DENSO Products and Services Americas, Inc. will serve as the primary sponsor for Pro Stock Motorcycle racer Angie Smith in the 2018 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series. DENSO also will serve as an associate sponsor of racer Matt Smith, Angie’s teammate and husband.

Only one of a handful of women to ever compete in the class, Angie Smith will continue to ride her Matt Smith Racing Buell V-Twin.

Two weeks ago, the NHRA, according to Compulink timing system founder Bob Brockmeyer, planned to change the win light format in qualifying signifying the quicker run. Another source close to the situation confirmed the NHRA reversed their decision last week to the traditional procedure but as of Monday decided to do away with the win-light altogether in qualifying. Now only elapsed time and speeds will illuminate following the respective runs.

That's right no win light at all now in qualifying.

And maybe this will suit the readers of CompetitionPlus.com fine since 43-percent of the 3,500-plus votes cast said just to leave the traditional measure in place. Another 32-percent voted that it really didn't matter. Only 25-percent were in favor of the proposal.

Facebook follower Bill Anderson offered, "If a newbie didn't understand what was going on, in my experience the stands are filled with friendly knowledgable folk that are more than happy to chat and explain things."

Both Antron Brown and wife Billie Jo, who are celebrating their wedding anniversary this week, have grown up in drag-racing families, his in New Jersey, hers in Louisiana. So naturally they passed along their passion to their children. All three have raced Junior Dragsters from an early age, and they’ve learned life lessons – the same ones Brown is learning as he and the Matco Tools Dragster team prepare for a run at a fourth Top Fuel championship: “You’ve got to put the work in. If you’re struggling, you’ve got to go test. If you want to get better, you’ve got to test to get it right.”

And, perhaps prophetically, 13-year-old Anson Brown spoke to his father’s 2018 title chase.

Jim Dunn Racing and Mooneyes are a part of Southern California drag racing history. The two have been teamed by use of equipment or sponsorship for more than 50 years. The team will be bringing out a new version of the white and black Moon Equipped Funny Car during the NHRA Lucas Oil Winternationals presented by Protect the Harvest this weekend at Auto Club Raceway on the Pomona Fairplex grounds.
 
Moon Equipment, headquartered in Santa Fe Springs, California is a destination itself for nostalgia race enthusiasts and hot rodders alike. From their daily showroom tours to a can’t miss annual holiday car show, Moon continues to distribute popular racing items including fuel tanks, gauges, wheel discs, helmets, and collectibles.

The amount of smack talk between promoter Donald Long and driver/owner Keith Haney would rival any between an NFL wide receiver and the cornerback covering him.

And with Long's Lights Out 9 drag radial race approaching, the talk has reached a fever pitch. From cracks about each other's height to a song Long produced about Haney to Haney smack-talking Facebook videos, the two have taken pre-race promotion to new levels.

So what would Long do if he had to sign a winner's check over to Haney?

It’s shaping up to be a busy 2018 season for Leah Pritchett. In addition to the Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) star’s responsibilities behind the wheel of her Mopar Dodge//SRT NHRA Top Fuel Dragster, Pritchett will also steer a supercharged Mopar Dodge Challenger Drag Pak in the full slate of 2018 SAM Tech NHRA Factory Stock Showdown events.

Pritchett’s 354-cubic-inch HEMI engine-powered Drag Pak will be prepped and maintained by the DSR team, led by crew chief and new DSR employee Kevin Helms. Helms brings years of experience driving and tuning a Mopar Dodge Challenger Drag Pak to his new role, including a 2015 NHRA Stock Eliminator World Championship and 2017 NHRA Stock and Super Stock runner-up finishes.

If candor counts for anything, two-time champion Cruz Pedregon and crew chief Aaron Brooks are the Funny Car leaders. Consider some of their preseason confessions:

Pedregon:  “We’ve done some analytics and the elephant in the room has been our inconsistent runs.”

Brooks: “Last year was a little bit of a beat-down. It made me feel pretty stupid for a while.”

Pedregon: “Talk is cheap, but I feel like we’ll be in the mix this year.”

Steve Torrence understandably was monumentally disappointed that he didn’t close the 2017 season as the Top Fuel championship. He won eight times in 11 final-round appearances, was 56-16 on race day, led the standings on three separate occasions following 10 of 24 races, and won both the U.S. Nationals and Traxxas Nitro Shootout with all the momentum heading into the Countdown. But a massive crash at Dallas, from which he was blessed to escape unhurt, set his program back at the worst possible. He battled gamely but never recaptured the magic and watched Brittany Force take the title.

The emotional toll takes time to erase, And that’s true, as well, for Torrence’s loyal and hard-working Capco Contractors Dragster crew.  

Clutch specialist Gary Pritchett, whose wife Leah Pritchett dogged Torrence for Top Fuel supremacy all season long from the Don Schumacher Racing camp, said after the 2017 experience, “We’ve got something to prove this year.”

The way Paul Lee sees it; he's playing with house money.

In December 2016, Lee, who had just been announced as a third driver for Kalitta Motorsports, suffered as severe of a heart attack as imaginable. He was diagnosed with a 100-percent blockage of the left anterior descending artery, otherwise known as the Widowmaker. 

Such a condition generally results in dire results.

Leah Pritchett unofficially ran the fastest Top Fuel pass on Saturday at NHRA Nitro Spring Training at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park located outside of Phoenix. The 2018 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series returns to the facility for the NHRA Arizona Nationals Feb. 23 -25 for the second event of the series.

Pritchett piloted her Mopar/Papa John’s dragster to a pass of 3.664-seconds at 334.73 mph. Last season, she set both ends of the track record at the NHRA Arizona Nationals and is seeking to reset it again in a couple of weeks.