Marketing specialist and longtime driver Will Smith has teamed up with Hirata Motorsports to compete in the Top Alcohol Dragster category this season. Smith will compete in the NHRA North Central Division, also making national event appearances at the prestigious U.S. Nationals in Indy, among others.

This season marks Smith’s 20th year behind the wheel of a race car as he began his journey in the NHRA Junior Drag Racing League before going on to graduate from Frank Hawley’s Drag Racing School.  He's since done a little bit of everything from bracket racing to Pro Stock Motorcycle.

Smith remained close to his passion, honing business and mechanical skills in working with highly respected companies and teams. For the last two years, he has served as Marketing Director for the Professional Drag Racers Association, a role he plans to continue as he furthers his driving career.

Lynn Ellison has come a long way from rural Kentucky – figuratively. 

He still lives in Central City, a small town with a population of about 6,000 where his father, Raymond, still cuts hair at his barbershop. It was at the barbershop, where he grew up shining shoes for clients, that Ellison decided he wanted to go racing.

“I would read the racing magazines at the shop and see all the cool cars and venues they were racing at and thought, ‘I want to do that,’ ” said Ellison. “My dad had an old bracket car that I began racing and began to do well with.”

Aaron Stanfield loves to race.

Stanfield most recently was competing in the Gatornationals in the School of Automotive Machinists and Technology NHRA Factory Stock Showdown during the Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals March 15-18 in Gainesville, Fla.

Stanfield was making his debut in the class and advanced to the final round before losing to his teammate Steven Bell.

“It was a lot of fun and it definitely rubbed on me,” said Stanfield, 23. “It was just awesome.”

In the final results from Royal Purple Raceway and the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series, Craig Bourgeois, Metairie, La., and Craig Gualtiere, Amarillo, Texas, took home the wins in Comp Eliminator and Super Stock respectively.
 
Bourgeois, worked his way through the field in his ’05 Nostalgia Dragster and ran 7.422 seconds at 130.57 mph in his final round victory over Raymond Martin, Mt. Belvieu, Texas, who red-lighted at the starting line.
 
Gualtiere faced off against Pete Perry, Bowie, Texas, and posted a winning run of 9.625 seconds, 135.55 mph in his ’67 Chevy II. Perry left early and fouled at the starting line.

Royal Purple Raceway will host the second NHRA South Central Division race of the 2018 season on March 23-25 with the NHRA Texas Sportsman Challenge. The event is one of 44 scheduled across the country where drivers earn points leading to divisional and national championships as well as a chance at a share of the year-end purse of more than $519,000. Categories include Comp Eliminator, Super Stock, Stock Eliminator, Super Comp, Super Gas, and Super Street. The NHRA Sportsman Motorcycle Series will run in conjunction with the event along with the Division’s SDPC Raceshop Top Sportsman and Top Dragster classes.

In the final results from Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals Nationals and the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series, Chris Demke, Valencia, Calif., and Sean Bellemeur, Placentia, Calif., took home the wins in Top Alcohol Dragster and Top Alcohol Funny Car respectively.
 
Demke, worked his way through the field and ran 5.305 seconds at 273.33 mph in his final round victory over Josh Hart, Ocala, Fla., who clocked in at 5.313 seconds at 270.70 mph.
 
Bellemeur faced off against Annie Whiteley, Grand Junction, Colo., and posted a winning run of 5.460 seconds at 268.28 mph in his Chevy Camaro. Whiteley drove to a 5.483 second, 270.43 mph lap for her runner-up finish.

Stephen Bell and the Bossier City, Louisiana crew served up a piping hot dish of southern race dominance at the Gators this afternoon. Bell, who wrecked his COPO Camaro at St. Louis late last year, was not even a major newsmaker going into the event, yet he and teammate Aaron Stanfield met for the money. Moreover, it was in a pair of cars that Bell owns, and the Stanfields built motors for. That they pushed not one but two cars into the final round of this deal is no small thing, as a bunch of other guys had every intention of leaving here not just with prize money but with the SAM Tech notoriety. Aaron, Greg and Mike Stanfield, longtime Sportsman competitors, are no strangers to the winner’s circle themselves, so for Bell, it was this team effort that made his victory possible.

“To be honest, I’m the driver,” he adds. “This is all Stanfield; they built it, they tuned it. Vic Custer (East Texas Race Cars) put this car back together for me, and it is fantastic. 

“This is the first time out for the car since we wrecked it last year, so we were pretty conservative getting it back into shape and dialing it in,” Bell said, “Once we started qualifying and feeling comfortable with it, we just began creeping up on the combination, and we frankly got lucky as it came right along with us. It was perfect.” In the end, an 8.108 put the car into the 6th spot in the field.

Four NHRA sportsman divisions completed their qualifying during the first day of the NHRA Gatornationals in Gainesville, Fla. 

Division 3 NHRA Super Stock standout Irvin Johns raced his way to the top of qualifying with his GT/GA Chevrolet Cavalier by laying down a 9.212, elapsed time, -1.188 under the index. Bubba Turner slipped into second with his Factory GT/B , Mustang, -1.181 under his index.  Drew Skillman was third with a -1.099 performance. 

A not so rookie driver and a true rookie will fire their engines Friday morning for Top Alcohol Dragster qualifying at the NHRA Gatornationals in Gainesville, Fla., the second national event on the Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series for the top of the sportsman food chain.

Troy Coughlin Jr. and Jordan Vandergriff will make their competition debut at the first major East Coast event for the NHRA. 

Coughlin, who last year tried his hand at Top Fuel driving, will be behind the wheel of Rich McPhillips Racing injected nitro dragster. 

Kathy and Kevin Fisher recently added Lucas Oil Products to the Performance by Fisher Racing stable. The new partnership also includes offering trackside support, as well as a full array of Lucas Oil Products, at each of the eight stops on the 2018 PDRA tour.

The Fishers are heading into 2018 following one of their strongest seasons to date, which included winning the 2017 PDRA Indy Showdown Top Dragster crown and ultimately finishing 3rd in the PDRA Lucas Oil Top Dragster standings.