After two days of rain, racers in the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series got their shot at the Thunder Valley Raceway quarter mile for the Thunder in the Heartland event.  At the end of the day, Chris Demke, Sunland, Calif., and Kirk Williams, Glenwood, Iowa, took home the trophies in Top Alcohol Dragster and Top Alcohol Funny Car respectively.

Demke qualified No. 1 and took out Edwin Schmeeckle and David Brounkowski on his way to a final round match up with Forrest Fair, Haughton, La., where the California racer recorded the quickest run of the day for the win.  Demke went 5.396 seconds at 266.98 mph to Fair’s 5.550 at 258.54 mph.

Attitude's CompetitionPlus.com provides quick hit coverage of the ADRL Battle for the Belts competition hosted by the Texas Motorplex in Ennis, Texas. Follow along for news and notes from the event.

The week before defending his HEMI Challenge at The Dutch championship, Jim Daniels took a hunting trip to Wyoming.
 
“It was neat, I went out there with a buddy I went to grad school with,” said Daniels, who bagged an elk. “It was beautiful. It’s so relaxing out there.”
 
Refreshed from the trip out West, Daniels then took his 1968 Dart back to Victory Lane at Maple Grove Raceway, winning the HEMI Challenge for a third consecutive year.
 
The race, which features 1968 Darts and Barracudas, is run annually in conjunction with the Pennsylvania Dutch Classic.

In what has become an all too frequent occurrence in 2010 because of inclement weather, the American Drag Racing League (ADRL) was forced to postpone the LenMar Motorsports ADRL World Finals VI on Saturday at Texas Motorplex.

A steady and sometimes driving rain in Ennis caused the postponement, wiping away the scheduled Vince Neil concert as well. It marks the fourth race that has been postponed during the 2010 season.

“Our goal in 2010 was to finish the season without an injury to a single driver and we did that, but unfortunately we were affected by rain at 9 of our 10 events,” ADRL President and CEO Kenny Nowling said.

Defending a championship can be a complex challenge but the ADRL’s Battle for the Belts competition is in a category of its own.

In the NHRA Full Throttle Series, a champion has six races to fend off nine other championship-minded drivers. The ADRL determines its championship in a one-day, sudden-death playoff system.

Drivers in all of ADRL’s categories were given nine races to earn a place in the top eight of point earners. From there, they pair up in a special bracket to battle it out until one driver is left standing.

If you qualified well in the points, you race only two rounds. If you got in by the skin of your teeth, you have to score three victories if you hope to carry the No. 1 in 2011.

Anything less than victory would have meant failure. At least that’s how Ronnie “The King” Davis felt entering the final NHRA Division II Top Sportsman race of the year Oct. 15-17, at Silver Dollar Raceway in Reynolds, Georgia.

“We had to win the race at Silver Dollar to win the championship,” Davis said. “And we did.”

The Suwanee, Georgia-based golf cart dealer entered the event third, trailing only Jeff Pittman and points leader Billy Vaughn. His race got off to a great start, as Davis qualified his nitrous-oxide-injected 1963 Corvette in first place with a 6.53-seconds pass at 215.13 mph over the Silver Dollar quarter mile.

Allen Johnson will not only join Dodge Charger R/T NHRA Funny Car driver Melanie Troxel in her 108-story free fall from the top of the Stratosphere Tower in Las Vegas to raise money for Speedway Children’s Charities, but the Team Mopar driver is also daring his fellow Pro Stock competitors to take part in the “Troxel Challenge.” Johnson will donate $100 for every driver from the Pro Stock ranks taking part in the jump.

Troxel made the initial challenge, putting up $100 for every driver in the nitro categories who makes the jump, scheduled to take place on Oct. 28 at 9 p.m. PDT at SkyJump Las Vegas at the Stratosphere Casino, Hotel & Tower. Ever the daredevil, Johnson also decided to participate and, in the spirit of the good-natured rivalry between the Pro Stock and nitro ranks, challenge his Pro Stock colleagues to show up the other classes.

Frankie Taylor had waited several long years in the American Drag Racing League (ADRL) for a moment like Friday.

With the belt wrapped around his waist after winning his first ADRL World Championship in the Speedtech “Battle For the Belts” at the LenMar Motorsports ADRL World Finals VI, the Pro Extreme veteran wasn’t about to wipe the smile off his face.

“I can’t even describe what this feels like,” Taylor said. “This is great and it’s just been a great, great year. I can’t believe I get to top it off with this.”

Five other ADRL racers won World Championships on Friday at Texas Motorplex, and all joined Taylor as first-time “Battle For The Belts” champions.

NHRA South Central division racers stormed into Thunder Valley Raceway Park on Friday to kick off the weekend’s action for the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series Thunder in the Heartland event.  Unfortunately, so did Mother Nature with several different rain showers forcing NHRA and Track Officials to cancel the day’s racing action.  The event is the final South Central Division event in the 2010 season where competitors will earn points toward both national and divisional championships.

Listen to the run-by-run coverage and live audio feed from the ADRL Lenmar Motorsports World Finals from the Texas Motorplex in Ennis, Texas.