Keith Haney and Ron Muenks had more in common than just being first-round Pro Mod competitors in the X-DRL X-treme Gateway Showdown--both were racing two cars in two classes at the same event for the first time in their careers.

Haney was forced into double duty when veteran Pro Nitrous racer Doug Riesterer failed to show up at Gateway Motorsports Park, despite Haney saying there had been an agreement in place for several weeks for Riesterer to take over the 2012 Camaro that Haney's teammate Monroe Guest normally drives on the X-DRL trail.

Kalitta Motorsports is honoring one of their own family members, Tammy “O” Oberhofer, beginning Saturday in Bristol, Tenn. with a special edition “777” wristband as the team competes at Bristol Dragway in the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals.

Tammy and husband Jim “O” have been an integral part of the Kalitta Motorsports family for 30 years.  Tammy, first serving as the team’s public relations representative and most recently as the team’s office manager, has been battling cancer for over a year.

NO. 50 - NHRA Pro Stock points leader Mike Edwards will go for his fifth consecutive victory at the Ford NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals presented by Tri-Cities Area Ford Dealers Sunday at Bristol Dragway from the No. 1 qualifying position.
 
With warmer weather conditions for Saturday’s two qualifying sessions, no one improved on Edwards’ Friday run of 6.632 seconds at a track record speed of 208.23 mph in his Interstate Batteries/I Am Second Chevy Camaro. Edwards has dominated the Pro Stock competition at Bristol in the last four seasons. He defeated hometown favorite Allen Johnson last year in a close final round and outran finalists Erica Enders-Stevens in 2011, Rickie Jones in 2010 and Greg Anderson in 2009.

NHRA Pro Stock points leader Mike Edwards will go for his fifth consecutive victory at the Ford NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals presented by Tri-Cities Area Ford Dealers Sunday at Bristol Dragway from the No. 1 qualifying position.
 
Spencer Massey (Top Fuel) and Del Worsham (Funny Car) also earned No. 1 qualifying positions and will lead their categories into Sunday’s noon eliminations at the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series event.
 
With warmer weather conditions for Saturday’s two qualifying sessions, no one improved on Edwards’ Friday run of 6.632 seconds at a track record speed of 208.23 mph in his Interstate Batteries/I Am Second Chevy Camaro. Edwards has dominated the Pro Stock competition at Bristol in the last four seasons. He defeated hometown favorite Allen Johnson last year in a close final round and outran finalists Erica Enders-Stevens in 2011, Rickie Jones in 2010 and Greg Anderson in 2009.

No. 1 qualifier Danny Rowe won his first-round matchup during the opening round of eliminations on Saturday in the NHRA Pro Mod Drag Racing Series at the 13th annual Ford NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals presented by Tri-Cities Area Ford Dealers at Bristol Dragway. The race is the fifth of 10 races in 2013 for NHRA’s popular 250-mph doorslammer touring series.

Rowe kept up his strong weekend pace in his Agave Underground Tequila Chevy Camaro, putting together a Saturday-best pass of 6.004 at 243.59 mph in his first-round win against the BAC Enterprises team of Clint Satterfield. That came on the heels of finishing as the No. 1 qualifier in his supercharger-powered entry, as his 5.958 at 243.37 from Friday stood up through the one qualifying session on Saturday.

It was Rowe’s second straight No. 1 qualifier and the third in four races as the Laguna Hills, Calif. native goes after his first win of 2013 when eliminations continue on Sunday. A victory would also get Rowe, who is currently ninth in points, back in the championship mix.

Thanks to our coverage partners at DragStory.com and Mark Walter, we present to you the live video feed from the latest X-treme Drag Racing League event.

Del Worsham delivered in his DHL Funny Car Friday evening during first day qualifying at the Ford NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals in Bristol, Tenn.

Worsham, the 2011 NHRA Top Fuel champion, was the king of the mountain with a new track record 4.008 elapsed time at 314.83 to lead the provisional field.

The No. 1 shot and subsequent track record came as a surprise to Worsham.

JR Todd was serious and sincere, but he knew it sounded devious. And he laughed as he awaited Friday's opening qualifying sessions for the Ford Thunder Valley Nationals at Tennessee's Bristol Dragway.

He's substituting at least two races in the Joe Barlam-tuned Protect the Harvest / MAVTV Dragster for Morgan Lucas Racing. Regular driver Brandon Bernstein is recovering from back surgery to correct bulging discs that have pinched nerves in his leg and caused debilitating pain and numbness in his leg and foot.

"I told him, 'Don't rush back,' " Todd said, recognizing how that sounded and quickly clarifying his advice.

On the eve of announcing significant new series sponsorship support from Blue04 bottled water and fire suppression company FireAde 2000,  X-treme Drag Racing League (X-DRL) President Jeff Mitchell held court June 13,  pitside at Gateway Motorsports Park, near St. Louis. Mitchell addressed the concerns of racers in town for this weekend's (June 14-15), X-Treme Gateway Showdown about payouts, sponsorship, spectator attendance and the overall condition of the X-DRL going forward.

The X-DRL got off to a strong start in March with its inaugural event at Tulsa Raceway Park, but a rain-plagued event at Bristol, TN, lagged in both spectators and car count, and though the race teams showed up in force last month in Belle Rose, LA, fan attendance remained less than ideal.

Not even a racing surface with triple-digit temperatures could stop Mike Edwards from continuing his Pro Stock dominance in the I Am Second/Interstate/K&N Chevy Camaro -- and his dominance on the Bristol Dragway quarter-mile.

In the opening qualifying session Friday at the tradition-rich Tennessee track, Edwards added to the lore. He ran a 6.638-second elapsed time at a track-record 208.23-mph speed. 

Since debuting a brand-new Jerry Haas-built 2013 Camaro last month at the X-DRL event in Belle Rose, LA, veteran Extreme Pro Stock (XPS) driver Dean Goforth won that race, qualified last week in the number-one position for the ADRL event at Richmond, VA, and is on track at the June 14-15  X-DRL X-treme Gateway Showdown to pick up his second top qualifier award in as many weeks.

Goforth's 4.083 at a career-best 177.58 mph from the opening stanza of three rounds of qualifying on Friday at Gateway Motorsports Park kept the Holdenville, OK-based racer on top of the eight-car field.

Driving the roots-blown GALOT '02 Firebird, Kevin Rivenbark earned the provisional number-one spot in Pro Mod at the X-DRL X-treme Gateway Showdown June 14, with a 3.935-seconds pass at 188.52 mph.

"It carried the front wheels pretty far down the track and when they came down the car darted a little to the left, but that was probably my fault," Rivenbark admitted of his round-three run on Friday night at Gateway Motorsports Park, near St. Louis. If his time stands up through a fourth and final qualifying session on Saturday before eliminations begin it will represent Rivenbark's career-first number-one start.

Veteran Top Dragster driver Dan Phelps went for a wild ride in round three of qualifying for the X-DRL X-treme Gateway Showdown, as his brand-new Race Tech dragster climbed into a huge wheelstand almost immediately off the launch and ended with a rare blowover accident for the sportsman class.

Fortunately, Phelps escaped injury in the wreck, but the car was severely damaged.

"This is just my fourth weekend with it," a clearly disgusted Phelps said as he watched friends and track workers wrestle with the bright pink and blue dragster to slide it off a flatbed truck and into its trailer for the depressing ride home to Labadie, MO. 

Matt Bertsch lined up on the Gateway Motorsports Park starting line, not a hundred-percent sure how his RJ Race Cars-built

'07 Mustang would perform in its first pass since going to the semis of the ADRL season ender last October at the Texas Motorplex, near Dallas.

U.S. Army Dragster driver Tony Schumacher is skilled at a variety of tasks. He proved Friday evening to be a pretty accurate forecaster of drag-racing results.

Last year's Ford Thunder Valley Nationals Top Fuel winner distinguished himself early Friday as the provisional No. 1 qualifier and owner of both ends of the Bristol Dragway record. His 3.795-second run on the 1,000-foot course topped Shawn Langdon's year-old elapsed-time record by one-thousandths of a second. With his 325.77 mph, he wiped out Spencer Massey's mark of 324.98 mph.