The 16th annual Tulip Festival Drag Race was held April 21-22, at Oregon’s Woodburn Dragstrip in conjunction with the Wooden Shoe Tulip Fest.

Classes in competition were: Pro Nostalgia, Nostalgia Hot Rod Series #1, Dragster/Roadster #1, World of Speed Jr. Racing Series #3, Run Tuff (Electronics/Transbrake/Footbrake) and a test and tune for all cars and classes. Photographer Aaron Anderson got some great shots of the cars, but strangely … no tulips.   [04/24/18]

Texan Pro Stock owner and driver Rodger Brogdon was at Houston in the seat of a (what else?) Camaro. Brogdon hasn’t been on the NHRA national circuit in several years, since selling his Pro Stock operation to Richard Freeman of Elite Motorsports back in 2015. Brogdon got a first-round win over Jason Line, whose Camaro went into tire shake, but lost to Erica Enders in the second when Brogdon’s Camaro shook also.  (Ron Lewis photo)  [04/24/18]

LE Tonglet, the 2010 NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle champion, will return to White Alligator Racing beginning with this weekend's NKG Spark Plugs Four-Wide Nationals at zMAX Dragway.

Tonglet, of Metairie, La., will race the KPK/Nitrofish Suzuki as a teammate to WAR team owner and rider Jerry Savoie in all of the remaining NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series events. The championship duo combined for eight wins in 2017, with Tonglet winning six races and finishing third in the Pro Stock Motorcycle points standings.

Tim Kulungian, who led Savoie to the 2016 PSM championship, will tune both Suzukis.

"The bike's going to be set up just like it was last year," Tonglet said. "We got it all straight towards the end of the season and were running really well. Charlotte should be a great race for us. We came out and won the Four-Wides last year, so I'm looking to do a repeat of that."

Steve Johnson, who started the season with WAR, is pursuing other opportunities.  (Ron Lewis photo)  [04/24/18]

Some days are better than others and Pro Mod racer Pete Farber can say he had a string of bad ones trying to race at Houston last week.

While testing his supercharged CRC Automotive Brākleen ’69 Dodge Daytona on Wednesday prior to the race, Farber was on a 5.70-second pass when things went awry. His engine let go during the run and not only sprayed his windshield with aluminum, but grenaded his engine in the process and completely destroyed the power plant.

The team quickly got to work pulling the damaged engine and replacing it with a spare. Back in action the following day for more testing, the car continued its carnage and chewed up a transmission as well.

Refusing to quit, Farber and his crew made the necessary repairs and were ready for the call to start the first round of NHRA Pro Mod qualifying when the main event began on Friday evening. Trouble tends to happen in threes, though, and the Daytona had trouble at before staging and had to be pushed off the starting line during the first session.

Later that evening, though, Farber was able to make a run and started the pass off perfectly. Towards the top end, his car started to drift out of the groove and got close to the wall so Farber smartly chose to click it off, going 6.090 at 190.19 mph to provisionally rank twenty-fourth.

Qualifying resumed on Saturday afternoon, and Farber had a great third hit. Running his quickest and fastest pass of the weekend, Farber’s 5.894 at 242.54 mph trip moved him up into twenty-first. He followed up the performance with a 5.912 at 238.43 mph blast in the fourth and final qualifying session to finish twenty-second overall, just a 0.063-seconds shy of making it into the big show.

To see how the rest of the Pro Mod teams fared at Houston go to here.  (Ron Lewis photo)   [04/24/18]

Santa Pod Raceway, in collaboration with Argyll Entertainment, the UK licensed operator of RedZoneSports.bet, has announced the first-ever online betting on drag racing at The Doorslammers event to be held over the weekend of May.19-20.

Especially for the event, Santa Pod’s famous dragstrip lanes will be renamed Red and Black and a number of exciting betting opportunities will be made available throughout the racing weekend. The first specials are now live on www.RedZonesSports.bet/SantaPod.

Keith Bartlett, CEO of Trakbak Racing and Santa Pod Raceway, said, “Santa Pod has been looking to develop online drag racing betting for some time and we’re delighted to have found the perfect partner in Redzonesports.bet. Our new The Doorslammers event is the ideal occasion to introduce this exciting new element to drag racing and further to enhance our spectator experience. As a high-profile venue and host to such a spectacular sport, we are always looking to add value and enjoyment to our events. Therefore we look forward to working with Redzonesports.bet in the future to add a new dimension to the sport of drag racing.”

For more details of The Doorslammers, and how to bet on the race, visit www.thedoorslammers.co.uk  [04/24/18]

Weather impacted the event originally scheduled for Sunday, April 22, 2018. Many options were discussed in order to complete the event or add the remainder to a future date. In the track management’s effort to try to reach a working solution for everyone, as well as try to find an acceptable date for the guest classes, there was an oversight in regard to their written policy.

With conflicting race schedules as well as out-of-town racers attending the event, the following rules as stated in the Gateway Motorsports Park official rulebook will be followed.

Per section 6.c.vii.1: The Jr. Dragster and Sportsman race will be deemed COMPLETE as the first round of eliminations was completed. First-round points will be awarded and any buy-back money will be refunded at the April 28 event. All posted purse awards will be split among the remaining racers.

Per section 6.c.vi.2: (weather-shortened event) Pro, Super Pro and Motorcycle will follow rules as published. Event is complete after first round. If first round is not completed, a full rainout credit is issued for race entries. Since many racers traveled long distances and may not be able to return this weekend, their rainout credit is valid for the remainder of the 2018 points season. Six (6) tech points will be awarded to those who purchased a tech card for the April 22 event in those classes.

Those who paid for their buy-back prior to the weather announcement will be refunded.

Gateway will run the one normally scheduled race on April 28. The April 22 race is complete and no further eliminations will be contested.  [04/24/18]