A free NHRA driver autograph session will kick off
the annual NHRA SummitRacing.com Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor
Speedway.  The event will take place from 7-8 p.m. on Thursday, April 10, at The
Palms Resort Casino at 4321 W. Flamingo Road in Las Vegas.

In anticipation of his dream flight with the world-renowned
Thunderbirds, the fabled Air Demonstration Squadron of the United
States Air Force, reigning NHRA POWERade Pro Stock champion Jeg
Coughlin Jr. sent along a coveted "Pro Stock Champion" hat from his
personal collection to Maj. (Ret.) Brian "Bear' Lihani of NORAD.

Torco's CompetitionPlus.com has learned that former NHRA POWERade Funny
Car driver and multi-time national event winner Al Hofmann died today
from a massive heart attack while at his Eustis, Florida home. 

Top Australian drag racer Brett
Stevens Racing team has made an unprecedented announcement that it currently has
a once in a lifetime opportunity to ‘live the dream’ as a professional
motorsports superstar.

A dominating force in the ANDRA
Championship Drag Racing series, the team has advertised that it is seeking both
a Top Doorslammer driver and Nitro Harley Top Bike pilot to join what is already
the largest professional motorsport team in Australia.

“As well as
someone that has all of the obvious mechanical and driving skills, I am also
looking for someone that will be able to gel well and be a team
player.”

When IHRA Pro Stock driver Carl Baker traveled the roads winning round
after round in his Summit Racing Equipment-sponsored mountain motor
entry, he never envisioned the experience to be one of preparation for
a time when he would hang up the helmet to become a crew chief. Baker’s
career yielded a career six national event victories in ten finals.

Trevor Eman was a young student in his native homeland of Aruba during
Baker’s heyday. He’s since worked his way up the ladder driving quick
doorslammers on the island.

IHRA Pro Stock is his next conquest.

This is where their lives will cross next month when the IHRA Knoll Gas Nitro Jam Series kicks off in San Antonio, Texas.

Top Fuel Icons Chris Karamesines and Fred Farndon, with a combined 110
years of racing experience, to square off Friday, April 4 at Amalie Oil
Texas Nationals

Chris Karamesines and Fred Farndon have seen everything there is to see
when it comes to Top Fuel racing. In fact, they have been through every
technological advance the class has ever gone through. They have been
there from the beginning and continue to drive in the class, getting
behind the wheel of the most powerful vehicles in competitive motor
sports.

They have taken much different paths during their Top Fuel careers, but
it will all come full-circle Friday at the Amalie Oil Texas Nationals
when the two legends will go head-to-head during the evening qualifying
session.

Farndon, born in Toronto Sept. 4, 1938, has been driving a Nitro car
since the late 1950’s. Karamesines, who broke the 200 mph barrier at
Alton Dragway on April 4, 1960, will turn 80 years old this season. The
Chicago-based driver is a member of the Professional Motorsports Hall
of Fame.

NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series
Funny Car world champ Tony Pedregon and fellow NHRA racers Whit
Bazemore and Marty Nothstein will join an eclectic roster of stars of
film, television, and sports when they strap into brand-new, race-ready
Scion tCs to vie for the checkered flag in the world's longest-running,
most successful celebrity racing event: the Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race Saturday, April 19, part of the 34th annual Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.

The field of 18 is revved up for competition in this historic,
10-lap race for charity on a 1.97-mile street circuit through the
downtown streets of Long Beach in Southern California. The
Pro/Celebrity race, one of six featured events during race weekend,
gives fans a chance to see their favorite stars duke it out on the
track during exciting action-packed competition.

This year's field includes the following group of fiercely competitive entertainment personalities, sports stars, and media personalities:

According to Foxnews.com, charges have been filed stemming from the
Cars for Kids charity event in Selmer, Tenn., where a professional drag
racer plowed into a parade crowd killing six and injuring 22 others
last summer.

Troy Critchley was charged with multiple felony charges, including six
counts of vehicular homicide due to recklessness and 22 counts of
reckless aggravated assault, according to the Tennessee Highway Patrol. 

Fans attending this year's NHRA Championship Drag Racing event March 27-30 at
Houston Raceway Park will have their easiest trek ever to the record-setting
southeast Texas facility thanks to the newest section of Houston's Grand
Parkway, which will basically take racing aficionados directly from Interstate
10 to the entrance of HRP's expansive resurfaced parking lots.

Whether
traveling eastbound from downtown Houston or westbound from the golden triangle,
fans can simply take Exit 799 -- Grand Parkway/Highway 99 and travel south for
less than a mile to the FM 565 Exit, which feeds directly into the facility. The
track runs adjacent to the Grand Parkway along the west side of the
parkway.

Construction continues at a fevered pace at
The Dragway @ Lowe's Motor Speedway in Charlotte in anticipation of the
track's opening and subsequent inaugural NHRA POWERade Drag Racing
Series event, the NHRA Carolinas Nationals, Sept. 11-14. To purchase tickets for the event, call 800-455-FANS (3267).