Backstretch Motorsports

KENT, Wash. – After a shaky first half of the season that included six DNQs, Tony Bartone (shown left) raced to his first NHRA POWERade Series victory Sunday at the 21st annual Schuck’s Auto Supply NHRA Nationals after more than six years of professional racing.

Bartone defeated veteran driver Ron Capps, also looking to break out of a winless streak that dates back to Richmond 2007, in the final round. Bartone powered his Canidae Pet Foods Chevy Monte Carlo to a 4.454-second pass at 238.17 mph to get the long-awaited win, while Capps posted a 4.708 at 227.46 in his NAPA Auto Parts Dodge Charger R/T.

[read more...]

KENT, Wash. – Tony Schumacher has been in the final round in Seattle every year since 2004. Out of four consecutive final rounds here, he’s won three. He looked primed to add a fifth after qualifying No. 1 Saturday at the 21st annual Schuck’s Auto Supply NHRA Nationals, piloting his U.S. Army dragster to a 3.802-second pass at 316.90 mph in prime conditions Friday for his fourth No. 1 qualifier of the season and the 51st of his career.

Robert Hight (shown left) and Dave Connolly also will lead their respective categories into Sunday’s eliminations on the power of the No. 1 qualifiers they earned during prime weather conditions of the first day of qualifying, on Friday.

[read more...]

KENT, Wash. – Jack Beckman (shown left) describes the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series as the “Top Gun” for race car drivers. Its categories are the fastest motorsports contests in the world; where extremity runs headlong into a deep pool of stubborn talent.

And it’s where, as rookies soon find out, being just ‘good’ doesn’t always win.

Most of the focus in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing is, naturally, what happens during a run – the four-point-something-seconds-plus between the green light and a win light.

[read more...]