Driving for Manny Buginga last year, Blake Copson was on top of the Duck X world, having won the X275 class in October at No Mercy 11, adding to his Duck X Magic 8 win earlier in the summer at Orlando. Tragically, the 27-year-old's life ended far too soon Mar. 6 this year and the entire Sweet 16 event Apr. 1-3, at South Georgia Motorsports Park was dedicated to his memory.

The Buginga Motorsports '03 Mustang that Copson drove to victory was on the grounds, too, wheeled by Ken Quartuccio, and the pits were filled with racers and fans alike wearing special "BCOP" memorial t-shirts and hoodies to acknowledge and celebrate Copson's life and the impact he'd made in just a short drag radial career.

Prior to second-round eliminations, Copson's car made a slow ceremonial pass down the right lane at SGMP amid silent prayers and thoughts for his family, friends and fellow competitors.

No one at SGMP that day knew Copson any better than Josh Ledford, his tuner, crew chief and closest friend at the track--and the man who flipped the starter's switch that triggered the tree for Copson's last ride.

 After winning Lights Out earlier this year, Mo Hall and his Fulton Racing Engines-powered '07 Corvette certainly had to be considered among the favorites heading into Sweet 16. The Laytonsville, MD-based pair certainly lived up to the billing with a third-place start and first-place finish Apr. 3, at South Georgia Motorsports Park.

After eight rounds of Pro 275 qualifying over Thursday and Friday, Shawn Ayers, driving a blown '69 Camaro for NFL star Fletcher Cox, secured the number-one position with a record-setting 3.667-seconds run at 203.61 mph, followed by Luis de Leon in a Manny Buginga-owned, Procharger-fed '03 Mustang at 3.68 and 201.40 mph, with Hall going a career-best 3.70 at 199.32 to wrap up third.

Driving the same '86 Monte Carlo he took to high school in Huntsville, AL, some 20-plus years ago, Shane Stack's Sweet 16 weekend began on a positive note, highlighted by a personal-best 3.98 at 192.80 mph in Friday's first Limited Drag Radial qualifying session that also marked his first three-second pass at a Duck X event. It also held up to give him a fifth-place start behind Steve Summers, who posted a record 3.93 at 192.25-mph qualifying run to lead the field into race day.

The rest of qualifying didn't go so well for Stack, though.

"At like 10:30 last night, I didn't think was going to be here," Stack admitted after a raucous victory lane appearance. "We went that 3.98 yesterday morning and then smoked the tires four times in a row. We were like, man, what is wrong with this thing?

As part of our CompetitionPlus.com holiday tradition, we've searched the YouTube.com site for rare and entertaining videos to pass the time during your time away from work.

Just nine passes into a return to racing after taking a couple of years off to focus on family and career, Daniel Pharris proved he's still the man to beat with a record-setting 3.498-seconds pass at 212.73 mph, marking the first-ever official run in the 3.40s on drag radial tires.

It placed Pharris and his Procharger-boosted '69 Camaro on top of a list of 13 Radials vs. the World qualifiers for promoter Donald Long's Sweet 16 event at South Georgia Motorsports Park. Halfway through a planned eight rounds of qualifying, Jason Lee was second at 3.53, Bryan Markiewicz held third with a 3.54, Steve Jackson fourth with the first non-Procharger qualifier at 3.60 in his screw-blown Camaro, and Marcus Birt leading the nitrous brigade with his C7 Corvette in fifth.

It’s been said that one of the things which upset NHRA founder Wally Parks was for drag racers to fight amongst themselves. Working together to stress the positive aspects of the sport is the only way for drag racing to rise above and move ahead. Negativity in the public eye does no good. “We need to make sure we leave something behind for another kid from Minnesota,” says native Minnesotan and (do we dare say?) now former Pro Stock racer Jason Line.

NHRA, Atlanta Dragway and Lucas Oil have teamed up to announce Lucas Oil as the title sponsor of the Lucas Oil NHRA Southern Nationals.

As a long-time NHRA partner, Lucas Oil joins the finale of Atlanta Dragway. The 40th annual Lucas Oil NHRA Southern Nationals will serve as the final national NHRA event at the historic track.

Pro Stock owner-driver Alan Prusiensky has found sponsorship the hard way before.

While engine testing his Dodge Dart on the dynamometer at his Rockaway, N.J., shop, a fuel line came loose, sprayed fuel all over the booth, and ignited a blaze. He emptied two full-sized extinguishers that contained Cold Fire/FireFreeze, an environmentally friendly fire-suppressing agent. When he went to the Cold Fire/Firefreeze office nearby to have both canisters filled, the woman who owned the business asked what caused a fire so drastic that he needed two cannisters to douse. Prusiensky told her. She took an interest in his racing. It turned out her company had had a sticker on John Force’s Funny Car years ago. Later, Prusinensky and wife Christine approached the woman about a possible marketing partnership, and they struck a deal that lasted for a handful of races.

But with current sponsor eCar Mover, Prusiensky didn’t have to do anything dramatic, intentionally or unintentionally.

Nitro Madness at the Motorplex, the season-opener for the Redline Shirt Club Funny Car Chaos event, lived up to its billing as it crowned winners in four competition divisions. Kyle Smith, Doug Schneider, Bill Bernard, and Tom Furches took home Funny Car wins. Aaron Morrow won the Outlaw Fuel Altered division.

The quickest eight Funny Cars comprised the Rodak's Custom Coffee "A" Field and was paced by past NHRA Funny Car champion Del Worsham, who turned in a 3.210 elapsed time at 270.90 miles per hour.

While Worsham was dominant in qualifying and eliminations, Smith methodically worked his way through the field starting from the No. 6 position.

Milan (Mich.) Dragway announced Tuesday, March 30, that it won’t open as planned April 10. 

A release on the milandragway.com homepage stated: