Not even torrential rains and muggy conditions could not deter the
drivers and crews racing at this weekend’s IHRA Sooner Nationals from
putting on an absolutely spectacular day of racing.

After a lengthy delay to start the morning, the action got back
underway during the mid-afternoon hours and it was nothing but blue
skies and great racing from then on as Tim Boychuk (Top Fuel), Kenny
Lang (Pro Modified) and Pete Berner (Elite Motorsports Pro Stock)
battled through the tricky conditions to record victories at the third
annual IHRA Sooner Nationals presented by Wolverine Boots and Academy
Sports and Outdoors Sunday evening at Tulsa Raceway Park.

Tony Pedregon picked up his second consecutive win of the season in
Funny Car at the 40th annual United Association NHRA SuperNationals at
Old Bridge Township Raceway Park.

Larry Dixon picked up his fifth win in Englishtown, while Jeg Coughlin and Craig Treble also win in their respective categories.

Pedregon powered his Q Horsepower Chevy Impala SS to a 4.246-second run
at 260.56 to grab the win. It’s Pedregon’s second consecutive win of
the season, 42nd of his career and second win in Englishtown. Pedregon
also moved past points leader Ron Capps to take the top spot in the
Funny Car points standings with the win.

 “I never thought I’d be afraid of a girl,” said Pedregon, who faced
Ashley Force Hood in the final round. “Fear of losing was in the back
of my head. I knew we had a good race car. It ran good in the heat, and
it ran good with cloud cover. Before the final, I just knew that Dickie
[Venebles, crew chief] was making a lot of adjustments and I had a
feeling it would be a close race. I heard her for a while. My car was
revving up, spinning the tires. We got after it because we had to. I
could feel the G’s falling off, and I was worried. If the track was
1,320 feet, I’d be in big trouble. I didn’t get off throttle. I just
hung on. It was just enough. You don’t know how relieved I was to see
that win light.”

Unofficial point standings (top 10) for IHRA professional categories
following the IHRA Sooner Nationals at Tulsa Raceway Park, the fourth
of 10 events in the 2009 Nitro Jam Drag Racing Series -

Point standings (top 10) for NHRA professional categories following the
40th annual United Association NHRA SuperNationals at Old Bridge
Township Raceway Park, the 11th of 24 events in the NHRA Full Throttle
Drag Racing Series -

Sunday's final results from the IHRA Sooner Nationals at Tulsa Raceway
Park. The race is the fourth of 10 in the 2009 Nitro Jam Drag Racing
Series:

Final round-by-round results from the IHRA Sooner Nationals at Tulsa
Raceway Park, the fourth of 10 events in the 2009 Nitro Jam Drag Racing
Series:

Final round-by-round results from the 40th annual U.A. NHRA
SuperNationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park, the eleventh of 24
events in the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series:

Sunday's final results from the 40th annual United Association NHRA
SuperNationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park. The race is the
11th of 24 in the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series:

The Top Alcohol semi-finals made for tense moments as Marty Nothstein
and Alexis DeJoria both tested the new containment system at during the
NHRA SuperNationals at Englishtown, N.J.

David Napp, track operator, has heard all the rumors and while there does exist an inner frustration, Napp

David Napp has been around Raceway Park long enough that he's learned to brush off the rumors of his track's demise.

laughs off the talk that Old Bridge Township Raceway Park is closing.

Napp tries to keep track of the tales in his mind, even though he knows
the day will come when he will have to write down those tales, just to
keep an official record of all the rumors.

“We've heard neighbors are shutting it down, it's sold, it's for sale,
it's for rent, it's up for grabs, the town's shutting it down; we've
heard it all,” Napp said, smiling and shaking his head.

“We've heard it probably for the last 25 years nonstop and we're still here and we're not going anywhere.”