15
May
MARTIN — The wheels on his tricycle might have smoked when Les Shockley was a toddler, but that ride certainly didn’t have the fire and noise his machine had before 15,000 fans at Knoll Gas Motorsports Park at U.S. 131.
Driving a twin jet-powered 1957 Chevy “ShockWave” pickup, Shockley, 64, easily won the unofficial title [...]
15
May
It takes more than courage to drive a nitromethane-burning Funny Car dragster down a quarter-mile track at a speed of more than 320 mph.
Few people know that better than Bob Gilbertson of Gastonia, who came close to parking his 7,000-horsepower hot rod this year over money…
[snip]
Jay Pennington, the managing director of Extraordinario Brands, said his [...]
11
May
MARTIN — For 51-year-old alcohol funny car driver Bobby Martin, drag racing as a kid was Hot Rod magazine and Saturday nights in the stands at the track.
For the man pitted four trailers over at the National City ThunderNationals Saturday at Knoll Gas Motorsports Park at US 131, drag racing as a kid was — [...]
18
Apr
I just noticed that quite a few NHRA crew shirts are for sale over on eBay. They’re a unique collectible if you are in the market for your favorite driver’s team gear.
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21
Mar
Former NHRA national-event-winning Funny Car driver Al Hofmann, a longtime fan favorite despite his take-no-prisoners exterior who gave John Force his most serious championship challenges in the mid-1990s, died March 20 of a heart attack at his home in Eustis, Fla. He was 60.
Hofmann, who won 15 times in 32 final-round appearances, was a regular [...]
11
Mar
Jerry Toliver will be behind the wheel of a new race car at this weekend’s NHRA Gatornationals in Gainesville, Fla., the third of 24 races on the 2008 POWERade Drag Racing Series schedule. The driver of the Rockstar Energy Drink Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car tested two days this week with a new chassis at [...]
11
Mar
ESPN2 airs coverage of one of the biggest and most prestigious events on the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series this weekend with action from the ACDelco NHRA Gatornationals in Gainesville, Fla.
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Tags: drag racing, Gainesville, Gatornationals, NHRA, Powerade, racing
7
Mar
GAINESVILLE, FLA (March 7, 2008) — Robert “Top Gun” Hight has a high level of respect for the drivers that have won and competed at Gainesville Raceway for the past four decades. He knows it is a special place for a variety of reasons, some happy and some sad.
Gainesville and Gainesville Raceway are home to [...]
7
Mar
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’ ‘89 Mustang GT 5.0 could run a high 10 on the street, he said.
“It had nitrous [...]
7
Mar
Former NHRA Top Fuel driver Mike Smith will experience a true father-son weekend when he makes his NHRA Funny Car debut during the upcoming ACDelco NHRA Gatornationals March 13-16 at famed Gainesville Raceway. Smith, son of legendary fuel tuner Paul Smith, will be driving the Tire Kingdom/Diamond Freight Distribution 2006 Monte Carlo. As an added [...]