:::::: News ::::::

PRO MOD ALL-TIME TOP 20 DRIVERS - NO. 3 FRED HAHN

pm_logoAttitude’s CompetitionPlus.com, through the assistance of a key group of Pro Modified historians and enthusiasts, has compiled a list of the Top 20 all-time drivers based on their contribution to the class, historic achievements, statistics and fan appeal.

Starting on Friday, January 8, 2010, the electronic magazine began revealing those names on the list, and will announce two drivers per week, until the No. 1 driver is unveiled on Saturday, Mar. 20, during the ADRL Dragpalooza in Houston, Texas.

Attitude’s CompetitionPlus.com narrowed the list from hundreds of drivers down to 20. Today, we reveal No. 3 on the list.

FANS CAN SAVE AT 4-WIDE NATS WITH FULL THROTTLE

Drag racing fans can go full throttle and save eight dollars on single-day tickets to witness history March 25-28 at the inaugural NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at zMAX Dragway.

From now through the event, fans can purchase a can of Full Throttle Energy Drink at participating Circle K convenience stores, then redeem the empty can at the Charlotte Motor Speedway ticket office or, during event weekend, at the zMAX Dragway ticket windows for the eight-dollar savings.

Single-day tickets for the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals start at only $25 before the eight-dollar discount. When applied, fans can save 32 percent and pay only $17.

MUSI’S NON-STOP SCHEDULE LEADS HIM TO TONY CHRISTIAN

musiPat Musi is accustomed to covering a lot of ground at a rapid rate.

The multi-time Pro Street champion usually does this behind the wheel of race car, but lately it’s as if the ground-covering has been in knocking out one assignment after another on his to-do list.

Musi, in his 40th year of the high-performance engine industry, doesn’t appear to be at the end of the list either.

“It’s been non-stop around here servicing customer engines for the new season,” said Musi, who runs Pat Musi Race Engines in Carteret, NJ. “I am headed to Curacao to do some racing and I also have this match race to run. Not much time for sleep around here.”

WOOTEN BECOMES NEWEST A/FD DRIVER

For several years, driving a 260 mile per hour race car was a dream for Magnolia, Texas resident Kristen Wootton. This past weekend at the DragRaceHose.com Spring Warm-Up event held at Houston Raceway Park, her dream became a reality as Wootton completed her licensing requirements for the NHRA Top Alcohol Dragster division.

Over the period of two days, Wootton, the mother of two children ages 11 and 2 and wife of ADRL Pro Extreme Driver Don Wootton, made seven runs down the HRP quarter-mile driving the family’s recently purchased A/Fuel Dragster tuned by veteran chassis builder and crew chief, Joe Monden. Those seven runs were Wootton’s first down a drag strip in any dragster. And she handled the car like a seasoned veteran of the sport of drag racing.

“The original plan was for me to get some seat time in a Super Comp Dragster,” noted Wootton. “The plans fell through and our crew chief Joe Monden talked it over with us and we decided to give it a shot with the A/fuel car. I received some very detailed instructions from Joe via email about the procedures on how to operate the car. After spending hours on my recliner at home, visualizing driving the car, I felt pretty secure and safe strapped into this very powerful and fast race car.”

MARTIN FAMILY'S BAKERSFIELD SUCCESS SPANS TO ANOTHER GENERATION

10_mm_mon_121cpf_20100308_1644715884Winning the NHRA Heritage Series March Meet is an accomplishment for any racing family. However, when a father and son can accomplish this task in a 22-year span it becomes special.

Second generation Funny Car driver Will Martin drove his Multistack Pro-long Alcohol Funny Car to the 7.0 Pro class championship during the 52nd running of the NHRA Heritage Series March Meet contested at Auto Club Famoso Raceway. Martin’s victory occurred 22-years after his father, former NHRA Nitro Funny Car racer John A. Martin took home the 1988 March Meet title in his Nitro Funny Car. For the 29-year old driver and defending NHRA Heritage 7.0 Pro series Champion, winning the same race his father won more than two decades ago holds a special place in his heart.

“Winning any race is always the result of solid team work, and today’s victory at the March Meet is no exception,” noted the second-generation driver from San Dimas, Calif. “But, not too many people can say they’ve won the same race as their father. When dad won in 1988 it was the last time NHRA Nitro Funny Cars raced at the March Meet, so the victory was a very special one for all of us. I am simply honored to hold the trophy today and say I’ve done something as cool as my dad.”

NHRA GATORNATS TV UPDATE

ESPN2 and ESPN2HD will air its coverage of Full Throttle Series qualifying from the Tire Kingdom NHRA Gatornationals Saturday evening at midnight Eastern (9 p.m. Pacific) but will rebroadcast the show the following morning, Sunday, at 10 a.m. Eastern for the convenience of race fans.

FORMER FC RACER JOE LEE PASSES

"Smokey Joe" Lee, a popular Funny Car racer in Southern California in the 1970s, died March 8 after a long battle with cancer. He was 65.

Lee, who lived in Lemon Grove, Calif., near San Diego, raced in Top Fuel in the late 1960s, driving the Shifter dragster for Leonard Abbott of Lenco Transmissions, where he worked for many years. Lee transitioned into his own Funny car in 1970 and campaigned a series of mostly Dodge- and Plymouth-bodied cars until the middle of the decade.

SAMPEY ANNOUNCES DRAG RACING RETIREMENT

angelle_sampeyAngelle Sampey, who is the winningest female in professional motorsports history, is hanging up her helmet and leathers as she announces her retirement as a professional drag racer.

Sampey, who totaled 41 victories during a 13-year NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle career, said she’s planning to pursue other career opportunities while looking to start a family with her fiancé, Seth Drago.

“I’m ready for a new challenge, including opening Coral Fever, a store specializing in fish, coral and aquariums,” said the 39-year-old. “I made the ultimate sacrifice to postpone starting a family when I began racing. Now, I’m going to make the ultimate sacrifice to stop racing to get married (in June) and then try and start a family.”

COMP: STILL RACING ALL OUT

03_10_2010_compNHRA’s Competition Eliminator class has probably the most widely diverse group of cars in any of the sportsman categories. It’s here where you’ll find everything from front-engined dragsters to street altereds to coupes, sedans, trucks, whatever; all competing on a handicap basis against one another. Powerplants can also run the gamut from big cubic inch Pro Stock style engines to four cylinders with and without power-adders (turbocharging, supercharging, nitrous oxide).

Attempting to maintain some sort of parity amongst the combatants falls to an index system much the same as used in the Super Stock and Stock classes. As an example, the A/EA (A/Econo Altered – a sort of misnomer because there is nothing “Econo” about this class) of David Rampy which is powered by a small block Chevrolet engine carries a quarter-mile index of 7.86. The Chevrolet Cobalt of 2009 Comp champion Bruno Massel, Jr. uses a turbocharged 136-cubic inch powerplant and runs in the BB/AT (BB/Altered Turbo) and runs off a 7.27 index. When Rampy lines up against Massel, Rampy receives a .59-second headstart which is dialed into the ‘tree.

THURSDAY NHRA GATORNATS QUALIFYING RAINED OUT

Persistent rain showers and a forecast for more showers and thunderstorms throughout the day forced NHRA officials to postpone Thursday’s scheduled racing at the Tire Kingdom NHRA Gatornationals at historic Gainesville Raceway.

Pages