Bob Curran, 53, a popular racer in the NMCA community, was on killed on July 30, a victim in a motorcycle accident. 

More commonly known as "Spongebob," Curren was popular amongst his peers. He was also a three-time champion behind the wheel of his Strange Engineering-sponsored Corvette. 

"“Sponge Bob” was loved and respected in the racing community making everyone feel like they were part of the family. Always with a smile on his face, Bob is one of the most loyal and good hearted people you will ever meet and it is a true privilege to be associated with him," said Strange Engineering's Jeff Stange. 

After gaining some much-needed seat time behind the wheel of the American Ethanol 2017 Dodge Dart Pro Stock car in Topeka, longtime sportsman racer Will Hatcher looks forward to the Dodge Mile-High NHRA Nationals powered by Mopar this weekend in Denver. This will be his second time competing in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series.

“It’s really cool to get to race a Dodge vehicle at the Dodge Mile-Highs,” said Hatcher. “And the track in Denver is just fantastic. I’ve raced my Comp Eliminator car here more times than I can count. The Bandimere family does an outstanding job with this facility and we see so many hardcore racing fans packing the stands. I’m really looking forward to this.”

There's a saying in Texas, the bigger the better. 

Midwest Pro Mod Series (MWPMS) promoter Keith Haney plans to deliver an incredible $50,000 payday to the Texas Motorplex, November 1-3, 2018, when the series presents the ELITE 16 presented by Elite Motorsports, LLC.

Haney has wanted to present a winner-take-all event for the rapidly growing series for a long time.

You never get a second chance to make a first impression, and for multi-time Australian doorslammer champion John Zappia, he welcomed in a new major sponsor with a convincing win.

Zappia announced in the days leading into the Darwin 2018/19 400 Thunder season-opener Muscle Car Warehouse as a major sponsor. The Nitro Up North event at Darwin's Hidden Valley Drag Strip delivered an impressive first impression.

Zappia overcame mixed results in testing to find consistency for race day, where he defeated Paul Mouhayet in the final round with a 5.73 elapsed time.

For Brittany Force the 39th annual Dodge Mile-High NHRA Nationals will be a chance for the reigning Top Fuel champion to get her first win on the mountain and also highlight a new sponsorship partner with Carquest Brakes emblazoned on the side of her 10,000 horsepower Top Fuel dragster as well as her parachutes.
 
“We will have a new look with Carquest Brakes and that is exciting. You want to get those wins for the new sponsors. Carquest is running a special promotion this month with Speed Perks members. They can get a nice discount on Carquest Platinum Professional Brake Pads from advanceautoparts.com. We are glad they came on board and we are going to give them our best,” said Force.

Matt Sackman entered last weekend’s Burndown at Sundown at Route 66 Raceway with just a handful of Top Alcohol Dragster passes under his belt. Late Sunday evening, he left the event with five additional passes, the No. 1 qualifier award and the NHRA North Central Region event victory. 
 
“To be able to qualify No. 1 and win the race in my debut is pretty unbelievable,” said Sackman, a cylinder head specialist on Don Schumacher Racing’s Antron Brown-driven Matco Tools/U.S. Army Top Fuel dragster. “It definitely shows there's light at the end of the tunnel, that all of the hard work is worth it. This opportunity will hopefully lead to more opportunities in the future. I'm just very fortunate that everything worked out the way it did.”

While its policy might not be common knowledge among its competitors, NHRA contends it has an effective concussion protocol in place. This, according to NHRA's Medical Consultant Dr. Phillip Surface.

“I think the NHRA is proactive and becoming more so every day,” Surface said. “I think in the past few seasons they have really taken ahold of the closed head injury concussion issue and updated policies and procedures and made certain that all the training is standardized and up to date and everything.

"This has been going on for several seasons, but especially in the past three to four seasons there’s been a renewed interest, an increased interest in it.”

Things couldn’t be going much better lately for Matt Hagan.

The two-time NHRA nitro Funny Car world champion has won the last two races on tour in Norwalk, Ohio, and Epping, N.H.

It doesn’t seem like a time to make any changes, but that’s what is going to happen when Hagan competes at the Dodge Mile-High Nationals July 20-22 at Bandimere Speedway in Morrison, Colo.

Clint Satterfield might have lost in the first round of the inaugural DRAG ILLUSTRATED World Series of Pro Mod a season ago, and his 2018 NHRA Pro Mod season hasn’t gone according to plan thus far.
 
But good luck convincing the Pro Mod veteran that the $100,000 check going to the 2018 winner of the WSOPM, which takes place Aug. 10-11 at Bandimere Speedway, won’t be coming home with him.
 
"I’m just saying I'm going to win,” Satterfield said. “After I started looking at time slips last year, I believe I had fastest car there. I know I had faster time slips. Plus what we learned last year, we've got some tricks for them. I know the car hasn’t shown a lot of promised on the track yet, but I promise you, it's one bad ass hot rod."

In advance of this weekend's third annual SFG Promotions’ Super Bowl of Drag Racing and its half million dollar cash purse, Rockingham Dragway owner Steve Earwood has commissioned Rockingham-based Hudson Paving, Inc., to refurbish the track’s feeder roads and thereby provide greater ease of access for an expected field of 500 of the nation’s premier racers.  
 
"Our goal is to provide the best possible experience for everyone,” Earwood said, “not just on our world-class dragstrip but in the pits and grandstands, too.”