Matt Hagan thundered to the No. 1 qualifying position with a track record performance to lead the quickest Funny Car field in history Saturday at the K&N Filters Route 66 NHRA Nationals.

It was the second top qualifying effort of the season for Hagan, who navigated the Route 66 Raceway dragstrip under the lights in a track record time of 3.882 seconds at 331.12 mph in his Mopar Express Lane Dodge Charger R/T.

Brittany Force led a parade of track record performances Friday at the K&N Filters Route 66 NHRA Nationals by powering to the qualifying lead in Top Fuel.

Ron Capps (Funny Car), Shane Gray (Pro Stock) and Matt Smith (Pro Stock Motorcycle) also were qualifying leaders in their classes at the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series event at Route 66 Raceway near Chicago.

Not much has gone wrong for Ron Capps for over a month, and that trend continued Friday at the K&N Filters Route 66 NHRA Nationals.

Capps, who pilots the Don Schumacher Racing NAPA Dodge, drove to the provisional No. 1 qualifying spot with a track record elapsed time of 3.888 seconds at 328.78 mph at Route 66 Raceway.

Brittany Force chose a good way to celebrate her 30th birthday Friday night.

Force, who pilots the Monster Energy dragster for John Force Racing, powered her way to the provisional No. 1 qualifying spot with a track-record 3.692-second elapsed time at 325.69 mph at the K&N Filters Route 66 NHRA Nationals at Route 66 Raceway.

Edelbrock is excited to bring the "Genuine Edelbrock" promotion back. Consumers will receive a $25.00 rebate with the proof of purchase on any Edelbrock Carburetor or intake manifold, for a combined rebate of $50.00 when purchased together.

The "Genuine Edelbrock" promotion allows participating consumers to receive a $25.00 rebate when they purchase any new Edelbrock intake manifold or carburetor; whether they're sold individually, included in a Power Package Top End Kit, Carburetor & Manifold kit, Edelbrock crate engine or EFI system.

Friday was to have dawned with hot sunshine at the tenth edition of the World Footbrake Challenge presented by Plattinum Products, but Mom (Nature) had other plans. Fortunately her plans didn’t include any of the wet stuff, but cloudy skies greeted the best group of footbrake racers in the nation.

Three hundred and twenty six cars took to the first round of eliminations of the day’s main $10,000 to win race. Things were moving along rather smoothly until the end of the third round when that dreaded “R” word was mentioned. High winds and a severe thunderstorm threat forced everyone to seek shelter. Rain continued for several hours before officials made the executive decision to postpone tonight’s activities.

CompetitionPlus readers, by a margin of 72 - 28 percent, believe NHRA Pro Stock is dead. 

NHRA, when facing a class in obvious decline, instituted a new set of rules aimed at revitalizing the factory hot rod division. 

The NHRA is 12 races into the 2016 season, and only five have attracted a full field of entries. 

Two-time Pro Stock champion Erica Enders will partner with Melling Performance for the 12 remaining races on the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series schedule as a major associate sponsor.
 
Enders will drive the Elite Motorsports/Melling Dodge Dart during the K&N Filters Route 66 NHRA Nationals this weekend at Route 66 Raceway to kick off the partnership.

International Hot Rod Association (IHRA) officials announced today the cancellation of the IHRA World Nationals event and the Summit Pro-Am Tour scheduled at Dragway 42 due to construction delays. The IHRA Drag Racing Series will host their championship event at US 131 Motorsports in Martin, Michigan August 12 - 13, 2016.

Dragway 42 located in West Salem, Ohio was scheduled to be the last event of the 2016 IHRA Drag Racing Series season on September 23 - 24. Unforeseen construction delays have prevented the management at Dragway 42 to complete the rebuilding of the facility to host the IHRA events. The IHRA will look to host a national event at the quarter-mile dragstrip again in 2017 as well as sportsman events.

Ah, Mother Nature. Day 1 of the tenth annual BTE World Footbrake Challenge presented by Yukon Gear & Axle began under questionable skies. The plan was for a Test ‘N’ Tune session to run from 2:00 to 6:00 followed by the first of two World Footbrake Gamblers races.
 
Mom Nature tried hard but lost out in the end with time trials beginning a little later than planned. With a hefty field of cars entered for the first day of the WFC, the ladder round began with five cars left in competition. Former WFC runner-up Nick Bowman was the recipient of the lucky bye run into the semifinals, while Taylor Bowling was set to face Bud McNasby and Brook Stevens would face last year’s Thursday WFC Gambler’s winner Matt Obertanec.