Crew chief Austin Coil plans to be back at work this weekend.

On
an all-concrete zMax Dragway track on which neither has yet won a
single racing round, John Force and Coil try this week to apply an
exclamation point to their 25-year collaboration and, at the same time,
take a first tentative step toward securing their 15th joint Funny Car
Championship.
 
After taking a one-race medical leave, Coil returns to work at this
week's second annual Carolina Nationals with an opportunity to earn his
1,000th round win with Force as his driver.
 
How good is that?  Well, do the math.  Divide 1,000 rounds by 25 years
and what you get is 40 – as in 40 rounds won every year for a full
quarter of a century.

Rickie Jones had a clear plan headed into the 2009 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing season. The sophomore
Pro Stock driver and son of veteran chassis builder Rick Jones was
determined to just qualify for all of the races he entered. His
objective fulfilled, Jones' efforts were rewarded with a top ten finish
in the point standings and a berth in the Countdown to the
Championship.

Jones completed the regular season as the ninth ranked point earner and
starting this weekend during the NHRA Carolinas Nationals in Concord,
N.C., will line up against nine other drivers in a bid to win his first
world championship.

Does the opportunity come as a complete surprise?

"Am not."

"Are, too."
 
That's about the size of the Pro Stock Motorcycle debate that started
earlier in the year, cropped up again at the U.S. Nationals at
Indianapolis, and is lingering as the NHRA's Countdown to the
Championship kicks off this weekend at zMAx Dragway at Concord, N.C.
 
When he qualified No. 1 at Indianapolis on Don Schumacher Racing's
Nitro Fish Ultimate Gear Suzuki, Matt Smith had a comment about the
Harley-Davidson duo of Andrew Hines and Eddie, the only riders besides
himself who have won a championship in the past five years.
 

Evidently it's as difficult for some drag-racing observers to understand why the sport doesn't tout its racial and gender diversity as it is for others to understand why it should.
 
Drag racing, and pleasantly so, never has bothered to point out the
differences among its participants. After all, by definition,
"diversity" means one doesn't have to point that out.
 
NASCAR, for all the things it does professionally and correctly, can't
seem to develop an effective diversity program. Maybe it should take a
clue from drag racing. By not emphasizing the differences between
whites and minorities, men and women, old and young, rich and
struggling, drag racing just offers itself and accepts whoever is
qualified.

Once again Keith Baker's 1963 Corvette suffered what appeared to be a
pinched ring and as he did last month in Montgomery, Ala., he
still took the the victory. Despite the engine bellowing smoke out of
the right bank Baker defeated Jamie Hancock in the final round of the
Dixie Pro Mod Association race at Phenix Dragstrip.

With the Geezers at The Grove being moved to the weekend of Sept. 19-20, a few events at Maple Grove Raceway had to be changed.
 
Two of them, the National Dragster Challenge and the Junior Dragster
Challenge, have been postponed. They will be run Sunday, Oct. 11, which
had a scheduled E.T. bracket race.

When Brandon Booher and the Booher Construction sponsored Top Alcohol
Dragster Team headed to Indianapolis for their first U.S. Nationals
they knew it would be memorable; turns out for the wrong reasons.

Coming off his first Top Alcohol final the week prior at Bowling Green,
Booher, a 15 year veteran of the sport, covered the quarter mile in
5.54 seconds in the first round of qualifying to get in the show for
the time being.  That was where the normalcy of the weekend ended.  In
the second pass, the fuel line came off the tank about 100 feet out
causing fuel to get under the tires and send the car into the right
side wall.  Booher was able to regain control of the car and although
his race weekend over, he was unhurt in the crash.

Beginning with the NHRA U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis, Pedregon Racing
entered into a marketing agreement with Nitro Debt Relief; a marketing
arm of Square One Debt. Nitro Debt Relief Powered by Square One Debt is
an innovative debt negotiation company that was founded to help people
regain control of their personal finances. The program is an
intelligent option that allows you to face your debt head on and regain
control of your financial situation once and for all. There will be
Nitro Debt kiosks at select NHRA events to provide race fans with
helpful information and to accept applications.

The Orangeburg Drag Strip will host an open field of Pro Modifieds this
Saturday, September 19th. This race is open to all power adders, Blown,
Nitrous, Turbo Charged, Procharger and any transmission.

Look for a strong field of Pro Mods with drivers’ Greg Godwin, Sonny Tindal and Chris Patrick. Also, Dan Parker driving
Billy George’s Corvette. Robbie Keziah along with his Father Gene will
make another appearance. Making the trip from NC will be Josh Chester,
Buzz Varner, Steve Vick and Dale Brinsfield.

The Pacific Street Car Association has signed ATI Performance Products as a contingency sponsor for their doorslammer series.