Put Yourself in the Driver's Seat for a Sand Drag ET World Record!

For those not lucky enough to have been there in person at Primm to witness a world record fall three times in one day, put yourself in the driver's seat and watch this awesome video of Team CANIDAE/Lucas Oil in action at the Dan Chittendon Fall Nationals. Top Fuel Driver Scott Whipple and his crew pulled-off back to back to back World Record runs down the 100 yard stretch culminating in an astounding ET of 2.239 at 164.16 mph in the finals to capture the 2009 NSDA season points championship and a new ET World Record. CANIDAE/Lucas Oil Top Alcohol Driver Mike DeNunzio and the T/A crew rounded out an exciting weekend finishing in the #2 spot in points for the season.

Watch the Video

Read the 2009 Season Wrapup

Toliver Misses Funny Car Field at NHRA Las Vegas Nationals

Las Vegas has not been a place of good fortune for the Jim Dunn Racing team this season as Jerry Toliver in the CANIDAE/Lucas Oil/WileyX Chevy will miss Sunday eliminations at an NHRA Full Throttle Series event at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the second time this year. After final qualifying today the CANIDAE car failed to qualify for the 16-car Funny Car field for this weekend's ninth annual NHRA Las Vegas Nationals after also missing the field at the SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals here in April.

Toliver's first qualifying pass on Friday resulted in an elapsed time of 5.405 seconds at 118.03 mph as the CANIDAE car lost traction just past the 330-foot mark. In the second qualifying session Toliver made a solid 4.241-second pass at 279.15 mph to place the Jim Dunn Racing entry 15th on the provisional Funny Car grid.

Unfortunately the team couldn't build on that performance during Saturday's two qualifying sessions with the CANIDAE car losing traction again in Q3 and slowing to a 7.074 e.t. at 94.22 mph and then going up in smoke right at the start in the fourth and final qualifying session.

"The only luck we've had here at Las Vegas this year has been bad," Toliver said. "but I felt pretty positive coming into this weekend. We've been struggling with the car losing traction just past the 'tree'. We just can't seem to tune it out no matter which way Big Jim (team owner/crew chief Dunn) goes. On that last run we obviously went the wrong way and the car lost traction right at the hit.

"We've got one more race to get it right and I know nobody on this team is going to quit working. I've had pretty good success at Pomona and won a couple of races there, so we'll go there and try to add one more."

The final stop on the 24-race NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series is the 45th annual Auto Club of Southern California NHRA Finals on Nov. 12-15 at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona in Pomona, Calif., the last of six races in the NHRA Countdown to 1 for the 2009 Full Throttle Series championship.

Kirk Weeks

CANIDAE Racing NHRA Funny Car Team Returns to Track at Las Vegas

Funny Car driver Jerry Toliver and the Jim Dunn-owned CANIDAE Racing team will join their NHRA Full Throttle Series peers in making a return trip to The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway for this weekend's ninth annual NHRA Las Vegas Nationals. The premier drag racing series made a stop at The Strip earlier this season in April and returns for the 23rd of 24 races on its schedule.

"What's not to like about going to Las Vegas?" Toliver asked. "It's another first-class, Bruton Smith-owned track in a great city. And it looks like it's going to be cool there, although it might hit 80 on Sunday, so the track could be really fast and you should see some good times and great racing this weekend."

Toliver looks to get the CANIDAE/Lucas Oil/WileyX Chevy back on the performance path it displayed last month qualifying in the top-half of the field at the U.S. Nationals and then a season-best third at Dallas. The Jim Dunn Racing team also had its best day of eliminations on the season at the Texas Motorplex when Toliver defeated Memphis winner Jeff Arend in the first round and Bob Tasca III in the second round before losing to Jack Beckman in the semifinals.

"We've had some ups and downs with the CANIDAE car this season, there's no question about that," Toliver said. "But we're real positive going into these last two races of the season at Las Vegas and Pomona. We owe it to ourselves, to our sponsors, to the Dunns to give it our best and try to get a win in these last two races.

"Like I said before, the Countdown to 1 is exciting and probably going to come down to the last round, but we're not looking to play the role of spoiler and ruin anybody's chances. I don't want to be a spoiler; I want to be a winner. We're looking to win rounds and win races, and that's what we're going to try and do."

A two-hour telecast of qualifying coverage for the NHRA Las Vegas Nationals can be seen on ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD on Saturday, Oct. 31, beginning at 11:00 p.m. (ET). Coverage on ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD continues on Sunday, Nov. 1, when NHRA Race Day kicks off eliminator coverage starting at 2:30 p.m. (ET), and concludes with three hours of final-eliminations coverage beginning at 7:30 p.m. (ET).

Kirk Weeks

Team CANIDAE/LUCAS OIL Top Fuel Dragster and Driver Scott Whipple Set World Record and Take 2009 NSDA Season Championship

Records were broken this past weekend at the 2009 NSDA Dan Chittenden Fall Nationals in Primm, Nevada. After a few flat tires heading up Baker Grade on Thursday, Team CANIDAE/LUCAS OIL settled in for a full weekend of racing action. Unlike their last outing at Avenal, daytime temperatures in Primm were comfortable, registering in the 70s during much of the day.

[View More Photos of the Weekend at Primm here]

After some great passes on Friday and Saturday, top fuel eliminations began on Sunday with #1 qualifier, Whipple and Team CANIDAE/LUCAS OIL setting a new world record ET of 2.278 at 162.75 mph on their first pass. Whipple went on to break that record in round two with a 2.273 ET defeating Jeff Janoe. Heading into the final round, Whipple and the Team CANIDAE/LUCAS OIL crew were pitted against Geoff Gill and his excellent crew. Blasting off the line, Whipple again broke his own world record for the 3rd time on the day while winning the championship with an astounding ET of 2.239 at 164.16 mph to beat Gill's performance of 2.343 ET at 148.41 mph.

Congratulations to Whipple and the rest of the top fuel crew including "Famous" Amos Satterlee, Carl Boley, Amos Satterlee Jr., Scott Gailey, Daran Rupp, Bill Parks, Greg Henley and "Big E" for a fantastic team effort!

In the Top Alcohol class, Team CANIDAE/LUCAS OIL driver Mike DeNunzio was narrowly defeated on Sunday by Nick Januik. DeNunzio ran a 2.611 ET to Januik's 2.603. DeNunzio's best ET of the weekend was a solid 2.569 during Saturday's eliminations. While a points championship was not in the cards for DeNunzio, he ran some great rounds in a tough field of competitors. Mike and the Team finished 2nd in points in this 2009 season

A big thank you to the Top Alcohol crew of Steve and Tony DeNunzio, Lee and Ron Gutierrez, Steven East, Tony Carbone, David Rice, Dennis Bartholomay, Carl Smith, and the rest of our families and friends that made it out to support both teams in 2009.

As another exciting sand drag season closes out, Team CANIDAE/LUCAS OIL would like to extend our gratitude to the NSDA and everyone else involved for their dedication, hard work and commitment putting these events together for racers and fans alike to enjoy.

Whipple & Top Fuel Team Capture NSDA Season Championship – Set New ET Record at 2.239!

Scott Whipple and the CANIDAE Pet Foods Top Fuel Sand Team capped off an amazing weekend of racing in Primm on Sunday by winning the Dan Chittendon Fall Nationals and capturing the 2009 NSDA season points championship.

On their way to the title, Whipple and crew put together three world class back to back to back runs lowering the ET mark each time out and culminating in an astounding 2.239 pass in the final round to set the new world record.

Round One: 2.278/162.75 mph

Round Two: 2.273/160.71 mph

Final Round: 2.239/164.16 mph

For more information and photos visit www.canidaeracing.com

Team CANIDAE Top Fuel Sets New World Record!!

The NSDA Dan Chittenden Fall Nationals in Primm is seeing some excellent racing action this weekend. Scott Whipple ran Low ET of the day with a 2.321 in Top Fuel and hung on to take the #1 qualifying spot heading into race day.

Great job guys! Click for photos of the weekend at Primm and stay tuned for more updates.

UPDATE: THIS JUST IN. SUNDAY. WHIPPLE SETS NEW TOP FUEL WORLD RECORD. 2.278 SECONDS AT 162.7 MPH. AMAZING!

Saturday Top Fuel

Final Qualifying Order

1. Scott Whipple 2.307/165.54

2. Geoff Gill 2.311/NS

3. Shane Switzer 2.315/152.87

4. Jeff Janoe 2.568/141.22

5. Dennis Rieck 2.892/85.37

Saturday Top Alcohol

Top Alcohol

Final Qualifying Order

1. Gary Mink 2.492/138.37

2. Scott Carroll 2.522/141.22

3. Dan Allen 2.562/146.71

4. Nick Januik 2.567/134.06

5. Mike DeNunzio 2.569/138.32

Toliver Falls in First Round at Virginia NHRA Nationals

Jerry Toliver and Ron Capps met for the first time this season in a first-round matchup today at the Fourth annual Virginia NHRA Nationals at Virginia Motorsports Park. Capps entered eliminations as the No. 2 qualifier and in the first round drove his NAPA Dodge to a winning elapsed time of 4.085 seconds at 309.27 mph to Toliver's 4.241 e.t. at 286.25 mph in the CANIDAE/Lucas Oil/WileyX Chevy.

"Hat's off to Ron and 'Ace' (crew chief Ed McCulloch)," Toliver said. "They obviously had that car dialed in and just plain beat us. I think they had the second- or third-quickest run of the round so we had our work cut out for us.

"I felt better coming into today after making a good, solid pass in Q4, but we just couldn't build on it. The tuning window on this CANIDAE car is so small and it's tough to stay inside it on a consistent basis. We just need to get the car back to how it was responding to Big Jim's (team owner/crew chief Dunn) tuning changes at Indy and Dallas a few races ago - that's the challenge we have heading back to Las Vegas."

Del Worsham defeated Tim Wilkerson in the Funny Car finals and Force Racing's Robert Hight took over the points lead with two races remaining in the season.

The next stop on the 24-race NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series is the 9th annual NHRA Las Vegas Nationals on Oct. 29 - Nov. 1 at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the penultimate race in the six-race NHRA Countdown to 1 for the 2009 Full Throttle Series championship.

Kirk Weeks

Toliver Bounces Back to Qualify for Virginia NHRA Nationals

The Jim Dunn Racing team got right back to work after uncharacteristically failing to qualify for the Memphis NHRA race last weekend and placed the CANIDAE/Lucas Oil/WileyX Chevy 15th on the Funny Car qualifying grid for tomorrow's eliminations at the Fourth annual Virginia NHRA Nationals at Virgina Motorsports Park.

After rain showers delayed the start of today's qualifying, driver Jerry Toliver drove the CANIDAE car to an elapsed time of 4.165 seconds at 283.79 mph in the second of two qualifying sessions. Toliver posted an elapsed time of 4.305 seconds at 283.13 mph after losing a cylinder in the first session.

"We're not there, but we're definitely heading in the right direction," Toliver said. "It's been a bit of a struggle this weekend, but we did run a lot better today and had our best run in that last session. The car made a full pull on that last run so that should give Jim (team owner/crew chief Dunn) some good data to work off of for tomorrow. We're still chasing this thing, but we're in the show and on Sunday anything can happen - you got to be in to win."

Toliver will face No. 2-qualifier Ron Capps for the first time this season in the first round of eliminations. Capps' teammate, Jack Beckman, is the No. 1 qualifier with an elapsed time of 4.044 seconds at 305.22 mph.

Kirk Weeks

CANIDAE Team Concludes Challenging Four-Race Stretch at Virginia NHRA Nationals

A four-races-in-four-weeks stretch concludes for NHRA teams with this weekend's Fourth annual Virginia NHRA Nationals at Virginia Motorsports Park, and Funny Car driver Jerry Toliver and the Jim Dunn Racing look to finish the arduous stretch on a high note.

Toliver had a late-season surge in the CANIDAE car interrupted last weekend at Memphis, but the affable Californian is confident the team can bounce back here at Richmond. He has qualified the CANIDAE/Lucas Oil/WileyX Chevy in the top-half of the Funny Car field in two of the last four races including a season-best third at Dallas. The Jim Dunn Racing team also had its best day of eliminations on the season at the Texas Motorplex when Toliver defeated Memphis winner Jeff Arend in the first round and Bob Tasca III in the second round before losing to Jack Beckman in the semifinals.

"We made a solid 4.18 pass right off the truck at Memphis, but then the car just didn't want to go down the track," Toliver said. "Every run after that the car just shook the tires off before it even got to the 'tree'. Big Jim (team owner/crew chief Dunn) just couldn't tune it out no matter which way he went which is really surprising the way this CANIDAE car had been running. He had the car in a tuning window where it was really responding to the changes he was making and was making real consistent runs.

"That just shows you how temperamental these 7,000-horsepower beasts can be. It seems like the weather this time of year in Richmond always produces great racing conditions so we look forward to getting this CANIDAE hot rod back on track. Our goals are still the same for these last few races; try and win as many rounds as we can and hopefully get a race win, at it starts this weekend at Richmond."

A two-hour telecast of qualifying coverage for the Virginia NHRA Nationals can be seen on ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD on Saturday, Oct. 10, beginning at 10:30 p.m. (ET). Coverage on ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD continues on Sunday, Oct. 11, when NHRA Race Day kicks off eliminator coverage starting at 11:00 am (ET), and concludes with three hours of final-eliminations coverage beginning at 7:00 p.m. (ET).

Kirk Weeks

Toliver Misses Funny Car Field at NHRA Mid-South Nationals

For only the second time this season Jerry Toliver in the CANIDAE/Lucas Oil/WileyX Chevy will miss Sunday eliminations at an NHRA Full Throttle Series event after failing to qualify for this weekend's 22nd annual O'Reilly NHRA Mid-South Nationals at Memphis Motorsports Park. The California native also missed qualifying for the Funny Car field at Las Vegas in April.

Toliver made a solid pass of 4.184 seconds at 295.21 mph in Friday's first qualifying session which was good for ninth on the provisional Funny Car sheet, but the Jim Dunn Racing team missed a golden opportunity to move up the grid during the cooler conditions of Friday night's second round when the CANIDAE lost traction and slowed to a 7.092 e.t. at 97.67 mph while several drivers improved their times. Unfortunately Saturday was more of the same as Toliver ran a 7.161 e.t. at 96.69 mph in the third qualifying session, a 6.970 e.t. at 93.10 mph in the fourth and final session, and he failed to qualify for 16-car Funny Car field.

"We tried to go for it Friday night and run a really good number, but it was too much," Toliver said, "so we backed it way down for the first session on Saturday to the tune-up we ran the 4.18 with in the same lane. It should have gone down but it shook, and then we just overpowered the track on that last pass. It was just too much for the track.

"Except for that first run on Friday we just had a problem of shaking it before it got to the 'tree'. Unfortunately we got to a spot there Jim (team owner/crew chief Dunn) just couldn't tune out, no matter which way we went."

The next stop on the 24-race NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series is the 4th annual Virginia NHRA Nationals on Oct. 9-11 at Virginia Motorsports Park just south of Richmond in Parkersburg, Va., the fourth of six races in the NHRA Countdown to 1 for the 2009 Full Throttle Series championship.

Kirk Weeks

Toliver Looking to Win Rounds, Win Races in Season's Final Four Events

It doesn't matter to Funny Car driver Jerry Toliver that this weekend's 22nd annual O'Reilly NHRA Mid-South Nationals at Memphis Motorsports Park is the third of six races in NHRA's Countdown to 1. He's not looking to be a spoiler to points leader Robert Hight or any of the other Funny Car competitors qualified for the Countdown. After a solid semifinal-round appearance at Dallas last weekend, he and his Jim Dunn Racing teammates just want to continue winning rounds with the CANIDAE/Lucas Oil/WileyX Chevy to close out the season.

"This Funny Car class is a tough, tough class," Toliver said, "and this team is no different than any other team out here - we're just trying to win. When I line up against somebody in the other lane, I don't look at them and think, 'Oh good, that guy is first in points or second in points and I can spoil his weekend if we beat him.' I'm up there for me, for my team, for Big Jim, and for our sponsors, just trying to win the race and go on to the next round. I'm not out here to spoil anybody's day; I'm trying to make it a good day for me and my team. That's what we were trying to do in Dallas and that's what we will be trying to do this weekend in Memphis."

Toliver is looking to continue the late-season surge the CANIDAE car has made, qualifying in the top-half in two of the last three races including a season-best third at Dallas. After a strong qualifying effort at the Texas Motorplex, Toliver went on to defeat Jeff Arend in the first round and Bob Tasca III in the second before losing to Jack Beckman in the semifinals.

"We had our best weekend of the season at Dallas last weekend," Toliver said, "but that was last weekend and now we move on to the next race. We want to win some more rounds and hopefully win a race before the season is out. Jim has the car in a tuning window where it's really reacting to what he's telling it on a consistent basis, so we'll see if this hot rod can keep it going at Memphis."

A two-hour telecast of qualifying coverage for the NHRA Mid-South Nationals can be seen on ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD on Saturday, Oct. 3, beginning at 10:30 p.m. (ET). Coverage on ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD continues on Sunday, Oct. 4, when NHRA Race Day kicks off eliminator coverage starting at 11:00 am (ET), and concludes with three hours of final-eliminations coverage beginning at 7:00 p.m. (ET).

Kirk Weeks

CANIDAE T/F Team Takes First at Avenal – T/A Team Falls Just Short in Final

CANIDAE® Pet Foods Top Fuel Sand Drag Team, lead by driver Scott Whipple, took down the championship this past weekend with a thrilling hole shot victory in the T/F final over Geoff Gill. With daytime temperatures climbing well above 100 degrees, Avenal California's Sand Drag Track was once again home to fierce competition across all the divisions. Whipple and the T/F team earned the #1 qualfying spot going in, and then in an extremely close final, Whipple's 2.325 edged out Gill's 2.323 with the hole shot. The margin of victory being Whipple's reaction time of 0.13457 to Gill's 0.14107 for an overall edge of just .0045! Sunday's victory puts the CANIDAE Top Fuel team unofficially back on top in the race for the overall season championship, but by a mere 1 point. The 2010 Season Championship will be up for grabs when the season closes out with the Fall Nationals at Primm in October. Congratulations to Scott and the rest of the top fuel crew including "Famous" Amos Satterlee, Carl Boley, Amos Satterlee Jr., Scott Gailey, Daran Rupp, Bill Park and "Big E" for the great team effort at Avenal. And, a tip of the hat and thanks to Geoff Gill and owner/tuner Joe Bettencourt and his crew for another challenging weekend of racing and fierce competition on the track.

In the Top Alcohol final, Mike DeNunzio earned the Hole Shot as well but "slowed" to a 2.61 from his quicker qualifying rounds which wasn't quite enough to surpass Gary Mink's 2.46 in their final round match up on Sunday. Congratulations to Gary and the team on your win. Team CANIDAE's 2nd place finish on Sunday puts the T/A Team in 2nd place in the points standings. A big thank you to the T/A crew of Steve and Tony DeNunzio, Lee Gutierrez, Steven East, David Rice, Dennis Bartholomay, and the rest of the family that made it out to support the team. Both crews turned in great performances despite the grueling heat throughout the weekend. Thanks also to the NSDA and ASDI for putting on another great weekend of racing.

The 2010 season wraps up and season championships will be awarded at the 2009 "Dan Chittenden" Fall Nationals being held at the Primm Valley Resorts, October 23-25. With Avenal results this close there’s no doubt the season finale will provide plenty of fireworks for fans and race teams. There's still time to make your plans attend.

See you at the races!