Jeg Coughlin added to his growing resume with a victory in the 25th annual K&N Horsepower Challenge.

"Any time you win a race that only invites the best of the best it's
pretty darn special," Coughlin said. "It certainly sets a great tone
for this weekend and continues the momentum we've built over the first
part of the season. We're going for our 60th career national event win
tomorrow so we could really make this one of the all-time weekends."

Spurred on by a partial home state crowd, Coughlin, of Delaware, Ohio,
was an underdog all day but used exceptional driving to claim the
special race-within-a-race, which invites the top eight qualifiers from
the previous 12 months to battle for cash prizes.

Andrew Hines has become predictable in 2009. For the three time world champion, it’s either a No. 1 or No. 5

Roger Richards

qualifier.
This time, at the NHRA Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals in
Norwalk, Ohio, it was his time to land in the top spot.

“It’s just a real weird statistic that I keep track of and it's been
working for us so far,” Hines explained of the interesting nugget. 

Hines currently resides third in the NHRA point standings and has
struggled to adjust to the recent NHRA weight adjustment to his Harley
following the team’s win at the NHRA Southern Nationals in Commerce, Ga.

Dixon, Neff, Anderson and Hines claim No. 1 qualifying honors at Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals

Jeg
Coughlin drove his JEGS.com Chevy Cobalt to the $50,000 K&N
Horsepower Challenge victory Saturday at Summit Racing Equipment
Motorsports Park.

In other racing, Larry Dixon, Neff, Greg Anderson and Andrew Hines
claimed No. 1 qualifying positions and will lead their respective
categories into tomorrow's 11 a.m. eliminations for the Summit Racing
Equipment NHRA Nationals. It is the 12th of 24 events in the NHRA Full
Throttle Drag Racing Series event.

It was the third win for Coughlin in the special bonus event for the eight quickest Pro Stock teams from the last year.

Roger Richards

The
NHRA is leaving no room for Pro Stock rule improprieties during the
Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals in Norwalk, Ohio. The
sanctioning body has dispatched its tech officials to look over the
cars of the eight drivers in the K&N Horsepower Challenge, a
special $50K race within a race contested on Saturday.

“They [NHRA Tech Officials] have been living with us all weekend,” Roy
Johnson, crew chief on the Pro Stock Dodge Stratus driven by his son,
Allen Johnson.

Are the inspectors looking for anything in particular? According to
the  drivers CompetitionPlus.com interviewed, the areas being checked
range from wing angle to engine displacement and the largest infraction
for a Pro Stocker, the use of nitrous oxide.

Jim Head refuses to criticize the management of Summit Racing Equipment Raceway Park for repaving the second 

half of the drag strip. The noted engineer of military runways just believes the process was an unnecessary expense.

“I would not have done that and that’s just my opinion,” Head said of
the track’s decision to undertake the major project a week before the
NHRA Nationals. “There are no circumstances that would have forced me
to put new asphalt on this track.”

SREMP reportedly spent six-figures to repair a racing surface that
percolated water following rain storms. Head believes the drainage
problem was one that needed rectifying, a problem the Bader family,
owners of the facility, corrected before repaving from the eighth mile
into the shutdown.

Jason Line and Greg Anderson run on the same team but have used distinctive paint schemes to differentiate
their identically prepared Pontiac GXP Pro Stockers. In Norwalk, for
this weekend’s NHRA Summit Racing Equipment Nationals, they have suited up as an army of one.

Line will trade in his tangerine-colored Pontiac for Anderson’s candy apple red entry used last season.

“There was nothing wrong with my Summit Racing GXP – after all, we won
two races with it earlier in the year,” said Line.  “However, over the
last few weeks it just wasn’t responding the way we wanted it to, so we
made the decision to switch to the car Greg ran last year. It’s a
proven piece that we feel gives us the best chance to win.”

Pro Stock Motorcycle rider Matt Guidera found Summit Racing Equipment Raceway Park in Norwalk, Ohio a

Roger Richards

fitting venue to complete some unfinished business.

The four-time national event winner felt like he had the No. 1
qualifying spot in Englishtown but ended up second. This time he left
no doubt with a 7.001 elapsed time at 187.11 which served as a
provisional No. 1 qualifying effort at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA
Nationals.

“We’re on a little bit of a mini-streak right now,” Guidera said. “We'd
like to keep it going and hopefully get a number one qualifying
position; that would be just remarkable for our team.”

If at first you don’t succeed try again.

Roger Richards

That phrase sums up the efforts of Pro Stock racer Allen Johnson during
the first day of qualifying for the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA
Nationals in Norwalk, Ohio.

Johnson admittedly missed the combination in his first shot at the
Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park but made up for the miscue in
his second shot at the famed race track.

Johnson gave a measure of credit to the improved atmospheric conditions
that rolled in for the Friday evening session. Looking forward Johnson
was not optimistic.

For once in 2009, not being the fastest car in the John Force Racing stable had its advantages.

Roger Richards

A tricky track, some of the hottest temperatures the nitro racers have
faced in 2009 and a team that has struggled to find last season’s
groove worked perfectly for Mike Neff during the first day of
qualifications for the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals in
Norwalk, Ohio.

Neff and his teammate Robert Hight finished one and two in Friday’s provisional qualifying.

Credit a track temperature that exceeded 130 degrees and a racing
surface from the last 400 feet that featured fresh, but unproven
asphalt.

Larry Dixon admits he’s past the courting stages in his new racing relationship. He's loving his 8,000 horsepower, Alan

Roger Richards

Johnson Racing Al Anabi Top Fuel dragster.

And, the more he drives her, the more he likes her.

“I got a new girlfriend,” Dixon explained Friday evening after
qualifying No. 1 in Norwalk, Ohio with a 3.976 elapsed time. “It takes
awhile to find out the personalities and all those things that take
place; it's just a matter of everybody adjusting for it.” 

Dixon has found his comfort zone during the recent three week swing on
the NHRA Full Throttle tour winning two of the three events.

“It's just been about getting into that comfort zone,” Dixon said.
“They were working on the car and I was working on my driving. The big
turnaround was a month ago, when we left Bristol and went to Atlanta
and ran for a couple days. They really got to work on the motor and the
clutch set up and hot lap the car in hot conditions like this. All the
tracks we've gone to have been pretty warm so we've been able to work
well on those set ups. We had a cool weather setup but not a warm one
and the warm one is working right now.”