Jason Hamstra believed running a Lenco transmission with a torque converter was something cool to do long
before the Pro Extreme competition did. Saturday evening, during the
ADRL Dragstock event, Hamstra provided an excellent case for why a Pro
Modified style car can win without having a clutch-equipped
transmission.

Hamstra defeated ADRL newcomer Ken Walsh to win his second career Pro Extreme national event title.

“We just tried to make consistent laps and the car is really fast,”
Hamstra said of his clean sweep victory from the pole position. “It
goes down the race track every time.”

Finding a way to pack masses of race fans into his Rockingham Dragway has always been a challenge
for owner and operator Steve Earwood. Every year the ADRL’s Dragstock
event rolls into town, he thinks back to his first year as owner of the
track and wonders how in the world he reached this point.

Seeing full grandstands represents a milestone for Earwood and he
shares the sentiment of the late IHRA founder Larry Carrier who once
stated publicly that the most beautiful drag strip is a full one.

Earwood’s initial experiences with Rockingham Dragway were not beautiful.

Earwood was worn out just from the myriad of hoops he jumped through to get the financing to purchase the facility.

Two-time
champion Larry Dixon blew away the Top Fuel field Saturday to earn the
No. 1 quaifying position for Sunday’s NHRA Carolinas Nationals, the
first race in NHRA’s six-race playoff, the Countdown to 1.

The other provisional No. 1 qualifiers at the 19th of 24 races in the
NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series were Cruz Pedregon (Funny Car),
Mike Edwards (Pro Stock) and Hector Arana (Pro Stock Motorcycle).

The NHRA Carolinas Nationals is the first race in NHRA’s six-race
playoff and it is the first of a four-races-in-four-weeks blitz that
includes stops in Dallas, Memphis and Richmond to begin the Countdown
to 1.

Billy Glidden plans to experiment on Saturday at the ADRL Dragstock event in Rockingham, N.C. The defending
Extreme 10.5 champion has bolted an experimental engine between the
fenders of his Mickey Thompson Tires & Wheels-sponsored Pontiac GTO.

“We’ve spent a lot of time on the engine we are working with,” Glidden
said Saturday morning as he made adjustments to the 440-inch power
plant. “We are trying everything we possibly can to keep up with the
cars that are really running fast.

Heavy rain and less than favorable conditions have forced Saturday’s
action at the Amalie Oil North American Nationals to be cancelled.

Racing will get back underway first thing Sunday morning.

“With the current conditions and the timeframe we have to work with it
has created a perfect storm and there is simply no way to get the track
race ready and safe in the allotted amount of time,” said Skooter
Peaco, Vice President of Race Operations. “While we are certainly
disappointed to have to scrap Saturday’s event, we were pleased to see
so many people try and wait out the rain.

With another day of racing still to be run, the backside of Rickie
Smith’s eighteen wheeler leaving Rockingham Dragway told the story Saturday morning.

Smith, the legendary doorslammer driver from King, N.C., and crew chief
for the Al-Anabi/Awesome Motorsports, parted company with the operation
Friday evening.

Smith was already planned to part ways with the operation, just not this quickly.

“I told Shannon [Jenkins] and Mike [Castellana] that I planned to
fulfill my obligation until the end of the season,” said Smith, while
driving home. “I didn’t think there were any problems but I guess it
got back to the Sheik.”

Bennie McDonald described his emotions following the first qualifying
session at the ADRL Dragstock event as both happy and upset.

McDonald, a Pro Extreme racer from Locust Grove, Ga., was in the second
pair of cars in the first qualifying session, when his Corvette ran a
tenth quicker than his personal best. Unfortunately for him, his
incredible .870 sixty-foot time, threw up a red flag to race officials
who disqualified the run citing the car caused the timing system to
malfunction.

The second quickest short time of the session was a .934.

The ADRL doesn’t field any Funny Cars but their Pro Extreme division produced two fires that would have made the

The
remnants of the engine block Frankie Taylor wounded on Friday event.
The engine explosion engulfed the car in flames momentarily.

flopper contingent green with envy. Frankie Taylor and Tommy D’Aprile
had their respective cars become engulfed in flames just shy of the
finish line after violent explosions.

“It broke a rod,” Taylor explained, as his crew thrashed in the
background. “It caught on fire I guess and it cleaned up. I don't know
just a bunch of work.”

After
dodging rain showers during a majority of the afternoon, New England
Dragway’s luck finally ran out just an hour shy of the second session
of pro qualifying and the track and IHRA were forced to pull the plug
on the opening day of qualifying Friday at the Amalie Oil North
American Nationals presented by New England Dodge Dealers in Epping,
N.H.

With frigid temperatures and light rain plaguing the afternoon, the
afternoon’s only round of pro qualifying saw a few surprises on top of
the charts as Fidelio Montrond (Pro Modified) and Mark Martino (Elite
Motorsports Pro Stock) topped their respective divisions after one
round of qualifying.

In the first rounds of qualifying at Atlanta Dragway, local Ronnie
Davis of Suwanee, Ga., grabbed the No.1 qualifying position in the
division’s Davis Golf Carts Top Sportsman category. This weekend’s NHRA
Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series event, which runs through Sunday, is the
fifth of six in Southeast division competition. Top Alcohol Dragster
and Funny Car qualifying is set to kick off tomorrow afternoon.

Davis jumped into the top spot by laying down a 6.352 second, 219.04
mph pass.  He currently sits in fourth place of the divisional points
standings with the event’s No. 9 qualifier, Jeffrey Barker of
Warner-Robins, Ga., holding onto the lead.