Rain fell on Brainerd Motorsports Park, but the wet stuff couldn't dampen the red-hot sportsman competition during opening day qualifying for the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals qualifying.

Eric Bell's classic Mopar, a GT/EA 1968 Barracuda, drove to the top of the 51-car Super Stock field with a 9.104 elapsed time, -0.996 under the index. The Pontiacs of Bill Rink (SS/MA) and Michael Mans (SS/AS) rounded out the top three.

Beginning September 1, 2017, McLeod Racing will be moving its operations to a newly purchased manufacturing facility in nearby Anaheim, CA. The new 25,000 square foot building will house new offices and new manufacturing operations. McLeod’s moving plans are to be seamless, so customers will continue to get their orders shipped on time, and without delay.

McLeod Racing has been a staple in Southern California manufacturing since its opening day in 1971. The newly purchased building will house the continuous growth of product lines and innovative ideas that uphold the McLeod tradition. With the larger facility, McLeod will be able to better accommodate customers with more products stocked and ready to ship.

There’s very little in the world of drag racing crew chief Rahn Tobler hasn’t accomplished.

Last Saturday, he was honored as the Grand Marshal of the 40th annual Kelly Services Night Under Fire in Norwalk, Ohio.

An honor that caught him completely off-guard.

When the Jim Dunn Racing team rolls its Funny Car chassis out of the hauler this Thursday, they will put the Hubert’s Lemonade Funny Car body on for a display at the nearby Menards store in Baxter, Minnesota.  Following the display they will head back to the track and make a change to 7-Eleven Funny Car graphics for the race weekend.
 
Team Manager, Jon Dunn, is responsible for keeping the promotional and race calendars up to date for the team. “We do so many displays throughout the season for our vendor and retail partners that we usually have at least two or more a month.  Keep in mind that we are giving fans who attend these events a look at the real thing since our show car is the actual race car that runs 300+ mph the next day on the track.”

With a recent national event win in Chicago added to her three Divisional wins this season, Top Alcohol Dragster racer Megan Meyer is currently in first place in NHRA’s Central Region, and 3rd place in the overall NHRA Lucas Oil National Championship.  Joining her team at the Brainerd, Minnesota race this weekend will be sponsor, Gary Poppins Snacks.   The gourmet popcorn manufacturer is entering Menards retail stores through a racing promotion with their flavored single serve bag products.
 

Justin Elkes has always been ahead of the curve. From his early work at Wilson Manifolds developing cutting edge components to becoming the youngest crew chief in the NHRA Pro Stock pits, Elkes remains at the forefront when it comes to the development and application of new motorsports technology.

To better serve a growing client base across all forms of motorsports, Elkes has launched Modern Racing. Located in Mooresville, NC, known as “Race City USA,” Modern Racing was created with the mission to be the best source for purchasing high-quality electronics and data acquisition components made by Racepak, MoTeC, and more. By also offering tuning, consulting, data acquisition analysis, wiring, fabrication, machining, and complete racing operation housing and management, Modern Racing is a one-stop-shop.

Do you speak #hashtag?



Well sponsors do. And so do the fans. And so does just about anyone on the south side of 40.



Yet, with the entire world at the fingertips of the technology generation, an entire segment of the population that well-paid, extremely bright marketing minds are trying to reach, there remains a disconnect. A very real reluctance to speak the language of the young person.

There will be plenty of Gray to be found at the upcoming NHRA U.S. Nationals outside of Indianapolis over the Labor Day weekend.

For the first time since the family entered drag racing competition, three generations of the Gray family will compete at the same national event. 

Team owner and multi-class champion Johnny Gray will join his son Shane and Grandson Tanner in battling for the Pro Stock crown at the most prestigious event in NHRA competition. 

Drag racing is a sport with inherent dangers of its own, in which guns aren't involved. This weekend in two separate incidents, two shootings, one apparently intentional and the other unintentional, either killed or injured drag race goers.