Greg Anderson spent much of his week leading up to the NHRA Southern Nationals 160 miles north of Commerce, Ga., testing in the motorsports hamlet of Concord, N.C.

There were lots of cars testing at zMax Dragway and it was as if the test session was a mini NHRA Pro Stock national event.

The conditions were identical in North Carolina to what he would
eventually encounter in Georgia just days later. Had you told the
multi-time champion that would be the case, he would have never
believed it.

Spend time racing long enough at Atlanta Dragway and perfect weather
conditions is something that likely will never come to mind.

Babe Ruth would have been jealous.

Just like the veteran long ball hitter, Ashley Force Hood called her shot and the end result was an upper deck shot.

The second generation nitro racer and defending NHRA Summit Southern
Nationals Funny Car champion heard her dad tell his crew chief Austin
Coil that he planned to run a 4.10 during the second session and he
landed atop the field with a 4.100.

“I was two pairs behind him in qualifying,” Force Hood recalled. “He
said, ‘let’s put a .10 on the board.’ He went out and did it.

Funny
Car driver Ashley Force Hood returned to Atlanta Dragway for the first
time since her historic win here a year ago and she picked up right
where she left off, earning the provisional No. 1 qualifying position
at the 29th annual Summit Racing NHRA Southern Nationals.

The other provisional No. 1 qualifiers at the sixth of 24 races in the
NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series were Morgan Lucas (Top Fuel),
Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) and Andrew Hines (Pro Stock Motorcycle).

A year ago in Atlanta, Force Hood became the first female in the
history of the NHRA Funny Car category to win a race when she defeated
her father, John Force, in the final round. Fast forward a year and
Force Hood is again best in class, posting a performance of 4.073
seconds at 310.05 mph in her Castrol GTX Ford Mustang to assume the
overnight lead. If her time holds through Saturday's two rounds of
qualifying, it will be her first No. 1 of 2009 and fourth of her career.

The IHRA’s 1999 Pro Stock world champion has an itch to go racing again.

Chris Holbrook has procured primary sponsorship from California Custom Cleaning Products to cover the parts overhead and travel costs to return. The team will compete using the former Chuck Demory operation.

The current plan is to debut next weekend at the IHRA’s Spring Nationals in Rockingham, N.C.

Chassis builder and Pro Modified driver Andy McCoy will drive for the
Ray Family at the NHRA Midwest Nationals in St. Louis, Mo., and two
weeks later at the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals in Bristol, Tenn.

Team driver Scott Ray is recovering from a heart attack suffered in March.
 
“Scott is recovering well from his recent surgery but still needs a
couple of more weeks to get the doctors okay to return to the driver’s
seat,” Team owner Stan Ray said.

Last May when then President Bush announced that Americans would be
receiving stimulus checks it is doubtful that he knew Georgian Jujuan
Prater would use the money to make her own high horsepower purchase.
She knew exactly how she was going to stimulate the economy as well as
her need for speed.

“When President Bush sent out the stimulus check I went out and bought
the Ashley Force 46” Sanyo TV with it. I bought it because her picture
was on it. I had gone to our local Wal-Mart and nobody had them out. I
knew they had come out but I didn’t see any. I had a friend that worked
in the electronics department and I asked her if they had the Ashley
Force Sanyo TVs. She went back to check and she was gone for about 45
minutes. They had everybody looking and they were the last TVs back
there since they had just come in. They dusted it off, brought it out
to me and I bought it that day,” said Jujuan Prater, from Bremen,
Georgia.

NHRA officials announced today that San Antonio Raceway, in Marion,
Texas, has joined the NHRA Member Track network.  The facility, which
hosts both quarter-mile and eighth-mile events, includes aluminum
grandstand seating, a two-story tower complete with a media center and
hospitality suites, a 600-foot concrete launch pad, concrete walls the
entire length of the track, and 15 acres of paved pit parking.

Hawaii Racing of Simi Valley California along with Ford Racing will be rewarding two PSCA Ford Racers during the 2009 season.

Hawaii Racing will award the PSCA Ford Racer (Excluding Mustang Maddness) who accumulates the most PSCA Championship Points, a Ford Racing BOSS Engine Block.

Hawaii Racing will also award the 2009 Mustang Maddness Champion a Ford Racing BOSS Engine Block as well.
 

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Construction on a brand new, multi-purpose outlaw car was started last
week for Jason Harris, surprisingly enough, from a chassis shop known
for its quality rail dragster following. Russ Farmer's Race Tech Race
Cars got the nod to begin construction on a radical, 1970.5
Cynergy-bodied Camaro. The car will be campaigned in a variety of
heads-up venues such as ADRL Pro Nitrous, Piedmont Dragway's Big Dog
series and a variety of other heads-up races. "The car choice was
pretty easy because we wanted something different, and we're also
Camaro buffs," says car owner, Bob Harris. 
 
Race Tech Race Cars, long noted for their quality dragster
construction, got noticed in a big way by doorslammer enthusiast at the
season-opening Big Dog race earlier this month. Team Race Tech driver,
Travis Harvey, clocked the quickest run of the day during a between
rounds shakedown pass, stopping the timers at 4.10 @ 178mph. Harvey was
behind the wheel of a Carolina blue 1968 Camaro, the off-season
creation of Race Tech Race Cars. "A lot of people don't realize that
that car weighs 2,575 pounds and is a nitrous-assisted automatic," says
Bob Harris.

Mike Espe, a 15-year employee of Star Racing, was tragically killed in
a motorcycle accident Friday after work.  Details are somewhat sketchy, but eyewitness reports state he was riding a friend’s street bike and lost control when the throttle possibly stuck. 

Mike was an integral part of the Star team and knowledgeable in all
areas of machining and engine building. Many of you may remember
talking to Mike on the phone as he often took technical calls and parts
orders while working in the shop. His boundless good humor brightened
the lives of everyone around him.  He will be greatly missed.