Two-time Pro Modified champion and Top Fuel owner Mike Ashley believes the government is on a mission to try a civil suit against his company in the media and not in a court of law. Despite the legal distractions, Ashley is confident Antron Brown and the Matco Tools team will mount a serious charge for the championship over the final two races of the NHRA season.

While Brown and co-crew chiefs Brian Corradi and Mark Oswald, put forth their best efforts at the drag strip, Ashley will deal with what he claims is a nuisance fueled by a vendetta.

A civil complaint was filed October 20, 2009 in federal court in Central Islip against Ideal Mortgage Bankers, Ltd. d/b/a/ Lend America, a mortgage lender located in Melville, Long Island, seeking a court-ordered injunction to prevent the company from making loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration (“FHA”). The complaint also sought relief against Ashley, Executive Vice President and Chief Business Strategist.

National Guard American Drag Racing League (ADRL) President and CEO Kenny Nowling knows as well as anyone the havoc wet weather can play on a motorsports event. But opportunity can sometimes sprout forth from a downpour, as happened for Nowling with the rain-postponed 7th annual Al-Anabi Racing Shakedown at E-Town, an independent drag race recently moved to Nov. 6-8, at historic Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in Englishtown, New Jersey.

“As soon as I knew we had to postpone our race to after the ADRL season wrapped up I got on the phone to Kenny and invited him to become our Grand Marshal and Master of Ceremonies,” Shakedown founder and promoter David Hance said. “We wanted it to be someone who’s contributed to the furthering of doorslammer racing and I don’t know of anyone more deserving, to tell the truth.”

NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series Top Fuel Dragster driver Antron Brown was testing yesterday and today at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in preparation for the Oct. 29-Nov. 1 NHRA Las Vegas Nationals.

Brown has five final-round Top Fuel victories in 2009 and currently is fourth in points (with two races remaining), just 81 behind leader Tony Schumacher.

The 2009 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series draws to a close in just a few short weeks with the running of the NHRA Las Vegas Nationals, Oct. 29 – Nov. 1 and the Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA Finals, Nov. 12-15.   

The competition in all four professional categories is expected to be heated, with Full Throttle world championships hanging in the balance for the final two races.  In Top Fuel and Funny Car, the number of spoilers will in some cases double the number of NHRA Full Throttle Countdown to the Championship participants as NHRA announced that both nitromethane classes currently have the largest number of entries for any race this year.   In Las Vegas, the entry list in Top Fuel and Funny Car is 25 and 20, respectively.  For the season finale at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona, 24 Top Fuel cars are entered, with 20 in Funny Car.   For the Las Vegas event, pre-entries total 721 race vehicles in the professional and sportsman ranks, compared to 562 in 2008.

Pro Street legend Pat Musi plans to debut his Dodge Stratus during the PSCA Street Car Super Nationals in Las Vegas, Nov. 21 - 22. This will mark the first outing with the new car built by Jerry Bickel Race Cars.

Musi will be one of a five car team coming to the event. Joining Musi will be Vinny Demieri, Tim Henry, Joe Dunne and Hector Estrada.

Johnny Gray is in the process of compiling team members for his new NHRA Pro Stock engine building program.

David Reher, after years of excellence as a Pro Stock engine builder and championship-winning team owner, made the transition to a nitrous Pro Modified engine builder nearly four years ago. Since that time, the Texas-based engine builder and his Reher-Morrison Race Engines business has more than made a mark on the class, and has proven to be a major contributing factor to the advent of five-second nitrous doorslammers.

At this weekend’s ADRL Battle for the Belts, five of the eight participants from the Pro Nitrous division running his engines. CompetitionPlus.com caught up with Reher recently to discuss the advances of the nitrous cars in today’s Pro Modified competition.

PINKS All Out, the popular television show on SPEED, will return to Infineon Raceway for the 2010 Big O Tires Racing Season.

PINKS All Out debuted at Infineon Raceway in 2008 before a near-capacity grandstand, and after a one-year hiatus, will return to Sonoma, Sept. 17-18.

This will mark the only West Coast appearance of PINKS All Out for the 2010 season. PINKS All Out is one of the most successful programs on SPEED.