One of the most hyped stats by
the Bakersfield March Meet historians are the five Top Fuel wins by Don Garlits, the
most by any Top Fuel driver.  However, legendary Super Stock and Funny
Car driver Jess Tyree stands tall with six wins in Super Stock, dating
back to the inaugural event.  Tyree then added five consecutive wins
from 1961-1965.

A record-setting crowd of more than 40,000 witnessed the stars of the
Flowmaster American Drag Racing League (ADRL) presented by the National
Guard go after a $100,000 purse Mar. 8, in the ADRL’s season-opening
Drag Illustrated Dragpalooza IV at Houston Raceway Park. Joshua
Hernandez of nearby Conroe, TX, won the ADRL’s marquee Pro Extreme
class, while Jim Halsey prevailed in Pro Nitrous, reigning class champ
Steve Gorman won in Extreme 10.5, and Ron Procopio won his career-first
Pro Extreme Motorcycle event.

“I knew he left first, but then I caught him pretty fast,” Hernandez
said after going 3.96 seconds at 191.57 miles per hour over the
eighth-mile course to defeat fellow Texan Steve Wiley. “I think he had
some trouble about half-track and that’s when I passed him.”

Forty lucky race fans not only got to mingle with top stars from the
NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series on Saturday, but they also supported a
great cause at the sold-out 6th annual NHRA Tour de Charity at the
Infineon Raceway Karting Center.

The event, which coupled race fans with top NHRA drivers for a day of
karting on the raceway’s challenging course, raised $14,000 for
Speedway Children’s Charities, bringing the six-year total for the
event to more than $64,000. More than 200 people overall attended the
event.

Speedway Children’s Charities is the charitable arm of Infineon
Raceway, with all proceeds raised during the year benefiting qualified
youth organizations in Sonoma County.  The charity has distributed more
than $2.6 million since 2002.

The third day at the 9th annual Eastern Spring
Test Nationals presented by Torco's CompetitionPlus.com brings another
good news -bad news situation.

Good news, the rain stopped and the track is dry. Several
more rigs rolled in yesterday and the Schumacher and Gotham City Racing trailers are among the recent arrivals. 

The bad news - it is chilly and there are strong, gusty
winds blowing across the track today. Just driving up I-75 was sporty and there's no way to safely race at 200 mph-plus with these
crosswinds and a cold race track.

All Saturday activities have been cancelled. However, the
weather forecast for Sunday is great - sunny and mid-sixties.

Today's classic You Tube video moment features Sportsman final rounds from the 1979 NHRA World Finals at the now defunct Ontario Motor Speedway. Check out some of the winning names like Amy Faulk, Bob Newberry and Billy Williams.

All competitors attending the ACDelco NHRA Gatornationals should be
aware that Florida is requiring anyone
with semitrailers longer than 53 feet and/or those with a kingpin measurement
longer than 46 feet to purchase a Special Road Use Permit to enter and to leave
Florida.

Twenty-three year old phenom Lindsey Wood added to her impressive
racing resume last weekend with a Super Comp victory at the NHRA LODRS
event at No Problem Raceway in Belle Rose, LA. For Wood, it was her
second consecutive LODRS win at the Louisiana facility, as she captured
the event title last season in Top Alcohol Dragster. A final round
triumph over former NHRA World Champion Tommy Costales marked Wood’s
ninth consecutive round win at the facility between the two classes.

Lindsey Wood, a young woman from McAlpin, FL, started her racing career
in the Junior Dragster ranks thirteen years ago. In her tenure in
junior dragster competition, she amassed one of the most impressive
records in the history of the class, including 57 bracket and index
wins and 17 heads-up triumphs. In 2003 she made the move to Super Comp
competition, and continued her success and growth as a competitor over
the next three seasons. In the 8.90 class, she captured a Gator
Nationals title, a handful of divisional victories, and earned a top
ten national finish in the ultra-competitive NHRA Super Comp ranks.
Last season, Wood jumped at the opportunity to team with the Darien
& Meadows A/Fuel Dragster team and ran a full Top Alcohol Dragster
schedule. While Lindsey and the team enjoyed flashes of brilliance,
including the ‘07 No Problem LODRS victory, the team struggled for much
of the season, and the partnership dissolved.

They’d
always start with a cruise toward Washington D.C. to V Street. Cars
lined both sides of the road. Then the bragging began. Stakes on the
illegal street races were raised as high as $5,000 to $10,000. Justin
Humphreys’ 1989 Mustang GT 5.0 could run a high 10 on the street, he
said.

“It had nitrous and all that good stuff,” Humphreys said. “Back when I
was young, I had 15-20 friends that all had them (Mustangs) and would
all go down there and goof off.”

Eventually police would show up and the hundreds in attendance – male
and female, of all ages – would scatter, only to reassemble down the
road.

“They’d drive five miles to Metro, and race there until the cops showed
up,” he said. “Then they’d go back to V Street and race until 1 or 2
a.m.”

NHRA has announced that three affiliated events will be added to an
already impressive 2008 Hot Rod Heritage Series schedule, increasing
the schedule from seven to 10 events.

The events to be added include the Holley National Hot Rod Reunion,
June 13-15 at Beech Bend Raceway Park in Bowling Green, Ky.; the
ACDelco NostalgiaFest presented by RM Distributing, June 20-21 at
Cordova Dragway Park, Cordova, Ill.; and Geezer’s at the Grove, Sept.
5-6 at Maple Grove Raceway near Reading, Pa.

Though the events will be affiliated with the series they will not
count as points-earning events toward the 2008 championships.