Today's classic video rewind comes from the IHRA Drag Racing
compilation of crashes video. This particular incident transpired in
1990 during Pro Modified qualifying at the IHRA World Nationals in
Norwalk, Ohio. It's hard to say which is more impressive, the driving
job of Killer Brooks to avoid a flipping Eddie Harris or the retaining
wall hurdle by then ESPN and IHRA announcer Bret Kepner.

The fifth annual NHRA Top Sportsman Invitational presented by Davis
Golf Carts and Sunset RaceCraft Racing Engines will return as part of
the 2009 Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals at Atlanta
Dragway, April 16-19.  The special Top Sportsman Invitational is open
to this past season’s top 10 point finishers from each of NHRA’s seven
geographic divisions.

Leading the list of entries will be past invitational winners including
defending champion Matt Buck from Lantana, Fl.; reigning Southeast
Division champion and 2007 invitational winner Jeffrey Barker from
Warner Robins, Ga. and 2006 champion Earl Folse from Raceland, La.

Drag racing is a sport of extreme highs and lows, and R2B2 Racing Pro
Mod driver Raymond Commisso experienced both this weekend in the Get
Screened America Pro Mod Challenge presented by ProCare Rx at the
'Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals at Houston Raceway Park.
 
After a frustrating day Friday of rain delays that netted no qualifying
attempts, Commisso made a run Saturday morning that rocked the world.
The Toronto, Canada restauranteur recorded the quickest legal Pro Mod
pass ever in his Al Billes-tuned R2B2 Racing '68 Camaro Z/28 at 5.884
seconds and claimed the number one qualifying spot
 
After the run, Commisso said with a huge smile, "That was an amazing
lap. When it hit third gear, it just threw me back into the seat and I
was thinking, 'this thing is just hauling!' I knew Al [Billes, crew
chief] had things ready to go, but that was just awesome."
 

Four races into the season Funny Car racer Ron Capps has become the poster
child for the term “feast or famine”. Two races in a row Capps has lost
in the opening round after winning the first two events of 2009.

Capps clung to the point leader, 29 points ahead of Del Worsham. Bob
Tasca dropped to fourth in points after also exiting in the first round.

"It was surprising," said Capps of the loss to eventual winner Ashley
Force Hood, "because when it comes to race day, no matter where we
qualify, Ace (crew chief Ed McCulloch) and the NAPA crew always have a
solid car. And listening to the Top Fuel runs before us we knew that
both lanes were getting pretty tricky.

A race is never over until it’s over, which is what Jeg Coughlin Jr. learned the hard way at Houston Raceway Park.

Coughlin
nailed final round opponent Ron Krisher in the ugliest of starting line
reaction time battles, .025 to .116, and appeared to have a lock on his
43rd career victory at the NHRA O'Reilly Springnationals. Then the mechanical gremlins struck and Krisher
raced by a coasting Coughlin.

Wasn't there supposed to be a learning curve for Matt Smith this season?

The former Pro Stock Motorcycle rider who made a name for himself the
past three seasons aboard a Buell decided in 2009 that he would take up
an offer from Don Schumacher to return to Suzuki. Changing bike
manufacturers typical involves a period of adjustment for the driver. 

Smith brought seven testing runs into Gainesville and qualified No. 1.

An ESPN2 television angle showed the race wasn't really that close, but from the starting line one couldn't tell the difference in the second round race between eventual winner Tony Schumacher and Morgan Lucas.

If anyone thought Craig Treble was finished
last season following his release as a rider for Don Schumacher Racing,
they were wrong.

Treble, a 13-time winner on the NHRA tour and even more successful
challenger of the odds, simply shook off the rejection and soldiered
forward.

It doesn’t matter what he’s got underneath him, the resilient Treble will find a way to win.

“That’s ten year old pipe I was riding,” Treble said of his chassis, which was also ridden by Matt Hines to a championship.

Ashley Force Hood had fun on her final run. She wasn’t going to but looking over at Jack Beckman reminded her of a lesson he taught her when she first started driving.

“Jack taught me when I first learned to drive a race car, it was a
Super Comp dragster, when I was 16,” Force Hood remembered. “It’s just
amazing that ten years later he and I are still driving, Nitro Funny
Cars. I always love running him because you see how much fun he’s
having and I tend to get nervous. It’s a serious thing, you’re going
into the final. You want to do well.

“I pull up there and he’s having fun with his guys and that reminded
our team we need to have some fun; we’re in the final round at Houston.
It changed my nerves for the better.”