While all the powerhouse Top Fuel and Nitro Funny Car teams are testing at NHRA’s Nitro Spring Training this week at Wild Horse Motorsports Park in Phoenix, Ariz., Terry Brian is on the opposite end of the spectrum.

The Texas driver is going to use the test session to get his Top Fuel license.

Brian has been racing a fuel altered since 2011, competing in the Outlaw Fuel Altered Association. He owns his own business, ProFab Custom Welding & Fabrication, serving Overton, Tyler, East Texas and Western Louisiana.

Courtney Force powered to the top of the Funny Car class at Friday’s NHRA Nitro Spring Training at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park located outside of Phoenix. The 2018 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series returns to this facility for the NHRA Arizona Nationals Feb. 23 -25 for the second event of the series.

Force drove her Advance Auto Parts Chevrolet Camaro SS to a pass of 3.839-seconds at 329.99 mph. She is seeking to capitalize on her career-best seven No. 1 qualifiers last season. Two-time world champion Matt Hagan made a pass of 3.851 at 330.72 in his Mopar Express Dodge Charger R/T and teammate Tommy Johnson Jr. ran a 3.884 at 326.16.

Following an impressive display of cooperation between track operators and promoters, the Frankenstein Engine Dynamics Mid-West Pro Mod Series (MWPMS) has officially moved its Mar. 2-3, 2018 season opener to the Texas Motorplex, at Ennis, TX, just south of Dallas. The MWPMS was originally scheduled to open the brand-new Xtreme Raceway Park (XRP) in nearby Trumbull, but ongoing construction prompted XRP owner Clyde Scott and facility manager Gaylen Smith to reach out to Motorplex General Manager Andy Carter with the suggestion for a change of venue.

“We’re probably more than 80 percent done, and really, I think we will be ready by March, but this is Texas and you never know what the weather might bring so we just thought it would be safer and smarter to call Andy and see if he could take over the race for us,” Smith explained. “I’ve known Andy a long time and we’ve always had a good relationship with everyone over there. They’re NHRA and we’re IHRA, but we were very careful with scheduling this year to make sure we weren’t putting our big races on top of each other and fortunately he had that weekend available and agreed to help us out.”

Antron Brown came into this preseason testing event at Arizona’s Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park last year confident his long-intact team had the power to steamroll to a third straight and fourth overall NHRA Top Fuel championship. As first Leah Pritchett challenged his reign, then Steve Torrence and finally Brittany Force followed suit, Brown faded to fourth in the final standings.

His return to Chandler, Ariz., near Phoenix, this week produced a class-best elapsed time of 3.714 seconds at 328.46 mph Thursday.

Modern Racing, the new venture formed by championship-winning tuner and motorsports electronics expert Justin Elkes, continues to expand its capabilities with the addition of prominent chassis builder Todd Bevis to the team.

Bevis, a native of Tyler, TX, who now resides in Mooresville, North Carolina, brings with him a wealth of knowledge and experience gained during more than 35 years in the racing industry. After a successful stint at Jerry Haas Race Cars, Bevis eventually teamed with Victor Cagnazzi at Cagnazzi Racing, where he built and tuned winning NHRA Pro Stock chassis for the likes of Erica Enders-Stevens, Dave Connolly, and Jeg Coughlin, Jr.

The Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum presented by Automobile Club of Southern California announced the election of a new member to their board of directors, David Kennedy, director of multimedia content for NHRA.

Kennedy has been a lifelong “car guy” and incorporated his passion for automobiles into his career. He has been helping to build and develop automotive media brands for almost two decades. Since joining NHRA in 2016, he has helped to shape NHRA media platforms and structure content licensing agreements. Prior to that he was the editor-in-chief of Hot Rod Magazine where he directed editorial planning and social media content. He’s also served in publishing and editorial roles for a number of automotive publications including Custom Truck Group, Diesel Power and Petersen’s Four-Wheel & Off-Road Magazine.

If there were a list of villains in NHRA Mello Yello drag racing, it would be a very short one.

Nitro fans are lovers, not haters.

And no nitro pilot is more adored than Tim Wilkerson and his Levi, Ray & Shoup Funny Car who is greeted at each Mello Yello race with fans wearing “Got Wilk?” T-shirts.

“People like those shirts,” he laughed of the spin on the dairy industry’s “Got Milk?” promotion from years back. “I think they’re cute.”

WELD Racing, the winningest wheel in drag racing, continues to expand its commitment to the NHRA Pro and Sportsman competitors by returning to the NHRA Midway. McCormack Motorsports will represent the brand at all 23 NHRA National Events and provide sales and technical support to racers and fans.

“We are thrilled to be on the Midway with the NHRA, providing our drag racing customers with higher levels of service and support,” said Vic Wood, Senior Director Strategic Sales, WELD Racing. “The WELD Racing display will be the source for product information, service, and sales for both racers and fans.”