
Johnny Gray wins Funny Car finals at NHRA Kansas Nationals
On Sunday, Johnny Gray, 60, won for the second straight weekend and third time this season when he beat Robert Hight in the Funny Car finals at the NHRA Kansas Nationals at Heartland Park.
Friday, May 24, 2013

On Sunday, Johnny Gray, 60, won for the second straight weekend and third time this season when he beat Robert Hight in the Funny Car finals at the NHRA Kansas Nationals at Heartland Park.

Langdon faced Schumacher in a Top Fuel final on Sunday at Heartland Park Topeka for the third time dating to last season, and he made it 3-0 in finals against The Sarge.
Hall of Famer John Force set a Heartland Park Funny Car track record in Saturday’s opening qualifying session and claimed the No. 1 position, giving John Force Racing the 1-2-3 seeds for Sunday’s elimination rounds.
Driver takes the provisional No. 1 qualifying spot at Heartland Park Topeka with an elapsed time of 6.618 seconds and 208.55 mph, which if holds up Saturday, would give him his seventh pole in eight events this season.

A year ago, Don Schumacher Racing’s Antron Brown won the Top Fuel championship and Jack Beckman won the Funny Car title, marking just the second time in NHRA history that one organization had swept both nitro titles. This year, the team is keeping the accelerators mashed and the salad forks chilled.

Who could’ve resisted the sales pitch? Imagine driving the world’s fastest and most exotic high-performance cars on a real racetrack … no traffic … no stoplights … no law enforcement … just your dreams, your adrenaline and the wide-open asphalt.

There is that lasting image of Dick Trickle in the Winston 500 lighting up a cigarette while driving his stock car with his knees during a caution lap.
In 2005 and 2012, David Grubnic of Kalitta Motorsports pulled out unexpected victories at Heartland Park that snapped some major droughts. So he’s confident he can do it again at this weekend’s Kansas Nationals.
Cruz Pedregon owns his own Funny Car team. He tunes the car himself as the crew chief. And then he races the Snap-on Tools Toyota down the drag strip.

Matt Kenseth has rarely been more pleased in victory than he was this weekend at Darlington Raceway. Maybe that's because of what he overcame to achieve the win.

Matt Kenseth is quickly showing how well he fits in at Joe Gibbs Racing.

Antron Brown raced to the Top Fuel victory Saturday at the weather-delayed NHRA Southern Nationals at the Atlanta Dragway.

It’s been 10 years since Ricky Craven and Kurt Busch streaked across the finish line at Darlington separated by a barely a whisker. For those who watched the race, the memories will never fade.
NASCAR’s appeals panel on Wednesday amended the original penalties that stripped Matt Kenseth of just about everything but the trophy from his Sprint Cup STP 400 win at Kansas Speedway on April 21.
Penske Racing is still out a substantial amount of points and money, but its two Sprint Cup cars will get their crew chiefs back sooner after an appeal was heard on Tuesday.

In one of the bigger upsets in NASCAR history, it wasn't only one David but two of them who beat Goliath on Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway.
Inclement weather forced cancellation of races at both Lakeside Speedway on Friday night and I-35 Speedway on Saturday. The forecast also precludes any possibility of a Sunday makeup at Lakeside as has occurred in two of the past three weeks.

The former Sprint Cup champion on Sunday will become one of 14 drivers to reach the milestone. “It’s just an awesome accomplishment in this sport,” he said. “It’s hard to achieve in a lot of ways. I’m thankful to be able to get to that point.”
Gary Donaldson took home twice the pay for winning the Grand National division race at Lakeside Speedway when it was determined the previously rained-out race would be combined with Sunday’s event.
Lakeside Speedway has postponed Friday night’s races until Sunday because of wet conditions on the track and parking lots.