The way Danny Rowe sees things this year, it’s either going to be the leading edge or the bleeding edge.

The NHRA Pro Mod standout will debut a brand-new Chevy Camaro from RJ Race Cars this season, one of a handful of forward-thinking items for the veteran, who is fully aware of the fine line he’ll be walking facing off against the top Pro Mod names.

But after an 11th-place finish in the NHRA Pro Mod standings a year ago, Rowe knew he couldn’t stand pat.

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Dave Vasser believes strongly in two things: a good product and loyalty. During the Lights Out 9 event at South Georgia Motorsports Park, both were put to good use.

Vasser, the CEO of Nitrous Outlet, a leading nitrous oxide and accessories supplier, unveiled the newest item on his growing product line.

Vasser and his team designed the Tower of Power with the X275 [drag radial] racer in mind.

After more than 20 years on the road working in NHRA Drag Racing, Richard “J.R.” Clark is finally planting roots in Minnesota to help run the family business, Clark Copper Head Gaskets.
 
“I felt it was time for me stay in one place and help my parents run Clark Copper Head Gaskets. They started the business more than 30 years ago and have worked every day to make it the success it is today. I want to continue producing the best gaskets and grow our business,” said J.R. Clark.

Robert J. “Bob” Bartel will forever be known by some as the man who built Quad City Drag Strip in the tiny hamlet of Cordova, Illinois. To others, he was the creator of what would become the sport’s oldest event, the World Series of Drag Racing. History shows, however, Bob Bartel was one of the sport’s founding fathers and, in fact, was responsible for the early growth of a global sport and its superstars.
 
Bartel’s involvement in motorsports, (and drag racing in particular), began long before the gates opened at his quarter-mile strip along the Mississippi River. The Moline, Illinois, native was integral in the creation of a drag racing association with truly national scope. In 1953, as the fledgling, (and strictly regional), National Hot Rod Association staged its first drag race. Also in 1953, 31 year-old Bartel and Jim Lamona began hosting races with their Automobile Timing Association of America, (ATAA), which quickly attracted a sizeable number of drag strips to its ranks while the NHRA was struggling to break out of California. The NHRA was dedicated to posting only trophies and contingency prizes but the ATAA paid cash purses and became an instant hit with contestants.  

Three-time NHRA Top Fuel world champion Antron Brown will serve as the honorary pace car driver at the inaugural Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
 
Brown will pilot a 2018 Toyota Camry Pace Car to lead the field to green on Sunday, March 4.
 
No stranger to speed or horsepower, Brown is a decorated race car driver who routinely exceeds speeds of more than 330-mph in his 11,000-horsepower Matco Tools/U.S. Army/Toyota Top Fuel dragster. As a competitor in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series, Brown has amassed 65 victories and 49 number one qualifiers. He has won three world titles since 2012 and is a favorite to contend for the 2018 NHRA Top Fuel world championship.

Since 2013, Billy Torrence has dabbled in Top Fuel competition, competing in several races.
 
Normally, Torrence, the father of star Top Fuel driver Steve Torrence, doesn’t compete until later in the season.

Three years ago, Scott Palmer, accompanied by brothers Bobby and Dom Lagana, headed off down the highway one January with little more than a cool idea to test his Top Fuel dragster at Phoenix, then buzz on over to Pomona for the first race of the NHRA season.
 
Today Palmer has a top-10 finish, a Countdown to the Championship under his belt, and three strong marketing partners in Kent Longley’s Marck Recycling, Tommy Thompson’s Cat Spot Litter, and Forrest and Charlotte Lucas’ NHRA powerhouse associate, Lucas Oil.  

In the end, Radials vs. the World (RvW) fans got what they wanted Feb. 15-18, at promoter Donald "Duck" Long's Lights Out 9: a final-round showdown between two of the most popular and polarizing stars in the sport. The stakes were high, too, with $50,000 in cash (plus a sizable but undisclosed side bet between the two finalists) going to the winner of the annual drag radial extravaganza at South Georgia Motorsports Park (SGMP).

After three qualifying sessions and five rounds of RvW eliminations spread out over the event's four days, it all came down to number-two qualifier and local favorite "Stevie Fast" Jackson of Evans, GA, going up against Keith Haney, the colorful, outspoken car dealer from Broken Arrow, OK. Jackson also called the tune-up on "The Shadow," his blown-Hemi-powered 2015 Camaro, while Haney relied on crew chiefs Brandon Switzer and Brandon Pesz to tweak "Enigma," his nitrous-assisted 2016 Camaro.

For the first time since NHRA’s Western Swing in 2016, Bill Litton will be driving Worsham Racing's Top Fuel dragster in 2018.
 
“I call Del and Chuck (Worsham) the dream team,” Litton said. “I’m totally blessed, and I thank God on a regular basis that I got to license with Del and Chuck and I still get to work with them. I know I’m a small fish compared to the stuff they have worked with in the past.”

Lyle Barnett has seen the videos; his favorite one he estimates 40 times over the course of the last year. 

Last year, at Lights Out 8, Barnett returned to the same track where in 2015 he'd suffered a fire in his Radial vs. The World; a fire which subjected him to 28 seconds of direct exposure to the flames which resulted in third-degree burns to 15-percent of his body. 

The first time back to the scene of the horrifying incident resulted in his most cherished victory. A year later, he's still basking in the glow of fate.