Clay Millican powered his Parts Plus / Great Clips Top Fuel dragster to the qualifying lead Friday at the 30th annual NHRA SpringNationals at Royal Purple Raceway Park.

Courtney Force (Funny Car) and Jeg Coughlin Jr. (Pro Stock) were also provisional leaders in their respective categories at the fifth of 24 events on the 2017 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season schedule.

Mike Castellana powered to the qualifying lead Friday during the NHRA J&A Service Pro Mod Drag Racing Series portion of the SpringNationals at Royal Purple Raceway. This weekend’s Pro Mod racing, presented by Real Pro Mod Association, is the second of 12 events this season.

Castellana ran quickest in both qualifying sessions to hold onto the qualifying lead in his Al Anabi Racing ’17 Camaro. He ran a 5.759-second pass at 250.46 mph during the second qualifying session to set the track elapsed time record.

Steve Torrence celebrated his 34th birthday on Monday, April 17, and for the Kilgore, Texas-based Top Fuel driver his present arrived a year earlier.

Torrence was one of the hottest drivers in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series in 2016, scoring three wins in eight final round finishes.
 
Torrence, also a past NHRA Lucas Oil Top Alcohol Dragsters, admits such a season was beyond his wildest dreams.

"You never really think about having that kind of a season without it just becoming wishful thinking," Torrence said. "We had a really good season. We set the bar pretty high for us this year."

Fast forward to this season, Torrence heads into this weekend's NHRA Springnationals outside of Houston, only sixth in the championship point standings.

VP Racing Fuels announced the appointment of Donato Bonacquisto as Director of Marketing.  In that position, Bonacquisto will be responsible for advertising, sponsorships, event management and public relations in support of all VP business divisions including Race Fuel, Branding and Consumer Products.  “Donato brings a wealth of experience in the marketing, automotive and motorsports industries and we’re confident he’ll hit the ground running to continue the rapid pace of growth we’ve established here at VP,” said Alan Cerwick, President of VP Racing Fuels.
Bonacquisto comes to VP from Hankook Tire America where, as Motorsports and Events Manager, he promoted the Hankook Tire brand in the U.S. market across a mix of professional and amateur motorsports initiatives and top-level events in the consumer, aftermarket and commercial sectors.  Prior to that, he held management positions at multiple NASCAR Cup Series teams in both marketing and business development capacities, in addition to tenures with JHE Production Group managing elements of the Sprint title sponsorship with NASCAR and SPEED Channel as Event Marketing Manager.  Bonacquisto has also held roles in the automotive industry producing media/press launches at APEX Performance and managing luxury brands including Ferrari, Maserati, Porsche, Aston Martin and Bentley.

Jonnie Lindberg, a two-time NHRA Top Alcohol Funny Car Series champion, knew when he graduated to a nitromethane version of the car he'd mastered, things would be much quicker. The Swedish-born Lindberg expected the action behind the wheel to be this way. His success on the track, not so much.

Lindberg's first two races have resulted in two final round appearances behind the wheel of the Jim Head, Head Incorporated Toyota Funny Car.

Kelly Bettes understands she's got the opportunity of a lifetime ahead of her.

A former ANDRA Modified Champion and Sport Compact Drag standout, will pilot the Lamattina Top Fuel Racing dragster at the Nitro Up North event at Hidden Valley Raceway, July 21 and 22.

“When you’re a kid, and you dream about drag racing at the highest level, Top Fuel is always at the top of the list," Bettes said. “To be a part of what I believe is the best team in Australian Top Fuel Racing is just a dream come true.

Alex Laughlin is doing double-duty racing at the SpringNationals in Houston this weekend, and he couldn’t be more excited.

Laughlin will make his season debut in the Pro Stock class and he also will continue to drive Anthony Dicero’s A/Fuel Dragster. Both entries will have the primary sponsor of Gas Monkey Energy Drink. Laughlin also is receiving additional sponsorship support from Advance Auto Parts and Havoline.

If there's one thing Scotty Cannon has proven over the last three decades, it's the ability to be versatile. While he's tuned and driven everything from nitrous-injected doorslammers to nitro-burning machines, he's about to add another element to his stretched resume.

Cannon plans to tune and campaign an old-school style Gasser during Greer Dragway's Hot Rod Reunion on April 22. The event is a replacement to the longstanding Southeast Gassers Association which no longer fields events at the track.

Cannon will turn the wrenches on Chris Cantrell's Hound Dog Ford Falcon, a Ford-powered, four-speed car which will be driven by his husband-in-law Alan Pittman, who like Cannon, is a past series champion.

Matt Smith’s area of expertise is riding an NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle.

The facts prove that as he won world championships in the class in 2007 and 2013.

Yet, Smith did say he enjoyed filling in for his father and world championship driver Rickie Smith at the ADRL Spring Drags April 7-8 at Rockingham (N.C.) Dragway. Rickie is recovering from back surgery.

Matt driving his father’s Pro Mod ZL1 Camaro qualified first at 3.788 seconds at 200.86 mph, but lost in the semifinals against veteran Doug Winters. The event was won by Smith’s teammate Jonathan Gray, who beat Winters in the finals.