NHRA icon leading the push for improved chassis
POMONA - Few would argue John Force is the most popular ever in drag racing and the most dominant driver in the 56-year history of NHRA.
Fourteen time NHRA funny car champion John Force is coming back from the worst year of his racing career...
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Tags: drag racing, Force, Funny Car, John Force, NHRA, Pomona, racingNHRA has questions to answer – San Diego Union Tribune
Auto Racing DailyNHRA has questions to answerSan Diego Union Tribune, United States - 8 hours ago"We matched or broke every attendance record last year, but to be honest I don't know where the NHRA is going right now," Carlsbad Funny Car driver Ron ...
Toliver qualifies No. 2 at Winternationals Autochannel (press release)A broken valve holds Wilkerson back in the opening round of Pomona ...
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Tags: Funny Car, NHRA, Pomona, racing, Wilkerson, WinternationalsYorkville’s Burkart waiting for another chance in NHRA
YORKVILLE – Bring up his future as a Funny Car drag racer, and going nowhere, fast, isn’t what Yorkville’s Phil Burkart Jr. has in mind.
“It’s about the dream that you choose and how far you’re willing to go to chase it, and I’m flying thousands of miles to chase mine,” said Burkart a few days ago, before leaving for California and the 2008 National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) series opener at Pomona Raceway....
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Tags: Burkart, Funny Car, NHRA, Phil Burkart, Pomona, raceBrown seizes qualifying lead at NHRA season-opener
Former Pro Stock Motorcycle rider Antron Brown raced to the Top Fuel qualifying lead Friday in the CARQUEST Auto Parts NHRA Winternationals at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona.
Tags: Antron, Antron Brown, Brown, NHRA, Pomona, race, racing, Top Fuel, WinternationalsTroxel, 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 FuelHerbert returns to racing after tragedy
His sons were killed last month in a car crash, and he's back where he feels relaxed -- behind the wheel of a top-fuel dragster.
Doug Herbert didn't need to post a monster number Thursday. The oversized driver nicknamed "Dougzilla" needed only an uneventful run down the quarter mile at Pomona Raceway for his life to regain some sense of normalcy.
It has been anything but normal since Jan. 26, when Herbert was called away from testing his top-fuel dragster in Phoenix by...
Read the full story in the Los Angeles Times, by Martin Henderson
Tags: crash, Doug Herbert, NHRA, Pomona, race, racingHerbert will race with a heavy heart
POMONA - Doug Herbert will be racing with a heavy heart as the NHRA Powerade Drag Racing Series begins today with the Winternationals, but he knows he'll have company.
On Jan. 26 in Cornelius, N.C., a traffic accident claimed the lives of Herbert's two sons, Jon, 17, and James, 12. The Top Fuel driver immediately left the test session outside Phoenix to be with 9-year-old daughter Jessie and wife Sonny.
Herbert has one goal in mind: to win the championship for his boys.
Read the full story by Louis Brewster of The Sun in San Bernardino
Tags: Doug Herbert, drag racing, NHRA, Pomona, Powerade, race, racing, 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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