Calling him “one of my honest-to-God heroes,” American Drag Racing League (ADRL) President Kenny Nowling vowed to honor
the memory of race driver Steve Engel, 49, who died Sep. 14, at
Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis. Engel succumbed to complications
from severe back injuries sustained in a high-speed crash Aug. 30,
while competing in an NHRA Pro Modified race at O’Reilly Raceway Park
in Clermont, Indiana.

“Any time we lose a member of the drag racing community it’s very
difficult; however, this is especially tough since Steve was not only a
member of and competitor with the ADRL, but also someone I had known
for several years and considered a personal friend,” Nowling said.
Engel last raced with the ADRL in August 2007, at Norwalk, Ohio, in the
eighth-mile series’ Pro Extreme class. “My heart goes out to Steve’s
wife, Tonya, and his young sons, Stevie and Michael, at this obviously
difficult time.”

Coverage of this Sunday’s O’Reilly Super Start Batteries Fall Nationals, the second race in the six-race Countdown to 1 NHRA Playoffs, will begin at 8:30 p.m. ET (on ESPN2HD).

A pair of southern gents named Gustav and Ike have delayed the debut of
the new Kent Services and Trucking Pro Stock team scheduled for this
weekend’s NHRA event at the Texas Motorplex, and with those delays the
team is now looking for a late season debut at either Richmond, VA or
Las Vegas NV.

In the days just prior to hurricane Gustav making landfall in southern
Louisiana, the team had completed construction of their new race shop
on the grounds of No Problem Raceway in Belle Rose. Little did anyone
know that the eye of Gustav would pass directly over the new race shop
and that electrical service would be lost for days at the new facility.
While the shop survived the storm, the loss of electricity and the
combined effects of localized flooding and storm damage forced the team
to concentrate on personal safety and matters other than engine
development and race car preparation in the days following the storms
hit.

The Pro Modified Racing Association will finish its 2008 schedule this coming Saturday and Sunday, and the PMRA Pro Modifieds
will be part of an exciting weekend of drag racing to be held in
conjunction with the OSCA’s (Ontario Street Car Association) 2008
McIntyre Automotive Championship Finals and the Canadian SRT Nationals.
 
“We should have a terrific weekend,” said PMRA Director of Operations
Bruce Mehlenbacher. “The OSCA is a great series with a group of very
dedicated and extremely serious competitors. The 2008 PMRA champion
will be decided at this event.”
 
OSCA Race Director Mike Bennett said he is expecting up to 150 cars for
the finish of the series’ eighth season, and there are some tight
battles in several of the 11 classes.

The Bernstein name is well-known in Texas racing circles.  Each year
when the NHRA circuit makes it annual stop at the Texas Motorplex, it’s
as if Kenny and Brandon Bernstein journey back to their roots.

When six-time NHRA champion Kenny Bernstein and his son Brandon get to
the Motorplex for O’Reilly Super Start Batteries Fall Nationals Sept.
19-21, they will see many familiar faces.

Kenny started his racing career in and around the Dallas area.  Some of
the car owners that he originally drove for in the early days of his
career, Mitchell and Donald Anderson, Vance Hunt, along with Bobby
Langley, are annual guests in the Bernstein pit area.  They still bench
race and tell tales of the early days of racing.  The only one missing
from the familiar confines of the pit area is Kenny’s father Bert, who
succumbed to cancer in 2005 shortly after watching his grandson Brandon
win in St. Louis.

Brandon’s mother and many Texas A & M college friends are always
on-site to cheer the Budweiser/Lucas Oil team.  Brandon won the Dallas
event in 2006 with family and friends helping to celebrate the team’s
victory.

Aaron Brooks, crew chief of R2B2 Racing's Funny Car driven by Frank
Hawley is leaving the team at the end of this month for a similar
position with renowned Top Fuel tuner Alan Johnson’s new two-car team
that will debut in 2009.

The Brooks-Hawley combination has been very impressive this season
despite competing in just six of the first 19 races.  They earned a No.
1 qualifying position at last weekend’s Carolinas Nationals in
Charlotte with one of the quickest 1000-foot elapsed times of the
season, 4.072 seconds.  They also had a final-round appearance at
Reading, Pa., last month.

Note to bracket racers: never forget your tricks and experience because you never know when it might come in handy.

Jack Beckman, a former Super Comp world champion and avid bracket
racer, looked more like he was racing a bracket dragster than Don
Schumacher’s Valvoline/MTS-sponsored Funny Car.

At one point in his march to the finals, Beckman strapped a .002 light on one opponent.

“I think it was almost survival of the fittest here this weekend,”
Beckman said. “It’s hot, it’s humid, these firesuits don’t breathe very
well in there and we got pulled up there and had a lot of down time, I
mean god bless the safety safari they’re fast but importantly they are
effective. Ten minutes in that car more than what you’re used to will
bear on you.

The experience was totally different this time for John Force.

14-time
NHRA Funny Car champion John Force returned to the Texas Motorplex on
Monday via the same helicopter that transported him to Baylor
Universaity Hospital after his devastating crash. (NHRA.COM Photo)

The fourteen-time NHRA Funny Car champion took another ride in an
Air Evac Lifeteam helicopter. This time the flight was a return to the
Texas Motorplex a year after the most devastating crash of his storied
drag racing career.

Force suffered a compound fracture of the left ankle, broken bones in
his hands, fingers and toes and ligament and tendon damage in his right
knee at last season’s NHRA Fallnationals.

This time Force was all healed up.

A flat tire cost Bob Frey his chance of pulling off the Concord trifecta.

The veteran announcer was en route to emcee an event at the old
Concord, N.C. drag strip, the same one in which Tommy Ivo ran his front
engine dragster off a small cliff. He never completed the trip and headed back home.

Years later, under the employ of IHRA President Larry Carrier, Frey
made the only other national event in Concord. This event was the IHRA
Southern Nationals and was contested on pit road of Charlotte Motor
Speedway.

For as long as Orlando Speed World Dragway promoter Carl Weisinger has staged his incredible World Street Nationals event, there has been a pre-event party at Hooters.

Some traditions are too good to end.

Weisinger confirmed the 16th Annual World Street Nationals pre-race
party Thursday, October 30 at Hooters on Lake Underhill will be rocking
this year.