Originally published 9-1-2006

On one weekend the careers of Blaine Johnson and Tony Schumacher intersected...

Many drivers look back on the first elimination-round passes of their professional careers as a bit surreal. But nothing could come close to the emotional swing that Tony Schumacher experienced in his first race in a Top Fuel dragster.

It promised to be intimidating enough for Schumacher because it came at the U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis, the National Hot Rod Association's oldest and most prominent race.

But 10 years ago, that first quarter-mile ride, which should have taken about 4.7 seconds, seemed to take an eternity.

Schumacher was the No. 16 qualifier. As such, he was paired against No. 1. But this time the No. 1 qualifier didn't pull up to the starting line. He had died two days before of massive head injuries from a top-end accident during qualifying.

So Schumacher had a single pass instead of getting to race Blaine Johnson, the 34-year-old sensation who was running away with the Top Fuel championship, owned the national speed record, and set a track-record 4.61-second elapsed time on his final run. Gone was the likeable Californian whom veteran publicist Rick Voegelin called "a tiger in a race car." But little did anyone know just how much this rookie Schumacher, this rather overwhelmed 26-year-old from Chicago, would turn out to be the same kind of driver.

Despite heat, humidity, and heavy rain, racers were incredibly competitive at the NMCA All-American Nationals, Aug. 26-29, 2021, at Summit Motorsports Park in Norwalk, Ohio. They pushed play rather than pause, and took on the challenges that came with tuning and traversing the track in oppressive weather. They wanted to go wheels-up and win, and along the way, they wowed the crowd.

Awaiting those who fought and found victory at this fifth-of-six races on the NMCA tour were enticing Edelbrock Victor Awards.

Most of the VP Racing Lubricants Xtreme Pro Mod drivers pulled off 3.70 and 3.80 passes in qualifying, and among them was Chip King, who clocked a 3.75 in his Mustang Mach 1 to set the pace. But as the sun set on Sunday night, Jackie Slone and Dave Roemer were inching into the beams in their nitrous-sipping Camaros for the final round of eliminations. Slone secured the win with a 3.75 after Roemer turned on the red light.

Racecar drivers are never satisfied, and veteran NHRA Sportsman competitor Justin Lamb is the prime example. No matter his achievements, the Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series (LODRS) overachiever just keeps redefining the goal.
 
Lamb, whose first national event victory was in Top Comp at the SPORTSnationals in Fontana in 2006, has claimed 27 wins across a total of six categories. He's raced two cars for most of his career, and most commonly, he has been devoted to Super Stock and Stock Eliminator.
 
The devotion to door cars has paid off by way of five Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series championships – three in Super Stock (2015, 2017, 2018) and two in Stock (2013, 2017). Lamb also has eight division titles earned in NHRA's Pacific Division across four categories, Top Comp (2003), Comp Eliminator (2011, 2012), Stock (2013, 2017, 2019) and Super Stock (2015, 2017).

This year the Dodge Hemi Shootout enters its 20th year, and regardless of your manufacturer identity, one must respect the revered Hemi in all of its beauty.

It's one of the greatest displays of high horsepower pageantry, and it's a tradition at drag racing's most prestigious event.

Each year the Dodge Hemi Shootout gathers the best of the best, of drag racers running the special Hemi-powered blend of 1968 Plymouth Barracudas and Dodge Darts. Sit back and crank up the speaks as we bring you the sights and sounds of one of the best drag races all year.

Past Mountain Motor Pro Stock champion John Montecalvo has a vision, and he wasn’t going to stop pressing until it became a reality. 

Montecalvo, who resides in Center Moriches, NY, wanted to bring back drag racing to Long Island. Last Saturday, he watched the effort spearheaded by Peter Scalzo become reality. There hasn’t been legal, sanctioned racing on the island since Westhampton Drag Strip closed after the 2003 season and was replaced by a senior living complex. The event drew over 1,000 to Enterprise Park in Calverton. 

Last Saturday, while Montecalvo’s Mountain Motor Pro Stock counterparts were racing at the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals, he was at the historic drag race.

​​Following the success of the inaugural Twisted Shifterz Nitro Chaos event held July 30-31st at Iowa’s Eddyville Raceway Park, event promoter Chris Graves has announced the return of the all-nitro extravaganza to Eddyville on June 3-4th, 2022. In addition, a second event has been added to celebrate the 60th Anniversary of Mo-Kan Dragway in Asbury, Missouri outside Joplin on July 15-16th, 2022. 

​​​As NHRA teams gear up for the Countdown to the Championship playoffs, Camping World Drag Racing Pro Stock competitors will look to compete at the Bellagio of Drag Strips at zMAX Dragway at the 2021 DeWalt NHRA Carolina Nationals, Sept. 17-19.

After coming close on a number of occasions in his young Pro Mod career, rising star Joey Oksas broke through for his first victory in the Summit Racing Equipment Mid-West Drag Racing Series presented by J&A Service, racing to an impressive win at the Great Bend Nationals at SRCA Dragstrip.
 
Oksas’ win was one of a number of highlights during the MWDRS’ first trip to Great Bend, Kan. With a standout track surface and a facility that drew rave reviews, the teams put on a spectacular show, with defending MWDRS world champ Sean Bellemeur (Top Alcohol Funny Car), Mike Secret (Pat Musi Racing Engines Top Sportsman), Lee Ramey (Race Star Wheels Top Dragster), Alden Peres (Summit Racing Pro Jr.) and Tyler Wells (Zimmerman Properties Construction Sportsman Jr.) all picking up victories in the series’ first race in more than three months.
 
The weekend was certainly memorable for Oksas, who raced past Keith Haney in the Pro Mod final round, going 3.699-seconds at 214.55 mph in his turbocharged ’67 Mustang. It was the first run in the 3.60s of the weekend and came at the perfect time as Oksas picked up his first career victory in the Mid-West Drag Racing Series in his young career.

Rust-Oleum Dragster driver T.J. Zizzo has coined a phrase for the racers like him who compete on a part-time basis and know how to go rounds.

“I call us ‘super part-timers.’ Super part-time is really what we are,” he said. “We led the charge in competitive part-time teams. Now I’m seeing it more and more, where there’s a handful of guys who go out on a part-time basis but you count ’em in when they’re on the entry list.

“And I take great pride in probably our team being able to get fulltime team members fired from their position – because ‘How can these Zizzos come in here on part-time basis, and guess what? They outqualify us. That’s not right. I’m paying you guys full-time salaries to make our team the best it can be, and these super part-time guys come in here and [outshine us].’ We take pride in stuff like that,” Zizzo said.

Christine Chambless-Foster has been competing in the alcohol ranks in NHRA's Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series for more than a decade. She's enjoyed her time in a dragster, but now the Southwest Kansas-native is ready for the next step of her career and a move over to where she wanted to be all along: racing a fiercely challenging Top Alcohol Funny Car.
 
"I've always really liked that the Funny Car class is just blown cars. There's nothing cooler than two alcohol Funny Cars revving it up and leaving the starting line," said a jubilant Christine, who is set take possession of the Chevrolet Camaro Top Alcohol Funny Car that Shane Westerfield drove to the 2017 NHRA championship and will have it equipped with one of the Chambless Family Racing's supercharged alcohol-fueled engines.
 
The sport of drag racing has always been linked closely to family for Christine, who has raced with parents Curtiss and Tracy from the beginning. Her son, Hudson, is well-known as her trusty sidekick at the racetrack, and now she'll be competing alongside husband Chris Foster – they married in March of 2021 – as a two-car team, sharing data as they race the NHRA circuit in 2022.