GALOT Motorsports Park in North Carolina will kick off its 11th Red Line Oil PDRA Drag Racing Series season with the East Coast Nationals at Galot Motorsports Park this weekend. 

All 12 categories of the PDRA will participate in the East Coast Nationals, including professional, sportsman, and Jr. Dragster divisions. Teams will have two days for testing before entering Friday’s qualifying rounds and Saturday’s eliminations. The competition promises to be fierce across the board.

Apparently NHRA isn't so rigid after all. 

Taking a page from the Professional Racers Organization's PRO Superstar Shootout, the NHRA will host a two day event, the Virginia NHRA Nationals, where professional teams will have one day of qualifying and one for eliminations. The event will now begin on Saturday, June 22. 

If you like nitro, Harley-Davidsons, jambalaya, and a relaxed cajun atmosphere, there’s no problem having a good time at No Problem Raceway this weekend. 

The AMRA will be bringing its PennGrade1 Cajun Nitro Nationals into town. For the first time, the event will feature a 16-bike Top Fuel Harley field thanks to the support of Top Fuel Harley legend Johnny Mancuso and his Circle M Ranch and Dove Fuels. 

Plenty of eyes will water for no other reason than nitro fumes in the air, and as many as 30 bikes could be making the trip to compete. 

To the drag racing world, Walter Bullard was just one person. But to us at CompetitionPlus.com, Walter Bullard meant the world. 

Walter, 64, passed away on March 12, after a brave battle with cancer. 

Walter was a longtime reader of CompetitionPlus.com, and actually ran into us for the first time at an Australian drag race. The Seattle, Washington, native had made his way from Dubai, where he was on a work assignment, to Brisbane, Australia, for the ANDRA Winternationals at Willowbank Raceway.

Harry Schimdt created the first Blue Max Funny Car in 1970. Raymond Beadle purchased the brand, making it a world champion and household name. Ronny Young has made it his life's mission to ensure that it is never forgotten. 

It's been almost 55 years since the Blue Max Funny Car branding debuted on a Funny Car, then owned by Harry Schmidt. 

Young's mission of preservation began around 2003 with Beadle's blessings. 

Quain Stott doesn't mince words when talking about how Pro Modified has changed since he stepped away in 2009. The longtime doorslammer racer who won a championship in 2006 and finished in the IHRA's Top Ten points 14 consecutive times considers those who pilot these cars to be riders, not drivers. 

Pretty soon, Stott smiles and admits he will become one of them.

Stott jokingly laughs and admits he will be a rider in a Pro Modified car for the first time since he last drove a clutch-equipped Pro Modified. He will be behind the wheel of the Troy Bostick blown '57 Chevy in Jacksonville, Fla.

Just six weeks ago, Jeff Arend wasn’t planning on racing or driving any type of Funny Car.

Then, the veteran NHRA driver had an unexpected change of plans in a good way.

“Matt Bynum, who is Del Worsham’s car chief (on Alexis DeJoria’s Funny Car), called up and asked if I wanted to drive his Nostalgia car at the March Meet (in Bakersfield, Calif.), and of course I said, ‘Yes.’ Matt and I have known each other for a long time, and he has helped me out lots over the years,” Arend said. “In the three years they've owned that car, I'm not even sure that it actually even made it to the finish line under power.

At first glance, Ron Capps appears to be a well-manicured spring chicken. But in reality, the championship-winning driver that John Force calls a kid will celebrate 30 years as a nitro racer next weekend. 

Capps made his professional debut behind the wheel of Roger Primm’s Top Fuel dragster during the 1995 Phoenix event. He’s since participated in 632 starts, with 75 national event victories racing a Funny Car and one in Top Fuel. He is one of only 18 drivers in NHRA history to have claimed a win in both the Top Fuel and Funny Car categories.

Capps cannot help but wax nostalgic thinking about it all. 

One of the worst things that could have happened for the NHRA Top Fuel field transpired last June when the tour rolled into Bristol, Tenn., for the Thunder Valley Nationals. A crowded schedule of two races in one weekend enabled driver Justin Ashley to get in a zone. 

There's a good chance lightning could strike twice. 

Ashley comes into next weekend's NHRA Arizona Nationals with a chance to win the rain-delayed NHRA Winternationals from Pomona, a Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty Challenge, and the actual race scheduled at Firebird Raceway. Ashley is the defending champion from Phoenix, and if he can pull off the final round win from Pomona, it will make three in a row for that event. 

Except for his present moment as a team owner and when he first started as a driver for Roger Primm, multi-time champion Ron Capps has been involved in driving for multi-car operations. He’s not ready to get out of the seat any time soon, so the NAPA Auto Parts-sponsored driver eyes a day when he could expand his empire of nitromethane.