People, Places & Racing News

The Hot Rod Power Tour is nearing its 20th birthday (this year’s running in June swings from Texas to North Carolina), but the roots of long-distance hot-rod hauling go back much further than that.

FORCE AND SCHUMACHER LOOK FOR SUCCESS AT BRISTOL DRAGWAY: 15-time NHRA Funny Car Champion John Force and seven-time Top Fuel world champion Tony Schumacher both are looking for continued success at Bristol Dragway during the upcoming Ford Thunder Valley Nationals June 14–16. Force has three wins at the track the most recent coming in 2010. Force is ready to return to the finals on Father's Day.

Here is a brief look at some of news and updates from around the specialty-equipment industry. Companies featured this week: Automotive Lift Institute, Petty's Garage, Motorz, University of the Aftermarket Foundation, and more.

At Bully Dog's third NHRDA event of the season—BD Truckin' Nationals—in Mission, British Columbia, driver Nick Adamson qualified with a 12.113-second quarter-mile in the Super Diesel class. He earned a 60-ft. time of 1.6 seconds and a quarter-mile of 12.004 to beat out his closest opponent Ryan Dubois, who ran the quarter-mile in 12.50 seconds. In the Pro Street Class, driver Jarid Vollmer's qualifying time of 9.68 was good enough for first place. In the final race of the weekend, his time of 10.2 seconds was enough to beat Donovan Harris of Harris Diesel Racing. This win gave Vollmer an even more commanding lead in the season points race.

News and updates and from SEMA's councils and committees. 

TOP FUEL AND FUNNY CAR POINT LEADS CHANGE HANDS IN ENGLISHTOWN: The points battles are heating up as the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series heads into the summer months and Shawn Langdon (Top Fuel), Matt Hagan (Funny Car), Mike Edwards (Pro Stock) and Michael Ray (Pro Stock Motorcycle) all took home wins at the Toyota NHRA Summernationals. Langdon and Hagan also took over the points lead in their respective categories with the victories. Visit NHRA.com for more.

Alain Eboli is a graduate of Southern Polytechnic State University in Atlanta. He is a father of a four-year-old boy who also shares a strong interest in cars and trucks. Eboli's role is engineering manager for OMIX-ADA/Rugged Ridge/Alloy USA—an independent manufacturer of Jeep replacement parts and accessories.

Here is a brief look at some of news and updates from around the specialty-equipment industry. Companies featured this week: ESAB Cutting Systems, Hotchkis Sport Suspension, RealTruck.com and more.

Radar Tires Racing and Bronson Motorsports driver/owner Mike Johnson finished the 500 miles of Mexico’s Baja California Norte terrain last Saturday to earn a Class 10 victory during the 45th Annual SCORE International Baja 500.

News and updates and from SEMA's councils and committees.