The 2019 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series continued Saturday as Robert Hight powered to the top of the Funny Car category at the 35th annual Magic Dry Organic Absorbent NHRA Arizona Nationals at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park.

Billy Torrence (Top Fuel) and Bo Butner (Pro Stock) are also No. 1 qualifiers in their respective categories at the second of 24 events on the 2019 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series schedule

NHRA Funny Car racer Tommy Johnson Jr. wants that Mello Yello Drag Racing Series title but said, “Everybody fixates on the championships. OK, I didn’t win a championship – yet. But my entire life, I’ve done what I love to do.”

As he returns to Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park this weekend for the Magic Dry NHRA Arizona Nationals, he marks his 30th anniversary behind the wheel of a nitromethane-burning hot rod. The driver of the Make-A-Wish Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat (which Doug Chandler, and not the charity, sponsors entirely) made his professional debut at this event in 1989, competing in the Top Fuel class.

“I came from Iowa, grew up on an eighth-mile dragstrip, and kept saying, ‘That’s what I want to do for a living.’ And I did it. You know what the odds of that are? They’re pretty slim,” Johnson, 50, said.

NHRA Safety Safari has been battling the elements for much of Friday morning to prepare Wild Horse Motorsports Park for competition. Track drying has been completed for most of the track except for a patch at the end of the shutdown area which appears to be problematic. 

Oh, it's on like Donkey Kong.

It's definitely not work suitable, nor is it family friendly but it is ... is entertaining.

WIX®Filters, a global manufacturer of filtration products, has announced its partnership renewal with Kalitta Motorsports for the 2019 National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) season. Celebrating its 80th anniversary this year, WIX will serve as chief technical partner through a major associate sponsorship agreement, as well as the Official Filters of Team Kalitta. 

J.R. Todd, driver of the DHL Toyota Camry Funny Car, and Shawn Langdon, driver of the Global Electronic Technology Toyota Camry Funny Car, will represent WIX Filters on and off track. WIX will also be associate sponsors of the Top Fuel Dragsters driven by Richie Crampton and Doug Kalitta.

Roxboro Motorsports Park is a place fit for a King as well as top sportsman racers.

The 42-acre Timberlake, N.C., facility, which recently entered into a multi-year sanctioning agreement with the IHRA, features  an 1/8-mile drag strip and a rich history dating back 60 years. Some of the biggest names in the Carolinas have drag raced here including seven-time NASCAR champion Richard Petty.

AutoMeter Products, Inc. has successfully completed IATF 16949:2016 Certification, the new automotive quality management standard which supersedes ISO/TS16949.  The stringent and prestigious IATF 16949:2016 standard represents the latest initiatives by the International Automotive Task Force (IATF) to achieve harmonized assessment and certification in the global automotive supply chain.

Strong performances have a way of changing plans, ask Top Fuel team owner Bob Vandergriff Jr.

Instead of waiting to bring out the D-A Lubricant – PennGrade High Performance Oil dragster driven by his nephew Jordan Vandergriff at the NHRA Gatornationals, the rookie driver will make his Top Fuel competition debut on Friday at the Magic Dry NHRA Arizona Nationals outside of Phoenix, Az.

"We had planned to test again before the Gatornationals, but after how well the preseason test went and how comfortable Jordan looked in the car, we decided to move him up to Phoenix,” Bob explained. “Although our schedule for Jordan is currently 12 races, if we can secure more funding I wouldn’t be opposed to Jordan running more races and battling Austin Prock and Jianna Salinas for rookie of the year and giving him a chance drive his way into the countdown to the championship.”

They got a favorable deal on the rent.

And there Brandon Welch and Tyson Porlas stood, looking at the half of a warehouse building that Welch called “just dirt and grease and grime . . . with a floor that was caked in probably a centimeter of grease . . . and just black everywhere.”

But the cousins from San Diego had some grease of their own – elbow grease – in renovating their part of the metal-recycling facility into a first-class shop for their new Top Fuel team.