An aspiring drag racer -- or even a top-tier Pro Stock Motorcycle rider
who wants to switch to the Top Fuel class -- has a plan that likely begins with attending Frank Hawley's Drag Racing School or perhaps Doug Foley's or Roy Hill's.
 
Antron Brown won the 1999 Auto Club of Southern California's "Road To
The Future" Award that's given to a racer "destined for future
greatness."  And he excelled in the Pro Stock Motorcycle class, winning
16 times in nine seasons and finishing second in the standings (to
Angelle Sampey in 2001and to Andrew Hines in 2006).
 
When he chose at the end of the 2007 season to become a Top Fuel
driver, he learned not the tricks of the trade but the trade itself
from a variety of sources. And while he did graduate from Hawley's
comprehensive program that includes extensive and intriguing classroom
instruction, he also became a student in what he called "another school
that's not offered to anybody."

Ford Customer Service Division’s (FCSD) Juvenile Diabetes Research
Foundation (JDRF) Funny Car Design Contest has come to a close and the winning design has been unveiled, but there is still another chance for race fans to support a great cause.

FCSD brands Motorcraft and Quick Lane, along with driver Bob Tasca III
are auctioning off the “Stars and Stripes –Take a Walk in Our Shoes”
fire suit and helmet from this year’s Funny Car Design Contest to
benefit JDRF. Designed by eight-year old, Liam Flanagan of
Williamstown, NJ, the fire suit and helmet that Tasca wore at the NHRA
Carolina Nationals will be awarded to the highest bidder with all the
proceeds going to JDRF.

Tom Hammonds admits taking a sabbatical from the NHRA Full Throttle
Drag Racing Pro Stock Series was one of the toughest and best decisions
he has had to make.

The former NBA basketball superstar suspended his racing operation in
May of this year. He’s returned to competition for two races, the
recently completed NHRA Carolinas Nationals in Concord, NC where he
qualified No. 8 and reached the quarterfinals, and this weekend's NHRA
Fallnationals in Ennis, Texas.

“We’ve really tried to work hard on our sponsorship program,” said
Hammonds. “Probably one of the hardest things I’ve ever done in my life
is trying to secure a sponsorship. I knew that in order to be
successful we couldn’t put the cart before the horse; we had to secure
our program financially to make sure we can win next year and years
down the road. For us to take three or four months off to secure that
success that was important.”

Quite possibly, the only obstacle between Ashley Force Hood and the 2009 Full Throttle Funny Car World Championship, is her inability to shut down her feelings as she snaps her visor closed, the body of her ride lowered down on the chassis, the engine raring to roar down the track.

In short, Ashley cares. She worries about every action she takes against her competitors and she attributes the trait to being female.

“I don’t know how many times,” says Force Hood, “I’ve come back and asked
'did I sit too long?' and my crew chief says, 'don’t worry about it. Don’t worry
about the other guy, they aren’t thinking about you'.

There’s very little that “Tricky” Rickie Smith hasn’t accomplished in his racing career, which has spanned 30-plus years.

Smith, who resides in King, N.C., won five IHRA Pro Stock world championships and two IHRA Super Modified titles from 1976-89.

In 2007, those accomplishments and many more led to him be named the
No. 1 Mountain Motor Pro Stock Racer of All-Time by CompetitionPlus.com
and he was voted one of the top four people inducted into the inaugural
Bristol Motorsports Hall of Fame class of 2008.

In 2009,  Smith took on a new role with Qatar’s Al-Anabi racing team in
the Pro Mod series. Sheikh Khalid Bin Hamad Al Thani is in charge of
Al-Anabi Racing and with the Pro Mod team partnered with Mike
Castellana's Awesome Motorsports.

E

Last
season's NHRA Fallnationals didn't provide that sentimental feeling as
Schumacher lost in the final round to J.R. Todd. (Roger Richards)

very time Tony Schumacher enters the gates of the famed Texas Motorplex a bit of a nostalgic feeling must sweep over his body.

All of the great drivers vividly remember their first time.

For Schumacher, his first career NHRA victory came at the sport’s first
super track, during a wild and wacky 1999 season. After four runner-up
finishes in ’99, and four straight runner-up finishes spread out over
the three previous seasons, Schumacher must’ve been wondering if he was
ever going to break through and finally get the job done.

Ken
Walsh, far lane, finished runner-up in PX at the ADRL Dragstock event,
pursues his second SUPER CHEVY Nitro Coupe title in Bristol this
weekend. (Roger Richards)

During the Sept. 25-27 Super Chevy Show at Bristol Dragway,
Pro Mod racer Ken Walsh will lock up the 2009 Nitro Coupe championship,
something that should come as no surprise to anyone who knows him.

For the 28-year-old, racing has been a way of life for as long as he
can remember. In fact, his nickname, “The Kid,” comes from his time
spent at race tracks while at a young age. His 1963 Corvette leads the
Nitro Coupe charge to Thunder Valley, and when he leaves, Walsh will
own his second consecutive class championship.

Walsh’s father instilled the car bug in his son, taking him to drag races at an early age.

Four-time NHRA Pro Stock champion and U.S. Nationals winner Jeg
Coughlin Jr. will be the Newsmaker of the Week on The Race Reporters
radio show, Wednesday, September 23, 7 p.m. EDT, on
www.PowerUpChannel.com.
 
Earlier this month, Coughlin earned his third victory in the sport’s
most prestigious event, the U.S. Nationals, with a thrilling 6.689
second run vs. 6.691 for Greg Stanfield. His Jegs.com Chevrolet Cobalt
has seven wins this season as he tries for a third consecutive Full
Throttle Pro Stock title. Acknowledged as one of drag racing’s best
drivers, Coughlin has 48 career wins and a career rounds won-loss
record of 435-194.
 
Host Michael Knight will be joined for the journalists’ roundtable by
Alan Reinhart, NHRA’s top-end announcer; Mike Kerchner, senior editor
of National Speed Sport News; and Jeff Burk, editor of Drag Racing
Online.com.

Race fans, rev up your apparel!  You can now go to http://store.canidae.com/
to purchase a wide assortment of high-quality tee-shirts, hats,
hoodies, backpacks, lanyards, towels, special collectibles and other
gear from one of the most dynamic group of racing teams on the scene.

In addition to the NHRA Jim Dunn CANIDAE Racing Funny Car, CANIDAE
Racing is the title sponsor of CANIDAE Motosport Kawasaki XTreme Team
Green, CANIDAE Motosport Kawasaki Team Green amateurs and the Official
Pet Food of Kawasaki Team Green Off-Road.  CANIDAE also owns its own
world-record-holding Sand Drag teams and Class 10 Off-Road racing
teams, with a new Trophy Truck team set to make its debut soon.

B&J Racing Transmissions has always been a proud supporter of the
Get Screened America Pro Mod Challenge and its competitors, and
beginning at the U.S. Nationals and for every race throughout the
remainder of the season, the company increased their commitment and
added excitement to the first round of eliminations by awarding $500 to
the winner of a randomly-selected pair of Pro Mods.
 
During the drivers meeting held before every race, a number (1-16) is
randomly selected that designates a pair that will race for the B&J
Bonus. In Indianapolis, Danny Rowe received the first $500 check, and
at Charlotte for the NHRA Carolinas Nationals, Burton Auxier won the Bonus along with a matching prize from Rick Stivers' Stivers HVAC.