MOPAR CELEBRATES 25TH ANNIVERSARY AS TITLE SPONSOR OF MOPAR MILE-HIGH NHRA NATIONALS: NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series fans will be able to take part in the celebration of the partnership between Mopar and Bandimere Speedway during the upcoming event this weekend. To honor the 25-year partnership, four-time NHRA world champion (3 Top Fuel, 1 Funny Car) Gary Scelzi will serve as the grand marshal and Don Schumacher will be the honorary starter of the Mopar Mile-High NHRA Nationals. Scelzi has one career win at Bandimere Speedway in Funny Car in 2006.
Royal Purple has announced Mike Schultz as the subject of its second "Outperformer" mini-documentary series for the 2013 season. Schultz is a championship racer and pioneer in the field of adaptive action sports.
On July 11, Subaru PUMA RallyCross Team drivers Bucky Lasek, Dave Mirra and Sverre Isachsen will race head-to-head against a pack of international stars at New Hampshire Motor Speedway for round four of the 2013 Global RallyCross Championship (GRC).
ALBALOOSHI WINS FIRST TOP FUEL RACE OF THE YEAR; J. GRAY, EDWARDS, SMITH WIN IN NORWALK: The Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals ended a stretch of four consecutive races and Khalid alBalooshi (Top Fuel), Johnny Gray (Funny Car), Mike Edwards (Pro Stock) and Matt Smith (Pro Stock Motorcycle) took home wins on Sunday. It was the first win of the season for alBalooshi, the fourth of the year for Gray and Edwards and for Smith it was his first win since Englishtown of 2011. Visit NHRA.com for more.
The Subaru PUMA RallyCross Team began their pursuit of the 2013 Global RallyCross Championship (GRC) last weekend at X Games Munich. The belated debut came after the previous round at X Games Barcelona was cancelled due to extreme weather conditions. Drivers Bucky Lasek, Dave Mirra and Sverre Isachsen returned to pilot their nearly 600hp ’13 Subaru PUMA WRX STI Rallycross cars head-to-head against a bevy of international stars on a short mixed surface track at the FrottmaRing near Munich's Alliance Arena. After the cancellation of the Barcelona round, GRC officials created an additional race to last weekend's Munich competition schedule, creating a double-header. Each event features its own practice and qualifying sessions. Both events count for full points in the GRC standings, and X Games will award medals for each round.
C. FORCE DEFEATS J. FORCE; HALL GETS FIRST NHRA WALLY: Capacity crowds saw history made at New England Dragway for the Auto-Plus NHRA New England Nationals as Courtney Force faced her legendary father John Force in the finals for the first time in her young career and avenged her loss to him in the first round in Bristol. Courtney ran a 4.301-second pass to her father's losing run of 4.367.
Larry Larson, Jeff Lutz, Joe Barry and many others are coming to the Nitto Tire NMCA/NMRA Super Bowl of Street-Legal Drag Racing at Route 66 Raceway (Joliet, Illinois), July 11–14, 2013. Named Rampage at Route 66, with an open format, these Hot Rod magazine Drag Week cars will be in search of the sixes and 200 plus mph.
Walt Arfons, a mechanical engineer and champion drag racer credited for building the first jet-engine dragster, died of pneumonia, June 4, at a hospital in Akron, Ohio. He was 96.
TASCA TO MAKE FIRST FUNNY CAR RUNS AT NEW ENGLAND DRAGWAY: Bob Tasca III has raced every car he has owned down the track at New England Dragway except for one—his 8,000-hp Funny Car. That will change Friday when the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series takes to the Northeast track for the first time for the Auto-Plus NHRA New England Nationals, June 20–23. The inaugural event will feature competition in all four professional categories: Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle.
FORCE AND SCHUMACHER LOOK FOR SUCCESS AT BRISTOL DRAGWAY: 15-time NHRA Funny Car Champion John Force and seven-time Top Fuel world champion Tony Schumacher both are looking for continued success at Bristol Dragway during the upcoming Ford Thunder Valley Nationals June 14–16. Force has three wins at the track the most recent coming in 2010. Force is ready to return to the finals on Father's Day.