Antron Brown raced to his second Top Fuel victory of the season Monday at the rain-delayed NHRA New England Nationals at New England Dragway.

Ron Capps (Funny Car) and Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) also were winners of the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series event near Boston.

Brown closed the gap on series points leader Doug Kalitta with a convincing victory over rival Steve Torrence in the final round. Brown powered his Matco Tools dragster to a winning performance of 3.769 seconds at 314.61 mph to hold off Torrence’s Capco Contractors machine, which trailed with a 3.778 at 325.30, in a very close finish.

Antron Brown

It was Brown’s 56th career win and his first at New England Dragway. He earned an opening-round bye as the No. 1 qualifier and then defeated Shawn Langdon and Tony Schumacher to advance to his fourth final-round appearance of the season. With the victory, Brown cut Kalitta’s lead from 95 to 46 points.

“The car ran great all weekend,” said Brown, who is now 18-1 in head-to-head meetings versus Torrence. “We were fortunate to get the win. That Capco team over there is no joke. Steve is a real tough competitor, and we like racing against those guys because you know they are going to give you a great race every time. We’re going home to Englishtown this weekend, and we are ready for it. We’ve got to keep pushing.” (more…)

Donnellson, Iowa – Friday night marked the Lucas Oil MLRA’s second stop of the season at the Lee County Speedway. A total of 35 cars checked into the pit area to do battle for the $3,000 top prize.

Jimmy Mars brought the field to the green flag from his DirtOnDirt.com pole position alongside front row starter Tony Jackson Jr. Oxford, Iowa’s Chris Simpson wasted no time in marching to the runner-up spot from his 5th starting position to contend for the race lead with Mars.

As the Lucas Oil Racing TV feature event neared the mid-point the race leaders encountered heavy lap traffic in an event that would go caution free. Simpson tried numerous times to overtake Mars for the lead to no avail, but finally with just 6 laps remaining Simpson was able to pin his Longhorn chassis to the bottom of turn 4 and overtake Mars for the lead and eventual win.

In Andy’s Frozen Custard Victory Lane Simpson commented on the battle with Mars. “We both had really good cars, and sometimes running 2nd at that point is where you need to be to see where he’s losing a little and I’m gaining a little.” As for the pass for the race lead Simpson said, “I just kept arching it into three really good and getting a straight run off of 4, and I’m pretty sure that won me the race.” (more…)

Photo Credit: Speed51.com/Rick Ibsen

For the third straight NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour event at Stafford Motor Speedway, it was three-time champion Doug Coby taking home the checkers Friday night in the TSI Harley-Davidson 125. Though the stats show a dominating performance, leading 129 of 130 completed laps, it was not as easy an effort as it appeared with a fast Donny Lia sticking to Coby’s back bumper for much of the race.

Coby was in complete agreement with those present that it was anything but a cakewalk.

“Donny was right there. I had to push it, the car was tight in the beginning, I don’t know if he just wanted to lay back a little bit,” Coby said after the race. “My car got a little better after the first 20 laps, but he was there.”

After the field pitted on a lap 72 caution, Coby was able to get more room on Lia, but a series of late restarts caused by chaos behind kept the field tight and Coby responded in kind.

“It’s just uncertainty. I was kind of spinning the tires, I guess they were spinning them worse than me,” said Coby “The restart before the last one, Donny got in right behind me and that was probably the most dangerous restart you can have as the leader. I drove the last restarts probably harder than I should have, that’s something for me to think about as a driver.” (more…)

Bloomington, IN – Just like clockwork, each June when “Indiana Midget Week” rolls around, one has been able to witness what has become a yearly tradition: Christopher Bell standing in Bloomington Speedway’s victory lane.

Christopher Bell is all smiles after his Indiana Midget Week win. (Neil Cavanah photo)
Christopher Bell is all smiles after his Indiana Midget Week win. (Neil Cavanah photo)
For the third straight year, Bell’s mastery of Bloomington’s red clay was on full display Friday night at the southern Indiana track as he picked up USAC National Midget victory number 17, tying him with Jay Drake and J.J. Yeley for 36th on the all-time list.

Norman, Oklahoma’s Bell also extended the Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports dominance of the past week by becoming the fourth consecutive (and fourth different) pilot on the team to earn a victory in the first four races of the six-race series.

At the start, pole sitter Dave Darland stepped out in front of the field and, despite contact from behind by Carson Macedo between turns one and two, was able to take the advantage in the early going, leading his first laps in the series since the “Belleville Nationals” in July of 2014. (more…)

Photo credit: David Nearpass

Rico Abreu finished off a stretch of Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports domination Sunday night at Kokomo Speedway, becoming the fifth driver from the team’s stable to win during the five nights of “Indiana Midget Week.” However, a string of consistent finishes by RKR/Dooling Racing pilot Bryan Clauson throughout the week was enough to earn the Noblesville, Indiana driver his third “Indiana Midget Week” title.

Coming into the night, Clauson held a 40-point advantage over Spencer Bayston in the “Indiana Midget Week” standings. By feature time, Clauson had bumped up his lead over Bayston to 43, meaning that Clauson would merely have to finish 18th or better to clinch the title.

Clauson’s cause was benefited by his outside front row starting position, while Bayston rolled off from the eighth spot. However, it was Phoenix, Arizona’s Chad Boat who took control at the start of the 30-lap feature. (more…)