Competitors can be forgiven for feeling like they may need divine intervention to beat ADRL Pro Extreme Motorcycle racer Ashley Owens this year.

Riding for veteran team owner and fellow competitor Paul Gast, Owens has qualified number one at four of five ADRL events in 2010 (missing the chance for a perfect record when rain shortened qualifying at Martin, Michigan), holds both ends of the class performance records, and is yet to lose an elimination round, prevailing as the winner of all three completed events so far.

But the soft-spoken rider from Decatur, Alabama, remains humble and focused on the next round, the next race, and hopefully, his first ADRL world championship.

Matt Hagan will do more than just race the DieHard Dodge Charger Funny Car in the Bay Area this week.  

Hagan, 27, will throw out the first pitch on Thursday night at AT&T Park prior to the game between the San Francisco Giants and the New York Mets. This will mark the first time Hagan has thrown out the first pitch at a Major League Baseball game.  

“I’m actually really excited because I’ve never done anything like this before,” Hagan said. “But I’m a little nervous. I don’t want to bounce the ball on the ground. I’ve been practicing just playing catch with my dad (David) and my wife (Rachel).

One by one, the Pro Stock cars exited the staging lanes at Pacific Raceways, destined for a return 

After a successful event on a new date last season, the Fourth Annual World Footbrake Challenge roars in to Thunder Valley July 16-18 with some of the best racers around ready to take the big money.

The World Footbrake Challenge is an 1/8-mile event that will see racers depend on their driving skills to take home the top prizes. In footbrake competition, drivers are not allowed to use electronic equipment to help them achieve a better start.

Racers can enter three different $10,000-to-win races during the weekend.

Aeromotive has announced that effective July 1, 2010, All-Midwest Sales has been retained as the official representative for the Aeromotive Fuel Systems line of products within the Southwest and the Southeast territories to include the following states: Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, S. Carolina, N. Carolina and Virginia. All-Midwest Sales representatives for these territories include Jim Miller, Steve Dorries, Dale Langford, CJ Clayton and Dave Bortle.

After an uncharacteristic mistake in Seattle last Sunday, Jeg Coughlin Jr. said he’s going to take the week before this weekend's Fram Autolite NHRA Nationals at Infineon to unwind and get mentally prepared to race again.

"On the Western Swing we don’t typically make the travels back east," Coughlin said. "So getting to spend a few extra days out west is a nice treat.

"It’s such beautiful country with the rolling hills and the vineyards, and little bit of R and R won’t hurt a bit."

Susan Wade of Attitude's CompetitionPlus.com will appear on WFO Radio in a hard-hitting interview to discuss the Seattle tragedy, live tonight at 7 p.m. ET.

Winners Cory McClenathan, Tim Wilkerson, and Greg Anderson and their fellow National Hot Rod Association racers completed the Northwest Nationals Sunday evening and are moving on to Sonoma, Calif., for this weekend's FRAM-Autolite Nationals at Infineon Raceway.
 
Meanwhile, the King County Sheriff's Department Criminal Investigations Division will continue its examination of the Pacific Raceways scene where Top Alcohol Dragster driver Mark Niver died Sunday in a high-speed top-end accident.
 
Lead Detective Jay Moloney said Monday morning, "We're just barely getting started. We processed the scene yesterday, but I haven't had a chance to do much but just the initial paperwork on this. The autopsy was most likely early this morning, but I haven't heard from the medical examiner's office yet."

While Chris Demke sat strapped in his Top Alcohol Dragster Sunday afternoon he was mentally preparing himself for his semifinal bye run down the right lane during the NHRA Northwest Nationals at Pacific Raceways in Kent, Wash.

Demke had no idea what an emotional whirlwind he was about to go through.

As Demke sat in the right staging lanes, he watched fellow competitor Mark Niver, who also was in the right lane, beat Shawn Cowie with a 5.364-second pass at 271.79 mph.

At this time last year, Robert Hight and crew chief Jimmy Prock were trying to figure out a way to get their Auto Club Ford Mustang into the Countdown to 1, NHRA’s championship playoffs.

Struggling for much of the season near the bottom of the top 10 standings, Hight and Prock ultimately pulled off a miracle save at the final hour to squeak into post-season play. Since then the duo has shined. They went on to win the 2009 Funny Car world championship title with an amazing three-win playoff effort. They’ve also had an incredible 2010 title defense so far, winning three straight races in the spring and currently holding down the second place position in the point standings.

This season Hight and his team are talking playoff strategy once again. However, this time it is about how to put the team in the best position to win another championship crown, rather than simply how to make the playoffs.