After two rounds of qualifying NHRA rookie Matt Hagan is all smiles. The Virginia cattle farmer sits atop the NHRA Fram Autolite Nationals Funny Car field in his shelor.com Dodge with an impressive 4.068, 307.51 mph run.

Under near perfect conditions on a stellar track surface, Hagan pulled
out a steady, straight run of 4.068 seconds at a top speed 307.51 mph,
the quickest and fastest run of his career, to claim his first
provisional No. 1. In today’s first pass, he was No. 4 with a
4.213/287.78.

Two more rounds of qualifying on Saturday will determine the 16-car field for Sunday's eliminations. 

Ron Capps became the first Funny Car driver to clinch a spot in the Countdown to 1 playoffs, which begin for the top
10 in points following the U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis on Labor Day
weekend. The final six events of the 2009 NHRA Full Throttle Drag
Racing Series will decide the 2009 Funny Car champion.

Capps, driving the NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge Funny Car, was assured a place
in the Countdown after making his first qualifying attempt at the
FRAM-Autolite Nationals in Sonoma, Calif., today. That lap of 4.215
seconds at 288.95 mph was good for No. 5 at the time, but a mechanical
problem in the second pass caused him to shut down at the starting
line, aborting the run. He slipped to 13th place and out of the top 12.

In
the competition debut of a new, purpose-built ’68 Camaro, Chuck Ulsch
of Clarksville, Maryland, overwhelmed the Flowmaster Extreme 10.5 crowd
in the opening round of qualifying for the ADRL NATIONALGUARD.com U.S.
Drags II with the quickest and fastest pass ever seen in the class.
Ulsch tripped the eighth-mile beams at Virginia Motorsports Park (VMP)
in 4.01 seconds at 195.73 mph and can set official National Guard ADRL
elapsed time and speed records if he can back up his provisional
number-one qualifying numbers within one percent.

J.R. Todd raced to the qualifying lead in Top Fuel Friday at the FRAM-Autolite NHRA Nationals at Infineon Raceway.

Matt Hagan, Ron Krisher and Eddie Krawiec also were qualifying leaders at the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series event.

Todd, who won here in 2006 and is competing in a limited schedule this
season for Bay Area team owner David Baca, powered his Mach 1 dragster
to a 3.811 second run at 312.06 mph to lead the 16-car order.

J.R. Todd was as surprised as the next person when his 3.881 seconds, 312.06 mph run held up against the best

Bob Pelligrini

the NHRA has to offer.

“That is good medicine for any pain, right there,” said Todd, a part
time driver on a part time team. “It surprised me. I knew it was a good
run when it left. I figured someone would come out and run a low 80 but
I didn't think it would be us. It surprised the crap out of me.”

When asked, Todd admitted he was as surprised the run held up as much as he was making the run.

ADRL Director of Competition Bubba Corzine found it hard to mask his
smile when looking over the pits at Virginia Motorsports Park.
Thursday’s preliminary car count for the ADRL U.S. Drags II listed 112
entries, a new record for parking day by over 30 entries.

That number increased to 148 entries by the start of the first session.

“My guys have been parking all morning,” said Corzine. “That may not
sound like a lot of cars to other associations but to our program that
is huge.”

If the car ain’t broke, the general rule is that you don’t fix it. And, if Mike Edwards isn't on top the next best thing is a car with an Edwards' engine under the hood.

Ron Krisher's car wasn't broke, it just wasn't running up to it's expected potential, so he started to make changes.

Krisher didn’t change everything on his Pro Stocker but what he did
move around paid off on Friday during the NHRA Fram Autolite Nationals
in Sonoma, Ca. He made the initial changes on Sunday at last weekend’s
race in Seattle.

“What we changed around appeared to be working today,” Krisher said.
“We were having trouble controlling wheel speed at the end of the run
and consequently it would get away from us. Mike [Edwards] helped us
change the bar and do some things differently. It really picked the car
up on the 60-foot.”

Jason Scruggs’ toughest decision Friday afternoon at the ADRL U.S. Drags II in Dinwiddie, Va., had nothing to do with which set-up he planned to run in his Pro Extreme Camaro. Scruggs' has to decide whether to withdraw from the event or have another car towed overnight from Mississippi to Virginia.

Scruggs’, in a freak accident during practice, crashed into the Virginia Motorsports Park retaining wall causing enough damage to his Camaro to render it. He was not injured in the mishap.

The cause of the crash, a blown oil filter line which spewed oil underneath the car. Crew members tried unsuccessfully to gain their driver’s attention prior to his making the run.

UPDATE - 4:33 PM - Scruggs plans to race on Saturday.

Just making it to the Top Fuel Dragster semifinals is a disappointment for some drivers.

Troy Buff, however, was ecstatic about advancing that far at the NHRA
Northwest Nationals before losing to five-time world champion Tony
Schumacher last Sunday in Kent, Wash.

That was Buff's inaugural appearance in the semis in the Top Fuel Dragster class at an NHRA national event in 27 career starts.

"We're the underdog and we know that," said Buff, who pilots the Bill
Miller-owned dragster. "But, Bill and all the guys on our crew believe
we can win races. If we didn't believe that, we wouldn't go."

Texas Raceway has hired former NHRA World Champion and longtime Texas Raceway competitor Jeff Hefler as the facility’s General Manager.
Hefler, a 39-year old native of Kennedale, TX came onboard as the
track’s Racing Operations and Marketing Director in 2008. He continued
those duties this season, before taking a brief leave to once again
take the wheel of a sportsman racing machine. During his recent tenure
behind the wheel, Hefler achieved the success he is familiar with;
earning a victory at the Super Chevy event, a Top Dragster shootout
victory at Texas Raceway, and a semi-final finish in the $50,000-to-win
Ultimate 64 Shootout in Cincinnati, OH. Hefler is now back at the helm
at Texas Raceway, and looks forward to helping the established facility
continue to grow and prosper.