Cooler temperatures and near-perfect air created flawless conditions and led to several record runs all in front of a packed house at the 11^th annual Mopar Rocky Mountain Nitro Jam Nationals presented by Good Vibrations Motorsports Saturday at Castrol Raceway.

For over a decade the Rocky Mountain Nationals has stood at the pinnacle of the IHRA Nitro Jam season and the event again lived up to those expectations on a night filled with incredible quarter-mile drag racing. Top Fuel provided the most wow moments Saturday night as Canadian Ike Maier came just a couple of miles per hour shy of setting the all-time speed record at Castrol Raceway while Bobby Lagana Jr. took home the win in the sports fastest class.

For the nearly dozen different classes and for the hundreds of pro and sportsman drivers on hand for the International Hot Rod Association’s premier Mopar Rocky Mountain Nitro Jam Nationals presented by Good Vibrations Motorsports at Castrol Raceway, Friday was a good tune-up for the big show on Saturday and Sunday.

All of the classes with the exception of Top Fuel got a hit at the track on Friday with the AMSOIL Prostalgia Nitro Funny Car class and local racer Tim Nemeth headlining opening night. Chilliwack, British Columbia’s Nemeth set a track record in the nostalgia Funny Car class even while pedaling his ’77 Firebird, rocketing to the top of the charts with a 5.752 second run at 231.91 miles per hour.

Arlen and Carol Wiens have built Motivational Tubing from the ground up making it a true family business. 

Arlen built their first Junior Dragster in 1993 for Tim, who was 15 at the time, and just like that they were racing. They built one, then another, and then another, soon growing into a full time business and, over time, the whole family got involved. Company welder Hector has also become part of the family over time. Motivational Tubing first built Junior Dragsters out of the 2,400 sq ft shop at home, and then moved into a 5,000 sq ft building at the Newton, Kansas airport. In 2003 the company expanded into the 12,000 sq ft building that it currently operates out of.

The 2013 IHRA Nitro Jam series returns to Castrol Raceway in Edmonton, Alberta July 5-7 for the MOPAR Rocky Mountain Nitro Jam Nationals presented by Good Vibrations Motorsports. This exciting 1/4 mile competition is the biggest drag race in Canada and will feature racing in over a dozen different classes with professional and sportsman racing taking place all three days.

Here is what’s making headlines entering this weekend’s race:

EVENT: MOPAR Rocky Mountain Nitro Jam Nationals presented by Good Vibrations Motorsports

PRO-AM DIVISION: Division 6 Border Bandits

WHERE: Castrol Raceway | 10 Minutes south of Edmonton. Highway 19 and Highway 2, Nisku, Alberta, Canada

WHEN: July 5-7

CONTACT: (780) 461-5801 | www.castrolraceway.com

MEDIA DAY: Thursday, July 4 @ The Canadian Brewhouse from 4-7 p.m. | 9538 Ellerslie Road, Edmonton, Alberta, T6X 0K6

After a rainout forced the postponement of the Summit Racing Equipment Pro-Am Tour presented by AMSOIL event at Rockingham Dragway earlier this year, racers were treated to a rare doubleheader over the weekend as Piedmont Dragway hosted the finale of the Rockingham competition plus its own Raiders Division race to the delight of southern race fans.

With a rare double on the line, Mark Young and Greg Smith were the two who were able to reach two finals during the busy Piedmont race weekend, with Young taking a win and runner-up in Super Stock and Smith taking a pair of runner-up finishes in Top Dragster.

Defending Division 3 champions Jacob Elrod and Brent Darroch opened the season with wins during the North Stars season opener on the Summit Racing Equipment Pro-Am Tour presented by AMSOIL over the weekend at London Dragway in Kentucky.

Elrod, the 2012 Sportsman Driver of the Year and D3 Top Dragster champion, visited two finals in two different classes, continuing his success in his Sunoco sponsored Top Dragster machine by taking a victory over Jeff Thomas in the first of two races during the doubleheader weekend. Darroch, the Division 3 Stock champion and eventual World Champion in the same class, defeated Jason Clark for an important early-season win.

Another IHRA World Champion from 2012 – Hot Rod star Patrick Forster – claimed a win in Quick Rod over the weekend.

Hall of Fame crew chief and Edmonton native Bernie Fedderly, long associated with legendary Funny Car driver John Force, has been named the Grand Marshal for the upcoming IHRA MOPAR Rocky Mountain Nitro Jam Nationals presented by Good Vibrations July 5-7 at Castrol Raceway.

Fedderly, who retired from racing earlier this year, spent more than two decades with John Force Racing where he served alongside Austin Coil in guiding Force to 15 NHRA Funny Car championships. Fedderly was elected into the Drag Racing Hall of Fame in March and the Canadian Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1996.

Throughout 2013, rumor mills teemed with hints and questions about the return of Pro Stock to the IHRA. Recently, the rumors were put to rest as IHRA made the announcement that Pro Stock would be featured at two of their Nitro Jam events this year.

Pete Berner and the Summit Racing Equipment Team will be among four teams returning to the genesis of Mountain Motor Pro Stocks for the MOPAR Nitro Jam Nationals at the Grand Bend Motorplex, July 19-21 and the CarSafe Northern Nitro Jam presented by Perry Harley-Davidson at U.S. 131 Motorsports Park, August 9-10.

The ground shakes and the air instantly fills with the familiar fumes of the alcohol-fed engines of the fan-favorite nostalgia Funny Car class.

A beautiful girl outfitted in a pair of tight-fitting shorts and a tank top that reads “Reaper” across the front runs out onto the track, guiding the ghoulish 1977 Firebird Funny Car back into position. In the background are a few additional girls, cheering loudly for their driver as he gets ready to make his run.

Also in the background is a truck. Sitting in the back of that truck is a homemade thrown sitting nearly six-feet tall outfitted with skulls, smoke machines and even a pair of flame-spouting pipes. And atop that thrown is a man dressed as the grim reaper himself, fitted with a silver racing helmet, a scythe and a long black robe.

It is just another day in the life of Funny Car driver David Brant.

Western Canada’s top IHRA racers were on hand for the Division 6 season opener over the weekend at the NL ‘Akapxm Eagle Motorplex in Ashcroft, British Columbia with the usual hitters quickly rising to the top.

Four of the seven Division 6 champions from 2012 found victory lane during the two-race competition headed by double winner Mark Faul.