Author: Mike Haag

EPPING, N.H. – Ron Capps set a track record and raced to the qualifying lead in Funny Car on Friday at the NHRA New England Nationals at New England Dragway. Steve Torrence (Top Fuel), and Jason Line (Pro Stock) were qualifying leaders in their respective categories at the ninth event of 24 in the Mello Yello Drag Racing Series near Boston. Capps powered his NAPA Auto Parts Dodge Charger R/T to an elapsed time record of 3.865 seconds at 325.92 mph in the first session of qualifying. The track record is the second quickest time in Funny Car history. Capps,…

DETROIT  – Simon Pagenaud resumed his assault on the Verizon IndyCar Series championship, capturing the Verizon P1 Award today to put him on pole position for the first race of the Chevrolet Dual in Detroit presented by Quicken Loans. Pagenaud’s fast lap in the Firestone Fast Six, the last of three rounds of knockout qualifying on the 2.35-mile Raceway at Belle Isle Park temporary street course, was a crisp 1 minute, 14.9166 seconds (112.926 mph) in the No. 22 Hewlett Packard Enterprise Chevrolet. He edged teammate Helio Castroneves by 0.0119 of a second and led a Team Penske sweep of the…

EPPING, N.H. — The 2016 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season has been a return to form for the John Force Racing team. Funny Car standout Courtney Force is the points leader and has a victory, Robert Hight has a win and is fifth in points, and Top Fuel driver Brittany Force won the first two races of her career this season and sits third. The only driver without a win in the four-car stable is team owner and 16-time world champion John Force, something he hopes can change at this weekend’s fourth annual NHRA New England Nationals at…

EPPING, N.H. — Five straight first-round losses wasn’t the ideal way for former Top Fuel world champion Shawn Langdon to start his 2016 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season, especially after a victory closed out his 2015 campaign. That momentum quickly dissipated with the early-season struggles, but Langdon believes his 10,000-horsepower Red Fuel dragster is closing in on a winning combination. It comes at an opportune time, as this weekend’s fourth annual NHRA New England Nationals at New England Dragway kicks off a stretch of four straight race weekends. Langdon, in his first full season driving for Don Schumacher…

EPPING, N.H. — The 2016 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season marked the start of Ron Capps’ 20th season in Funny Car. There have been plenty of memorable moments across the country, leading to 46 career victories, but racing at historic New England Dragway the past three seasons certainly ranks near the top. The iconic track, which sits about an hour north of metro Boston, celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2016 and plays host to the fourth annual NHRA New England Nationals, June 3-5. It’s also an event and an experience Capps, who won the race in 2014, has…

Track: Raceway at Belle Isle Park, a 2.35-mile, 14-turn temporary street course (clockwise) Race distance: 70 laps / 164.5 miles (Both races) Entry List:  Chevrolet Dual in Detroit (PDF) Push-to-pass parameters: 10 activations for 15 seconds each (Both races) Firestone tire allotment: Eight sets primary, three sets alternate (Weekend) Twitter: @DetroitGP @IndyCar, #DetroitGP, #IndyCar Event website: www.DetroitGP.com INDYCAR website: www.IndyCar.com 2015 race winners: Race 1: Carlos Munoz (No. 26 AndrettiTV Cinsay Honda); Race 2: Sebastien Bourdais (No. 11 Team Mistic E-Cigs KVSH Racing Chevrolet) 2015 Verizon P1 Award winners: Race 1: Will Power (No. 1 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet) 1:16.0941,…

By Reid Spencer NASCAR Wire Service CONCORD, N.C. – The heartbreak kid survived 600 miles without another broken heart. Instead, Martin Truex Jr. broke records in Sunday night’s victory in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, a race in which the driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row Toyota set new standards for domination. Truex led 392 of 400 laps, most ever in NASCAR’s longest Sprint Cup Series race. He spent 588 of 600 miles at the front of the field, most ever in a single race in NASCAR history. And when it was over, Truex had his first…

INDIANAPOLIS – On the biggest motorsports stage imaginable, Alexander Rossi picked the perfect day to make unimaginable history before a sellout crowd at Indianapolis Motor Speedway as a worldwide television audience tuned in. The 24-year-old Californian and Verizon IndyCar Series rookie literally coasted across the finish line to win the epic 100th Running of the Indianapolis 500 presented by PennGrade Motor Oil in most memorable fashion. Driving the No. 98 NAPA Auto Parts/Curb Honda, Rossi stretched his last tank of fuel over the final 36 laps around the hallowed 2.5-mile oval, running dry of Sunoco E85R as he entered Turn…

JUAN PABLO MONTOYA (No. 2 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet): “It’s disappointing for Verizon and Chevy and everybody who has worked so hard. The car was just hard to drive and it was a little bit tighter there in that corner and it got away. It was a disappointing day. People in race cars do a lot of dumb things and we were being careful. So I started making up some ground again and the car was actually pretty good. It was really sloppy, but it felt ok. I went into (Turn) 2 with a big push and when I…

INDIANAPOLIS – A unique version of the new, 2017 Camaro SS 50th Anniversary Edition will lead the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500 today, driven by motorsports legend Roger Penske, who is marking 50 years as a race team owner. It’s the ninth time Camaro has served as the pace car and the 27th time for Chevrolet, dating back to 1948. “Chevrolet and the Indianapolis 500 have a long, storied history and it’s an honor to mark the respective milestones of the Indy 500 race and the Camaro simultaneously,” said Mark Reuss, executive vice president of Global Product Development and…