Angie McBride will be among the Pro Stock Motorcycle riders seeking a
starting berth in the 13th annual O’Reilly NHRA Midwest Nationals at
Gateway International Raceway in Madison, Ill., May 1-3, thanks to
co-sponsorship from Haltech Engine Management Systems and XXX Racing
Fuel.

“We are very excited because this was unexpected,” said McBride.  “I
was prepared not to race, but Matthew (Smith, her fiancé and team
owner) talked with Steve Nichols at Haltech and Thomas Goss at XXX
Racing Fuels and they were able to put something together for this
race.”

“Haltech Engine Management Systems, in conjunction with XXX Racing
Fuel, is proud to announce the co-sponsorship of the Haltech XXX Buell,
driven by Angie McBride,” said Nichols.  “This is our first foray into
pro motorsports as far as a sponsor is concerned.  We are a supplier to
a lot of race teams and we will be interested to see how our dealers
and the public respond to the sponsorship.”

David Hope will ride at this weekend’s O’Reilly NHRA Midwest Nationals
to bring awareness of the Breast Cancer of the Ozarks (BCFO). His Vroom Racing Buell will carry the traditional pink ribbon insignia at Gateway International Raceway and beyond.

“My dad and I have been talking about becoming involved in a good cause
for quite a while,” explained Hope, “and as we thought of the important
ladies in our lives that we care about we decided that we needed to do
something to help keep them safe.  There is my mother, my sisters, my
special lady, Sonia, aunts, cousins, friends, the women working at our
dealership, and they all can be struck down by this deadly killer,
breast cancer.  Fortunately, none of them are dealing with the disease
at this moment in time, and we’d like to do everything we can to keep
it that way.”

Officials of the National Guard American Drag Racing League (ADRL)
announced that  QUARTER-MAX® Chassis and Racing Components will be the
title sponsor for round three of the 10-race 2009 National Guard ADRL
tour May 22-23, at Memphis Motorsports Park in Millington, Tennessee.

“I’m very excited about making this announcement,” QUARTER-MAX®
President Rick Jones said. “After watching the ADRL grow the last few
years, I’ve wanted to do something with them for a long time and this
just seemed like the ideal opportunity for us to get involved.”

The QUARTER-MAX® Memphis Drags II will feature the National Guard
ADRL’s unique, all-professional-class racing over an eighth-mile drag
strip, including Pro Extreme Motorcycle, Extreme 10.5, Pro Nitrous, Pro
Extreme and just added this year, Extreme Pro Stock, in which
QUARTER-MAX® sponsors the 2008 Pontiac GXP it also built for veteran
driver Pete Berner.

Every good book has an opening chapter.

For NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series Funny Car points leader Ron
Capps the opening chapter in his growing bestseller began with a 1997
victory at Gateway International Raceway, the site of his first career
nitro Funny Car victory.

He’s since added victories in 2005 and 2007, and with the points lead
and three victories thus far in 2009, he’s looking to add another
winning chapter during this weekend’s NHRA O’Reilly Midwest Nationals.

"Any time this track across the bridge from St. Louis shows up on the
schedule it's pretty exciting for me personally because it's where I
got my first professional win in Funny Car," said Capps. "And it was
the inaugural race at this track.

Bloomberg.com reported today that Source Interlink, publishers of such
titles as Hot Rod and Motor Trend, has sought bankruptcy protection as
it moves towards becoming a private company.

Source Interlink publishes 75 magazines, mostly about cars and motorcycles.

Veteran Motorsports writer David Poole died today of an apparent heart attack. 

Poole, who wrote for the Charlotte Observer among other publications, was mostly known for his NASCAR reports but often ventured into the drag racing world. He wrote drag racing articles for publications previously only reserved for NASCAR.

If you see it coming, you'd best get out of the way.

Top Fuel racer Bruce Litton, of Indianapolis, says he keeps one periwinkle purple colored
bolt on his 1956 Suburban tow vehicle as a reminder of how ugly the car
used to be when he bought it in Tucson, Az.

The tacky colored bolt doesn’t tell the story of its true ugliness.

One experience behind the wheel or a ride in one of its three bench
seats and you’ll quickly understand why a ride in this classic is so
ugly it will make a train opt for a dirt road. Litton says the
experience is similar.

Tim Wilkerson's breakout 2008 season began with a convincing victory over Robert Hight at Gateway International.

The missions are entirely different, however for NHRA Funny Car star Tim Wilkerson, the potential payoff is just as important.

One year ago Wilkerson came to his home track – Gateway International
Raceway – looking for a win and hunting down the No. 1 points position
in the Full Throttle Series Funny Car standings. This year, the
Springfield, Ill. racer is still hunting for a win, however, this time
around he’s trying to navigate his way into the top 10 in the
ultra-competitive Funny Car class in the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing
Series.

The NHRA has approved Moser Engineering's new 8 3/4 Stamped housing for
use in the Stock Eliminator Classes. The new Moser 8 ¾” unit has all of
the strength you would expect from a Moser Engineering built rear.
Moser built the new piece using the same material and strength
engineered into our heavy duty stamped housings and also incorporated
the benefits of the 3/8” thick faceplate used in our MO875.  It
features 3” O.D. tubes made from seamless ¼” wall D.O.M steel. The
units are available with all new complete center sections and either
bare or with any spring perch location.  Plus, for anyone lucky enough
to have one, the rears are also available with all the brackets to work
with the stock suspension in a LC22R Challenger Drag Package Car.