Veteran sportsman drag racer Todd Hoerner has been named Sales Manager at Sonny’s Racing, a leading manufacturer of mountain motor and fast bracket racing engines.

“Todd
has over 26 years of racing experience at the track, which is essential
to the right engine combination, and race car components,” said Sonny
Leonard, owner and founder.

Hoerner will continue racing in
NHRA Competition Eliminator and Top Sportsman. Most recently he set the
NHRA A/AA national record with a 6.52 elapsed time at 212 miles per
hour while using a 707-inch Sonny’s GM Hemispherical headed engine.

A trip to Grand Bend wouldn’t be complete without the storied rivalry
between two of London, Ontario’s best going head to head at

Rob Atchison and Paul Noakes (bottom), both London residents, will join recent
additions Larry Dobbs and Jason McKnight in a weekend long grudge match
to determine who truly is the King of Canada in Alcohol Funny Car.

nearly 250 miles per hour on the quarter mile.

And that is exactly what drag racing fans are going to get when the
IHRA returns to Ontario for the MOPAR Canadian Nationals July 17-19 at
the Grand Bend Motorplex.

Rob Atchison and Paul Noakes, both London residents, will join recent
additions Larry Dobbs and Jason McKnight in a weekend long grudge match
to determine who truly is the King of Canada in Alcohol Funny Car.

“I have loved watching these guys compete ever since we opened the
track 14 years ago and it wouldn’t seem right not to have them here,”
said track owner Paul Spriet. “We knew we had to do something to
showcase these amazing drivers. We also wanted to do something for the
fans as this is the only time they get to see these guys race so close
to home.”

Atchison, a three-time IHRA Alcohol Funny Car world champion, and
Noakes, last year’s AFC runner-up and a two-time MOPAR Canadian
Nationals winner, will go head-to-head all weekend long in a clash of
Canada’s best in Alcohol Funny Car.

When the 2009 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series kicked off in
February, there were only six drag strips on the national event circuit
that 31-time Top Fuel winner Doug Kalitta had yet to make a visit to
the winner’s circle. He crossed Pomona (Calif.) off of that notorious
list by winning at the famed race track at the season-opening
Winternationals event. Kalitta, driver of the No. 50 Kalitta
Motorsports Top Fuel dragster, will have his pen ready to cross Denver
off the unrenowned register after this weekend’s, July 10-12, annual
running of the Mopar Mile-High NHRA Nationals at Bandimere Speedway in
Morrison, Col., just a few miles west of the Denver city limits.

More than 600 kids, ages 8 to 17 from across the eastern United States,
have converged on Bristol Dragway for the 2009 NHRA Jr. Drag Racing
League Eastern Conference Finals.  Competitors in eight age categories
wheel half-scale dragsters, some capable of reaching speeds of 70 mph,
in search of individual and team honors and a share of the purse worth
nearly $100,000.

This weekend will mark the first time the Lagana Brothers, Bobby and Dominick, have ever raced Top Fuel dragsters against each

Clay Millican and MPE Motorsports owner Mark Pickens are embarking on a new sponsor relationship with LifeLock, NHRA and RBA Sports
Marketing that puts Millican at the controls of the LifeLockracing.com
Top Fuel dragster in time for Friday’s start of the 30th annual Mopar
Mile-High Nationals in Denver.

“This is a very exciting opportunity for our team to partner with a
company that looks out for people by protecting them from identity
theft,” said Millican.  “And our car has a cool new look.”

Millican is 10th in Full Throttle Racing Series standings, 38 points
out of ninth place.  The top 10 drivers after 18 races qualify for the
six-race Countdown to the Championship that begins in September.

Randy Kay won the latest West Coast Outlaw Pro Mod Association event at Champion Raceway in Medford, Oregon, which was contested over the Independence Day weekend.

Five
teams, including previous event winner Rod Burbage, Kay, Lee Smith, Jay
Diedrich and Greg Carlile from northern Washington State were in
attendence.  Parts attrition from the previous race along with the
holiday weekend kept the participation lower than expected.

Kay
led early qualifying by posting a 6.369 elapsed time at 225.90 miles
per hour, a run which would stand throughout qualifying. The No. 1
status earned Kay a first round bye run.

Beginning with the 30th annual MOPAR Mile High NHRA Nationals in
Denver, John Force Racing will be supporting the Los Angeles-based
Bogart Pediatric Cancer Research Program with specialty decals on their
quartet of Ford Mustang Funny Cars. The decals will help raise
awareness for an organization where John Force Racing's outside general
counsel, Michael Sherman, serves on the Board of Directors.

“Michael brought this foundation to my attention and I thought it was
really doing some great work. This kind of cancer, the kind that
attacks kids, really gets me. We see a lot of kids and families at the
races that have been affected by cancer. If putting a decal on my Ford
Mustangs will help them get more attention and maybe some more
donations then that is the least I can do,” said John Force, President
and Owner of John Force Racing, Inc.

After his debut in Pro Stock Motorcycle earlier this season, Kenny Van
Buren will again be wearing his leathers in this weekend's Mopar
Mile-High Nationals at Bandimere Speedway, piloting a Mitchel
Lippen-tuned, Vance and Hines-powered Suzuki. The two-time NHRA
Division 7 Summit Racing ET Motorcycle Champion is backed by AGP Turbo
and will be promoting "Committed to Freedom" - an organization that
provides abuse survivors with spiritual tools to help them move beyond
their circumstances.
 
The 57-year-old Van Buren said he is ready
to get back on the track after his initial outing at the O'Reilly NHRA
Spring Nationals in Houston in March.
 
"Being a professional
racer has been a dream of mine since I was 16, so getting to do this is
really a dream come true," Van Buren said.  "I'm looking forward to the
challenges ahead as our team strives to become successful in the Pro
Stock Motorcycle class."

Pappas and Handras Racing plan to debut their 2004 JBRC Top Sportsman Cavalier this weekend at Englishtown.