Veteran Funny Car driver Jerry Toliver, who has had 16 first-round losses and a DNQ in 19 previous races this season on the way to a 2-18 elimination-round record, nailed down the No. 3 qualifying spot Saturday. Toliver, who beat Mike Neff in Gainesville in March and Jack Beckman in Reading in August, was beaming about his newfound top-performance numbers.  
 
"I've been hiding it. I've been hiding it," joked Toliver about his Canidae/Lucas Oil/WileyX Chevy Monte Carlo. "Actually, to be honest with you, we changed bodies back in Indy and ever since then, this car's really been coming around.

Pro Stock Motorcycle rider Angie McBride improved from 17th to 16th Friday, then jumped to ninth by the time the field was set. That's especially remarkable, because, as Rush Racing team owner Karl Klement said, "this is the first time the bike's been cranked up in a year. It's just been sitting there. We've been working the bugs out." The Buell -- the very one that Peggy Llewellyn won this race aboard in 2007 and the same one Angelle Sampey rode -- had clutch problems at the start of the weekend. But, Klement said before the final qualifying session, "We think we got it figured out now." He was right.

Tom Hammonds, the former NBA forward turned Pro Stock owner/driver, called a time out about four months ago. After re-emerging with a No. 8 qualifying position and a quarterfinal finish at Charlotte, he improved dramatically this weekend with his '09 Chevy Cobalt, earning the No. 4 spot in the order.  
 

Mike Bowers bounced around in the bottom half of the Top Fuel ladder in his NHRA professional debut, from 10th to 12th to 15th and finally to 16th place during qualifying for the O'Reilly Super Start Batteries NHRA Fall Nationals. But the Plano, Texas, native -- who competed for about 15 years in the Top Alcohol Dragster class -- said he's excited with his performance.
 
Although fans might not be familiar with Bowers, they certainly are with his crew chief, Kevin Poynter, who emerged from the late Eric Medlen's Funny Car team to step into the Top Fuel crew chief ranks for J.R. Todd and Doug Herbert with outstanding results.

First-round pairings for Sunday's professional eliminations Sunday at the 24th annual O'Reilly Super Start Batteries NHRA Fall Nationals presented by Castrol Syntec at Texas Motorplex, the 20th of 24 events in the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series, and the second of six events in the Countdown to 1, NHRA's championship playoffs.  Pairings based on results in qualifying, which ended Saturday. DNQs listed below pairings.

The home team from Maple Grove Raceway picked up their second straight team title at the NHRA Summit Racing Series Northeast Division Finals this weekend.  Maple Grove outscored the second place team, New Jersey’s Atco Raceway, by 22 points and put one driver in the winner’s circle.  Pro category racer, Andy Anderson, York, Pa., picked up the nine-round win over the Mike Larose of Monroe, N.Y.

Baltimore’s Chris Krajewski, racing for Cecil County Dragway, scored the win in the Super category.  He ousted Atco racer Brian Balducci of Voorhees, N.J.  Krajewski ran his dragster to a 7.613-second, 176.10 mph lap to Balducci’s 7.573-second, 173.54 mph pass. Krajewski also went nine rounds for his win.

The NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series from Champion Raceway, the last of seven on the Northwest division calendar, is in the books.  Top racers in 11 categories were on hand vying for points leading to divisional and national championships.  Junction City Top Alcohol Funny Car (TAFC) racer Brian Hough won the race, putting him back into the division’s points lead while Top Alcohol Dragster (TAD) pilot Doug Hegge, Vancouver, Wash., scored his first win of the year.

Hough, the division’s reigning TAFC champ, started the day from the No. 1 qualifying spot and made his best run of the day in the final where he squared off against Dennis Taylor of Anaheim Hills, Calif.  In the final, Hough ran 5.759 seconds at 248.39 mph to Taylor’s 7.845-second, 117.33 mph pass.  The win gives Hough No. 2 for the year.

Pro Stock racer Mike Edwards took advantage of NHRA’s new qualifying bonus point system and earned the maximum 12 points during two days of qualifying at the O’Reilly Super Start Batteries NHRA Fall Nationals. For his efforts, the Oklahoma racer earned his category-leading 12th No. 1 qualifying position of the season Saturday at the Texas Motorplex.

Larry Dixon, Robert Hight and Eddie Krawiec also claimed No. 1 qualifying positions in their categories at the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series event. The race is the second of six events in the Countdown to 1, NHRA’s championship playoffs.

Jim Daniels, of Bristol, Pa., claimed his second career Mopar® HEMI® Challenge Race Series victory today after all class eliminations were cancelled due to persistent rain showers at the JEGS Northern SPORTSnationals at National Trail Raceway.

NHRA cancelled all Saturday racing activities, including final class runoffs, due to the inclement weather. Class winners were determined by the lowest ET of the qualified runs. Daniels earned the win in the SS/AH Mopar HEMI Challenge class based on his 8.511 elapsed time (ET) in his Ray Barton Racing 1968 Dodge Dart during yesterday’s second qualifying session.

Heavy rain and less than favorable conditions have forced Saturday’s action at the IHRA President’s Cup Nationals at Maryland International Raceway to be cancelled.

Racing will get back underway first thing Sunday morning.

“With the current conditions and the timeframe we have to work with there is simply no way to get the track ready for this evening’s event,” said Mike Baker, Director of Competition. “While we are certainly disappointed to have to call Saturday’s event, we hope to see everyone back tomorrow where the weather is calling for a much better day.”