A semi-final finish at the recently completed NHRA O’Reilly Fall Nationals wasn’t enough to save the ship.

In confirmation of an Attitude’s CompetitionPlus.com article published earlier today, the Al-Anabi Racing Team, managed by Alan Johnson, will park their Funny Car driven by Del Worsham at the end of 2010 and instead field a second Top Fuel dragster to compliment the existing dragster driven by current NHRA Full Throttle point leader Larry Dixon.

As a result of this move, crew chief Dickie Venables and assistant Funny Car crew chief Kurt Elliott were released after yesterday’s event.  Current second assistant crew chief Rod Centorbi has been named the team’s interim crew chief for the remaining three races of the 2010 season.

Five-time world champion drag racer Jeg Coughlin Jr. is best known for his exploits behind the wheel of his 210-mph JEGS.com Chevrolet Cobalt Pro Stock car. But when the affable pro from Delaware, Ohio, isn't zipping dow the strip, he can usually be found at the local bowling alley, knocking down pins.

So when he got  a chance to visit the International Bowling Campus in Arlington, Texas, prior to the start of this past weekend's race in Ennis, Coughlin jumped at the opportunity. A United States Bowling Congress member and long-time league bowler, Coughlin was joined at the IBC by fellow Pro Stock driver, Allen Johnson, a youth bowler when he was a boy.

The trip included a guided tour of the International Bowling Museum and Hall of Fame, a look behind the scenes of the research side of the International Training and Research Center, and some time on the lanes with USBC Silver coach Bryan O’Keefe and Team USA member Mike Fagan on the training side of the ITRC.

In two of the tightest points races in Nitro Jam history, the championships in both the Top Fuel and Pro Fuel Dragster classes will go down to the wire entering the season finale at the World Finals Nitro Jam October 15-16 at Virginia Motorsports Park in Petersburg.

Only three points separate Top Fuel veterans Bruce Litton and Bobby Lagana Jr., while only one point separates Nitro Jam newcomers Bill Evans and Mike Manners in the brand new Pro Fuel Dragster class. A third driver is also a part of the Pro Fuel title chase as Jeff Hamelink sits just seven points back of the leaders.

Antron Brown, driver of the Don Schumacher Racing Matco Tools/U.S. Army dragster, will be a featured speaker at the fifth annual Path 2 Victory car show event at Frederick Boulevard Baptist Church in St. Joseph, Mo. The event will take place from 5-8 p.m. on Sept. 30.
 
"I'm very excited to attend the Path 2 Victory event," Brown said. "I'm a devout person and this is a faith-based event and I was very gracious to accept the invitation. It's for a great cause and it will be fun to meet with race fans from Missouri and Kansas. I know it will be a lot of fun."

Moonlighting Pro Stock drivers Dave Connolly and Ryan Ondrejko were among the winners crowned during the sixth annual JEGS NHRA Northern SPORTSnationals held today at National Trail Raceway. Connolly, who made a return to the NHRA Pro Stock class at last week’s Charlotte event, drove to the title in Super Gas, while Ondrejko, who spent much of last season driving the Pro Stock car of two-time NHRA champ Jim Yates, collected his second win of the season in the Top Sportsman class.
 
In addition to Connolly and Ondrejko, other drivers who earned coveted NHRA Wally trophies in Columbus were Charlie Greco (Comp), Craig Marshall (Super Stock), David Ficacci (Stock), Steve Hoyt (Super Comp), Ron Steiner (Super Street), and Jeff Brown (Top Dragster).
 
Connolly, of Elyria, Ohio, drove to the Super Gas title following a 9.88 to 9.85 double breakout win over Billy Smith. For Connolly, the win was his 24th in NHRA national event competition. Ondrejko, of Roslindale, Mass., drove his Pontiac GTO to a 6.86 on his 6.84 dial-in to win the final round against Ronnie Proctor who was close behind with a 6.98 on his 6.96 dial-in.

Raymond Beadle stood face to face with the widowmaker and two-and-a-half months later lived to tell about it.

In his first drag racing appearance since suffering a major heart attack in July, the three-time NHRA Funny Car Champion, 79, 80 and 81, spent much of the day congregating with admirers and drag racing fans checking out the Ronny Young-built, Blue Max tribute Funny Car.

Beadle showed no ill-effects of the potentially fatal heart attack he suffered on July 15.

“I’m feeling good, there are no problems,” said Beadle as he autographed a retro handout for a race fan.

After his second win in as many races, Greg Anderson is a confident racer, which should be a red-flag to his fellow competitors.

“When I have confidence I seem to be a pretty good racer,” said Anderson after closing the gap on point leader Mike Edwards to just 16 points.

The win was basically a come from behind victory as Edwards was first off the line, but it was Anderson first across the stripe at the finish. Edwards made it tough on Anderson with a .001 light to Anderson's .014. However, it was Anderson, 6.58 to 6.61, at the finish line for his 64th career win.

“My team has been flawless for two races in a row now and I'm so proud of them,” added Anderson. “They've got a heck of job on their hands trying to keep me positive all the time because if my car's not the fastest car out there I'm not happy and shame on me for that because it doesn't have to be that way.

Second year driver Matt Hagan, in the DieHard Dodge Charger Funny Car, took on the granddaddy of Funny Car drag racing and beat him to take home his second Texas Wally this year.

Hagan won his first Wally in Houston back in April.  

“It was definitely gut-wrenching (to race Force),” said Hagan, of his final round match-up in the 25th annual NHRA Fall Nationals at Texas Motorplex in Ennis, Texas. “It was just amazing that it came down to me and him there at the end. Just to pull it together, our team, to go up there and go down the race track after coming in here in 14th and having to do a pedal job to get into the race. We were just fighting our way all the way through here, and it's just been great.

Deep in the heart of Texas was a racetrack this past weekend that threw blistering heat, then cooler temperatures, then rain and San Francisco-like fog, and finally some normal conditions at NHRA racers during the O'Reilly Super Start Batteries Fall Nationals.
 
But deep in the heart of Top Fuel champion Tony Schumacher was a conviction that he was capable of seizing the monumental weekend he needed to throw points leader Larry Dixon off-balance as the six-race Countdown marked its halfway point at the Texas Motorplex.
 
Schumacher warmed up Sunday against Mike Strasburg, then Steve Torrence. Then he blasted past dogged Don Schumacher Racing teammate Cory McClenathan and finally Shawn Langdon to serve notice that if he yields the crown he has worn for the past six seasons and for seven overall, it won't be without a Texas-sized fight.
 
He donned a cowboy hat following his fifth victory in seven final-round appearances this season, the 66th of his career, and the Top Fuel-leading fifth at this facility that was celebrating its 25 birthday. But another Full Throttle Drag Racing Series crown is what he pictured himself wearing.

LE Tonglet has an innocent face, an accent like gooey molasses, a lanky 5-foot-11, 130-pound body perfect for competing in the Pro Stock Motorcycle class, and, for a 20-year-old, a curious mix of hobbies such as movies, golf, skydiving, paintball, and day trading.
 
Now he also has four victories in five final rounds, including three straight over points leader Andrew Hines in the money round, with his triumph Sunday in the O'Reilly Super Start Batteries Fall Nationals.
 
Tonglet rode Kenny Koretsky's Nitro Fish Suzuki past a red-lighting Hines to a 6.972-second pass at 187.94 on the Texas Motorplex quarter-mile. With that, the rookie from Metairie, La., claimed the distinction as the only undefeated competitor in the Countdown to the Championship.