Two years into what some deemed as a major gamble, Pro Modified advocate Roger Burgess is beginning to see the payoff for all his efforts.

Burgess, the driving force behind Pro Care RX’s Get Screened America program, recently completed his second season as sponsor of the NHRA’s Pro Modified class, now an officially recognized series.

“I think we had a really good start,” Burgess said as he reflected on the 2010 season. “We see this as like any new thing you step out and do; it just takes a few years before it takes on a life of its own. We are hoping that it can do that starting next year, in year three. We need to continue to grow this until we become favorites out there.”

Angie Smith has begun the process of moving from two wheels to four.

Smith, who has raced on the NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle circuit since 2004, is preparing to compete in the NHRA Pro Stock ranks next season. Her first experience behind the wheel of a Pro Stock car occurred on Saturday and then again on Monday at a pair race tracks in Texas.

“It was exciting and fun,” said Smith, who has been racing motorcycles for 10 years. “It also was  very, very different, and new venue for me. I was scared and nervous and everything else before I got in that car but I told myself if I can do it, I can do it. If I can’t, I can’t. That’s the mentality I went into this deal with and so far I’ve done pretty good.”

The Super Chevy Show will return to its roots when it begins its 31st season next spring.

The national touring series, which is increasing its schedule to 12 events in 2011, including four new venues, will return to a pair of Southeast markets, opening the season at Palm Beach International Raceway in Jupiter, Fla. on April 8-10 and taking a visit to Tobacco Road when it visits famed Rockingham Dragway in North Carolina on Oct. 21-23.

Both have hosted Super Chevy Show events in the past, and both track operators -- Palm Beach's Jason Rittenberry and Rockingham's Steve Earwood -- have experience putting on Super Chevy Show events.

There’s no question the powerful Don Schumacher Racing team is always evolving and improving.

Following the NHRA Las Vegas Nationals this Sunday, DSR tested connecting rods on its Top Fuel dragsters driven by Tony Schumacher, Cory McClenathan and Antron Brown.

“We’re producing our own connecting rods right now,” said Lee Beard, the team manager at DSR. “I have 20 of them here (in Vegas) with me and the cars are staying here (in Vegas) on Monday and they will be testing with them then. We consume such a large volume of those pieces that the main reason we are manufacturing them in-house is just to try and cut our overhead cost on the rods.”

Beard said Brown ran some DSR-produced connecting rods during qualifying at the NHRA Fall Nationals in Dallas.

Michelle Wilson, the first lady of ADRL Extreme 10.5 (XTF) racing, may bolt on bigger tires.

“You have to run so fast to be competitive in Extreme 10.5 now that by running those same ETs you can qualify pretty good in Pro Nitrous and you’ve got the bigger tire to work with,” she reasons. “I’m not saying I want to get out of Extreme 10.5, because the class is awesome, but if the opportunity came that I had something I could go in Pro Nitrous with; then by all means I’d do it. Give me four wheels and give me something fast and it’s all good.”

Wilson qualified her nitrous-boosted 2000 Firebird for the most recent XTF event (the ADRL World Finals, postponed by rain from Dallas in October to next March at Houston) with a 4.34 pass, which sets up a first-round meeting with Gary White, who placed third with an effort nearly four-tenths quicker. Her husband and crew chief, H.T. Wilson, rounded out the field in 16th place with a 4.47-seconds run.

The International Hot Rod Association is pleased to welcome two new Canadian tracks to the IHRA family with the signing of Thunder Mountain Raceway and Prince George Motorsports Park.

With the addition of the two new tracks the track list north of the border has now grown to half a dozen facilities, further cementing the IHRA’s status as the sanctioning body of choice in the provinces of Canada. Thunder Mountain Raceway and Prince George Motorsports Park will also join the recently signed Ni’Akapxm Eagle Motorplex as the second and third tracks in the province of British Columbia.

“We are glad to welcome Thunder Mountain and Prince George to the IHRA. With the recent addition of these tracks, plus a number of other tracks in the area, we have big plans in store for many of the facilities out west,” said Phil Gingerich, Director of Track Development. “It is an exciting time to be a part of the IHRA as we continue to grow our sportsman programs and reach new areas that haven’t experienced the advantages of racing with the best sportsman organization in the country.”

Ellis Vial, a self-described “little guy” from Gloucester, Virginia, is ready for the fight of his life as he prepares for a Nov. 22 departure to Doha, Qatar, where he and his supercharged and nitrous-injected 1968 Firebird will take on some of the very best eighth-mile drag racers in the world in the 2010-11 Arabian Drag Racing League season.

As a part-time participant in the affiliated American Drag Racing League’s (ADRL’s) top-level Pro Extreme class, Vial is no stranger to the competition, having recorded a career-best 3.85-second run at 199.97 mph earlier this year at Norwalk, Ohio. The records for the class, however, are 3.59 seconds and 211.69 mph, belonging respectively to reigning ADRL Pro Extreme world champion Frankie Taylor and his teammate Wes Johnston, both of whom will be in Qatar, too.

They will be joined by the likes of last year’s champ, Todd Tutterow, this year’s runner-up to Taylor, Joshua Hernandez, former NHRA Top Fuel pilot J.R. Todd and the benefactor to both ADRLs, Sheikh Khalid bin Hamad Al-Thani (KH), the defending Arabian series champion and a race winner in the Stateside series.

In the highly-competitive Outlaw 10.5 class, Mike Murillo was the last man standing at the Street Car Super Nationals in Las Vegas.

Murillo, who is from San Antonio, survived the marathon day of racing beating Doug Sikora on a holeshot in the finals. Murillo’s 4.378-lap in his 1993 Mustang defeated Sikora’s 4.309. The difference for Murillo was a jaw dropping nearly one second advantage over Sikora at the starting line.