A single-engine plane crash in a motorhome lot near the top end of the In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip halted Sunday’s championship finale for almost two hours. (thank you George! )

The plane ended up nose-first into an RV, which was moved out of place by the incident. The cause of the crash is unknown and the investigation continues. The NTSB and the FAA have been notified.

“From what we know, the units rendered life-saving emergency medical services as well as mitigating any fire potential from the surrounding vehicles, generators, and things of that sort,” engineer Jonathan Torres, the public information officer for L.A. County Fire, told media at the scene. “From what we know, we have two critical patients and two moderate that have been transported to local emergency rooms.”

https://www.yahoo.com/news/plane-crashes-nhra-finals-pomona-201052384.html

https://racer.com/2024/11/17/nhra-finals-temporarily-halted-due-to-plane-crash-in-pomona/

The NHRA Nationals Oct 31 - Nov 03 2024 at at Las Vegas Motor Speedway is the weekend before SEMA, and 75-year-old member of every major auto racing Hall of Fame, John Force, will be there to support his team and family

Las Vegas is close enough to Force’s Yorba Linda, CA home that he can drive over. “I want to show my support for our race teams the fans and all our sponsors,” he said in making the announcement of his return to the community. “They stuck with me during a hard time, and I want them to know that I haven’t forgotten them and I haven’t gone anywhere. I’ve just been doing my rehab, trying to stay strong.”

Force has been treating both his physical injuries, the TBI and the successive effects of many incidents and violent crashes that have been part of his 50-year career. 

“I want to be there for Brittany and that team with (David) Grubnic and John Collins. They’re gonna win a race, and I want to be there when they do. I really can’t wait to see all my guys,” Force continued. “I love them and I’ve missed them and can’t wait to be with them again!”

https://www.nhra.com/schedule/2024/nhra-mission-foods-drag-racing-series/ford-performance-nhra-nationals

https://www.racingjunk.com/news/force-to-attend-24th-ford-performance-nhra-nationals-at-las-vegas

Jack Beckman has been named as the replacement driver of John Force’s car for the remainder of the 2024 season

https://www.nhra.com/news/2024/jack-beckman-named-replacement-driver-john-force-balance-season

Thank you George! 

John Force crashed hard, but was able to exit the wreck, and was alert while transported to a local hospital. No news outlet has ANY thing more to say at this time

 

hard to believe that after that crash, not a single news outlet, blogger, tweeter, etc is at the hospital, on the John Force team, in the family, and able to post a single word that describes his condition...

It would take less than a minute to say if he has broken anything, if he is lucid, if he was able to use his arms and legs to get out of the wreck? 

Not a damn word online. Ridiculous! 

A new milestone in drag racing has been reached: Mike Salinas is the first person in NHRA history to go 300 mph in the 1/8th mile.

Best I've ever done was 100, in 9 seconds, in the 1/8th

If you've drag raced, or been to an NHRA top fuel or funny car race, you know how mind blowing they shoot down the track. 

Since the NHRA cut the quarter mile race to 1,000 ft in 2008, racers have been developing cars reach the same top speeds in 1,000 ft that 2007-era cars reached in the quarter mile. 

So, we knew it would happen eventually, all records eventually fall as someone comes along with more determination, more money, more engineering, or better tech. 

Frickin remarkable power and traction. 

What makes Salinas unique in Top Fuel is that he owns and operates Scrappers Racing without a major full-time sponsorship. The name Scrappers comes from his career as an owner of a San Jose, California recycling business called Valley Services.

https://www.thedrive.com/news/nhra-drag-racer-broke-300-mph-in-the-1-8-mile-for-the-first-time-ever

Antron Brown and Ron Capps swept U.S. Nationals for the second straight year, winning in Top Fuel and Funny Car

Capps went 3.986 at 323.27 Sporting a special Don Prudhomme Hot Wheels throwback this weekend.

 Capps, who drove for the legendary Prudhomme early in his career, reveled in the magical moment as Prudhomme was in attendance all weekend to witness the victory. 

https://autos.yahoo.com/brown-capps-m-smith-repeat-234043098.html%20l

Family owned Bandimere Speedway's last NHRA race will be the Mile-High Nationals on July 14-16.

The race track has been open since 1958 under the ownership of the Bandimere family.

The drag racing final race, Pure Speed, is scheduled for October 28-29 and that will be the last use of the speedway, the surrounding development over the years is part of the reason 

https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2018/12/the-first-18-wheeler-ever-used-to-haul.html

https://kdvr.com/news/local/bandimere-speedway-closing-at-end-of-drag-racing-season/

cool car, cool name

 http://www.overdrive.fi/forum/threads/vanhoja-valokuvia-ameriikan-raitilta.267070/page-1303#post-3500134

the "Eddie Hill Rule"

Eddie Hill was qualifying for a 1997 event at Sonoma when his car suffered severe vibration as he crossed the finish line. The car went out of control and was completely destroyed.

Hill had two broken toes and a shoulder contusion, which were not serious injuries.

The run had been fast enough to make Hill the fastest qualifier, and Hill wanted to race his backup car in the first round on the day after the accident. The NHRA had a rule that the car used for qualifying had to be used in the event, so instead of doing something smart and keeping the racing going and making the fans happy, they said no.

The reaction was so bad to that botched call, the rule was changed to allow racers to race on race day even if they do not use the same car.

Eddie was 60 when he won his last top fuel race. 

How in the hell did he stand up after this crash? Beau Layne crashed into the wall at 215mph due to the front wheel coming back down at a slight angle

Beau Layne stood up to show there were no life threatening injuries so his family and team wouldn't freak out, but he was rushed to the hospital to surgery, "... he's got most of the skin and the tendons scraped off down to the bone," Capps explained.

https://www.thedrive.com/news/29284/video-nhra-harley-davidson-rider-beau-layne-suffers-violent-crash-at-215-mph

During the first round of qualifying at the Magic Dry Organic Absorbent NHRA Northwest Nationals

https://www.nhra.com/news/2019/top-fuel-harley-rider-beau-layne-involved-top-end-accident-northwest-nationals

https://www.facebook.com/BeauLayneTFH/

Did you know that the NHRA adjusts it's traction compound, based on factors like the horse power of the race cars?

The NHRA adjusted its traction-compound-to-alcohol ratio, and it took several races into the 2018 season before it settled on a reduction from 75 percent compound, 25 percent alcohol to 65/35.

“We made some changes at the (season-opening) Winternationals to reduce the amount of track prep at the top end of the track, which seemed to be the root of the problem.

“But then we reset the record four times in Phoenix, and speeds were continuing to climb. So we had to make more adjustments, which we did going into Houston (in April). The momentum is slowly shifting because the single-car teams know they don’t have to go out and run that quick (elapsed time) or fast (speed). It’s saving those teams that don’t have a vast resource of parts or money.”

 https://autoweek.com/article/nhra/2019-nhra-preview-steve-torrence-jr-todd-put-traditional-powers-notice

Know what the alternative is? Fewer racers, less attraction, NHRA withers and dies. How about that. So, just like Nascar has carb limiters to keep speeds from, getting much over 200, NHRA doesn't want speeds much over 320. I do believe that was shy they cut the track to 1000 feet distances vs the traditional 1320 feet. to prevent higher speeds. 

Coffee and donuts video for Saturday: NHRA mayhem, 2018. They are pushing the envelope of possible racing to the ragged limit, and often, blowing the engines up

Don Garlits' 1st Swamp Rat... so sketchy and ugly, that Hot Rod wouldn't run a photo of it. Possibly the origin of the term Rat Rod

“I learned later that the guys in the California office of HOT ROD…took one look at my heap and laughed out loud,” Don Garlits asserted in his 1967 autobiography, “King Of The Dragsters” (coauthored by Brock Yates).

 “They decided it was just too ugly to deserve a picture.”

Then again, perhaps that improvised rollbar scared stiff a staff led by Wally Parks, the safety-obsessed HRM editor and NHRA president who’d renamed 1954’s initial Drag Safari as the Safety Safari this year.

http://www.hotrod.com/articles/unpublished-photos-capture-don-garlits-first-nhra-win-1955/

Hot Rod March 2018 issue

John Force Racing won a pair of titles in November... that's pretty cool, taking the season championship in 2 catagories, with one family owned and operated company

Brittany Force won Top Fuel
Robert Hight won Funny Car

The last time a woman won Top Fuel was 1982, Shirley Muldowney, 4 years before Brittany was born. At the cost of racing top fuel now? It might be another 35 years until it happens again, if ever. Is it even likely that Top Fuel will be a competitive race that can field enough teams to make racing a sport in 10 years? 20? 

Salute of the Day: 3rd generation NHRA drag racer Tanner Gray

the NHRA’s youngest winner in history and a championship contender

in his first 15 races the teenager has won more elimination rounds than his father (in 23 events in 2010)

His team, Gray Motorsports, has won 7 of 16 races this season

the sponsor for the team? SKI - Spending Kids Inheritance

Car and Driver Magazine, Oct 2017 issue
http://lk.worldpronews.com/77728/6439/138/19aa0920cab6298166eb1a65f66547ed9c59a4dd

NHRA, you're dead to me. Until you step up and admit you boffed it, that a photo finish is the only legit evidence of who arrived at the end of 1320 feet (or 1000) I got no more time for NHRA's bullshit

First, here's the story about the top photo:

Back in 2005 in the final round of the U.S. Nationals TV replay clearly showed Johnson ahead at the finish line – something NHRA officials couldn’t quite explain due to how Smith’s win light illuminated.

Later, it was concluded that the leading edge of Johnson’s ultra slim front wheel somehow went unnoticed by the pulsating finish line beam. Thus, on Tuesday night after the race, Johnson was declared the winner.

“That happened in the ESPN era with Steve Johnson and I had my time slip that said that I won, just like LE’s did (at Sonoma),” Smith said. “But, the photo finish showed Steve Johnson won. A day later they overturned that because of a photo finish and I accepted that. I didn’t argue about it because I saw the photo."

Bottom photo story:

"12 years later, and we have a photo of me winning the race, and we are going against that now and going back to the timing system, that they say never fails.”

And that is why when on July 30 2017, as LE Tonglet was crowned the Pro Stock Motorcycle champion at the NHRA Nationals over Matt Smith in contradiction to the photo finish (bottom photo) and NHRA trashed their opportunity to man up and take a hit, and show they had any integrity left, I cut them from any and all interest, coverage, publicity, etc.

They're dead to me. They have no spine, no legit management, and no future because they have no honesty. If you can trust them to call a winner in a tie, just what leg do they have to stand on when they are pulling a dance step you can't follow any more than you can see how the magician never loses at 3 card monte, or the shell game?

Can you trust anything they do when in this one example, they have decided against a guy who won by timing, and won by photo finish, but NHRA tosses the race to the other guy by claiming that the photo wasn't legit, or the timing wasn't legit, when ever the need arises to call a tie, but they use both!?

So, I'm out. Better things to enjoy that have integrity and honesty.

Read the load of horseshit about how they went with the timing system's judgement the 2nd time right here http://www.competitionplus.com/drag-racing/news/pro-stock-motorcycles-smith-wants-clarification-about-sonoma

parachute fail, and 400mph, and then you hope that catch net is going to do it's job

http://bangshift.com/bangshift1320/scary-ride-watch-gary-densham-suffers-a-parachute-failure-and-hit-the-catch-net-hard-at-pomona/

140,000 horsepower... and I bet they did not fire them up. I'm pretty sure windows would break

downtown Indy for the US Nationals

Found on https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mopar-Style-The-Visual-Art/268199166661403

NHRA... the unanswered question “Why did Compton retire, and why did it take a month to announce his replacement?”

the VP of NHRA takes over... a month after it's President quits? Whats wrong, no one else wanted the job?

http://www.hotrod.com/news/1507-peter-clifford-replaces-tom-compton-as-head-of-nhra/
https://www.facebook.com/hotrodmag/posts/10152855285242540

what the common link between the Make a Wish and the Infinte Hero funny cars? A billionaire sponsor

Tommy Johnson Jr.’s car: Make-A-Wish, the organization that grants the wish of a child diagnosed with a grave or life-threatening illness.

Jack Beckman’s car is the Infinite Hero Foundation, a nonprofit funding multiple programs for former soldiers and their families with physical or mental challenges.

The two tier-one Don SHumacher Racing funny cars cost between $4 million and $6 million to operate at the top level for a season. And all that comes from Terry Chandler.

 Not a penny of the money donated from people to the two charities goes into the operation of the cars. They are seven-figure billboards, taking the message to race fans each year in person and on TV. In return, Chandler makes one demand: She likes to stand at the starting line.

Read the whole story at http://autoweek.com/article/nhra/nhra-super-sponsor-terry-chandler-living-her-dream-while-helping-others

http://www.torquenews.com/106/beckman-sets-records-2015-charger-wins-another-all-dodge-final