When it comes to dad’s Christmastime gift, the norm is a pair of socks or maybe a necktie. Maybe if it’s a special year, he’ll luck up and get a rod and reel.

Roy Johnson is counting his blessings during this holiday season.

The Australians have drawn first blood in round one of the USA vs AUS Nitro Funny Car Challenge at Willowbank Raceway last night.

The challenge is part of the two-round International New Year Series at the Ipswich facility, with Aussies Damien Harris and Ricky Steffens taking on American Jack Wyatt.

The trio had the fans cheering as they thundered down the quarter mile with header flames high, with Harris the standout with a ‘four second’ pass of 4.968s at over 300mph on his first run of the evening, which was the first 300mph Nitro Funny Car pass by an Aussie racer at the track.

Spencer Massey, the 2008 IHRA Top Fuel champion who left the IHRA tour to drive for the iconic Don “Snake” Prudhomme, will return to racing this weekend at the IHRA’s Nitro Jam event in Jupiter, Fla.

Massey will be one of three IHRA Top Fuel champions competing at this event.  

“Mitch (King) called me and we discussed it and here I am,” Massey said. “It has been an interesting ride over the past few years, but I am glad to be here this weekend,” said Massey. “I am glad to be back with IHRA. I am here to have fun, put on a good show for the fans and give these guys all that I’ve got.

Released in May of 1979, Hot Rod is a story about a drag-racer enters a local championship race. However, he runs up against the town boss, a corrupt sheriff who has already made arrangements to ensure that his own son wins the race. This movie was filmed at Fremont Raceway complete with classic Comp eliminator competition.

We've compiled enough bits and teasers to make this Classic Video Rewind presentation interesting.

In a statement released by the team on January 1, ADRL Pro Extreme champion Todd Tutterow confirmed that he had received an offer from Sheikh Bin Hamad Al Thani to become a member of the Al Anabi Racing team for the next three years. Tutterow announced during the team’s championship celebration yesterday that he will accept, making him the seventh Pro Mod driver on the team.

UPDATED: Attitude's CompetitionPlus.com received the following correspondence from Hall of Fame drag racing announcer Jon Lundberg regarding our DRAG RACING: Sport of the People, posted on Christmas Day.

This Saturday US Nitro Funny Car stars Jack Wyatt and Gary Densham will take to the track for round one of Willowbank Raceway’s International New Year Series, but before they do they have been officially welcomed with a game of good ol’ Aussie cricket.

Australian Top Alcohol racer Steve Reed took the opportunity to welcome the pair to the Ipswich facility, teaching them the finer points of the Aussie game, although at times some confusion was felt with the Americans' baseball leanings coming to the fore.

They got the hang of it in the end however, and promise their performance on Saturday evening will be much better than their batting and catching skills.

This time last year, Bunya drag racer Steve Reed provided a spectacular demonstration of the safety of the sport of drag racing when he walked away from a massive 400kmh crash at the International New Year Series at Willowbank Raceway.

Today he will return to the same event almost 12 months to the day aboard his Top Alcohol Funny Car, as part of the 2010 International New Year Series at the track, which will run over January 2 and January 16.

Reed’s Top Alcohol Funny Car suffered an engine explosion on the 3rd of January last year, which saw the car quickly engulfed in flames, before it veered across the track and into the wall at what he estimated at the time to be 400km/h as the body flew free from the chassis before the car came to a stop and Reed was able to exit the car unaided, with nothing more than a sore tongue and some minor burns he likened to sunburn.

Defending War Stories runner-up Pat Musi and first year participant Gary Densham maintained their leads to clinch the final two spots in the quarter-finals of the competitive story-telling event.

Musi defeated Jim Rockstad by securing 61.68 percent of the vote total in their first round match.

Densham got around fellow first-time participant Billy Meyer with 61.13 percent of the votes cast.