feel. Except the 52-year-old Lee with a degree from Wharton Business School and two graduate degrees from Rutgers isn't exactly your typical rookie. Nerves or not, the New Jersey native will see the life-long pursuit of a dream realized when the CANIDAE car is rolled to the line for the first round of qualifying at Pomona.

"I've been working towards this my whole life," said Lee. "Ever since I was 13 years old I knew what I wanted to do, and I've been drag racing ever since I was able to drive a car. It's taken me a long time, but now I'm finally there."

Technicoat Companies, a worldwide leader in industrial waterproofing and flooring and longtime associate sponsor with Kalitta Motorsports, will be the primary sponsor this weekend, Feb. 11-14, on the 8,000-horsepower, nitro-fueled Top Fuel dragster driven by Doug Kalitta for the 50th annual running of the famed NHRA Winternationals at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona (Calif.), just a few miles from Los Angeles.

Kalitta is the defending Top Fuel champion of the Winternationals.

In addition to Pomona, Kalitta will fly the primary colors for Technicoat Companies at the next Full Throttle Drag Racing Series event in Phoenix next weekend. Future NHRA events featuring the Technicoat Top Fueler will be announced soon.

Greg Anderson might seem cool, calm and collected when he rolls to the starting line at any of the NHRA’s 23-race Full Throttle Drag Racing Series events. If only race fans could see him in the days leading up to the first race of the season.

Admittedly, this has been a tough off-season for Anderson and his team.

“Our outlook is no different than any other season – we live in complete fear until we make that first run in Pomona,” said Anderson, who will compete at this weekend’s NHRA Winternationals.  “This KB Racing crew has had its distractions over the last few months, which made the off-season seem even shorter than it actually is. But through it all, we have stayed steady, working as hard we can. We’re certainly pleased with the results we saw with our new Summit Racing Pontiac in testing, and are confident we have a good hot rod and have moved our program forward.

Entering her third season behind the wheel of the BrandSource A Fuel Dragster Brittany Force has been an eager student. Sure the occasional butterflies start stirring before a run but the 23 year-old Cal State Fullerton graduate puts those feelings on the back burner before she makes a 275 mph pass. As the 2010 Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series seasons starts Force will continue her education both on and off the track as a racer and a student teacher.

“I am excited to be back from a quick Winter Break and to start off the season at my home track in Pomona. It’s been a few months since climbing into my BrandSource A Fuel dragster and thinking about making my first pass of the year down the track puts butterflies in my stomach in a good, exciting way. Due to the rigorous schedule I am beginning for student teaching I won't get to make all the qualifying runs I would like but I hope the ones I do make will lock me into the show. I can't wait and hope for a great weekend for the Force team,” said Force.

More than five centuries ago, explorers brave, bold, and battle-ready sailed into uncharted seas and lands in search of silk, spices, and “The New World.” They had no idea what they would discover, but the quest for a conquest was overwhelming.
 
Today a 5-foot-5 former football player with a Masters degree from the University of Arkansas, a 39-year-old man who loves shopping and exotic cars when he isn't buffing up at the gym, is embarking on a grand expedition in the other direction. Just as on their journeys Christopher Columbus carried the flag of Spain's King Ferdinand to the Western world, “Hot Rod” Fuller will be representing the National Hot Rod Association and “the nation of drag racing” in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates.

On the outside, things will seem very different for Pro Stock stalwart Kurt Johnson at this weekend’s O’Reilly Kragen NHRA Winternationals in Pomona, CA.  The familiar blue, red and white livery he has carried for over 20 years has been replaced by a mostly white design.  His two-man crew is completely new, having joined the Sugar Hill-based organization during the winter.
 
However, a closer inspection will show that many of this perennial championship contender’s key components remain in place, including a proven race car powered by the legendary Johnson horsepower.  Most importantly, Ontario, CA-based Mark Christopher Auto Center, who has been with the team virtually since its inception has stepped forward to sponsor the team for the first few races of the 2010 Full Throttle season.

Photographer Wes Gelfand, son of longtime drag racing photographer Joel Gelfand captured some of the early scenes from the 50th NHRA Winternationals in Pomona, Ca.

The NHRA has scheduled a press conference today to kick off the historic event. Qualifying officially begins on Thursday afternoon with one session.