Second annual CompetitionPlus.com War Stories Champion John Force issued a warning last year during his acceptance speech.

“I’m coming back and I’m bringing Louie with me,” Force vowed.

Louie Force became the first official entrant into the third annual CompetitionPlus.com War Stories Showdown, an invitational only event which pits drag racing’s best storytellers head-to-head in a four week competition.

The fourteen-time champion NHRA Funny Car champion Force is not allowed to compete since rules prohibit participation following a win.

Top Alcohol Funny Car racer Steve Gasparrelli admits during his first round race at the NHRA Auto Club Finals that he didn’t have a clue what was going on when his Mustang flopper crashed suddenly and unexpectedly.

The West Covina, Ca.-based racer was along for the ride when his entry broke an oil line and abruptly turned right into the opposite lane taking out an ESPN2 camera before striking the guardwall and coming to a stop with the throttle hung open and the car upside down.

“When the car took off, it was just like a normal run and then all of a sudden the ass-end came around,” Gasparrelli explained. “I was out of the throttle as soon as it came around and I figured the car had broken something. I had never experienced a car turning right that quickly before.”

NHRA officials released its 2010 NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series schedule today, which features 43 events, with a minimum of five races conducted in each of NHRA’s seven divisions.

The 2010 schedule also includes the addition of a new event May 15-17 at Tulsa Raceway Park in Tulsa, Okla. in the South Central Division.

NHRA Lucas Oil Series drivers in seven categories compete for valuable points leading to divisional and national championships and a share of the $561,000 purse.  The series also includes three sportsman-focused national events: the Jegs NHRA Cajun SPORTSnationals in Belle Rose, La.; the Jegs NHRA Pacific SPORTSnationals in Fontana, Calif.; and the Jegs NHRA Northern SPORTSnationals in Columbus, Ohio.

It's been an outstanding run for both veteran NHRA Pro Stock driver Kurt Johnson and ACDelco, but after 14 race seasons, the sponsor-partnership that together produced 34 national-event victories, 10 top-five points finishes and a countless number of memorable moments, came to a close at the end of the 2009 NHRA Full Throttle race season. It marks the conclusion of one of the longest-running sponsorships in NHRA Drag Racing, dating all the way back to 1996 when Johnson first competed in the Delco Freedom Batteries car.

If you raced Top Sportsman during the years of 1986 through 1989, it was important that you brought a label to the race. Usually that label was the world’s fastest [insert car year and make here] and that was usually enough of a calling card to generate match races, t-shirt sales and magazine articles.

Robin Judd is now the outright leader in the 2009/2010 Australian National Drag Racing Association (ANDRA) Pro Series Top Doorslammer Championship after winning the 38th Goldenstates at the Perth Motorplex on November 14.

Judd, a Perth-based Chartered Accountant, has now won back-to-back major national events after winning the Australian Nationals in Sydney in September.

Going into the event, Judd was locked on 165 points after two rounds with archrival John Zappia and buoyed after recording Australia’s quickest-ever Doorslammer pass – 5.822-second – at the Perth Motorplex on October 31.

However, Judd’s desire to win an Australian Top Doorslammer Championship almost came unstuck when he was in danger of missing the Goldenstates’ eight-car field. Judd’s William Buck/K & B Exclusive Studebaker over-powered the track in the first two qualifying sessions, failing to complete the runs, which saw Judd in 12th and last place during the Friday 13 qualifying.

It has been two years in the making, but Drag Racing - The World’s Fastest Sport is now available for fans of this popular form of auto racing.
 
112309The newly-released hardcover book encompasses all facets of drag racing, from a strong segment on the history of the sport to today’s top drivers in the NHRA and IHRA. There is a section on all car classes, from Stockers to Top Fuelers, a drag racing “101” primer which delves into the mechanics of the sport, and chapters devoted to women in the sport and legends of the sport.
 
The book is profusely illustrated with exciting and colorful photographs. The book also employs a bevy of illustrations of drag racing cars and other items related to the sport presented in a realistic fashion.

Thanksgiving Food Drive Nets More than 5,500 Pounds for Area Food Banks

Infineon Raceway distributed more than 5,500 pounds of non-perishable food items to Friends in Sonoma Helping (FISH) and the Salvation Army Vallejo Food Pantry on Monday during the raceway's 9th annual Thanksgiving Food Drive.

The amount marked the most Infineon Raceway has distributed in one year since the inception of the food drive in 2000. Infineon Raceway has distributed more than 17,500 pounds of non-perishable food items since 2000.

Those seeking signs that the economy is on the mend need look no further than Steve Earwood’s Rockingham Dragway which, in the midst of the current recession, attracted record numbers to its eight fall events.

 In the fall quarter, The Rock drew 2,890 racing vehicles and more than 105,000 fans for events as diverse as the IHRA Team Finals, a competition for entry level, grassroots racers; the American Drag Racing League’s Dragstrock VI, featuring the extreme Pro Modified and Pro Stock vehicles; and the IHRA World Finals, last event in the IHRA NitroJam Series featuring 320 mile-an-hour Top Fuel dragsters.

  “It was a very gratifying quarter,” Earwood said.  “The economy being what it is, we were very happy with the numbers.  Everyone in business is challenged right now, but our position is that in times like these, people need to be entertained more than ever and, thankfully, drag racing is a great outlet.”

Robert Hight’s first world championship is the tenth overall championship for John Force Racing in a Ford, eclipsing the previous mark held by Pro Stock icon Bob Glidden.

Glidden and Hight are worlds apart in terms of accomplishments and the breed of race vehicles they drive. However, for Hight, sound advice is a great thing to have regardless of how much horsepower your race car generates.

“He’s always been so cool to me,” Hight said of Glidden, an 85-time winner in NHRA Pro Stock. “I would always try to be up there, walking the starting line, when the Pro Stocks were running. For whatever reason, he took a liking to me. He always would come up to me and I learned a lot from him. I have so much respect for Bob Glidden.