The 2017 NHRA season was a hectic one for the newly-formed Pro Stock Motorcycle team – Team Liberty Racing with riders Cory Reed and Angelle Sampey, a three-time NHRA world champ (2000-2002).

This season, Team Liberty has shown improvement after bringing Larry Morgan and his son, Nick onboard.

Sampey made the U.S. Nationals – in Q5 no less – and then proceeded to lose in the first round to Andrew Hines. Reed, meanwhile, let new teammate Joey Gladstone ride his Buell while his new motorcycle is being built. Gladstone dropped first round to Mark Paquette.

Jerry Savoie’s White Alligator Racing team won the Chevrolet Performance NHRA U.S. Nationals title when rider L.E. Tonglet beat Eddie Krawiec in the final. 

In fact, Savoie’s Suzuki team, a customer of Vance & Hines’ engine program, eliminated two of the three Screamin’ Eagle Harley-Davidson team bikes in competition. However, it wasn’t Krawiec’s full-time teammate with whom Tonglet beat in the second round of competition. 

Though Savoie lost to Krawiec and not Ellis in the first round, he’s still not a fan of the most dominant team in Pro Stock Motorcycle bringing out a third bike ridden by Chip Ellis, in what his post-race press release describes as a blocker. 

Top Fuel racer Dom Lagana has a part-time team which races with all the intensity of a full-time effort. Credit full sponsorship effort to the success as well as an interactive tuning alliance with the CAPCO race team of points leader Steve Torrence and his father Billy, who recently won in Brainerd. 

This weekend, with an ominous weather forecast due in part to Hurricane Florence, Lagana and his team plays to stay dry, magically dry.   

Lagana, who runs as a part of Tommy Thompson Motorsports and a teammate to Scott Palmer, plans to unveil sponsorship from Magic Dry 100% Organic Multi-Purpose Absorbent. 

Two straight days this spring, sold-out crowds packed The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the NHRA’s foray into 4-Wide racing on the West Coast. In November, the 14th edition of the Street Car Super Nationals will utilize all four lanes of the facility’s unique layout in order to provide an all-new experience that also expedites the racing from class to class.

NMRA’s event schedule has been rearranged for the better with the historic Ford Motorsport Nationals moving back to June 27-30 at Maple Grove Raceway in 2019. It’s no secret the event has struggled with weather for the past three seasons and the move out of the wet month of May should provide the sunshine craved by racers, fans, sponsors, and organizers.

 Ashley Sanford wears her emotions on her sleeve, and a year ago at Indianapolis, those emotions were ones of excitement. That’s when Sanford made her Top Fuel debut at the U.S. Nationals.

“It was the best weekend of my life. It was just a dream,” she said. “As a little girl I had always known about Indy, the Big Go, I watched it, and you know when I got to come here in the Alcohol class, that was absolutely amazing. But nothing can compare to the little girl who had the dream of getting to come here and make that debut appearance, and on my very first pull run a [3].79[-second elapsed time].”

So when can we see Sanford back in the seat of a Top Fuel dragster? She says hopefully sooner rather than later.