Pete Berner made a memorable first trip to Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in Englishtown, New Jersey last weekend.

As part of the 8th annual ADRL.us Shakedown at E-Town, Berner qualified his Summit Racing-backed ’09 GXP on top of a 13-car field for the inaugural Mountain Motor Pro Stock (MMPS) Challenge and went all the way to the win while also posting the four quickest quarter-mile passes in class history.

After taking part in the quickest side-by-side MMPS passes ever when he and John Pluchino each ran 6.25 in round two of qualifying, Berner briefly lost the top spot to an outstanding 6.23 by rival Cary Goforth in the third and final qualifying session Saturday night. Berner then but roared back with a 6.22 at 224.62 mph to ensure himself a bye run in the opening round of eliminations.

“That last run on Saturday night was probably our best chance to run in the teens and I clicked the thing off at six seconds into the run because I couldn’t see the finish line out there,” Berner said. “So when it went the .22 it actually should have gone an .18 or .19 on that run. I was kind of going by the way the motor sounds at the finish line when it’s accelerating so fast, so I kind of got myself messed up there.

The fact NHRA officials are considering making changes to the Stock/Super Stock program isn’t lost on participants in the class.

Alan Roehrich, a crew chief and engine builder in the class, is unsure how the changes are going to work or if they will work at all.

“The word right now is they are actually going to move these new factory cars to an FX (Factory Experimental) class,” said Alan Roehrich. “If they do that, that is not a problem. That would be an equitable solution. I know a bunch of these guys who race these cars and we respect each other and really that is what they (the NHRA) need to do. They need to be in a special class. They have to separate them. There is no other way.”

Roehrich, who is based in Murfreesboro, Tenn., is an engine builder and crew chief on two 1969 Camaros driven by Kevin Cradduck. One of the Camaros is AA Stock Automatic car and the other a Super Stock E Automatic car.

Reigning Pro Street world champion Troy Coughlin is heading to Gateway International Raceway for this weekend's ninth annual FuelLab NMCA World Street Finals featuring the GM Performance Parts LSX Shootout with a devil-may-care attitude as he looks to close out his reign in style.

Having missed the first event of the NMCA season due to a scheduling conflict with his NHRA Pro Mod endeavors, Coughlin knew his title defense would be long shot from the start. With two races left, Coughlin finds himself ranked fourth, 1,065 points back of leader Chris Rini, making it virtually impossible to catch him. All Rini needs to dethrone Coughlin is show up and make a qualifying pass at each of the last two races.

"Whether it's Chris, (second place) Joe Dunne, or (third place) Jeff Lutz that ends up on top, my hat's off to them," Coughlin said. "I'm thinking it's going to be Rini because he's run so well all year but you never know. All we know is our championship run is most likely over for now so we'll have to ramp up our efforts for 2011 and try to get it back.

Here’s the latest hot rod to roll out of Dennis Burnevik’s Minnesota-based chassis shop.

This looker is a Top Sportsman entry destined for Tommy Turner of Naples, Fla.

The challenge was enough to lure Tim Richards out of retirement.

The veteran nitro tuner, who has won championships as a nitro crew chief, received a call from Sheikh Khalid Al-Thani asking for assistance with his Pro Extreme doorslammer. He was needed to fill in as the lead tuner on the weekends when crew chief Frank Manzo was racing his Al-Anabi Racing alky flopper at NHRA national and divisional races.

Richards, who was joined by his wife Kim in the eight-race endeavor, knew there was going to be a learning curve when they entered their first race weekend with the team last April in Valdosta, Ga.

“The last time I messed around with any kind of car that had a suspension on it was in Super Stock,” said Richards with a smile. “That's a lot of years ago; probably 1971. In 1972, I started working for [former Top Fuel racer Joe] Amato and we always had funny cars and dragsters.

Benny Alfonso was seriously injured in an accident during Saturday qualifying for the Shakedown at E’town event.

Alfonso, while competing in the Blown Pro Modified division, lost control of his Pontiac Firebird and crashed head on into the concrete retaining wall at Raceway Park in Englishtown, NJ. He was transported to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital where he underwent a disc fusion surgery to repair a serious back injury.

In a statement approved by the Alfonso family and released by chassis builder Nick Montana, Benny Alfonso is said to be resting comfortably in the hospital.

Different car; same story.

Tim Lynch absolutely dominated the 8th annual ADRL.us Shakedown at E-Town this past weekend at Englishtown, New Jersey, winning from the number-one qualifying slot to become the event’s first two-time Outlaw 10.5 champion.

Driving a new, twin-turboed, Skinny Kid-built 2010 Corvette, Lynch covered the quarter mile at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in a record 6.26 seconds at 232.51 mph on Saturday night to secure the top spot and set low ET and top speed of the meet for the class.

“We actually left some on the table,” the Woodstock, Georgia-based driver claimed. “At the YellowBullet race (in Maryland last month), we went 1.07 to the 60 (foot marker) and we only went 1.10 with a nine on that run, so we were actually about four hundredths slower than we could’ve been. I think it might have been a low .20 if we’d had another run at it.”

Ironically, it was the performance of his previous ride that inspired Lynch and crew chief Steve Petty to pick up the pace after T.J. Kasper, driving the duo’s old ’03 Mustang at E-Town, placed second in the first qualifying session with 6.39 to Lynch’s 6.38-seconds effort.

On behalf of Full Throttle, Don Schumacher Racing drivers and NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series Funny Car championship contenders Matt Hagan and Jack Beckman will make separate Pennsylvania appearances on Thursday, Oct. 7, in advance of this weekend's 26th annual NHRA Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway, in Mohnton, Pa.

The International Hot Rod Association and Feld Motor Sports have announced the continued expansion of the IHRA with the signing of three new tracks in Canada, the United States and Puerto Rico.

Over the past three months the IHRA has made huge strides in obtaining tracks in new markets and areas new to the IHRA brand including an extensive expansion west. Those tracks include the Eagle Motorplex in Ashcroft, British Columbia and Ponce International Speedway Park in Puerto Rico. The IHRA has also signed its 11th Texas facility as Desert Thunder Raceway joins the rapidly growing IHRA family.

“It is great to see that in these tough times, tracks are re-focusing on sportsman racers and programs to provide unprecedented opportunity,” said Skooter Peaco, IHRA VP of Race Operations. “IHRA has and will remain focused on creating value for sportsman racers on all levels and we look forward to these tracks joining our family and bringing their racers the programs only IHRA can offer.”

With three races to go in the Full Throttle Countdown to the Championship, the regular season leaders remain at the top of the standings, however in each of the four categories a bit of momentum seems to have been picked up by a few drivers who started the playoffs back in the pack.

With less than a few rounds of racing separating first, second, third and in some cases fourth place in each category, expect the intensity level to be at an all-time high at the Toyo Tires NHRA Nationals at scenic Maple Grove Raceway, Oct. 7-10. Larry Dixon (Top Fuel), Bob Tasca (Funny Car), Jeg Coughlin (Pro Stock) and Eddie Krawiec (Pro Stock Motorcycle) are the defending winners of the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series event, which will be televised on ESPN2 HD.

In Top Fuel, a trio of rivals will decide the championship. Series leader Dixon won for the first time at Maple Grove last year and hopes to defend his crown in his Al-Anabi Racing dragster. The two-time world champ has won 11 times this year and hasn’t lost in a final round meeting. A rare second-round exit at Dallas two weeks ago opened the door for second place Cory McClenathan and third place Tony Schumacher, the seven time defending world champ in the 7,000 horsepower category.