The only thing more prevalent in the southeast than sweetened ice tea is humidity.

To hear drag racing tuners talk about the water in the air when they visit zMax, Bristol and Atlanta Dragways, you’d think it was a battle with the devil himself.

“It is a tuner’s nightmare,” confirmed Todd Okuhara, a co-crew chief on the FRAM Top Fuel dragster piloted by Cory McClenathan. “It changes the air/fuel ratio in these motors and you have to work hard to overcome it.”

Racers measure how severe the humidity is by the water grains. The level of water grains is calculated from temperature and relative humidity.

“Anytime the humidity gets in the 110 grains, it is hard to overcome,” confirmed Okuhara.

There has always been hope for C-Ped.

The kind of hope which kept Cruz Pedregon in pursuit of the dream despite not having a crew chief, using guys other teams rejected, parts which some would have classified worn out and a budget nearly two-thirds less than most teams.

At a time when he could have quit, Pedregon soldiered on. At a time when he could have laid down and saved a few dollars, Pedregon rolled to the line and beat the rest of the Funny Car bunch.

Good news for the competition, Cory McClenathan won’t be running an orange paint scheme in the NHRA Carolina Nationals at zMax Dragway which has resulted in seven final round appearances. The bad news is, on race day they will have to deal with a red, white and blue Valvoline scheme which is starting to develop a strong mojo of its own.

Make no mistake about it, looks don’t win races but a new look can renew a team’s enthusiasm and this weekend McClenathan’s team is racing invigorated.

“When it runs as well as it did last night, it provides you with a renewed enthusiasm,” agreed McClenathan. “Everybody is a little scared at first [of stepping outside of tradition] and getting away from the orange car.”

Summit Racing campaigner Greg Anderson sat atop the provisional pole at the conclusion of the first day of qualifying for the NHRA Carolina Nationals at zMax Dragway and then handed the title over to teammate Jason Line on Saturday, sliding the KB Racing crew into the limelight as serious contenders for the Full Throttle Series championship. Line was quickest in the first session of the day with a 6.604 at 209.56 mph that held through the afternoon and will stand as his first No. 1 of the season and the 17th of his career.

“It feels good to qualify No. 1 anywhere, but it feels a little bit better to do it here, where we have more friends and family,” said Line, who resides in the Charlotte area. “It's been so long since I was No. 1 [Houston 2009] that I can't really remember what it feels like. In all of the sessions, either Greg or myself was low, and Ronnie Humphrey, in our third car, he ran good as well. We're heading in the right direction and it feels great to be back near the top.”

Line picked up nine qualifying bonus points and Anderson scored six for their efforts. Defending series champion Mike Edwards collected seven.

LE Tonglet is taking the Pro Stock Motorcycle class by storm, and flaunting newly acquired Nitro Fish colors for the first time this weekend is only adding to his shine. In the final session of qualifying for the NHRA Carolina Nationals at zMax Dragway, Tonglet blasted to a quick 6.910 at 193.29 mph to grab the first low qualifier award of his very young career and definitively increase his shot at winning Rookie of the Year honors, as well as add more points to his column in the championship chase.

“Eight points going into the next race will be huge for us. We're going to need to get as many points as we can and keep going rounds, that's our goal,” said Tonglet. “The bike has been spinning the tire all weekend, but we've been fighting it, and each run it's gotten better and better. My dad has been tuning on it a little bit more each run, he's not being as conservative anymore, and the Nitro Fish Suzuki is making a lot of power. It's flying.”

Cory McClenathan remained atop the Top Fuel field and secured his fifth No. 1 qualifying position of the season for the O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Nationals at zMax Dragway.  

Remaining No. 1 qualifiers were Cruz Pedregon (Funny Car), Jason Line (Pro Stock) and LE Tonglet (Pro Stock Motorcycle) at the 19th of 23 events in the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series and the second of six races in the Countdown to the Championship.

Brad Personett held onto his No. 1 qualifying position after the final round of qualifying during the Get Screened America Pro Mod Drag Racing Series at the O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Nationals.

Allen Johnson had no excuses.

The Pro Stock driver readily admits he drank alcohol the night before a random drug test administered by a private firm for the NHRA.

Now, because he tested positive for alcohol, a .027 reading according to a statement issued by NHRA, he has been disqualified from any further participation at the NHRA O’Reilly Auto Parts Nationals at zMax Dragway in Concord, NC. Johnson is subject to further disciplinary action as provided for in NHRA's Substance Abuse Policy. (2010 NHRA Rule Book: Section 1.7)

“Who would have ever thought 11 hours after having drinks with dinner there would be a presence of alcohol in your system,” Johnson told Attitude’s CompetitionPlus.com moments after the NHRA handed down his disqualification. “It just barely registered and the NHRA has a zero tolerance policy.”

“I understand it and we are supposed to be role models out here. I definitely feel bad about this. I wouldn’t have gone and had the test so early this morning if I would have believed it was detectable. It is what it is.”

Pro Stock car driver Allen Johnson has been disqualified from the O'Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Nationals, it was announced today
by NHRA officials.

There’s no question, Harley-Davidson is setting the pace in NHRA’s Pro Stock Motorcycle class.

Andrew Hines is atop the point chase on his Screamin’ Eagle Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson, and he is fresh off setting a new national elapsed time record of 6.815-seconds at the U.S. Nationals.

Blake Gann, owner and crew chief for his son Shawn Gann, who competes in the Pro Stock Motorcycle ranks on a Buell, believes Hines and his teammate Eddie Krawiec have an unfair edge over their competitors. Krawiec is fourth in the points while Gann is 12th.

“It is hard to say what the state of the NHRA’s Pro Stock Motorcycle class is right now,” Blake Gann said. “Of course, Harley-Davidson is the official motorcycle of the NHRA. The Vance & Hines team runs Harley and they have a big advantage on the rules, basically they do not have a rulebook. Everybody who is racing, whether they’re racing Suzukis or Buells, we basically have to face the fact that Harley bought the series. They hold the receipt for it and they’re going to win. It’s a very uneven playing field, but we have nowhere else to play. We have all this money in motorcycles and engines and if they (NHRA) do not run motorcycles, what are we going to do with them? We do not have anywhere else to race. We basically just swallow and say we understand the V-Rods are going to win, but we still race.”