Around the same time she joined Hope 4 Autism, Johnson got involved in a competition with Car Chix which celebrates women in motorsports. Johnson promised if she was one of the winners of the competition and featured in the Car Chix calendar, she would do this race for a cause that’s near and dear to her heart.

“I ended up placing in the top 12 and from that, we’re going to do a big drag race and raise money,” Johnson said. “I thought it would be a one-time thing. We did our first event the following April, which is Autism Awareness Month and the beginning of the drag racing season in Missouri. We were very blessed that first year and over the years it’s grown where a lot of people know us from Autos 4 Autism.”

Through the Car Chix competition, she met and formed a close friendship with IHRA Director of Racer Relations Staci Kettles who has become a huge supporter of the Autos 4 Autism event. Johnson praised Kettles and the staff at Bonne Terre Drag Strip for all they’ve done to help the program.

“I was a spectator at Bonne Terre when it was a sand drags track,” Johnson said. “Jarrod Keen, who is the track owner, made it into the paved 1/8-mile drag strip it is today. Jarrod has been beyond a blessing and his staff have been amazing. They promote it and everybody asks about it. Staci grew up a drag racer and she has always welcomed me with open arms. She’s helped us so much.”

Johnson was pleasantly surprised how others in the racing community embraced the event. She laughs when looking back at the first flyer that she describes as thrown together on a word document. Now, they’ve got a separate Facebook page devoted to Autos 4 Autism, while the Hope 4 Autism website gives greater detail about the overall program.

Prior to her involvement, Johnson was a corporate trainer for a large insurance company. She became involved in the cause through one of her best friends who co-founded Hope 4 Autism. She was there with her friend whose child was diagnosed with autism and saw how it affected families financially.

She cited a case of a service dog for the child and how fast the expenses added up. The support is greatly needed as it’s quickly revealed those with autism often have a specific talent or ability that can be tapped into. The program, which serves teens and young adults, helps find the ways they learn and the areas they excel at.

They’re empowered through vocational and social opportunities to help them lead a fuller life. There are different ways you can get involved in supporting this great program.

Click here to check out the Autos 4 Autism Facebook page with plenty of fantastic photos from this great event. Also check out the Hope 4 Autism website for more information about this program. 

Bonne Terre Drag Strip has more great events coming up. Keep up with the latest news here on the track’s Facebook page.

“This adds recognition to our track, and we’re proud to fly the IHRA colors,” track promoter Jeff Shirk said. “We know the IHRA has been looking to expand and we’re happy to help in that area.”

The three tracks are working together to promote a big shootout for their racers at the end of the season. Matter of fact, it was the relationship with Eagle Field track operator Rocky Phillips that sparked the interest of Kingdon Drags and IHRA. Shirk and Phillips go way back as Shirk helped train him on the track’s former timing system.

Shirk is currently working on a new timing system at Kingdon Drags, which has its biggest event in September. The 18th annual Return to Kingdon Drags is the track’s largest event of the season. The 2023 edition featured an arm-drop, test-and-tune and The Beast Jet Dragster on Friday, an open timed test-and-tune on Saturday, followed by opening ceremonies and a Nitro Cackle Fest. Sunday’s schedule included another test-and-tune, opening ceremonies and final eliminations.

They always try to pay homage to the early days of racing as Shirk explained some at the track are into the old-school, heads-up racing and others who like the time slips.

“Our September event, we start with the arm drop, move to the timers and finish with a bracket, dial-in,” Shirk said. “The Return to Kingdon Drags Reunion is always the big race, but we have some smaller ones too.”

The Kingdon strip was built in the early 1940s by the military and used as a training facility for pilots. Bob Cress, a Stockton police officer, converted the use to a drag strip as a way to get illegal racing off the streets and provide them with a safer and legal alternative.

“Big Daddy” Don Garlits debuted the “Swamp Rat” at Kingdon in 1959 and the facility became an operational airport again in the 1970s. Shirk held his first race at Kingdon in 2006, honoring the racers who drove there in the past. For the races, they fence it off and bring in the portable pieces like a full barrier to host the races.

They are good neighbors for the community and have used proceeds from the races to donate to military organizations. The racing can get serious as Shirk recounted how one driver got his  wheels so far up at the start, it destroyed the transmission and everything else when the car came down.

Shirk is serious about spraying and prepping the track to make it the best for the racers, while they also create a great family atmosphere. Several vendors come in to provide food options including a nice selection of desserts. They also work hard to bring in sponsors which include Premier Pools, United Rentals and Teichert Construction.

For more information about Kingdon Drags, click here to look at the track’s Facebook page. Welcome to all the new California racers. Make sure you take advantage of becoming an IHRA member as it’s fast and easy to join.

Click here to visit the IHRA membership center. You may also call 85.JOIN.IHRA where our friendly IHRA membership coordinator Heather Roth can take you through the process of getting you on track.

There are talks of a combined event this fall with Eagle Field Runway Drags and another IHRA-member track soon to be announced. Rocky Phillips, the drag racing coordinator at Eagle Field, was one who talked to Gonzalez about the benefits of joining the IHRA.

“Rocky Phillips mentioned it to me and I’m really excited about it,” Gonzalez said. “My racers that race here at Mendota thought being a part of IHRA was a good idea. I’ve been in tire business 30 years and one of the things is you always have to improve and make things better. With everything, it’s about safety first.” 

Gonzalez has been working with the city of Mendota to make each race at the former William Robert Johnston Municipal Airport a great event for those who share his passion. Officials at the city, known as the “Cantaloupe Capital of the World,” have been supportive of his efforts, and the local police association operates concessions.

The track, located 30 miles west of Fresno, has seen competitors from San Francisco to Sacramento to Bakersfield turn out for the races, which have included heads-up, small tire events. Gonzalez has been working hard at the drag strip to make improvements over the past year. They’ve included installing concrete barriers all the way down a quarter-mile on one side and a Port-a-tree timing system.

 

Gonzalez is also working on landscaping to make the property more even appealing to those visiting the facility. 

Click here to check out the Mendota Raceway Park’s Facebook page. For the racers, it’s quick and easy to become an IHRA member. You can click here for the IHRA membership center or call 85.JOIN.IHRA where our friendly IHRA membership coordinator Heather Roth can help you get signed up and ready to go.

He continues to do work on the Eastern North Carolina facility with a new timing system installed Friday. The property, located just 10 minutes off Interstate 95, sits on 75 acres with parking and camping. They allow some camping through the week outside of the races. 

There are concrete barriers, restrooms, showers and concessions. Oxendine has installed new concrete bleachers on the right side of the track and new LED lights. There are plans to have a game room for the kids with video games and pool tables.

The track surface gets rave reviews from the racers, and the drag strip easily drains as it sits 42 inches above sea level.

“We’ve got one of the smoothest track surfaces in the country,” Oxendine said. “I know every track owner says that, but we have tons of racers who tell us that. We put a lot of work into it. We had a layout of how to build the track as far as the thickness of the concrete, the design, all the way down to the dirt.” 

With the great reputation and convenient location, the track has drawn racers as far away as Canada to the No Prep events.

Dragway officials describe the facility as family-friendly track that loves to see our racers and fans come together and have a great time at the track. Competitors at 710 Dragway will now have the opportunity to participate in the IHRA Summit SuperSeries, the most prestigious national championship in bracket racing.

“We just brought bracket racing back, but it’s exciting how IHRA has expanded its overall program,” Oxendine said. “We probably will be doing from 12-15 bracket races this season.”

Outside of racing, they host 3-4 concerts per year. Click here for the 710 Dragway Facebook page. Welcome to all the racers who can now take full advantage of the IHRA membership benefits by clicking here for the membership center or making a call to our membership coordinator Heather Roth at 85-JOIN-IHRA.

They started the races hoping to attract the HAMB organization, which was running an annual race at Mo-Kan Dragway in Missouri. That didn’t transpire, so Phillips booked a 1964 and earlier race at the former military base. Now, it has expanded where they’re running different classes of race cars.

“We’re doing bracket racing now and we have four categories — Gasser (’66 and earlier), Mean Street, Open Comp and Junior Dragsters,” Phillips said. “We have two big events per year which are a celebration of drag racing. We will be changing the Mean Street to Sportsman and the Open Comp to Modified.”

They also feature five classes of heads-up racing.

Eagle Field was constructed in 1942, just months after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Joe Davis owns the property and some of the non-racing events include fly-ins. Phillips got to know about the property through his employer moving equipment from Eagle Field for a fly-in at the Fresno airport.

Phillips later met with Davis and started the Eagle Field Drags. The track features concrete walls and there are restrooms and showers on property. There is plenty of room for recreational vehicles, while the Lions Club and a local Mexican restaurant serve as food vendors. For those staying the weekend, music and dancing are offered on Saturday nights.

Now, the addition of IHRA sanction gives racers a chance to take advantage of membership benefits.

“I’m proud to be an IHRA member and start that on the West Coast,” Phillips said. “It gives us some clout and support.”

Phillips looks forward to working with other West Coast tracks and putting together a shootout near the end of the year. One of the neat events is a celebration of old-school drag racing, an evening where they use a flagman at the start.

It’s a part of Eagle Field’s mission to help fans and racers relive the glory days of drag racing. The main event on Friday pays tribute to former Fremont Dragway starter Eves Tall-Chief, who died in 2020.

“We call it ‘Flag Start Friday’ and do it for fun to remember Chief,” Phillips said. “It’s fun and exciting, but otherwise, we race with the tree.” 

Click here to check out the Eagle Field Facebook page and learn more about this facility. To become an IHRA member, click here to visit our membership or call 85.JOIN.IHRA where our friendly IHRA membership coordinator Heather Roth can take you through the process of getting you on track.

“We have Quick 16 races between $8,000 and $10,000 to win,” Darryl said. “Last year if you didn’t go in the eights, you weren’t in the Quick 16’s and this year if you’re not in the 7.9’s, you won’t get in. Those are really huge for us, along with the Nostalgia races.”

The Nostalgia races are popular since some of the best racers in Western Canada have cut their teeth at Interlake Dragway. The list includes two-time IHRA World Pro Mod champion Kenny Lang, injected Nitro car champions Doug Douchette and Clif Bakx and Canadian Hall of Famer Ken Murray.

Still, the best part of being track operators for the Wrucks are watching their kids race. They include their 25-year-old son who races Darryl’s personal car, a 1968 Pontiac LeMans which makes 3,500 horsepower. Their 19-year-old daughter races a Super Comp dragster, powered by a Chevy big-block engine. She has gone from a car making over 900 horsepower to over 1,800 horsepower.

With 235 acres, the property located 45 minutes from Winnipeg also includes a Mudbog, a 1-kilometer go-kart track, a 1.3-mile road-racing course for cars and bikes and a 2-kilometer motocross track. Interlake Dragway features a full concession stand, washroom facilities with showers and plenty of parking and camping on site.

It also plays an important part in Canadian history with the Gimli Glider. It was a domestic passenger flight in 1983 from Montreal to Edmonton with the Boeing 767 forced to make an emergency landing on the drag strip after a refueling error. It resulted in no serious injuries to the 69 occupants and only minor damage to the aircraft. The plane was later repaired and used until it was retired in 2008.

More recent on-track history saw Mike Hawco repeat as Box champion in the track’s 2023 IHRA Summit SuperSeries point standings. Other champions who made the 2,000-mile plus trek from Manitoba to compete at the IHRA World Finals in Mississippi were: Cole Butler in No Box, Fred Pratt in Sportsman and Gavin Hawco in Junior Dragster.

There is great dedication amongst the Interlake racers and the staff that keeps the facility going with races from May to September. Click here to check out this great venue at the Interlake Dragway Facebook page and keep up with the latest news at the track.

The Larry Jeffers family of companies which include LJ1 Oil Products, Extreme Racing Oil, Larry Jeffers Race Cars, Bullet Racing Engines and International Hot Rod Association (IHRA), along with presenting sponsor Darana Hybrid as well as other partners TMF Metal Solutions and Baron Racing from Joplin, MO help make these races possible. Baskin is also a key supporter of drag racing as a major IHRA partner with Don Baskin Trucking LLC and Jackson Dragway.

A thrilling two-day show begins Friday, May 17 with Big and Small Tire Shootouts, All Star “High Stakes” Gambler, 6.0 and 7.0 Index Gamblers and Grudge Racing.

The schedule for Saturday, May 18 includes the All Stars Main Event, Small Tire Clash and Outlaw Big Tire races. There are also 6.0 and 7.0 Index and Daily Driver races with FREE entry for IHRA members. 

It is highly recommended that racers and crew members order their passes early online. Visit the ticket page at the FOAT here at https://thefoat.com/558761

Saturday is highlighted by both the Classic Gear Jammers and an IHRA Ironman Classic. This special Ironman race pays $4,000-to-win and $800-for-runner-up in both the Top and Footbrake classes. There are also races for Sportsman, Motorcycle and Junior Dragsters as drivers in all bracket classes compete for the prestigious IHRA Ironman trophies.

There’s more great bracket racing Sunday counts as part of the first two IHRA Summit SuperSeries points races of the season at the historic North Carolina track.

Sunday features the 4.70 Outlaws with an $11,000 total payout to go along with the great bracket racing. Gates open at 9 a.m. with Easter activities at 10 a.m. and racing to start at 12:30 p.m.

Top and Footbrake racers can enter Saturday and Sunday for $70 per day or $150 for the whole 3-day weekend. It’s $50 entry per day for Sportsman, Motorcycle and Juniors. Spectators are $20 per day or $50 for the 3-day weekend.

This is just the first of multiple big events throughout the 65th anniversary season. There are High Winding Gear Jammer races, Big Tire, Small Tire events and big-money bracket races.

Click here to check out the track’s Facebook page for updates on the Easter Bash and other Roxboro Motorsports Park events. For the racers, click here to become an IHRA member and participate in the IHRA Summit SuperSeries points program.

“It actually has all the names from 1977 to ’93,” Miles said. “We got digging around it and figured how to move it. Now we’re going to move the sign, put flag poles around it and put our Sean Serra Memorial beside it. We wanted to make a shrine so everyone can appreciate the history.”

Serra, a successful big-money bracket racer, died tragically as a passenger in a highway crash in 2022. He was just 27 years old. As for the sign, it has been cleaned up and painted with the names of event winners through 1987. 

Tom “Mongoose” McEwen won the Funny Car class at the 1977 IHRA Winter Nationals. Other Funny Car legends who are listed on the sign include Dale Pulde with four wins, Kenny Bernstein with three wins, Raymond Beadle with two wins and Ed “Ace” McCulloch with one.

Top Fuel, or the sign calls it “Pro Dragster,” shows Paul Longnecker and Clayton Harris as winners in 1977 and ’78. They’re followed by 17-time World Champion “Big Daddy” Don Garlits and Richard Tharp, who won back-to-back IHRA Winter Nationals in 1980-81. Connie Kalitta, Joe Amato, Jeb Allen and Jim Barnard are other fearless men who sped down the track to take home trophies.

Harold Denton is the first winner listed on the Pro Stock side with his 1977 victory. Names like Warren Johnson, Roy Hill, Lee Shepherd, Rickie Smith and Ronnie Sox also adorn the sign along with other greats like Lee Edwards, Billy Ewing and Darrell Alderman.

Once, the sign is fully restored to include the winners up until 1993, it will show Bernstein capturing the Top Fuel title in 1991. The IHRA Winter Nationals at Darlington actually ran until 2000 when Paul Romine captured the Top Fuel victory. The Funny Cars competed until 1992 with Tom Hoover the winner. Steve Spiess won the Pro Stock class in 2000. 

The Pro Mods ran from 1990-2000 with IHRA Hall of Famers Scotty Cannon and Shannon Jenkins capturing Ironman trophies. Ed Hoover won the race in both 1990 and 2000, and record-setting racer Bill Kuhlmann was the 1994 winner. That history plays well as Darlington Dragway will feature a blast from the past when the Pro Mods headline the IHRA Hot Rod Classic on May 2-4. 

“I don’t know of another track that can match Darlington’s history,” Miles said. “It had the first 5-second Pro Mod, the first 200 mph Top Sportsman. There’s just so much history here.”

As a South Carolina native, Miles has a deep appreciation of the facility and its history. That’s why it was so important to him to have the sign restored.

“Ever since I came here, I wanted to do something with the sign,” he said. “You would be amazing once I posted the photo on Facebook how many people didn’t even realize it was out there.”

Miles looks forward to more history in the making as Darlington is hosting such events as the IHRA Hot Rod Classic and IHRA Division 9 (Raiders) Summit Team Finals in 2024.

“So many people are talking about the Hot Rod Classic. Then, we have 10 IHRA points races and the IHRA Summit Team Finals,” he said. “We have a full slate of great races this year.”

Click here to check out the Darlington Dragway Facebook page for more exciting news at the legendary track.

The 150-acre property near Interstates 26 and 95, is also home to the South Carolina Mudplex. But, it was the 1/8-mile drag strip where the home team won the IHRA Division 9 (Raiders) Summit Team Finals in 2023. Madison Krupa led the way with her Junior Dragster victory and Billy Dunn was runner-up in the Sportsman class.

As for their own family, Roberson’s parents were drag racers so she’s been around the sport her whole life. Williams has been a top motorcycle rider for Hayabusa, while the children they raise, compete in Junior Dragsters.

Roberson’s background also includes working with the local chamber of commerce and South Carolina Motorplex hosts other events like concerts in addition to racing, which also includes the South Carolina Mudplex.

The venue has heated and cooled restrooms and shower houses as well as RV hookups available for yearly spots or for specific events. The local Hampton Inn also offers special discounts to racers and spectators. There’s also popular food items like pizza and ice cream in the concession stands. 

Friday Night TNT and grudge racing is scheduled this week and IHRA Summit SuperSeries bracket races are slated for March 16-17. There’s a huge grudge racing event, March Grudge Madness on March 30. Great racing at the Motorplex and Mudplex is scheduled through November.

Click here to check out the South Carolina Motorplex Facebook page and keep updated as future events are announced.