Ken Prather, 68, of Erie Pa., has a passion for the old school. And, his 1962 Volkswagen bus is easily the apple of any teacher's eye.

Still a work in progress, Prather purchased the German-made van so popular with hippies in the age of the “Flower Child” in 1998 with the intention of just making it into an around the town driver.

Those thoughts morphed into a reality which is to this day still a work in progress; which explains why the chopped top German automobile with a 355 ci Chevrolet V-8 tucked in the back seat area, still spends most of its time on asphalt tooling around the streets of Erie, Pa.

Maybe the only thing better than seeing great Funny Cars of the '70s resurrected by today's drivers is seeing them brought back to life by the original drivers themselves, drivers like Roger Garten and Dale Pulde.
    
Pulde, one of just a handful of fuel racers to have won multiple NHRA national events in the 1970s, '80s, and '90s, has driven countless Funny Cars over the past 40 years, but there were just two options when it came time to choose which one to recreate: the "War Eagle" Trans Am that he and partner Mike Hamby match raced from coast to coast in the late '70s and early '80s, or the unforgettable "Miller Warrior" Buick Regal that they campaigned in 1985.
    
"I might have picked the Regal – a lot of people really liked that car – but it wasn't old enough, and John Powers already had a new Trans Am body for me," Pulde says. "I never would have gotten into this if it wasn't for Powers. He's the one who said, 'I think you need to be out here,' and he's the one who said he'd supply the stuff. His body is the one that caused all the controversy when it came out – it's a little too spaceship-looking for some people, I guess. I we knew when I brought it out that it was overkill. But if you think about it, Powers' cars back in the '70s were pretty zoomy, too."

Because they sometimes are separated by ten-thousandths of a second on the racetrack and as few as one or two points in the standings, Pro Stock drivers guard their proprietary information carefully. They frown on anyone trying to photograph their engines. They often cover up their handiwork with a blanket. They're always on guard for technology spies.
 
But they break out in smiles when they see their on-track rivals' children and grandchildren dash among their pits. They aren't the least bit wary of elementary-school espionage.
 
"They're just a bunch of kids out there having a good time," Grandpa Johnny Gray said before improving Saturday morning from fifth to second in the Pro Stock order during qualifying for the NHRA's Northwest Nationals at Pacific Raceways.

The National Hot Rod Ass'n. has confirmed that Top Alcohol Dragster racer Mark Niver, 60, of Scottsdale, Ariz., died from a top-end accident Sunday during the semifinal round of eliminations at the NHRA Northwest Nationals at Pacific Raceways.
 
The King County Sheriff's Department, ruling the facility a crime scene, suspended all racing activities for about an hour and a half, pending an investigation. However, it permitted racing to finish and extended the 5:30 p.m. noise curfew to 7 p.m.
 
The NHRA canceled winners circle activities, save for photos that fulfilled business and contractual obligations and said its officials are investigating the accident.
 
A prepared statement also stated, “NHRA and Pacific Raceways officials extend their deepest sympathies to the entire Niver family.”
 
Niver was married and had two daughters.

Not one to waste time, Billy Glidden is taking the opportunity to improve his program following a crash during qualifying for last weekend’s ADRL event at Heartland Park Topeka.

It marked only the second time in his career that the 2008 ADRL Extreme 10.5 champ found the wall with significant force.

“I’ve been pretty fortunate, but the first time was (about 1997) in my very first car that me and a couple of buddies built in a garage in Seymour,” he recalled. “It wasn’t built to do what we were doing with it. I had slapper bars on it—I wasn’t using them in the conventional method—but it pulled one in two and when the car got down on the rear tire it cut it and then it was pretty much the same thing, it went from the left lane over to the right and it pretty well slapped the whole right side of the car.”

What began as a guy trying to decorate a wall in his garage evolved into the drag racing collectibles industry.

"I kept hounding this movie-poster dealer for one from Drag Strip Girl," says Mike Goyda, who, in the 18 years since, has become the preeminent purveyor of drag racing memorabilia in the world. "That poster cost me so little, it was amazing – I'm talking $10 or $20. Guys would come by to see the cars in my garage and end up asking me if I could find them a poster, and it just took off from there. I started getting calls from people all over the country. When I got started in all this, there was no real established market; nobody was really dealing in this kind of memorabilia."

Today, Goyda's inventory consists of between 75,000 and 100,000 items. If you can imagine it, he probably has it.

Neither Rickie Jones or Johnny Gray claim to have any type of political background.

Yet, both Pro Stock drivers are actively on the campaign trail trying to drum up fan support as a result of the new format for the K&N Horsepower Challenge, which is a bonus event for the Pro Stock class. The eighth and final competitor for the race will be chosen by an online fan vote.

“I have a couple of my friends who have been teasing me a little bit and it kind of feels like you’re out there rallying for votes,” Jones said. “I’m just trying to put the word out. If people want to vote for me, that’s great, but if they vote for Warren Johnson or somebody else it doesn’t matter. I just think it’s important to get everyone involved.”

Gray concurred with Jones.

During the 30th annual NHRA Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway last month, Danny Lowry made a 4.36-second exhibition pass in his turbocharged Outlaw 10.5 Ford Mustang. It was no record setter, but as Johnny Fenn watched from the starting line, he couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed by a sense of pride and accomplishment.

“It was the first time an Outlaw 10.5 car had ever performed at an NHRA national event and the crowd just loved it,” the Outlaw Racing Street Car Association (ORSCA) president recalled. “Six, eight years ago there’s no way that could have happened. Our cars, our drivers, just weren’t ready, but to see an ORSCA driver out there at an NHRA event, it was very satisfying.”

In reality, some Top Fuel teams are hoping for excellence.

Kenny Bernstein, a six-time NHRA world champion, expects it.

That’s why Bernstein, team owner of the dragster driven by his son Brandon, shook things up when his Copart/Lucas Oil machine began 2010 sluggishly.

Following the third race of the season at Gainesville, Fla., crew chief Rob Flynn was dismissed and assistant crew chief Todd Smith was promoted to wrench boss. Donnie Bender also came aboard as an assistant crew chief. Bender most-recently served as the crew chief for Don Prudhomme's Snake Racing from 2006-2009.