FanHouse NHRA

Let's get one thing straight: John Force may or may not have thrown his semifinal match in Monday's U.S. Nationals -- but we have no firm evidence saying he did.

We do know, however, that the NHRA team owner, driver and 14-time champion picked the undesirable lane, was nearly three times slower on his reaction time and made a remarkably un-John Force move off the starting line en route to smoking his tires and watching as teammate Robert Hight scooted past and earned a spot in the Countdown to the Championship.

And we do know that the NHRA -- thanks to some harsh words, a scuffle and even more verbal barbs -- is looking at a pretty serious issue of team cooperation, even at the series' biggest event.

The National Hot Rod Association has suspended Pro Stock Motorcycle rider Matt Guidera, 39, for one year after ruling he violated drug testing procedure this weekend at the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals at O'Reilly Raceway Park outside Indianapolis.

The 39-year old didn't test positive for a banned substance, but rather did not follow rules to take the test. He is the first competitor in one of the four professional classes -- Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle -- to be suspended under the 10-year old policy.

Under the NHRA's random drug testing format, once a racer is notified of the test, he/she has 24 hours to show up at a designated independent testing facility set-up on the grounds of that week's racing venue. According to a NHRA news release on Saturday, Guidera "failed to comply with the NHRA's drug testing policy within the required 24-hour time period."

Need a quick tour of the racing world? Strap in today and come back later this week as FH takes a lap around Formula One, NASCAR and the NHRA. IndyCar fans, you'll have to wait until 2009 truly gets moving.

Before you start, yes, I'll acknowledge that 'lap around' doesn't quite fit with drag racing's fire-em-down-the-strip style of racing.

But come on, does a stunning brunette who actually wins in this rough and tumble sport of speed, fire and guts truly fit drag racing's mantra?

You bet not, and that's a big part of the reason why the NHRA is racing that you need to be watching.

For once -- ahem, NASCAR -- a racing sanctioning body is setting parameters on a competition rule that leaves no room for guessing, wiggling or in-between-the-lin'ing.

Effective after the season's first race, the National Hot Rod Association (the premiere drag racing body in the United States) has banned all forms of testing -- with the exception of four, one day sessions -- in the 2009 season. And by all forms, the NHRA means that sanctioned and unsanctioned tracks, a local 2-lane highway and probably your grandmother's quarter-mile long driveway are all off-limits.

And the punishment for getting caught? Oh, just a forfeit of all points in the guilty party's next race via a decision that cannot be appealed.

In other words, the NHRA has set a precedent that NASCAR should have made back in November.

Scott Kalitta sat in his NHRA Funny Car Saturday afternoon as the team started the engine, waiting to make another run down the track.

He didn't know, his team didn't know, and we didn't know that it would be the last time we would ever see Scott Kalitta.

That's just the way, though, that this racing business is.

When it all boils down, racing is inherently dangerous. It's men and women piloting vehicles either in a straight line or around a track as fast as they possibly can. And when you push things to the edge, you sometimes slip -- either because of a driver error or a vehicle error.

Kalitta was sitting in a Funny Car that has seen tremendous improvements in safety just recently after the death of another driver, Eric Medlen, just last year. Something new happened this time to Kalitta, and for an unknown reason, he was unable to to apply the braking system or shut the fuel lines down after the car exploded at the end of the run.

He was left to ride a 300 mph rocket until it finally found something to stop it, ending the life and career of a family man and a champion.

That's it. She's done it.

Ashley Force has officially stolen my heart.

Named "Hottest Athlete" just last year here on AOL, the drag racer Force won her first-ever NHRA Funny Car event late last month in Atlanta (yeah, take that, Danica!). With that, she officially stole the No. 1 spot in my heart among racing chicks. Here's why:

1) She's smokin' a whole lot more than tires: Face it, Ashley Force is much, much hotter than Danica Patrick and Sports Illustrated can ever make her out to be.

Here's some incredible footage away from sandy beaches of Daytona Beach, Florida that NASCAR is currently calling home.

Tony Pedregon, last year's NHRA Funny Car champion, didn't exactly start off his season on the right foot. Racing against former team-owner John Force (who had an incredible crash of his own last season), Pedregon's car suffered a little more than a wardrobe malfunction.

Just past half track during the first round of eliminations for the Winternationals, something went terribly wrong in Pedregon's motor and caused the nearly 8,000 horsespower beast to erupt in a ball of fire with Pedregon sitting in the middle of it.



Luckily, for a sport that saw the death of a very popular driver just one season ago, Pedregon emerged from the destroyed car with only second-degree burns on his hand and some aches and pains from hitting the wall at nearly 300mph.

Force likely avoided more carnage by forgetting to pull his parachute until he was too far down the track because he was so taken back by the flames coming from the lane next to him.

Previously on FanHouse:
Top 8 Spectacular NASCAR Crashes of 2007 Sorry, No Photos

We've seen and heard the battle that the City of Concord (N.C.) and Lowe's Motor Speedway have had in the past month.

Thursday could be the day of reckoning on whether or not LMS' parent company, Speedway Motorsports Inc., and CEO Bruton Smith will either ruin yet another fantastic piece of the NASCAR history (remember North Wilkesboro?) or if he will remember the fans that earned his his wealth and keep the legendary speedway.

From NASCAR.com's Ron Lemasters:

There is talk of an announcement on Thursday that will go a long way toward determining if Lowe's Motor Speedway will remain in its present location or go on the road to a neighboring community, as Smith has threatened.

I honestly feel a little bit sick to my stomach knowing that such a place could potentially be leveled -- and for what, a billionaire owner on a power trip?

That really sounds like a track owner who is touch with the fans.

The city council has given Smith the go-ahead to build a NHRA drag strip, are willing to help with tax incentives on new building projects at LMS, and most importantly -- they want to rename a street already named "Speedway Boulevard" to "Bruton Smith You Are Our King Street" (or at least something or the sort).

What else could he possibly want? (other than some Carolina-fave Bojangles Famous Chicken 'n' Biscuits, of course)

This whole flap with the City of Concord, North Carolina and Speedway Motorsports CEO Bruton Smith really is turning quite comical. Speedway Motorsports owns Lowe's Motor Speedway, the race track in Concord.

First, Concord re-zoned Bruton's land to specifically deny him the right. Or, more easily, the equivalent to finding the meanest dog at the pound and smacking it on the nose.

The dog, Smith in this case, bought back -- and hard. Wild claims that he's raze the speedway and find a new location were thrown out.

With Concord backed into the doghouse, a quick reversal of fate was in order, and to this day, the city council is overwhelmingly behind the drag strip for a potential NHRA event (and tons of annual tax money from LMS events). However, Smith still seems a bit peeved at the whole situation, saying last week that a 90% chance of moving LMS was possible.

So what would any logical, ethical, and self-confident do in this drastic situation?

Well, I don't know if I can fully answer that, but one way of doing it -- at least in the mind of Concord -- is to rename a street after said differing civic figure.

Yes, Concord plans to keep LMS in its current location by giving Bruton Smith his own boulevard, conveniently right in front of the speedway.

That's a nice touch, isn't it?

27 days after suffering horrific injuries in a 300mph crash in Dallas, NHRA champion John Force headed home from the hospital Saturday in Dallas.

Force suffered major injuries after his Funny Car ripped in two pieces at the completion of a run during the O'Reilly Fall Nationals at the Texas Motorplex on Sep. 23.

Left with a compound fracture of his left ankle, a broken right foot, broken fingers, a dislocated wrist, and severe abrasions impacting the tendons and ligaments of his right knee, Force ended up being a lucky man, despite his own belief that he shouldn't be alive.

He'll continue eight weeks of rehab near his California home, and is expected to be behind the wheel of his Ford Mustang Funny Car at the start of the 2008 NHRA Powerade Series Season.

"[...] my car broke in half and my legs got out and my arms. So we went to work to fix that. We've refitted the chassis with crossover bars to give it strength," said Force.

"What you saw, I've never seen in my career. I never saw a car rip in half."

In essence, there's one word that can legitimately describe Force's accident and recovery.

Incredible.