How
he got here is not important, Robert Hight is in the NHRA playoffs and
has every intention of making the most of the opportunity.

Put aside his struggles, and the fact he made his way into the Countdown to One with one round left in the regular season.

Hight has found his groove at the best possible time.

The apple seldom falls far from the tree. At least that’s how it appears in the Bingham household.

On Sunday afternoon, Lisa Bingham, the youngest daughter of former Top
Sportsman world champion Gary Bingham, captured her first IHRA Quick
Rod national event title at the IHRA North American Nationals in
Epping, NH.

Her victory came just moments after her father won in the Top Sportsman division.

“This is one of the proudest moments of my racing career, watching my second daughter win her first race,” Gary said.

Top Fuel racer Morgan Lucas established a set of goals for his team at the start of the 2009 season.
He's won races and garnered a spot in the Countdown to 1. Now it is
time to go after a new goal. One that was more a dream than a goal back
in January.

Lucas wants a Full Throttle Drag Racing world championship.

Even though it’s Race No. 1 in NHRA’s Countdown to 1 championship playoffs, the Motorcraft/Quick

Last
year's winning design was unveiled at Indy, this year it will be on the
day before the NHRA Carolinas Nationals during the Tasca Racing open
house.

Lane Shelby Mustang Funny Car will set aside its
traditional red and black Motorcraft livery during this weekend’s NHRA
Carolina Nationals to help out a very special cause and make one
child’s design come to life. 
 
For the second year in a row, Bob Tasca III will run a winning paint
scheme designed by a youngster involved with the Juvenile Diabetes
Research Foundation.

Former NBA Star will spend Wednesday with the  U.S. Marines at Camp Lejeune

It's
been a little more than four months since Tom Hammonds drove at a
national event, at the NHRA Midwest Nationals in St. Louis, but now the
former NBA power forward and Georgia Tech basketball All-American will
return to competition when the NHRA Full Throttle Series converges on
zMax Dragway for the 2nd annual NHRA Carolina Nationals on Sept. 18 -
21. While many of the professional competitors have their sights set on
the Countdown to 1 and the de facto six-race playoff that will crown
this year's champions, the 42-year-old Hammonds is already looking
ahead to next season with the goal of getting a head start on 2010.

"I'm excited," Hammonds said. "I haven't been in a car in a long time
and I'm anxious to see exactly what our engines can do. We've made some
improvements since the last time we went down the quarter mile, and now
we'll see exactly where we stand against the field. That will give us a
good indication of where we need to go over the winter.

The disappointment of his first, first round loss of the season, to Spencer Massey in the U.S. Nationals
will never be far from Antron Brown's memory, but now, with six races
remaining, the focus for the driver of the Matco Tools dragster owned
by Mike Ashley is the championship trophy waiting for someone in Pomona.

Brown, seeded first in the Countdown to 1, has the tightest grip on the
trophy. This weekend, in Charlotte, the battle begins and for Brown,
what better place to start.

"I'm just excited and geared up for the new challenge,” Brown said. “I
can't wait to get to Charlotte to get back to racing at Bruton's
(Smith) awesome track at zMax Dragway. Indy knocked our team back to
reality a little bit on how tough this Top Fuel class really is. We
have to race our own lane and do what we do. We're not going to worry
about who we're racing and being conservative. We're going to race all
out from this point forward."

CompetitionPlus.com publisher/editor Bobby Bennett joined the
Speedfreaks radio show on Sunday evening to discuss the controversy
surrounding manipulated races in NHRA drag racing. We've included a link to
the portion of the show for you.

LISTEN TO THE SHOW 

A week after his top-end confrontation at the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals with former employer John Force, Tony Pedregon said the incident "soon will be in in the rear-view mirror of all of us."
 
But in reflecting on his part of the controversy  at the NHRA's marquee event at O'Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis, the Funny Car points leader said, "I don't have any regrets."
 
Both he and his brother Cruz accused Force of losing on purpose to permit teammate and son-in-law Robert Hight into the Countdown to the Championship, knocking Cruz from the playoff field.

In other professional action Frank Patille defeated Jim Barker to win the highly popular Northeast Outlaw Pro Modified class.

Patille had a very consistent afternoon and saved the best for last
with a 6.171 elapsed time at 228.19 miles per hour in the quarter-mile
to claim the win. Barker ran a 6.301 E.T. at 231.83 mph in the
runner-up finish.

Patille defeated Matt Deitsch, Derrick Townes and Jeff Rodgers to pick up the win.

The National Guard American Drag Racing League’s (ADRL’s) Flowmaster Dragstock VI lived up to

Jason Hamstra (near lane) was a picture of consistency in winning his
second National Guard ADRL Pro Extreme race at Flowmaster Dragstock VI,
beating first-time National Guard ADRL entrant Ken Walsh in the final
round.

its
promise of a great event Sep. 12, delivering record-setting fields,
outstanding individual efforts, massive crowds and exciting on-track
action.

Before a standing-room-only crowd that packed historic Rockingham
Dragway to capacity, Jason Hamstra won his second Pro Extreme race of
the year, Pro Nitrous veteran Mike Castellana scored his second win of
the last three events, Chuck Ulsch doubled his Extreme 10.5 win total
in record-setting fashion, Extreme Pro Stock racer Doug Kirk won his
second of the year and Pro Extreme Motorcycle rider Eric McKinney
became the lone first-time winner.