John Force Racing East, the Midwest  headquarters of the most
successful team in Funny Car drag racing history, will open its doors
to the public Saturday, May 23rd , from 10 a.m.-to-2 p.m. as part of
the 3rd annual Brownsburg Motorsports Network Open House.

Fans will be permitted to tour the spacious team race shop that
includes the race shop, machine shop, fab shop, and paint shop.  John
Force’s Castrol GTX High Mileage Ford Mustang, Ashley Force Hood’s
Castrol GTX Ford Mustang, Robert Hight’s Auto Club Ford Mustang, Mike
Neff’s Ford Drive One Mustang and Eric Medlen’s Castrol Syntec Ford
Mustang will be on display in the shop for fans to view and snap photos.

Classic. California. Cool.

From the classic images of Harrison Ford in American Graffiti to James
Dean to The Fonz in Happy Days, the car – the hot rod – has always been
at the center of Hollywood’s projection of what it means to be Cool in
California.

Off the big screen, the roots of the southern California car culture
are deepest at historic Auto Club Raceway at Pomona, where in February
of 1961 NHRA founder Wally Parks hosted the first-ever running of the
now-historic and iconic Winternationals.

Fast forward half a century and hot rodding’s past will meet its
present when the 0-to100 mph in less-than-a-second, 7,000-horsepower
hot rods of the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series descend on Auto
Club Raceway at Pomona Feb. 11-14, 2010 for the 50th running of the
Kragen O’Reilly NHRA Winternationals.

Harry “Uncle Harry” Hoppes never drove a race car or attended the drag
races for the matter, yet he was one of CompetitionPlus.com's biggest
supporters.

Uncle Harry, brother of Diane Cartee, CompetitionPlus.com office
manager, and uncle of publisher/editor Bobby Bennett, passed away this
morning after a brief illness. He was four days shy of his 76th
birthday.

Elite group in the running for JEGS Crown trophy

An
elite field of 15 highly skilled sportsman drag racers are in the
running for the coveted JEGS Crown trophy, a special award which could
be bestowed upon one or more of them at the upcoming JEGS NHRA Northern
SPORTSnationals, Sept. 25-27. The JEGS Crown is a specially designed
trophy that was painstakingly handcrafted by Dan Dreisbach, of Naked
Sculpture (www.naked-sculpture.com). It is considered by many to be
drag racing equivalent to an Olympic Gold Medal simply because it is so
difficult to obtain. The only way to win the JEGS Crown is to win an
eliminator title at two of the three JEGS NHRA SPORTSnationals events
held each year; the JEGS NHRA Cajun SPORTSnationals in Belle Rose, La.,
the JEGS NHRA Pacific SPORTSnationals in Fontana, Calif., and the JEGS
NHRA Northern SPORTSnationals in Columbus, Ohio. Since it’s creation in
2005, the JEGS Crown has been claimed just once, by former Pro Mod
racer and current Top Fuel team owner Mike Ashley.

Mayse Motorsports Looks to Build on Strong Start to 2009 Season

The
father & son team of Robbie and Rustin Mayse has enjoyed a
successful, albeit frustrating start to the 2009 NHRA campaign. While
the duo, which boasts numerous NHRA and big dollar bracket victories
and championships in recent years, has enjoyed repeated success in NHRA
competition this season, they have yet to hoist the coveted NHRA Wally
in 2009.

“It’s hard to say we’re not off to a good start,” said defending NHRA
Division 4 Super Gas champion Rustin Mayse. “Dad and I have both had
some success. We’re driving well, our cars are great, and we’re going
rounds. We just haven’t finished the job and put one in the winners
circle yet.”

Legendary Pro Mod racer Charles Carpenter has made a huge impression on
the Pro Street community by tuning Palm Desert, Ca.-based Randy Walker
to consecutive wins and the points lead in PSCA's top class, Hughes
Performance Pro Street class.
 
Walker's 1974 El Camino used the last qualifying session on Saturday of
the Probe Industries California Nationals to leap past Clint Hairston
and Tim Henry with an impressive 6.376, 219.72 blast down the very hot
Auto Club Dragway in Fontana, Ca., to take the pole going into Sunday's
eliminations.

Calgary, Alberta's Rick Distefano raced his 1953 Corvette to the winner's circle at the 2009 Spokane County Raceway season opener. Distefano bested Missoula, Montana's Vern Mills and his '55 Belair. Distefano's 6.165 elapsed time at 228.81 MPH was more than enough to top Mills' 6.337, 221.71.

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The National Guard American Drag Racing League (ADRL) is pleased to
announce the promotion of William “Quick” Vandiver to director of race
operations. In his new role, Vandiver will work closely with Executive
Vice President of Competition Bert Corzine to ensure National Guard
ADRL events continue to operate in the safe and efficient but
fun manner that competitors have come to expect.

Vandiver will serve as the primary liason between Corzine and all
National Guard ADRL competitors and will be involved in all aspects of
the events, including at times assuming the responsibility of making
the “tough calls.” He will assume his new duties May 22-23, during the
National Guard ADRL Quarter-Max Memphis Drags II at Memphis Motorsports
Park in Millington, Tennessee.

Antron Brown, a two-time Top Fuel winner this season, will serve as the
grand marshal for the 64th annual TourHendricksCounty.com Night
Before the 500 presented by Comfort Suties of Brownsburg USAC Midget
race on May 23 at O'Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis. Brown will be
honored before the start of the feature race and sign autographs and
meet with race fans.

The month of May tradition has featured winners such as Ryan Newman, J.
J. Yeley, Kevin Swindell and last year's winner Bobby East. Gates at
O'Reilly Raceway Park open at 3 p.m. on May 23. Tickets are on sale for
$25 for reserved seats and $20 for general admission seats. Children 12
and under are free with a paying adult.