With IHRA veterans dominating the Elite Motorsports Pro Stock ranks through the first half of the season, two rookie teams have

Rookie drivers Mark Martino and Cale Aronson have combined their
operations in an attempt to better compete with the upper echelon of
Pro Stock teams over the second half of the season, starting right in
Martino’s backyard at the MOPAR Canadian Nationals this weekend at the
Grand Bend Motorplex in Grand Bend, Ontario.

decided to pair up for the second portion of the 2009 Nitro Jam schedule.

Rookie drivers Mark Martino and Cale Aronson have combined their
operations in an attempt to better compete with the upper echelon of
Pro Stock teams over the second half of the season, starting right in
Martino’s backyard at the MOPAR Canadian Nationals this weekend at the
Grand Bend Motorplex in Grand Bend, Ontario.

“We have been waiting all year to race back home, it is a pretty
exciting time for us,” Martino said. “I met Cale last year and this
year we have become pretty good friends. I think this will give us a
bit of a boost going up against the bigger teams. It will be nice to
share data and I think it will make everyone’s life a little easier.”

Earlier this season, Dominick Lagana entered and qualified for his
first drag race at the NHRA Gatornationals in Gainesville, Fla.

Last weekend Dominick Lagana got his first opportunity to race his
older brother Bobby Lagana Jr. during a match race in Epping, N.H. He
won their best two out of three match race.

This weekend he’s back to continue his Cinderella story by attempting
to qualify and win at the IHRA Mopar Canadian Nationals in Grand Bend,
Ont.

This weekend's IHRA Mopar Canadian Nationals at Grand Bend Motorplex is the closest race to home for R2B2 Racing Pro Mod pilot

Roger Richards

Raymond
Commisso, and the Toronto-native is anxious to race in front of fans
and friends at what he calls his home track, less than two hours from
his house.
 
Commisso, who won the IHRA Mardi Gras Nationals in March of this year,
said Canadian fans are just the same as Americans, but there's
something about the hometown crowd that excites him.
 
"I always love racing in front of family and friends. It's exciting to
be home, but it's difficult too, because they are all there to enjoy
the show, and I have a job to do - race the car," Commisso said.
 

Since he was 12 years old, drag racer Morgan Lucas has enjoyed a
special relationship with the city of Seattle and Pacific Raceways.
Growing
up on the west coast, the city was a popular destination for his family
and as rabid race fans they always picked the weekend of the NHRA
Northwest Nationals as the best time to visit.

Once he started drag racing himself, the track became a favorite, and
for whatever reason, the now 25-year-old Lucas always seems to leave
his mark on the facility.

"I look forward to racing every day of my life but without question
there are some tracks that you like more than others and if you had a
choice you'd race there more than once a year," Lucas said. "For me,
Seattle is one of those places.

We’ll not mention any names.

But, there is a certain twang-tongued, sleeveless flannel-clad,
southern-fried stand up comedian that has a made his catchphrase so
popular with the masses that it has even found its way to the
silkscreened t-shirts of many a fan in the stands at an NHRA national
event. He’s the one who has been made famous through a simple phrase.

“Git-R-Done!”

Connie Kalitta and his Kalitta Motorsports team subscribe to a similar
philosophy and it’s not as gaudy or apparel worthy. It does have a
tendency to ring in the ears of everyone involved with the race team
that Connie Kalitta founded half a century ago.

Warning to Larry Dixon: Do not leave Alan Johnson Racing to drive for Brady Kalivoda's team.

(Brian Wood photo)

Kalivoda doesn't own a team right now. He might one
day. But by his own admission, the former Top Fuel hopeful would be
ill-suited to field a hot rod that someone else got to drive.
 
"I
would be constantly trying to position myself to get back in the seat.
Larry Dixon would go into the Sani-Can, and I'd run over and duct-tape
it shut and say, 'Gee, I don't know what happened to Larry. But someone
had to drive the car,' " Kalivoda joked on the eve of the NHRA
Northwest Nationals at Pacific Raceways.
 

In
a recent interview with CompetitionPlus.com, ADRL Extreme 10.5
pacesetter Billy Glidden said that if he hopes to keep up with the
current pace of the eliminator that he’s going to have to reinvent
himself. Ever since returning from the recently completed ADRL
Independence Drags in Topeka, Kan., the defending world champion has
been busy doing that.

“Since we returned from Topeka, we’ve barely left out of the shop,”
Glidden admitted. “I have been trying to convince my engines that they
are something they’re not. I know I’m going to tear them up in their
current configuration so I am making gigantic redesign changes to my
engine.”

Multiple sources have confirmed with CompetitionPlus.com that
after the NHRA Fram Autolite Nationals in Sonoma, Ca., Professional
Racers Organization leader Ray Alley will no longer serve as the head
of the organization.

Many fans have probably already forgotten what happened during the 29th Mile-High Nationals at Bandimere Speedway.

That event, however, is one of the most memorable of all time.

For the first time, the National Hot Rod Association had both the Top
Fuel Dragster and Top Fuel Funny Cars race to 1000-feet, instead of the
traditional quarter-mile (1,320 feet).

The two classes having been racing to 1,000 feet ever since.

NHRA's actions were brought about as a result of the on-track death of
Scott Kalitta, a two-time NHRA world champion on June 21.

When the Super Chevy Show arrives at Maple Grove Raceway this Friday,
spectators will be treated to everything from nitromethane-powered cars
and jet dragsters, to a car show featuring the pride and joy of
hundreds of Chevrolet aficionados.
 
Friday will feature time trials, with gates opening at 7 a.m.
 
The Show will be in high gear Saturday and Sunday. Gates open at 7 a.m.
and both days will be filled with Danchuk Jet Wars, the Aeromotive
Nitro Coupe Challenge and the Tremec True Street Challenge.