Racing kicked off Friday for the JEGS NHRA SPORTSnationals and the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series at Beech Bend Raceway Park as racers in eight classes took to the track for qualifying and time trials. Bruno Massel led the list of Comp Eliminator entries with Keith Raftery taking the top spot in Top Sportsman presented by Racing RV’s.
 
Massel went 6.907 seconds in his turbo powered ’10 Cobalt to lead the 20-car field as Frank Cervelli and Chad Voges grabbed the second and third spots respectively.  Raftery, out of Lake Charles, La., powered his ’68 Camaro to a 212.19 mph lap in 6.494 seconds with Paul Pittman and Lester Johnson right behind.
 

Former NHRA Top Fuel World Champion Larry Dixon took home the win and the trophy in his NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series Top Alcohol Funny Car debut at the wheel of the Bartone Bros. ’17 Camaro for this weekend’s Cavalcade of Stars presented by Budweiser at Summit Motorsports Park.
 
Dixon, Avon, Ind., qualified in the No. 4 spot then defeated the No. 2 qualifier Andy Bohl in a close semi-final round match up with a 5.576, 261.57 to Bohl’s 5.616, 267.37 setting up a final round match up with Tony Bogolo.  Dixon posted the quickest run of the event at 5.533 seconds at 265.90 mph to take the win over Bogolo who clocked in at 6.289, 178.45. 

 
Seven California racers took home wins from the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series, Pacific Division event at Auto Club Dragway at Auto Club Speedway over the weekend. Racers from all over the state were represented in the final rounds making this a golden weekend for NHRA racing in California.
 
It was a brotherly dual in Super Comp where Val Torres, Chino Hills, Calif., faced off against his brother Gabriel Torres, La Puente, Calif. Gabriel was better off the line posting a 0.018 second reaction time and a winning run of 8.920 seconds, 166.25 mph. The more experienced brother, Val Torres, who has six wins in Super Comp alone, had a 0.032 second reaction time and posted a runner up finish of 8.910 seconds, 173.09 mph.

Mickey Thompson Tires & Wheels has enhanced its wheel line up with the new SD-5 Black, which features contemporary styling and a sleek satin black finish.

Need an engine that can last 24 hours of side-by-side, day-into-night-into-day racing? Or maybe a powerful 1,500 horsepower build that can powerslide around turns, take massive jumps and maneuver the tightest spaces imaginable?

Known as the “unicorn wrangler” for his prowess in putting together some of the most unique power plants in motorsports, whether your race is less than 10 seconds or more than 24 hours, if it needs to go fast and be consistent, Sandy Wilkins is your man.

In drag racing circles, Wilkins is well-known for his successes in the world of Top Sportsman. He has produced wins, national records and a few national titles in his decades-long racing career. But some might be surprised to know just how deep Wilkins’ endeavors go.

In the final results of the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series Southeast Division event at Atlanta Dragway, past national champions, Kevin Brannon and Jeffrey Barker, as well as a double up win from David Rampy highlighted the list of winners for the fifth of seven events in the Southeast division.

Veteran racer Joe Hessling is returning to Summit Motorsports Park in Norwalk, Ohio, this weekend looking for more glory.

Hessling, who has reached the winner's circle in a variety of classes at Summit Motorsports Park in the past, will be piloting a dragster owned by Rob Moser in the Top Dragster Class at the 10th annual Cavalcade of Stars presented by Budweiser.

"My dragster has done really well with the APD (Advanced Product Design) and ProCharger combination and when people have noticed that and have asked to buy the combination, which is a showcase of sorts for APD and ProCharger, we've sold it, and rebuilt and sometimes that leaves me without an engine for a while," Hessling said in a press release. "Luckily for me, Rob (Moser) had another commitment for this weekend and offered to let me see what I could do with his dragster, which I've tested one time, but I've never raced it."

For a long time, David Schmidt wasn't flying down the track. Instead, he had his head in the clouds.
The defending International Hot Rod Association Quick Rod champion didn't race for nearly two decades. Instead, the Flintstone, Ga., driver took up a new hobby of hang gliding.

All it took was one trip back to the drag strip and Schmidt was back behind the wheel.

"I raced from 1969-'73 and then I got out of it," Schmidt said recently at an IHRA Summit Sportsman National Championship event in Darlington, S.C. "I flew hang gliders for 13 years, but about 1992, I decided I wanted to go watch drag racing again. I was just going to watch and I ended up buying a racecar."

 
NHRA announced a change to the structure in which racers earn points toward a berth in the popular JEGS Allstar program.   Beginning with the 2018 JEGS Allstar event, racers will now count their best five in-division events toward their JEGS Allstar point’s total. 
 
Previously a racer would count all in-division events toward their points total but by moving to a racer’s best five events, it will open the program up to more JEGS Allstar hopefuls.   The point’s structure will continue to be a 12-month point’s battle in that events in the second part of 2017, along with events at the beginning of 2018 will count towards a racers 2018 points total.

JEGS NHRA SPORTSnationals returns to Beech Bend Raceway Park in Bowling Green, Ky., for the second consecutive year on Memorial Day weekend, for three days of intense racing action. The event is set to take place May 26-28 and will once again feature the best sportsman racers from across the country and will have over $108,000 in cash purse and special bonus races plus product contingency awards.
 
The racing action begins on Friday at 8 a.m. as the racers take to the track for qualifying runs. Super Stock, Stock, Super Gas, Super Street, and Super Comp along with Top Dragster, Top Sportsman and Comp Eliminator will take to the track during the day.