by Bobby Bennett Sat, 2020-02-01 21:28
Top Fuel racer Austin Prock said it feels satisfying to join his teammates in the full three days of PRO-sponsored preseason testing this year. Last year, he received full-season funding from Montana Brand and Rocky Mountain Twist literally a few days before the season began. The rig with his new dragster arrived from the Brownsburg, Ind., shop after his John Force Racing team had finished its preseason paces. This year he has the luxury of time and preparation and a sense of calm.
By Susan Wade Sat, 2020-02-01 21:17
Antron Brown’s move toward owning his own Top Fuel team has gathered a lot of interest, as well as questions about the structure of his deal and what it means for Don Schumacher Racing this year and in the future. The current owner of the Matco Tools Dragster team, Don Schumacher, clarified some of the mystery while watching five of his teams in preseason testing at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
“It’s a work in progress, and we’ll see how it progresses and transitions. It’s my team at this point, and I’m running the team and everybody works for DSR. All of that is still in place,” Schumacher said. “He has formed Antron Brown Motorsports, and I support that and am trying to help him work in that direction. His goals are beyond having just one Top Fuel car.”
By Susan Wade Sat, 2020-02-01 01:38
Some might wonder how part-time Funny Car owner-driver Paul Lee of Stringer Motorsports landed the high-profile Global Electronic Technology sponsorship that partnered with Shawn Langdon last season at Kalitta Motorsports and is teaming with the newly established Antron Brown Motorsports at Don Schumacher Racing.
It wasn’t much of a surprise for Lee. He is a longtime client of the service that Steve and Samantha Bryson own.
by Bobby Bennett Fri, 2020-01-31 19:19
In his first pass of 2020, the supercharger on Doug Kalitta’s Mac Tools Dragster backfired. It was spectacular-looking, but that wasn’t exactly how he had hoped to start the year. And he knew exactly who to blame for the mishap.
But, as Jimmy Buffett sang in in his hit song “Margaritaville,” Kalitta could join in: “It’s my own damn fault.”
“Yeah, just kind of screwed up up there. One of those deals,” the 2019 Top Fuel runner-up to Steve Torrence said. “Double-stepped. So it was me.
By Susan Wade Fri, 2020-01-31 19:15
One of the newly formed teams that has generated a buzz in the offseason took its place on the track among its peers, but the Alexis De Joria – Del Worsham team was not making its first passes of the offseason.
They had tested initially at Bakersfield, Calif., then in Arizona at Tucson.
By Susan Wade Fri, 2020-01-31 09:09
By Susan Wade Fri, 2020-01-31 09:00
Top Fuel owner-driver Mike Salinas delivered a bit of a surprise this week. His Scrappers Racing team, which includes Jasmine Salinas in Top Alcohol Dragster and Jianna Salinas in Pro Stock Motorcycle, will skip the first four races of the 2020 Mello Yello Drag Racing Series.
Citing business commitments involving his San Jose, Calif.-based companies, Mike Salinas said he will make his debut this season at the April 17-19 Mopar Express Lane NHRA SpringNationals at Baytown, Texas, near Houston.
His daughters would have started the season in March at the Gatornationals at Gainesville, Fla. But the entire Scrappers Racing fleet remains at the Brownsburg, Ind., shop, preparing for the start of their seasons at Houston Raceway Park.
by Bobby Bennett; Photos by Roger Richards, Ron Lewis Thu, 2020-01-30 21:29
Defending NHRA Funny Car champion Robert Hight picked up where he left off at in 2019, grabbing the quickest run during first-day testing at the traditional PRO preseason test session.
Hight made only two runs, yielding a 3.844-second 330.12 mph pass. His first run was a 3.89 at 303 miles per hour.
"It's nice to get back to the race track and out of the office," Hight said. "It seems like it's been a long winter, but just today shows it that Jimmy Prock, Chris Cunningham, and the whole team, which stayed together from 2019 really did their homework and worked hard over the winter and we've made some changes and so far we made two great, great runs. It looks like those changes are paying off, but like Austin Coil will tell you, come back in 25 runs and let's see if whatever your change makes a difference."
by Tracy Renck Thu, 2020-01-30 18:17
Shawn Langdon is back behind the wheel of a Top Fuel Dragster.
Langdon, who drove a nitro Funny Car for Kalitta Motorsports in 2018 and 2019, will be piloting a dragster for the team in 2020. Langdon won a Top Fuel world championship in 2013 driving for Al-Anabi Racing run by renowned turner Alan Johnson. He last drove a Top Fuel Dragster in 2017 for Kalitta Motorsports. Langdon started that season in Las Vegas, the fifth event of the season, and still finished seventh in the points in a dragster tuned by legendary Connie Kalitta and Rob Flynn.
by Bobby Bennett Thu, 2020-01-30 18:00
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