The NMCA and GM Performance Parts recently announced the 3rd Annual GM
Performance Parts LSX Shootout, which will occur at Memphis
Motorsports Park near Memphis, Tenn, the weekend of October 15-18,
2009. The event, held in conjunction with the NMCA World Finals, is the
largest LS gathering in the U.S.  The LSX Shootout features awesome
heads-up racing for the fastest LS-powered cars in the world,
index-style racing for competitors of all levels, a dyno shootout to
see who can make the most LS power, and a giant all LS-powered auto
show and shine.  This is “the” LS event of the year, with over $50,000
in cash and prizes, and it’s brought to you by GM Performance Parts. 
Presenting sponsor, Source Interlink’s GM High-Tech Performance
magazine, will produce the official LSX Shootout Fan Guide as well as
rules and event press releases leading up to the LSX Shootout.  

The LSX Shootout’s heads-up classes include LSX Drag Radial and LSX All
Motor, both of which are wheels-up and hardcore. All the cars and all
the stars of the LS segment are featured in these two fan-favorite race
categories.  The Shootout also features two classes for mild to wild
street-type LS-powered vehicles, LSX Rumble and LSX True Street.  The
LSX Rumble class allows racers to pick their index, matching their
street machine up against some of the fastest cars in the country.  All
racers competing in LSX Rumble may also compete for free in the LSX
True Street Challenge class on Saturday. Travel through the countryside
of Tennessee, then bring your LS-powered musclecar, truck or SUV back
to the track for a three-run showdown to determine who has the baddest
LSX true street car in the world!  All class winners will receive big
bucks, an LSX block, and the coveted winners jacket courtesy of GM
Performance Parts and their host dealer, Scoggin -Dickey Parts Center.

For years, Ashley Force Hood couldn't understand why, after such a short time behind the wheel, Funny Car drivers always seemed exhausted when they climbed out of their vehicles at the end of the racetrack.

"I never understood how they could be tired after just four-and-a-half
seconds," said the 26-year-old daughter of drag racing icon John Force.

Well, now that she's a driver herself, one of the Funny Car favorites
at this week's NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway, she
finally understands.

"After a run, I'm sore, achy and feel like I've run a marathon,"
acknowledged the graduate of Cal State-Fullerton.  "The human body is
not made to do what we do."

Pete Farber will make his debut in Canada this weekend as a competitor in the Pro Modified Racing Association at Toronto Motorsports Park in Cayuga, Ontario.
 
The T.J. & Sons Towing entry, a 1969 Dodge Charger-bodied Pro
Modified from the shop of G-Force Race Cars in Tonawanda, New York.

The 7th annual Holley National Hot Rod Reunion, June 19-21 at Beech
Bend Park in Bowling Green, Ky., is a 3-day festival of speed, hot rods
and American automotive enthusiasm. Produced by the Wally Parks NHRA
Motorsports Museum, presented by the Automobile Club of Southern
California and located in Pomona, Calif., the Reunion is part of the
museum’s “living history” philosophy, which works to bring to life the
sights, sounds and people who made history in the early days of drag
racing, land speed racing and the golden age of American car culture.

Dana Mecum's 22nd annual Original Spring Classic Auction, which is
taking place through Sunday at the Indianapolis State Fairgrounds in
Indianapolis, will feature four very special cars from drag racing
champion Mike Coughlin's personal collection.

Coughlin, the 2007 Top Sportsman drag racing champion, got serious
about his collection of muscle cars in 2003, mainly due to his affinity
for the movies Smokey and the Bandit and Fast Times at Ridgemont High.

His first car going on the auction block Friday as Lot #F88 will be a
black 1980 Z28 Chevrolet Camaro four-speed with just 40 actual miles on
the odometer. The car literally looks as though it's been in a time
capsule and still has the original factory stickers on the driver's
window.

In an NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series Top Fuel season that is not seeing the dominance of one team or driver as in years past,
Cory McClenathan sits comfortably in a perch from which his view on the
horizon includes a strong chance of claiming his first Top Fuel crown.

Driving the FRAM Tough Guard Top Fuel dragster for Don Schumacher
Racing, McClenathan has shown quiet determination and skill this year,
and his team, led by first-time Top Fuel tuners Todd Okuhara and Phil
Shuler, have demonstrated their strength on the drag strip.

In just seven national events, McClenathan has advanced to the final
round twice, to the semifinals once and to the quarterfinals three
times. He's qualified in the top half of the field in four events,
including his best of the season, a No. 2 at the last race in St.
Louis. He's fourth in the standings, just 108 points out of first
place. A victory to add to his career tally of 30 is all that's
missing. "Cory Mac" has never won the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals. He
would like to do that this weekend.

The performance of Kurt Johnson's ACDelco Chevrolet at the recently completed NHRA Midwest Nationals in St. Louis may have laid the
foundation for a strong push into the next phase of the spring Full
Throttle Series schedule, and now the veteran Pro Stock driver hopes to
nudge the envelope up another notch when the series converges this
weekend on Bristol Dragway. 

"We're pretty pumped," Johnson said. "We learned some things on the
dyno Tuesday morning, and then went out to Commerce (Ga.) to do some
testing and worked on a few issues that needed to be addressed that we
feel will pick us up over the long haul. We were able to fine-tune the
ACDelco Chevrolet with a few runs down the track, and now it's just a
matter of heading to Thunder Valley and getting that first win of the
year."

Free car entry with the purchase of an admission ticket in one class,
winners’ purses up to $10,000 in another and the opportunity to race
for an official IHRA Ironman trophy are the incentives expected to
drive racers to Rockingham Dragway for the track’s annual (May 22-25)
Ironman Memorial Day Bracket Nationals.

In addition, since it is an official IHRA Summit Series event, racers
can earn points that could qualify them to participate in the IHRA
Bracket Finals to be contested at The Rock, Oct. 15-18.

Here’s the Top 10 must- see and -do things at the Holley NHRA
National Hot Rod Reunion, June 19-21 at Beech Bend Raceway Park in
Bowling Green, Kentucky.

Doug Herbert will make his 2009 NHRA Top Fuel season debut this
weekend, May 15-17, at the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals in Bristol,
Tenn.  Herbert, who has been sidelined this season due to a lack of
full time sponsorship funding, has kept himself busy with his
performance parts business and other projects, but the drag racing
veteran is thrilled to be heading back to the drag strip.

“Drag racing is what I love doing,” said Herbert, who has nine career
top-10 points finishes.  “I have really been working hard to put
something together to get back out there and race.  When the zMAX and
Food City people heard that I wasn’t going to be able to run the NHRA
race, they decided they wanted to help me make it to the event.  I
can’t tell you how excited I am to be able to run at Bristol again; I
love that track.”