At no point during Bill Evans’ wild opening round pass against Mike Manners at the Northern Nitro Jam earlier this month did he realize just how bad things could have been.

Evans knew he was in trouble and he certainly knew that the car didn’t stay on four wheels, but as far as how bad it could have been, the thought never really crossed his mind.

“Honestly it didn’t feel that bad in the car. I knew I was up on two wheels, I knew the car was out of shape, but I didn’t know just how bad it was,” Evans said.

It happened in the blink of an eye; at least that’s how Barbara Nesbitt remembers it.  

“I reached up to pull the parachute handle and thought the nitrous bottle exploded,” Nesbitt recalled in an exclusive telephone interview Thursday afternoon.

This was Nesbitt’s first interview, just eleven days after a top-end drivetrain failure nearly took her right arm, broke a finger on her left hand, and bruised her liver and a lung, and at least three ribs while racing her Camaro at zMAX Dragway in Concord, North Carolina in the NMCA’s ARP Nostalgia Pro Street class.  The car, which only had ten passes on it since its construction, had already been clocked running in the mid-7’s at over 180 MPH.

Nesbitt still isn’t sure of the exact sequence of events.

There will be a major change -- and a major new market -- in the 2011 NHRA Full Throttle Countdown championship when the Arizona Nationals at Firebird International Raceway moves to Oct. 14-16 from the late February date it's had since 1990.
 
The Arizona Republic reported exclusively in its Friday edition that Firebird will host the fourth of six Countdown events next year. The story said the date change will be made official when NHRA releases its complete 2011 Full Throttle schedule later this month.
 
Also, for the first time, the Pro Stock Motorcycle class will compete at Firebird.
 
Attitude Apparel's CompetitionPlus.com has confirmed the Republic's report.

Scott Woodruff doesn’t deny his guilt. He was driving lead-footed.

Woodruff, publicist for Team Jegs, was driving in northeast Ohio when a police officer clocked him doing 50 miles per hour in a 35 mph zone.

The officer interrogated Woodruff as to why he was in such a hurry. Every question the officer asked resulted in a ‘no’ answer including, “Do you realize how fast you were going?”

Fresh off of a win at Lebanon Valley Dragway, Jay Blake's Permatex/Follow A Dream team heads to Cecil County Dragway in Rising Sun, Md., for the next race in the Division 1 Lucas Oil Series.  

"It's great to head to the track with a win still fresh in our minds," driver Todd Veney said. "That weekend at Lebanon Valley was the best of my career, and I'm ready for another one just like it. Plus, I've got a little unfinished business at Cecil County." In his only previous appearance at the Maryland track, in 2003, Todd reached the final against Frank Manzo was but unable to compete following an engine explosion in a semifinal win over Paul Gill.

Starting this Friday night, Aug. 20, there will be a new “kick” for the Auto Locator Grudge Racing Series: A group of 16 grudge competitors will be chosen to run a new feature titled Run Tuff.

All grudge participants will be eligible for the special 16-car Run Tuff feature that will be contested after the third session of grudge runs.

Maple Grove Raceway staff will select a field of cars based on the closeness of the group’s elapsed times during sessions, 1, 2 and 3. For example, if the closest 16 cars are in the range of 14.00 to 14.35 seconds, this will be the featured group. Cars in that group of 16 that are eliminated may continue to make grudge runs.

The times can vary week-to-week depending on closest group times.

The NMCA’s Pro Stock division is a naturally aspirated class designed for 1950 and newer American production cars and trucks that are equipped with stock-type chassis and 10.5-inch wide tires. Entries are permitted small block and big block engines up to and including a maximum of 565 cubic inches (depending on combination).

Pro Stock rules permit a variety of race-proven modifications and performance ¬ enhancements on stock bodied, stock appearing -vehicles. One enhancement not allowed is the use wheelie bars.

Past NMCA champion Butch Kemp and his fellow NMCA Pro Stock racers don't like the “no wheelie bar” rule. Kemp and his peers who faithfully supported the class have decided without wheelie bars the risk is too great for the potential reward. In this case, Kemp says the reward is his just being able to race safely.

Steve Petty is frustrated this summer by the dire lack of Outlaw 10.5 competition for him and driver Tim Lynch.

But he’s not dissing their on-track rivals; the acknowledged turbo tuning master just wishes there were more opportunities to compete.

“Me and Tim have had that new car done for two-and-a-half months and we’ve got to race it one time,” Petty says of the twin-turbocharged, Skinny Kid Race Cars-built 2010 Corvette ZO6 they picked up late in May. “There’s not a lot of races going on down here right now. ORSCA canceled a couple of races because of the heat, but I don’t know, I can’t ever remember a time going this long without racing.”

Piedmont Dragway will host the first ever Outlaw Big Dog race on Labor Day Monday, September 6.

"We're going to lighten them up and turn 'em loose," said Piedmont's Jim Turner. Piedmont Dragway, who founded the world famous Big Dog Shootout in 1994, will throw the vast majority of the rules out the window for this special event to be contested on September 6.