Let the record reflect that Clay Millican has zero interest in living vicariously through others. 

Back in June when an inner ear infection left him on the sidelines as a spectator and watching Austin Prock drive his Parts Plus Top Fuel dragster, Millican wasn't enthused with the situation but confident it was the right move to step aside. 

"It was one of the craziest weekends for me to see that going on," Millican said. "And at the same time, it was probably the hardest decision in racing that I've ever made. When I stood on the gas that Friday night, everything was just kind of disoriented, and I'm like, this is not smart. I've driven these cars with broken bones. I've driven them with stitches. I've even driven with an IV bag inside my fire suit before from dehydration. But these cars are so fast and so crazy that if you're not at a hundred percent, you don't need to do it."

Four races into the Verge Motorsports 4.70 Quick Outlaws series, and there has yet to be a repeat finalist.  The trend continued in the latest event held at Silver Dollar Dragway in Reynolds, GA.   

With the heat index above 100 degrees, you would think that it would slow the cars down; instead, exactly half of the field ran in the 4.60 range during the first round of qualifying. When it was over, Brian Thomas secured the GPS Race Cars #1 qualifier position, and the points lead with his semi-final finish. His 4.701 led the field of 26 cars.

Since the early 1990’s, the Mooneyes brand from Moon Equipment Co. has been associated with Jim Dunn Racing.  This weekend during the Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals in Pomona the Mooneyes Funny Car will once again have its popular black and white graphics on the Dunn’s Nitro Funny Car.

Jim Dunn Racing is thrilled to be competing again at their home track in Pomona.  Their race shop is just minutes from the Fairplex and the team didn’t get to race in its own backyard earlier this year due to the pandemic.  Funny Car driver Jim Campbell and the team have been riding a positive streak lately with the Funny Car running consistently, and reaching its quickest elapsed time of the season last weekend in Sonoma. 

Once a person runs 300 miles per hour, it’s tough to slow down. Just ask Alex Laughlin.

Laughlin made the decision, on July 27, 2021, to be precise, to pursue a run exclusively at Top Fuel drag racing. 

“My time at Elite was great and I appreciate them welcoming me in 2017 with open arms,” Laughlin said. “Having teammates like Erica and Jeg was a dream come true, and I got to learn from the best. Especially in my early times over there, they all made me feel like family, and we did pretty much everything together. 

Rumors are rumors, and recently one has been making the rounds.

Scuttlebutt suggests Palm Beach International Raceway [PBIR] has been sold reportedly to Walmart.

Not so, according to a source close to the situation.

Leah Pruett and Don Schumacher Racing are pleased to announce the Sparkling Ice® brand has expanded its ongoing relationship with Pruett and drag racing’s winningest organization to include the primary sponsorship of Pruett’s Top Fuel dragster at two events during the 2021 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series season. Sparkling Ice Spiked® hard seltzer branding will prominently flank the sides of Pruett’s 11,000-horsepower machine at the rescheduled NHRA Winternationals (Pomona 1), the final leg of the three-race Western Swing, and the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals in Bristol, Tenn., the fifth of seven Countdown to the Championship events.
 

The Northeast Outlaw Pro Mod Association (NEOPMA) summer break will come to an end this week as the eighth-mile Pro Mod group heads to New York’s Empire Dragway for the inaugural Northeast Outlaw Pro Mod Challenge, July 30-31. A field of over 20 Pro Mod drivers will be on hand to put on a show for the local fans. 
 
“This is going to be a super race with lots of new racers, a great facility, fantastic track prep, warm hospitality and increased payouts,” said John Mazzorana, founder and president, NEOPMA. “We expect about 20-plus cars. Some will come early for testing and should be prepared for lots of great racing and fun.”

 About 45 miles or so south of Sonoma, nitro was alive and well in the area. Long before there was were the luxury suites or spacious paved pits of Sonoma Raceway, there was Fremont Dragway. Originally built on land leased from Southern Pacific Railroad, the parcel land was originally a small airfield for the United States Navy.

The drag strip boomed in the early to mid-1970s when legendary promoter Bill Doner kept the facility packed with the finest Funny Car talent of the era. A few years later, the track joined the NHRA tour by hosting the Golden Gate Nationals. By 1988, the gates closed for good, and the facility became commercial and residential property.  

Iconic Funny Car driver John Force was a regular at Fremont in the early days of his storied career. The 16-time champion didn’t recall accolades he earned because he didn’t earn anything significant. He was the only professional driver in competition at the NHRA Sonoma Nationals who raced at the drag strip. 

Steve Torrence and car chief Bobby Lagana reveled in the applause from grandstands of fans Sunday afternoon for winning the Top Fuel final round at the NHRA Sonoma Nationals.

But they were true heroes when almost nobody was looking, after the winners-circle picture-taking was finished, the TV cameras were packed away, and the crowd had gone home from Sonoma Raceway.

This Capco Contractors Dragster team that had earned three straight Top Fuel championships, that leads the points by a wide margin, that an hour or so before had pocketed its sixth victory in the year’s first nine events . . . that team set aside its celebration to help the father-son photographer team of Mike and Jeff Burghardt fix a flat tire on their passenger car.