The John Force Racing PR machine has been noticeably quiet about NHRA Funny Car championship points leader Robert Hight since his spectacular engine explosion and wall banging crash at St. Louis. As of today (Oct. 3) with none of the regular pre-race pieces for him this week at Dallas, which, like St. Louis, is sponsored by Hight’s AAA sponsor.

There has also been no information regarding the injuries he sustained which the Agent’s sources say were worse than reported at the time.

In fact, the Agent noticed that when FS1 replayed the race, the entire segment of the Funny Car final round was cut from the program, only showing a brief slo-mo clip of the car as it first exploded and then nothing else that appeared on the live show about the incident.

The Agent wonders, could the fact that the AAA-sponsored Funny Car’s body was launched high enough in the air by the explosion that it hit and the massive TV screen at the end of the track and miraculously missed everything in the motorhome parking where it landed had anything to do with the re-dacting of any coverage of the crash from the re-broadcasts of that race? Looks like NHRA’s race coverage is being sanitized for our (fans and viewers) protection.

The Agent has been concerned over the health of the Funny Car driver, who walked away from the wreck and was taken to the hospital, and the fans are worried too.  (Jeff Burk photo)    [10/03/18]

Springfield, IL, racer Tim Wilkerson was ecstatic to be in the finals of Nitro Funny Car at the AAA-sponsored Midwest Nationals at St. Louis. The fact is that it was the first final for the Levi Ray Shoup backed team this year.

Unfortunately for the team, the final round was dominated in the live coverage by the Robert Hight accident and then the NHRA decided to edit out a majority of the Funny Car final round coverage on the re-broadcast of the race depriving the team and their sponsors of the exposure to fans and customers they earned and deserved.

Getting to the finals moved the Levi, Ray Shoup Mustang into the fourth spot in the Countdown just four rounds away from the points lead. A job well done!  (Jeff Burk photo)    [10/03/18]

The E3 Spark Plugs NHRA Pro Mod Drag Racing Series presented by J&A Service will race at the NHRA FallNationals at Texas Motorplex this weekend, the first appearance of class in 10 years.

Among those vying for the win will be Chad Green (above), a rookie from Midland, TX. Coming off his second final round appearance of the season at St. Louis, Green sits fifth in points coming into the 10th of 12 Pro Mod events this year.

Mike Janis  (Jeff Burk photos)

St. Louis was home to the quickest qualifying field in E3 Spark Plugs NHRA Pro Mod Drag Racing Series history. Mike Janis took the points lead in the class in St. Louis and leads three-time world champion Rickie Smith by 46 points. Stevie “Fast” Jackson, who has won back-to-back races follows in third, while Green is just 27 points back of fourth-place Mike Castellana and just 49 points behind Jackson.

“Something’s happening in the class and I just feel lucky to be in this class at the right time,” Green said. “You can just see the popularity and the buzz about it at every race, and the enthusiasm from all the fans. You can definitely see a shift and I’m really happy to be a part of a great class.”     [10/03/18]

Rick Huffman, of Chase-N-Dad Racing, will be at this weekend’s NHRA FallNationals, running in two sportsman classes, Super Comp and Super Street.

Rick is looking to keep the Texas FallNationals Super Street winner title in the family by following up with another win after his son, Chase, dominated the event in 2016. Super Street is a special class that runs every other year at the NHRA National in this location; the last name on the winners’ list is none other than Chase-N-Dad Racing’s Chase Huffman.

Chase will be watching from the grandstands this weekend as a new career has forced him to take a break from the driver’s seat.  (Chase-N-Dad Racing photos) [10/03/18]

Just one point out of the lead in the Factory Stock Showdown, Leah Pritchett will have one last chance to capture the title. The Texas Motorplex is the site of the seventh and final event for the Factory Stocks.

Pritchett made history last weekend at the NHRA stop near St. Louis, becoming the first driver in the Factory Stock Showdown class to make a pass in the seven-second range with a 7.936-second elapsed time (ET) during qualifying. She went on to claim the event win in her Mopar Dodge Challenger Drag Pak, her second consecutive in the class. Fellow DSR Mopar Dodge Challenger Drag Pak driver Mark Pawuk also cracked the seven-second barrier, going even lower than Pritchett with 7.929 ET to reset the class ET record and earn the No. 1 qualifying spot at St. Louis.

“Our strategy is to continue doing what we’ve done, not play ladder games, just run as fast as we can every time, and ultimately the game plan is to win the race, which would win us the championship,” Pritchett said.

She also will be driving her Top Fuel dragster, where she is fourth in points.

“We’re coming into Ennis with a new front-half after noticing issues in St. Louis from an incident. I think this excites me more than the magnitude of the race, because I know with new pipe, our crew chiefs will have their cooperative hot rod back,” Pritchett said. “That brings a new level of confidence that I can’t wait to energize with in the car. At this point for both classes, we still cannot worry about what the competition is doing, and we will remain focused on our own path to being the quickest in every way.”  (Ron Lewis photo)   [10/03/18]

Dallas has become the adopted home for Australian businessman and Pro Stock racer Shane Tucker and he will be racing in front of family, friends and many business associates at his second event of the 2018 season.

“We brought the race car out for the U.S. Nationals and had some struggles. We hadn’t run the car in almost a year but we gave it 100 percent,” said Tucker. “The best part of the weekend was working with my dad Rob and being around the crew guys. It really got me fired but for the race at the Texas Motorplex. We made some changes on our motor program so I have a lot of confidence coming into the race weekend.”

Tucker has built his Pro Stock team with his father who lives in Charlotte, NC, and the duo have campaigned a Chevrolet Camaro Pro Stock on the NHRA Mello Yello Series since in 2014.  (Mark Reblias photo)   [10/03/18]

Funny Car world champion Ron Capps will sport a new look when he hits the track at zMAX Dragway next weekend to begin qualifying for the NHRA Carolina Nationals. Capps will pilot a special one-race-only NAPA NIGHTVISION Lamps scheme in conjunction with NAPA AUTO PARTS’ NAPA NIGHTVISION Lamp Program, a month-long promotional campaign which offers customers NAPA’s newest premium product line at a discounted price while benefitting the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund.

For every pack of NAPA NIGHTVISION Lamps sold throughout October, NAPA will make a donation to IFHF, which serves U.S. military personnel experiencing Traumatic Brain Injury and Post-Traumatic Stress.

The NAPA NIGHTVISION line features three levels of premium lamps, all of which offer a brighter, whiter light for better visibility. All three products in the line will be offered at a reduced rate until November 1, 2018, with a customer savings of up to ten dollars per pair.   [10/03/18]

Just 10 bucks per carload gets spectators admission to the All-American Hot Rod Showdown on Saturday, Oct. 20, at Gateway Motorsports Park just across the Mississippi River from downtown St. Louis.

More than 500 drag racing teams will take part in the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series event. Classes include Top Alcohol Dragster, Top Alcohol Funny Car, Comp, Top Dragster and Sportsman.   [10/03/18]