First-round pairings for professional eliminations Sunday for the IHRA
Spring Nationals presented by Advance Auto Parts and Castrol at
Rockingham Dragway, the second of 10 events in the 2009 Nitro Jam Drag
Racing Series.  Pairings based on results in qualifying, which ended
Saturday.

Jack Beckman crashed Friday evening during a nostalgia Funny Car match
race at Sacramento Raceway. Beckman was driving Lee Jennings’ American Revolution Camaro when the
classic flopper got loose, impacted the guard wall and did a slow roll. Mark King of Nostalgia Funny Car news captured this photo sequence.

Del Cox Jr. was given explicit
instructions by veteran crew chief Paul Smith prior to his Saturday
night Top Fuel qualifying run during the 38th annual IHRA Spring
Nationals at Rockingham Dragway.

“He told me, ‘If you feel anything … lift,” Cox explained to a gathered
group of the media in a post-qualifying press conference.

“But the thing is going to be a rocket ship,” Cox explained, quoting Smith.

Knowing their radio transmissions had been spotty all weekend Cox asked
his crew chief just to yell if something out of the ordinary happened.

Defending Pro Modified World Champion Kenny Lang (Grande Pointe,
Manitoba) showed why he is the world champion by
knocking North Carolina’s own Smith (King, N.C.) from the top of the
charts with a blazing 5.960 elapsed time at 239.48 miles per hour to
take the No. 1 qualifying spot in Pro Mod during Saturday’s Castrol
“Night of Fire” qualifying at Rockingham Dragway's IHRA Spring Nationals.

“Those nitrous guys are definitely fast. Rickie is running really quick
so just to get close to that and be quicker was a good accomplishment
and we are happy with that,” Lang said. “We hurt the clutch in the run
before that so we had to take the clutch out and service it before our
run. We had to tune it up a little bit.

John Montecalvo has a keen sense of
memory but Saturday evening’s top qualifying run at the IHRA Spring
Nationals threw him a curve.

“I can’t remember the last time we were number one,” Montecalvo said.
“We’ve always been a top three runner. We just couldn’t get the No. 1
spot. Tonight we did everything perfect. I didn’t see that there was
much we could improve on.”

George Blanda, age 48, was the oldest known NFL football player.

Satchel Paige was 65 when he pitched his final major league baseball game.

Both were mere  pups when compared to Chris Karamesines.

At 78, the Chicago, Ill.-based Top Fuel legend has plenty of gas left in the tank.

Karamesines is racing at the IHRA Spring Nationals, his 38th season of
racing the traditional spring event at Rockingham Dragway. He’s running
fulltime on the IHRA tour this season and part-time on the NHRA
schedule.

Defending World Champ Lang knocks North Carolina’s Rickie Smith from top of Pro Mod
 
Cox makes it two in a row in Top Fuel; Montecalvo sits on Pro Stock ‘pole’ for first time in years
 
No one has navigated the lanes at famed Rockingham Dragway more times than Rickie Smith.

A seven-time IHRA world champion and multi-time winner at one of the
oldest and most prestigious tracks in all of drag racing, Smith is
usually considered a shoe-in when making passes at “The Rock.”

Saturday night, that history meant nothing.

Pairings are set for Sunday’s eliminations at Memphis Motorsports
Park.  This event is the second of six in South Central division
competition, where racers are striving to add valuable points in hopes
of division and national championships. Categories contested include
Comp Eliminator, Super Stock, Stock Eliminator, Super Comp, Super Gas,
Super Street, as well as the division’s Sunset RaceCraft Top Sportsman
Series, TCI Comp Cams Top Dragster Series and NHRA Sportsman Motorcycle
Series presented by Harley Davidson will also be run in conjunction
with the event.

Joey Tanksley of Greenwell Springs, La., pieced together a nice run
placing him at the top of the Comp Eliminator field.  Shane Gray,
Artesia, N.M., who won the division’s opening event at Texas Motorplex,
sits back in the No.8 slot going into eliminations.  In the Super Stock
field, Lloyd Wofford from Jonesboro, Ark., powered his '78 Volare to
the No.1 qualifying position. Stuttgart, Ark., resident Dean Oliver
rose to the top of Stock Eliminator field.

Qualifying is complete at S.R.C.A. Dragstrip with pairings set for
Sunday’s eliminations.  This is the first of six events set for the
Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series West Central Division.  Top qualifiers
included Brandon Lewis of Broken Arrow, Okla., in Top Alcohol Dragster
and Roger Bateman, Calgary, Manit., in Top Alcohol Funny Car.

Lewis grabbed the top spot by posting a 5.487 second, 255.77 mph pass,
placing him more than a second ahead of the competitive field. Justin
Davis from Murrieta, Calif., sits in the No.2 qualifying position
heading into eliminations.  In Top Alcohol Funny Car, Roger Bateman
will start Sunday off with a first round bye. His best pass of 5.720
seconds placed him in the lead of the seven car field.

Bruno Massel, Woodbridge, Ill., claimed the No.1 Comp Eliminator spot
in his ’08 Cobalt. Last year’s reining event champ, Lou Ficco,
Wheatridge, Colo., sits in the No.3 spot going into eliminations. Larry
Schmidt out of Grand Island, Neb., drove his ’55 Bel Air to the top
spot in Super Stock with Zimmerman, Minn., resident James Findell,
piecing together the best run in Stock.

Jack Beckman crashed Friday evening during a nostalgia Funny Car match
race at Sacramento Raceway according to a report on NHRA.com.