John Force Racing Teams at NHRA Arizona Nationals   The race only lasts about 4 seconds. Four. Even F1's new engines at 15,000 rpm would only turn over 1000 times in four seconds. But no doubt, these nitro burning mothers make some power!    (Click any of these pictures to see them full size)   Back at the pits of John Force Racing, it went like this: Race, win, zip back to pits, body off, blink, the blower's on a bench, blink, the clutch is SMOKING next to the car. These guys don't play, so I wanted to show some pictures...     You'll have to look closely, but off to the right of the clutch shown here, you'll see some smoke rising up. One of Robert Height's crew members just moved this thing. Wonder if it's cool enough to touch before going back in?       This is the mess that goes with the heat of the clutch. It's a beautiful mess when you can rocket from 0 to 100 in under a second!       This was the thrash between rounds for Brittany Force's final...

Brittany Force of John Force Racing Team   Peaceful.    Lucky me, at the Arizona Nationals at Wild Horse Pass Raceway just outside Phoenix (my home track), I was treated to an extended visit with the newest member of the John Force Racing Team - Brittany Force. I shot a few pictures of the crew between rounds (remember Brittany was runner-up at this race!!) and during warm-up time. Believe it or not, this is Brittany right before 8000 horsepower fires behind her.   Brittany told me, for warm-up or before a race,  "I take a deep breath, trust the team to get ready, then it's my turn to drive and hopefully get a win!"   You may be correctly asking yourself... how does she look so good in the middle of a race? It gets better from here!!     Just another day at the office, but when it's time to get down to business, the mask goes on and she's the boss:     Finally, I ask you, would you look this happy if you'd just lost in your first final round? Well, she's been brought up right...

I Met Leah Pritchett Driver of Gumout Top Fueler   Thank you to Nicole Erickson for the pictures! Thanks to friends from Gumout, I met Leah Pritchett at her pits during the Arizona NHRA race at Wild Horse Pass. Check this out:   She's always been daddy's girl at the track She's just the driver   NOPE! Both are TOTALLY FALSE! Check it out...     Ya know how before you meet someone you start to anticipate what they're like? I guess you'd say it's just guessing, but I just figured I knew a little more about Leah before I arrived... OK. Yes. She's good looking... Better looking in person too and believe this too: Easy to like! Our interview could have been done quicker except for all the friends stopping by to wish her luck.   After a disappointing first round loss, I expected Leah to be down. I would be! Losing first round sucks even if it's a, "Run watch-cha brung" Wednesday night at your local track. She wasn't happy, but she took it in stride. Running 15 races this year with the help of Gumout (up from only 12...

Bad Blown Chevy Nova rips up Wild Horse Pass Quarter Mile     Glen Bolz, a buddy from near me in Arizona hooks us up with timely info about how his purpose drag race built 1966 Chevy Nova is doing at the track. He's doing well!!   The car's great enough to win at a car show and now does low 7's at almost 200 mph now that Glen's able to step on it some. It's even nice enough to grace the August cover of Chevy High Performance magazine. Glen's best pass is shown below. The 3 camera compilation is right on!   [youtube]http://youtu.be/Z7rvquTtxAI[/youtube]     There you have it! 7.25@193 mph - the fastest this car has ever run! She's a bit out of place as the only non-stickered car running in Top Sportman (non of that throttle-stop nonsense!) at the Division 7 race at Wild Horse Pass. Glad the rain let up long enough! If there's an update from the race, I'll post it.   Thanks again...

Save The Salt Foundation Gets $40,000 from "Century of Speed"   For those of us who have been honored to walk on the surface of what is known as The Bonneville Salt Flats, there is a myriad of terms used to describe the experience. Common words like magic or mystical or speed heaven are almost immediately used and usually accompany a kind of far-off gaze that comes over the face of the person relating their experience. It’s as if this specific part of the planet was put aside just for speed addicts.     For 100 years we speed addicts have pushed, pulled, carried or driven our mechanical mounts out to one of the strangest places on earth, where little survives and even less is welcome. Here on The Salt we’ve sought the ultimate prize of speed, shooting first for that magic 100 mile per hour plateau but today taking all sorts of racing machinery to 200, 300, 400…heck, let’s just go for 500 or 700 miles per hour. At Bonneville, though the limitations can place great obstacles in front of the speed demons that shoot across the shiny...

Gumout & Dote Racing Team for 2014 NHRA Top Fuel   Former Pro Mod Star Secures Major Sponsor in Tough Top Fuel Ranks   Gumout Performance Additives  announced sponsorship with young drag racing star Leah Pritchett and the Dote Racing Top Fuel dragster team for the 2014 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series.   Gumout, a trusted brand that has offered drivers numerous automotive performance products for nearly 70 years, returns to the NHRA professional drag racing ranks with the partnership with the Ohio-based Top Fuel squad and the talented California native, Pritchett behind the wheel of the Gumout/Dote Racing 8,000-horsepower, nitro-burning dragster.   Gumout became a drag racing staple in the 1970s and 1980s with the legendary “Grumpy’s Toy” Pro Stock car campaigned by Hall of Famer Bill “Grumpy” Jenkins.  Gumout expanded its motorsports activities following the Jenkins association with a variety of competitions included circle track racing, road racing, boat racing and off-road racing.   “We are extremely excited to return to NHRA professional drag racing in a big way with Leah Pritchett and the Dote Racing Top Fuel organization,” said Rusty Waples, Global Group Brand Manager at...

Rare 1968 Saab Sonett II makes up the base of this land speed record holder   The temperature is about 100 degrees, there’s no wind and what shade there is comes from an overhead tarp stretched from the side of a trailer. But Tom and Patti Donney are busy moving around their race car, methodically checking it over and getting ready for another trip to the starting line last August during Speed Week 2013.   Getting the couple to break away and actually sit down to talk about their passion for speed seems, well…awkward. You learn right away that Tom and Patti aren’t just talk. They DO. With no reservation.   The little ’68 Saab Sonett II sits at center stage of this passion that began just three short years ago and has culminated each of those three years during fabled Speed Week which happens each August on the Bonneville Salt Flats, a desolate, but perfectly flat expanse of salt outside Wendover, Utah.   A full cage and chassis was built to fit the Saab plastic body. (Phone camera photo)   The head is off the Sonett’s three cylinder...

1959 Devin is the "Bontrager-Wilbeck Drag Special" It was 1962. Dean Bontrager and Jay Wilbeck wanted to go drag racing, but they didn't want to do it like everybody else. They could have gone the way of a “factory-produced” muscle car or even picked up a nice little Ford coupe or roadster to go haul the mail.   But... they wanted to do something different and the Bontrager-Wilbeck Drag Special was born, using the ingenuity, hard earned cash and long hours of both Dean and Jay. They were going racing and this was going to be their “steed of choice”.   Both racers knew going lightweight was going to be key, along with some big time horsepower. They chose a 1959 Devin SS, a lightweight body produced by Devin Cars, a company founded by Bill Devin, who specialized in various racing cars and fiberglass kit cars in the 1950s and 1960s. Devin built a car that had the style, sophistication, and performance of a Ferrari but sold for a lot less. Ferraris demanded a high price due to pedigree, but Devin decided to exploit the market and offer a nearly...

New Entries Selected from the SEMA 2013 Show Floor     OPTIMA® Batteries Announces “Golden Ticket” Winners for the 2013 Ultimate Street Car Invitational Best-of-the-Best SEMA Show Vehicles Selected to Compete In Sixth Annual Invitational on November 9th   November 7, 2013 (LAS VEGAS) – OPTIMA® Batteries announced the final vehicle participants for the 2013 OPTIMA Ultimate Street Car Invitational, during a press conference at the SEMA Show. These qualifiers were selected by a committee of OPTIMA and industry representatives who walked the SEMA show floor in Las Vegas to recognize the best of the best across all performance vehicle segments.   The following drivers are the finalists selected, earning a spot to compete in this year’s OPTIMA Ultimate Street Car Invitational: 2010 Audi R8, William Horan 1950 Chevy Thriftmaster Truck, Jonathan Ward 1993 Mazda RX-7, Scott Sangpiel 1973 Chevy Camaro, Randy Johnson 2013 Ford Focus ST-M, Mark German 1969 Pontiac GTO, Darren Nickleson 1965 Ford Mustang, Alan Palmer 1995 Toyota Supra, Joe Delgato 1968 Chevy Camaro, Karl Dunn 1967 Ford Mustang, Ed Moss   “There are so many extraordinary vehicles at SEMA and we are always impressed with the quality of unique vehicles that are at the show,”...

OPTIMA Invitational Qualifier Lynda Jacobs   It's been my pleasure to work with Optima for their after-SEMA race called the Optima Ultimate Street Car Invitational. What is it? Well, check this out to catch up... Basically, it's a race of the best cars from the SEMA Show floor and qualifying races all over the country.   One racer happens to drive a road hugging, original appearing 1966 Chevelle SS 396 convertible and SHE is every bit the muscle car enthusiast and race car driver you'd ever imagine!  Qualifying at LS Fest, she's the real deal. Meet Lynda Jacobs.     Lynda kindly told us her story of racing and her first muscle car, this black-plate 1966 Chevelle.   Words and Pictures from Lynda...   My husband Chris and I have been married for 15 years. We both had cars and racing in our lives and that also played into our meeting as well. A mutual friend who had a body shop helped make the introduction and the rest was history. We went to Great Lakes Dragway on our second date. Chris has been into Chevelles his whole life. First car was...

Who's Coming and What Radical Race Car are they bringing?   2013 OPTIMA® Ultimate Street Car Invitational: Second Group of Finalists Revealed If you can't find a car to like in this group... you don't like cars! From a BMW M3 wagon to classic Camaros and Mustangs, the OUSCI has you covered. All of these race cars will be seen at SEMA, many of them inside as part of vendor displays. Then on Friday, they'll take to the streets and make the parade lap leaving SEMA followed by a rally-style out to Pahrump, NV and the Spring Mountain Ranch race track where they'll kick things off on Saturday morning. Check out more details below.   The Upcoming Sixth Annual OPTIMA® Ultimate Street Car Invitational to Showcase a Strong Mix of Imported and Domestic Vehicles   OPTIMA Batteries, the global leader in high-performance automotive and marine batteries, gears up for the sixth annual OPTIMA Ultimate Street Car Invitational, presented by K&N Filters and Royal Purple, by revealing the initial list of drivers and vehicles that have been invited to compete in the event. OPTIMA Batteries has long been the battery of choice for many automotive enthusiasts looking for better...

OPTIMA Shootout Qualifiers at Road America Premiere of OPTIMA’s Search for the Ultimate Street Car: Faceoff at Road America Qualifier Event to Air on MAV TV Network   OPTIMA’s Faceoff at Road America Qualifying Event Episode Premieres Thursday, October 31 with more high intensity performance vehicles and nail-biting action Oct. 17, 2012 (MILWAUKEE) – OPTIMA® Batteries, the global leader in high-performance automotive and marine AGM batteries and chargers, is proud to announce the premiere of the OPTIMA’s Search for the Ultimate Street Car series to air on Thursday, October 31 at 6 p.m. EDT and 9 p.m. EDT on MAV TV.   In the premiere, viewers will get a behind-the-scenes look at the action during the OPTIMA Faceoff at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. This regional qualifying event introduces a diverse range of performance vehicles and the stories behind the passionate drivers as they compete on one of the most historic race tracks in America.   “This episode captures the passion of the automotive community with a great cast of entertaining characters. If you’re looking for fast beautiful cars, then this is your show,” said Cam Douglass director of product development and marketing for OPTIMA Batteries....