InsideTopAlcohol

John Lombardo Jr. and the NAPA Auto Parts/Lucas Oil Top Alcohol Funny Car team shook down their new McKinney car during testing at Auto Club Famoso Raceway.

LAS VEGAS, April 4, 2018 – John Lombardo Jr. is ready to make his 2018 season debut at this weekend’s DENSO Spark Plugs Four-Wide Nationals in Las Vegas with a new car and the same mindset that drove the NAPA Auto Parts/Lucas Oil Chevy Camaro Top Alcohol Funny Car team to nine total wins in 2017.

Though eager to begin his pursuit of the 2018 NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series championship, Lombardo and team patiently put a new race car together while others put their first competitive runs in the books in Pomona and Gainesville. Once the thorough process was completed at the team’s Southern California headquarters, they gained valuable information with the new frame at a test session at Auto Club Famoso Raceway before venturing out to The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Lombardo doesn’t foresee five months’ time elapsed or a whole new race car tempering the considerable momentum he gained with wins in Las Vegas and Pomona to close the 2017 season in November. He drives with confidence knowing that the team surrounding him has immaculately prepared the supercharged, methanol-burning hot rod.

“Rick Jackson, Chris Perl, and crew are known to take first class race cars to the starting line,” said Lombardo. “Their efforts produce results as evidenced by nine wins in 17 races last year, including Vegas and Pomona in November. Our offseason has been a bit longer than normal, but it was extremely busy and productive.

“We are debuting a new McKinney Camaro and starting our season this weekend at Las Vegas. I can't wait to let the clutch out and pour the power to it, so we can see what this car needs to run up front and trigger those win lights!”

The reigning Central Region champion had a fruitful 2017 campaign with nine victories that included a perfect six-for-six sweep in...

Gainesville FL - Duane Shields, didn’t make it to the NHRA Gatornationals Winner's Circle this time but still had a good weekend by making it to the semi-finals before getting stopped by a loss of traction. “I’m disappointed. We were on a roll and thought we were heading for another final round appearance but it didn’t work out this time” Duane said.

Duane qualified the PEAK A/Fuel Dragster in the top half of the field with a scorching 5.22 at 274 MPH. His qualifying run was good for 4th in the final run order of the Top Alcohol Dragster class.

In round one, Duane easily disposed of Robin Samsel. Duane was on his game and won the round at both ends of the track as he beat Samsel off the line with an 0.053 to his 0.084. At the finish line it was Duane taking the win with a 5.29 at 271 MPH to Samsel’s valiant 5.34 at 264 MPH.

In round two, Duane faced off with Jordan Vandergriff. At the hit, Vandergriff got the stating line advantage but didn’t have the power to over come the PEAK Dragster as Duane made up for his slight starting line deficit instantly with a potent 5.23 at 276 MPH to Vandergriff’s slower 5.37 at 273 MPH.

In the semifinals, Duane raced Josh Hart. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the close race that everyone was expecting. Hart got the starting line advantage and never looked back as he scored the victory with a 5.27 at 273 MPH. Sadly for Duane, he immediately went up in smoke at the tap of the throttle and had to reluctantly conceded the race. “The weather warmed up and the track got a little tricky and we lost traction. Some of the cars that were running hard all weekend began to smoke the tires as well” Duane said.

The PEAK team will take a brief break after three races in a row and then return to action April 20-22 when they move on to Virginia Motorsports Park for a Lucas Oil Regional event. Duane would like to thank his great sponsors: PEAK Antifreeze and Motor Oil, Final Charge, Blue Def, NGK, GRP and Brad Anderson Enterprises for their...

The track and weather conditions made it tough for the Randy Meyer Racing Team to continue their success from the 2017 season to 2018, but were able to walk away with a third place finish at both Regional races between 3 of their drivers.

The first event of the Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series’ Central Region was held in Belle Rose, Louisiana the first weekend of March – a race that was typically held a month later. With a stout field the team pushed their two Top Alcohol Dragsters to power down the track as the quickest and fastest, and were able to do so with Megan Meyer’s NGK Spark Plugs race car. Unfortunately, tuning problems with Julie Nataas’s dragster caused her to qualify eighth, a first round set up for both girls to compete against each other.

Although this is not the ideal match for the opening round of eliminations for the team, the girls had a hard-fought race and the victory went to Megan as Julie had a -.002 red light. Megan went on to lose to Jackie Fricke in the following round due to tire shake on the track, despite the low E.T. she ran.



“I didn’t experience smoking the tires until my fifth race in an Alcohol Dragster, which was in Pomona earlier this year,” Julie said. “In Louisiana I learned a lot again; smoking the tires two out of the tree qualifying passes, getting used to it and know how to recover from it. In the final session, the car was going fast but was shaking to the point where I couldn’t see the finish line, so after half track I stepped off the gas and pulled the parachutes. We wanted a clean plass down the race track so that I didn’t have to race my teammate first round, but I was pretty upset that we didn’t qualify better. After losing two races on a holeshot last year, I wanted to cut a light against Megan but tried too hard and the red light start ended it for me in Louisiana. I look forward to coming back next year and...