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NEW
ORGANIZATION WILL
PRODUCE PRO MODIFIED
SERIES IN 2014
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INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – Moving to preserve the viability of one of the most popular categories in professional drag racing, a consortium of track operators announced Wednesday the formation of the National Drag Racing Association (NDRA) for the expressed purpose of producing a 2014 championship series featuring supercharged and nitrous-injected Pro Modifieds.
According to NDRA spokesman Steve Earwood, owner of Rockingham Dragway, the tentative schedule includes six events of competition with the likely addition of two more pending the resolution of initial scheduling conflicts. Earwood and other principals in the NDRA were in Indianapolis for this week’s PRI trade show. |
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The NDRA series would begin at Earwood’s track April 3-6 and return for an encore Sept. 6-7. Other tracks that have reserved dates for the new series are Maple Grove Raceway (May 1-3), U.S. 131 Motorsports Park (June 26-28), Virginia Motorsports Park (Oct. 2-4) and Memphis International Raceway (Oct. 23-25). Cordova Dragway in Illinois and Royal Purple Raceway in Houston , Texas, are presently working to try to accommodate additional events.
“We have a lot of work yet to do on the details,” Earwood said, “but, as a group, we thought it was imperative to notify the racers that there WILL BE a valid series for extreme Pro Modified racers in 2014. Right now, all we know for sure is that we’ll run supercharged and nitrous Pro Mods and mountain motor Pro Stock cars. We’re working on adding additional pro categories and will release those details as soon as they are finalized.
“We also are reaching out to sponsors and their participation obviously will determine how many additional categories can be contested,” he continued. “That said, we’ll definitely race for points and will crown champions in whatever categories are part of the final program.”
RaceWorks.com Series Logo Design |
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GEORGIA
CYLINDER HEAD WIZARD
BUDDY JENTZEN DEAD
AT 74
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Oliver Harris “Buddy" Jentzen, who for more than 40 years built cylinder heads for racers across the motorsports spectrum, died last week at his home in Winder, Ga. The man known familiarly as “The Captain” was 74.
Best known for his work in drag racing where he built heads for some of the biggest and also some of the most obscure names in the sport, Jentzen’s Porting Service heads also wound up in the winners’ circle in the NASCAR Cup Series and in some of the world’s major road racing events including Le Mans, the 12 Hours of Sebring and the 24 Hours of Daytona.
In drag racing, he built cylinder heads for Top Fuel dragsters, for cars in the old Modified Eliminator class and for just about everything in between.
He even took a stab at driving a front-motored Top Fuel dragster himself in 1971 but his real genius lay in design and fabrication. He built heads for Bill Elliott’s Ford based NASCAR team during its heyday and built the heads that propelled John Paul Sr. and John Paul Jr. to victory at the 24 Hours of Daytona.
Jentzen lacked pretension. He worked out of the old Atlanta Speed Shop location for years and then set up shop behind the old Barnett Race Cars shop in Norcross, Ga. One of his most recent projects was designing diesel cylinder heads for JJ Performance Diesel. |
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Richmond
County Tourism
Development
Authority Looks to
Increase...
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MIROCK
SUPERBIKE SERIES
TRACK RECORDS FALL
AT THE ROCK FINALS
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The Mickey Thompson MIRock Superbike Series blistered legendary Rockingham Dragway this past weekend, as the world’s largest motorcycle drag racing organization concluded it’s 2013 season with the Lee’s Performance World Finals on November 1-3. Mother Nature made it a tricky three days for Steve Earwood’s hardworking staff, washing away a beautifully prepped track with a deluge on Friday and coming back with rain, cool, and damp conditions Saturday night. But through it all, Rockingham starter “Little Man” and his staff kept spraying plenty of PJ1 traction compound to deliver track records from the most razor-edge bikes around—the high horsepower, street legal rubber-shod machines of Orient Express Pro Street. |
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VIEW MORE / RACE
RESULTS-
VIEW FULL EVENT
ONLINE PHOTO GALLERY
by RaceWorks.com |
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2013 HOLCOMB
MOTORSPORTS FALL
OUTLAW CIVIL WARS A
HUGE HIT!
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VIEW FULL EVENT
HOLCOMB FALL CIVIL
WARS
ONLINE PHOTO GALLERY
by RaceWorks.com
SANFORD’S GROSS
WINS FEATURED TITLE
AT HOLCOMB CIVIL
WARS EVENT
Outlasting weather
interruptions and
final round rival
Jason Tyson,
Sanford’s Josh Gross
drove his 2000 Chevy
Camaro to victory in
the featured Outlaw
275 class at the
annual Holcomb
Motorsports Fall
Civil Wars event at
Rockingham Dragway.
Although he
qualified only fifth
behind the 1968
Chevy Nova of Robby
Keziah of Charlotte,
Gross took out No. 2
qualifier Eric Autry
in round 3 before
getting a bye into
the final round.
While Gross took
home the biggest
paycheck of the
weekend,
Mooresville’s Jerry
Cline and Elm City’s
Michael Crumpler
were the only
multiple race
winners. Cline drove
to victory in both
6.0 Index races and
then beat Bennett’s
Howard Brewer to win
Combo Eliminator.
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WEATHERFORD
DOMINATES AT
WEATHER-PLAGUED
SUPER CHEVY SHOW
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Veteran Randy Weatherford of Danville, Va., overcame weather, the apparent sabotage of the track’s timing system and Carmel, N.Y., rival Chris Rini Sunday to win the Extreme Outlaw Pro Modified title at the annual Super Chevy Show at Steve Earwood’s Rockingham Dragway.
Weatherford, second in EOPM points entering the event, left as the leader after reigning series champ and No. 4 qualifier Danny "the Sheriff" Perry of Sims, N.C., was upset in the second round by Ed Burnley. |
With Perry’s late
model Chevy on the
sidelines,
Weatherford won a
final round duel
between the No. 1
and No. 2
qualifiers, getting
past Rini in 3.825
seconds. Weatherford
qualified No. 1 at
3.829 seconds and
was quickest in
every round at
3.826, 3.835, a
best-of-the-event
3.819 to turn back
Burnely and,
finally, 3.825.
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MORE
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VIEW FULL EVENT
SUPER CHEVY SHOW
ONLINE PHOTO GALLERY
by RaceWorks.com |
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GRIMES
TAKES RAY PRICE
HARLEY-DAVIDSON TO
BIG WIN AT
ROCKINGHAM
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In an event that included riders from Germany, Australia and Canada as well as from California and Colorado, it was local favorite Tommy Grimes who rode to victory Sunday in the featured Top Fuel category at the 22nd annual Jim McClure All-Harley Nitro Nationals at Rockingham Dragway.
Grimes, the veteran from Pfafftown, N.C., sped to a new national record of 6.197 seconds at 220.40 miles per hour in a final round victory over Mike Scott of Bling Bay, British Columbia in a field for which former IHRA All-Harley Champion Jay Turner of Julian, N.C., title contender Ricky House of Humble, Texas and international rider Joachim Riemer of Germany were able to qualify. |
Astride the hybrid
Harley he campaigns
out of Ray Price
Harley-Davidson in
Raleigh, Grimes
raced to a speed of
227.96 mph en route
to the No. 1
qualifying position
but wasn’t able to
satisfy criteria
that would have made
that the new
American Motorcycle
Racing Association
speed record.
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RESULTS |
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IHRA
NITRO JAM, SPRING
NATIONALS WILL
RETURN TO ‘THE ROCK’
IN 2014
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After a two-year absence, drag racing’s signature vehicles will return to Steve Earwood’s Rockingham Dragway next year along with a revamped and re-branded IHRA Nitro Jam Drag Racing Series (NJDRS).
The IHRA Spring Nationals will be contested at The Rock May 15-18, 2014 as one of the cornerstones of a NJDRS that will feature nitro Funny Cars, nitro-burning fuel altereds and nitro Harley-Davidson motorcycles. |
The return of the Spring Nationals, an event that can trace its origins to 1967, has the owner of the historic Carolina track more excited than he’s been in years.
“Our last Spring Nationals was in 2011,” Earwood said, “but we still get weekly calls from spectators inquiring about the nitro cars and when we’re bringing back the Saturday fire-and-thunder show. Now we have an answer for them.
“Everybody at ‘The Rock’ is ecstatic that we’re going to once again be playing host to some of the fastest-accelerating vehicles on the planet. Nitro cars and the famous “jet truck,” what could be better?”
Earwood reluctantly withdrew from the series in 2011 after the IHRA decided to take a detour away from traditional racing to explore a more entertainment-based program.
The revised format proposed by the new ownership of the IHRA combines traditional qualifying and eliminations with selected carry-over entertainment elements.
“This is just a matter of listening to the customer,” said Aaron Polburn, president of IHRA Motorsports. “The Nitro Jam format was successful as evidenced by our growth. Our fans loved the show, but wanted to see more professional racing. What the end result turned out to be was a hybrid of Nitro Jam and traditional IHRA professional racing plus a greatly-expanded pit experience. I think the end product will be extremely fun to watch.
“We are thrilled to return to ‘The Rock” with our nitro and fire racing spectacular,” Polburn said. “The Spring Nationals was always one of the IHRA’s most iconic events (so) this is like a homecoming.”
“There is so much great racing that has taken place at ‘The Rock’ over the years,” said Jason Rittenberry, President and CEO of IRG Sports + Entertainment, which purchased the IHRA earlier this year, “and we are more than thrilled to be bringing the IHRA Spring Nationals and the IHRA NJDRS back to Rockingham.”
The Spring Nationals began as an NHRA tour event at Bristol Dragway in Bristol, Tenn., before track developed Larry Carrier created the IHRA in 1971. Ironically, the first event ever contested in the IHRA series was the IHRA Pro-Am Nationals staged at Rockingham Dragway.
The event was contested continuously at Bristol through 1997. After a one-year absence, it was resurrected at Rockingham in 1999.
“This is a great fit for our schedule,” Earwood said. “We pride ourselves on providing something for everyone and, frankly, without the nitro cars, we haven’t been able to deliver that one segment of our audience. To be able to do that again is really gratifying and we look forward to working with Jason, Aaron, IHRA Vice-President Skooter Peaco and the entire staff to make this the biggest event in the series.”
The new format would include nostalgia nitro Funny Cars, nitro Harley-Davidsons and nitro fuel altereds, throwbacks to the drag racing’s golden era. One of the most unique aspects of the new series will be a jet dragster division featuring only women drivers.
The event also will include a full complement of IHRA Pro Am categories including Top Dragster, Top Sportsman and Super Stock along with two days of points racing in the IHRA Summit SuperSeries.
According to Earwood, an announcement will be forthcoming on when advance tickets to the Spring Nationals will be available for purchase. |
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HARRIS
CARVES HIS NICHE IN
AN INTERNATIONAL
FIELD AT ROCKINGHAM
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"THE
ROCK"
Always Action Packed
and Extremely Fast
For All Race Cars &
Bikes!!
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