Total Cost Involved, Wilwood Disc Brakes, and Currie Enterprises have teamed up again to sponsor an Autocross event on the Super Chevy Show series. The three companies combined resources to kick the season off at the Las Vegas Super Chevy Show back in March, and will now host the Autocross function at the season ending event at Firebird Raceway in Phoenix, October 22-24. The promotional focus for the three performance oriented companies will be the new Pro-Touring suspension packages that Total Cost Involved has recently introduced.

There is no better way to test great handling and suspension components than to put them to the test on an Autocross course. Sal Soloranzo, General Manager of Total Cost Involved stated “we can’t wait for the event to get here. We have some great new Pro-Touring suspension packages with the latest greatest Currie F9 rear end housings and Wilwood Dynapro Big Brake systems for Pro-Touring style cars.”

IRWIN® Tools has joined forces with Doug Herbert Racing and has awarded the top two National SkillsUSA Automotive Service Technicians with the "Ultimate Experience". Working alongside hot rod legends to squeeze out every drop of speed from one of NHRA's most famous "Top Fuel" dragsters on the strip, these two young Automotive Service Technicians are in for the experience of a lifetime.
 
Herbert, who finished fourth in the inaugural zMAX 4-Wide Nationals in March 2010,has been in the NHRA since 1991, and has been in 28 career final rounds. Herbert, a fan and media favorite, has enlisted the help of these two young automotive technicians to showcase the famous blue and yellow colors of IRWIN Tools on his "Top Fuel" dragster during the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) O'Reilly Auto Parts Nationals race weekend, taking place September 16-19, 2010, in Concord, NC.

Don Schumacher Racing’s Cory McClenathan and Matt Hagan will each sport new looks albeit with familiar sponsorships when the NHRA O’Reilly Auto Parts Nationals in Concord, NC, kicks off Friday with professional qualifying.

McClenathan will race a Top Fuel dragster with Valvoline serving as primary sponsor while Hagan will sport a special FRAM/DieHard paint scheme to help promote FRAM, one of DSR’s primary sponsors. This weekend’s event will mark the first time McClenathan has represented Valvoline in this capacity while Hagan is in his second stint representing Fram.

"Valvoline is proud to be associated with Cory and the entire Don Schumacher Racing organization," said Rob Clendening, Manager, Global Brands, Ashland Consumer Markets. "We consistently win with them even before hitting the track, but we would also be thrilled to see Cory make up for his near-miss at Indy by winning at Concord."

Dave Connolly is no stranger to the NHRA Pro Stock scene.

Over the course of his career, he won 21 Pro Stock national event races and was a career-best third in the Pro Stock point chase in 2004, 2006 and 2007. Then the wheels came off the bus as Connolly dropped from the circuit due to lack of sponsorship.

Now, Connolly is making a return in the ultra-competitive division competing at Charlotte, N.C. this weekend, Reading, Pa. (Oct. 7-10) and the season’s final event at Pomona, Calif., (Nov. 11-14).

Connolly is going to drive a Victor Cagnazzi Chevrolet Cobalt with financial backing from a partnership that has been aligned with the Industrial Distribution Group and Makita Tools.

Ron Capps will race the NAPA Brakes Dodge Charger Funny Car this weekend at the third annual NHRA Carolinas Nationals in Concord, N.C., the second of six events making up the Countdown to the Championship playoffs of the 2010 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series.

The NAPA Brakes paint scheme will help kick off NAPA’s Great Breaks on Great Brakes promotion. Customers can receive up to a $50 mail-in rebate with purchase of qualifying NAPA Brakes products at any participating NAPA AUTO PARTS store or AutoCare Center through Sept. 30.

Capps will also be attempting to make up some ground following his first-round exit at the opening event of the playoffs at the U.S. Nationals on Labor Day weekend. Entering the Countdown in fifth place, he now stands sixth. He is in no way discouraged as he targets his first NHRA Funny Car championship.

Pro Mod Sponsor/Team Owner/Driver Roger Burgess was able to return to driving the day after suffering a major crash during the NHRA Summit Nationals in Norwalk, Ohio because of determination and a passion for the sport.He can still remember the accident, in which he emerged uninjured, vivdly.

“I had a job to do,” said Burgess. “I lost control and had the sensation of flying, and I was. All four wheels were off the ground and [I was] headed towards the wall. My thought was, get the wheels turned, and when the wheels come down, get the rear end of that car against the wall because I didn't want to hit it head on. I did that, and in the process I over-corrected and caused the car to tumble. But I still think that, given the options, that was my best option to do what I did.

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A year ago at the U.S. Nationals, the NHRA announced the creation of a new qualifying bonus points system.

The system awards three, two, and one point, respectively, to the top three qualifiers, in each qualifying session, in each of the four categories – Pro Stock Motorcycle, Pro Stock, Funny Car and Top Fuel – in the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series.

The bonus points qualifying system has had mixed reviews, and one Funny Car driver Jack Beckman is completely against the setup. Beckman, who drives the Valvoline/Mail Terminal Services Dodge Charger, qualified seventh at 4.076 seconds Sunday at the U.S. Nationals. His was the quickest pass of the fourth session, earning Beckman three bonus points.

Johnny Gray understands that it’s the son who is traditionally supposed to emulate the father. But, this time the patriarch of a father/son Pro Stock team, decided following his son’s lead wouldn’t be a bad idea.

In the coming weeks Gray will debut a new Pontiac GXP based on the design Shane Gray is driving. The cars are for the most part the same but Shane’s car has a few subtle differences.

“There's a little difference in the two cars and we're building another one like Shane's,” said Gray. “I don't know that it performs any better. We feel like there are some subtle changes that the guys like a little better. Shane's car seems to be a little more forgiving than my car.”

NHRA Pro Stock driver Allen Johnson took a break from his usual straight-line racing endeavors for a foray into road course action during the Dodge Viper Cup stop at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pa., on Sept. 10–12. The NHRA star adjusted well to the new racing discipline, earning two top-ten finishes in his road course racing debut.

Johnson, currently second in the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series Countdown to the Championship Pro Stock playoffs standings, drove his No. 52 Mopar Dodge Viper SRT10® ACR-X to an impressive sixth-place finish in the first Dodge Viper Cup event at Pocono on Saturday, Sept. 11, with a best lap time of 1:27.732. One of two celebrity drivers at the event, Johnson had to deal with a rain-soaked, puddle-filled track in qualifying for the 20-lap Sunday Pocono race. Johnson qualified ninth and battled through the unfamiliar conditions to move up one spot and post an eighth-place result in the finale, with a best lap time of 1:27.463.

“This weekend was absolutely awesome,” said Johnson, who had only one practice session with Dodge Viper Cup celebrity driver program manager Cindi Lux prior to the Pocono event. “It was so much fun, yet it was so physically demanding. Every inch of my body was soaked in sweat and my muscles just ached. I think I’m in pretty good shape, but I went back to my hotel and collapsed on the bed after the event.