Tom Hammonds takes to  the track at the third annual Virginia NHRA
Nationals with a new chassis for his No. 20 Race for Achievement Chevy
Cobalt.  With the new chassis, Hammonds expects to have better results
than in past races.

"We have a brand new Jerry Bickel chassis which puts us in a situation
where we will be formidable competitors," said Hammonds.    

Longtime NHRA sportsman racer Mark Faul turned in one of the best
performances of his career when he claimed a win and a runner-up at the
third annual JEGS Pacific SPORTSnationals at Auto Club Dragway at
Fontana. Faul, of Tacoma, Wash., drove his Pontiac Grand Am to win in
Super Stock when he defeated Bob Bales in the final round. A few
minutes later, Faul returned to try and complete the historic double,
but fell one round short when he was beaten by Dave Moreno of LaVerne,
Calif., in the Stock final. Moreno, in a ’69 Ford Mustang, last won an
NHRA national event title in 1985.
 
Joining Faul and Moreno as JEGS Pacific SPORTSnationals champions were
Doug Lambeck (Comp Eliminator), Mike Ferderer (Super Comp), Ed DeStaute
(Super Gas), Matt Blodgett (Super Street), Larry Scarth (Top
Sportsman), and J.R. Leerkamp (Top Sportsman).

Championships on the Line at California Hot Rod Reunion, Oct.
10-12 Finale of NHRA’s Hot Rod Heritage Series highlights racing action

Champions in several NHRA nostalgia drag racing categories, including Top Fuel and Funny Car, will be crowned at the 17th
annual California Hot Rod Reunion, presented by the Automobile Club of
Southern California, Oct 10-12 at historic Auto Club Famoso (just
outside Bakersfield). All told, nearly 300 racers will burn down the
quarter-mile during the 3-day
speedfest which is the final race of the NHRA’s inaugural Hot Rod Heritage Series.

Overall IHRA Pro Mod points leader Kenny Lang has gone to the edge of the pool and will soon dip into the waters of NHRA Jegs
Pro Mod Challenge racing.  The popular Canadian racer has confirmed he
will participate at the last two NHRA Jegs Pro Mod Challenge events
this season.
 
For Lang, driver of the supercharged NitroMoose.ca '53 Corvette, next
weekend's event at NHRA's Virginia Nationals is of particular
importance, as it will be utilized as a serious test session in advance
of the IHRA's season ending World Finals, which takes place the
following weekend at Rockingham NC (Oct. 17-19th).   Lang is in the
midst of a terrific IHRA championship points title battle and is trying
to hold off the formidable nitrous-injected cars driven by Mike
Castellana and Jim Halsey.  If successful, the Manitoba-based racer
could become the very first Canadian to win a Pro Modified World
Championship title.

Native Australian Dave Grubnic, driver of the 8,000-horsepower, 300
plus-mph DHL Top Fuel dragster, along with the DHL dragster team and
their Nitro-fueled NHRA (National Hot Rod Association) entry will be
making a special appearance tomorrow, Oct. 8, at the Naval Exchange at
Naval Station Norfolk (Virginia).

Grubnic and the DHL team will be on hand from 11:00 a.m. (ET) until
2:00 p.m. to meet and sign autographs for naval personnel including
special guests Master Chief Keith Kemper and Captain Steven J.DiNobile,
Commanding Officer. Grubnic and the team will be firing up the DHL
dragster at noon.

CompetitionPlus.com has learned through a news group that early Top Fuel driver “Big” Bob Haines has passed away.

Haines formerly drove for the California-based team of Masters & Richter.

EVEN THE IMPOSSIBLE HAS SHOT IN SEASON OF UPSETS AS POWERade SERIES HITS BACKSTRETCH OF COUNTDOWN PLAYOFFS

It’s the season for the impossible.

Let’s take the NFL, for instance.

Nobody guessed the Miami Dolphins – then dubbed the worst team in pro
football for good reason – would roll all over a humbled New England
Patriots in a 38-13 decision in Week 3.

Over on the college football front, it’s been the same. Three of the
five teams featured on Sports Illustrated’s preview covers (hello,
jinx) have already experienced embarrassing defeats that left devoted
fans in Ohio, Florida, Georgia and Southern California deflated and
confused.

Sonny Leonard has built an 892-incher and it’s a beast …

The person responsible for coining the phrase bigger isn’t always
better obviously didn’t see what master mountain motor engine builder
Sonny Leonard did today.

Leonard, who owns and operates Sonny’s Race Engines in Lynchburg, Va.,
just finished running the largest displacement engine he’s ever put on
his engine dynamometer.

This horsepower-laden beast tipped the measuring stick at 892-cubic inches.

Promoter Dave Hance has quite a weekend with his Shakedown at E’town event …

Dave Hance had quite the weekend.

The part-time promoter and drag racer brought the drag racing community
a spectacle of an event and after six years of promoting a fast
doorslammer at his home track in Englishtown, N.J., he finally hit the
home run.

The Al Anabi Shakedown at E’town didn’t fill the grandstands, but the
2008 event laid the groundwork for what promises to be an incredible
2009 event.

All in a day’s work for Hance as the event showcased the first-ever
five second run in nitrous doorslammer history, the quickest and
fastest absolute full-bodied pass, and world records in four of the
five divisions contested.

Jim Halsey might not have been the key figure in the race to the
nitrous doorslammer five articles, but he ensured he was the first to
take the stripe with an astoundingly consistent performance over the
weekend. The nitrous Pro Modified veteran from Street, Md., recorded
not only the first five second run with a 5.998-second lap during
qualifying at the Shakedown at E’town outlaw Pro Modified event, but
also carded four consecutive milestone runs including a 5.959 in the
final round of the event.

The quickest and fastest nitrous doorslammer run in drag racing history – priceless.

Even $2.6 million dollars wouldn’t purchase his record-setting 1968 Camaro.