The second Las Vegas stop on the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series has been a cruel mistress for Robert Hight.

In 2007 Hight was vying for his first championship and posted the number one qualifying time only to have his Mustang break during the burnout in the first round. The loss opened the door for eventual champion Tony Pedregon to distance himself from Hight for the championship.

Last season Hight was locked into a tight battle with Cruz Pedregon and Tim Wilkerson for the championship. He once again qualified No. 1 and he raced to the final round where he was defeated by eventual Funny Car world champion Cruz Pedregon.

Days after earning the ADRL’s Pro Extreme championship, Yadkinville, NC-based doorslammer legend Todd Tutterow still finds it difficult to find words descriptive of his greatest racing accomplishment.

“It does seem odd to be able to say that,” Tutterow admitted.

No world championship trophy on his shelf before the weekend, Tutterow has proven over the years to be anything but a newcomer. He built his legend racing on tracks, mostly eighth-mile in length, that many seasoned veterans would shy away from.

Top Fuel drag racer Cory McClenathan remains firm on one aspect of his drag racing career. The veteran driver of the Fram Top Fuel dragster has given himself until his 50th birthday to win a championship and then, win or lose, he plans to embark on a new life outside of the cockpit.

Currently McClenathan stands third in a three-way championship battle with Don Schumacher Racing teammate Tony Schumacher and Al-Anabi driver Larry Dixon. Newly announced DSR teammate Antron Brown is fourth.

At 68 points out of first, McClenathan’s chances are remote, but not impossible, with eight possible rounds of completion remaining. Last year he finished third in the championship points behind the same two drivers.

Canadian Kenny Lang finished a dream season Sunday by taking home the IHRA Pro Mod World Champion trophy, his second World Championship in as many years. The year was highlighted by eight consecutive trips to the finals, four wins, four No. 1 qualifiers, and an IHRA ET record of 5.884 seconds.
 
"When you look at the season like that - with all the things we accomplished, it really shows just how good this team performed," Lang said. "Pretty much everything went right all season long.
 
"Winning the championship last year was awesome and humbling, but to do it again is something very few people will ever duplicate. It really is incredible.

Heading into Las Vegas Mike Neff is still technically in contention for the 2009 NHRA Full Throttle Funny Car championship. Funny Car is the closest category of the four NHRA professional classes with 159 points separating Neff in 10th place from teammate Robert Hight in 1st. A team can pick up 150 points in one event so its possible a longshot runner could shuffle the deck of competition.

Neff controls his own destiny behind the wheel and under the hood. For the fourth time this season Neff will be spearheading tuning duties for his team as well as piloting it down The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Earlier this year Neff pulled double duty when crew chief John Medlen missed Phoenix and Gainesville to have heart condition evaluated in Indianapolis. He raced to a runner-up finish in Phoenix and qualified No. 5 in Gainesville.

Every year ProMedia Events holds its NMRA and NMCA Awards Ceremonies at the PRI show, and because of last year's successful draw of 1,300 guests, the organizers are beginning their preparations early. 

The date for this year's ceremonies is Friday, December 11th.  If you want a reserved space at either ceremony, you will need to RSVP with your name(s), address and number of table spaces (they need a name for every person reserving a space).  Please indicate which ceremony (or both) you plan to attend.

Less than a week after winning the ADRL Extreme Pro Stock championship, Matt Hartford will climb into Kenny Koretsky’s Nitro Fish Dodge to see if he can bring some competitive good fortune to the Richboro, Pa.-based team in the city where luck is a welcomed – and much used – four-letter word.

Hartford, who clinched his title Saturday in the eighth-mile competition, isn’t too concerned about keeping his right foot stuffed against the floorboard for another 660 feet when the NHRA Las Vegas Nationals unfolds, Oct. 29-Nov.1, at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

“On that last run at Dallas,” recalled Hartford, “I’m sure I ran it to the quarter-mile mark to make sure I wasn’t going to get beat.  It was a great way to top off the (ADRL) season.  I was pretty happy.

The International Drag Racing Hall of Fame, based at Don Garlits Museum of Drag Racing, Ocala, Florida has announced the induction to the Hall of Fame for the year 2010. The list of eight inductees is as follows:
 
Name
Honored For

1*John Buttera
Chassis & Body builder

2*Jack Engle
Cam Pioneer

3*Leroy Goldstein
Driver - F/C - T/F
 
4*Dickie Harrell
Mr. Chevrolet

5 Jim Read (Australia)
Australian Champion
 
6 Bill Simpson
Pioneer - Safety equipment

Shannon Jenkins had a simple request and his team responded.

When the crew chief for the Awesome/Al-Anabi Pro Modified team suffered the unexpected death of his father, the team expressed an interest to attend the wake and the funeral, with little regard to the weekend’s ADRL Speedtech Battle for the Belts competition.

Their noble gesture was met with a request to not only race, but to win.

On Saturday afternoon, team driver K.A. Balooshi stepped up to the plate and delivered a home run with not only the quickest and fastest run in the history of nitrous doorslammer racing but also a pair of victories, including the 2009 ADRL Pro Nitrous world championship.

The cars they race are world's apart. The words they speak are almost a carbon copy.

Tony Schumacher couldn’t help but smile when he heard NASCAR’s Jimmie Johnson being interviewed following last Sunday’s race at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway.

“I could definitely relate to what he was talking about,” said Schumacher as he prepared for this weekend’s Las Vegas Nationals here at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. “He and I are clearly in similar positions at the moment. Neither one of us really want to talk about points right now.”

While Johnson currently leads the NASCAR Sprint Cup standings with a handful of races to go, Schumacher sits atop the NHRA’s Top Fuel standings heading into the final two races of the 2009 Full Throttle Drag Racing Series season.