The death of Top Alcohol Dragster Mark Niver last Sunday during eliminations at the NHRA Northwest Nationals has left more questions than answers at this point regarding the safety of the Top Alcohol Dragster and Funny Cars.

Niver died when his dragster crashed into the safety net at the end of the Pacific Raceways track buckling the chassis into the driver cockpit. Niver, a 30-year NHRA veteran, was 60.

Graham Light, the NHRA’s senior vice president-racing operations, says the sanctioning body is planning very soon to implement a rule mandating carbon fiber brakes on Top Alcohol Dragsters and Funny Cars. Presently, Top Alcohol Dragster and Alcohol Funny Car drivers have the option to use carbon fiber brakes or steel brakes.

Actually Light, says mandating carbon fiber brakes on Top Alcohol Dragster and Funny Cars was a hot topic of discussion by the NHRA just before the Northwest Nationals.

Warren Johnson spoke in obvious frustration, directing his comments towards the NHRA for what he felt was a lack of equality in track preparation amongst the professional divisions.

Johnson, following a first round loss at the recently completed NHRA Northwest Nationals at Pacific Raceways [Kent, Wa.], pointed out in not so many words, the NHRA cared only about the nitro cars when it came to preparing a safe racing surface.

However, Johnson’s supporting argument, pointing out the lack of talent required to drive a nitro-burner has some of the nitro community not only angry but determined to challenge the veteran Pro Stock racer to back up his statements.

For long-time drag racer Gene Altizer, his induction into the October 2010 East Coast Drag Times Hall of Fame at Henderson, North Carolina, is just as good as his class win some 40 years earlier at the 1963 NHRA Nationals at “Speed City,” Indianapolis, Indiana. Gene will be presented the Life Time Achievement Award on Sunday, October 17 at the Civic Center.

Others evidently agree. “We were at Maryland International Raceway recently, putting out the word about the reunion and me getting inducted into it, and all the people there were going crazy,” the retired 70-year-old Arlington, Virginia, racer said. “I kind of teared up. My wife Margie was actually crying.”

Thrilled? “Oh my God, yes. This is so wonderful. I’m so thankful, so proud. This is so special. I’m speechless to talk about it. So excited. I know my S&S (racing) group was inducted in the past, but a standout special award for me alone is phenomenal. I’m so gifted for so many people to like me that much,” Altizer said.  I started S&S Racing in 1960, with my ’31 Plymouth. Chuch Stolze took me under his wing.

OPTIMA® Batteries will join Kalitta Motorsports as an associate sponsor for the remainder of the 2010 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series as well as for the 2011 season.

OPTIMA Batteries will be prominently displayed on all three of Kalitta Motorsports’ nitro-fueled, 8,000-horsepower, 300+mph race cars, the Technicoat Top Fuel dragster driven by Doug Kalitta, the Kalitta Air Top Fuel dragster driven by Dave Grubnic, and the DHL Funny Car driven by Jeff Arend, beginning at this weekend’s NHRA national event, the FRAM-Autolite NHRA Nationals, at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif., July 16-18.

"Hot Rod" Fuller, a seven-time NHRA Top Fuel winner, returns to NHRA competition this weekend at Infineon Raceway and it's a reunion of sorts for the versatile straight-line racer. It was five years ago at the Sonoma race that Fuller teamed with veteran crew chief Lee Beard to form a championship-contending duo in the Top Fuel ranks.
 
Fuller, 39, makes his 2010 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series debut at the 23rd annual FRAM-Autolite Nationals after competing in a handful of events last season. Behind the wheel of the Abu Dhabi-based Yas Marina Circuit Top Fuel dragster, Fuller looks to again put his name in the mix as one of the elite racers in NHRA Top Fuel competition.

John Force is the first Funny Car driver to clinch a berth in the NHRA’s Countdown to 1 playoffs, but don’t expect the 14-time champion to ease into “test mode” this week when he sends his Castrol GTX High Mileage Ford Mustang into the 23rd annual FRAM/Autolite Nationals at Infineon Raceway.
 
“No way,” said the 130-time tour winner and current points leader.  “ In 1992, we thought we had (the championship) locked up after Seattle.  We went into test mode and Cruz (Pedregon) chased us down (and won the title).  He was a rookie then and he had to win all the races and we had to lose them all – and that’s just what happened.”
 
Actually, Pedregon won five of the last six races the ‘92 season, all of them in succession, and passed Force to win the championship.  For Force, it was a lesson learned: ‘never take anything for granted.’  He responded the following year by winning the first of a record 10 straight NHRA titles.

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.

Competitors can be forgiven for feeling like they may need divine intervention to beat ADRL Pro Extreme Motorcycle racer Ashley Owens this year.

Riding for veteran team owner and fellow competitor Paul Gast, Owens has qualified number one at four of five ADRL events in 2010 (missing the chance for a perfect record when rain shortened qualifying at Martin, Michigan), holds both ends of the class performance records, and is yet to lose an elimination round, prevailing as the winner of all three completed events so far.

But the soft-spoken rider from Decatur, Alabama, remains humble and focused on the next round, the next race, and hopefully, his first ADRL world championship.

Matt Hagan will do more than just race the DieHard Dodge Charger Funny Car in the Bay Area this week.  

Hagan, 27, will throw out the first pitch on Thursday night at AT&T Park prior to the game between the San Francisco Giants and the New York Mets. This will mark the first time Hagan has thrown out the first pitch at a Major League Baseball game.  

“I’m actually really excited because I’ve never done anything like this before,” Hagan said. “But I’m a little nervous. I don’t want to bounce the ball on the ground. I’ve been practicing just playing catch with my dad (David) and my wife (Rachel).