http://www.adrl.us/index.php/main/insidepage/agent660/ en webmaster@adrl.us Copyright 2010 2010-03-10T06:35:55+00:00 http://www.adrl.us/index.php/main/insidepage/agent660/2010/03/ Your Agent feels for young Mick Snyder (near left with new teammate Jason Scruggs) after he found the South Georgia Motorsports Park wall on Monday in his first-ever launch of a Pro Extreme (PX) car.Apparently a hung throttle threw Snyder’s new ride off line only a hundred feet out or so and the former Alky Funny Car pilot ground to a halt well down the track with much of the car’s front end missing.It’s the same ‘63 Corvette that Scruggs drove to the first 200-mph pass by a door car over the eighth mile at Rockingham Dragway in 2007 along the way to his first of two consecutive ADRL Pro Extreme world championships.Your Agent is pleased to know Snyder was uninjured in the accident, but also disappointed as it seems unlikely Snyder will be be making his planned PX rookie debut Mar. 19-20, at the ADRL’s Universal Technical Institute Dragpalooza VI presented by Safety-Kleen at Houston Raceway Park.Many thanks from your Agent to Marvin T. Smith for providing the pics. 2010-03-10T02:35:55+00:00 ADRL/agent660/item/2771 http://www.adrl.us/index.php/main/insidepage/agent660/2010/03/ Your Agent received these pics of Tom Ashley’s “Glass Doctor” ‘67 Chevy II down at Emerald Coast Dragway in the Florida panhandle over the weekend, where driver Michael Neal was shaking it down in Flowmaster Extreme 10.5 trim in preparation for the ADRL’s season-opening Universal Technical Institute Dragpalooza VI presented by Safety-Kleen Mar. 19-20, at Houston Raceway Park.On what was described to your Agent as “a real tricky racetrack surface,” the Ashley-led team had to back down their prodigious power a little, but Neal still managed to set a new track record for 10.5W-equipped cars at 4.13 seconds while qualifying second for the track’s 2010 heads-up opener.Going up against the “big tire” cars, Neal fell to “Big Money” Bil Clanton in the semis, leaving his father, Mike Neal in Don Stroud’s ‘53 Studebaker, to take on Clanton in the final round between the two former ADRL Pro Extreme multiple-event winners.After leaving with identical .050 lights, Neal Sr. took the win in 3.91 seconds to Clanton’s 3.93 in the closest match of the day.The next order of business for Neal, Ashley and the rest of the Glass Doctor gang will be trying to join the Mickey Thompson 3-Second Club for Flowmaster Extreme 10.5 teams once they get to Houston.(Photos courtesy Jody Hatcher) 2010-03-09T09:15:43+00:00 ADRL/agent660/item/2770 http://www.adrl.us/index.php/main/insidepage/agent660/2010/03/ After winning his first ADRL event (Columbus, OH) and making it into the Speedtech Battle for the Belts last year, it looked like young Cody Barklage was really coming into his own as a Pro Extreme (PX) pilot and could be a force to be reckoned with this year.But fair’s fair, and after the Barklage Racing Team suffered a couple of devastating setbacks (including a freak, all-consuming roadside trailer fire), Cody and his brother Zach had apparently agreed to share the driver’s seat of the family’s potent Lucas Oil-backed ‘67 Firebird on a season-by-season basis.So your Agent understands it was supposed to be Zach behind the wheel when they showed up for a tune-up race at Dallas Raceway this past weekend, prior to the start of the 2010 ADRL season at Houston Raceway Park in a couple of weeks. But apparently it was Cody who ended up making a career-best 3.71-seconds pass at just over 200 mph in qualifying while Zach remained an overqualified spectator.However, your Agent heard a promising rumor from one of his most highly trusted operatives that Zach Barklage managed to pick up his own ride for this ADRL season, so it will be interesting to watch the Barklage pits when they arrive at HRP for the Mar. 19-20, Universal Technical Institute Dragpalooza VI presented by Safety-Kleen.UPDATE (11:45 a.m.): Within minutes of your Agent’s posting, the rumor of Zach joining the team as a second driver was confirmed by a Barklage Racing press release. (ADRL/Graves file photo)      2010-03-08T12:15:06+00:00 ADRL/agent660/item/2767 http://www.adrl.us/index.php/main/insidepage/agent660/2010/03/ It was a happy Todd Moyer (top left) and team after making a pair of three-second passes yesterday—their first ever in the “threes”—during Houston Raceway Park’s DragRaceHose.com Spring Warm-up Test Session.Moyer and his Flowmaster Extreme 10.5 twin-turboed ‘04 Caavalier, fresh from some updating work at Terry Murphy’s chassis shop, first turned the trick with a 3.983 at 196.59-mph blast, then came back with the 3.96 at 197.74 shown above.With the ADRL season-opening Universal Technical Institute Dragpalooza VI presented by Safety-Kleen scheduled for Mar. 19-20, at Houston Raceway Park, it looks like Moyer’s a real contender to join the exclusive Mickey Thompson 3-Second Club for the XTF racers.(Scott Singleton photos) 2010-03-08T11:52:32+00:00 ADRL/agent660/item/2766 http://www.adrl.us/index.php/main/insidepage/agent660/2010/03/ Your Agent stumbled across a very nice thank-you article today by Senior Master Sgt. David Byron of the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs department regarding the recent visit of 400 or so U.S. service men and women to the final round of the Arabian Drag Racing League’s 2009-10 season at the Qatar Racing Club.ADRL President and CEO Kenny Nowling is quoted in the story (with his name suffering from an all-too-common misspelling; there’s no “K” in Nowling) and his sentiments certainly represent your Agent’s as well.Good to see our guys and gals in the military getting some much-needed R&R in the region courtesy of Sheik Khalid and the ADRL.(Photo courtesy U.S. Air Force) 2010-03-08T11:32:58+00:00 ADRL/agent660/item/2765 http://www.adrl.us/index.php/main/insidepage/agent660/2010/03/ Your Agent wishes he could’ve been there to witness it in person, but he has to settle for photographic evidence that the Goforth Racing duo of Cary (top) and his father, Dean, both exceeded the official ADRL Extreme Pro Stock speed record during testing on Sunday at Houston Raceway Park.Both runs came in the right lane, with Cary’s 179.09 and Dean’s 179.11 just a little faster than the 178.26-mph record set by current XPS World Champion Matt Hartford last October at Ennis, TX.Looks like the Goforths will be all set to go Mar. 19-20, in the season-opening ADRL Universal Technical Institute Dragpalooza VI presented by Safety-Kleen at the same location of their testing heroics.(Scott Singleton photos) 2010-03-08T10:40:17+00:00 ADRL/agent660/item/2764 http://www.adrl.us/index.php/main/insidepage/agent660/2010/03/ Your Agent couldn’t agree more with the top-5 inclusion of Pro Nitrous pioneer Charles Carpenter in CompetitionPlus.com’s All-Time Top 20 Drivers list for the Pro Extreme/Pro Nitrous class.One of the nicest guys in the ADRL pits, Carpenter also is a master of getting the most out of his machine, always a ‘55 Chevy and always a fan favorite.Carpenter slotted in at fifth on the CompPlus list, with one more driver to be revealed each Monday and Friday until culminating with the number-one reveal at the season-opening ADRL Universal Technical Institute Dragpalooza VI presented by Safety-Kleen Mar. 19-20, at Houston Raceway Park.(ADRL/Tocher file photo) 2010-03-07T00:54:23+00:00 ADRL/agent660/item/2763 http://www.adrl.us/index.php/main/insidepage/agent660/2010/03/ Photos of new ADRL cars are practically falling out of the woodwork at your Agent’s secret lair. The latest to waft across his desk are of the former-Jason Scruggs ‘63 Corvette to be campaigned this year by Pro Extreme (PX) rookie Mick Snyder, who said after a test session this coming week at South Georgia Motorsports Park, he’ll be ready to make his—and the car’s—ADRL debut Mar. 19-20, in the Universal Technical Institute Dragpalooza VI presented by Safety-Kleen at Houston Raceway Park.As teammates to former back-to-back PX champion Scruggs and his father, Mitchell, your Agent expects the father-and-son tandem of Larry and Mick Snyder to be season-long players in the points chase toward inclusion in the Speedtech Battle for the Belts.(Photos courtesy Snyder Motorsports) 2010-03-06T19:59:52+00:00 ADRL/agent660/item/2761 http://www.adrl.us/index.php/main/insidepage/agent660/2010/03/ Friday’s action at Houston Raceway Park’s DragRaceHose.com Spring Warm-up Test Session included this 3.93-seconds pass by reigning ADRL Flowmaster Extreme 10.5 World Champion Spiro Pappas.Crewmembers for Pappas apparently told track officials they had a “light tune up” in the turbocharged, Bickel-built Pontiac and have “plenty more” to throw at it.  As if to emphasize their confidence, Pappas and team loaded up soon after and left the track, saying they’d be back Mar. 19-20, to continue their title defence in the Universal Technical Institute Dragpalooza VI presented by Safety-Kleen.Check out video of the pass here.(Scott Singleton photos) 2010-03-06T12:21:27+00:00 ADRL/agent660/item/2762 http://www.adrl.us/index.php/main/insidepage/agent660/2010/03/ Fresh out of the paint booth and just in time for final assembly and testing before the ADRL’s season-opening Universal Technical Institute Dragpalooza VI presented by Safety-Kleen, come these exclusive images sent to your Agent of Jason Hamstra’s new Garret Race Cars-built ‘69 Camaro Pro Extreme entry.Following a design by Larry Williams, Brian Olson (yes, he of the crack ADRL at-the-track announcing team) and his guys at Olson Paint & Body in Peru, IN, laid down the “nine or 10” hues of House of Kolor candy on the eye-catching Camaro.“My main man, ‘Cougar,’ along with my son Drew Olson, Drew Chilcutt, Brian Jones, Matt Rasmus and pretty much every single person at Olson Body and Paint have worked literally around the clock to get this done,” Olson told your Agent. “I’m pretty proud of them, especially since this is the first Pro Extreme body we’ve ever painted. I think it turned out great!” Your Agent agrees. Hamstra, the 2009 ADRL Rookie of the Year, was always fast, but if his performance remains even close to how sweet his new ride appears, the candy should be disappearing pretty quick.(Photos courtesy Olson Paint & Body) 2010-03-05T18:05:26+00:00 ADRL/agent660/item/2760