Doug Horne, one of 21 Pro Stock Bike entrants for the NHRA Southern Nationals, has withdrawn from competition due to a death in the family.

This was reported in a press release issued by Horne's engine builder Matt Smith on Thursday afternoon.

“Doug Horne’s grandfather, Eldon Budnick, passed away last weekend and he will not be racing this weekend,” said Matt Smith.  “Angie and I and all of us at Matt Smith Racing send condolences to Doug and his family for their loss.”

Together they account for 92 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing series event wins. Top Fuel champion Tony Schumacher and Ron Capps are usually a sure bet in any drag racing pool on the 23-race series.

This is the case except for one place, Atlanta Dragway, the site of this weekend’s NHRA Summit Southern Nationals in Commerce, Ga.

Schumacher has reached the finals twice (2000, 2008) while Capps has been there three times (1995, 2000 and 2001).

While the stats favor both drivers with Schumacher as winningest active Top Fuel driver and Capps as the third, who would’ve ever thought they couldn’t even sneak into a winner’s circle in Commerce, at least once on a fluke victory.

Morgan Lucas enters this weekend’s NHRA Southern Nationals bearing the same but different status as he did last year. The Geico-sponsored driver is winless once again, but there’s a big difference.

Last year Lucas was “O-for-his Top Fuel career. This time he’s just winless for the season. For the first time in his career, Lucas can officially be referred to as the defending event champion.

"It's exciting," said Lucas, who scored his first of three career wins last season at this race. "You can say that you're not thinking about it, but you're thinking about it. Anybody who says they don't think about stuff like that is just lying.”

Craig Treble is no Paul Revere, but he’s ready to shout another warning at the top of his lungs.

Treble wants the field to know the Suzukis are coming.

"Our qualifying in St. Louis kind of showed what we've got," said Treble, who lacks a win at Atlanta Dragway among his 14 career victories. "The unfortunate part is that we blew our good motor up. And we kind of chased our tails after that. The performance is there.”

The National Association of Letter Carriers (AFL-CIO) announced today that partial reports on this year’s nationwide “Stamp Out Hunger” Food Drive have pushed total donations collected along postal routes since the drive began 18 years ago to more than one billion pounds.

NALC President Fredric V. Rolando said preliminary data received already from 404 NALC branches on this year’s May 8 drive shows 19,724,393 pounds, with more than 1,000 local branches yet to send in collection information.

After the first 17 years of the nationwide drive, held annually on the second Saturday in May, donations had totaled 982.7 million pounds. Last year, a record 73.4 million pounds of food were delivered to community food banks and pantries. Rolando said the early figures indicate that this year’s total could match or exceed the 2009 level despite the poor economy.

Antron Brown, driver of the Don Schumacher Racing-owned Matco Tools/U.S. Army dragster, will visit with students at OSU Institute of Technology in Okmulgee, Okla. on May 19. The former college track star at Mercer (N.J.) Community College will speak to students at OSU about education and career choices before competing at the 22nd annual O'Reilly Summer Nationals, May 21-23, in Topeka, Kan. Brown's 7,000-horsepower Matco Tools/U.S. Army dragster also will be on display.
 
"I really enjoy these school visits we do for Matco (Tools)," Brown said. "I was just like many of these students not too long ago when I was a student at Mercer College in New Jersey. It's nice to give back and speak to the students about career paths and the importance of focusing on education. These are the technicians and mechanics of tomorrow and it's great to meet the students and hopefully deliver a positive message to them. I think it's great that Matco makes this a top initiative for the company. I'm looking forward to getting back to OSU again this year as we had a great visit to the school last May in Okmulgee."

UCoat It® America LLC, a leading provider of commercial-grade epoxy floor-coating systems for consumer and trade markets, will see its familiar red, blue and white checkered-flag logo on the rear quarter panels of the DieHard Dodge Funny Car driven by Matt Hagan at the next two events of the 2010 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series.

UCoat It America will partner with Shelor.com to be a major associate sponsor on the DieHard Dodge at this weekend's NHRA Southern Nationals in Commerce, Ga., and at the NHRA Summer Nationals in Topeka, Kan., May 21-23.

Shelor Motor Mile, owned by David Hagan in Christiansburg, Va., recently contracted UCoat it America to provide floor-coating work at its automobile dealerships. A business relationship ensued, and a sponsorship agreement was formed for the two events.

High speeds and horsepower combine for the adrenaline rush of danger in drag racing, and the American Hot Rod Association has formed an alliance with Sarasota, Florida-based TRACK RESCUE (R) to keep fans and racers safe at all 2010 AHRA Reunion Tour events.
 
Founded in 1982 by Chief Craig Clarke to protect racecar drivers and events, TRACK RESCUE is one of the only private Fire/Rescue departments in North America dedicated solely to motorsports safety.

As crazy as it sounds, only five racers have qualified for every event so far, with third-ranked Joe Baker and fifth-place Jay Payne the only men currently in front of Coughlin in the points to have contested all three trophies. (No. 8 Tony Pontieri and No. 10 Tim Tindle are the others).

"Our goal in Atlanta sounds pretty simple but I think it will work best for us," said Coughlin, the reigning NMCA Pro Street champion. "We want to come out swinging, make sure we put up a strong run in the first round of qualifying, and tune the car from there. We need to get everything we can out of this set-up to have a chance.

If there is one thing that can be said about life it is that you only get to make a first impression once.

For Cherissa Smallwood that first impression, made in front of thousands of screaming North Carolina fans at the Spring Nitro Jam earlier this month, was certainly one that will not soon be forgotten.

Making her Nitro Jam debut behind the wheel of the Innovative Chassis Pro Fuel Dragster, Smallwood won three of four rounds during the two-day event at Rockingham Dragway, but it was her quick thinking and swift actions that she will certainly be remembered for the most.