Mike Castellana raced to the qualifying lead Friday in the NHRA Get Screened America Pro Mod Drag Racing Series portion of the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway.

Castellana powered his Al-Anabi Racing ’69 Camaro to a leading performance of 5.993 seconds at 239.10 mph to pace the 16-car field.

What a debut.

With an entire state watching the new Nitro Jam made its debut at Rocky Mountain Raceways and the show certainly left fans walking away satisfied. From an incredible finish in the brutal Prostalgia Nitro Funny Car class to the debut of side-by-side jet trucks, a dominating showing in Top Fuel and an improbable first time winner in Pro Fuel, the first day of Nitro Jam in Salt Lake City was everything fans were looking for and then some.

And when the dust finally settled three winners were left standing in the professional classes as Mark Sanders and the “Mr. Explosive” Prostalgia NFC team walked away with their first Ironman, joining first-time Pro Fuel winner Brandon Johnson in victory lane. Bruce Litton rounded out the list of winners, continuing his dominance of the Top Fuel class with his fourth consecutive victory.

Ashley Force Hood earned the provisional pole in Funny Car on the first day of qualifying Friday at the 10th annual NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals with a 4.151-second pass at 296.70 mph.

The other provisional No. 1 qualifiers at the 12th of 23 races in the 2010 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series season were Antron Brown (Top Fuel) and Mike Edwards (Pro Stock).

The No. 1 qualifier would be the second this season for the 27-year old Force Hood, who is in fifth place in the Funny Car point standings, and the 11th of her career.

Her father has played the role of Superman before at Bristol Dragway; however, if they meet in eliminations, Ashley Force Hood is prepared to be John Force’s kryptonite.

On the Friday of Father’s Day Weekend, the second-generation driver piloted her way to the provisional No. 1 at the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals with a 4.151 elapsed time at 296.70 miles per hour.

“I wrote that on Sunday that this card is your Father’s Day gift not any kind of win,” If I run you I still have to beat you. If we could meet in the final that would be the perfect scenario. We’ll get to Sunday and if we can get any of our Mustangs to the winner’s circle it will be a good Father’s Day.”

Any Father’s Day with her 14-time championship winning father, who was 6th after two sessions, is good.

When the track conditions are at their nastiest; when the thermometer begs for mercy; that is the time Top Fuel racer Antron Brown turns into one cool player on the NHRA Full Throttle Series.

On a Friday where the track temperature remained largely in the 140-degree range, Brown drove his Matco Tools-sponsored dragster to the top of the provisional qualifying list with a 3.856 elapsed time at 314.24 miles per hour.

If his run holds through Saturday qualifying it will mark his fourth No. 1 of the season and 25th of his career.

If you were a professional drag racer in 1980, you had one key reason for traveling to race in Bristol, Tenn., you came to get paid. Thunder Valley Dragway, now re-branded as Bristol Dragway, paid like no other race track.

The IHRA Spring Nationals event rewarded its winners with the largest paydays of any national event in drag racing at the time.

An event win in either nitro category paid $20,000; while Pro Stock pocketed a then incredible $10,000.

What was the inspiration for a promoter to offer up such a monetary gold mine?

Bristol [TN] will likely never get its props when it comes to the advancement of the Pro Stock division. As much of an influence as Detroit had in the formation of the factory hot rod category, it was Bristol which took the class to the level it now enjoys.

To the right of the creek which runs through the property which is home to both the NASCAR track and the NHRA track used to stand a building where a sanctioning body executive at his wits end suggested to his boss, maybe their series ought to step outside of the conventional rules the Pro Stock division had used since its introduction. At the time, the rules package was cumbersome and considered anything but fair.

Ted Jones was the executive who suggested to the IHRA’s founder, Larry Carrier, they scrap the traditional method of factoring the different manufacturing combinations and adopt their own special breed of Pro Stock classification.

Thus was born the mountain motor Pro Stocker.

Three-time NHRA Pro Stock champion Greg Anderson confirmed that veteran crew chief Tommy Utt would be joining Ken Black’s KB Racing team.  Starting with this weekend’s Thunder Valley Nationals in Bristol, TN, Utt will be working alongside crew chief Rob Downing as they tune the Summit Racing Pontiacs driven by Anderson and teammate Jason Line in the Full Throttle Drag Racing Series.
 
“We weren’t really planning this move, but when Tommy became available at the last race, we thought it would be a good change,” said Anderson.  “We feel we have great team here and try to hire the people we think are the best in the industry.  We certainly consider Tommy Utt among that group, so it was a unanimous decision by everyone here at KB Racing that he would be a welcome addition.

Mike Janis hopes the second national event for his new WidowMaker Mustang is trouble free. The new Mustang, built by Dan Page Race Cars, was a strong runner in last weekend’s NHRA SuperNationals, recording a quick 5.941 elapsed time.

Janis will attest new car bugs can be a pain, especially if you lose a key element during a run. That’s what happened to the past IHRA Pro Modified champion who now competes on the NHRA Get Screened America Pro Mod series.

 “She shook a bit after just past 60 foot and I pedaled her,” said Janis. “She responded and was on a good run till just before the finish line when all of the sudden, BANG! So, I lifted just past the 1000 foot mark; I thought she popped the burst panel.”