Historic motor racing at Barber Motorsports Park
Legends of Motorsports
May 21 - 23, 2010
Racing legend Bobby Rahal, partner in Historic Motorsports Productions, brought his newest venture to the Barber Motorsports Park for its inaugural event.

Spectators watched actual rolling pieces of history as they competed on North America's most beautiful circuit May 21 - 23.

The Grand Marshal was Mario Andretti and the featured marque was be Lotus, featuring a Lotus-only invitational race.

Photos by MSA Staff: Fred Hanyon and Leon McVay

All-Star Race Recap:
Kurt Busch Surges To Win
After storming from fifth place to the lead when teammates Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch tangled on Lap 93 of 100, Kurt Busch survived two late cautions and held off Martin Truex Jr. to win the Sprint All-Star Race for the first time.

Busch's win made the evening extra special for team owner Roger Penske.

Photos by David Allio

Motorsport America Race Fans of the Month: Spotted at the Atlanta Dragway NHRA Southern Nationals.

The June issue will feature coverage of the Southern Nationals, The Blake Gammill Bike Run and more.

The May issue PDFs will be posted this week online.

DIXON, HIGHT, COUGHLIN AND HINES WIN SUMMIT RACING EQUIPMENT NHRA SOUTHERN NATIONALS AT ATLANTA DRAGWAY
COMMERCE, Ga. – Larry Dixon tied Joe Amato for second on the NHRA Top Fuel wins list by racing to his 52nd career victory Sunday at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway.

Robert Hight, Jeg Coughlin and Andrew Hines also were winners in their respective categories at the eighth of 23 events in the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series. Photos by MSA staff

NHRA SOUTHERN NATIONALS:
Force Hood, Johnson & Arana top qualifyers
Atlanta Dragway: Saturday, May 15, 2010

Larry Dixon raced to the No. 1 qualifying position in Top Fuel Saturday at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway. Ashley Force Hood, Allen Johnson and Hector Arana also will lead their respective categories into Sunday’s 11 a.m. eliminations at the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series event. Photos by MSA staff

Let 'em rip! NHRA Southern Nationals
Atlanta Dragway: Friday, May 14th

Force Hood, Dixon Johnson & Smith Lead Qualifying
COMMERCE, Ga. - Ashley Force Hood raced to the qualifying lead in Funny Car Friday at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals. Larry Dixon, Allen Johnson and Matt Smith also were qualifying leaders at the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series event. Force Hood continued to have success at Atlanta Dragway, site of her milestone first career victory in 2008 and No. 1 qualifying effort and runner-up finish last year, by powering her Castrol GTX Ford Mustang to a leading qualifying performance of 4.104 seconds at 304.60 mph.

Tickets are still on sale for the Southern Nationals thru Sunday, don't miss a moment of the action, so get there early!

Photos by MSA staff

Red Farmer Classic at Talladega Short Track this Weekend
by Dennis Anton

EASTABOGA, Ala. -- Talladega Short Track officials are getting ready for one of the biggest events of the 2010 season, as the Inaugural “Red Farmer Classic” comes to the 1/3 mile clay oval this weekend, May 13th – May 15th.

The race will be highlighted by a 97 Lap Super Latemodel feature event paying $9,700 to win in honor of the legendary Alabama Gang Members car number.

Saturday Night will feature “Dinner with Red” from 4:30 – 5:00 on the backstretch at the Hambones BBQ Tent area, and then the pre-race ceremonies that are scheduled to begin at 5:30PM where we will honor the legend.

USCS sprints headline Motor Madness at Lavonia Saturday, May 15th
Atlanta, GA – The United Sprint Car Series presented by Goodyear www.uscsracing.com kicks off the Georgia dirt track portion of its 2010 Southern Thunder Tour on Saturday, May 15th with the “May Motor Madness” event at the Lavonia Speedway in Lavonia, Georgia. The event is loaded with action-packed racing featuring a full “Smorgasbord of Speed” including a full program of winged outlaw style sprint car racing plus racing in the popular Southeastern Limited Late Model Sportsman Series, Fastrak Late Models the Georgia Mini Sprint Series (winged mini-sprints) and five of Lavonia Speedway’s weekly stock car racing divisions. There should be something for everyone who likes to see fast cars go round and round.

30th Annual Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals coming back to “Hotlanta”
by Tim Glover

Once again, Atlanta Dragway in Commerce, Georgia will experience the thrill and excitement of 8000 horsepower, ground-pounding Top Fuel Dragsters and Fuel Funny Cars during the weekend of May 14-16, 2010 for the 30th annual running of the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals. Top Fuel Dragsters and Fuel Funny Cars will be headlining the show, along with Pro Stock Cars and Pro Stock Motorcycles. New for 2010 is the wild and wooly Pro Modified class, along with hundreds of NHRA Sportsman racers in Competition Eliminator, Super Stock, Stock Eliminator, Super Comp and Top Sportsman, all vying for the chance to win the big prize, an NHRA “Wally” trophy.

Bike Night
AmVets Post 118 - Lithia Springs, GA
Wednesday, May 12, 2010

AmVets kicked off their weekly Bike Night on Wednesday night at 6PM. The lively crowd enjoyed live music provided by Roy Glenn of the Glory Hounds with AmVets member Jerry Teal backing him up on bass.

They got a few participants in a game (see the photos to figure it out) that set the whole place off howling and laughing at their attempts to keep their dignity intact!

Tony Stewart Featured on Gresham Motorsports Park Garage Talk this Week

JEFFERSON, Ga. -- Tony Stewart is one of the featured guests this week on Gresham Motorsports Park Garage Talk.

Stewart, who tested his NASCAR Sprint Cup car at GMP recently, is part of the 30-minute television show that is produced by and aired on JBTV54 in Commerce, GA. The show is hosted by JBTV54’s Dave Wiley. Also on this week’s GMP Garage Talk is an interview with Georgia racing great Tommy Irvin. Irvin will be one of the many Peach State racing legends on hand this Saturday when the track hosts Georgia Racing Hall of Fame Night.

Public invited to R2B2 Open House prior to Atlanta race

DULUTH, Ga. (May 8) -- Fans of drag racing and cool custom cars will have a rare opportunity to get an inside look at both on Thursday, May 13, when R2B2 Motors opens its doors to the public. There will be food, drinks, live entertainment, a raffle, speedboats and the team's racecars: the In-N-Out Burger Dodge Charger Funny Car, the In-N-Out Burger '63 Corvette Pro Mod, both driven by Melane Troxel; the '63 Corvette Pro Mod driven by Burgess and the '67 Camaro Pro Mod driven by Raymond Commisso.

NASCAR: Darlington Report
by Pete McCole, MSA Correspondent

Denny Hamlin took advantage of critical miscues by Jeff Gordon and Jeff Burton to post his third NASCAR Sprint cup victory of the season and complete the weekend sweep in Saturday night’s Showtime Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. Bum knee and all, Hamlin led the final 24 laps to beat out pole winner Jamie McMurray to become the first driver since Mark Martin in 1993 to complete the weekend sweep at Darlington. Kurt Busch finished third, followed by Gordon and Juan Pablo Montoya. Hamlin’s victory was his first career Darlington victory in the Sprint Cup Series, coming just one day after winning his third consecutive Nationwide Series victory at the track.

NHRA Southern Nationals:
In-N-Out Burger Funny Car now entered in Atlanta race

DULUTH, Ga. (May 6) -- The In-N-Out Burger Dodge Charger Funny Car is getting a command performance at Atlanta Dragway next week. Roger Burgess, owner of R2B2 Racing, is entering the In-N-Out Funny Car into the 30th annual Summit Racing Equipment Southern Nationals, May 14-16, partially as a reward for the progress the team has made thus far and also as a birthday present for In-N-Out Burger chief Lynsi Martinez. The In-N-Out Burger Funny Car is scheduled to run in eight races this season in the states where In-N-Out Burger has restaurant locations but Burgess said the timing of the Atlanta event was too good to pass up.

GEICO Powersports drag racers look to Atlanta

ST. LOUIS (May 2) -- GEICO Powersports teammates Morgan Lucas and Karen Stoffer exited Gateway International Raceway sooner than they were hoping Sunday, with Lucas recording a quarterfinal finish and Stoffer a Round 1 loss. Lucas beat part-timer Troy Buff in Round 1 before falling to point leader Larry Dixon in the second session. The sport's youngest nitro professional at 26 years old, Lucas says the GEICO Powersports/Lucas Oil dragster crew will now gear up for its first title defense May 14-16 at Atlanta Dragway and the Southern Nationals.

"THE SARGE" COLLECTS SECOND WIN OF THE YEAR

MADISON, Ill., May 2, 2010 - U.S. Army Top Fuel driver Tony "The Sarge" Schumacher captured his second victory of the season here Sunday in the AAA Insurance Midwest Nationals at Gateway International Raceway. Schumacher, a seven-time world champion, defeated Doug Kalitta in the finals with a 3.849-second pass at 317.87 mph.

"That one was for our Army Strong Soldiers," said Schumacher. "It's been a while since we visited victory lane. We owed our brave men and women a trophy."

AHDRA - Southern Nitro Nationals
Atlanta Dragway - Commerce, GA
April 29-May 2

Well, the All Harley Drag Racing Association was in Motorsport America's backyard this weekend and of course we were there to capture the action. Check out our photos by Fred Hanyon and Leon McVay.

The next stop for the series is Numidia Dragway in Pennsylvania. For more info and results, visit www.ahdra.com

31st Walter Mitty Challenge
www.hsrrace.com

The 34th Classic Motorsports Mitty, presented by Mazda, at Road Atlanta April 29-May 2 featured hundreds of vintage racing cars, including dozens that have won some of the most prestigious races in the world.

Because of their value, many people cannot believe that they actually race in competition on the demanding 2.54-mile Road Atlanta course in Braselton, Georgia.