This weekend's NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series All-American Hot Rod Showdown at Gateway Motorsports Park in Madison, Ill., has been rescheduled due to a multiple-day excessive heat advisory for the St. Louis area. The event has been rescheduled for October 20-22.
 
Additional details for the new event will be released soon. The $20-per-car load coupons and ticket vouchers, originally valid for July 21-22,  will be honored on October 21-22.

 
Defending Lucas Oil World Champion Joey Severance and Jimmy DeFrank took home Wally trophies from the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series, Northwest Division Les Schwab Tires Challenge at Woodburn Dragstrip.
 
In Top Alcohol Dragster final round, Severance, Woodburn, Ore., continued his championship defense, against TAD rival Shawn Cowie, B.C. Severance got off the line first and continued to pull away for the win. Severance registered a winning pass of 5.227 seconds, 278.89 mph. Cowie followed up at 5.260 seconds, 278.29 mph.

John Labbous Jr. is having the type of season that racers can only dream of. With the help of friends and family and behind the wheel of Anthony Bertozzi’s 2013 Racetech Super Comp dragster and 1963 Chevy Corvette Super Gasser, Labbous has won three national event titles (two in Super Gas and one in Super Comp) and four divisional events (twice in each class) to date this season. To top it off, two of the national event wins came at the same race, the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals in Charlotte, where he became just the 22nd driver in NHRA history to win two classes at the same event.
He currently leads the national and divisional standings in both Super Comp and Super Gas, and his lead in national points would be even greater had he won the Super Gas final of the NHRA Summer Nationals in Englishtown, N.J., and the Super Comp final of the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals in Bristol, Tenn.

As a resident of nearby Channahon, Ill., Zach Sackman couldn’t have possibly imagined a better time or place to earn his first NHRA national event win than at the 20th annual Fallen Patriots NHRA Route 66 Nationals presented by K&N at Route 66 Raceway. The 21-year-old picked up his first Top Dragster Wally when he defeated Shanna Snyder in the final, using a holeshot advantage to secure the victory.
 
“It’s pretty surreal to win my first national event here,” Sackman said. “I grew up coming to the races here, so to earn my first win in the Hangsterfer’s Top Dragster here is pretty overwhelming.”

The crew from the NHRA North Central Division claimed the $20,000 top prize in the overall team competition during Saturday's 33rd annual JEGS Allstars race at Route 66 Raceway.
 
The Division 3 crew won the elite competition for the eighth time following individual wins by Brian Browell in Comp Eliminator, Andrew Hill in Stock and Mark McDonald in Top Sportsman. The final tally had Division 3 with 900 points and the teams from Division 7, Division 5 and Division 6 tied for second with 700 points.
 
The other champions crowned during the annual event included Joey Severance in Top Alcohol Dragster, Andy Bohl in Top Alcohol Funny Car, James Antonette Jr. in Super Stock, Nick Folk in Super Comp, Ken Mostowich in Super Gas, Josh Dalrymple in Super Street and Steven Furr in 
Top Dragster.

 
In the final results from Lebanon Valley Dragway and the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series Josh Hart, Ocala, Fla., and. Fred Tigges, Holbrook, Mass, took home the wins in Top Alcohol Dragster and Top Alcohol Funny Car respectively;   
                                                                                                      
Hart, worked his way through the field and ran 5.367 seconds at 266.92 mph in his final round victory over Rich McPhillips, Phoenixville, Pa., who had problems and slowed to a 13.306, 52.53.  Hart qualified number two and defeated Jackie Fricke, who recently won at the NHRA national event level, and Duane Shields in rounds one and two.

This weekend, the focus of the drag racing world will be on NHRA Sportsman drivers as the 33rd annual JEGS Allstars race takes center stage during the Fallen Patriots NHRA Route 66 Nationals at Route 66 Raceway.
 
The JEGS Allstars competition is a unique event that crowns individual champions in 10 separate eliminators, in addition to an overall team champion. A highlight of each season for a third of a century, the JEGS Allstars event features a total purse of more than $120,000 plus an additional $50,000 in manufacturer's contingency postings, making it one of the richest events of its kind.

Pete Hanratty has made a name for himself in the world of drag racing as one of the staples in the Competition Eliminator class. Racing for over three decades, the Northeast division 1 racer still finds love in racing with his family.
 
“I’m about as much of a dinosaur as they come other than a couple of guys,” Hanratty laughed. “My dad had been racing our whole lives as kids and it probably helped keep us out of trouble. A little after my eighteenth birthday, my dad had gotten his license in our dragster and then asked if I wanted to give it a try. I went two tenths of a second faster than he did and that was it; he never drove it again. I’m now 52 and I’ve been racing for 34 years.”

For Division 2 Competition Eliminator racer Van Puckett, drag racing was something he was born into. Similar to many second-generation racers, Puckett grew up and spent most of his weekends at the racetrack with his family.

“Our racing has always been a family deal,” Puckett said. “My mom and sister would come along and of course, I’d work on the car. I can remember being 13-years-old and pulling motors out of my dad’s Modified Corvette."
Although Puckett had drag racing in his blood even before he was born, he didn’t take the typical route to Competition Eliminator like most competitors do. While many racers compete in Stock or Super Stock before making the jump to Competition Eliminator, Puckett stepped right into Comp in the 2005 Chevrolet Cavalier he still races today.