Lance Larsen, crew chief, has been sleeping a lot better lately. He says that’s a byproduct of a good running hot rod.

Lately that’s the best way to describe the Mark Pickens
Enterprises/Motorvation dragster driven by Clay Millican. On the
strength of a runner-up and a semi-final finish, the five-time IHRA
champion turned NHRA regular has pulled into the top ten of points.

“There have been several little things,” Larsen said, taking time from
studying his computer graphs. “Our car has ran pretty good all year. It
just hasn’t left the starting line. We found some maintenance issues
that we were doing incorrectly.”

Timing means everything in drag racing and for Jerry Eckman timing has worked against him and worked in his favor. The former Pro Stock racer has moved on from the negatives but the most positive experience came at Englishtown 22 years ago when he and former team owner Bill Orndorff won the Pro Stock title at the 1987 NHRA Summernationals at Raceway Park.

Winning the Pro Stock title at Englishtown for the Rodger Brogdon crewman remains one of the highlights of his career.

Out of money and out of luck, the team was on the last leg of a racing effort and down to their last ounce of hope when Eckman drove the team’s Camaro to the winner’s circle. Had they lost early their season could have been finished.

The Motorcraft/Quick Lane association with Bob Tasca Racing represents an

(L-R) Brett Wheatley, Director of Marketing, Ford Customer Service Division, Bob Tasca, Darryl Hazel, President of Ford Customer Service Division and Senior Vice President of Ford Motor Company

entirely new methodology which leans heavily on new media to achieve long established goals.

Darryl Hazel, President of Ford Customer Service Division and Senior Vice President of Ford Motor Company, visited Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in Englishtown, N.J., to make a hands on appraisal of the program.

“I'm really impressed,” said Hazel, when asked about what he had seen so far. “The guys have done of a great job. The fan involvement, the level of interest; you look at the people who are here at the races are the type of people who buy are cars and buy are parts. It's exactly what we should be doing.”

Following
the final round performance by Castrol GTX driver Ashley Force Hood at
the 40th annual United Association NHRA Super Nationals the entire John
Force Racing driver roster spent Monday with Castrol/BP executives and
employees at the Wayne, New Jersey headquarters. Force Hood was joined
by 14-time champion and father John Force, Robert Hight, Mike Neff,
Brittany Force and Courtney Force. The group spent the morning talking
with marketing executives about the upcoming 25th anniversary of John
Force Racing and Castrol which will commence with the 2010 NHRA Full
Throttle Drag Racing series.

Auto Imagery

This
weekend's fifth annual JEGS U.S. Open Bracket Championship in
Indianapolis will feature one of the most decorated drag racers in the
country as five-time world champion and current Pro Stock point leader
Jeg Coughlin Jr. will test his driving prowess against some of the best
bracket racers in the world.

With a roster of drivers that's expected to top 400 entries this year,
Coughlin will compete in both his JEGS.com dragster and his Chevy II
wagon during all four days of the race. Up first is the Thursday
warm-up, worth $10,000 to the winner, followed by Friday and Saturday's
main events, paying $20,000 each, with a final $10,000 race on Sunday.

The Lucas Oil/Lucas Slick Mist Top Fuel dragster was on a roll at this
weekend’s Sooner Nationals. Bruce Litton and team took home number
one qualifier, Last Man Standing honors, top speed of the meet, and a
runner up finish. This makes Litton’s third final in the four races
completed so far on the IHRA tour. This weekend it was nearly the
‘Litton Show’ from start to finish as the Lucas Oil/Lucas Slick Mist
dragster won the Last Man Standing by taking over the top qualifying
position with a 4.737 at 310.13 mph, the fastest mph of the weekend.
Litton then battled through two rounds of competition, taking out Todd
Simpson and Del Cox Jr. before facing Tim Boychuk in the final round.
Litton posted the quicker elapsed time, a 4.919 to Boychuk’s 4.929, but
Boychuk got to the stripe first with a slightly better reaction time.
This stellar weekend puts Litton first in the IHRA Top Fuel points
standings.

Law enforcement and advocacy groups long have sought safe alternatives to illegal street racing that plagues South Florida roadways. To combat this dangerous activity, Homestead-Miami Speedway is proud to announce the development of the “Test & Tune” experience, whereby car enthusiasts can test and tune their street-legal vehicles on a 1/8-mile course. The Grand Opening is set for Friday night, June 26, with free dinner and half-price admission for all attendees arriving between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m.

On June 26, drivers producing valid license and vehicle registration can tune street-legal vehicles in the very garages housing IndyCar (Oct. 9-10) and NASCAR (Nov. 20-22) elite for Championship Weekends, as well as test their cars on a 1/8-mile course. The infield will open at 6 p.m., and attendees arriving between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. will be treated to: 1) half-price admission—$10 for competitors, $5 for spectators, children 12 and under FREE; 2) a FREE BBQ dinner—courtesy of Homestead-Miami Speedway; and 3) a FREE $10 gift card to Longhorn Steakhouse.

In support of the Speedway’s commitment to road safety, Florida law-enforcement officials and National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Champion Darrell Gwynn will join Speedway President Curtis Gray in inviting the public to “start their engines” on June 26 at THE Championship Tracksm.

In an anticlimactic win in Top Alcohol Dragster John Finke notched his first win of the season.

NHRA
Top Alcohol Funny Car champion Frank Manzo raced at his home track, Old
Bridge Township Raceway Park in Englishtown, N.J., this weekend during
the United Association NHRA SummerNationals.  The Morganville, N.J.,
resident notched win No. 81 and extended his lead for most NHRA
national event wins for sportsman racers.  The next closest racer,
David Rampy, has 70 NHRA national event wins.

Manzo, who has now won three out of the four national events he has
attended including one week ago in Joliet, Ill., took on the event’s
No. 1 qualifier, Jay Payne, Claremont, Calif., in the final round. 
Although Manzo qualified in the No. 2 spot, he effectively outran Payne
throughout eliminations and as if to put an exclamation point on it,
Manzo peeled off the quickest and fastest TAFC run of the weekend in
the final.  He laid down a 5.493-second, 253.20 mph pass to Payne’s
5.667-second, 260.76 mph effort.  Payne’s runner-up finish was his best
of the season to date.

Jim Cunningham wouldn’t exactly describe
his mood as enthused to hear banter floating around the pits suggesting
that he’ll have company in running a Ford Pro Stock program in 2010.

“I’ve run Fords since 1988,” Cunningham said. “I’ve had about six Pro
Stockers since then and I’ve spent about $6 Million and now everybody
wants to get on the bandwagon. Everyone says I have partners, but I
don’t have any partners. The only partner I have is my wife, and I
can’t get rid of her. It would cost me too much money.”

Most recently Larry Morgan announced a switch from Mopar over to Ford
for 2010 and reportedly at least three teams are rumored to be ready to
follow that same path.

Cunningham understands that more chefs in this kitchen will not
necessarily spoil the broth but it’s still frustrating to see others
adopt a combination that he never gave up on and inevitably funded the
rebirth of the brand in Pro Stock.