A pair of NHRA Lucas Oil champions met on the big stage during the final round of Top Alcohol Dragster division during the 30th annual NHRA SpringNationals at Royal Purple Raceway. 

Defending Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series World Champions, Joey Severance and Mia Tedesco, Murrysville, Pa., clashed in the final round. 

Severance, the defending NHRA Top Alcohol Dragster champion used a better reaction time and a 5.203 elapsed time to beat the defending Super Gas champion Tedesco, who also races in the alcohol dragster division. 

Mother nature got the best of the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series this past weekend at Virginia Motorsports Park and the 2017 NHRA Northeast Division opener.

With weather forecasted for Sunday, NHRA and track officials altered the schedule and were hoping to run all rounds of eliminations on Saturday and complete the event. However, the wet weather came early forcing officials to postpone the event which has been rescheduled for August 26, back at Virginia Motorsports Park. Qualifying was completed and all classes are closed to new entries except for the NHRA Jr. Drag Racing League classes that are running in conjunction with the event.

NHRA Super Comp racer Megan Strassweg has inked a multiyear partnership with COOLSHIRT Liquid Cooled Garments for the 2017 NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series and beyond.

Strassweg confirmed the partnership with COOLSHIRT Liquid Garments is a natural continuation of a relationship which has grown into positive returns.

“COOLSHIRT allows the driver to strap in the car and begin the focusing processes,” Strassweg said. “I am not worried about how hot it may be outside because, with my DragPak system and COOLSHIRT vest, I am staying cool baby. Utilizing the DragPak System to keep my body temperature and heart rate cool and calm, allows me to better focus on my reaction times."

For the fifth straight year, co-promoters Pete Biondo and Kyle Seipel have brought their Spring Fling brand of races to the west coast at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. What might be the gaming capital of the world plays very well to the hundreds of racers who have made the trek each year to race for big money; bracket racing style.

With the crowning of the second Spring Fling Million winner last night, Luke Bogacki, there still is one more day of the event. A day where someone will walk away with $20,000 for his or her efforts; and there are quite a few “hers” who are more than capable of winning.

First up for the day was the Spring Fling Reaction Time Challenge. Twenty randomly selected competitors were given one shot at the ‘tree. Any .00X reaction time gets that person a crisp piece of paper with a picture of Ben Franklin on it ($100). It gets even better for a perfect reaction time, where a Grover Cleveland photo is handed out ($1,000). Three people earned the $100; Christopher Northrup, Chris Borges and Kurt Gross. Steve Hayes put up a trip-zip perfect reaction time which got him ten $100 bills.

You can faintly hear Hank Williams Jr., singing his famous tune A Family Tradition every time Burnsville, North Carolina's Todd Fox fires up his ex-Modified eliminator 1962 Corvette.

Fox, by his own admission, drives the same classic bowtie his dad Larry used to race as a Modified Production. And before it was raced on a track, the Corvette proved an efficient bootlegging vehicle in a dry county within the mountains of western North Carolina.

“Had it all of my life,” Fox, now 44, said proudly with a smile. “The best part of driving this car is all of the people who come up to me and tell me how they watched it when they were young. Their memories have made all of the work worth it.”

The day has come. By the time the moon hits its high point of the night later today, somebody’s life will be changed forever with their win on the Friday main event at the K&N Spring Fling Million presented by Optima Batteries.
 
To start off the day, every racer on the property, regardless of whether they are Million Dollar race entrants or not, are eligible to take part in the special Brodix Run For The $100,000. With a dial-in on their car, the person with the best package; a combined reaction time along with the amount over their dial; earns that person a new set of Brodix SR20 cylinder heads worth $5,300. Second place receives $2,000 in cash and third place a free entry into the 2018 Spring Fling Million, a $2,000 value. However; and here’s where the good part comes in; the first person to score a perfect run (.000 reaction time and dead-on the dial) receives not only the Brodix heads but also $100,000 paid right on the spot.
 
As is usually the case, the action was heavy as door cars ran first which by the time they were done, the leader in the clubhouse was Matt Diamond carding a two-pack (.002 package) with David Beedy in second with a four-pack.

Racepak Thursday at the K&N Spring Fling Million presented by Optima Batteries. Just another day in the paradise they call The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Another huge payday in store for not only the winner but dozens upon dozens of others as well. All of it leading up to the main event on Friday, the Spring Fling Million.

The city of Las Vegas receives annually 292 days of sunshine while April is also the windiest month of the year, a fact that racers have gotten used to at The Strip. Thursday’s forecast called for more brilliant sunshine but sustained winds in the 30-40 mph range. Bracket racers don’t mind one bit and know how to deal with the “breezes.”

While The K&N Spring Fling Million presented by Optima Batteries began yesterday with a free Test & Tune session sponsored by Yukon Gear & Axle along with the Poulsen Trailer Shootout that was won by Pennsylvania’s Dan Northrop, today began the official start of the event with Maytag Silverstate Refrigeration Wednesday a $20,000-to-win race.
 
The event itself is primarily a Super Pro only event, however as a way to include the many bottom bulb Pro-class cars that have previously competed in that class at the first four years of the Vegas ‘Fling, the event includes an elite Pro 32 field which included 32 bottom bulb cars. Those racers run separate from the Super Pro cars until a winner is crowned. That winner is then seeded into the sixth round of the Super Pro race and as such at that point is allowed to install a delay box if he or she chooses.
 
With Chamber of Commerce weather, the day began sharply at 8:00am with one time trial for all competitors followed by eliminations. As can be expected, it takes quite bit of time to pare down the field to the ladder round of 16 or less.

​With the call to the lanes over the PA system from co-promoter Peter Biondo and the roar of the engines, the first day of the K&N Spring Fling Million presented by Optima Batteries began.

For the fifth straight year at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the first day of the event began with a free Yukon Gear & Axle-sponsored free Test & Tune session, in addition to the Poulsen Trailer Shootout where an exclusive 32-car field will race with the winner walking away with a brand new 24-foot Poulsen trailer. Runner-up receives an entry into the 2018 version of the Spring Fling Million Dollar Race, and the two semifinalists each receive a three-day entry into the 2018 Spring Fling event.

On January 1 of this year, people began sending in an entry to be a part of the Poulsen Trailer Shootout. A week before the event, all the names were placed in a hat and 32 lucky names were drawn along with eight alternates. Each of the entrants were given two time runs on Tuesday afternoon followed immediately by eliminations.

If Samuel Peterson was to write a paper on “what I did during spring break” it likely would be rejected by his teacher as total fabrication.

After all, what 15-year-old conducts tire tests for a major racing tire manufacturer? Or wins drag races in three different events in two different states driving two different cars? Or wins 17 rounds of racing in a single day?

Nevertheless, that’s exactly what the third generation racer did during a “spring tour” that took him and his family to the Carolinas where, in a five-week period, he won twice at Rockingham Dragway and once at Darlington International Dragway.