Don Schumacher Racing NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series champion drivers Tony Schumacher, Ron Capps, Cory McClenathan, Jack Beckman, Matt Hagan and Matt Smith will sign autographs for fans at the Stratosphere Casino Hotel and Tower in Las Vegas on Friday, Oct. 30, from 9-10 p.m.

The event will take place during the NHRA Las Vegas Nationals race weekend at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (Oct. 30-Nov. 1).

Mike Knowles, driver of the Knowles Enterprises/B&J Racing Transmissions "Blown Money" 1963 Corvette Pro Mod, will have his award-winning car on display at the Monte Carlo Casino on the Strip in Las Vegas Tuesday thru Thursday, October 27-29.
 
"Our car is so perfectly themed for Las Vegas, and we've got a great relationship with the Monte Carlo, we wanted to help promote the Pro Mod Challenge before our race coming up next weekend," Knowles said.
 
Knowles' Corvette features legal tender $100 bills in the paint scheme along with billowing flames and the theme "Blown Money."

Mother Nature held off long enough for a little bit of racing Saturday, but persistent rain eventually pushed the final three rounds of the 2009 Mopar® HEMI® Challenge Race Series Dutch Classic event at Maple Grove Raceway into Sunday.

Bristol, Pa., dentist Jim Daniels is still the driver to beat after qualifying at the top of the Dutch Classic field in his Ray Barton-built 1968 HEMI Dodge Dart with an NHRA Super Stock/A HEMI class record run of 8.331 seconds at 157.96 mph. Daniels had a bye run of 8.508 seconds at 155.65 mph in the first round Saturday when Chuck Comella of Sanibel, Fla. could not answer the call.

Ray Barton’s son, David, of Robesonia, Pa., also had an easy first round win of 8.56 seconds at 151.26 mph in his Plymouth Barracuda when Mark Howes of Rothesay, New Brunswick, Canada red-lighted the start. Barton will face Delaware, Ohio driver Jim Pancake and his Dodge Dart in the quarterfinals.

Following tooth-and-nail battles to qualify, the field is finally set for an exciting conclusion to the Matco Tools $35,000 Pro Mod Clash at the NHRA Las Vegas Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas.
 
The final qualifiers who will face off for a chance to win the $25,000 grand prize are Burton Auxier, Roger Burgess, Danny Rowe, Mike Castellana, Joe Baker, Raymond Commisso, Jay Payne and Tim Tindle.
 
Pairings will be made in a teleconference with the drivers, with lane choice going to the driver with the most points.

Day two of three is complete of NHRA’s Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series event hosted at Thunder Valley Raceway.  This race is the last of six in South Central division competition with current points leaders making moves to hold onto their rankings.  Final qualifying is complete with Top Alcohol Dragster pilot James Thompson of Vernon, Texas, and Top Alcohol Funny Car driver Vern Moats, Des Moines, Iowa, taking the No.1 positions going into Sunday’s eliminations.  

Thompson comes from the bottom of the pack and blasts a 5.308 second, 274.39 mph pass to grab the top spot.  This puts him just ahead of Brandon Lewis from Broken Arrow, Okla., who posted a 5.322 second, 267.85 mph lap. Lewis, the current points leader, has won the last two races he’s attended, an out-of-division event in Topeka, Kan., and at No Problem Raceway Park in Belle Rose, La.  He holds a slim 32-point lead over Claremore, Okla.’s Malcolm Wahle, who sits in the No.3 qualifying position.

Steady rain throughout the morning and dew during the late evening hours made for a crazy afternoon and left plenty still on the plate after two days of racing at the IHRA World Finals Saturday at Rockingham Dragway.

Trying to fit two races and nearly half a dozen special programs into two days of racing left IHRA crew members scrambling on Saturday, but weather delays and a few accidents left the weekend action roughly a day behind entering the final day of competition.

Bristol, Pa., dentist Jim Daniels left no stone unturned during the 2009 Mopar® HEMI^® Challenge Race Series Dutch Classic event at Maple Grove Raceway, lowering the NHRA class record and convincingly winning the event.

In an all-Ray Barton-powered final on Sunday, Daniels faced off his 1968 HEMI Dodge Dart against teammate and Ray Barton’s son, David, of Robesonia, Pa., in his 1968 HEMI Plymouth Barracuda. Daniels ran a stout 8.284 seconds at 159.53 mph, even though David Barton fouled at the start.

“I’ve never driven a car that ran like that for the whole weekend,” Daniels said. “It was a ‘no-lose’ final, but it is awesome to have won the race and set the record. It was a total team effort all season long and it feels great.”

There’s not much that seven-time doorslammer world champion Rickie Smith can’t do with a race car. But, when it comes to a pit bike, the veteran racer knows his limits.

Smith, racing Pro Nitrous at this weekend’s ADRL World Finals in Ennis, Tex., was en route to the drivers meeting when the combination of the front brakes, turning a curve and gravel on the asphalt of the Texas Motorplex pits, didn’t work out.

Smith went down hard, and by his own admission didn’t get back on his feet in a hurry.

Cary Goforth leads the Extreme Pro Stock division after two qualifying sessions with a 4.067 elapsed time at 177.23 miles per hour.

The Extreme 10.5, Pro Extreme Motorcycle and Extreme Pro Stock classes completed two rounds of qualifying on Friday at the LenMar Motorsports ADRL World Finals V, but the Pro Nitrous and Pro Extreme guys were able to fit in only one round before a lengthy clean up for Jason Hamstra’s crash in the last pair of Speedtech Battle for the Belts semis put an end to qualifying for the day.

Pro Extreme racer Jason Hamstra was involved in a finish-line accident during the semi-final round of the ADRL Battle for the Belts competition at the Len-Mar World Finals.

Hamstra's supercharged Camaro was racing in the right lane of the Texas Motorplex when his car drifted right out of the groove and abruptly shot across the track impacting the retaining wall head-on. The car came to a stop in the shutdown area and missed opponent Joshua Hernandez when he crossed over into the left lane.