Randal Andras (near lane) and Doug Vancil during qualifying. Andras went on to win the event while Vancil finished second in the championship points.  (Chicago Jon photo)

For the second straight year, the championship of the Mickey Thompson Tires Top Fuel Harley Series came down to the last day of their season at the U.S. Nationals, and for the second time Tii Tharpe edged Doug Vancil for the championship.

See Chicago Jon’s report on the class at here. [09/09/19]

The Nostalgia Drag Racing League participated in their fifth event of the 2019 season at US 131 Motorsports Park in Martin, MI. With rain putting an end to Friday action, qualifying was moved to Saturday morning before the first round of eliminations.

Pro Gas: Nick Dishon def. Jim Hayes in a double breakout.

Pro Comp: Todd Kapp def. Tom Mallack (red light)

Pro 7.5: Final round was decided by eight thousandths as Verne Griffith had a huge advantage but couldn’t cover the index while Derek McCuistion (above) was dead on to take the win.

Pro 7.0: Jeffrey Sanborn def. Larry Harlen (red light)

The next event for the NDRL will be at Beech Bend Raceway Park on Oct. 11-12.

Allan Middendorf in his “American Outlaw” was again the winner of the Funny Car Chaos A field at the track with Steve Timoszyk taking the B field win. We’ll have complete results coming later.    [09/09/19]

Troutman, North Carolina’s Ernie Humes took his 1972 Dodge Demon to the semifinals in the first of two Hoosier Tires Carolina Coalition events contested Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 7-8, at Rockingham Dragway and that was enough to give him a record third Coalition Series Footbrake championship.

Humes, who also won Carolina Coalition titles in 2012 and 2016, finished just ahead of defending series champion Kelly Stevens of Bostic, NC, in the year-long series at Rockingham and three other area tracks – Piedmont Dragway, Mooresville Dragway and Farmington Dragway.

Series championships in Top Eliminator and Jr. Dragster were decided in runoffs with Joe Julsrud of Stony Point, NC, earning his first title in Top and Isaac Bridges of Shelby, NC, winning his second in the Junior class.

Julsrud (shown) and Steve Whisnant of Dallas, NC, finished the eight-race series tied at the top but, in the runoff, Whisnant was guilty of a foul start that handed the trophy to Julsrud.

It wasn’t quite as easy for Bridges, who first won the Jr. Dragster title as a 14-year-old in 2016. Gavin Whisnant, the son of the Top Eliminator runner-up, came up just short in the runoff when he was guilty of a breakout foul, missing his target by a miniscule .005 of a second. Had he won, he would have joined brother Cam, won the Jr. title a year ago. Whisnant came into the final weekend trailing Bridges by four points but moved into a tie with a pressure victory over Skyler Bustle of Sherrills Ford, NC, in the final round on Sunday.

It was a big weekend for former and current Rockingham Dragway track champions as Clinton’s Eric Aman won Footbrake on Sunday, Fayetteville’s Lee Desist claimed the Top Eliminator title on Saturday and Allen Furr just missed out of a double in Footbrake, winning Saturday and reaching the final on Sunday.

Aman, track champion in 2012 and 2015, used a .009 reaction time to best Furr in the Sunday final. Even though he didn’t get the double, Furr earned enough points to clinch his second straight track championship.

Desist, who won track titles in 2014 and 2015, beat Mooresville’s Lauren Freer by .001 of a second in the Saturday Top Eliminator final. He lost to Julsrud in the sixth round on Sunday, but it was Will Cauthen of Lancaster, SC, who emerged with the trophy, beating Jacksonville’s Austin Brown in the final round.

Alyssa Rabon of Florence, SC, won Saturday’s Jr. race and veteran T.G. Paschal of Lumberton, NC, the outgoing Coalition champion in Top Eliminator, won Saturday’s Gamblers race.  [09/09/19]

Thunder Valley Dragways in Marion, South Dakota, has been named the IHRA Midwest Division Track of the Year. The track is owned by Glen Rapp.

It has been the home track for IHRA world champions in two of the last four years: Tom Gall won the Summit SuperSeries Top (Box) title in 2017 and Cory Heckenlible won the Mod (No Box) championship in 2015.  [09/09/19]