Following a rainy start to the FTI 350 presented by JEGS at Cedar Falls Motorsports Park, the first of three winners was crowned. After ten grueling rounds of racing featuring some of the biggest names in Bracket Racing, Hunter Patton came out victorious, taking the $50,000 grand prize in Friday’s main-event sponsored by FuelTech. 

The path to victory was far from easy for Patton, with fierce competitors still in the hunt for the $50,000 check by the quarterfinals. 

This weekend, SFG Promotions returns to Cedar Falls Motorsports Park with big payouts without the big entry fees. This time around, they’ll give bracket racers over $125,000 across three races at the FTI 350 presented by JEGS. Thursday’s $25,000-to-win race (priced at $150) sponsored by JEGS will kick things off before twin $50,000-to-win races (priced at $599 for both) come to life Friday and Saturday which are sponsored by FuelTech and Allstar Performance respectively.

No. 1 qualifiers Megan Meyer and Sean Bellemeur cruised to Top Alcohol class victories today at the Keurig Dr Pepper Lone Star Nationals presented by Driven Automotive Protection at the Texas Motorplex. The pair of drivers were the first winners of a motorsports race in the state of Texas since every major sporting event was postponed or cancelled in early March due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The South Central Lucas Oil Divisional event was able to be held after many weeks of conversation between the Texas Motorplex ownership team and Governor Greg Abbott’s office.

Meyer took out Buddy Domingue in the first round of Top Alcohol Dragster when she ran him down with a winning elapsed time of 5.318 seconds to his 5.387 seconds. Her run was the quickest pass of the first round and set up semifinal race with No. 4 qualifier James Stevens. In the semis Meyer was nearly perfect off the starting line with a .006 reaction time and combined that with the quickest run of eliminations, a 5.242 second pass. In the final round she avenged a first round upset loss by her sister Rachel to Dean Dubbin outrunning the racer from Little Falls, Minnesota to the victory. Her winning time of 5.198 seconds was the quickest of eliminations.

Among baby-boomer devotees of NHRA doorslammer racing, no category seduced them the way Modified Eliminator did for 14 years beginning in 1967. Although Modified ended 30 years ago, images and sounds of the vast array of vehicles easily come to mind as they scream otherworldly RPMs when leaping from the starting line and hitting every stick-shift gear change.

One man who excelled in Modified was Cotton Perry. Fuzzy about recalling his name? This surely helps: He drove a red 1967 Chevy II sedan H/Modified Production with “Pocket Rocket” emblazoned on the quarter panels and “Perry & Headrick” on the front fenders. He and his uncle Jim Headrick campaigned the legendary machine.

Simply stated, the 3,200-pound “Rocket” was one crazy-bad racecar for the era. With a chassis by Pat Curran of St. Louis and an oddball 301-inch Chevy inline six by Headrick, the car consistently clicked off mid and high 10s and was able to run, as Perry described it, “10 years under the index,” which actually was based on the national record according to the NHRA system back then.

Four-time NHRA World Champion Jeff Taylor sits down for an interview with Warren Evans of dragracer.tv to talk about his championship years, his successful partnerships and his journey along the way with his brother Charlie and his wife Patty.

After suspending racing in early March, the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series is poised to make a return this weekend along with a full slate of events across all seven divisions between June and November.
 
The series will return to action this weekend at Texas Motorplex with a Top Alcohol only regional event. Action will intensify early June at Atlanta Dragway and Tulsa Raceway Park as all categories restart their season.

SFG Promotions, Inc. successfully kicked off its season last weekend at Darlington Dragway amid the downturn of the coronavirus pandemic. The season opening event was compacted into one day (Mother’s Day), featuring a $25,000-to-win main event and a $5,000-to-win Shootout for those ousted from main event competition by 4th round. 128 door cars and 128 dragsters were allowed into the race, and in the end, Dale Crouch came out victorious. 

In the final round of the main event, Crouch lit up the scoreboards with a 4.684, running dead-on his 4.68 dial. His opponent, Shane Maddox broke out with a 4.436 on his 4.44 dial to take silver. 

No one has hoisted one of drag racing’s iconic “Wally” trophies since Brad Plourd won Comp Eliminator at the virus-shortened NHRA Gatornationals last March in Gainesville, Fla.  However, Rockingham Dragway is positioned to end that drought May 23-25 when it plays host to the 22nd annual Big John Memorial Bracket Nationals.

There's nothing more prestigious than winning Top Fuel at the NHRA U.S. Nationals, and that's exactly what inspired a group of sportsman racers to use the first round of eliminations as a protest platform. No sportsman division had dared to stand up to the seemingly invincible sanctioning body, not to mention during their flagship national event. There's always a first time for everything, however, and in 1981 a group of disgruntled sportsman racers took the NHRA to task in front of their paying customers.

This makeshift group of sportsman racers had been rumor fodder in the pits for a few months prior to the event, yet when they confronted the sanctioning body the issue was always sidestepped. On Labor Day weekend in 1981 they took the unprecedented step of airing their concerns before one of the largest crowds of the year. After all, they had nothing to lose.

Race promoters Britt Cummings and Gaylon Rolison announced today that the Great American Guaranteed Million has been rescheduled to take place October 6-11 at Memphis International Raceway.
 
Originally scheduled to take place over Memorial Day Weekend, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the race being moved to the fall date. Cummings and Rolison went back and forth regarding the decision, but keeping the best interest of racers and sponsors in mind, they felt the October date ultimately worked out the best. 
 
“It’s always about our racers and a race of this magnitude, you don’t want any negativity and you want to do what’s right,” Cummings said. “We want everyone to feel good about this decision.