Arguably one of the most colorful drag racers ever to come out of the Pacific Northwest is Twig Zeigler who found fame racing his Pizza Haven Funny Car all over the country in the mid 1970’s. Like most racers, Zeigler’s life in the fast lane makes for an entertaining
story about the true grit and the determination it took to make a living racing nitro funny cars and the steep price that is sometimes
paid.

When testing got underway for Round 2 of the Arabian Drag Racing League’s 2009-10 schedule, Sheikh Khalid bin Hamad Al-Thani wasted no time in serving notice he’s ready to do battle over the eighth mile at the Qatar Race Club.

Under the watchful eye of crew chief Frank “Ace” Manzo, Sheikh Khalid piloted his Al-Anabi Racing, Tim McAmis-built ’68 Camaro to an outstanding 3.74-seconds pass at more than 204 miles per hour. Both numbers are not far off the official series records held by Tennessee racer Von Smith, the defending Arabian Drag Racing League Pro Extreme champion and winner of Round 1 at the same track two weeks ago.

The cars will be the stars this week when 14-time NHRA Funny Car Champion John Force opens the gates of his Southern California racing complex for the annual John Force Racing Holiday Car Show benefitting the California Highway Patrol’s “CHiP’s for Kids” Christmas toy drive.
 
Hundreds of street rods, muscle cars, classics, exotics, motorcycles, trucks, boats, specialty vehicles and race cars including the Force brothers’ “Nightstalker” Funny Car will be on display from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday.  Price of admission is a new, unwrapped $10 toy.
 
In addition to the “Nightstalker,” which returned to competition this year in a one-off event at Norwalk, Ohio, the vehicle lineup includes Jay Leno’s 1955 Buick Roadmaster custom, a $2 million Bugatti Veyron, a collection of “monster rods” built from Peterbilt trucks and an historic Amphicar designed for road or water.

Johnny Vickers, owner of Hawaya Racing Products, has signed an agreement to sponsor the AHDRA Pro Dragster class for the 2010 AHDRA/Screamin’ Eagle Championship Series racing season. Vickers is well known in the motorcycle drag racing industry for his innovative and top quality products and services. Hawaya Racing manufactures an extensive line of products from starter carts and trick carburetors to complete drag bikes geared toward the nitromethane burning “Fuel” classes in AHDRA and other sanctions. Their proprietary Derringer engine is the result of many years of work and research and is one of their signature products.

Peggy Llewellyn and her NHRA helmet sponsor, AKUMA Helmets, teamed up to design an exclusive helmet for Divas For A Cure to be auctioned.

“This would be a great Christmas gift for riding and racing enthusiast, and you will be contributing to a great cause,” said Llewellyn. “I am really happy AKUMA and I were able to design such a great helmet.”

Forrest Lucas, John Force and Ashley Force Hood are also featured speakers

Several members of the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series community, including President Tom Compton, will be featured prominently over the next two days at the 10th annual Motorsports Marketing Forum presented by Street & Smith’s SportsBusiness Journal.

The two-day event, which is being held at the Planet Hollywood Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, includes eight panels/interviews today and three more tomorrow.

Antron Brown, driver of the Don Schumacher-owned Matco Tools NHRA Full Throttle Series top fuel dragster, will be tonight's featured guest on NHRA Tuesdays on WFO Radio with Joe Castello.

What do you do to prepare a junkyard-purchased classic for drag strip competition?

That is the challenge Tom Lukans of TL Race Cars faces in the second installment of Project White Wagon.

The goal is to turn a 1964 Chevy II Wagon into a competitive SS/E Modified entry complete with a high-winding small block and manually shifted five-speed transmission.

Officials from the International Motorsports Industry Show (IMIS) confirmed that all 572 available booths will be used for the inaugural IMIS show Dec. 2-3 at the Indiana Convention Center in downtown Indianapolis.

The two-day IMIS trade show offers individuals and companies from all facets of the racing business the chance to interact, share ideas and products, build relationships and attend seminars to improve motorsports business around the world, all while showcasing Indianapolis as the “Racing Capital of the World.”

Bristol Dragway officials, along with SPEED, confirmed the return of the popular drag racing television show, PINKS All Out, to Thunder Valley Oct. 1-2, 2010.

PINKS All Out host Rich Christensen and the SPEED crew will revisit Bristol after a remarkable debut event in 2007. More than 400 racers competed in time trials for the event and the grandstands were packed with spectators from more than 15 states, eager to see one of their favorite TV shows live.

For some, the opportunity to take part in the filming of a nationally broadcast television show is all it takes to entice them to come to the track. Others, however, will visit Bristol simply for the high-speed, “run-what-you-brung” action on the strip. Either way, it is definitely a must-see event.

After seeing what all the excitement was about, many of those curious visitors were transformed into die-hard PINKS fans. That set in motion conversations between officials from both groups to determine how they could make it happen again.