Veteran racer Troy Coughlin kicks off his 2009 campaign this weekend at
Bradenton Motorsports Park with the season-opening seventh annual Ross
Racing Pistons NMCA Muscle Car Nationals, the first of seven races in
the NMCA Edelbrock Drag Racing Series.
 
Following a runner-up finish in 2006, the last year he ran with the
National Muscle Car Association, Coughlin will once again vie for the
title of the quickest and fastest class in NMCA competition, Pro
Street. Utilizing an 830 cubic inch powerplant under the hood of his
brand-new Jerry Haas-built JEGS.com Pontiac GXP, Coughlin plans to
contest all seven races on the schedule in his quest for a world
championship.

The Stratosphere Casino Hotel and Tower will host a special NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series autograph
session featuring the highly-successful Don Schumacher Racing drivers
on Thursday, April 2, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. DSR has chosen The
Stratosphere to provide rooming accommodations for its drivers,
sponsors and team members who are sure to enjoy the many restaurants
and thrilling rooftop rides along with its expansive casino.

In an effort to show its appreciation for those who have volunteered
their service to the U.S. armed forces, Gateway International Raceway
has initiated the “Thank The Military” ticket program. The program
allows fans purchasing tickets to the O’Reilly NHRA Midwest Nationals
to donate a ticket to the USO of Missouri who will then distribute the
tickets to area active duty military.

Customers who call 866-35-SPEED to purchase tickets for NHRA Full
Throttle Series qualifying at Gateway on Friday, May 1, whether as a
single-day ticket or as part of the three-day Track Pack, simply has to
tell the GIR ticket representative they want to thank the military and
a ticket will be sent to the USO of Missouri. Gateway has set aside a
total of 1,000 tickets for use with this program.

Miss Monique Vajda, a 4th year apprentice from Chisholm TAFE in
Frankston couldn't believe her luck when she received a call from
Sidchrome informing her she was the winner of the ‘Sidchrome Tradie of
the Year – Win a Day with Bray Promotion’.

Monique spent the week-end with Team Bray at the recent Westernationals
held at the Perth Motorplex in WA. She arrived at the Motorplex at
10.30am on the Saturday was decked out in Team Bray uniform and given
tour of the venue. Team principal Victor Bray very quickly realised
that this young girl had great knowledge, very enthusiastic, a great
passion for cars and the sport of drag racing. So she was promptly
shown the Sidchrome tools and put to work under the guidance the crew
chief.

14-time NHRA Funny Car champion John Force and daughter Ashley Force
Hood are featured in a story written by motor sports journalist Ryan
McGee in the latest issue of ESPN The Magazine on newsstands this
Friday, March 27th.

Longtime Southeast Division Super Gas racer Bobby Brooks died of apparent heart attack March 24. He was 68. Brooks raced his familiar Half-Breed Anglia for more than 30 years. He is survived by his wife, Angie. Funeral services are pending.

Robert Hight heads into this weekend’s NHRA Springnationals in Houston,
sporting a record at Houston Raceway Park that reeks of feast or famine.

In the three years of racing at the facility, he’s only made five passes on Sunday.

ACDelco Driver Tests In Atlanta Headed for Houston …

What do you expect from a driver whose father is a 96-time national event winner and he himself is a 39-time race winner?

In just a little more than a week since losing in the second round of
his sponsor's ACDelco event in Gainesville, Fla., Kurt Johnson and his
team have gone through his Chevrolet Cobalt with a fine-tooth comb
working feverishly to improve his competitive level and used to a
mid-week test session at Atlanta Dragway to judge whether their efforts
produced results or were in vain.

PR and marketing professional Matthew Brammer is returning to Baylor
University in Waco, Texas, almost 20 years after he graduated to share
what his years of business-ownership and a career in professional
motorsports marketing has taught him. Brammer will address four classes
in the School of Journalism Thursday.
 
Brammer is the founder and president of Phoenix, Ariz.-based Active
Marketing and has served as PR and marketing director for several
professional NHRA drag racing teams in his tenure at Active Marketing.
Along with his promotional responsibilities as the head of his company,
he is currently Series Director of the Get Screened America Pro Mod
Challenge presented by ProCare Rx and has been intimately involved in
keeping the exciting class of cars active in the NHRA.
 
According to Brammer, the only thing faster than the 0-to-330 m.p.h.
cars he writes about or quicker than the lightning-fast reactions of
the drivers he represents is the speed of the networks his articles are
delivered to and the power of the words he writes.