In a salute to the landmark 50th running of the historic Amalie Oil NHRA Gatornationals, Team JEGS drivers Mike Coughlin, Jeg Coughlin Jr. and Troy Coughlin Jr will display special "Throwback" paint schemes selected from some of the top racecars family patriarch Jeg Coughlin Sr. campaigned during his career.

Mike Coughlin’s Top Dragster is a replica of his father, Jeg Sr’s Top Fuel dragster that won three North Central Division championships in 1977, 1978 and 1980.

Jeg Jr’s Pro Stock will take on the scheme of the Vega and Pinto his father ran from 1972-75.

Troy Jr. will have the look of his grandfather’s 1976 Pro Comp dragster on his Top Alcohol Dragster, which is owned and tuned by Rich McPhillips.

"This race will be emotion-packed, not just for Pappy but for everyone,” said Troy Jr. “With all these legends like Don Garlits, Shirley Muldowney, Joe Amato and so many others on hand for the rivalry race, it gives all of us a chance to salute and thank these people that made our sport what it is today."   [03/08/19]

The Gatornationals are not the only track celebrating a 50th anniversary this year. Drag racing historian Bret Kepner tells the Agent that Jeffers Motorsports Park, formerly Sikeston Drag Strip, has been hosting drag racing for half a century.  [03/08/19]

And former Sikeston track owner, Dom Blasco, who moved on to Cordova International Raceway a couple of years ago, has also added the General Manager duties at Memphis International Raceway, both IHRA facilities. With Cordova, IL, and Millington, TN, being about 570 miles apart, he is going to be one busy individual.   [03/08/19]

The Agent has been waiting for flying cars all of his life and is happy to see the folks at Goodyear may be getting us all closer. The Goodyear AERO concept is a two-in-one tire designed for the autonomous, flying cars of the future. This concept would work both as a tire for driving on the road and a “propeller” for flying through the sky.

“For over 120 years Goodyear has obsessively pursued innovations and inventions, partnering with the pioneers driving change and discovery in transport,” said Chris Helsel, Chief Technology Officer at Goodyear. “With mobility companies looking to the sky for the answer to the challenges of urban transport and congestion, our work on advanced tire architectures and materials led us to imagine a wheel that could serve both as a traditional tire on the road and as a propulsion system in the sky.”

The AERO is a multimodel tilt-rotor concept that serves as a drive train on the road and an aircraft propulsion system to provide lift in another orientation. The spokes provide support to carry the weight of the vehicle and then act as fan blades to provide lift when the tire is tilted. The AERO would use magnetic force to provide frictionless propulsion. Light-based, fiber optic sensor would monitor road condition, tire wear, and the structural integrity of the tire. An embedded Artificial Intelligence processor would combine information from the tire’s sensor with data from vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication, and would recommend a course of action before a problem occurs.

While the AERO is a purely conceptual design, some of its featured technologies, such as a non-pneumatic structure and intelligent tire capabilities, are being developed by Goodyear today, while others might become the basis for new ideas and potentially new products in the future.   [03/08/19]