After 3 consecutive NHRA Top Sportsman Division 2 Championships, Jeffrey Barker driving his Jerry Barker Motorsports Camaro built by Rick Jones, has decided to step up his program a notch.  While continuing his long term partnership with Reher Morrison, his engine will be outfitted with state of the art, multiple stages of Speedtech Nitrous.

While drag racing will probably never find itself as an Olympic sport anytime soon – especially during the winter games – that doesn’t mean drag racing enthusiasts can’t still get in on the pomp and circumstance surrounding the world’s ultimate sporting competition.

Castrol Raceway owner Rob Reeves has been selected to be one of an estimated 12,000 torchbearers for the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver and is more than excited about the opportunity to take part in history when the Olympic Flame passes through Edmonton, Alberta next week.

“It is truly a great honor and a once in a lifetime experience. There are only so many people who get this opportunity and only 50 in Edmonton,” Reeves said. “I get to be a part of history and global pride, an ambassador of the Olympic Spirit. The Olympic Flame represents a long standing symbol of peace, unity and friendship to light up our land.”

Five-time world champion drag racer Jeg Coughlin Jr. proved to be pretty adept in his JEGS.com bobsled Saturday, leading Team NHRA during qualifying for the fifth annual Lucas Oil Geoff Bodine Bobsled Challenge presented by Whelen Engineering.

Coughlin's 51.03-second run down historic Mount Van Hoevenberg was third quickest of the day, just behind seven-time off-road champ Carl Renezeder (50.66) and reigning NASCAR rookie of the year Joey Logano (50.79). Coughlin was followed closely by GEICO Powersports Top Fuel driver Morgan Lucas (51.13) and Lucas Oil Top Fuel racer Shawn Langdon (51.22).

Pro Mod racer Melanie Troxel, the first female to ever compete in the event, posted an eighth-best 51.48 in her final pass of the day. The quickest and fastest woman in drag racing, Troxel normally drives the R2B2 Racing Voodoo Corvette.

The recipe for winning NHRA world championships includes many ingredients – one being off-season testing.

With that in mind, the Al-Anabi Racing team is sending its two cars – the Top Fuel dragster driven by Larry Dixon and Top Fuel Funny Car driven by Del Worsham – to Palm Beach (Fla.) International Raceway Jan. 11-15 for testing. Each day test sessions will be taking place from 10 am.-7 pm. Eastern Time.

The Al-Anabi Racing team has rented the track exclusively and the test sessions are not open to the public or the media.

“We’re there to test and we’ve invited 12 other cars to join us (at the test),” said Chad Head, the director of racing operations for the Al-Anabi Racing team.

Would you believe us if we told you the stunt drivers for this epic drive-in movie from the late 1970s included "240" Gordie Bonin and NHRA Vice President of Operations Graham Light? Better believe it. Never believed a Funny Car could do all that they did in this movie.

For Alex Hossler and the rest of his Canton, Illinois based team, things could have hardly came together any better, especially considering the third event on the Arabian Drag Racing League marked his debut, and it’s location in the Doha being some 8,000 miles from his home in the United States. After the dust settled from two full days of heads up drag racing action at the state-of-the-art Qatar Race Club, Alex Hossler met 2009 Arabian Drag Racing League world champion, Von Smith, in an extraordinary final showdown.

Utilizing a considerable starting line advantage, Hossler was able to stay out in front during the entire trip down the QRC’s all-concrete eighth-mile, taking the win with a 3.77-second, 204.38mph to Smith’s quicker, but losing 3.76-second effort.

Every year since Attitude’s CompetitionPlus.com began publication in 1999, this Internet magazine has offered race fans the chance to choose the best driver/individual suited for awards based off their performances on and off the track. The following are the results of our reader ballots offered during the Christmas holidays.

Attitude’s CompetitionPlus.com, with the assistance of a key group of Pro Modified historians and enthusiasts, has compiled a list of Top 20 all-time drivers based on their contribution to the class, historic achievements, statistics and fan appeal.

Starting on Friday, January 11, 2010, we will reveal the list, announcing two drivers per week, until the No. 1 driver is unveiled on Saturday, Mar. 13, during the ADRL Dragpalooza in Houston, Texas.

Attitude’s CompetitionPlus.com narrowed the list from hundreds of drivers down to 20. However, today we will reveal five Honorable Mentions to the all-time list.

Bob Tasca Sr., an automotive enthusiast, Ford dealer and drag racing innovator, passed away on Friday, January 8, 2010, his family announced today.  Tasca Sr. was 83 years old.

An automotive businessman for more than 60 years, Tasca achieved fame as a record-setting automotive dealer and as an internationally-known designer of high-performance race cars.  Tasca Sr. is credited with helping create the Ford Thunderbolt drag racing car, and bringing the Cobra Jet 428 engine to NHRA in the 1960s.

“Bob Tasca Sr. had three important aspects to his life – his family, his friends, and Ford Motor Company,” said his grandson, Bob Tasca III.  “Those were the touch points in his life and for that we’re thankful.  We are grateful and privileged to have had so many years with him, and it’s hard to say goodbye.

The most difficult reality to swallow is the harsh reality of the end.

“It's life,” said a very pragmatic Spencer Massey, the day after Don “Snake” Prudhomme announced his retirement from drag racing after over 50 years in the sport as both a driver and a car owner.

“We all knew it could happen. But, as a team we all stuck together and we all knew it was a gamble.”

Less than six months ago, in the midst of the biggest drag race of the year, the U.S. Nationals, Prudhomme let the world know he was losing US Tobacco as a sponsor and the prospects for going forward did not look good. Prudhomme outlined at that time how he either needed to find a new sponsor, a business partner or an auctioneer.