At 77 years young, Ron Allison may well be the most impressive rookie the South East Gassers Association has ever seen.

Prior to this year, the Sparta, TN-based septuagenarian had been a Legends car champion and jet-ski speed record holder, but this year's SEGA season opener represented his first official drag racing experience. It took Allison just six events to earn his first SEGA Super Stock race title in June and he finished the season with five wins and the 2021 series championship to his credit.

"I didn't think I'd win the first race this year; it's just been like a dream come true," Allison said after a come-from-behind charge in the points chase to win the series season ender at Shady Side Dragway and edge out 2020 class champion Mark Hackett for the 2021 SEGA SS title.

On Thursday, it was ladies' day at the top of the sportsman food chain in qualifying for the Auto Club NHRA Finals in Pomona, Ca. Female drivers paced the first two spots in the Top Alcohol Dragster division. 

Julie Nataas thundered to the top spot in the dragsters while Sean Bellemeur paced the Funny Cars in their lone session. Travis Gusso was the king of the hill in Competition Eliminator. 

Once upon a time, there was a young boy who walked in his dad's shadow, eagerly wishing he could be what his father was in the drag racing world. Kenny Koretsky was and is a proud father, running the roads of the NHRA tour up until the mid-2000s as a Pro Stock driver. Kyle was Kenny's boy.

However, as Kenny hung up his driving suit and Kyle began to work his way up through the ranks of Competition Eliminator and inevitably a Pro Stock frontrunner under the KB Racing, Dad began to notice a change in his status. 

Kyle was not there as Kenny's boy. Kenny became known as "Kyle's Dad."

Roger Richards admits during his four years of service he only disobeyed one order. The order, as he puts it, wasn’t a real order, it was a suggestion from those higher up.

This was 1972 and upon his honorable discharge from the U.S. Army, for his safety, it was advised that he don civilian attire while traveling home. He was one of the members of the military who was spat on by war protesters as he walked through the Oakland Airport.

“I was a Vietnam era veteran,” said Richards, who has been Attitude’s CompetitionPlus.com Director of Photography since 1999. “I volunteered several times to go to Vietnam but never got sent. I always had this funny saying that they wouldn’t send me because I was so crazy, they were afraid I’d kill someone.”

Slammin’ Sam Smith, the co-host of CompetitionPlus.com’s Power Hour with the Monday Morning Racer for the past year, truly understands and appreciates Veterans Day, Nov. 11.

Smith served in the U.S. Army from 2009-20014. He went in with a Private E1 ranking and left with a Specialist E4 ranking.

On the strength of three wins and five final round appearances in a fantastic debut season, Pro Stock’s Dallas Glenn was named the 2021 NHRA Rookie of the Year on Sunday, edging out a talented list of first-year competitors in the NHRA Camping World Racing Series.

The award recognizes the top rookie competitor in the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series. The nation’s leading auto racing journalists select the winner through a voting system based on the following criteria: number of events competed in, performance on and off the racetrack, participation in NHRA promotions, and relationships with fans, sponsors, and media.

Glenn was named the top rookie at Sunday’s NHRA banquet at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona, culminating a dream season for the rising star that also saw him finish third in points.

​
​​The Miller family owned and operated Maryland International Raceway for 25 years, from 1990 to 2014 and then sold the facility to IRG Sports & Entertainment in 2015. Royce stayed on with IRG for the last seven years as the Chief Operating Officer with duties and guidance for all the IRG owned tracks as well as GM at Maryland International Raceway. The transaction is expected to close at the end of this year.

When IRG decided to sell the facility, Lou Partenza, the CEO of IRG, gave Royce the first option to purchase it. Royce Miller stated, “At 67-years-old I probably should have my head examined for buying the track back, but the deal made financial sense and I still have a little gas left in the tank.”

Cornwell Tools has been named the title sponsor for the annual Night Under Fire at Summit Motorsports Park in Norwalk, Ohio.

The partnership will begin with the eagerly awaited 45th Annual Cornwell Tools Night Under Fire, which is set for Aug. 6, 2022 and will stage more entertainers and excitement than ever before.

Cornwell Tools, which has been the Official Tool of Summit Motorsports Park since 2019, is a family- and employee-owned company which has been in business for more than 100 years. It is headquartered in Wadsworth, Ohio, and has distribution centers in Ohio and Utah, and manufacturing facilities in Ohio and Pennsylvania. Its products are sold to professional technicians across the country through independent mobile tool dealers.

A win in the 11th-and-final event of the year for the South East Gassers Association (SEGA), Nov. 6 at Shady Side Dragway, also secured the 2021 SEGA C/Gas championship for Larry Floyd, driving Leslie Horne's fan-favorite "Stud Muffin" Nova wagon. It marked the first SEGA championship for Floyd, but the second for the car, as Horne earned the 2019 C/Gas season title in it, too.

"It's a great car. I started driving the car in 2020, but we had some mechanical issues, finished seventh in points last year. But then this year it all popped together," Floyd said after scoring his fourth win in seven final-round appearances over an 11-event season.