Results Friday after the first two of four rounds of qualifying for the Fourth annual Virginia NHRA Nationals at Virginia Motorsports Park, 22nd of 24 events in the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series.  Qualifying will continue Saturday for Sunday's final eliminations.

The Richmond stop is an intriguing one on the tour for Mike Edwards. In the past, it seemingly is one of the fastest Pro Stock tracks on the tour. He's hoping forecasted cool conditions will work in his favor.
 
"If the conditions are right, Virginia Motorsports Park will let the Pro Stock field light up the scoreboard with some big numbers," Edwards said of this weekend's NHRA Virginia Nationals. "Going in we know the entire field will be able to make good runs at any moment, so we have to make every time we let out the clutch count and try to be near the top."

The drag racing media community has lost a good friend.

Dragracecentral.com/FastNews reporter Darryl Jackman passed away Wednesday evening.

Many of you may know the name or know the person only from his reporting on Drag Race Central, especially with the nostalgia racing competition coverage.

Gina Marcum, sister of the Marcum Brothers, Ronnie and Randy, has organized the Marcum Brothers Foundation, a 501-C 3 Non-Profit Organization in honor of her brothers, and designed to assist racing families in need.

Randy, one half of the racing brothers, passed away in 2005 following complications with diabetes.

Ronnie, who beat cancer in 2006, was killed in a tragic pit accident at Auto Club Dragway in Fontana, Ca., in August.

Two of drag racing's longest running streaks is in jeopardy with three races left on the 2009 NHRA Full Throttle Championship Drag Racing Series.

Fourteen-time Funny Car champion John Force has won 21 race rounds this season, but hasn't appeared in a final since June 1, 2008.
 
Force holds the marks for consecutive seasons with at least one final round appearance (24) and successive seasons with at least one tour victory (22). Even though he is the only Funny Car driver in the Countdown who has not appeared in at least one final this season, Force hasn't given up on extending his records -- or on winning the championship.

Roaring down the dragstrip at 300-plus mph  isn’t the time to be calculating points standings.

Ashley Force Hood will obviously not being doing that this weekend when she’s behind the wheel of her Castrol GTX/Auto Club Ford Mustang Funny Car at the NHRA Virginia Nationals in Richmond Friday through Sunday.

Yet, it’s a given that every time he climbs out of the cockpit, she will be informed of where she is in the points chase. That’s because she comes to Virginia Motorsports Park atop the Funny Car standings, three points in front of her John Force Racing teammate Robert Hight. Tony Pedregon is 26 points back of Force Hood, while Jack Beckman is 73 behind.

Ron Capps, five-time national event champion driving the NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge Funny Car in the 2009 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series, will depart from his usual activities of trying to win his first Funny Car championship on the NHRA pro circuit to participate in California's Humboldt County's first NAPA Stores Arm Drop Competition at Samoa (Calif.) Drag Strip on Oct. 24.

Capps will serve as the official "starter" when 200 licensed drivers of imports, domestics, motorcycles, snowmobiles, dragsters or any other vehicle approved by the NHRA that can run quicker than 20 seconds in the quarter-mile compete for a Grand Prize of $2500 cash and a stocked NAPA tool box.

NHRA announced that a limited number of $20 Race Fan Relief tickets – a savings of up to $29 per ticket – will be made available for the Nov. 12-15 Auto Club NHRA Finals, the climactic race in NHRA’s six-race playoff, the Countdown to 1.

The offer is available for advance purchase only on a first-come, first-served basis and is limited to 1,500 tickets for each day of the four-day event. To purchase fan relief tickets, enter the password “relief” on the appropriate Ticketmaster page or dial 800-884-NHRA and mention “fan-relief offer.”

This weekend is all about the points for drivers in the Get Screened America Pro Mod Challenge presented by ProCare Rx. The swan-song event at the NHRA Virginia Nationals is the second-to-last event in the season and the last event for drivers to qualify for the $35,000 Matco Tools Pro Mod Clash, and it's the last time the tour will visit the Virginia Motorsports Park. The points battles are fierce for the World Champion title with four drivers vying for the top spot, and five competitors are battling for the last three available positions in the Matco Clash.