MSD Ignition Blog

 There was great side-by-side racing at the 21st Annual Mid-South Nationals in Memphis, Tenn. Tony Schumacher once again takes the wally in a decisive final-round victory against Doug Herbert. Tim Wilkerson puts away Ashley Force in Funny car and Mike Edwards wins in the final against Jason Line in Pro Stock. Craig Treble put away Eddie Krawiec in the Pro Stock motorcycle final. Congratulations to the all the winners!

 J.R. Todd finally ended Tony Schumacher's streak this past weekend winning with a holeshot win in Top Fuel. Tim Wilkerson won against Tony Pedregon in the final in Funny Car. Greg Stanfield scored his first victory in Pro Stock beating out Jeg Coughlin. In Pro Stock Motorcycle Chris Rivas upset Matt Smith in the final. Congratulations to all the winners!

Unlimited - Larry Larson, 7.97 average

Power Adder Classes:

Pro Street - Eddie Miller, 8.67 average
Modified - Doc Fox, 16.68 average
Small Block - Paul Sviniki, 10.45 average
Big Block - Shaun Brackett, 12.04 average

Normally Aspirated Classes:

Pro Street - Todd Berry, 11.12 average
Small Block - Mike Crow, 10.60 average
Big Block NA - David Paschall, 11.12 average
Diesel - Mike Wood, 10.32 average

Daily Driver – Steve Eden, 13.20s

 Tony Schumacher wins at the all-new zMax Dragway! This win also makes him the sports winningest Top Fuel driver with 53 victories. He defeated Antron Brown on his way to his 7th winning streak for the year. Jack Beckman also scored big with a win against Cruz Pedregon in the Funny Car final. Justin Humphreys scored his first wally with an upset victory over a broken Kurt Johnson. In Pro Stock Bike Steve Johnson rode past Eddie Krawiec for the win.

 It's a wrap! Drag Week 2008 is in the record books and the overall winner is a familiar '66 Nova belonging to Larry Larson! Larry's first pass was tossed out due to timing equipment troubles, but he made a second pass, complete with an exhaust pipe flinging off and spinning down the the track, to the tune of a low 8-second run. His average dipped below the 7's and he took the win. Special congrats go to Michael Crow for securing the "Spirit of Drag Week" award! Other winners include Todd Berry in his super clean '55 Chevy Pickup for Normally Aspirated, Eddie Miller in his Pro Street nitroused Duster (by a tenth!), Doc Fox with Modified Power Adder, Paul Svinicki in Small Block Power Adder ('07 Mustang), David Paschall in Big Block NA, Shaun Brackett in BB Power Adder and Mike Wood in Diesel and Steve Eden in his gear pulling '70 Nova! It was a great week of racing, hats off to all the participants and Hot Rod Magazine. Watch for more pics this coming week.

 Winding down on day four at Memphis Motorsports Park. One of our favorite cars to listen to is Michael Crow's small block Barracuda. Screaming rpm and Michaels in there rowing the gears! One thrash story we heard about was when Clark Rosenstengel broke an axle in Alabama. He shipped a new custom one in for the next day, but it showed up too long. They cut and spliced then hauled over to the next track in time to make a pass! We're packing up and heading out for another day of 280 miles in southern heat as we head back to Bowling Green, Kentucky to wrap up DW08. Be sure to tune in tomorrow for live coverage as most of these drivers plan on stepping up their tune and standing on it!

It's Friday morning and we're heading to Memphis Motorsports Park for Day 4 of racing. Yesterday's drive was brutal for the non-AC cars (most of them) with southern humidity and heat plus a few scattered showers. What would Drag Week be like without one really long day to test cars and drivers? We passed a few cars on the drive and you can see them racing soon right here live!

 Day three racing is almost over! Doc Fox and Marc Dettman started it off with a 'roll' down the track with trailers attached. Doc's engine is hurting for a set of lifters and Marc's taking it easy as well but they had to take a green to get a time to count today. Other news was Jeff McConnell standing his '80 Malibu on the rear bumper and coming down hard with drips from pans, steering jacked up and a lot more of a gap between the fenders and the doors. Long drive to Memphis today, so everyone's hitting it early.

 We wrapped up another day of racing on Drag Week! Steele, Alabama, was the track and the racers hit it hard. Clark Rosenstengel broke an axle in his pro street Camaro which may have ended his DW 08 run. Doc Fox replaced a couple lifters last night enroute, but made a 'soft' pass of 9.17 or so. There were transmissions getting checked out an plenty of thrashing taking place - after just one drive! We just rolled into Montgomery, AL, and will be on the track again in the AM! Be sure to check out  for live streaming video tomorrow too! (Starts around 9 central time) Thursday's drive will be a brutal 300+ miles!

 Day one of Hot Rod's Drag Week saw some fun racing! Racers were greeted with overcast skies, but the rain held out. We were treated to a pair of 7-second passes by past winner Eddie in his Duster and Larry Larson's pink Nova with dual turbos. A bunch of other cool cars were running the numbers then made the 250+ mile drive to Alabama where we'll be running today!

 Watch Drag Week Live below!

Bowling Green, KY - About 80 hardcore racers have shown up at Beech Bend Raceway Park for the start of Hot Rod Magazine's DRAG WEEK! Today was tech, test and tune and we've seen a little big of everything so far. How about a Mustang with a diesel? 4-door '62 Dodge in the 11s! An 8-second Willys and a whole slew of other cool drag rides. Check back with MSD for updates every night (and sometimes day, if we can score a fast connection)!

Nothing says 'street car' more than a 'chute!

We're at Beech Bend Raceway in Bowling Green for test, tune and tech for Drag Week! So far, a good turnout of 'street' cars are rolling through tech. Test and tune all day long but the official green light drops Tuesday AM! We'll be on all week long!

 Tony Schumacher wins his 7th Top Fuel victory at the 54th U.S. Nationals defeating Doug Kalitta in the final at drag racing's most prestigious event. Robert Hight defeats Jack Beckman in Funny Car while Dave Connolly took out Larry Morgan in Pro Stock. Steve Johnson in Pro Stock Motorcycle aced out Andrew Hines.