One trip to the drag strip was all the inspiration Lewis Bloom needed to become a drag racing addict. Growing up eight miles from the sounds of Raceway Park in Englishtown, NJ, the ten year old kid who would later become the official ESPN drag racing statistician, used to hear the sounds of the strip emanate every time he played tennis with his friends.

He really didn’t know what was making those strange sounds.

The young Bloom asked his father for clarification, and the response was, “I think there’s a race track, do you want to go?”

On May 2, 1970, his eleventh birthday, Bloom received the present that would forever influence his life. The elder Bloom took him to the drag strip.

WFORadio.com with Joe Castello, a leading Internet motorsports radio show, will broadcast on Friday, December 11, 10 a.m. - 2 p.m., on location from the Red Line Synthetic Oil exhibit at the 22nd annual PRI Trade Show at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, FL.  To listen live, on demand, or to download, go to http://www.wforadio.com
   
WFORadio.com with Joe Castello on location at PRI, will feature a special edition of NHRA Tuesday, plus interviews and commentary with drivers, promoters, and media representing all types of motorsports.

The PRI show boasts exhibitors from over 1,200 racing companies, including over 100 new exhibitors for 2009.

As anticipation builds towards the debut of the brand new Nitro Jam season, so does the anticipation felt among many of the competitors preparing to make their Nitro Jam debut in one of two new IHRA classes.

Among the new classes set for 2010 are Pro Fuel, a spinoff of Top Fuel with more nitro in the tank, and Prostalgia Nitro Funny Car, a form of outlaw pre-1980s bodied Funny Cars, and fans and drivers alike are both looking forward to what promises to be an exciting and record breaking year for both classes.

One class in particular, the newly formed Pro Fuel class, is already eying what it can accomplish in its first year on the tour.

The infamous, 2002 Top Fuel burndown between Doug Herbert and Clay Millican at Maple Grove Raceway sparked a rivalry that earned Herbert his ‘Dougzilla’ nickname.

Although the two Top Fuel veterans had each personally put the incident behind them over the past seven years, an opportunity to create new public service announcements for Herbert’s charity B.R.A.K.E.S. brought them together to bury the hatchet for a good cause.

After nearly two decades behind the wheel of a wide variety of race cars, Troy Coughlin claimed his first championship in 2009 when he drove his JEGS.com Pontiac GXP to the National Muscle Car Association (NMCA) Pro Street title. Coughlin posted two victories during the season in Chicago and Charlotte and clinched the title at the final event in Memphis, Tenn., with a performance that included a national record run.

"The Pro Street class is very competitive and we had to fight all season for this championship," Coughlin said. "There were about six of us that were very close through the first two or three races and I figured some would drop off but that never happened.

"We won the race in Chicago and set a national record, which gave us a lot of points, but it wasn't enough for us to move into first. It wasn't until we won Charlotte that we finlly got to first place."

The 30th anniversary season of the Super Chevy Series schedule has added another partner for 2010. Kansas' Heartland Park Topeka will be hosting a Super Chevy Show event for the first time in nearly 20 years, while Northern California's Infineon Raceway had to drop from next year's schedule.

Heartland Park Topeka will host the event Sept. 4-5, 2010. The facility will kick off Labor Day weekend with a racer parking and test and tune event on Friday, Sept. 3 before the car show and racing begins officially on Saturday, Sept. 4.

Summit Racing Pontiac driver Greg Anderson took time on Wednesday to provide some clarification about the health of his team owner Ken Black.   Denying rumors of an apparent heart attack, Anderson confirmed that the KB Racing founder had suffered a stroke that had landed him in the hospital.

Rickie Jones and the previously self-sponsored Quarter-Max® Racing Team will be flying new colors in 2010 as Elite Motorsports steps on board as the primary sponsor. Elite Motorsports is the leader in sales of race transporters, new and used race cars, and equipment, as well as an RJ Race Cars dealer.
Co-owner of Quarter-Max® Racing, Monte Bailey, owner of Bailey Trucking and Bailey Logistics, will also be on board again for the 2010 season. “The Quarter-Max® Racing team should have ample power to perform at the next level of NHRA Pro Stock,” says Bailey.

NASCAR veteran Kurt Busch expects Greg Anderson to be equally generous with his ride.

Anderson, the three-time NHRA Pro Stock champion, approached Busch on opening night at zMax Dragway in 2007 about making a few runs down the quarter-mile in Busch's Dodge Viper.

Busch obliged.

Some may call it professional racer courtesy but Busch, driver of the No. 2 Dodge Charger on the NASCAR Sprint Cup series, calls it enticement.

That night the driver who makes a living racing in circles became highly interested in straight line racing.

Casey Spradlin and the Spradlin Motorsports Top Sportsman and Top Dragster team experienced a career best season in 2009 with an IHRA Top Dragster Championship. The victories started early during the season with Spradlin’s first ever National Event during the NHRA Jeg’s Cajun SportsNats, Belle Rose, LA.  His streak of winnings continued throughout the summer with a Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series (LODRS) win at Memphis Motorsports Park and then an IHRA Summit ProAm event victory in Holly Springs, MS.

“This was just a great season,” Spradlin said.  “Everything fell into place at the right time. We had a good car and Tim Gaines Performance engine combination was just phenomenal.  The car was there and if I did my job, we ended up in the winner’s circle every time.  Winning the “big” Wally is just a special moment.”