Don Schumacher's a car owner, right? Yea, that's what he is now. He's got 6 full-pro NHRA drag racing teams running including his son and Top Fuel Champion Tony Schumacher. Before that, Don Schumacher was the pilot of his "Stardust" Funny Car.  Don retired from racing  in 1974 to focus on his family business and it's said, "a huge sigh of relief was heard from rivals like Gene Snow and Raymond Beadle in Texas, Pat Foster and Don Prudhomme in California and the late “Jungle Jim” Liberman in Pennsylvania."  Known as “The Shoe” he was tearing up tracks, especially at match races and even in England where you'll find several records he set as an ambassador for drag racing across the big pond. Shoe won the winner of the  1972 Coca-Cola Cavalcade of Stars,  the 1973 AHRA World Championship, 5 NHRA (including Indy) and 9 IHRA event titles driving his Plymouth Barracuda Funny Cars always called “Stardust”. Don Schumacher, the driver and mega-team owner who wears all 6 team colored shirts on any given weekend is our next "Top Five Most Influential Funny Cars" Don "The Shoe" Schumacher's Top 5 Funny Cars “I have to start off with...

MyRideisMe.com has your Funny Car hookups! We asked 3 current NHRA superstars in funny car and top fuel what funny cars are their "Top 5" most influential of all time, and why. Look for the Top 5 from Ed McCulloch, Ron Capps and Don Schumacher. Let's get started with the Napa Auto Parts funny car crew chief, Ed "Ace" McCulloch. The "Ace" has a drag racing career stretching back more than 30 years. A socal boy living right in the middle of where hot rods and drag racing really took off. It's no wonder he's driven everything from top fuel to funny's. During those early days racing all over the country at whatever track was paying, he learned what it takes to make a nitro burning beast go fast and more importantly, win. He's got 18 wins in funny car and another 4 in top fuel and he won at Indy 5 times. "Ace" is truly a legend in funny car and a perfect kick off for MyRideisMe.com's 5 Most influential Funny Cars... Ed "Ace" McCulloch's Top 5 Funny Cars “Going back some years, probably 'Jungle Jim' Liberman would...

For #3, MyRideisMe.com went in search of Nostalgia Funny Cars.  We scored a great find when we discovered the  www.70sfunnycars.com website in our internet search.  The website itself is vintage too, as it was established in 1998...was the internet even around back then? Ha Ha "Remember when Funny Cars actually resembled their street driven cousins? Real Funny Cars, and not show cars, actually appeared at car shows? Funny Cars had names, showed up to the races on open ramp trucks, and used tow cars often supplied by spectators after the crowd was pulsed by the track announcer for "volunteers?" This Vintage Funny Car website has many hidden jewels and is sure to bring back memories!  You'll need a couple hours to soak in all this 'Nostalgia'.  We'll launch into more in the future from 70sFunnyCars.com...we've only just gone through the waterbox and started our 1st burnout (..."Remember when Funny Cars would do 5 burnouts")! Have your own pictures or stories about your favorite Nostalgia Funny Car from 'back in the day'? Please share them by emailing to: nostalgiaFC@MyRideisMe.com Or, leave a comment below, you don't need to be a member.   If you like what you see, please Join us! as a member...

Professional Racers Owners Organization’s (PRO) “Great Helmet Auction” INDIANAPOLIS, In. – On June 6, 2009, PRO’s Great Helmet Auction will go live on eBay! This 10-day auction (ends June 15th) features autographed helmets, most worn during NHRA Drag Racing competition, by stars of the sport including: Jack Beckman Brandon Bernstein Kenny Bernstein Antron Brown Ron Capps V. Gaines Mike Edwards Ashley Force-Hood John Force Matt Hagan Robert Hight Allen Johnson Warren Johnson Doug Kalitta Ron Krisher Cory McClenathan Mike Neff Tony Schumacher Bob Vandergriff Jr. Tim Wilkerson For a full description of these driver’s helmets, including their history, photographs and a link to each helmet on eBay, visit www.GreatHelmetAuction.com. Mark your calendars now with the following dates: June 6 – The Great Helmet Auction begins on eBay. June 15 – Last day to bid and win! June 16 – Helmet winners announced. Winning bids benefit PRO, an organization that provides services and other benefits to professional drag racing team owners and drivers, with a portion of proceeds to benefit Racers for Christ (Team RFC), which has serviced NHRA for over 25...

Drift Day 26 Story and Photos by Daniel Lo over at Corner Speed Photo Thanks Dan! This past Sunday marked my first time shooting 4 wheels for me. My first love is the 2 wheeled variety over at Corner Speed Photo. Thanks to some professional guidance, I think it worked out! Held at USA International Raceway in Shawano, WI, "Drift Day 26" featured big names from the Midwest drift scene with the likes of Simba Nyemba of GripGambler and Mike Pollard of TMF Opposition in attendance. All this was made possible by my friend and pro shooter Danny Lim who was covering the event for Wrecked Magazine and was kind enough to invite an amateur to tag along. Check out his coverage of Formula Drift at Long Beach this year. Having had fairly minimal exposure to the sport of drifting beyond watching The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift and the odd YouTube clip, it took me a while to understand what exactly I was supposed to be shooting. Fortunately, Danny was on hand to coach me thru the basics so I had a bit of a jumpstart on...

"I wanted out of that run so bad I unhooked the harness and was driving about 125 mph sitting on top of the roll cage, steering with my feet." If you found this story at MyRideisMe.com, you already know that Bonneville International Speedway and Salt Flats Land Speed Racing have quite a history. That history is filled with amazing pioneers in hot rodding, racing, and humans just plain going fast! The previous story from the Salt Flat Racing category: Salt Flats Car Show, the Bonneville Salt Flats are seriously the mecca for hot rodders and custom car nuts. This 1929 roadster typifies; race car and family history of Salt Flat and Land Speed Racing you're sure to find with every trip to the Salt. The owner Larry Volk, together with his family of Land Speed Racers have their own Salt Flats racing history. The Volk Family was kind enough to loan me their racing scrapbook full of newspaper clippings and photos so I could scan a few to share that rich history here at MyRideisMe.com. The recent pics you see were snapped this last Saturday at a church parking...

MyRideisMe.com is a big fan of John Force and John Force Racing.  Combine that with the idea that we'll help worthy causes and this is a win-win. This food drive is Saturday,  May 9th, so help out any way you can. John Force Racing Press Release: ASHLEY FORCE HOOD ASKS FANS TO JOIN HER AND STAMP OUT HUNGER YORBA LINDA, CA (May 7, 2009) --- NHRA Funny Car superstar and 2007 Automobile Club of Southern California Road to the Future winner Ashley Force Hood would like fans to join her in helping “Stamp Out Hunger.” Please join her in the fight to end hunger on Saturday, May 9, 2009, by leaving non-perishable food donations in a bag next to your mailbox for your letter carrier. Stamp Out Hunger is the nation’s largest single-day food drive. Last year, over 73 million pounds of food were donated to food banks. “I found info about the Stamp Out Hunger event in a magazine a few days ago and jotted it down in my organizer since it’s such a simple thing to do and yet a very important cause. When I got to...

When's the last time you held onto the edge of your seat watching a small format racing video like what you see on Youtube? You're in for a treat. I found this video while surfing NAGTROC.org, the North American GT-R Owners Club website. It's not a video of the GT-R, but it's the kind of stuff anyone who loves fast cars would really get into. The video is made by Race Media TV, a German website that specializes in track race videos (from what I can see) and I'm guessing they have the Nurburgring right in their back yard. Give the video just 1 minute to get past the short into that precedes a Dodge Viper chasing at Porsche GT3 around the twists at the Nurburgring. Some serious driving skills shown by all!...

Ford Falcon: Turbo Race Car I met, Kelly McLearran at the Speedworld Nostalgia Drags and found out she's was more then just the pilot of this 10 second quarter mile 1963 Ford Falcon.   As if that blasting 10's with 2 less cylinders than the average racer weren't enough, she's also known to turn a few wrenches, they run E85 instead of race fuel and I'm delighted to say she's a breast cancer survivor.   If you didn't know already I'm a Ford Falcon fan. Pops was a Ford mechanic for 25+ years, so when it came to drag racing, sprint cars or of course NASCAR, we were always routing for the blue oval boys.   So when I found this killer home built Falcon at the drags way up town at Speedworld, I had to take a look. I've seen this car before and heard about the woman driving it from the forum at fordsix.com. Between rounds, we had a chat about how she made a Ford six cylinder run that hard and why, My Ride is Me. Kelly's website, Quarter Mile for a Cure, tells her story....

"The Gasser Tribute Car was built as a tribute to all the drivers, owners and fans that loved these kinds of cars. It is probably one of the last A Gas Supercharged Olds powered Willys coupes left in the country." Del Wiesner The Dean Seevers, Del Wiesner and Harold Owens '33 Willy's Olds-powered A-Gas Supercharged Gasser original reigned from Loveland, Colorado and ran at dragstrips across the country from 1962-1966. These 3 Loveland High School grads and car nuts started the first car club in town, the "Loveland Zephyrs" and soon after began racing the Willys. One highlight for the 3 friends was holding the American Hot Rod Association National Record in 1964 with a 10.00 seconds at 146.86 mph run. The crew raced some of the top names of the day and were very competitive. Del says after working 40 years with his businesses, he never forgot the impact that car had on him. "Once you get that in your blood, it's hard to let it go. It was the most exciting time of my life, so I decided to rebuild a part of history." Do yourself a...

YORBA LINDA, CA (April 2, 2009) --- John Force Racing, headquartered in Yorba Linda, Calif., will be expanding its tradition of giving back to the community beginning April 25th when the first of seven John Force Cruise Night Car Shows will be held. Participants and spectators at the John Force Cruise Night Car Shows are being encouraged to bring a can of food that will be donated to the Orange County Food Bank. For each can donated a raffle ticket will be distributed good for a chance to win a 52" Sanyo Flat Screen TV. If participants bring one can of food they get one ticket if they bring twenty cans of food they get twenty tickets or chances to win. The raffle will be held on Halloween at the final John Force Cruise Night Car Show of the season. "In December we have built up a tradition of giving toys to kids in need with the John Force Holiday Car Show that benefits the California Highway Patrol's "CHiP's for Kids" program. During these tough economic times we felt that we needed to do something for our community right...

I can never get too much Nostalgia Funny Car racing! If you can, then maybe you ain't right. When I saw that Lisa Jennings was promoting Funny car fever at my old "home track" of Sacramento Raceway, I wanted to help, so here's some info for you die-hard cracklefest-ing nostalgia drag racing folks! Funny Car Fever Is Back with it's first 16 Funny Car Field At Sacramento Raceway. The 28th Annual Funny Car Fever is back April 24th - 25th at Sacramento Raceway Park. 619 Promotions has added a new marketing partner… Mickey Thompson Performance Tire and Wheels. "Having such a valuable marketing partner as Mickey Thompson, has made it possible to put on the first ever 16 nitro funny car elimination field at Sacramento Raceway Park, giving the fans twice the show of last year’s event." said Lisa Jennings at 619 Promotions. "We are looking forward to working with Mickey Thompson on this historical event and hope this turns into a long partnership that benefits us both in the years to come." Mickey Thompson will have a fully manned support trailer on hand at Funny Car Fever at...