Don Schumacher, owner of NHRA drag racing’s largest team and multimillion-dollar global firm Schumacher Electric, was devouring his daily copy of The Wall Street Journal 20 years ago. A specific article caught his attention.

It traced the U.S. Army’s experience of recruiting a young man or woman for duty, from first contact to getting a signature on the dotted line and shipping him/her to boot camp, and put a dollar figure to the process.

According to Jack Beckman, one of Schumacher’s NHRA Funny Car champions, “He thought, ‘I’m a great businessman, and I think I can help them do this in a less expensive way.’ And the racing program, with Tony Schumacher as the driver, was so successful that even when a government mandate came out that said the government ‘can’t be spending money on X and Y and Z’ and the Army had to pull out of NASCAR, Don said, ‘Time out, guys. You’re not spending money on drag racing. You’re saving money with drag racing.’ And he showed them the numbers. And they said, ‘You know what? You’re right.’”

Bob Vandergriff Racing is teaming up with NFL Hall of Fame great and Heisman Trophy Winner, Tim Brown. Brown’s company, 81 Logistics Group, will be primary sponsor of the Top Fuel Dragster driven by Jordan Vandergriff for five races and will serve as an associate sponsor for the remaining 2019 season.

“As we continue to build our program it’s great to have 81 Logistics Group join BVR on Jordan’s dragster,” said team owner, Bob Vandergriff. “Tim Brown and I share the same mindset and I look forward to working with Tim and everyone at 81 Logistics Group next season.”

Race Winning Brands, Inc., a portfolio company of Kinderhook Industries, LLC is pleased to announce the acquisition of Falicon Crankshaft Components, Inc, a prominent manufacturer of high performance powersports engine components including crankshafts, connecting rods, camshaft sprockets, and racing clutches. Falicon represents the fourth add-on acquisition for Race Winning Brands.

Race Winning Brands is the leading manufacturer of high performance and racing related components sold to the automotive and powersports markets. RWB is headquartered in Mentor, Ohio and markets its products globally through a portfolio of leading brands, including JE Pistons, Wiseco Performance Products, K1 Technologies, Diamond Pistons, Trend Performance, Dart Machinery, Rekluse Motor Sports, and ProX Racing Parts.

Kimmy’s Garage Features Aerospace’s NEWEST Product. Ceramic Bearing Hubs for Late Model Vehicles

This weekend Cameron Ferré will fulfill a drag racing dream 20 years in the making when he sits in the driver seat of the Terry Haddock Racing Top Fuel dragster at the Auto Club Nationals in Pomona. Ferré, now 33, has been dreaming of this moment since he came to watch the races in Pomona for the first time with his dad. “I’m so excited for the opportunity Terry and his Haddock Racing team have given me to drive their car at the track it all started for me 20 years ago,” said Ferré.

“It’s going to be pretty surreal considering that I’ve been dreaming of staging and racing a Top Fuel dragster here in Pomona since I was 8 years old. It’s also the first track I ever raced a Jr. Dragster as well. It’s a special place for me.”

Ryan Priddy, an all-purpose crewman on the Mountain View Tire & Auto Center NHRA Pro Stock team, is going to do some driving of his own during the 2019 season in NHRA’s Factory Stock Showdown class.

The plan is for Priddy to be behind the wheel for all eight Factory Stock Showdown races next season. He will be campaigning a 2018 Chevy Camaro owned and sponsored by Nick Mitsos, the boss of Mountain View Tire. Mitsos also owns and sponsors the Pro Stock Camaro driven by Vincent Nobile. The team is based out of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.

Priddy is a longtime bracket racer in the NHRA ranks.

 
Going into the NHRA season ending Auto Club NHRA Finals at Auto Club Dragway at Pomona this weekend, Frank Aragona Jr. has locked up his second NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series Comp Eliminator World Championship. The Freehold, N.J., racer racked up 613 points including four wins in six final rounds and cannot be caught.

After losing the battle with Shirley Muldowney for the 1977 NHRA Top Fuel Championship, Don Garlits famously said to Sports Illustrated “Not to be a male chauvinist, but women are the weaker of the two sexes and need to be protected by men while they’re carrying the babies. I don’t understand these women like Muldowney who want to prove they’re as good as men. I wouldn’t want my wife sticking her hands down in an engine changing red hot pistons, getting her fingers all cut up and dirty. How can a woman expose herself to that … and all the rough talk around a race track, and still be feminine?”

In front of a packed house at North Carolina's historic Shadyside Dragway, the South East Gassers Association (SEGA) wrapped up an 11-event season Nov. 3, with fans witnessing two sets of race wins and celebrating champions crowned in three official SEGA classes.

Based on the strength of a recent four-race winning streak, Shannon Smith of Landrum, SC, earned the 2018 SEGA A/Gas championship; Todd Blackwell of nearby Spartanburg, SC, wrapped up the B/Gas championship; and Larry Noel from Aiken, SC, was named C/Gas champion.  

Persistent rain two weeks earlier during the previous SEGA race at Carolina Dragway forced eliminations there up against the track's midnight curfew. A decision was reached to run the semis and finals from the Aiken, SC, event within two rounds of qualifying for the season-ending Showdown at Shadyside. 

NHRA officials announced today that three dates on its 2019 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series schedule have been changed. The final three events of the season will now take place as follows:

October 17-20                       AAA Texas NHRA FallNationals    Dallas
October 31-November 3        NHRA Nevada Nationals                 Las Vegas
November 14-17                    Auto Club NHRA Finals                  Pomona, Calif.