Keith Haney crashed his nitrous-injected Camaro at the NMCA season-opener in March, and this weekend he will bring back out a repaired and rejuvinated Black Mamba 2019 Camaro in the legendary Shakedown Nationals XVIII in Richmond, VA.

Haney escaped unscathed from a fiery, upside-down crash in his 2019 "Black Mamba" Camaro while competing in the NMCA Pro Mod semi-finals at Florida's Bradenton Motorsports Park.

"We actually won the round, but when you wreck the car you really lost the round. I told my guys later that I 'Ricky Bobbied' it," Haney joked. "But Jerry Bickel Race Cars (JBRC) built me a great car that kept me safe and they rebuilt it even better. It's basically a brand-spankin'-new car again and Jerry said it's actually the lightest car ever to come out of his shop.

 
With two outstanding qualifying efforts at the Denso NHRA U.S. Nationals, especially for a part-time team with not a single full-time crew member, Top Fuel owner-driver Doug Foley’s team appears to be improving. This was supposed to be his learning year, his refresher year, with the revamped Foley & Lewis team.

And he definitely is making progress. But he’s not convinced the NHRA is. And he isn’t sure if his team – or many other teams – can survive if the NHRA doesn’t start making changes that reflect consideration of what the mid- to small-size teams need. 

“Maybe they'll have nine full-time cars next year, but it will be single digits of how many full-time dragsters there are running the tour next year,” Foley said. “I predict there will be about six races next year that will have 11 or less Top Fuel cars next year. That's the beginning of the end. As soon as you've done that, you basically put the closed sign up. As soon as you prove to the world we don't have enough cars, we're screwed, just telling the world, ‘Hey, listen, we're now a little mom-and-pop organization. We're more of a car club than we are a national sanctioning body.’ So we have to do everything we can in our power to prevent that from happening.”

The Australian drag racing community is mourning the passing of John Winterburn one of the most respected and influential identities to have graced the sport who has passed away, 71.
 
Better known as 'Stomper', courtesy of his size 13 feet, Winterburn was never a racer –‘no interest’- however his vision, commitment and authority helped shape the sport in his home state of Queensland and Australia for over five decades. 

A major player in the establishment of Willowbank Raceway, Winterburn was a member of the Management committee for 35 years, including 32 years as President, until stepping down in 2017.

His love affair with drag racing began as a 17-year-old volunteer at the opening meeting of Surfers Paradise International Raceway, then rising through the ranks to become meeting director, a position he held for 14 years until the venue closed in 1987. 

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The Bandimere family, owners of Bandimere Speedway, has been in court battles this summer with officials from the Jefferson County Health Department as related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Bandimere Speedway is in Morrison, Colo., 20 minutes from Denver. Bandimere Speedway has been hosting races for 63 years.

The Bandimere family executive team runs the speedway and the family frustrations with restrictions for their events led to them host the “Stop the COVID Chaos” Rally, Sept. 1 at Bandimere Speedway.

The rally was billed to celebrate God and country and the people of the great state of Colorado.

Stevie "Fast" Jackson could relate to the plight of Pro Modified racers Kris Thorne and Steve Matusek, two unfortunate drivers who suffered crashes in Sunday's opening round at the Denso NHRA U.S. Nationals.

Jackson captured his first win of 2020, a season admittedly tough on the psyche and the wallet of the seemingly unshakeable champion. He beat championship rival Todd Tutterow in the final round.

What hasn't been publicized is Jackson crashed his Bahrain 1-sponsored Camaro just days before the U.S. Nationals during a test session at Lucas Oil Raceway.

Top qualifier Shawn Langdon got past first-time starter Joey Haas and veteran Cory McClenathan, survived an entertainingly ugly pedalfest with Justin Ashley, and defeated nemesis Leah Pruett in the final Sunday to claim his second U.S. Nationals Top Fuel triumph and first since the St. Louis event in the fall of 2016.

With a strong .015-second reaction time (ideal is 0.00), Langdon covered the 1,000-foot Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis course in 3.705 seconds at 326.32 mph – plenty to hold off Pruett’s 5.141, 145.75.

Just one day after his teammate handed team boss Don Schumacher his 350th career win, Jack Beckman made that number 351 at the biggest drag race of them all.

Beckman went four masterful rounds on Sunday at the 67th annual DENSO Spark Plugs U.S. Nationals, collecting his 32nd career victory and second at the prestigious U.S. Nationals. In the process, Beckman handed Don Schumacher Racing its 351st win in NHRA competition as Beckman reveled in what could very well be his last race at famed Lucas Oil Raceway in a nitro Funny Car.

A year ago, Pro Stock star Erica Enders watched helplessly as she saw a U.S. Nationals championship vanish.

Enders had a huge lead over Alex Laughlin only to have her Camaro break and Laughlin drove around for the win.

This will be a weekend Scotty Pollacheck will never forget.

The veteran Pro Stock Motorcycle pilot won his first NHRA national event in storybook fashion on his Gen 2 Erik Buell Racing motorcycle.

Defending E3 Spark Plugs NHRA Pro Mod Drag Racing Series world champion Stevie “Fast” Jackson rolled to his first win of the 2020 season on Sunday, beating Todd Tutterow in the final round of the 66th annual DENSO Spark Plugs U.S. Nationals at Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis.

The race, which was presented by ATI ProCharger, was the third of the season in the class, with each taking place at Indy since the NHRA restarted its season in July. Jackson became the most recent winner thanks to a run of 5.756-seconds at 248.98 mph in his blown Bahrain 1 Racing Camaro in the finals, giving Jackson his second U.S. Nationals win and 10th victory in his career.