It’s a good thing that Roy Hill was sitting down when he took a call from “Big Daddy” Don Garlits a few weeks ago. If he hadn’t been, he might have been hurt when his legs turned to Jell-O.

Garlits called the lifelong racer under the guise of checking on some phone numbers, and later informed him he wouldn’t be attending the U.S. Nationals due to health issues.

“I said, ‘I guess I’ll see you down the road sometime. If not, I’ll see you in March at Gainesville’ or something like that,” Hill said. “He hesitated, and I said, ‘Is there anything I can do for you, Don?’ He said, ‘Yes, there is. I want you to make sure you’re at the banquet in March because you’re being inducted into the Hall of Fame.’ “

There’s no pushing the panic button yet for Top Fuel owner/driver Mike Salinas.

Yet, with five races left in NHRA’s Mello Yello Series Countdown to the Championship, Salinas knows it's time to start making a push for the coveted world championship, which would be his first.

“We have a good car and we’re going to do one round at a time, one lap at a time,” Salinas said. “We have a good car; good parts and we have everything in place to go do it we just have to pull it off. A squirrel jumps up in front of you and it throws a monkey wrench in everything you’re doing.”

Ron Capps' 339-mph blast during the recently completed NHRA Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway got the attention of the NHRA's tech department. The sanctioning body reached out to its professional teams Thursday to let them know changes are being pondered for 2020, or sooner.

John Gaydosh Jr. is back in NHRA’s Pro Stock ranks – at least for one race.

Gaydosh Jr., will be running a second car – a Dodge Dart – for his good friend, Alan Prusiensky at the AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals Sept. 27-29 in St. Louis.

Breaking world records is not uncommon for Ed Renck.

And, he was at it again last weekend.

Renck, a former NHRA drag racer, established a new world record at the Salt Flats.

The COMP Cams Street Car Super Nationals 15 Presented by FuelTech is a four-day marathon with a legacy of record-shattering runs, dominating performances by the greatest in the world, and stunning upsets. This year, in addition to the inclusion of Radial vs. The World class, the SCSN 4-Wide exhibition returns after a wildly-successful run during the 2018 event.
 

Pro Modified racer Jim Whitely lost control of his 1963 Corvette and flipped the supercharged hot rod on its side where it slid to a stop during the Shakedown Nationals at Virginia Motorsports Park. He exited the car under his own power and was uninjured.

Luigi Novelli has no real complaints. Business is strong at his National Machine Repair shop at Crete, Ill., just south of Chicago. Evidently plenty of massive mechanical and hydraulic presses are breaking down with enough frequency to keep the longtime drag racer – and his Top Fuel car – fed. At age 77, he’s still wrestling with heavy equipment, such as one with a 58,000-pound flywheel that he serviced last month.

And even though he – along with Pat Dakin, Cameron Ferré, and Lex Joon – didn’t qualify at the NHRA U.S. Nationals back on Labor Day Weekend, Novelli was at peace.

“It’s a good life,” he said.

Never let it be said that drag racing legend turned iconic drag racing instructor Frank Hawley doesn’t know how to make the most of a promotional opportunity. 

For the second time, Frank Hawley’s Drag Racing School had the opportunity to work with the highly acclaimed Jay Leno’s Garage. The relationship between the popular figures dates back to eight years ago when Leno climbed behind the wheel of a Hawley School Super Comp dragster under the tutelage of Hawley and guest instructor Erica Enders. 

Heartland Motorsports Park prides itself in being fan-friendly. The facility, located in Topeka, Kan., hosts annually 200 events and the major cornerstone is the abundance of race fans. 

The dragstrip’s West side grandstand has always been General Admission, which has the benefit of being the closest seating location to race cars on the track.  Many fans sit on the West side for the view as well as the sound and feel of 330 mph Top Fuel Dragsters and Funny Cars.  The only thing missing on the West side of the property is the race team pit areas that are located on the other side of the track.  A change for the 2020 Menards NHRA Heartland Nationals presented by Minties, June 12 -14, is that General Admission seating will now be on both sides of the race track. The large pit side reserved grandstand sections 6-10 on the East side of the track will now be General Admission seating as well.