Bob Gilbertson's publicist Bob Doerrer has conveyed that yesterday the Funny Car racer's wife passed away after a brief illness. There is no word as of this time regarding arrangements.

The staff of CompetitionPlus.com sends their deepest condolences to the Gilbertson family and friends. 

Automotive aftermarket icon Vic Edelbrock recently visited Pat Musi
and in an exclusive video brainstorming session, CompetitionPlus.com,
through the tireless efforts of videographer Jimmy Biggs, gives you a
glimpse into the future of what is to come from Pat Musi Race Engines
and Edelbrock.

They also have an informative conversation about electronic fuel injection in drag racing.
The movers and shakers into drag racing horsepower have created a 12-minute video worth watching.

Billy Gibson claimed the Carolina Outlaw Doorslammer championship
before rain washed out the remainder of the fifth annual ROCK Batteries
Spring Blast at Rockingham Dragway, a prelude to the start of both the
IHRA and ADRL seasons.

Gibson, from Chaptico, Md., drove his supercharged Willys Pro Modified
through the eighth mile timers in 3.962 seconds at 186.02 miles per
hour on Saturday to earn “king of the hill” honors in the doorslammer
class.

When you hear the thunder just know the lightning isn’t far behind and don't say they were not warned.

Antron Brown delivered a subtle hint in preseason testing at the
National Time Trials at Firebird Raceway in Phoenix, Az., when he laid
down the quickest elapsed time.

Cue thunder clap number one.

He came back two weekends later and delivered a No. 1 qualifying effort
and the quickest elapsed time in the history of 1,000-foot drag racing,
a run that was later disallowed over faulty NHRA clocks.

Racing is complete and the winners have been crowned at the NHRA Lucas
Oil Drag Racing Series event hosted at Gainesville Raceway.  This wraps
up the second of six events in Southeast division competition.  Winners
walking away with the coveted Wally trophy included Top Alcohol
Dragster pilot Shayne Lawson, Broken Arrow, Okla., and Jay Payne from
Claremont, Calif., in Top Alcohol Funny Car.

Lawson was in the groove this weekend making his way out of the No.2
qualifying position and into the winner’s circle. On his way to the
Final, the event champ took out local Gainesville, Fla., resident
Cherissa Griffis in Round 1 and Bill Evans of Miramar, Fla., in the
Semis. Lawson posted a 5.403 second, 250.51 mph run defeating Artie
Allen from Jacksonville, Fla., to take home the hardware.

Tim Wilkerson learned a valuable lesson Sunday in Phoenix; the more things go wrong, the more they can work in his favor.

The Springfield, Ill.-based driver of the Levi, Ray & Shoup Shelby
Cobra Mustang realizes this turn of events is certainly not the norm,
but when you DNQ the first race of the season as he did two weeks ago
in Pomona, you learn to not look a gift horse in the mouth. He made
withdrawals from the luck bank all day at the NHRA Lucas Slick Mist
Nationals until he reached the semis.

Mike Neff rode a wave of emotion to the finals of the Lucas Slick Mist NHRA
Nationals at Firebird International Raceway. Handling the majority of
the onsite crew chief duties for the Ford Drive One Mustang in the
absence of crew chief John Medlen, who was in Indianapolis recovering
from a heart procedure he received prior to the race, Neff reached his
fourth career final before a broken clutch linkage forced him to abort
his final round run versus red hot Ron Capps.

The thud you thought you heard on Sunday, about 6:04 E.S.T., was Jeg Coughlin Jr. body-slamming the monkey off his back.

Coughlin extended his edge over good friend Kurt Johnson to 31 wins and
27 losses by capturing the Pro Stock title at the NHRA Lucas Slick Mist
Nationals at Phoenix, Az. The win represented the first of the 2009
season for Coughlin.