NHRA Driver Doug Herbert will make exhibition runs in his 300 mph Top
Fuel dragster at zMAX Dragway this weekend as part of the activities
surrounding SPEED’s “PINKS All Out”.  Herbert will be promoting
B.R.A.K.E.S., the safe driving organization he founded that serves as
the public service message for SPEED’s hit television show and will
have a presence at the track throughout the two-day event.

“I think it’s awesome that SPEED has asked B.R.A.K.E.S. to be a part of
their PINKS All Out show,” said Herbert.  “When PINKS visits a drag
strip, a ton of fans come out for it and the show is very exciting for
them.  I think that my team making a pass in our 300 mph Top Fuel car
will just add to the excitement.”

The 2009 Champion's prize package in the Joe's Transmission TNT Super
Series has received a boost.  The folks at Mickey Thompson Performance
Tires & Wheels are adding a set of racing slicks to the yearend
points champion's package.  "We're very excited to have Mickey Thompson
on board for the 2009 season," said Ted Barnes, TNT Series Director. 
"To have a company with its rich racing heritage partner with us is a
testament to the level of competition at TNT events.  Just look at what
the 2009 champion will be taking home!"

Officials at zMAX Dragway expect Saturday's taping of PINKS All Out to
be "all out" of grandstand tickets by Saturday morning. Advance ticket
sales have been better than expected with drag racing fans lining up to
take part in the taping of SPEED's wildly successful program and
witness history with the first-ever nationally televised four-wide drag
race.

It was supposed to be an 800-foot test lap, but it became history’s
fastest Pro Mod Extreme quarter-mile run: an amazing 256.05 mph at
5.740 seconds.

Von Smith said he was hanging on to the steering wheel with one hand
while the other hand was pulling the fuel shutoff and tugging hard on
the brake when the throttle stuck in the new Al-Anabi Racing 1968 Chevy
Camaro . . . and he was along for the harrowing ride at the Qatar
Racing Club in Doha, Qatar.

“When that happened, the force of the ‘chutes opening pulled them off
the car,” said crew member Terry Hope.  “The car was past the finish
line when the left front tire blew and the car hit the wall, then it
crossed the track and hit the other wall.”

At the end of an NHRA national event, teams are typically quite anxious
to return home.  After all, with 24 races scheduled at tracks

“Here I am in the pits at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway,
checking and topping off all the fluids.  We received plenty of
supplies and good-natured advice from our fellow competitors, most of
whom came over to give the car a look when I pulled it into our pit
area on Friday afternoon.”

across
the country, time spent with family or preparing in the shop is often
at a premium.  Therefore, within minutes of each event’s conclusion,
team transporters are headed for the highway, while drivers and other
crew members often scramble to catch the next available flight.  

However, following the conclusion of the SummitRacing.com Nationals in
Las Vegas, NV, Summit Racing GXP driver Jason Line used a rather
unorthodox method to return home.  Teaming with Summit Racing crew
chief Rob Downing and crew member Pat Topolinski, Line spent 44 hours
driving the 2,200 miles from The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway to
the KB Racing shop in Mooresville, NC in his latest ride and project, a
powder-blue 1968 Chevrolet Bel Air station wagon.

For Kenny Bernstein and his Budweiser/Lucas Oil team, it will be a
bittersweet trip to the O’Reilly Midwest Nationals next weekend.  The team
is celebrating an unprecedented 30 years of sponsorship from the
Budweiser brand of Anheuser-Busch, the longest team/sponsorship
association in all of autosports.

“Sadly, this is the final year that Bud will be with our team,” said
six-time champion and team owner Bernstein.  “We will look forward to
seeing many of our friends at the racetrack.  It’s been a great ride,
but as the cliché goes, ‘all good things must come to an end.’

“We are actively searching for a replacement sponsor so that we can continue to field the team with Brandon as driver.”

Accurately tracking the weather can be the difference between winning
and losing in NHRA Championship drag racing, especially in the

Kurt Johnson andcrew chief Justin Belfance discuss race conditions prior to a run.

closely competed Pro Stock category where the cars rely on
a 500 cubic-inch naturally-aspirated engines for their source of power.
The amount of horsepower created by these engines on any given day, at
any exact location, or during any specific qualifying or eliminator
session, is incumbent on the ambient atmospheric conditions.

"We're constantly watching the weather," said Justin Belfance, crew
chief on the ACDelco Chevrolet driven by Kurt Johnson. "Other than
monitoring the track, that's how we tune our race car, and if you have
a good race track, everything else depends on the weather."

In a category where the difference at the finish line between two cars
running side by side at 210 mph is often measured in thousandths of a
second, any change in a variety of meteorological readings, however so
slight, can prompt a race team to make a number of adjustments in order
to effectively react to the new conditions.

Travis Swearingen is about to find out what it feels like to turn left—fast!

Travis Swearingen, 26, is in his first year with the National
Guard on board his 1941 Willys in the American Drag Racing League’s Pro
Extreme class, featuring the quickest and fastest full-bodied eighth
mile drag racing cars in the world.

The National Guard American Drag Racing League (ADRL) star is on his
way this weekend to visit with IndyCar Series driver Dan Wheldon and
take a few laps around Kansas Speedway.

“They’ve got this special, two-seater car and I’m scheduled to take a
ride in it on Friday morning,” Swearingen said. “It’s pretty exciting
because I’ve never even been to an IndyCar event before.”e.

The West Coast Outlaw Pro Mod Association needs everyone who is planning on attending the eighth-mile event at Barona Raceway on May 2nd to pre-register to wcopma@aol.com or call Rod Burbage at (530) 243-8300.

After a long off-season, Team JEGS racers John Coughlin and his nephew,
Troy Coughlin Jr., will finally hit the track for the first time in
2009 at this weekend’s NHRA North Central Division opener at O’Reilly
Raceway Park at Indianapolis.  John will once again be pulling double
duty as he races his JEGS.com Cobalt in Super Stock and his all-new
Mullis Race Cars built dragster in the Top Dragster division. Troy Jr.,
begins his second season of NHRA competition in Super Comp Eliminator.
 
“I haven’t raced since last season so to say that I’m ready to get back
out there would be an understatement,” said John, who is the defending
event winner in the Super Stock class. He also won the Indianapolis
Lucas Oil Series opener in Super Gas in 1994. “My new dragster should
be the fastest race car I’ve ever owned. I think it will run in the
6.60s at over 200-mph so it should be a fun ride. [O’Reilly Raceway
Park] is also one of my favorite places to race. There isn’t another
track in the country that has as much history and I have been fortunate
to win a few races there so obviously I’m looking forward to going back
there.”