For 18 events, from February through August, NHRA race teams have grinded and gutted it out to identify
the top 10 teams in each pro category that will have the opportunity to
compete for drag racing’s ultimate prize -- NHRA Full Throttle Drag
Racing Series world championships.

A few teams have dominated. Some have sacrificed. Some barely slipped
into the field in the closing seconds. There was passion.
Determination. Even controversy.

Nitro Funny Car racer Bob Gilbertson hasn't been on a drag strip in almost a year and he's really looking
forward to returning to racing at his home town track at this weekend's
NHRA Carolinas Nationals at the beautiful zMAX Dragway in near-by
Concord, N.C.
 
Gilbertson made the decision to park his team at the beginning of the
year so he could focus on his business, Truck Equipment Manufacturing
Company, to get it through the tough economic times but the urge to
race was still burning in Gilbertson's heart.
 

When photographer John Mason arrived at Rockingham (NC) Dragway for this past weekend’s National
Guard American Drag Racing League (ADRL) Flowmaster Dragstock VI, he
knew he was coming for not just a race, but a happening.

“I know this is an annual event, but I feel like Dragstock is similar
to its namesake, Woodstock, where for many people the music, or in this
case the racing, is almost secondary to the experience of just being
there, of being part of something special,” explains Mason, an African
History professor who also teaches classes on the history of
photography at the University of Virginia.

Antron Brown has a target on his back and he wouldn't have it any other
way. The former track star at Mercer Community College in New Jersey
leads the Top Fuel field into the Countdown to 1 this weekend at zMax
Dragway at Concord (N.C.), Sept. 17-20. It is the first of six races in
the six-race playoff that will crown the 2009 NHRA champions in Top
Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle.

How
he got here is not important, Robert Hight is in the NHRA playoffs and
has every intention of making the most of the opportunity.

Put aside his struggles, and the fact he made his way into the Countdown to One with one round left in the regular season.

Hight has found his groove at the best possible time.

The apple seldom falls far from the tree. At least that’s how it appears in the Bingham household.

On Sunday afternoon, Lisa Bingham, the youngest daughter of former Top
Sportsman world champion Gary Bingham, captured her first IHRA Quick
Rod national event title at the IHRA North American Nationals in
Epping, NH.

Her victory came just moments after her father won in the Top Sportsman division.

“This is one of the proudest moments of my racing career, watching my second daughter win her first race,” Gary said.

Top Fuel racer Morgan Lucas established a set of goals for his team at the start of the 2009 season.
He's won races and garnered a spot in the Countdown to 1. Now it is
time to go after a new goal. One that was more a dream than a goal back
in January.

Lucas wants a Full Throttle Drag Racing world championship.

Even though it’s Race No. 1 in NHRA’s Countdown to 1 championship playoffs, the Motorcraft/Quick

Last
year's winning design was unveiled at Indy, this year it will be on the
day before the NHRA Carolinas Nationals during the Tasca Racing open
house.

Lane Shelby Mustang Funny Car will set aside its
traditional red and black Motorcraft livery during this weekend’s NHRA
Carolina Nationals to help out a very special cause and make one
child’s design come to life. 
 
For the second year in a row, Bob Tasca III will run a winning paint
scheme designed by a youngster involved with the Juvenile Diabetes
Research Foundation.

Former NBA Star will spend Wednesday with the  U.S. Marines at Camp Lejeune

It's
been a little more than four months since Tom Hammonds drove at a
national event, at the NHRA Midwest Nationals in St. Louis, but now the
former NBA power forward and Georgia Tech basketball All-American will
return to competition when the NHRA Full Throttle Series converges on
zMax Dragway for the 2nd annual NHRA Carolina Nationals on Sept. 18 -
21. While many of the professional competitors have their sights set on
the Countdown to 1 and the de facto six-race playoff that will crown
this year's champions, the 42-year-old Hammonds is already looking
ahead to next season with the goal of getting a head start on 2010.

"I'm excited," Hammonds said. "I haven't been in a car in a long time
and I'm anxious to see exactly what our engines can do. We've made some
improvements since the last time we went down the quarter mile, and now
we'll see exactly where we stand against the field. That will give us a
good indication of where we need to go over the winter.

The disappointment of his first, first round loss of the season, to Spencer Massey in the U.S. Nationals
will never be far from Antron Brown's memory, but now, with six races
remaining, the focus for the driver of the Matco Tools dragster owned
by Mike Ashley is the championship trophy waiting for someone in Pomona.

Brown, seeded first in the Countdown to 1, has the tightest grip on the
trophy. This weekend, in Charlotte, the battle begins and for Brown,
what better place to start.

"I'm just excited and geared up for the new challenge,” Brown said. “I
can't wait to get to Charlotte to get back to racing at Bruton's
(Smith) awesome track at zMax Dragway. Indy knocked our team back to
reality a little bit on how tough this Top Fuel class really is. We
have to race our own lane and do what we do. We're not going to worry
about who we're racing and being conservative. We're going to race all
out from this point forward."