The Flowmaster American Drag Racing League (ADRL) presented by the National Guard gets back on track this weekend, May 9-10, as it stages the 4th annual Hardee’s Georgia Drags at South Georgia Motorsports Park (SGMP), near Valdosta, GA. With the postponement of its race last month due to heavy rain in Tulsa, it’s been nine long weeks since the ADRL season opener at Houston, TX.

Standing room only crowds are expected at SGMP, where racers in four professional classes—Pro Extreme, Pro Nitrous, Extreme 10.5 and Pro Extreme Motorcycle—will compete in eighth-mile, head-to-head action. Pro race teams from all four corners of the country have already started making their way to the south-Georgia strip to go after their share of the nearly $100,000 total purse. The Flowmaster American Drag Racing League (ADRL) presented by the National Guard gets back on track this weekend, May 9-10, as it stages the 4th annual Hardee’s Georgia Drags at South Georgia Motorsports Park (SGMP), near Valdosta, GA. With the postponement of its race last month due to heavy rain in Tulsa, it’s been nine long weeks since the ADRL season opener at Houston, TX.

Standing room only crowds are expected at SGMP, where racers in four professional classes—Pro Extreme, Pro Nitrous, Extreme 10.5 and Pro Extreme Motorcycle—will compete in eighth-mile, head-to-head action. Pro race teams from all four corners of the country have already started making their way to the south-Georgia strip to go after their share of the nearly $100,000 total purse.

Every competitor in the supercharged Pro Extreme class will be looking to upset Houston winner Joshua Hernandez, racing as part of a new, two-car, National Guard-backed team with drag racing legend Jim Oddy calling the shots on his tune-up. Also certain to be vying for the SGMP win will be defending ADRL world champion Jason Scruggs, who at Rockingham, NC, last year became the first doorslammer driver in history to exceed 200 miles per hour over an eighth mile. Scruggs also holds the Pro Extreme elapsed time  record of an incredible 3.70 seconds and increased his speed record to an unreal 205.47 mph at Houston. Other top challengers will include defending race champ Joe Baker, 2006 Pro Extreme champ Bubba Stanton, young gun Travis Swearingen and Texas veteran Frankie “Madman” Taylor.

Maryland’s Jim Halsey is on a roll in the Pro Nitrous class, winning two of the last three ADRL events, including the 2008 season opener. He’ll be fending off the likes of last year’s SGMP winner Johnny Pilcher, 2006 class champ Keith Baker, Shannon “The Iceman” Jenkins in an all-new ride, E.T. record holder (3.96 seconds) Doug Riesterer and 18-year-old reigning champion Jamie Hancock, who became the youngest driver ever to win a major drag racing world championship last year. Additionally, EFI wizard Harold Martin will pilot the second National Guard entry in Pro Nitrous trim.

ADRL created and debuted its Extreme 10.5 class last season, featuring cars with no powerplant or weight limitations, but running on relatively narrow 10.5-inch-wide rear slicks. Defending race champion Mike Hill, who also is featured in the current issue of Adrenaline, the official magazine of the ADRL, will face tough competition from drivers like current class champion Steve Gorman, Texas standouts Todd Moyer and Cory Wheat, and Michelle Wilson, the only woman competing full-time with the ADRL.

The Pro Extreme Motorcycle class made its ADRL competition debut last year at Valdosta, with the first race title going to Steve Drake. At the end of the year Billy Vose beat out top speed record holder (169.10 mph) and Georgia’s own Coodee Thomas in the championship final. Ron Procopio was the Houston winner and all the bikers will certainly thrill the Valdosta crowd with nitrous-assisted, side-by-side, wheels-up action.

With ideal-for-racing weather conditions also predicted for SGMP this weekend, the 4th annual Hardee’s Georgia Drags is all set to become another ADRL record-setting event.