Troy Coughlin raced to the qualifying lead Friday in the NHRA J&A Service Pro Mod Drag Racing Series portion of the Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals. This weekend’s Pro Mod racing at Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis is presented by JEGS. This is the seventh of 10 Pro Mod events on the 2016 season.

Coughlin, the reigning and two-time world champion, pushed his late model JEGS.com Chevy Corvette to a 5.773-second pass at 254.76 mph to take the qualifying lead in Friday’s only qualifying session. Coughlin won the fourth event of the year at Englishtown, N.J., in June. He has two No. 1 qualifiers in his career.

When police officers in Dallas where ambushed this past July, Top Fuel driver and Temple Texas resident Terry Haddock was angry and fed-up.

“We live in the greatest country in the world,” Haddock said. “Seeing how members of law enforcement are being treated right now is an insult and I’m sick of it.”

For the first time in nearly 40 years, The Coca-Cola Company’s popular citrus-flavored soft drink brand, Mello Yello, will appear on a NHRA Funny Car.

To celebrate Funny Car’s half-century of racing, Mello Yello is partnering with Kalitta Motorsports to co-brand the team’s DHL-sponsored Toyota Camry Funny Car at the U.S. Nationals held Labor Day weekend in Indianapolis, Indiana. The one-time custom-wrapped car will be driven by the reigning NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series Funny Car Champion, Del Worsham.
 
 

Jeff Stange will never look at his shadow the same way.

The driving force behind the Strange Engineering brand was looking through images of famous fox-bodied grudge racing rides when he noticed Shadow, the famous Drag Radial entry driven by Stevie "Fast" Jackson and owned by noted NHRA tuner Phil Shuler. 

Stange decided to have some fun. 

Sitting alone earlier this week on a stool at a shop table in a windowless building on the edge of Lucas Oil Raceway, the man dressed all in black was performing precise surgery on an indifferent-looking piece of machinery that belongs in a Top Fuel dragster.

 

Almost like the Eleanor Rigby of drag racing mechanics, Lee Beard. didn’t have music keeping him company.. He sat with his back to the door and labored in silence with his head down, his concentration interrupted by nothing.

Paul Mercure figured the first day of the GM Performance NHRA U.S. Nationals needed a blast from the past. 

Mercure, of White Lake, Michigan, and an iconic class racer raced to the top of the Stock Eliminator qualifying list, scoring a -1.523 hit against the Factory Stock/F index with his Checkmate COPO Camaro. 

John Force and Terry McMillen secured the No. 8 positions in the NHRA Traxxas Nitro Shootout following special lottery drawings held today during a press conference in downtown Indianapolis to preview the Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals and the lucrative specialty event held during the weekend.
 
In Top Fuel, McMillen, who has never competed in the NHRA Traxxas Nitro Shootout, upset Clay Millican who led the Top Fuel votes with 43 percent. McMillen earned the third most fan votes with 17 percent. He will meet top seed Antron Brown in the first round of the NHRA Traxxas Nitro Shootout for Top Fuel on Saturday.

Pro Stock ace Shane Gray will sport a special paint scheme at this weekend's 62nd annual Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals to commemorate 150 years of Valvoline and highlight their Max Life products.

"Valvoline has been a great partner and supporter of ours, and we wanted to do something nice to show them how proud we are to wear their colors," Gray said. "I called my buddy Sean Cain at Blackbeard and he designed this paint scheme for us, and we all think it looks fantastic.

The Head Racing Funny Car will be proudly carrying the RacingGoesSafer.org logos of the Stand 21 Safety Foundation at this weekend’s NHRA, Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals, in Indianapolis on Aug 31 - Sept 5. 
 
Said team owner Jim Head, “We have been working with Stand 21 and its Safety Foundation for the last several years on improved driver safety equipment and we wanted to thank them for their contribution to safety in our sport.”  Jim and Chad Head’s introduction to Stand 21 was at one of their safety seminars in 2012. 

Stand 21 and their Racing Goes Safer, racer education program may not be familiar names in drag racing, but they are starting to make their mark in TF and FC classes. 

The National Muscle Car Association (NMCA) has announced the official event schedule for the 2017 season. With six jam-packed events that blanket the heartland of America, the NMCA is quickly becoming the largest and most popular muscle car drag racing series in the country. The family-friendly events have something for every fan.

“We’re thrilled about this exciting schedule for 2017,” said Rollie Miller, NMCA General Manager. “We have a great group of track partners and host cities and they’re all looking forward to the coming year with NMCA.”