CompetitionPlus.com has learned that delays in parts will prevent the two-car Pro Stock team of Jim Cunningham and Erica Enders from completing their new Ford engines in time to race the NHRA Las Vegas Nationals. They are expected to race at the AAA Finals in Pomona, Ca., next month.

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Fred Crespi, oddsmaker for the sports books at The Palms Resort & Casino and the South Point Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas predicts Tony Schumacher, Robert Hight and Mike Edwards will win final-round eliminations on Sunday at the NHRA Las Vegas Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Jay Blake's Follow A Dream/Permatex Top Alcohol Funny Car team has named Todd Veney as its driver for the 2010 season. 

"Our whole team is excited to have Todd driving; he’s a great team player," said Blake, who has led the team to multiple national event victories since fulfilling his lifelong dream of owning his own Top Alcohol Funny Car team in 2003. Veney drove that first Follow A Dream car before pursuing his own lifelong dream of fielding a team with his dad, Ken Veney, in 2004.

Who knew a $ 40 investment could go so far?

When Davey Boyd bought his ’65 Satellite all the way back in 1974 for a grand total of $40 he never dreamed that it would one day lead to a $12,000 payday and a world championship, but that is exactly what he experienced over the weekend by picking up the Summit SuperSeries No Box World Championship at the IHRA World Finals Sunday at Rockingham Dragway.

Boyd, from Spencer, Tenn., capitalized on that investment Sunday when he drove around Todd Hohn (Nashville, Tenn.) in a battle of Tennessee to lay claim the 2009 Summit SuperSeries No Box title and in doing so takes home a lucrative prize package.

Over the last few years, one of the segments of the motorsports community experiencing a dramatic rise in popularity has been nostalgia drag racing.  Every summer weekend at tracks across the country, fans have been flocking to events where meticulously restored vintage race cars from the 50s, 60s and 70s as well as faithfully executed reproductions compete both in static displays and on the race track, offering a highly sensory glimpse into the history of the sport.    Recognizing this growing trend, Championship Auto Shows, Inc. (CASI) today announced an expansion to its highly popular Autorama and World of Wheels car shows with an attraction dedicated to the nostalgia drag racing community.

Nostalgia Funny Car racer Leah Pruett-LeDuc, will make her debut into the Nitro Funny Car class at the 2009 Pomona Winter Finals, November 12-15,  driving the John Lindsay and Phil Miller owned Chevrolet Monte Carlo Funny Car sponsored by DragStar and TIGERFLOW Systems, Inc.
 
DragStar and TIGERFLOW Systems, Inc. will serve as co primary sponsors, with associate sponsors Iwata Medea, who are distributors of the World’s finest Airbrush Materials, and Coast Airbrush, located in Anaheim, Ca. Additional supporters of the team are Lucas Oil, Justice Brothers, Clevite, DJ Safety, and Simpson.

Before competing in the penultimate event on the 2009 NHRA schedule, 23-time NHRA winner Antron Brown and his Matco Tools dragster will visit College of Southern Nevada. The former college track star turned Top Fuel driver will visit with CSN students on October 28.

"I really enjoy these TechEd visits we do for Matco (Tools)," Brown said. "I was just like many of these students not too long ago when I was a student at Mercer (Community) College in New Jersey. It's nice to give back and speak to the kids about career paths and the importance of focusing on education. These kids at the Votech schools are the technicians of tomorrow and it's great to have the chance to meet them and hopefully deliver the right message."

Considering the number of cars entered in the Pennsylvania Dutch Classic, repeating as a winner is quite an accomplishment.
 
That’s what happened Sunday evening as Erich Bollman and Joe DiPasquale were able to win for a second year in a row in their respective classes as the four-day event concluded at Maple Grove Raceway.
 
The two joined Jim Daniels, who clinched back-to-back wins at The Grove in the Mopar HEMI Challenge earlier in the day.

Drag racer Brian Thiel will fly the colors of Speedway Children’s Charities on his Top Alcohol Funny Car at this weekend’s NHRA Las Vegas Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The body of Thiel’s 2002 Chevrolet Camaro Funny Car will feature a paint scheme created by graphic artist Eddie Hollon.

For Thiel, a rice farmer from Pleasant Grove, Calif., the decision to support the charity was an easy one.
       
“It’s all about the kids,” said Thiel. “When I learned of how many children this foundation has helped over the years, I had to be involved. We hope everyone who sees this car will find it in their heart to support Speedway Children’s Charities. It’s a real honor to be involved and I’m all in.”

As the Countdown to 1, NHRA’s championship playoffs, comes to the season’s penultimate race in Las Vegas, each professional category in the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series features its own dramatic storyline.

In Top Fuel, every championship contender is gunning to remove a category dominator from the throne he has held for the past five seasons.

In Funny Car, a female driver is trying to make history and become the first of her gender to win a world championship crown in the wildly unpredictable category which her father has dominated for most of two decades. In order to do it, she’ll need to stop five other men who are also in contention, including one multi-time champ, her former driving instructor, a teammate, last season’s series runner-up, and a driver who’s finished second in the championship standings three times.