It was another exciting weekend for the teams and drivers at the 2018 E3 Spark Plugs NHRA Pro Mod Drag Racing Series presented by J&A Service. Featuring the world's fastest door-slammer racecars on the planet, the series is the only class that allows for multiple makes of cars, builders and engines to compete heads up. From historic muscle cars like a nitrous-powered '67 Mustang to late model classics with full-blown superchargers, Pro Mod is drawing 30-plus weekly competitors separated by hundredths-of-a-second at the finish line. With more than 3,000 horsepower, the suspended door Pro Mod cars travel the quarter-mile in less than six seconds at speeds exceeding 250 mph. Rumors of a driver change circulated mid-week with the announcement that the man who is responsible for the...

Funny Car driver Ron Capps loves coming to Thunder Valley. After all, Bristol Dragway has been hosting an NHRA National event since 1965, which is the same year the San Luis Obispo driver was born. The NAPA Funny Car pilot now ranks second all time in Funny Car wins with 58 and earned a Wally for Top Fuel dragster back in 1995. Moreover, Capps secured his first victory of the 2018 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series. The win was Capps fifth at Bristol Raceway and his second consecutive breaking a tie for totals wins he had shared with John Force. Capps only qualified 11th overall for the event but wasted no time in eliminating three Funny Car greats, John Force, Robert Hight and J.R. Todd, on his path to the final round. Capps secured Schumacher's milestone 300th nitro team win with a...

Sunday's final run in Pro Mod set the stage for a battle of Al Anabi Performance (AAP) supercharged Chevy Camaros. Staring at the backside of a Mike Janis Supercharger, Janis posted a 5.821-second pass at 246.26 mph to claim the fifth Wally of his career with a victory at the E3 Spark Plugs NHRA Pro Mod Drag Racing Series held at Virginia Motorsports Park. Janis defeated his teammate, Mike Castellana who ran a slightly faster 246.93 mph with a 6.002 pass in his first trip to the final run in 2018. Janis had eliminated the Dodge Daytona of Pete Farber while Castellana defeated the Corvette of Rick Hord enroute to the finals. The victory moved Janis past Rickie Smith (two-time 2018 Pro Mod winner) to take over the points lead. It was a busy week and weekend for the Pro Mod class with...

Courtney Force added to her overall points lead with a Funny Car victory at the 2018 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series in Dinwiddie VA over the weekend. It was Courtney's fourth win of the season boosting the top female Funny Car driver to a 173-point lead over "Fast Jack" Beckman and 191 points ahead of teammate Robert Hight. When "Force versus Force" tripped the Christmas tree in staging, it marked the 50th time in history that John Force Racing had two cars face off in an NHRA final run. Courtney posted a 4.039-second pass at 321.96 mph in her Advanced Auto Parts Camaro to eliminate her 69-year-old father John as well as even their head-to-head final round score at three a piece. Twelve years ago, 2018 points leader Steve Torrence competed in his first Top Fuel event at Virginia...

Nashville, TN, (May 29, 2018) One of today’s most exciting classes in NHRA drag racing has become the Pro Mod series, now in its first season sponsored by E3 Spark Plugs. The 2018 E3 Spark Plugs NHRA Pro Mod Drag Racing Series presented by J&A Service is a show like no other in the NHRA series as it allows multiple makes of cars, builders and engines to compete on a level playing field. This combination is drawing ever increasing throngs of fans to each city that Pro Mod races at NHRA. The 2018 season is shaping up yet again, as a special one with winners and runners-up being divided with barely thousands-of-a-second from a Pro Modified entry field of over 30 cars per market.   One of the competing racers is Steve Jackson from Augusta, Ga. Steve started racing in 1994...

It isn't a surprise to fans of the E3 Spark Plugs NHRA Pro Mod Series that Rickie Smith is on track for another successful season. No one works harder or has more fun racing Pro Mod. However, the long weekend at Heartland Motorsports Park saw relative newcomer Chad Green waiting out the rain showers while holding on to the Number One qualifying position. In his second qualifying run on Friday, Green ran a 5.762 pass at 250.13 mph in the Bond-Coat 2017 Corvette. Steven Whiteley was seeded second with a faster speed of 252.28 mph but a slower ET of 5.782. Eventual winner Rickie Smith held the third place qualifying position with a 5.800 at 248.43 mph. With racing postponed Sunday due to intermittent rain, Pro Mod teams had an extra day on the road before capping off the Heartland...

No, it is not one of the speeds clocked for Pro Stock at the NHRA Heartland Nationals. That's the average-speed (230.088 mph) for the first lap of qualifying on "Pole Day" for the 102nd running of the Indianapolis 500. The front straight grandstands erupted in an uproar of cheering fans when Indianapolis's hometown boy, Ed Carpenter, posted the only 230 mph-plus lap time for the Month of May. Carpenter, who grew up at the Brickyard, was on his way to a four-lap average of 229.618 mph, which was good enough to claim pole position for next Sunday's historic event. Equally as impressive, was the fact that Ed Carpenter Racing, which is housed at the 2.5-mile facility, placed all three cars in the Top 7 starting positions for the race. Danica Patrick, who has already announced her...

It is never a surprise for NHRA race fans to see a woman driver standing on top of the podium when the smoke clears at the end of Sunday's finals. After all Leah Pritchett and Brittany Force are among the favorites at any Top Fuel dragster event; and Brittany's younger sister Courtney followed in their older sister Ashley's shoes as a consistent winner in Funny Car. You can add Angelle Sampey's 3 championships (43 overall wins) in Pro Stock Motorcycle and Erica Enders 2 championships (23 overall wins) in Pro Stock, and the minority contingent are always among the drivers to beat on any given Sunday. But, who were the female drivers responsible for crawling behind the wheel to get ball rolling? The famous Grand Prix racing driver of the 1920s was known by her stage name, Hellé...

Nashville, TN, (May 15, 2018)…One of today’s most exciting classes in drag racing has become the Pro Mod series, such as the National Muscle Car Association sponsored by E3 Spark Plugs. Pro Modified  is the only one that allows multiple makes of cars, builders and engines to compete on a level playing field. This combination is now drawing ever increasing throngs of fans to each city that Pro Mod races. The 2018 season is shaping up yet again, as a special one with barely hundredths-of-a-second continually dividing winners and runners up. One of the competing racers is Craig Sullivan, from Avon, IN. Craig started racing 30 years ago when he was 16 years old. “My Dad ran modified production when I was a kid, and that got me into the sport,” says Sullivan....

Nashville, TN, (May 15, 2018)…One of today’s most exciting classes in NHRA drag racing has become the Pro Mod series that is now in its first season, sponsored by E3 Spark Plugs. The 2018 E3 Spark Plugs NHRA Pro Mod Drag Racing Series presented by J&A Service is the only one that allows multiple makes of cars, builders and engines to compete on a level playing field. This combination is now drawing ever increasing throngs of fans to each city that Pro Mod races at NHRA. The 2018 season is shaping up again as one packed with thrills as barely hundredths-of-a-second divides the number 1 with the 16th qualifier, from entries topping 30 cars per event.   One of the competing racers is Shane Molinari, from Battleground, WA. Shane started bracket racing in 1985,...