Eliminations are complete and the NHRA Wally trophies have been
distributed at Memphis Motorsports Park.  This event wraps up the
second of six in South Central division competition, where racers are
striving to add valuable Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series points in hopes
of division and national championships.

David Rampy of Piedmont, Ala., drove his '32 Bantam to the Comp
Eliminator winners circle by defeating No.1 qualifier Joey Tanksley,
Greenwell Springs, La. In the Super Stock final, Mike Stokes,
Hopkinsville, Ky., overpowered Mike Braswell from Weatherford, Texas,
to grab the trophy. Jerry Bennett out of Hickory, Ky., went rounds in
his '62 Savoy and clinched the win by ousting Wade Owens, Cape
Girardeau, Mo., in the Stock Eliminator money round.

In the final rounds from O’Reilly Raceway Park defending NHRA Lucas Oil
Top Alcohol Dragster National Champion Bill Reichert scored the win at
this the opening event in the North Central Division.

Reichert, of Owosso Mich., posted a run of 5.476 seconds at 267.91 mph
over Jacksonville, Fla., resident Artie Allen for his first win of the
season.  Reichert coming out of the No. 2 qualifying position took out
Paul Fishburn, Rensselaer, Ind., and Ken Perry, Richmond Hill, Ont., in
rounds 1 and 2 respectively.

Current rain and incoming severe weather forced the postponement of the SRCA event. Thirty Super Street racers made it down the track before rain started falling, and several attempts at drying the track during breaks in the rain proved to be an exercise in futility. Eliminations for this event will be contested on Thursday, August 27th at Heartland Park Topeka, one day prior to the LODRS 5-5 event at Heartland Park.     

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On his off weekend from his usual gig as driver of the NAPA AUTO PARTS
Dodge Funny Car in the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series, Ron Capps
finished sixth driving the No. 51 Race for Autism Late Model at Madera
(Calif.) Speedway on Saturday.

Capps matched his result the last time he drove in a Late Model car for
Bill McAnally in Roseville, Calif, last season, finishing sixth for car
owner Carlos Vieira of Merced, Calif., after qualifying ninth, in the
NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Western Late Model 50-lap feature.
The event was held during the NASCAR Camping World Series West
NAPA/TOYOTA 150.

Finally.

After years of trying, Goforth finally got the monkey off his back and
picked up his first career victory Sunday afternoon at the 38th annual
Spring Nationals at Rockingham Dragway.

“Three years of hard work, that is what is going through my head right
now. We are living proof that you can buy the best stuff in the world,
but if you don’t have the people to help you run it it doesn’t do you
any good,” Goforth said. “You have to have the total package. Beating
somebody like Pete in the finals, the class that group has, it is
incredible. We are trying to get on their level and we aren’t quite
their yet, but we are getting there.”

And Goforth couldn’t have picked a better time to pick up his first
win, doing so at the oldest and most prestigious event on the IHRA
circuit.

Talk about making a good first impression.

Tim Tindle of Santa Rosa Beach, Fla. had never raced in IHRA
competition before this weekend, but that mattered very little on
Sunday as Tindle put down four unbelievably consistent laps to pick up
his first victory in IHRA Pro Modified competition Sunday at Rockingham
Dragway.

And making his win even more impressive was that Tindle had to knock
off defending IHRA Pro Mod champ and No. 1 qualifier Kenny Lang (Grande
Pointe, Manitoba) to do so.

“It is just awesome. I red lighted against Kenny the last time we raced
in a round where we had the fastest car,” Tindle said. “It was nice to
get one back.”

For the first couple months of Del Cox’s Top Fuel career, he was referred to as “the guy driving Spencer Massey’s old ride.”

Not any more.

Cox broke out of Massey’s shadow in a big way Sunday afternoon, blazing
past Bruce Litton (Indianapolis, Ind.) in the Top Fuel finals Sunday
afternoon to record his first career victory in only his second ever
IHRA race in the Mitch King backed dragster.

“It is a dream come true. I can’t believe it has happened,” Cox said.
“None of this would have been possible without my whole crew. Paul
Smith, Mitch King, grandpa, all of my sponsors, everybody, it is
unreal.”

Cox beat Litton to the line with both cars smoking the tires at
mid-track, finishing on a 5.049 elapsed time at 284.21 miles per hour,
beating out Litton’s 5.365 lap at 253.61 mph.

The 38th annual IHRA Spring Nationals at Rockingham Dragway crowned three first time winners on Sunday.
 
Del Cox (Top Fuel), Tim Tindle (Pro Mod) and Cary Goforth (Pro Stock)
all picked up their first career IHRA victories over the weekend at the
38th annual Spring Nationals at Rockingham Dragway.

Cox drove past Bruce Litton (Indianapolis, Ind.) in the Top Fuel finals
Sunday afternoon to record his first career victory in only his second
ever IHRA race in the Mitch King backed dragster.

“It is a dream come true. I can’t believe it has happened,” Cox said.
“None of this would have been possible without my whole crew. Paul
Smith, Mitch King, grandpa, all of my sponsors, everybody, it is
unreal.”

Point standings (top 10) for IHRA professional categories following
the IHRA Spring Nationals presented by Advance Auto Parts and Castrol
at Rockingham Dragway, the second of 10 events in the 2009 Nitro Jam
Drag Racing Series -

Final round-by-round results from the IHRA Spring Nationals
presented by Advance Auto Parts and Castrol at Rockingham Dragway, the
second of 10 events in the 2009 Nitro Jam Drag Racing Series: