Mike
Ashley, a three-time NHRA Funny Car winner and owner of Antron Brown's
Matco Tools dragster, will return to professional competition this
season Ashley announced today. The 2007 U.S. Nationals winner will
field a second MAR Top Fuel dragster to team with Brown and the Matco
Tools crew at the final four races on the 2009 NHRA schedule.

Ashley, who clocked the fastest Funny Car speed in NHRA history at
334.32 mph (Las Vegas 1 2007), will compete at the Memphis, Richmond,
Las Vegas 2 and Pomona 2 races. He also will race a second MAR dragster
on a part-time basis during the 2010 NHRA season. The dragster will fly
the colors of Lend America. Chuck Ford and Rob Wendland will serve as
co-crew chiefs on the Lend America dragster teaming with MAR's current
tuning duo of Brian Corradi and Mark Oswald who have tuned Antron Brown
to two Top Fuel wins this season and a second-place ranking.

Bob Tasca III talks with CompetitionPlus.com's Stan Creekmore following his testing fire on Monday afternoon in Bristol. Tenn.

Funny
Car driver Bob Tasca III described a Monday afternoon testing fire at
Bristol Dragway as one of the worst he’s had in his short Funny Car
career.

The veteran driver was uninjured and emerged from the Motorcraft/Quick Lane Shelby Cobra with more questions than answers.

“I really don’t know what went wrong,” Tasca said, when asked about the fire.

“It wasn’t that bad,” he continued. “It was hot enough where it got
hotter and hotter around my feet. It was pretty intense inside of the
car. We had a malfunction in the clutch can area.

The NHRA’s nitro spec testing opened on Monday afternoon at Bristol. The test(s) are data gathering efforts which may “slow the nitro cars” a bit and facilitate a return to quarter-mile racing.

It was previously reported that Tim Wilkerson would drive the test car, however it was  Tim's son, Daniel, who made the first lap. The second generation Wilkerson earned his nitro license last season and in his debut race drove to a runner-up finish at the IHRA Motor City Nationals in Milan, Mi.

Driver quotables you will likely only hear at Bristol. These were said
over the P.A. during the recently completed NHRA Thunder Valley
Nationals in Bristol, Tenn.

The day the competition feared has arrived.

Entering the 2009 season, Del Worsham carried the monstrous
expectations of a drag racing community who assumed his association
with championship team owner Alan Johnson all but guaranteed a Funny
Car title.

Then, they stumbled and then, they stumbled again.

What was deemed to be the almighty team didn’t appear to be so almighty.

Then, Worsham won at the NHRA O'Reilly Midwest Nationals in St. Louis
and there was concern from the competition that early season
expectations were close to becoming fulfilled. Still, with the previous
early season shortfalls, there was a measure of doubt.

NHRA Nitro Funny Car driver James Day will once again jump behind
the wheel of a Nitro burning Nostalgia car but its been awhile since he has driven a Top Fuel car.

"I
haven't driven a front motored top fuel car since 2005 and I'm really
excited about it," Day said. "There's nothing quite like sitting behind
the motor with nothing to protect you. You need to have a lot of
respect for this kind of car, you never know when those little tires
are gonna come lose out there and it can get away from you in a heart
beat. I enjoy the challenge of driving different type of cars, it keeps
my mind fresh and it also keeps me off suicide watch as our big show
NHRA car is parked due to lack off funding.

After nearly a month-and-a-half layoff, the NMRA and all of the cars and stars returned to all-Ford drag racing action, as the

This gorgeous Maverick belongs to Don Bowles from Madisonville,
Kentucky.  Don is an old-school drag racer that can trace his roots to
racing with Jack Roush back in the ‘70’s, and he’s one of the toughest
racers on the NMRA circuit.  He’s always on his game on race day and is
feared by his competition for his great reaction times and excellent
preparation.

well-seasoned
1320’ racing surface of Atco Raceway in Atco, New Jersey hosted the 9th
Annual Nitto Tire Ford Nationals presented by Downs Ford Motorsport. 
The weather forecast heading into the weekend didn’t look terribly
promising, but it was beautiful on Friday and Saturday for qualifying,
and after a brief rain session on Sunday morning, settled into a brisk
60-degree day with nearly zero humidity.  As a result, records were set
with surprising regularity through the course of the day during
eliminations.

The first-year “Bowling for Riley” event hosted by NAPA AUTO PARTS and Don Schumacher Racing on May 19 was an instant success, as
NHRA fans and drivers showed up at Brownsburg (Ind.) Bowl in support of
Indiana’s only comprehensive hospital dedicated exclusively to the care
of children, Riley Hospital for Children.

Over $9,000 was raised in just over four hours from entry fees, the
sale of silent auction items, a 50/50, a live auction, and voluntary
donations. “This is just another great event that DSR and Riley
Hospital have put together,” noted Ron Capps, pilot of the NAPA AUTO
PARTS Funny Car and current NHRA class points leader. “Our team owner,
Don Schumacher, is very supportive of these kinds of events, and it was
great to see all of the NHRA drivers and teams behind it as well.”

The second edition of the annual NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Series meet –
dubbed the Las Vegas Speed Spectacular – now is history. The
unseasonably-hot weekend ended Sunday afternoon with finals for A/Fuel,
AA/Gas, Jr. Fuel, 7.0 Pro, Hot Rod, D/Gas, C/Gas, B/Gas, A/Gas,
Nostalgia Eliminatior 1, Nostalgia Eliminator 2 and Nostalgia
Eliminator 3 categories.

Kin Bates of Anderson, Calif., defeated Bill Wayne of Bullhead City,
Ariz., in the A/Fuel finale, 6.354 sec./219.79 mph to 6.525 sec./212.03
mph.

John Randell, 12, lives in Henderson and races in the Short Line
Express Market/Chevron Jr. Dragster Series at The Strip at Las Vegas
Motor Speedway. Less than one year ago, the Mannion Middle School
student was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.

Randell turned his medical setback into an opportunity to help others
by founding Diabetes Education Awareness, LLC. His goal this spring was
to raise $1,500 in donations so that he can send three children to a
diabetes education camp (Camp Buck, at the Grizzly Creek Ranch near
Reno) in August for one week.  His foundation’s mission was to pay all
expenses, including airfare, for the three candidates.

He reached
his goal this weekend of raising $1,500 in donations to send three
children to a diabetes education camp (Camp Buck, at the Grizzly Creek
Ranch near Reno) Saturday night at the Bullring at Las Vegas Motor
Speedway. Randell collected money for his cause at a display beneath
the grandstands at Las Vegas Motor Speedway's 3/8-mile paved oval.  One
anonymous female donor dropped off $600 for the cause.