With five events in the record books, the National Guard American Drag Racing League (ADRL) has passed the halfway point of its 2009 season leading up to the championship-deciding Speedtech Battle for the Belts this October at Ennis, Texas.

The Speedtech Battle for the Belts pits the top eight points earners in
each of the National Guard ADRL’s five professional classes against
each other in a winner-take-all, end-of-season playoff. The Battles are
held on the Friday night preceding each year’s National Guard ADRL
World Finals at the Texas Motorplex, near Dallas. National Guard ADRL
teams actually begin accumulating points toward the next year’s
Speedtech Battle for the Belts during Saturday’s World Finals
eliminations.

A
former world champion and a drag racing legend will highlight a
pre-race promo event in Fredericksburg, Va., for the National Guard
ADRL U.S. Drags II hosted by Virginia Motorsports Park located outside
of Richmond, Va.

Former Mountain Motor Pro Stock champion Robert Patrick and legendary
doorslammer racing icon turned drag racing school instructor Roy Hill
will display vehicles and sign autographs on Saturday, July 18, from 11
A.M. until 2 P.M at the Purvis Ford, Lincoln Mercury dealership.

“I can’t begin to tell you how excited we are to interact with the ADRL
race fans,” said Patrick, whose family owns Purvis. “I think it’s great
that those who attend will have the opportunity to pick up free tickets
for the event next weekend, get some autographs and hang out with us.

Allen Johnson believes his “mojo” might have found the perfect time to kick in.

Everybody
is getting the Johnson mojo including the family's Jack RussellTerrier.
While "Molly Kate" aka "Mopar Molly" was at the dogsitter's this
weekend, Allen and wife Pam returned home to find Mopar Molly with a
Mopar emblem adorning both the right and left side of her fur. 

The Mopar-sponsored NHRA Pro Stock driver scored his second win in five
races last weekend and has amassed a 12-3 record of round wins  since
his May win at Topeka.

This weekend Johnson will be racing at Pacific Raceway in Seattle, a
venue where he’s reached the finals the last three seasons.

Thirty-nine NHRA Full Throttle Pro Stock victories highlight a storied  career for veteran driver Kurt Johnson. For the second generation driver, those 39 triumphs started with a single win.

Johnson got his first win sixteen years ago in Seattle, the site of
this weekend’s NHRA Northwest Nationals hosted by Pacific Raceways.

"I remember Bob Glidden telling me at the finish line after the first
round that if I kept my head screwed on straight I could win the race,"
Johnson said. "We took Bob's advice … made sure we kept our cool, and
came away with a win.

Pro Stock racer Dave Connolly is pre-entered for the balance of the 2009 season starting with the NHRA U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis. The former full-time Pro Stock standout is entered to drive Kenny Koretsky's Nitrofish entry.  

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Summit Racing Equipment has renewed its series sponsorship of the NHRA
Summit Racing Series through the year 2012.   In addition, Summit
Racing Equipment announced it has renewed title rights sponsorship of
the SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals in Las Vegas and the Summit Racing
Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals in Atlanta.

“Summit Racing Equipment has been a long-standing supporter of NHRA
Drag Racing,” said Gary Darcy, senior vice president sales and
marketing, NHRA.   “At all levels of the sport, from sportsman to the
professionals, Summit Racing Equipment has shown time-and-time again
its commitment to NHRA and the racing community.”

Summit Racing Equipment took over series sponsorship in 2000 and since
that time their involvement has been a huge boost to the series – the
backbone of NHRA – which has provided exciting competition for the
local racer since the mid-1970s.   As many as 300,000 racers nationwide
participate at 140 NHRA member tracks in the NHRA Summit Racing Series.
As a result, it forms the world’s largest motorsports program in terms
of racer participation.    

The World Footbrake Challenge returns to Thunder Valley July 17-19 for
the third time with a new date, a new format, and a large contingent of
racers ready to share in a $100,000 purse.

The World Footbrake Challenge is a1/8-mile event that will see racers
depend on their driving skills to take home the top prizes. In
footbrake competition, drivers are not allowed to use electronic
equipment to help them achieve a better start.

Originally held in May, event organizers Jared Pennington and Steve
Stites opted to contest the event in July to help attract more racers.
According to Pennington, the response has been overwhelming.

Alexandra Morton accomplished something that has been exceedingly
difficult for drivers in the NHRA Full Drag Racing Series this season. 
She beat Ashley Force Hood, the first woman ever to win an NHRA Funny
Car race and currently the fastest woman in motor racing. 
 
A resident of Des Moines, Wash., Morton was one of more than 18,000 to
register to compete in the “Castrol GTX Nationals,” an interactive
on-line game through which consumers were invited to design their own
Funny Car to race on-line against Force Hood and her 312 mile-an-hour
Castrol GTX Ford Mustang.

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.