If you’re going to buy a novelty item, it ought to be one which can give you a chance to earn a return on your investment.

Through CompetitionPlus.com reader and famous jet dragster racer Elaine Larsen, we get word that the legendary Kenworth belonging to Bob Motz is for sale.

Nitro Funny Car driver Jonnie Lindberg returns to the driver’s seat this week in Indianapolis behind the wheel of the Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Mustang Funny Car. This change follows driver and team owner Bob Tasca III’s positive COVID-19 diagnosis.

Lindberg, 30, is a two-time NHRA Top Alcohol Funny Car Champion (2015-6) with six Top Alcohol Funny Car wins to his name, including at the U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis (2016). He is a regular in the nitro Funny Car ranks as well and is hungry for his first win in the elite category.

NHRA is about to embark on a compressed schedule that will tax drivers, crew members and officials in unprecedented ways. 

The resumption of action this weekend in Indianapolis after a 4½-month, pandemic-forced break launches a grind that at least one driver hopes will play right into his hands. The 16-race dash to the finish includes a stretch of 13 consecutive race weekends.

J.R. Todd, the 2018 Funny Car champion, is in his fourth year undergoing physical and mental  training at PitFit, a 5,500-square-foot facility 15 minutes from Lucas Oil Raceway. PitFit’s majority clientele is IndyCar drivers, and Todd is currently PitFit’s only drag racer client. The mind-bending, body-sculpting workouts could give him an edge when the season finally ends at Pomona, Calif., in mid-November. 

When NHRA’s Mello Yello Series racing was halted March 12 – two-time world champion nitro Funny Car driver Matt Hagan changed his mindset to everyday life.

“It really let me focus in on my businesses and my family,” Hagan said. “I’m pulled in so many different directions and have so many irons in the fire and trying to make it all work, it (this break) let me get centered. I know we have the winter (off) and stuff like that, but during the winter my farms and a lot of other stuff aren’t up and happening.

Cattleman’s Cut Beef Jerky is recognizing America’s first responders in the health profession with a thankful message and patriotic mask design on the front of Jim Dunn Racing team’s NHRA nitro Funny Car during the upcoming races at Indianapolis in July.  

The cause is one that’s close to the Dunn crew’s hearts, as Johnna Dunn, Jim Dunn’s granddaughter and a part-time member of the team has split her time between the starting line and the front line, where she’s a first responder at St. Jude Medical Center in California responding to the codes in the emergency room. “The only thing more important to me than racing is saving lives,” Johnna Dunn said. “The fact that our car can honor the bravery of the very people I work with when I leave the track is pretty special,” she added.

Ron Capps loves to race. He’s competed in NHRA in Top Fuel (1995-96) and nitro Funny Car (1997 to present). 

Capps reached the pinnacle of the sport in 2016 winning a world championship.

The last thing Capps wanted was not to race for five months because of the COVID-19 pandemic. NHRA Mello Yello Series racing is scheduled to resume July 11-12 in Indianapolis.

The details are sketchy except for one; it's pretty clear cut and evident.

John Force Racing will not compete at this weekend's NHRA Nationals at Lucas Oil Raceway unless there's a change in the procedure for missing the entry deadline for the event. As of closing time yesterday, the NHRA didn't receive an entry for the team's drivers John Force, Robert Hight, Brittany Force and Austin Prock.

NHRA's Jeffrey Young confirmed the deadline passed without an entry into the event.

If anything, longtime fuel racer Cory McClenathan needed the upcoming Indianapolis events as a positive diversion from the run of misfortunes he's experienced since last fall.

McClenathan will return to the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series for what could be the final two events of his storied career piloting a Top Fuel dragster sponsored by Nordic Boats and Revchem Composites.

The outing, while racing under the Don Schumacher Racing umbrella, will enable McClenathan to exit the sport with a conclusion fitting of his career.

Mike McIntire Jr. will once again be competing in a limited schedule in his nitro Funny in 2020 in NHRA’s Mello Yello Series.

McIntire, who made his nitro Funny Car debut in 2019 in Norwalk, Ohio, and competed in a handful of races, is back again this season.

McIntire, who runs his family’s McAttack Funny Car, is competing in the back-to-back Indianapolis events – July 11-12 and July 18-19. The team is based in Chesterland, Ohio.