ADRL Media PR Photoby ADRL Media PR
In the midst of one of the greatest eras of high-performance passenger cars, the American Drag Racing League on Friday unveiled a completely new category of drag racing which will feature the world’s most powerful production automobiles in head-to-head competition.

The new division, named the SuperCar Showdown, will present an arena for the latest factory-produced, dealership-available models to meet in a true drag racing contest. With no handicap starts or performance restrictions, the quickest and fastest current offerings from every major auto manufacturer will be free to show their true potential. The SuperCar Showdown Series will unite the automakers, the public market and the ADRL to present drag racing at its most meaningful level.

The SuperCar Showdown will debut at the season-opening ADRL Dragpalooza VIII at Royal Purple Raceway in Houston on March 30-31, and will be a part of all 10 2012 ADRL Tour stops, which feature many of the nation’s most prestigious tracks.

The series concept, conceived by ADRL broadcast personality Bret Kepner, ADRL President Tim McAmis and drag racing veteran Jeff Teuton, was finalized in early January after months of exhaustive research. While ADRL fans will be the first to experience the thrill of spectacular competition between the SuperCars, the basis of the program reaches far beyond entertainment for spectators at ADRL events.

“The SuperCar Showdown was designed to benefit everybody involved with our sport,” said Kepner just prior to the announcement of the series. “The manufacturers are currently producing the most powerful cars ever made available to the public because that’s what the market wants. The fans dream of seeing these cars race head-to-head and the winner of the event will earn the respect of potential buyers.

NHRA Media PR Photoby NHRA Media PR
Del Worsham and Matt Hagan raced to their first NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series world championship titles and also earned race victories Sunday at the Auto Club NHRA Finals.

Veteran driver Worsham captured the Top Fuel season crown while Hagan avenged last season’s runner-up performance by taking the Funny Car title. Eddie Krawiec claimed his second Pro Stock Motorcycle championship. Pro Stock champ Jason Line secured his title two weeks ago in Las Vegas.

Greg Stanfield (Pro Stock) and Andrew Hines (Pro Stock Motorcycle) also were winners of the season-ending race in the NHRA Full Throttle Countdown to the Championship at historic Auto Club Raceway at Pomona.

Longtime Funny Car racer Worsham, 41, claimed the Top Fuel championship in dramatic fashion by edging series challenger Spencer Massey at the finish line in the winner-take-all semifinal round. He went on to claim his eighth victory of the season and 33rd of his career by outrunning Tony Schumacher in the final round. Worsham powered his Al-Anabi Racing dragster to a 3.796 second run at 318.02 mph to finish just in front of Schumacher’s U.S. Army machine, which posted a 3.799 at 321.50 and went winless for the season for the first time since the 2001 season.

“The semifinal round was the biggest of my 21 year career as far as what was at stake,” Worsham said. “Spencer Massey is a great competitor. It was so close, I didn’t know if I had won. When I saw the ESPN cameras coming over to me it was like, wow, I was speechless after that round.”

The $500,000 Full Throttle championship is the second consecutive and 10th overall in Top Fuel for Worsham’s team manager, Alan Johnson.

NHRA Media PR Photoby NHRA Media PR
Jason Line clinched his second NHRA Full Throttle Pro Stock world championship as racing came to an end Sunday at the Big O Tires NHRA Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Del Worsham, Ron Capps, Mike Edwards and Eddie Krawiec raced to wins in their respective categories at the penultimate race of the 2011 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing season.

Line entered the 2011 NHRA Countdown to the Championship second in the Pro Stock point standings. He then raced to three consecutive final round appearances, including wins in Dallas and Reading, in the first three races of the Countdown. In total, Line raced to six wins in eight final round appearances for the season and posted seven No. 1 qualifiers.

“It feels unbelievable to win my second championship,” said Line. “Timing is everything in our sport, and we got hot at the right time. The second championship definitely means more to me because as I’ve gotten older I’ve learned to appreciate it and realized how hard these things really are to get.”

Line, who won his first NHRA Full Throttle Pro Stock world championship in 2006, clinched his second title after he raced his Summit Racing Pontiac GXP to a semifinal round appearance Sunday in Las Vegas, home of his KB Racing team owner, Ken Black.

“It’s more important to clinch here than Pomona since we have all of Ken Black’s family here and without them, none of this would be possible,” said Line. “We owe everything to them. Wish we could have given them an all Summit final, but at least we did this here.”

In Top Fuel, Worsham raced to his seventh win of the season when he powered his Al-Anabi Racing dragster to a 3.823-second run at 318.77 mph past Spencer Massey. The win moved Worsham into the second spot in the point standings, two points behind leader Massey heading into the final race of the season.

by LaCrosse Media PR
Join us for the final event at the Speedway this Saturday, October 15th. It is the 300' Bracket Nationals of Street Drags presented by Unique Edge Customizing.

Come out and participate in one of many brackets of competition, including Detroit Iron (Muscle Cars), Tuners, Mustangs, Trucks, 4x4, Motorcycles, plus High Skool, Domestic and More! Plus, a Monster Energy Burnout Contest and the Shine N Show contest will add to the fun you will have this Saturday.

Admission is $5 to the grandstands ages 12 and older, Kids age 11 & under are FREE. Pit passes are $5, and bracket registration is $10. Gates open at 12:30 and the first bracket begins at 2:00 pm.

For More Information about Street Drags, visit www.streetdragslax.com or become a fan on the Street Drags LaCrosse Speedway Facebook page to get update,s reminders and see event photos!

Face-Off Concert This Saturday at 5pm
Following Street Drags this Saturday is a great concert lineup at the Fairgrounds Exhibition Hall.
Live Music Featuring:
Spin-Off from 6pm-8pm
Three Beers til Dubuque 8pm-11pm
Monkey Wrench 11pm-1am

This concert event is a fundraiser for the West Salem Youth Hockey Association. Beer will be available for purchase and food provided by Big Roar Smokers Barbeque.

NHRA Media PR Photoby NHRA Media PR
Del Worsham raced to the qualifying lead in Top Fuel Friday at the AAA Texas NHRA Fall Nationals at the Texas Motorplex.

Cruz Pedregon (Funny Car), Jason Line (Pro Stock) and Andrew Hines (Pro Stock Motorcycle) also were qualifying leaders in their divisions at the second of six races in the Full Throttle Countdown to the Championship, NHRA's playoffs.

Worsham, who led the points standings for the majority of the regular season and has earned two Funny Car victories at the famed all-concrete Texas drag strip, powered his Al Anabi Racing dragster to a 3.869 second run at 318.54 mph to lead the 16-car field. Qualifying continues Saturday with sessions at 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. for Sunday's 11 a.m. eliminations.

“To lead a session comes with bonus points, and depending on the weather tomorrow, that could possibly stand for the No. 1 spot, which comes with extra points also," Worsham said. "We had a pretty disappointing first round in Charlotte, so it’s nice to rebound like that. Everybody on the team just did a great job."

Worsham, who entered this event third in the standings after coming into the playoffs as the top seed, needs a big weekend to gain some ground on new series points leader Antron Brown, who won the playoff-opener at Charlotte last weekend and has won four of the last five races. Brown struggled in the first two qualifying sessions here in his Matco Tools dragster and was 14th with a 4.638 at 181.42.

"If you had told me at the beginning of the season that I would be less than two rounds out of first place at the second race of the Countdown, I would have said give it to me right now," Worsham said. "But to be leading the points nearly the entire season, then come out of Charlotte in (third) place and lose that cushion that we had, it was a bummer. But this is a tough team that has won championships before, and they know what they’re doing. They’ve been here before and I haven’t, so I’m just going to follow their lead.”

NHRA Media PR Photoby NHRA Media PR
Matt Hagan raced to the first three-second Funny Car run in NHRA history during Friday night qualifying at the O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Nationals at zMAX Dragway.

With the run Hagan joined Larry Dixon, Jason Line and Eddie Krawiec as the provisional No. 1 qualifiers in their respective categories at the 17th of 22 events in the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series and the first of six races in the NHRA Full Throttle Countdown to the Championship, the six-race playoffs to determine the world championships.

Hagan made NHRA history when he powered his Die Hard Dodge Charger to a 3.995-second run, the quickest in NHRA Funny Car history, at 316.23 mph Friday night to take the provisional No. 1 spot. If it stands, it would be his third No. 1 qualifier of the season and ninth of his career.

“To be a part of history and be the first person in the three-second range, that’s something that they can never take away from you,” said Hagan. “I just can’t say enough about (crew chief) Tommy DeLago. What a mad scientist that guy is to put a race car like that underneath me. My guys just do such a great job and it’s incredible. It’s just a real testimony to how good of a job they do.”

The previous quickest run in NHRA history was a 4.005-second pass set by Robert Hight in 2008 in Richmond. While Hagan made the quickest Funny Car pass in NHRA history, his Don Schumacher Racing teammate Jack Beckman made the fastest, posting a 318.92 mph qualifying run in his Aaron’s/Valvoline Dodge Charger. Beckman currently sits in the provisional third spot in the field.

Dixon raced his Al-Anabi Racing dragster to the top of the Top Fuel field with a run of 3.784 at 324.83. If it stands it would be his third No. 1 qualifier of the season for the defending world champion and 51st of his career.