Nostalgia Super Stock racers from around the Midwest rolled into beautiful Eddyville Raceway Friday and Saturday, June 8-9, for the second points race of 2018 for the Victory NSS .

After five hard fought rounds of eliminations, series veteran Tom Gaines claimed his first Victory NSS win in his bright red 1964 Dodge, defeating Bob Lantero in the finals. The finals, along with many of the other races, were incredibly close to the delight the fans. We’ll have the full story coming soon.

After two races, Jim Hagenhoff has the points lead, with Tom Gaines, BJ Bax, Dalton Bruemmer and Bob Lantero less than one round behind. The Victory Nostalgia Super Stockers return to action July 27-28 at Cordova (IL) International Raceway for Door Warz.  (Dennis Mothershed photo) [06/12/18]

Allen Johnson drove his Drag Pak at the Four-Wides in Charlotte.  (Chris Haverly photo)

Allen Johnson will return to the drag strip at this week’s NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway. The Tennessee native and 2012 Pro Stock champion will be driving a Dodge Challenger Drag Pak along with Leah Pritchett in the NHRA Factory Stock Showdown.

Pritchett’s new DSR teammate, Mark Pawuk, will make his Drag Pak debut at Bristol. Pawuk joins the elite team after an 11-year hiatus from NHRA competition. He previously competed in Pro Stock, where he raced to six victories before making his final Pro Stock appearance at Richmond in 2006. Like teammate Pritchett, Pawuk’s Drag Pak will also be prepped and maintained by three-time world champ NHRA Sportsman racer Kevin Helms.

Pritchett will also be seeking a win in her Top Fuel dragster, making the third time this season she will be competing in two classes.

“It’s Bristol, baby,” said Pritchett. “I always look forward to running in the Thunder Valley. We’ve got some good track history and data there, with a runner up finish last year. We have a fair amount of momentum happening right now, and even though Bristol presents a unique and difficult atmosphere for tuners, making as much Mopar power and putting it to the track is what I’m looking forward to for this team. Additionally, we’ve made some suspension changes to our Factory Stock program, and of course gearing changes to compensate for the altitude.

“We feel this program is getting stronger with every race. It will be (teammate) Mark (Pawuk’s) first race in FSXX, and I typically never weigh on the side of having any more particular experience in a car or class than a teammate, but I look forward to being the best teammate possible to Mark. He did great during licensing, as expected, and I look forward to his competition-side showing through as we both battle through that stacked field.”  [06/12/18]

Arguably the best driver of the season, Kelly Bettes secured the very first Top Fuel Championship for a female driver in Australia.

“I am so grateful to the Lamattina family for giving me this opportunity, but I always wanted to do more than drive the car – I wanted to win for them and for me,” said Bettes, who is in her first season with the LTFR team. “To be able to reward the crew and the team plus our team sponsors such as Fuchs, is just the most amazing feeling.

“Phil (Lamattina, team boss) was nervous over the weekend but I told him to trust in our entire team, we have been working so well all year and I knew that it would continue at this event.

“Our head tuner, Aaron Hambridge, had the car set to run very low 3.80s and we did that and made the rounds that we needed to secure the title,” Bettes continued. “I knew we had a good package and I had to just do my job as a driver.

“We really went after it for the final run against Damien Harris and we went a little too aggressive but that’s how it goes. We wanted to see what we could learn for next season.”

Next for the team is the non-championship Nitro Up North at Hidden Valley Dragway on July 13-14.  (Dragphotos.com.au)   [06/12/18]