Charles Carpenter realizes that his experience last Saturday evening at
the ADRL season-opener at Houston Raceway Park may very well end up on
one of those wild video reality shows showing spectacular accidents.
That’s of little solace to the man who made a name driving really fast
1955 Chevrolets.
 
Carpenter was involved in a first round accident where his car became
uncontrollable at the finish line, impacted the wall, became airborne
and then came crashing down on all-four wheels.
 
Let the record reflect that four-link, Pro Modified race vehicles make for poor off-road, 4X4 vehicles.
 
Carpenter is sore and downright miserable physically, a byproduct of the accident.
 
“I'm feeling pretty rough,” Carpenter said, moving gingerly after being
diagnosed with fractured T7 vertebrae. “I just think everyday gets
worse. I guess stuff just shows up. It just wrenched me around so bad
I'm hurting pretty bad all over.”

Eight years ago Super Stock racer Alex Denysenko had a vision.

The veteran racer from Michigan City, Ind., believed that he could
assemble an event featuring the performance oriented sportsman
divisions, i.e. the class racing divisions, the headliners on a
national event style event. He wanted to prove that one didn’t need
nitro or any professional divisions to hold a successful drag race.

Denysenko will always have the 2001 U.S. Class Nationals as proof he was right.

After a lifetime of racing experience, Denysenko will quickly tell you
he putting on the 2001 U.S. Class Nationals at Byron Dragway in Byron,
Ill., is in a class of its own.

“It would be right up there with the craziest things I’ve ever done,” Denysenko admitted.

Pete Berner will be the first to admit he’s starting the season in uncharted waters.
 

The IHRA Pro Stock world champion isn’t breaking in a new car or breaking in a new engine combination.
 
He’s starting the season disappointed and that’s something out of the norm for a guy who thrives on a positive outlook.
 
The veteran racer considers himself one of the few victims caught in a
Catch 22 of excellent opportunities to drag race his mountain motor Pro
Stocker. Until last season those opportunities were as rare as a white
tiger.

Shirley Muldowney enjoyed becoming the first woman to win a professional national event so much that she did it twice.

She might have won an IHRA national event in 1971, but it was her triumph on June 13, 1976, during the NHRA Springnationals in Columbus, Ohio, that put a female drag racer into the spotlight of a gender-competitive society.

Ms. Muldowney won four world championships during a career of legendary proportions, but it was that one summer day in Columbus that made her a legend before she ever carried the No. 1 designation on the side of her pink dragsters.

To her, that day had nothing to do with being a female and taking home the trophy. It had everything to do with being a viciously competitive drag racer wanting to score her first national event victory.

“I never looked at it as making history,” Muldowney told CompetitionPlus.com in an exclusive interview. “I never looked at it as [the] first woman to do this or first woman to do that. Even though I was a lady driver, I wore a skirt during the week. That [being a lady] meant something to me.

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 nitro chassis.

Andrew and Dina Parise (pronounced Pahreesee) are in tune with
the fact husband and wife Pro Modified teams aren’t the norm. Sure,
there were the Paynes, Jay and Shelly, who made up drag racing’s first
known spousal Pro Modified team, but let’s state from the outset, these
couples are worlds apart.

He’s a former Super Gas racer turned Pro Modified competitor, who holds
down a Long Island, N.Y.-based executive job, and she’s the former Ice
Capades skater, who followed the lead of her husband into drag racing.

She’s done a good job of keeping up, too.

When he left to pursue the challenge of Pro Modified racing, Dina jumped into his former race car and started making laps.

Every season since 2000, CompetitionPlus.com has predicted the champions of the major sanctioning bodies. We've been right as many times as we've been wrong. In the last few seasons, our picks have gotten better. Here's our offering for the 2009 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series.

If
you’ve ever wondered what a true Pro Stocker should like, sound like,
run like; the kind utilizing the same technology you can
watch race on Sunday and then buy on Monday, Steve Matusek has just the
treat for you, with a minor exception. Drag racing hasn’t caught up to
the technology Matusek has created with his modular-powered, 2007
Shelby GT 500.

“Making it resemble today’s current technology was the game plan from
the moment we began building the car,” Matusek said. “We wanted to
build a car that the average person in the grandstands could relate to.
 

“We wanted to make a splash and relate to the fans. We honestly wanted
to build something they could buy on Monday at their local dealership.

Landing a major sponsorship in today’s complex marketing environment
requires creativity that transcends the traditional approach. For a
group of displaced drivers led by Bob Vandergriff Jr. knowledge appears
to be their best recourse.

Vandergriff has developed a new website, www.sponsordragracers.com , a stop on the World Wide Web aimed at educating marketing agencies who seek the best bang for their buck in advertising.

He believes drag racing has been sorely lacking in educating corporate America on its marketing value.