| TREBLE REJOINS DSR IN GAINESVILLE |
|
Written by Judy Stropus
Thursday, 11 March 2010 08:00 |
 |
 |
 |
|
Craig Treble returns to Don Schumacher Racing to ride the Valvoline Motorcycle Oils Suzuki in this weekend's NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series' Pro Stock Motorcycle season-opener at the 41st annual NHRA Gatornationals in Gainesville, Fla.
Treble last rode a DSR motorcycle in a limited season in 2008, winning once in one final round and reaching the semifinals two times. Career-wise, he has won 14 national events in 29 final rounds, including two victories in three final rounds in 2009, running his own team.
Longtime DSR Pro Stock Motorcycle crew chief Steve Tartaglia will tune the Valvoline Motorcycle Oils Suzuki.
|
|
| FMR NHRA FC CHAMP SHIRL GREER AILING |
|
Written by Bobby Bennett
Wednesday, 10 March 2010 15:28 |
|
|
|
|
| A family member confirmed that former NHRA Funny Car champion Shirl Greer has been in a medically induced coma since last Thursday.
Greer, of Kingsport, Tenn., is at the James H. Quillen VA Hospital in nearby Johnson City, and is listed in severe critical condition and on maximum life support.
“The doctors essentially told us to inform the family if they want to visit with dad, to not wait until tomorrow – to come today,” said Brian Greer, the youngest Greer’s three sons. “He is not in good shape right now and the doctors are doing everything they can for him. I will say that if there’s anyone who can make it out of this – it’s the champ.”
|
|
| NHRA/SAFETY-KLEEN TO PROVIDE NO COST CONTAINERS AND DISPOSAL OF WASTE MATERIALS |
|
Written by NHRA Communications
Wednesday, 10 March 2010 13:00 |
|
|
|
|
| For this weekend’s Tire Kingdom NHRA Gatornationals, NHRA and Safety-Kleen Systems, Inc. have announced an agreement to provide containers and disposal of properly segregated non-hazardous waste materials free-of-charge to the race teams attending the event. Safety-Kleen also has been named the preferred provider for environmental services, fluid waste disposal and parts cleaner service at Gainesville Raceway.
|
|
| FEATURE: WILL WE EVER REALLY KNOW WHAT HAPPENED AT FIREBIRD? |
|
Written by CompetitionPlus
Wednesday, 10 March 2010 11:32 |
|
|
|
|
| LIGHT: CHANGES TO PRO STOCK NOT BASED SOLELY ON PHX |
|
Written by Susan Wade; Photo by Mark J. Rebilas Blog
Wednesday, 10 March 2010 11:29 |
|
|
|
|
Pro Stock driver Greg Anderson shared his strong opinion of the Firebird International Raceway surface conditions at the recent NHRA Arizona Nationals with the ESPN television audience. However, the presentation of his tirade, which wasn't unjustified, appeared to imply that the Pro Stock drivers revolted and made demands to the NHRA to finish their eliminations at the upcoming Gatornationals.
It didn't quite happen that way.
Graham Light, NHRA senior vice-president of racing operations, and Dan Olson, director of Top Fuel and Funny Car racing, worked during qualifying to identify the problems that cause two Pro Stock cars to end up on their lids and give the rest of the field serious concerns. Said Anderson that Friday night, "They want to fix it as well, but they’re not sure what it is, either."
|
|
| SO WHAT MAKES VHT INAPPROPRIATE? |
|
Written by Susan Wade, Bobby Bennett; Photo by Stan Creekmore
Wednesday, 10 March 2010 11:28 |
|
|
|
|
To understand some of the factors in the Phoenix VHT / Pro Stock accidents equation, it's necessary to know how the NHRA applies traction compound, what guidelines it uses.
Graham Light, the NHRA's senior vice-president of racing operations, said prepping the track for a national event is a bit of a combination of NHRA racing-surface experts and their local-track counterparts.
"We request that the track scrape all the old rubber off the track from the starting line to approximately 500 foot. And our people will show up, normally the weekend before. Sometimes we have to touch up the scraping job. Other times we don't. Bottom line, you try and get as much of the old rubber off as possible," he said.
|
|
| FORCE REFLECTS ON MARCH MEET MEMORIES |
|
Written by Elon Werner
Wednesday, 10 March 2010 11:00 |
|
|
|
|
|  On Saturday and Sunday during the 2010 March Meet at famed Auto Club Raceway at Famoso 14-time Funny Car champion John Force enjoyed meeting old friends and watching Funny Cars from his early days roar down the track. As the event’s Grand Marshal Force was on hand signing autographs for sponsor Auto Club of Southern California and enjoying a trip down memory lane.
“There were cars out there that spanked me years ago. Cars like the Blue Max. I used to drive for Steve Plueger (who was tuning the LA Hooker at the March Meet). What is really cool is that (Force’s son-in-law and 2009 Funny Car champion) Robert (Hight) said that I have to get back up here. I came here for 10-15 years in my early days of racing. I won here in 1984 and crashed here a number of times. I love this place and I love the fans,” said Force from the Famoso tower. “I love coming back here. It is a real drag race. I was amazed by the crowds that are up here. (NHRA Vice-President) Steve Gibbs told me they are big and I was just amazed at all the people in the pits and all that is going on. God bless them. They never forgot where we came from. I am as old as all these guys nobody knows it though. There are guys that I didn’t recognize because I was on fire so much in the old days.”
|
|
| MCCLENATHAN'S AGGRESSIVE CHAMPIONSHIP PUSH EVIDENT |
|
Written by CompetitionPlus
Wednesday, 10 March 2010 09:00 |
|
|
|
|
Veteran Top Fuel driver Cory McClenathan, who has accomplished much during his highly-decorated NHRA racing career, still needs to check off two pesky items that stand out near the top of his drag racing bucket list.
Item one – A win at the tradition-rich Tire Kingdom NHRA Gatornationals, one of NHRA’s major events
Item two – An NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series Top Fuel world championship title
If early season performance indicates anything, the Anaheim, Calif. native may be well on his way to crossing both off the list in 2010.
|
|
| ANOTHER SHOT FOR COMMISSO SETS G'VILLE STAGE |
|
Written by Bobby Bennett
Wednesday, 10 March 2010 09:00 |
|
|
|
|
|  Running the quickest lap ever in doorslammer drag racing history certainly makes Canadian racer Raymond Commissoo the man to beat this season in GSA NHRA Pro Modified competition. This year marks the first time in nearly a decade the Pro Modified division will race minus the "exhibition" label.
Commisso topped his Monday afternoon 5.809 elapsed time with a 5.78, 252.57 pass in testing at South Georgia Motorsports Park in Valdosta, Ga.
Since joining R2B2 Racing full-time, Commisso has gone from a freewheeling and mostly underfunded independent to a well-supported professional driver and his performances on the racetrack have taken a noticeable upturn. He currently holds the national elapsed time record of 5.881 seconds and has recorded the quickest run in history at 5.817 seconds. People are starting to take notice.
|
|
| HEDGES & CO. TO ASSIST WITH NHRA DATABASE MARKETING |
|
Written by CompetitionPlus
Wednesday, 10 March 2010 08:00 |
|
|
|
|
With the intent of better reaching and servicing its fan base, the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) has retained the services of Hedges & Company, a database marketing agency in Hudson, Ohio, to assist the world’s largest motorsports sanctioning body with a comprehensive database marketing initiative in 2010.
“We’ve launched our database marketing initiative in order to better communicate with NHRA fans and to add value for our sponsors and partners,” said Gary Darcy, senior vice president, sales and marketing, NHRA. “Aligning our efforts with Hedges & Company makes perfect sense given their extensive knowledge and success in database marketing and the drag racing marketplace.”
|
|
| CACKLEFEST AMONG GEEZERS HIGHLIGHTS |
|
Written by Evan Jones
Wednesday, 10 March 2010 08:00 |
|
|
|
|
Ever wonder what dragsters looked and sounded like “back in the day?”
Fans of nostalgia drag racing will get those answers when the Geezers Reunion at The Grove presented by Yuengling returns to Maple Grove Raceway on July 2-3.
Among the many events planned on the nostalgia weekend is a cacklefest that will include several cars that might’ve raced here when the facility was known as Maple Grove Dragway. They will be paraded – or pushed – down the track.
|
|
| INAUGURAL AHRA NITRO SHOWDOWN EXPANDED TO TWO-DAYS |
|
Written by AHRA Communications
Wednesday, 10 March 2010 08:00 |
|
|
|
|
 The Inaugural AHRA Nitro Showdown at Desert Thunder Raceway in Midland, Texas has been expanded to two complete days of drag racing action, now scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, May 15-16 because of extreme interest from sportsmen competitors.
Saturday’s racing will include the Nitro Showdown highlighted by 8,000 horsepower nitro methane-burning Top Fuel dragsters along with a duel of Jet Cars featuring “Rolling Thunder” vs. “Her-a-cane.” Sportsmen racing will continue through Sunday for the more than the combined 250 competitors in the Pro, Super Pro, Motorcycle, Street and Jr. Dragster classes.
|
|
| COMMISSO FIRES OFF PM 5.809 IN TESTING |
|
Written by Bobby Bennett
Tuesday, 09 March 2010 09:00 |
|
|
|
|
| BAKERSFIELD MARCH MEET CROWNS WINNERS ON MONDAY |
|
Written by Rob Gibson, Photos by Joel Gelfand
Tuesday, 09 March 2010 09:00 |
|
|
|
|
No one’s going to forget the 52nd edition of the March Meet. It had everything: record runs, the largest funny car field since 1980, John Force presiding  as Grand Marshal and even an extra day of nostalgia drag racing at Auto Club Famoso Raceway near Bakersfield. But memories that last forever were the winners of Nostalgia Funny Car and Top Fuel, Leah Pruett-LeDuc and Adam Sorokin.
A day after Kathryn Bigelow became the first woman to win the Academy Award for directing, Pruett-LeDuc made history herself. She whipped the boys, becoming the first female Funny Car winner in the illustrious annals of the March Meet. Driving the Plueger & Geiger Mustang, she defeated NHRA veteran Gary Densham in the “Teacher’s Pet” Camaro for the crown. Pruett-LeDuc ran a 5.811 at 242.65 mph to Densham’s 5.986 at 236.34
|
|
| PRO MOD DREAM BECOMES REALITY THIS WEEKEND FOR GSA'S BURGESS |
| Tuesday, 09 March 2010 09:00 |
|
|
|
|
 After a decade of existence as an exhibition class, the Pro Mod cars are now a fully sanctioned NHRA class, and team owner/driver Roger Burgess couldn't be happier.
"A lot of people contributed a lot of time and effort to make this happen," Burgess said. "By becoming an official class it legitimizes everything we've been doing. Racing for Wally (trophies) is going to be very exciting. Everyone wants one of those little gold men. They are the NHRA's iconic symbol of success.
"Being on ESPN2 also will help tremendously, especially with bringing corporate sponsors to the table for all of our competitors. This is big year for us."
|
|
|
|
Firefox 
Safari 
Internet Explorer
News
