Hardee’s Restaurants is serving up an extra-fast product July 3-4, as
the title sponsor of the National Guard American Drag Racing

In a well-attended press conference Tuesday morning at the Capital
Plaza Hotel in downtown Topeka, Kansas, National Guard American Drag
Racing League (ADRL) Executive Vice President Jeff Fortune officially
announced the Hardee's Independence Drags III will be held July 3-4, at
Heartland Park Topeka, a multi-purpose motorsports facility located
about five miles south of the city.

League’s
(ADRL’s) Hardee’s Independence Drags III at Heartland Park Topeka. This
will mark Hardee’s second title sponsorship of a National Guard ADRL
event this year.

Heartland Park Topeka chairman Steve Johnson said the track is
“thrilled” to be hosting the National Guard ADRL and looking forward to
bringing the Hardee’s Independence Drags III to Topeka drag racing fans
on a long-term basis.

“We’re very happy to be offering yet another world-class motorsports
event to our local fans,” Johnson said. “The race teams in the National
Guard ADRL put on an unbelievable show and we can’t wait to see them
blister the eighth mile here at Heartland Park Topeka.”

Technically CompetitionPlus.com was right and wrong.

Over the
course of the weekend, we published a story declaring that Billy
Glidden had won 21 rounds of competition and counting. When he won the
final round at this past weekend’s ADRL Memphis Drags, the victory
marked 21 consecutive rounds of competition that he’d won since his one
legitimate loss dating back to last August in Norwalk, Ohio.

Though
the ADRL counts Glidden’s decision to withdraw from the well-intended,
yet meaningless arm-drop competition, neither Glidden nor this
publication legitimize that as a loss.

Three new Pro Modified drivers will make their respective 2009 debuts on the Get Screened America Pro Modified Challenge during the NHRA SuperNationals in Englishtown, N.J.

Local-favorites Vinnie Budano and Dave Hance along with veteran Jimmy Halsey and Frank Patille driving his Tim McAmis-built 1957 Buick Pro Mod will compete in the invitation-only field.

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Hindsight is always 20-20 and "Monday morning quarterbacks" always have the winning combination. Drag racing, like other competitive
ventures, lends itself to second guessing and doubt. Terry McMillen,
team owner and driver of the Amalie Oil / Wolverine Boots and Apparel
Top Fuel Dragster, was beginning to form a few doubts of his own when
he entered the IHRA Amalie Oil Texas Nationals recently.

In his second season as Top Fuel team owner, he had hoped to improve on
his five final round appearances and two wins from the previous year.
While team stats proved that he was no further behind last season's
pace, it just didn't feel right to McMillen. Seventh in points after
two IHRA events is not what he had envisioned9

Bob Tasca’s mail is delivered to his home in Rhode Island, but he can
think of no better place to haul the mail than the track that he considers his home away from home, just a short blast down I-95 in New Jersey.

Tasca has been going to races at venerable Old Bridge Township Raceway Park all of his life.

He watched his grandfather race there. It’s where he was bit by the
drag racing bug himself and the place where he won his very first NHRA
national event – in Top Alcohol Funny Car during his sportsman racing
days.

Top Dragster racer Scott Hall and engine builder Pat Musi are out to
prove that a 632 cubic inch engine that lists for under $27,000 has the
capability of not only being reliable and consistent, but can also win.
This past weekend they drove the point home to the winner’s circle.

Hall won Sunday’s Dan Page Race Cars Top Dragster Series event at New
England Dragway in Epping, N.H. He was also the No. 1 qualifier with a
6.77 elapsed time at 200.80 miles per hour.

Top Fuel driver Morgan Lucas will take his 8,000-horsepower GEICO Powersports/Lucas Oil dragster to Wall Street to warm up
New
York area fans for this weekend's 40th annual United Association NHRA
SuperNationals at historic Old Bridge Township Raceway Park.

Lucas will be on hand with some high-ranking GEICO and NHRA executives to ring the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange.

In addition to opening the day’s trading, the actual GEICO
Powersports/Lucas Oil dragster Lucas drives down the racetrack in 3.8
seconds at 300-plus mph will be on display in front of the exchange for
all to see.

Aeromotive Fuel Systems and Ford Racing have teamed up to build the first Ford Modular Powered Dragster and last weekend at the NHRA Summer Nationals in Topeka, Kansas, they unveiled their new rail, coined the “Cobra Jet Dragster”

The
dragster features a 5.4L Cobra Jet engine from Ford Racing and the
first ever Aeromotive Stealth Fuel System built for a dragster. The
fuel system boasts an “in-tank” Aeromotive Eliminator Fuel Pump, a
Pro-Series Fuel Pressure Regulator (P/N 13110) and Aeromotive Fuel
Rails for the Ford 5.4L (P/N 14144). In addition, the dragster carried
a power glide transmission and zoomies for sweet look of modern muscle
and retro speed.

Last year’s IHRA Sooner Nationals provided a pivotal turning point in the IHRA championship point battles.

All three eventual point champions in Top Fuel, Pro Modified and Elite
Motorsports Pro Stock claimed victories at the legendary Tulsa Raceway
Park, providing a key boost in their championship chases.

This year, drivers will once again be looking to make a statement when
Nitro Jam invades Oklahoma for the annual IHRA Sooner Nationals
presented by SafeAuto June 13-14 at Tulsa Raceway Park.

“Dan Gutterman and his staff at Tulsa Raceway have come a long way
since the first year and I know that they have been working hard on
continually improving the facility so that everyone has a great
weekend,” said IHRA Vice President of Racing Operations Scooter Peaco.
“Tulsa has a great racing surface and we’ve moved the date earlier in
the year this season to try and get a break on the weather.

On June 13, Bristol Dragway, one of the most historic dragstrips in the
world, will return to the glory days of drag racing when front engine
dragsters, Don Schumacher’s Wonder Wagon and “Big Daddy” Don Garlits’
Swamp Rat replace today’s modern world of 8,000 horsepower monsters.

The Blast from the Past presented by Ferguson Enterprises gives fans a
chance to see drag racing the way it was more than 30 years ago, when
fearless drivers guided their home-built racers down strips across
America.  Classic machines will be on hand to make exhibition runs and
give fans a sample of racing from days gone by. 

The Southern Slingshots, a group of nostalgic front engine dragsters,
return to Thunder Valley after an exciting inaugural event in 2008. 
Spectators will be awed by the skill these drivers posses as they
wrestle their cars toward the finish line.