When one talks about the legends of drag racing, Larry Carrier's name rarely is mentioned as often as it should be.  

Every drag racing fan in the country should know of Carrier's commitment and accomplishments in the sport.

He built one of drag racing’s more legendary facilities carving a drag
strip from between two mountains in the mountains of northeast
Tennessee.

He founded drag racing’s second oldest sanctioning body.

He introduced R.J. Reynolds as the first major series sponsor in drag racing.

While the NHRA has no timetable for a return to quarter-mile racing for
their professional nitro divisions, officials believe a series of upcoming nitro engine spec tests is the first step in that direction.

The first test, to be conducted by the NHRA technical department, will
take place following the Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway.

However, a thunderous roar has been filling the NHRA’s nitro garage
since the specifications for a new drive train package were issued two
weeks ago to the PRO membership. NHRA officials have tried to let the
membership know that their efforts are merely a data-gathering
practice, a move which hasn't stopped many racers from getting up in
arms over the notion the proposed specs could become written in
proverbial stone.

This story is about four drag racers who had a tough 2008 season and
have rebounded for a stellar start towards 2009. At least three of the
four drivers can claim the aforementioned statment as their story. One
professional competitor had no clue that he'd even be on the NHRA Full
Throttle Drag Racing Series.

One driver believed he'd found nearly every way to lose a race in the last four seasons.

Another driver had a tough elder who demanded excellence in every aspect of the race team.

One driver was all but ready to quit, figuriing his time in the sport had elapsed.

Another competitor looked at racing on the big stage as something "others" did.

In this article, CompetitionPlus.com will tell the stories of Morgan Lucas, Bob Tasca III, Mike Edwards and newcomer Doug Horne.

They are four pleasant surprises of 2009.

The purpose of this series is to bring a fuller understanding of the
major components of Top Fuel Dragsters and Funny Cars with an insider’s
perspective. We will touch on many items in detail and how the
components and various systems are interrelated along with a few side
notes and an occasional story along the way.

The list of subjects covered will be vast and detailed to the degree
necessary for the above average fan and simple enough for the average
fan to come away with a better appreciation of the intricacies of the
modern “Nitro” car.

Today's lesson focuses on the Funny Car body, its aerodynamics and special safety features.

Whit Bazemore has performed a lot of tasks in his drag racing career.

As a teenager, he was appointed the high profile position of official
photographer for R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. Bazemore became
accustomed to the stressful challenges of delivering on time high
quality photos for various publications.

Bazemore then moved into the 300 mile per hour grind of driving nitro
cars and in that time he’s been in championship battles and been on
fire. He’s been on both ends of the driver’s emotional spectrum on more
than one occasion. He caught on fire so many times early in his career
that his fellow racers nicknamed him Blazemore.

If it’s drag racing, he’s been there done that and has the t-shirt to prove it.

Kenny Bernstein needed to let the public know he doesn't want to walk away from drag racing. Budweiser
didn't want to hurt a sport they have invested in for the past 30
years. The compromise was an announcement made the day after
Gainesville, instead of waiting until the fall.

Bernstein now has the time to hunt for funding, but admits, if funding
isn't found, he is prepared to walk away from the world of drag racing.

“If there’s no major sponsor, this company and this team will not be in
existence is what it boils down to,” said Bernstein on Saturday morning
at Houston Raceway Park. “The reason for that is really simple. This is
our business and how we make a living. We don’t have other businesses
to fall back on that we can pull from for a year.

Maybe, they were just naturally talented. Maybe, there just naturally reacted faster.
 

Or maybe the difference between red-lighting, or being late to leave
was the ability to count “one-one-thousand, go”, once all four stage
lights were lit.

Allegations of nitro drivers successfully guessing the tree was enough
incentive for the newly formed nitro drivers committee to approach PRO
and the NHRA management about putting the driver’s role back into the
start by implementing a variation of time between the stage lights and
the amber lights.

The move has more drivers seeing red during the first three NHRA events
this season than in 2008, however, no one appears to be unhappy with
the change.

Ancient Greek philosopher Plato is quoted often as saying, "necessity is the mother of invention".  During the 1981 NHRA

Winternationals in Pomona, Ca., necessity ran headlong into the need for invention.

Never has there been a more stunning example of a problem that encouraged creative solutions than the time Raymond Beadle had his Blue Max Funny Car leave the starting line as a hard top and return a convertible.

It wasn’t the sight of the roof ripping from the lightweight Plymouth Horizon shell that would have captured Plato’s attention. What transpired as Beadle and the crew reached the pit area might have led the philosopher to his alter his saying slightly, making it "necessity is the mother of intervention". 

There was a time when Karen Stoffer was the lone gecko in drag racing.

Now she’s part of a grand scaled gecko invasion.

The gecko we reference is the iconic cartoon icon pitching the Geico
Insurance Company and their ability to save customers money.

Geico Power Sports has made a splash in NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing
and one can’t help but notice it all started with the
personality-driven Pro Stock Motorcycle rider from Minden, Nev.

Six years ago, Stoffer introduced Geico Motorcycle to the quickest and
fastest motorsport in the world. Today she beams when discussing the
company’s increased involvement in drag racing.

The purpose of this series is to bring a fuller understanding of the
major components of Top Fuel Dragsters and Funny Cars with an insider’s
perspective. We will touch on many items in detail and how the
components and various systems are interrelated along with a few side
notes and an occasional story along the way.

The list of subjects covered will be vast and detailed to the degree
necessary for the above average fan and simple enough for the average
fan to come away with a better appreciation of the intricacies of the
modern “Nitro” car.

Today's lesson focuses on the dragster body and aerodynamics.