With go-go boots, back up girls and dragsters straight out of the past, the pit lane drag strip gave fans a glimpse of the past during Nostalgia Night presented by Harbin's Mechanical Services at the O'Reilly Auto Parts Friday Night Drags at Atlanta Motor Speedway.  

The Southeast Gassers Association brought 22 vintage dragsters, including the "Dixie Twister" and "Georgia Shaker", that dazzled the crowd with huge burnouts, wheelie stands and a deafening roar as they battled nose to nose down the strip. 

"Everything on those cars has to be from the 1960’s - 4 speeds, straight axles, all that," said David Harbin, of Harbin's Mechanical Services. "A really cool thing about the gassers is that it has kind of brought the older baby boomers back into drag racing and the younger kids who enjoy the older cars. It’s a neat thing to see."

A jam-packed crowd was on hand Friday night at Lancaster National Dragway for the annual Nitro Night of Fire. The crowd saw a pair of thrilling match races between the Top Fuel Dragsters of Todd Paton and Dom Lagana plus a battle between the nitrous-powered A-Fuel Dragster piloted by Chuck Getz and the supercharged “Moonshine Express” 1940 Ford of Gary Kraus.

The Top Fuelers of Paton and Lagana did not disappoint once again with both runs featuring side-by-side action for the length of the 1/8-mile dragstrip. Lagana took the first race with a 3.79 second run. For the second pass, Paton wanted to break the track speed and elapsed time records he set in 2016 (3.306 seconds, 233 mph). His determination nearly paid off as Paton nearly broke the ET record with a 3.399 second run at 211 mph. Lagana was also faster on his second run at 3.669 seconds.

Hargett Wins O’Reilly Auto Parts Outlaw Pro Mod Race at Texas Motorplex

Consistency paid off for Dallas racer Kevin Hargett at the Texas Motorplex July 7, where he opened with a 4.29-seconds pass at 179.44 mph to qualify his turbocharged 2013 Camaro fourth for the track’s monthly O’Reilly Auto Parts Outlaw Pro Mod event. Hargett then ran a series of mid-4.20s to reach victory lane, which marked his second race title for 2018 and his first Texas Outlaw Pro Modified Association (TOPMA) win of the year.

“Despite the heat the track was killer out there and that really helped for me to tell the car what I wanted it to do,” said Hargett, 52. “The car has a twin-turbo setup, so we can control how much boost it has, so instead of turning it way up and trying to run a number that would make my team happy we just decided to make it run just good enough to beat the competition and it worked out okay.”   

Part-time NHRA Top Fuel racer Kebin Kinsley could hardly contain the excitement on the tow back following a final round in Grove, Oklahoma. As soon as the cockpit to his CatSpot/Magic Dry-sponsored race vehicle opened, the words came rushing out like those of a hurricane attacking land.

“That was the most insane thing I’ve ever done in my life," Kinsley exclaimed. "Totally out of control.”

Kinsley was not behind the wheel of his 300-mph hour land-based rocket, but rather piloting a Top Fuel hydro boat for the first time in five years.

A year ago, Erica Enders was drawing names out of a hat and making bets with her team on who would win the inaugural DRAG ILLUSTRATED World Series of Pro Mod.

This year, she’s betting on herself.

The two-time Pro Stock world champion has officially thrown her name into the hat as a participant in 2018, as Enders will compete Aug. 10-11 in the World Series of Pro Mod at Bandimere Speedway.

Will Martin plans to race in another place.

The second-generation drag racer, who made a name for himself in Nostalgia Funny Car racing, will now head over into the Top Alcohol Funny Car. This move is one he's wanted to make for a while.

“I can remember as a kid running from my parent's pits to the fence at Pomona, late at night to watch guys like Brad Anderson, Lou Gasparelli, Jett Field and others run their Top Alcohol Funny Cars," said Martin, the son of former NHRA fuel racer John Martin of Jam-Air fame. "Thought they were so cool when I’d hear the drivers bringing the rpm’s up then dropping the clutch."

Dina Parise, past IHRA Pro Modified champion, announced today her Pro Boost team has partnered with Canadian-based Speedwire for sponsorship of her unique Cadillac doorslammer.

NHRA legend Jeb Allen will return to Top Fuel competition when he partners with Don Schumacher Racing at the 31st annual NHRA Sonoma Nationals at Sonoma Raceway, July 27-29.
 
The Top Fuel champion of yesteryear will take to the track not as a driver, but as the primary sponsor of Leah Pritchett’s nitro-burning machine. Palomar Builders, the construction company owned and operated by Allen, will flank the sides of Pritchett’s 11,000-horsepower dragster during the northern California event.

For Frankie Taylor, drag racing in Australia has been a long, strange journey.

Taylor, the decorated Outlaw Drag Racer from Dickinson, Tex., races his final event with Team Racing, attempting to win this weekend's Northern Swing event this weekend at the Nitro Up North in Darwin before heading to Alice Springs Inland Dragway the following weekend for the Desert Nationals (July 21-22).

Taylor will bring along family this weekend to experience the fun, his daughter and brother/tuner Paul Taylor.

Mike Bowman is feeling the pressure and admits he gets a little more freaked out with each passing day.

But that pressure has nothing to do with the fact he’s the defending winner of the DRAG ILLUSTRATED World Series of Pro Mod. In fact, Bowman gets a calming, excitable feeling thinking back to the moment that changed his life, recalling the exact moment with hearty exuberance when he crossed the finish line first to win $100,000 a year ago.

So, no, he doesn’t feel any pressure trying to live up to that a second time when the 2018 WSOPM takes place Aug. 10-11 at Bandimere Speedway. His current pressure is a far different kind and, in his mind, it’s a far more stressful one.