Four-time NHRA Pro Stock champion and U.S. Nationals winner Jeg
Coughlin Jr. will be the Newsmaker of the Week on The Race Reporters
radio show, Wednesday, September 23, 7 p.m. EDT, on
www.PowerUpChannel.com.
 
Earlier this month, Coughlin earned his third victory in the sport’s
most prestigious event, the U.S. Nationals, with a thrilling 6.689
second run vs. 6.691 for Greg Stanfield. His Jegs.com Chevrolet Cobalt
has seven wins this season as he tries for a third consecutive Full
Throttle Pro Stock title. Acknowledged as one of drag racing’s best
drivers, Coughlin has 48 career wins and a career rounds won-loss
record of 435-194.
 
Host Michael Knight will be joined for the journalists’ roundtable by
Alan Reinhart, NHRA’s top-end announcer; Mike Kerchner, senior editor
of National Speed Sport News; and Jeff Burk, editor of Drag Racing
Online.com.

Race fans, rev up your apparel!  You can now go to http://store.canidae.com/
to purchase a wide assortment of high-quality tee-shirts, hats,
hoodies, backpacks, lanyards, towels, special collectibles and other
gear from one of the most dynamic group of racing teams on the scene.

In addition to the NHRA Jim Dunn CANIDAE Racing Funny Car, CANIDAE
Racing is the title sponsor of CANIDAE Motosport Kawasaki XTreme Team
Green, CANIDAE Motosport Kawasaki Team Green amateurs and the Official
Pet Food of Kawasaki Team Green Off-Road.  CANIDAE also owns its own
world-record-holding Sand Drag teams and Class 10 Off-Road racing
teams, with a new Trophy Truck team set to make its debut soon.

B&J Racing Transmissions has always been a proud supporter of the
Get Screened America Pro Mod Challenge and its competitors, and
beginning at the U.S. Nationals and for every race throughout the
remainder of the season, the company increased their commitment and
added excitement to the first round of eliminations by awarding $500 to
the winner of a randomly-selected pair of Pro Mods.
 
During the drivers meeting held before every race, a number (1-16) is
randomly selected that designates a pair that will race for the B&J
Bonus. In Indianapolis, Danny Rowe received the first $500 check, and
at Charlotte for the NHRA Carolinas Nationals, Burton Auxier won the Bonus along with a matching prize from Rick Stivers' Stivers HVAC.
 

The Mopar® HEMI® Challenge Race Series Dodge Darts and Plymouth
Barracudas go head-to-head for a $5,000 payout this weekend in
Columbus, Ohio, at the NHRA JEGS Northern SPORTSnationals at National
Trail Raceway. Qualifying is scheduled for Friday, Sept. 25, with final
eliminations set for Saturday, Sept. 26, starting at 1:00 p.m.

The team of Charlie Westcott Sr. and Charlie Westcott Jr. is the
odds-on favorite to take the money. Westcott Sr. won the recent Mopar
HEMI Challenge at the NHRA U.S. Nationals in an epic thrash on Labor
Day Weekend. It was the fourth time in five years that a Westcott took
the Indy title. The Westcotts have claimed numerous Mopar HEMI
Challenge victories over the last four years.

Westcott Sr.’s engine suffered damage during a bye run into the Indy
finals. His son and a host of their fierce HEMI Challenge competitors
ganged up and swapped John Rains’ spare Westcott-built 426 HEMI engine
into Westcott Sr.’s ’68 Barracuda in 90 minutes. The car made it to the
line with no time to spare. Westcott Sr. then left a surprised David
Barton on the line to take the win.

Coming off his first final-round appearance of his rookie campaign, Top Fuel driver Shawn Langdon has picked up the sponsorship support of Mach 1 Global Services, a worldwide industry leader in the overnight freight forwarding business.

Langdon will race the Mach 1 Global Services/Lucas Oil Top Fuel
dragster at this weekend's 24th annual O’Reilly Super Start Batteries
NHRA Fall Nationals and will pick up a boisterous group of supporters
from the organization's Dallas office as well as a huge group of Mach 1
customers.

Antron Brown moves forward at a very rapid pace in his 8,000 horsepower Top Fuel dragster and the 23-time NHRA winner will be moving
forward with a new look as he competes for the 2009 NHRA championship
at the Memphis NHRA race. Brown and the Mike Ashley Racing Matco Tools
team will fly the colors of auto industry giant Toyota at the 22nd
annual O’Reilly Mid-South Nationals, Oct. 2-4, at Memphis Motorsports
Park.

The arrangement between Matco Tools and MAR gives the team the
opportunity to generate additional funding and place a marketing
partner in the primary sponsor location at given events. Brown raced
the DirecTV/Matco Tools dragster to the win at the St. Louis race on
May 3. The team’s customary bright blue and silver pin-striped Matco
Tools Iron Eagle dragster theme will return for the final three races
on the 2009 NHRA schedule at Richmond, Va., Las Vegas and Pomona,
Calif.

The key to winning a four-lane drag race is no different than a
standard two lane match. One has to leave the starting line quickly and
a quicker elapsed time doesn’t hurt, either.

Reaction time
made the most difference when it came down to winning the pair of
four-wide nitro drag race exhibitions staged on Sunday at the NHRA
Carolinas Nationals in Concord, NC.

The look of intensity on David Pearson’s face told the story.

The look of the 75-year old former racer, a 105-time winner on the
NASCAR tour as he sat astride a 350-horsepower Suzuki, assuming the
position of a competitive rider, was one of total concentration.

Pearson, a special guest of NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle rider Karen
Stoffer during the NHRA Carolinas Nationals in Concord, NC, listened
intently as Stoffer guided the cagey veteran through the nuances of
navigating the six-second, 200-mph bike down the quarter-mile.

“It didn’t fit me too good,” said Pearson of the Geico Powersports
Suzuki.  “Of course the thing was built for Karen. I was just a little
bit too big for it. I can see how it would be fun to run one of those.”

"Anybody here seen my old friend Ron? Can you tell me where he's gone?"
 
Seems
like a catchy and relevant tune for the National Hot Rod Ass'n. in the
aftermath of India-scrap-olis. The haunting music of peace-loving folks
and the 40th anniversary of Woodstock could make everything groovy
again (although John Force already told a television audience that it's
all groovy again).
 
Anyway . . . Whatever became of Ron Capps?
 
Surely you remember him, the driver of the NAPA Auto Parts Dodge. He
was at the top of the Funny Car charts for the first 10 races of the
season. He delivered hit after hit, winning the first two events of the
year, three of the first five, and four of the first nine in five
final-round appearances.