All Rodger Brogdon wanted was a chance to compete.

The former Competition Eliminator standout from Tomball, Texas, not only has a chance. He’s got a very good chance.

He’s thankful to team owner Steve Kent and engine builder/power broker
Victor Cagnazzi for the opportunity to draw his shorts up tight at the
hit.

“I don't know about that, but it is going fast,” Brogdon said of his
new mount. “We're doing real good, making a lot of progress. After
every race we send the car back to Victor's shop and Tommy Utt works on
it and every time we come out it seems to be a little bit quicker.”

Brogdon is in his third race since joining forces with Cagnazzi. Prior
to their unification, he’d run the gamut of leasing engines and even
tried building them in-house.

Mike Edwards has a game plan on Thursdays and it has nothing to do with his race car. There’s no special routine he goes through checking and preparing his Pontiac GXP for Friday’s qualifying sessions.

The day before an event, Edwards invites a number of inner-city youth
to the track to counsel them on the positives of making the right
decisions and fending off the overwhelming nature of peer pressure.

Friday night he put action to his words during qualifying for the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals in Bristol, Tenn.

After Ashley Force Hood called her shot during qualifying at the NHRA Southern Nationals, she got the attention of her fellow Funny Car competitors.

She no longer calls her shots. They call them for her.

Tim Wilkerson raced to the top of provisional Funny Car qualifying at
the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals with a 4.109, 295.08.in his second
round attempt. When NHRA announcer Alan Reinhart asked Wilkerson about
his potential top qualifying effort, he warned his supporters not to
begin celebrating on his behalf.

Wilkerson was right. Force beat him with a more impressive 4.105, 298.67.

Three years ago, Cory McClenathan figured if he couldn’t be fast that being spectacular would be just as good.

McClenathan’s dragster broke apart and crashed during the 2006 NHRA
Thunder Valley Nationals Friday evening qualifying session. It was
spectacular.

This time, McClenathan figured it was easier to be fast.

The 30-time national event winner drove to a 3.874 elapsed time at
312.21 miles per hour in the same right lane where he’d previously
destroyed the FRAM-sponsored dragster.

“We have both ends of the deal now at this race track,” McClenathan
admitted. “But when you watch this team work, they are pretty
spectacular. I would give up this No. 1 on Friday for a No. 1 on
Sunday.”

Ashley Force Hood raced to the qualifying lead Friday at the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway.

Cory McClenathan and Mike Edwards also were No. 1 qualifiers in their
respective categories at the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series
event.

Force Hood posted a 4.105 second run at 298.67 mph in her Castrol GTX
Ford Mustang to take the top spot in Funny Car. If her performance
holds through Saturday’s final two qualifying sessions (12:30 p.m. and
3:30 p.m.) it will be her second No. 1 of the season and fifth of her
career.

The NMCA and GM Performance Parts recently announced the 3rd Annual GM
Performance Parts LSX Shootout, which will occur at Memphis
Motorsports Park near Memphis, Tenn, the weekend of October 15-18,
2009. The event, held in conjunction with the NMCA World Finals, is the
largest LS gathering in the U.S.  The LSX Shootout features awesome
heads-up racing for the fastest LS-powered cars in the world,
index-style racing for competitors of all levels, a dyno shootout to
see who can make the most LS power, and a giant all LS-powered auto
show and shine.  This is “the” LS event of the year, with over $50,000
in cash and prizes, and it’s brought to you by GM Performance Parts. 
Presenting sponsor, Source Interlink’s GM High-Tech Performance
magazine, will produce the official LSX Shootout Fan Guide as well as
rules and event press releases leading up to the LSX Shootout.  

The LSX Shootout’s heads-up classes include LSX Drag Radial and LSX All
Motor, both of which are wheels-up and hardcore. All the cars and all
the stars of the LS segment are featured in these two fan-favorite race
categories.  The Shootout also features two classes for mild to wild
street-type LS-powered vehicles, LSX Rumble and LSX True Street.  The
LSX Rumble class allows racers to pick their index, matching their
street machine up against some of the fastest cars in the country.  All
racers competing in LSX Rumble may also compete for free in the LSX
True Street Challenge class on Saturday. Travel through the countryside
of Tennessee, then bring your LS-powered musclecar, truck or SUV back
to the track for a three-run showdown to determine who has the baddest
LSX true street car in the world!  All class winners will receive big
bucks, an LSX block, and the coveted winners jacket courtesy of GM
Performance Parts and their host dealer, Scoggin -Dickey Parts Center.

For years, Ashley Force Hood couldn't understand why, after such a short time behind the wheel, Funny Car drivers always seemed exhausted when they climbed out of their vehicles at the end of the racetrack.

"I never understood how they could be tired after just four-and-a-half
seconds," said the 26-year-old daughter of drag racing icon John Force.

Well, now that she's a driver herself, one of the Funny Car favorites
at this week's NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway, she
finally understands.

"After a run, I'm sore, achy and feel like I've run a marathon,"
acknowledged the graduate of Cal State-Fullerton.  "The human body is
not made to do what we do."

Pete Farber will make his debut in Canada this weekend as a competitor in the Pro Modified Racing Association at Toronto Motorsports Park in Cayuga, Ontario.
 
The T.J. & Sons Towing entry, a 1969 Dodge Charger-bodied Pro
Modified from the shop of G-Force Race Cars in Tonawanda, New York.

The 7th annual Holley National Hot Rod Reunion, June 19-21 at Beech
Bend Park in Bowling Green, Ky., is a 3-day festival of speed, hot rods
and American automotive enthusiasm. Produced by the Wally Parks NHRA
Motorsports Museum, presented by the Automobile Club of Southern
California and located in Pomona, Calif., the Reunion is part of the
museum’s “living history” philosophy, which works to bring to life the
sights, sounds and people who made history in the early days of drag
racing, land speed racing and the golden age of American car culture.

Dana Mecum's 22nd annual Original Spring Classic Auction, which is
taking place through Sunday at the Indianapolis State Fairgrounds in
Indianapolis, will feature four very special cars from drag racing
champion Mike Coughlin's personal collection.

Coughlin, the 2007 Top Sportsman drag racing champion, got serious
about his collection of muscle cars in 2003, mainly due to his affinity
for the movies Smokey and the Bandit and Fast Times at Ridgemont High.

His first car going on the auction block Friday as Lot #F88 will be a
black 1980 Z28 Chevrolet Camaro four-speed with just 40 actual miles on
the odometer. The car literally looks as though it's been in a time
capsule and still has the original factory stickers on the driver's
window.