Even though it’s Race No. 1 in NHRA’s Countdown to 1 championship playoffs, the Motorcraft/Quick

Last
year's winning design was unveiled at Indy, this year it will be on the
day before the NHRA Carolinas Nationals during the Tasca Racing open
house.

Lane Shelby Mustang Funny Car will set aside its
traditional red and black Motorcraft livery during this weekend’s NHRA
Carolina Nationals to help out a very special cause and make one
child’s design come to life. 
 
For the second year in a row, Bob Tasca III will run a winning paint
scheme designed by a youngster involved with the Juvenile Diabetes
Research Foundation.

Former NBA Star will spend Wednesday with the  U.S. Marines at Camp Lejeune

It's
been a little more than four months since Tom Hammonds drove at a
national event, at the NHRA Midwest Nationals in St. Louis, but now the
former NBA power forward and Georgia Tech basketball All-American will
return to competition when the NHRA Full Throttle Series converges on
zMax Dragway for the 2nd annual NHRA Carolina Nationals on Sept. 18 -
21. While many of the professional competitors have their sights set on
the Countdown to 1 and the de facto six-race playoff that will crown
this year's champions, the 42-year-old Hammonds is already looking
ahead to next season with the goal of getting a head start on 2010.

"I'm excited," Hammonds said. "I haven't been in a car in a long time
and I'm anxious to see exactly what our engines can do. We've made some
improvements since the last time we went down the quarter mile, and now
we'll see exactly where we stand against the field. That will give us a
good indication of where we need to go over the winter.

The disappointment of his first, first round loss of the season, to Spencer Massey in the U.S. Nationals
will never be far from Antron Brown's memory, but now, with six races
remaining, the focus for the driver of the Matco Tools dragster owned
by Mike Ashley is the championship trophy waiting for someone in Pomona.

Brown, seeded first in the Countdown to 1, has the tightest grip on the
trophy. This weekend, in Charlotte, the battle begins and for Brown,
what better place to start.

"I'm just excited and geared up for the new challenge,” Brown said. “I
can't wait to get to Charlotte to get back to racing at Bruton's
(Smith) awesome track at zMax Dragway. Indy knocked our team back to
reality a little bit on how tough this Top Fuel class really is. We
have to race our own lane and do what we do. We're not going to worry
about who we're racing and being conservative. We're going to race all
out from this point forward."

CompetitionPlus.com publisher/editor Bobby Bennett joined the
Speedfreaks radio show on Sunday evening to discuss the controversy
surrounding manipulated races in NHRA drag racing. We've included a link to
the portion of the show for you.

LISTEN TO THE SHOW 

A week after his top-end confrontation at the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals with former employer John Force, Tony Pedregon said the incident "soon will be in in the rear-view mirror of all of us."
 
But in reflecting on his part of the controversy  at the NHRA's marquee event at O'Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis, the Funny Car points leader said, "I don't have any regrets."
 
Both he and his brother Cruz accused Force of losing on purpose to permit teammate and son-in-law Robert Hight into the Countdown to the Championship, knocking Cruz from the playoff field.

In other professional action Frank Patille defeated Jim Barker to win the highly popular Northeast Outlaw Pro Modified class.

Patille had a very consistent afternoon and saved the best for last
with a 6.171 elapsed time at 228.19 miles per hour in the quarter-mile
to claim the win. Barker ran a 6.301 E.T. at 231.83 mph in the
runner-up finish.

Patille defeated Matt Deitsch, Derrick Townes and Jeff Rodgers to pick up the win.

The National Guard American Drag Racing League’s (ADRL’s) Flowmaster Dragstock VI lived up to

Jason Hamstra (near lane) was a picture of consistency in winning his
second National Guard ADRL Pro Extreme race at Flowmaster Dragstock VI,
beating first-time National Guard ADRL entrant Ken Walsh in the final
round.

its
promise of a great event Sep. 12, delivering record-setting fields,
outstanding individual efforts, massive crowds and exciting on-track
action.

Before a standing-room-only crowd that packed historic Rockingham
Dragway to capacity, Jason Hamstra won his second Pro Extreme race of
the year, Pro Nitrous veteran Mike Castellana scored his second win of
the last three events, Chuck Ulsch doubled his Extreme 10.5 win total
in record-setting fashion, Extreme Pro Stock racer Doug Kirk won his
second of the year and Pro Extreme Motorcycle rider Eric McKinney
became the lone first-time winner.

Being loyal has its advantages. Just ask Robert Patrick, the ADRL Extreme Pro Stock racer from Fredericksburg, Va.

Armed with bonus points from competing on the full 2009 ADRL Nationals
Guard tour, Patrick overtook the eighth place in points. He will
compete in next month’s ADRL Speedtech Battle for the Belts competition
in Dallas, Tex., to determine the eliminator world champion.

Frank Manzo picked up his tenth win of the year in Top Alcohol Funny
Car while John Finke picked up his third in Top Alcohol Dragster at
this weekend’s NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series event at Old Bridge
Township Raceway Park.

Manzo of Morganville, N.J., scored his fifth divisional win to go along
with his five national event wins for a perfect season in scored
events. The alcohol class racers count their best 5 of their first 8
events towards the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series National
Championship.        

Manzo barely held on to beat former Olympic Gold Medalists Marty
Nothstein, Orefield, Pa., in the final round of a race that was as
close as you can get.  Manzo’s ran 5.614 seconds at 260.71 mph to
Nothstein’s quicker 5.611 second, 253.28 mph pass out of the No. 3
qualifying position.  Manzo’s holeshot starting line advantage of three
thousandths of a second proved to be the difference with the computer
scoring margin of victory of less than an inch.

The NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series event at Tri-State Raceway is in
the books and the West Central division racing schedule has been
completed.  Drivers still have the ability to race out-of-division
events in order to pick up last minute points in search of divisional
and national championships. Top Alcohol Dragster pilot Jim Whiteley,
Grand Junction, Colo., and Top Alcohol Funny Car driver Andy Bohl,
Racine, Wis., picked up the wins.

Whiteley, the No. 2 qualifier, defeated Chris Demke of Sunland, Calif.,
in the final to grab the win.  He posted a 5.409 second, 263.46 mph lap
to seize his third divisional victory of the year.  The Pacific
division racer is en route to picking up a divisional championship.