As the 2009 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series season draws to a close, U.S. Army Top Fuel team crew chief Mike Green is attempting to lead driver Tony “The Sarge” Schumacher to his sixth straight world championship and the seventh of his career.

Jimmy Prock is a man of few words and when the AAA Ford Mustang driven by Robert Hight struggled, those words were even fewer.

Together Prock and Hight have shelved the frustrations of two-thirds of the 2009 season, for an incredible six race run which could land the duo their first career world championship next weekend in Pomona, Ca.

Prock, who has tuned Hight to multiple championship runner-ups, believed that he and the team could work through their earlier shortcomings and when the championship was on the line could deliver a potent package.

Matt Guidera believes the penalty should fit the crime.

Guidera’s competition license was suspended for one year by the  NHRA for failing to produce an adequate urine sample in a 24 hour time frame during the NHRA U.S. Nationals and eliminated him from contention in the 2009 Countdown to 1. Guidera will finish 10th in the standings.

In Guidera’s case, the penalty for missing the deadline is worse than that of a positive drug test. He said he never refused to submit, he just couldn’t produce a sample within the prescribed 24 hours.

Guidera was at the NHRA Las Vegas Nationals tuning his two-bike team, his first appearance at an NHRA event since Indianapolis. He’s presently appealing the suspension of his competitor's license.

CompetitionPlus.com has learned that the new Ford Hemi engine (pictured) will be between the fenders of the Pro Stock Mustangs fielded by Jim Cunningham for the first time next weekend. The debut was originally scheduled for Las Vegas but parts delays pushed the introduction until next weekend's NHRA Auto Club Finals in Pomona, Ca.

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A highlight of the Awards Celebration concluding the 2009 Get Screened America Pro Mod Challenge season was the presentation of the Steve Engel "Big Man, Big Heart" award to veteran drag racer and longtime supporter of the Challenge, Mike Knowles.
 
Knowles, from Grand Junction, Colo., is the second recipient of the award that was created in the memory of Steve Engel, a Pro Mod racer who died in 2008 as a result of a high-speed accident during qualifying for the U.S. Nationals. The Steve Engel "Big Man, Big Heart" Award is a perpetual honor handed out annually to a member of the Pro Mod community that best exemplifies Engel's gregarious spirit and generous nature.
 
A drag racer for more than two decades, Knowles was extremely supportive and helpful of efforts to maintain and grow the series at the beginning of 2009. During racing events, it's well known within the pits that Knowles will lend any parts a driver might need, and he has been known to feed more than 100 people a day from a variety of teams from his makeshift portable kitchen at the back of his pit. In his words, "If they are hungry, we'll feed 'em."

CompetitionPlus.com's Director of Photography Roger Richards is at the SEMA show this week and for the next few days, one of drag racing's most talented photographers will bring you the show highlights. Click on the link below and allow us to walk you through the show.

SEMA PHOTO GALLERY

Three decades of Budweiser on the side of a Kenny Bernstein-owned nitro car will end next Sunday afternoon in Pomona, Ca.

“This final race is going to be very emotional for our family,” said Budweiser/Lucas Oil team owner Kenny Bernstein.  “We owe a debt of gratitude to all the executives, brand management and sports marketing team members and wholesalers who have touched our lives during our tenure at Anheuser-Busch.  All of these folks made it possible for a young man from Texas to follow his dream.  We have enjoyed success that was way beyond our wildest imagination when we were a teenager reading hot rod magazines in high school. It’s been a great ride.”

Kenny and Brandon Bernstein, while sponsored by Budweiser, combined for a total of 86 national event wins:  68 Top Fuel and Funny Car victories for Kenny, 18 Top Fuel trophies for Brandon.  Kenny won four consecutive Funny Car championships from 1985-1988, and then capped that achievement with two Top Fuel championships, 1996 and 2001. Kenny will forever be remembered as the first to surpass the 300 mile-per-hour barrier in Gainesville, Fla. on March 20, 1992.

The NHRA continues to research ways to reduce horsepower for their professional nitro divisions.

NHRA has worked earlier in the season with Tim Wilkerson Racing and on the day after the NHRA Las Vegas Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, expanded their data gathering program to Cruz Pedregon Racing.

With his impressive win in Las Vegas Pro Stock veteran Larry Morgan has absolutely proven the worth of his venerable Dodge, a car that clearly appears capable of making someone else a winner.  Morgan says, “When I make my last run at Pomona, whether it runs 6.40 or 6.90, I want to climb out at the other end, and never look back.”

Top Fuel driver Antron Brown can only hope his Matco Tools has finally found a stable home. The former Pro Stock Motorcycle standout who made the jump to Top Fuel prior to 2008, has taken a rollercoaster ride of uncertainty for last two seasons and with Don Schumacher’s purchase of Mike Ashley Racing’s assets, he’s on his fourth team owner.
 
Brown said this kind of movement comes with the territory of a professional athlete, but even he admits four times is a bit much.
 
“Drag racing team members are like professional stick and ball sports players, one year he could be here and the next he could be traded,” Brown explained. “That’s the same way out here. Now I feel like we are at home.”