A quick check of the entry lists for this week’s NHRA SpringNationals in Houston shows 16 each in Top Fuel and Funny Car and 13 in Pro Stock.

Twenty-nine Pro Mods are entered. The Real Pro Mod Association (RPM) will be the presenting sponsor of the J&A Service Pro Mod Drag Racing Series portion of the event.

Alex Laughlin runs Vincent Nobile last year at Houston.  (Ron Lewis photo)

Alex Laughlin will return to the seat of the Gas Monkey Pro Stock at Houston, in addition to driving the Top Alcohol Dragster.

After a breakout year in 2016 where he scored his first victory in the premier factory hot rod class in St. Louis and finished just a few points out of the playoff race, Laughlin has kept his Pro Stocker in the Gas Monkey garage until now as he and his father Kenny search for the necessary funding to make a concerted run at the championship.

"We've got a lot of stuff working and our calendar is growing, for sure," said Laughlin, who receives additional support from Advance Auto Parts and Havoline. "One of the big reasons we're so excited is our new deal with Elite Performance. The horsepower they make and the championship drive of the entire Elite Motorsports group is just incredible.” [04/19/17]

The Chevrolet Performance Challenge Series will join the Quick Fuel Technology NMCA Bluegrass Nationals at Beech Bend Raceway in Bowling Green, KY, the weekend of May 18-21. Presented by Scoggin-Dickey Parts Center and Chevrolet Performance, this event features the World’s Fastest Street Cars of NMCA as well as one of the largest gatherings of LS-powered monsters in the U.S.

Heads-up LS classes include Wiseco BoostLine Connecting Rods Drag Radial, Chevrolet Performance Stock presented by Scoggin-Dickey Parts Center, and Holley EFI Real Street…all of which are wheels-up and hardcore. LME sponsors Street King, an index class for faster 8.0 to 11.0 second GM race cars. The event also includes two classes for mild to wild street-type vehicles, Proform Rumble and Gear Vendors True Street. The Rumble class allows LS racers to pick their index, matching their street machine up against some of the fastest cars in the country. All racers competing in Rumble and Street King may also compete for free in the Gear Vendors True Street class on Saturday.

The Dave Duell Nostalgia Super Stock Classic will also be run at this event. [04/19/17]

Last season, Tim Wilkerson had the car to beat in Houston, and he blasted to a track-record setting 3.899-second pass to reset his career best and nab his first pole since 2012. Wilkerson entered raceday on steady ground, and he continued the momentum with a final-round showing to Courtney Force.

"Last year we were five- or six-hundredths faster than everybody in Q4, and we were the only car in the 3-second range," said Wilkerson, whose current career best is a 3.844 set earlier this season in Phoenix. "We need to get that mojo back, and hopefully we can get that done. I'm optimistic, that's for sure."

This season has already held stellar moments for Wilkerson, who has reset his career best three times in the first four events. The 20-time NHRA Funny Car trophy winner from Springfield, IL, has yet to visit victory lane this year, however, and would like to change that in Houston, where he has a total of three final rounds and one victory earned in 2004.  (Ron Lewis photo) [04/19/17]

Jack Beckman said the Infinite Hero Foundation team looks for a win in Houston as not only their first win of the season but also a win for their sponsor Terry Chandler.

"It's not like you ever need any extra motivation or incentive to win a race. It's not like you don't try your hardest every single time you go out there. But for our team, it's a bit bittersweet."

Chandler, who also funds DSR's Make-A-Wish Funny Car, is recuperating at home after surgery two weeks ago.

"This is going to be the second race in a row where Terry isn't going to be standing on the starting line. I know it must be tearing her apart to not be able up there with her teams when her cars run. There's nothing that can make that better until the day when she's back out her on the starting line than to send her a trophy."

So far this season, the Infinite Hero Foundation team has been traveling on a learning curve with a newly assembled team led by crew chiefs Dean Antonelli, John Medlen and Neal Strausbaugh. After the national event in Las Vegas two weeks ago, the team stayed on Monday for a test sessions to get a better understanding of their hot rod.

"It's going to take us 30 more runs to truly get a good understanding on the clutch package and the tune-up changes that our car needs relevant to what we ran last year," Beckman said. "Now keep in mind, last year we won two races and were in contention for the championship and we still weren't as good as we were in 2015, when we won seven races.

"Sometimes it's just that little one-tenth of 1 percent that makes all the difference. I think that's what keeps fuel racing interesting from the driver and crew standpoint; it's that pursuit of perfect. You're never going to be perfect in a fuel car but our goal is to be close to that."  (Ron Lewis photo) [04/19/17]

Toyota has extended the agreement with NHRA to be the title-rights sponsor of the Mello Yello Drag Racing Series event held in the fall at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Las Vegas.

The event, which will be Oct. 26-29, is the fifth race of NHRA’s Countdown to the Championship. The extension builds upon NHRA and Toyota’s strong partnership that includes Toyota as the Official Car of NHRA and Toyota’s title-rights sponsorship of the Toyota NHRA Sonoma National at Sonoma Raceway in Sonoma, Calif. (July 28-30). [04/19/17]

This Parachute Cable Retaining Kit from S&W will work on all parachute packs. Includes male snap with washers and pop rivets and female snap. Designed for ¼-inch OD cable casing. Chute cable is not included in this kit. [04/19/17]