In the final results from Silver Dollar Raceway and the NHRA Southeast Division Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series Duane Shields out ran Bill Reichert for the Top Alcohol Dragster title and Alexis De Joria took the trophy in Top Alcohol Funny Car.

Shields, Boulder City, Nev., laid down a 5.298 second lap at 272.01 mph for the quickest run of the day against defending national champion Reichert of Owosso, Mich.  This is Shield’s sixth win of the year sitting third in the national points standings going into this weekend’s event.

For nearly three decades, drag racer Troy Coughlin has chased his dream of winning a national title. Sunday at Memphis Motorsports Park, the 45-year-old Coughlin finally realized his goal, taking the top division in the National Muscle Car Association by racing his JEGS.com Pontiac GXP Pro Street machine to the semifinal round of the season-ending Nitto Tire World Finals.
 
"Now I know what it feels like," said Coughlin, one of four brothers who own and operate JEGS Mail Order in Delaware, Ohio. "I've celebrated all of my brothers championships over the years and enjoyed them all immensely, but I always wanted to get one for myself. Now I know the feeling, just like my brothers, just like John Force and Tony Schumacher and all the others who have been lucky enough to win it all. It's pretty special."

NHRA Top Fuel star Antron Brown will be the Newsmaker of the Week on The Race Reporters radio show, Wednesday, October 21, 7 p.m. EDT, on www.PowerUpChannel.com.

The Matco Tools dragster driver is currently fourth in the Full Throttle series point standings, with two races to go. He has five wins, seven poles, and a 46-17 rounds won-loss record this season. Brown swept NHRA’s traditional “Western Swing” races – three events in three consecutive weeks.

Before moving up to Top Fuel in 2008, Brown raced in NHRA’s Pro Stock Motorcycle class, where he won 16 times.

Host Michael Knight will be joined for the journalists’ roundtable by Bobby Bennett, editor of Competition Plus.com; Corinne Economaki, president and publisher of National Speed Sport News; and Larry Henry, host of Pit Pass USA on the Power Up Channel.

Matt Smith, rider of the Nitro Fish Ultimate Gear Suzuki Pro Stock Motorcycle for Don Schumacher Racing in the 2009 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series, and fellow rider Angie McBride, were married In Greensboro, N.C., on Friday, Oct. 16.

Guess who had his turn to visit the NASCAR races? Earlier in the season, Bob Tasca hosted the Wood Brothers at an NHRA event. Tasca attended the NASCAR Banking 500 at Lowe's Motor Speedway as the their guest. Tasca is pictured here with Leonard Wood, Bill Elliott, Len Wood and Eddie Wood. (Kevin Thorne)

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The 18th annual California Hot Rod Reunion in Bakersfield, Ca, hung its hat on an overflow Nostalgia Funny Car field and in the end it was the second quickest qualifier who emerged as the top runner during the final run of the event.

Chris Krabill drove his 1978 Plymouth Arrow Nostalgia Funny Car to the winner’s circle with a tire-shaking 7.192 elapsed time at a coasting 135.12 miles per hour when Josh Crawford left before the tree was activated.

Krabill qualified for the eight-car field, out of 31 entries, with a 5.872, 242.52. Along the way to the finals, he stopped Cruz Pedregon and Tim Boychuk.

Pedregon had top speed of the event with a 247.72 blast in his Joe Pisano tribute flopper.

Billy Meyer is a little over two decades removed from the driver’s seat of a fuel Funny Car, yet his legacy remains as a driver, drag strip innovator and one time, sanctioning body owner/president.  That’s a pretty full resume for a guy from Waco, Texas.

Meyer believed he could achieve anything through the power of positive thinking and an insatiable desire to succeed, a credo he learned at the feet of his father, Paul, who made his fortune through the Success Motivation Institute (SMI). 

As a drag racer, Billy was one of the best both in terms of driving and marketing. He was also, according to those who witnessed his racing career and competed against him, one of the wildest young men to have ever tried his hand at drag racing.

Due to high winds and cool temperatures, Virginia Motorsports Park will run the Al-Anabi Shootout Monday. 

Gates open at 8 AM with the first round of qualifying set for 10 AM.  Admission is just $10 per car load.

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The video will take you back to an era when the top name professional drag racers will able to compete in both sanctioning bodies. Cameo appearances include the late Scott Kalitta, Kenny Bernstein, Darrell Alderman and Roy Hill just to name a few.