Race Weekend Central

NHRA Top Fuel Championship-Contending Team Ceases Operation

Zmax Dragway Carolina Nationals Shawn Langdon 2014 Mike Neff 125

Photo Credit: Mike Neff, Frontstretch

Alan Johnson Racing and driver Shawn Langdon, the sixth seed in Top Fuel in the 2015 NHRA Countdown to the Championship, will not make the trip to Charlotte this week to kick off the playoffs. The team announced it is suspending operations immediately until adequate sponsorship funding can be found. AJR unexpectedly lost its funding …

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Pace Laps: Ending Winless Streaks and Kickoff Media Tours

2015 Martinsville I Cup Chase Elliott Credit Nascar Via Getty Images

(Photo: NASCAR via Getty Images)

Sprint Cup Series: Kenseth Creeps Into Contention. Matt Kenseth is a modern man’s Terry Labonte: cool, calm, collected under pressure. Kenseth, like Texas Terry used to be the model of consistency, top 10ing his way to a championship in 2003 while making surviving bad days the hallmark of his driving style. Now, over a decade …

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Nitro Shots: Playoffs & Championships

2015 Nhra Indianapolis Us Nationals Crowd Shot Courtesy Nhra Media

Photo Credit: NHRA Media

The Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals marked the end of the “regular season” while the upcoming Carolina Nationals kick off the start of the “playoffs,” if you want to look at it in stick-and-ball terms. This is a topic that always inspires debate. Many purists find formats like the Countdown to be contrived, gimmicks created to manufacture …

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Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals in the Books, Countdown Field Set

Nhra 2015 Indianapolis Winners Circle Savoie Enders Beckman Lucas Courtesy Nhra Media

(Photo Courtesy NHRA Media)

Racing action at the Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals, the biggest race of the NHRA season, wrapped up on Monday with elimination rounds. At the end of the long weekend, Morgan Lucas, Jack Beckman, Erica Enders-Stevens and Jerry Savoie ended up on the podium hoisting the Wally. Lucas is racing just a part-time schedule in Top Fuel …

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Pace Laps: Southern 500 Success, Denny Hamlin’s Dominance and the Busy NHRA Weekend

2015 Darlington Cup Carl Edwards Celebrates Cia

Photo Credit: CIA Stock Photography

Cup Series: Darlington Lives Up to the Hype – All of the hype leading up to Sunday night’s Southern 500 put NASCAR in a win or lose situation. With so much excitement brewing for the throwback weekend theme, the action on the track, desperately needed to entertain, and entertain it did. Leading up to the race …

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Nitro Shots: Economical All-Stars

Nhra 2015 Charlotte Tony Schumacher Chutes Credit Toni Montgomery

Photo Credit: Toni Montgomery, Frontstretch

This weekend is not only the biggest race of the NHRA season, the Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals, but the weekend will also feature the Traxxas Nitro Shootout for the Top Fuel and Funny Car categories. This is the all-star event for the Nitro-powered NHRA categories. The first seven winning drivers of the season qualify, or …

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Open-Wheel Wednesday: The “Surprise” Champion, Stellar Seasons and More

Scott Dixon celebrates his race win and championship title at Sonoma

(Photo credit: INDYCAR)

Huston Ladner: So where does anyone want to begin? Matt Stallknecht: Man… where to even start. Toni Montgomery: Am I the only one who made the mistake of pretty much forgetting all about Scott Dixon? Matt: I completely forgot about him. Toni: And then wondering where the hell he came from. Huston: I doubt it. Matt: I figured …

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Pace Laps: Heartbreaking Losses and Replacement Drivers

Juan Pablo Montoya on track at Sonoma (credit: IndyCar)

(Photo: IndyCar)

IndyCar: Montoya Critical of Himself, INDYCAR Following Championship Loss – 1.179 seconds. That’s all that separated Juan Pablo Montoya from a Verizon IndyCar Series championship. Montoya, who led the points from the season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg in March, lost the championship in a tiebreaker to four-time champion Scott Dixon following a sixth-place finish …

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Off the Wall With: Tony Schumacher

Zmax Dragway Carolina Nationals Tony Schumacher 2014 Mike Neff 090

(Photo Credit: Mike Neff, Frontstretch)

In the hot seat this week: 8-time NHRA Top Fuel Champion Tony Schumacher What’s fun besides racing? Tony Schumacher: Harley riding. What’s the top item on your bucket list? Schumacher: I’d like to go skydiving with a squirrel suit, where they fly through the air. That’s totally different. Scary. Of course depending how that goes, …

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Spencer Massey, Don Schumacher Racing Part Ways

Nhra 2015 Spencer Massey Headshot Courtesy Nhra Media

Photo Credit: NHRA Media

Don Schumacher Racing announced tonight that Spencer Massey has been released as driver of the Red Fuel/Sandvik Coromant Top Fuel dragster effective immediately. No details other than the statement of team owner Don Schumacher were given and the team does not intend to make further comment on the matter. “Spencer is no longer with DSR,” said Schumacher. …

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Nitro Shots: The Safety Dance

Nhra 2015 Antron Brown Car Credit Toni Montgomery

Photo Credit: Toni Montgomery, Frontstretch

In the wake of the accident that took the life of Justin Wilson, this week’s Open Wheel Wednesday put forth the idea that something similar to the protection found on a Top Fuel dragster might work to at least partially enclose the cockpit on an Indy car. It’s sad that so often in motorsports safety, …

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Open-Wheel Wednesday: Let a Loss Not Be in Vain

Justin Wilson Poncon Chris Jones

(Photo: Chris Jones)

There’s a place in motorsports where tradition and progress sometimes clash, and more often than not it’s tradition that prevails. It’s understandable because so often fans, owners, and drivers lament that things just aren’t like they used to be and no one values tradition. No one wants to drive fans and competitors away so ideas …

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