Troxel, Johnson share marital rivalry
POMONA - Drag racing's history is full of rivalries among family members.
From the father-son battle between Warren Johnson and son Kurt in Pro Stock, the daughter vs. father face-off of Ashley and John Force in Funny Car, to the husband and wife meetings between John Smith and Rhonda Hartman-Smith in Top Fuel, relation and rivalry go hand in hand.
This season, a new one has emerged, with Tommy Johnson Jr. and his wife, Melanie Troxel, who unlike the others...(Snip)
First-year Funny Car driver Melanie Troxel gets down the quarter-mile track in 4.90 seconds and 316.45 mph during qualifying run at NHRA POWERade Winternationals in Pomona, on Thursday, Feb.
Tags: drag racing, Force, Funny Car, John Force, Johnson, Melanie Troxel, NHRA, Pomona, Powerade, racing, Tommy Johnson, Tommy Johnson Jr, Top FuelESPN Drag Racing Analyst Mike Dunn Feels 2008 Could Be Year for Women in Funny Car
NHRA POWERade Series Season Begins This Weekend on ESPN2
As the 2008 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series season rolls to the starting line this weekend, ESPN drag racing analyst Mike Dunn feels that drag racing fans will see history made this year with the first victory by a woman in the Funny Car class.
ESPN2 will have prime-time, same-day coverage of both qualifying and final eliminations from the 48th annual CARQUEST Auto Parts Winternationals from Auto Club Raceway in Pomona, Calif. Qualifying coverage airs Saturday, Feb. 9, from 8-10 p.m., while finals coverage airs the next night from 7:30-11 p.m. ESPN Classic re-airs the finals Monday, Feb. 11, at 10 a.m.
Dunn, a 22-time winner in NHRA competition during his career and one of only three drivers to score 10 or more wins in both the Top Fuel and Funny Car classes, said that the Funny Car class will be one of the most interesting to watch this season, starting this weekend at Pomona.
“You have Melanie Troxel moving over from Top Fuel to Funny Car,” Dunn said. “And obviously with Ashley Force in her sophomore season, that’s going to be a good story because I think one of them, if not both, will win a race this year. Both of them have very good race cars. They definitely have a shot.”
All eyes in Pomona will be on NHRA superstar John Force, returning from serious injuries suffered in a crash during last year’s Dallas event. Force will be trying to win his 15th NHRA Funny Car title in the 2008 season.
“The biggest story to start off the season is the comeback of John Force after that accident,” said Dunn. “He tested in Phoenix and although he’s hobbling around and still doing his rehabilitation he was able to get in and out of the car and post the quickest and fastest times for his class on the weekend, so that’s going to be a big story to watch.”
Every February since 1961, fans have flocked to Pomona for the traditional opening of the drag racing season, and second-generation driver Dunn enjoys the excitement of the event that he started attending with his father, Hall of Fame racer “Big Jim” Dunn.
“As a kid growing up in Southern California, I used to love going to the Winternationals because everybody had new equipment and new paint schemes and everybody was just excited to get the season started after the winter,” he said.
“There’s just a whole different vibe to that race than probably any other race,” he said. “It’s our second-oldest race, only to the U.S. Nationals, so it’s a big event to win and it means a lot.”
Paul Page anchors ESPN2’s coverage from Pomona, joined in the booth by Dunn for analysis. Gary Gerould and Dave Rieff report from the pits.
Rieff and Dunn also host NHRA RaceDay at 11 a.m. Sunday on ESPN2. Originating from Nitro Alley at Pomona, the show will set up that day’s final elimination action with interviews and features. An episode of NHRA Thrills and Spills airs Sunday at 7 p.m., prior to the start of finals coverage.
Visit www.espnmediazone.com for ESPN's latest releases, schedules and other news, plus photos, video and audio clips and more.
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To John Force, safety is everything in racing
For three decades, John Force raced by the same creed that Vince Lombardi preached while coaching football: “Winning is everything.”
And no one won more than Force – 14 drag racing season championships and 125 events.
But Force's view of everything – life as well as racing – changed last year during a season that the driver yesterday recalled as “a nightmare of heartbreak.” ...
Read the full story by Bill Center of the San Diego Union Tribune
Tags: drag racing, Force, John Force, race, racing, safetyForce returns to action at Phoenix test and immediately runs low
John Force is back! He will continue testing at Firebird Raceway through Wednesday.
From NHRA's Rob Geiger:
Climbing into a Funny Car for the first time since his devastating accident Sept. 23 in Dallas, 14-time champion John Force needed just one warm-up pass before blasting his way to the forefront of the National Time Trials with the quickest and fastest pass of the four-day test session. Force's 4.782 at 327.51 mph was so good he ended up out in the Arizona desert past the final turn-off, but the most prolific Funny Car driver of all time was still smiling when he emerged unscathed from his dusty Castrol GTX Ford Mustang.
[...]
New Funny Car champion Tony Pedregon was the closest to Force but he was almost a tenth of a second back with a best of 4.869 at 278.98 mph in his Q Racing Monte Carlo R/T. Gary Scelzi was next with a 4.879 at 318.02 mph in his Mopar/Oakley Charger R/T, while Cruz Pedregon (4.959) and Jerry Toliver (4.992) also dipped below five seconds on the day.
NHRA ready to test repaved Firebird
NHRA drivers - including John Force - will begin to test the limits of a new 700-foot concrete launch pad during the National Time Trials today through Sunday at Firebird International Raceway.
Force, a 14-time Funny Car champion, plans to be back in his Castrol Ford Mustang for the first time since suffering multiple foot, knee, hand and wrist injuries in a September accident. Force first must show NHRA officials that he can get out of his car quickly in the event of another incident.
Five-time Top Fuel champion Tony Schumacher calls the fresh starting line surface "a gift."
"A Top Fuel car leaves with so much power early on that the clutch system will try to lock up around 600...
Read Michael Knight's full story in the Arizona Republic
Ashley Force; How to handle life with 7,000 horsepower when your dad is the best at it
It's the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Nationals in Englishtown, N.J., and Ashley Force is in her element.
It's a few hours before she wriggles into her flame-retardant suit and launches her funny car to 320 m.p.h. (510 km-h) for John Force Racing, competing with her legendary father John Force.
"I'm excited because its cool, it doesn't feel very humid. It's great conditions; the drier the air the better." She speaks over the cackle of the engines, instinctively pausing when the roar is too deafening.
It's June, mid way through her first season competing in the Funny Car division ...
Read full story Belleville Intelligencer, Canada
Tags: Ashley Force, Force, Funny Car, John Force, NHRA, racingDixon, Head are quickest of cautious first day pack at National Time Trials
Two-time NHRA POWERade Top Fuel champion Larry Dixon made it the furthest down Firebird International Raceway Friday during the first of three days of preseason testing at the National Time Trials in Phoenix. Using the knowledge he gained a week ago in his first test session, Dixon did the best of taming a green FIR with his 1,000-foot squirt of 4.715 at 263.51 mph in his U.S. Smokeless Tobacco dragster.
John Force's youngest daughter Courtney also looked sharp in her first full pass in Darien & Meadows Top Alcohol Dragster, running a 5.907 at 237.30 mph. The quickest Funny Car on the property was Jim Head's 6.269 at 144.12 mph in his Toyota Solara. Most of the 14 Top Fuel racers and 12 Funny Car pros couldn't get past halftrack under power as they got their first chance at running under the new 90-percent nitro rule...
Tags: Force, Funny Car, Jim Head, John Force, NHRA, Nitro, Powerade, race, Testing, Top Fuel, ToyotaBan of leaded fuels killer blow to drag racing in Canada
January 19, 2008 by Robert
Filed under Racing News
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The Government of Canada is going to kill drag racing in this country, industry experts predict.
The pending decision to implement a total and permanent ban on the use of leaded fuels for competition purposes, effective Jan. 1, 2009, will force tracks such as Grand Bend Motorplex and St. Thomas Dragway to close, say their owners.
Read full story in the London Free Press
Tags: car, drag racing, dragway, Force, IHRA, motorsports, racing