Cory McClenathan continues his push for his first NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series Championship with a strong run to lead the Top Fuel field during the first day of qualifying at the O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Nationals at zMax Dragway.  

Other provisional number one qualifiers were Cruz Pedregon (Funny Car), Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) and Andrew Hines (Pro Stock Motorcycle) at the 19th of 23 events in the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series and the second of six races in the Countdown to the Championship.  

McClenanthan piloted his FRAM dragster to a pass of 3.831 seconds at 321.12 mph, which set a track speed record.  He trails current point’s leader Larry Dixon by only 46 points coming into the event.

The Shakedown at E’Town has a new title sponsor—sort of.

Not 24 hours after Attitude’s CompetitionPlus.com reported on the loss of Sheikh Khalid (KH) Al-Thani’s Al-Anabi Racing as the main backer of the 8th annual Shakedown, set for Oct. 1-3, at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in Englishtown, New Jersey, race founder and promoter David Hance says the Sheikh is back on board, thanks to a last-minute resolution brokered by ADRL President Kenny Nowling.

“Actually, Kenny had called me on Thursday to tell me that he was sad to see that we were in this predicament and he was going to do everything he could to help us find a solution. And he did,” Hance said. “He and KH got together, and although they couldn't do something with Al-Anabi because of the contract prohibitions, they put their heads together and came up with something else.”

Though Hance said he wasn’t yet sure what the name of the Shakedown title sponsor will be this year, he confirmed that Nowling told him about 11 a.m. today (Sep. 17), that a secure deal was in its final stages.

The Shakedown at E’Town has a new title sponsor—sort of.

Not 24 hours after Attitude’s CompetitionPlus.com reported on the loss of Sheikh Khalid (KH) Al-Thani’s Al-Anabi Racing as the main backer of the 8th annual Shakedown, set for Oct. 1-3, at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in Englishtown, New Jersey, race founder and promoter David Hance says the Sheikh is back on board, thanks to a last-minute resolution brokered by ADRL President Kenny Nowling.

“Actually, Kenny had called me on Thursday to tell me that he was sad to see that we were in this predicament and he was going to do everything he could to help us find a solution. And he did,” Hance said. “He and KH got together, and although they couldn't do something with Al-Anabi because of the contract prohibitions, they put their heads together and came up with something else.”

Top Fuel racer Steve Torrence, a former Top Alcohol Dragster national champion and former rookie of the year nominee, is proudly waving the green and black Interstate Batteries banner this weekend on his Capco Racing/Tuttle Motorsports team rail, thanks to a fateful meeting team owner Dexter Tuttle was a part of on the way home from the spring Charlotte event this season.

“I had a last minute upgrade on the flight home to Texas and sat next to a guy named Jeff Haddock who was a Vice President for Interstate Batteries,” said Tuttle. “He's from Texas, and we started talking. Interstate was involved with Joe Gibbs and the McDonald's car a few years ago, and he loved it.”

The two struck up a friendship and kept in touch, and when Haddock recently retired from his position, moved to the Charlotte area, and purchased an Interstate Batteries franchise, he approached Tuttle about what it would take to run Interstate colors at the fall race.

Each of the top four NHRA Pro Stock drivers thinks this weekend's Charlotte race, the second of six stops on the Countdown to the Championship tour, is where he'll perform well. And each has a strong case.
 
But with 87 points separating No. 1 Mike  Edwards from No. 4 Jeg Coughlin, the playoff picture could become scrambled in a hurry. And they can't all four run in the final round this time.
 
In the spring race at Concord, N.C.'s zMAX Dragway, the pro classes run four-wide at this unusual and unusually beautiful facility that owner O. Bruton Smith calls "The Bellagio of Dragstrips."
 
Edwards figured he had a perfect visit there in his visit last September. How can he improve on perfection?  Second-place Allen Johnson and third-place Greg Stanfield, the newly crowned U.S. Nationals champion, have something to prove, as does Coughlin, whose four victories this year are second in the class after Edwards'  eight.

A couple of drag racing’s elder statesmen were sowing their oats during the first day of sportsman qualifying at the NHRA O’Reilly Auto Parts Nationals at zMax Dragway.

Roy Hill [almost 65] and Roy Johnson [almost 69] both came out of retirement this year to race special edition, factory-built race cars in the Super Stock and Stock divisions, respectively.

If NHRA President Tom Compton covets a market, chances are he gets it.

First there was Charlotte and Bruton Smith followed suit with the Bellagio of drag strips. And now, after years of making his desires known, Compton has added the Boston market to NHRA's reach with the addition of New England Dragway [Epping, NH] to the list of NHRA member tracks. Intentions are for the track to host a national event either in 2011 or 2012.

“We've been working with the folks at New England Dragway for many, many years now,” revealed Compton. “And, as you know, it's family ownership – there are a lot of people involved. Basically, they've got a group there that really wants to become part of the NHRA system and they've agreed to be sanctioned by NHRA beginning in January. We're going to put our full slate of sportsman programs in New England, including the Lucas Oil Series.

“What we are extra excited about is bringing in a national event. When I say that, people always ask, 'When?' We're going to bring it as soon as we possibly can. That could be as early as this summer. We don't have it on the schedule right now because there's a lot of things we have to do first. If we are able to pull it off, we'll do that, otherwise we're hoping to be there no later than the summer of 2012.

Brad Personett led the field following two rounds of qualifying for  the Get Screened America Pro Mod Drag Racing Series at the O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Nationals.

Personett, who sits fifth in the points, was able to take his Big Stuff 1968 Camaro to the top of the pack with a time of 5.843 seconds at 249.26 mph.

Holding down the number two qualifying position was Rick Stivers in his Brad Anderson tuned 2006 Dodge Stratus with a pass of 5.941 seconds at 241.97 mph.

The highly anticipated Cats 101 episode featuring Castrol GTX Funny Car driver Ashley Force Hood and her two cats Simba and Gizmo will air this Saturday, September 18, at 8 p.m. on Animal Planet. The episode was shot at the 11th annual Summitracing.com NHRA Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

They don't call Bristol Dragway Thunder Valley for nothing.

The famed quartermile will live up to its reputation Friday, Sept. 24-Sunday, Sept. 26 when it hosts the Fas Mart Thunder Valley Mayhem presented by JanPak as part of the 30th anniversary Super Chevy Show tour when it visits Bristol Dragway.

The national touring series, which features a car show, sportsman, pro show racing and swap meet, welcomes 10 Nitro Extreme Pro Mods as part of the Thunder Valley Mayhem on Saturday, Sept. 25, with all competitors also making exhibition passes on Sunday.

Doug Winters highlights the list of entrants that also includes Bill Clanton, Dwayne Watkins, Ken Walsh, Jerry Hunt, Ellis Vial, Andy Beal, Bruce Stedry, Bruce Boland and Chris Russo.