Hundreds of racers in 11 categories commanded the strip this weekend at Thunder Valley Raceway, which completed the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series for the South Central division.  In the end, Top Alcohol Dragster pilot Brandon Lewis of Broken Arrow, Okla., took home the final win light and locked down the division Championship. Top Alcohol Funny Car driver Chris Foster out of Davenport, Iowa, also picked up a victory and is making a last minute push for the West Central division title.

Lewis kept the momentum going this weekend as he picked up his third Top Alcohol Dragster victory in a row. He laid down a healthy 5.319 second, 271.00 mph pass to drive around Richard Putz of Earlville, Iowa, and grab the NHRA Wally trophy.

In the all Iowa final, Foster’s 5.735 second, 248.07 mph lap was more than enough to take out the struggling Lance Van Hauen of Reinbeck.  This marks Foster’s third divisional win of the year and places him in strong contention with Andrew Bohl for NHRA’s division five title.

The IHRA’s longest consecutive running professional division, Mountain Motor Pro Stock, will remain intact for at least three more seasons as part of an agreement between the newly formed Mountain Motor Pro Stock Association [MMPSA], IHRA national event track operators and the management of the sanctioning body. The IHRA announced a major restructuring of their race format and as a result, the original division, was legislated out of full-time status for next season.

The agreement for the Pro Stock division to return in 2010 was brokered at the IHRA World Finals in Rockingham, NC, the final event of the 2010 season.

According to an IHRA press release issued on Sunday afternoon, the MMPSA will govern a program in which 16-car fields will be qualified at most events in the Nitro Jam Series from a pool of more than two dozen race cars representing all the major American manufacturers. The Pro Stockers will adhere to the new two-day format by running three qualifying sessions on the first day and traditional eliminations on the second.

Alex Hossler of Canton, Illinois, won his career-first National Guard ADRL Pro Extreme event in memorable fashion, crossing the eighth-mile finish line at

the Texas Motorplex with his 1970 Camaro on fire after posting a 3.73-seconds pass at 202.48 miles per hour to beat Quain Stott in the final round of the LenMar Motorsports ADRL World Finals V. 
 

Todd Tutterow turned on the win light three times over two days at the Texas Motorplex to secure his first National Guard American Drag Racing League’s (ADRL) Pro Extreme world championship.
 
The Yadkinville, North Carolina-based driver entered the championship-deciding Speedtech Battle for the Belts—a unique eight-car playoff for the top points earners in the class—in fifth place and raced through Mike Janis, two-time defending series champ Jason Scruggs and Joshua Hernandez to take the Belt.

One of the longest ongoing relationships in all of motorsports, Summit Racing Equipment announced Saturday that it has re-signed with the International Hot Rod Association in a multi-year deal that will carry the two organizations into 2010 and beyond.

Summit Racing Equipment, which sponsors the Summit Pro-Am Tour, the Summit SuperSeries, the Summit All-Star Race and the Team Finals, will continue to support all of the sportsman programs within the IHRA by signing a multi-year deal that will continue to give sportsman racers a stage within the IHRA to compete at local and national events across North America.

 “Summit Racing recognizes IHRA Sportsman racers’ commitment to the sport and is happy to renew its IHRA Sportsman programs,” said Jim Greenleaf, Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Event Manager. “Summit Racing is committed to supporting sportsman racing through the Summit SuperSeries, Pro-Am Series, the season-ending Team Finals and the All-Star Race.

Don Schumacher Racing NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series champion drivers Tony Schumacher, Ron Capps, Cory McClenathan, Jack Beckman, Matt Hagan and Matt Smith will sign autographs for fans at the Stratosphere Casino Hotel and Tower in Las Vegas on Friday, Oct. 30, from 9-10 p.m.

The event will take place during the NHRA Las Vegas Nationals race weekend at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (Oct. 30-Nov. 1).

Mike Knowles, driver of the Knowles Enterprises/B&J Racing Transmissions "Blown Money" 1963 Corvette Pro Mod, will have his award-winning car on display at the Monte Carlo Casino on the Strip in Las Vegas Tuesday thru Thursday, October 27-29.
 
"Our car is so perfectly themed for Las Vegas, and we've got a great relationship with the Monte Carlo, we wanted to help promote the Pro Mod Challenge before our race coming up next weekend," Knowles said.
 
Knowles' Corvette features legal tender $100 bills in the paint scheme along with billowing flames and the theme "Blown Money."

Mother Nature held off long enough for a little bit of racing Saturday, but persistent rain eventually pushed the final three rounds of the 2009 Mopar® HEMI® Challenge Race Series Dutch Classic event at Maple Grove Raceway into Sunday.

Bristol, Pa., dentist Jim Daniels is still the driver to beat after qualifying at the top of the Dutch Classic field in his Ray Barton-built 1968 HEMI Dodge Dart with an NHRA Super Stock/A HEMI class record run of 8.331 seconds at 157.96 mph. Daniels had a bye run of 8.508 seconds at 155.65 mph in the first round Saturday when Chuck Comella of Sanibel, Fla. could not answer the call.

Ray Barton’s son, David, of Robesonia, Pa., also had an easy first round win of 8.56 seconds at 151.26 mph in his Plymouth Barracuda when Mark Howes of Rothesay, New Brunswick, Canada red-lighted the start. Barton will face Delaware, Ohio driver Jim Pancake and his Dodge Dart in the quarterfinals.

Following tooth-and-nail battles to qualify, the field is finally set for an exciting conclusion to the Matco Tools $35,000 Pro Mod Clash at the NHRA Las Vegas Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas.
 
The final qualifiers who will face off for a chance to win the $25,000 grand prize are Burton Auxier, Roger Burgess, Danny Rowe, Mike Castellana, Joe Baker, Raymond Commisso, Jay Payne and Tim Tindle.
 
Pairings will be made in a teleconference with the drivers, with lane choice going to the driver with the most points.

Day two of three is complete of NHRA’s Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series event hosted at Thunder Valley Raceway.  This race is the last of six in South Central division competition with current points leaders making moves to hold onto their rankings.  Final qualifying is complete with Top Alcohol Dragster pilot James Thompson of Vernon, Texas, and Top Alcohol Funny Car driver Vern Moats, Des Moines, Iowa, taking the No.1 positions going into Sunday’s eliminations.  

Thompson comes from the bottom of the pack and blasts a 5.308 second, 274.39 mph pass to grab the top spot.  This puts him just ahead of Brandon Lewis from Broken Arrow, Okla., who posted a 5.322 second, 267.85 mph lap. Lewis, the current points leader, has won the last two races he’s attended, an out-of-division event in Topeka, Kan., and at No Problem Raceway Park in Belle Rose, La.  He holds a slim 32-point lead over Claremore, Okla.’s Malcolm Wahle, who sits in the No.3 qualifying position.