Angie McBride hopes that an upcoming one race deal turns into something more for 2010, namely a full-time ride.

The Pro Stock Motorcycle rider, and fiancée of former world champion
Matt Smith, will ride Karl Klement’s Buell at the NHRA O’Reilly
Fallnationals in Ennis, Texas.

“I’m excited because this may be a stepping stone to the future,” said McBride. “Hopefully it is.”

The bike will be powered by an engine built by Smith and mounted in the
bike formerly ridden by high-profile female riders Peggy Llewellyn and
Angelle Sampey.

Participating in Rich Christensen’s Arm Drop Live at Bristol Dragway on
Sept. 18-19 just became even easier for racers ready to descend upon
Thunder Valley.

Beginning today, any racer that pre-registers for Arm Drop Live can
save $20 on entry fees for the event. The entry fees, which include a
Friday test and tune session and a round of qualifying on both Friday
and Saturday, are only $45 for pre-registered competitors. Three 32-car
fields and one Quick-8 field will be selected to run for the money on
Saturday afternoon with Christensen’s famous armdrop.

In addition, pre-entered drivers will be placed in a drawing for one of 15 $100 Summit Racing Equipment gift cards.

All racer entries sold at the gate on Friday or Saturday of race weekend will be sold at the full price of $65.

Competitors who already have pre-registered will receive a $20 credit back onto their credit card.

With only three races remaining, a comfortable points lead and a car
that has shown it is capable of dominating the field, one would think Frank Gugliotta would be thrilled with his currently position.

However that just isn’t the case.

Gugliotta has been in this position before, sitting inside the top five
at this point in the season for the past seven consecutive years, but
he has been unable to seal the deal and come away a champion.

Hopefully he can change that this season.

Don and Bunny Henderson had a regular routine when it came to racing the annual Labor Day race at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
They would bring their daughter Meaghan to the day portion of the event
and let her compete in the Junior Dragster competition before the big
cars of the Pacific Street Car Association raced at night.

This year she enjoyed the best of both worlds.

It’s almost time for “Last Call” before the cars and famous car people
roll into Henderson, NC, for the 9th Annual East Coast Drag Times
Hall of Fame Weekend, Friday through Sunday, October 16-17-18, 2009. 
This year’s entry list for attendees of the “Shag, Shine, Show And
Drag” star studded car show event is already up from last year’s event,
and a record turnout is being prepared for.
   
“Last year, in 2008, with the economy suddenly slowing and gasoline
over $4.00 per gallon, we were expecting the worst.  However, our event
was surprisingly up slightly over 2007, which shows just how strong our
fans and participants have made this event.  I guess it’s no surprise
that year’s pre-entries have been coming in at a pace that has us
looking at another year of impressive, double-digit growth!”,exclaimed
Nancy Wilson, Vance County, Director of Tourism and Event Organizer.

"Fast" Jack Beckman, driver of the Valvoline/Mail Terminal Services
Dodge Funny Car for Don Schumacher Racing in the NHRA Full Throttle
Drag Racing Series, will appear on the Sept. 17 PINKS All Out show
which airs on SpeedTV.

The segments featuring Beckman were filmed this summer at Maryland
International Raceway in Mechanicsville, Md., in which Beckman
presented the Valvoline Coveted Spot Award, and was invited by the show
to present a $10,000 check to the winner of the event in the winner's
circle.

An estimated 12,000 fans were on hand in the grandstands to watch the event, at which Beckman signed hundreds of autographs.

On Monday evening, following the NHRA U.S. Nationals, public relations manager Skip Allum released
the following statement from team owner Don “The Snake” Prudhomme,
which is reproduced here in part. Not included are Prudhomme’s comments
regarding his team’s performance at Indy, as that’s not relevant to the
remainder of the statement, which appears to
reference CompetitionPlus.com’s coverage of his original Saturday press
announcement during which he announced that his team was seeking either
an investment partner or buyer in light of the end of his sponsorship
from U.S. Smokeless.

Virginia Motorsports Park will once again fly the IHRA banner, as announced last evening by the sanctioning body.

The
multipurpose facility is located in Dinwiddie, Va, just outside of
Petersburg, returns after leaving in 2005 to host an NHRA event.

“We are thrilled to be back with the IHRA. We think that our
business model moving forward is a perfect fit with what they have
planned,” said Bryan Pierce, General Manager of Virginia Motorsports
Park. “We want to provide fun, affordable family entertainment and we
think the IHRA represents that. From that standpoint I think the two
are a great fit.”

Roy Johnson, father of Pro Stocker racer Allen Johnson, says his son gets his competitive spirit honestly – from his mother Revonda.

“She’s just as competitive of a spirit as I am,” said the elder
Johnson, whose talents as an engine builder are showcased by his son’s
front-running Mopar.

Johnson began racing in the 1960s and concluded his career in 1986. The
Greeneville, Tenn.-based native primarily raced IHRA competition
because that was the predominant series in the region. He won two world
championships and finished runner-up twice. His success was garnered
during consecutive seasons beginning in 1975.

John Force would like to set the record straight.

Some of the words the 14-time National Champion used in the article Force: I’d Had Enough of It published on CompetitionPlus.com did not accurately describe actions he took concerning the NHRA and PRO.