The best of the best in Ford drag racing return to Michigan’s Milan
Dragway June 13-15 for the 5th Annual Aeromotive NMRA Ford Nationals.
Last year’s event, the first NMRA race held in Milan, drew big crowds
from the Motown area to watch heads-up drag racing, check out the
all-Ford car show, and walk the manufacturers’ midway. This year, we’re
expecting bigger and better things, headlined by the Turbonetics Pro
Outlaw 10.5 class, which is picking up steam in its first full season
with the NMRA. These aren’t your average Mustangs – six-second elapsed
times and 200 mph trap speeds are in store, and that’s just the
beginning. So far this year, blowers, turbos, and nitrous have all been
to the final round in ProCharger Super Street Outlaw, and Milan may be
the place where we see the first 200 mph pass from these true-10.5
monsters. Don’t forget the battle heating up in BFGoodrich Tires Drag
Radial, either – it’s a race to the first seven-second pass, with big
money at stake.

Tony Pedregon was just trying to ride out another fiery run in his Q Horsepower Funny Car when calamity struck.

Making his final qualifying run from the right lane, Pedregon's flopper
lost a head gasket which resulted in a fire which started to consume
the car. Just as Pedregon thought it might be safe to bring the car to
a stop and exit unscathed disaster struck in the way of human error.

The safety crews positioned along the wall could see the fire and in
their haste made a critical error. One Graham Light, Vice President of
Racing Operations, assures will not occur again.

“Was the gate open?” Light asked when questioned about the situation.
“Yes, the gate was open,” he freely admitted. “It wasn't open prior to
the run.

One day after his second explosion fit for the highlight reels this
season, Tony Pedregon powered his Q Horsepower Chevy Impala SS to a
trip to the winner's circle at the 11th annual Torco Racing Fuels Route
66 NHRA Nationals.

Tony Schumacher won his fourth event of the season at the expense of Hot Rod Fuller.

Another
Tony - Chicago's own Tony Schumacher - took center stage in Top Fuel
with an event-best time and speed in the final round, while Kurt
Johnson (Pro Stock) and Chris Rivas (Pro Stock Motorcycle) drove away
with event titles as well.

Point standings (top 10) for NHRA professional categories following
the 11th annual Torco Racing Fuels Route 66 NHRA Nationals at Route 66
Raceway, the tenth of 24 events in the  NHRA
POWERade Drag Racing Series -

Top Fuel

1.  Tony Schumacher, 897; 2.  Antron Brown, 707; 3.  Larry Dixon, 705;
4.  Hillary Will, 620; 5. Rod Fuller, 594; 6.  Cory McClenathan, 559;
7.  Brandon Bernstein, 512; 8.  Doug Kalitta, 451; 9. Doug Herbert,
448; 10.  David Grubnic, 445.

The ADRL Summer Drags hosted by Knoll Gas Motorsports Park in
Martin, Michigan, has been officially postponed. The event will be
completed at the next event in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

The failure to get the event completed was not due to a lack of
effort. After a nasty storm washed out Saturday's competition just
after the first round, Sunday was intended to be a hot-lap affair to
complete eliminations. 

If only the circumstances would have been that easy for Kenny Nowling and his ADRL team.  

Sunday's final results from the 11th annual Torco Racing Fuels Route
66 NHRA Nationals at Route 66 Raceway.  The  race is the tenth of 24 in
the  NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series:

Top Fuel -- Tony Schumacher, 4.499 seconds, 329.83 mph def. Rod Fuller, 5.259 seconds, 223.14 mph.

Final round-by-round results from the 11th annual Torco Racing Fuels
Route 66 NHRA Nationals at Route 66 Raceway, the tenth of 24 events in
the  NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series:

TOP FUEL:

ROUND ONE -- Hillary Will, 4.539, 314.17 def. Cory McClenathan,
4.590, 321.04; Rod Fuller, 4.540, 309.34 def. Doug Kalitta, 4.560,
327.59; Morgan Lucas, 4.599, 316.90 def. Alan Bradshaw, 4.653, 304.74;
T.J. Zizzo, 4.668, 313.07 def. Antron Brown, 7.549, 122.47; Tony
Schumacher, 6.698, 190.59 def. Bob Vandergriff, 6.765, 288.09; Larry
Dixon, 4.787, 261.57 def. Troy Buff, 4.877, 308.35; Doug Herbert,
4.686, 293.86 def. J.R. Todd, 8.718, 98.14; David Grubnic, 5.132,
284.15 def. Brandon Bernstein, 5.936, 173.54;

QUARTERFINALS -- Herbert, 4.722, 302.01 def. Grubnic, 5.276,
190.03; Lucas, 4.654, 307.02 def. Dixon, 4.829, 265.06; Schumacher,
4.565, 326.56 def. Will, 4.599, 325.14; Fuller, 4.602, 323.58 def.
Zizzo, 4.647, 313.88;

SEMIFINALS -- Fuller, 4.678, 316.45 def. Lucas, 6.345, 214.08; Schumacher, 4.568, 330.23 def. Herbert, 19.449, 85.55;

FINAL -- Schumacher, 4.499, 329.83 def. Fuller, 5.259, 223.14.

A thunderstorm approached during the middle of the second round of Top
Alcohol Dragster eliminations to delay racing at the 11th annual Torco
Racing Fuels Route 66 NHRA Nationals at Route 66 Raceway in Chicago.
The National Weather Service has issued a severe weather warning for
thunderstorms and strong wins in Will County, Ill. Track drying and
racing will resume after the storm blows through.

For the third straight year, and sixth time overall, the $20,000 top prize in
the team competition in the annual JEGS Sportsman Allstars race went to the team
from NHRA’s Northeast Division. At the end of the competition, which features
the best sportsman drag racers from each of NHRA’s seven geographic divisions,
the teams from Division 1 (Northeast) and Division 2 (Southeast) were tied with
900 points each but the Division 1 team claimed the title via a tie breaker,
which factored the overall performance of each team. The Division 4 (South
Central) team finished third.

With only 24 hours notice that he would be driving in the Torco Race
Fuels NHRA Route 66 Nationals, former Funny Car world champion Mark
Oswald stepped back into the driver's seat and through the course of
qualifying blasted his way in the A&R Transport Dodge Charger R/T
to the No. 2 spot - just behind his teammate Melanie Troxel.
 
Until Thursday evening, Mark Oswald was planning to assume his usual
duties as co-crew chief on Troxel's nitro Funny Car, but his plans were
changed with one phone call from team co-owner Mike Ashley. Oswald has
been out of competition since 1997, but his return netted a personal
quickest and fastest run of 4.757-seconds at 328.46 m.p.h. in the final
qualifying session of the day.
 
“I didn’t have a lot of time to get prepared for this race - I got the
call from Mike at like midnight Thursday night letting me know that I’d
be driving, but this car is so good that it made the move back behind
the wheel easy for me,” Oswald said.
 
“This was a great day for the entire Gotham City Racing team. My
teammate Melanie Troxel is number one qualifier and one of our
sponsors, A&R Transport, is based right here in Joliet, so we’ve
really been able to put on quite a show for them, too,” he said.