This season is Lee Beard's 33rd in the NHRA, 32 of which he served as a crew chief for a variety of

Lee Beard's new role at DSR has him involved in the building of the team's first in-house dragster.

teams.
 
Presently, he is taking on a new role as a team manager in his second
stint with Don Schumacher Racing. He's responsible for all five Top
Fuel Dragster and Funny Car teams under the DSR umbrella.

His main project right now for DSR is happening during the week.

With
a good showing, last year’s PMRA Champion, Bruce Boland of Hamilton,
Ontario, hopes to stretch his present points lead at this weekend’s Pro
Modified Racing Association event, The PMRA Challenge presented by
Motorsport 1320.
 
This race, the third in the 2009 tour, will be held during the 10th
annual running of the IHRA MOPAR Canadian Nationals at the Grand Bend
Motorplex July 17-19.
 
Driving the B&B Racing 1967 Chevy Nova, Boland, with 585 points,
has a mere four-point advantage in the Championship Points Award Series
Standings over Ike Maier of Tottenham, Ontario with 581 points.

Just one week after crashing his popular “Bad Bird” Firebird during testing at the most recent National Guard ADRL event, Pro Extreme
racer Ken Thomas of the LenMar Motorsports team debuted his recently
acquired “Hell Hoss” with the Roots-blown 481X AJ wedge that was
transplanted from the Firebird between its front frame rails. He was
competing in the Texas Outlaw Pro Modified Association eventin
Kennedale, Tex.

NHRA
Funny Car points leader Ashley Force Hood is used to going from point A
to point B as quickly as possible in her Castrol GTX Ford Mustang on
the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series. For the next three weeks
however Ashley and her husband Dan will be taking their time as they
tackle the daunting NHRA Western Swing behind the wheel of an El Monte
RV.

“This will be quite an adventure for Dan and me. A lot of the other
drivers take their families on the road for the Western Swing so we
thought it would be a lot of fun. Plus, we can bring along our cat
Simba which is a huge bonus since when we are on the road he really
misses us. I haven’t really travelled in an RV that much but this El
Monte RV is like driving a dream house. It is so comfortable and easy
to drive,” said Ashley Force Hood, current NHRA Funny Car points
leader.

The NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series, Northwest Division 32nd Annual 
Les Schwab Challenge event at Woodburn Dragstrip was called prematurely
due to rain. NHRA has met will all of the finalists and today's final
rounds of eliminations for six sportsman categories, including Top
Alcohol Funny Car, will be completed at one of the several upcoming
division and national events.

Top Alcohol Dragster pilot Brandon Johnson of Shelton, Wash., was able
to beat Mother Nature and Dale Carlson, Olympia, Wash., in the final to
pick up the hardware.  Johnson made his way out of the No.2 qualifying
position and posted a troubled 7.064 second, 246.03 mph pass to pick up
the win. This marks his first victory of the season and doubles his
divisional points.

The NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series wrapped up this weekend at Mid
Michigan Motorplex.  Racers completed the two day event, which was the
fourth of six events on the North Central division calendar. The event
featured drivers in eight categories vying for crucial points leading
to divisional and national championships.

Comp Eliminator was dominated by the No.4 qualifier Brian Browell of
Lafayette, Ind. Browell took the win light and the trophy as Steve
Ambrose, Woodhaven, Mich., was not able to contest in the final due to
complications.  This marks his first win of the season and puts him in
contention for the division lead.

Ohio Crankshaft will be the featured sponsor at the Get Screened
America Pro Mod Challenge event during the Mac Tools NHRA U.S.
Nationals Sept. 2-7 in Indianapolis.  Along with increased exposure
during the event and the product samples available for viewing in the
Pro Mod Hospitality Zone, the company will provide round-by-round Pro
Mod coverage from the U.S. Nationals on the ProModChallenge.com website
and on ProModifieds.us. The coverage will also be sent via Twitter via
the series account: @GSAProMods.
 
"We support the series because we love Pro Mods," Ohio Crankshaft GM
Scott Ray, said. "We've raced every year the Challenge has been in
NHRA, and as a company we feel it's important to show our support.

Jeg Coughlin Jr., continues to make the chances that another driver will lead the points headed into the Countdown to the Championship slimmer with each passing race.

Coughlin
raced to the semifinals of the 30th annual Mopar Mile-High NHRA
Nationals and beat second-place runner Mike Edwards along the way to
increase his lead in the Full Throttle Pro Stock points to 83.

"It was a great day; it just ended a little bit too soon," Coughlin
said. "Any time you get past a mountain like Mike Edwards you've really
accomplished something and the fact he is the next guy behind us in the
points made that round win very, very important."

Sometimes the tree is quick and sometimes it's not.

The semi-finals of the NHRA Mopar Mile High Nationals was one of those not-so-quick instances for Cory McClenathan.

"It was a long light," he said. "In a driver's mind, it's time to go,
it's time to go. I squeezed the throttle. Realizing I was too early I
stopped myself with the brake, went back off, hit it again when the
lights came down, but by then I'd already triggered some fuel systems
that went off in the car and when I hit the gas again to leave, it just
put cylinders out. I had already caused damage when I squeezed the
throttle.

The NHRA Mopar Mile-High Nationals continue to be a nightmare for Top Fuel Dragster driver Brandon Bernstein.

Bernstein, the No. 8 qualifier, lost to No. 9 qualifier Morgan Lucas in
the first round. Bernstein clocked a 4.137-second pass, but couldn't
keep up with Lucas' 4.005-second effort.

This was the fifth-consecutive year that Bernstein has lost in the first round at the Mile-High Nationals.