- HendrickCars.com to sponsor Brittany Force’s Top Fuel dragster starting at this weekend’s NHRA 4-Wide Nationals in Charlotte
- DANIEL WILKERSON AND SCAG FORD FUNNY CAR TEAM LOOKING TO TURN THINGS AROUND AT CHARLOTTE FOUR-WIDE
- Dustin Smiley Races to Advanced Product Design $15,000 Wednesday Win at the Spring Fling
- NEOPMA Pro Mod Drivers Ready to Start 2024 Season at MIR’s Door Wars
- JUSTIN ASHLEY AND SCAG TOYOTA TEAM LOOK TO CONTINUE PROMISING START TO NHRA SEASON AT ZMAX DRAGWAY
- FOSTER LOOKING TO TAKE AQUA PROP ALL THE WAY AT CHARLOTTE FOUR-WIDE NATIONALS
- MBE Tech Report
With a win last weekend in Sonoma, Maggio now leads the WCOPMA point’s standings
Courtesy of WCOPMA
Sonoma, CA – The West Coast Outlaw Pro Mod Association is now at the half way point this 2012 season. With four of the eight scheduled races completed there’s a championship battle shaping up nicely between Rod Burbage and Mike Maggio. Burbage led the
points through the first three events while gathering up one event win but Maggio has come on strong and won the last two WCOPMA events; Mission and most recently in Sonoma to jump ahead of Burbage and grab the top spot by a mere 6-points.
The Maggio Motorsports team came into Sonoma with a couple goals in mind: back up their 260 MPH runs in Mission at a different race track, re-set the WCOPMA ET record for a supercharged car and take home the Wally on Sunday. They accomplished all three goals when it was all said and done.
The event in Sonoma started out with two scheduled test session for all racers. During those test runs Maggio would lay down a 260.21 MPH pass to check the first thing off his list.
Jamie Tupper wins TNT Super Series at Grand Bend’s IHRA Mopar Nitro Jam Nationals
Courtesy of TNT
GRAND BEND, ON – Twenty-nine of the best sportsman racers in the northeast assembled on Friday at the Grand Bend Motorplex for a unique Joe’s Transmission TNT Super Series event.
This is the second time that the 10.90 sportsman drag racing series has held an event as part of the IHRA Mopar Nitro Jam Nationals weekend. Presented by Rosehill Auction House, the T
NTSS event drew competitors from across Ontario and the north-eastern United States.
When the dust settled, it was Jamie Tupper from Tillsonburg, Ontario taking the victory and earning a spot in the Performance Improvements Race of Champions.
In round one on Friday night, Jamie defeated Paul “Racer” Brown who missed the tree and lost in a double breakout 10.901 to a 10.876. Then George Mayer went red by .003 sending Jamie into round three where he faced Larry Pulver. With only .004 separating them off the line, Jamie ran closer to the index at 10.929 to Larry’s 11.015.
Sonoma Regional gives Ahten Racing a new perspective
Courtesy of Athen Family Racing
Sonoma, CA – The Ahten Racing Team picked up something special from last weekend’s Regional race. It was not a trophy, but it is 
still valuable. They now have their confidence back. The new engine combination has been figured out, and they are now looking forward to their next race.
“Sonoma was like a re-birth of our race team,” said driver Johnny Ahten. “Trying to get a handle on a whole new set-up is sometimes a tricky thing to do, but now we know what we have. I feel confident with the car. If we had a few more runs to fine tune the top end, I think we could have done very well.”
Qualifying started out with the Island Renovations / 801 Racing / Fireman’s Brew Team running a planned early shut-off 5.595/245.45 run. This was a big step forward because the last outing resulted in multiple tire-melting launches. Getting the car to launch and hook to the track gave them a set of data to work with.
Coughlin counting the points he needs to reach the top 10
Courtesy of Jegs
SONOMA, CA – Two-time Sonoma champion Jeg Coughlin Jr. is hoping this weekend’s return to Sears Point Raceway will help him and his JEGS.com/Mopar Dodge Avenger Pro Stock race team solidify a spot in the Full Throttle Top 10.
Coughlin won the annual NHRA Sonoma Nationals in 2003 and 2010 and was runner-up at the event in 2008. He certainly knows what it takes to be successful in the Wine Country. But this year is different as arrives in town with a brand-new team that didn’t even exist at this point one year ago.
“We knew this season, especially the early part of the schedule, would be tough,” Coughlin said. “We started with a new engine program and a new racecar. It’s taken us time to get up to speed in a category that is extremely competitive.
“Now we’re standing here with four races left before the Countdown and things are coming together for us. We’re just 26 points out of the top 10 and the car’s running better now than it has all year. The excitement has returned to the JEGS.com pit.”
Antron Brown, Jack Beckman, Allen Johnson, Eddie Krawiec and Alan Reinhart on WFO Radio
Courtesy of WFO
HOLLYWOOD, FL – Mopar Mile High NHRA Nationals winners, Antron Brown, Jack Beckman, Allen Johnson, and Eddie Krawiec all 
join Joe Castello, along with the NHRA’s Alan Reinhart, on WFO Radio NHRA Nitro. To listen now, go to http://www.wforadio.com/
Antron Brown,stops by WFO Radio to discuss his win in Denver, his thoughts on tying Shirley Muldowney and Darrell Gwynn in NHRA wins, being so close to the Aurora shooting, and preview race two of the Western Swing in Sonoma, CA.
Don Schumacher Racing funny car driver, Jack Beckman, talks about beating Courtney Force in the final round, his own story relating to Aurora, and his own attempt at sweeping the swing.
Quarterfinal Finish at Home track a Highlight for JEGS Team
Courtesy of Jegs
HEBRON, OH – Racing at National Trail Raceway, a place where the entire JEGS Mail Order team has enjoyed decades of continued success, Mike Coughlin managed a quarterfinal finish in this weekend’s North Central 
Division Lucas Oil Drag Racing series event.
Coughlin, whose extensive racing résumé includes five national event wins and one division event victory at the venerable facility, was primed for another big weekend behind the wheel of his JEGS.com Chevy Cobalt Top Sportsman entry but lost a close race in the quarterfinals. After a great starting line reaction time, Coughlin fell to opponent Glenn Butcher by just six-thousandths of a second, or just a few inches, at the finish line.
“That’s kind of been the story of my year so far,” Coughlin said. “That was a winnable round by all means. I had it won but I gave it back at the finish line. I was ahead just before the finish line and I figured that if I hadn’t seen him by then he wasn’t going to pass me so I lifted off the throttle and sure enough, he passed me. It was just one of those things that can happen when you try to make every round perfect.
Demke Back on Top in TA/D, Whiteley rules TA/FC with 5.50
Written by Todd Veney/Pro Sportsman Association
Sonoma, CA – At the Western Region event in Sonoma, Calif., Winternationals and Gatornationals champion Chris Demke earned his first regional victory of the season i
n Top Alcohol Dragster and rookie Annie Whiteley her third in Top Alcohol Funny Car, both from the No. 1 qualifying spot.
Demke, shut out since his Gatornationals victory in March except for a Jegs Allstars win last month (which doesn’t count for points), paced the field in qualifying with a 5.30 and in eliminations overcame the electrical gremlins that have plagued the team for weeks for his first win ever at Sonoma. “This team had won at every track in California – Pomona, Bakersfield, Sacramento, Palmdale, Fontana – except this one,” he said.
Demke nearly remained winless at the picturesque facility in the wine country north of San Francisco but had just enough to take out Ray Martin in the final, 5.44 to 5.45. “The engine shut off and came back on twice on that run,” said Demke, who survived a close one in which both drivers made their first runs out of the 5.30s all day.
Reichert Takes 3rd in a row, Ferro Winning Ugly!
Written by Todd Veney/Pro Sportsman Association
Photo by Steve Fuhrman
Hebron, OH – Backed into a corner after losing early in his first two regional starts, Bill Reichert won his third straight to complete a perfect regional season and put himself in position to challenge runaway points leader Jim Whiteley for the Alcohol Dragster
championship. Mickey Ferro had a much tougher time the negotiating the treacherous National Trail Raceway surface but managed to eke out the win in Top Alcohol Funny Car.
Reichert, upset in the first round at both Indianapolis and Norwalk, followed up his Maple Grove and Chicago wins by stopping Robin Samsel in the Columbus final, 5.40 to 5.84. “You try not to think about the pressure of having to win three races in a row for a perfect three-win regional season, but in the back of your mind, it’s always there,” said Reichert, who won every national championship from 2006 to 2010 and settled for second last year. “I just tried to concentrate on winning each round and dealing with the conditions.”
Finke wins first in 3 years, Manzo 3rd this year
Written by Todd Veney/Pro Sportsman Association
Photo by David Smith
Epping, NH – Before a packed house at the Eastern Regional event at New England Dragway, John Finke had a .006 reaction time in the under-the-lights Top Alcohol Dragster final and ran a consistent 5.36 to stop No. 1 qualifier Richard Bourke. In Top Alcohol Funn
y Car, defending event champ Frank Manzo overcame a rare late light to run down John Anderika by seven-thousandths of a second, 5.60 to 5.69.
“This is one of the best wins I’ve ever had – definitely the best one that wasn’t a national event,” said Finke, a three-time national event champion. “I almost didn’t believe it when I got out of the car at the top end of the track. I thought ‘I did win, didn’t I?’ because I never saw my win light come on. I didn’t know for sure until the crew came down there flashing the lights at me.”
Finke had endured five runner-ups since his last victory, at the Englishtown Division 1 event in 2009. “The last couple of years were pretty tough,” he said. “We got close a few times but could never get the job done.”
Latino wins PMRA race at IHRA Nitro Jam Nationals
Courtesy of PMRA
GRAND BEND, ON – Eric Latino returned to the winner’s circle today, capturing the Pro Modified Racing Association event held as part of the IHRA MOPAR Nitro Jam Nationals at the Grand Bend Motorplex.
The race was the fourth of seven on the 2012 PMRA tour. Latino’s win was his fourth in PMRA competition.
Driving his Team Green 1969 Chevy Camaro Pro Modified, Latino, of Whitby, Ontario, bested Rocky Di Lecce of Mississauga Ontario in the final round held on the Grand Bend quarter-mile strip.
Latino qualified fourth in the event with a 6.057-second, 238.09-mph posting. Di Lecce qualified his 1968 Camaro third with a 6.005 run, just behind number two qualifier Jeff Roth of New Dundee, Ontario with a 6.004 in his Willys, while number one qualifier was Bruce Boland of Hamilton, Ontario, with a 5.979 posting in his Willys.
