Jerry Toliver/CANIDAE Racing Pre-Event: 21st Annual O'Reilly NHRA Summer Nationals

As its name implies, this weekend's 21st annual NHRA Summer Nationals at Heartland Park Topeka launches the NHRA Full Throttle Series into the "dog days" of summer, so what better place to be than behind the wheel of the CANIDAE Pet Foods/Lucas Oil Chevy Funny Car? At least that is the thinking of Funny Car veteran Jerry Toliver and the Jim Dunn Racing team as they prepare for race No. 9 on the 24-race Full Throttle schedule. 

"I think the hot, summer months might level the playing field a little," Toliver said. "We've got some cars that are running good on cold tracks, really hauling the mail right now, so I think a hot race track might help us and play into our hands a little."

 

"But the reality is we have struggled with this CANIDAE car; the reality also is we are having the normal problems like on any new car, any new tune-up. You've got to find your window. We seem to have found our window with the engine, but we still seem to be having problems in the clutch department. So we're going to address that and make sure that everything's proper. We're going to really attack that area and I think we'll see some good results from it."

Toliver will enter the gates at Heartland Park Topeka tied with Jeff Arend for 14th in the Funny Car standings but also has his sights set on those in front of him. 

"Jim (team owner/crew chief Dunn) pays great attention to detail and is so well-rounded on the entire race car, and he's got it narrowed down," Toliver said. "And as I said, we feel good about the motor program, the way the car handles, and everything else, so now we're getting down to some fine-tuning and really getting after the clutch area. We'll get this thing figured out; it's just taking us a little bit longer than we would like. I think once we get this program figured out it will make us competitive, and you know, it's still not too late to make a run for the top 10, so that's our goal." 

A two-hour telecast of qualifying coverage for the NHRA Summer Nationals can be seen on ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD on Saturday, May 30, beginning at 8:00 p.m. (ET). Coverage on ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD continues on Sunday, May 31, when NHRA Race Day will kick off eliminator coverage starting at 11:00 a.m. (ET), and concludes with three hours of final-eliminations coverage beginning at 4:00 p.m. (ET).

Kirk Weeks

AMA Motocross Season Opener at Glen Helen Kicks off Outdoor Season with a Bang!

When the 2009 Outdoor National Season shot out of the gate at Glen Helen Raceway in Southern California this past weekend, nobody knew what to expect. The CANIDAE Motosport Kawasaki team had been working overtime to get ready for the grueling series and it showed!

First race up was Moto #1 for the 450MX class where CANIDAE rider Tommy Hahn would face off against 40 of the toughest riders in the world. Tommy would enter the famous “Talladega Turn” inside the top 10 and finish lap 1 in 8th place. Hahn would battle with Chad Reed and Mike Brown for most of the race and take the checkered flag in 7th place. A great ride for Hahn and CANIDAE Motosport Kawasaki.

Moto #1 for the 250MX riders was next and CANIDAE riders P.J. Larsen and Kyle Cunningham would take their shot at the fast and rough track. Cunningham would only make 7 laps due to a broken finger he obtained while testing for the event just days before the event. Larsen, who suffered from a poor start showed his speed while coming through the pack even with a rear flat tire that he suffered in the first 10 minutes of the race. P.J. would crash while pushing it to the limits in a fast, soft corner sending the bike all the way off the track. Somehow, the rookie rider pulled the bike back onto the track, under the banners and fences and remounted to finish a remarkable 18th place. 

Moto #2 for the 450 guys was almost a replay of the first with Hahn jumping out to a great start and holding his place inside the top 10 for the exhausting 30 minutes + 2 laps moto. Mixing it up for most of the race with the factory “Red Riders” Hahn would improve on position from the first moto and finish in 6th place which would net him a 6th place finish overall, a fantastic way to start the new season. 

Moto #2 for the 250 “Lites” riders was exciting and the CANIDAE Motosport Kawasaki riders bounced back to show they will be riders to contend with all season long. Cunningham would fight through the severe pain to finish 13th on the extremely rough SoCal track. Larsen would finish just outside the top 10 in 11th place, a great finish for this rising star. 

CANIDAE is extremely proud of the team, riders and their wonderful efforts. Please join us as we head to The Hangtown Classic outside of Sacramento, CA May 30th. See you there!

Jason Cobb

Avenal Summer Nationals - Whipple T/F Qualifies #1 with a Blistering 2.266 @ 163.3 mph!

Team CANIDAE T/F and T/A Sand Dragsters headed to Avenal CA May 15th-17th for the 2009 Summer Nationals. The T/F team not only had to deal with Geoff Gill and Joe Bettencourt, but also the blistering heat which saw 120 degrees on the team's outside thermometer. The NSDA did an excellent job helping out the Avenal track, which is always fast. 

Whipple and the team was able to put down one of their fastest passes ever with a ET of 2.2666 @ 163.3 MPH (2.26 pass video) enabling them to take yet another #1 qualifying position. Rookie driver Geoff Gill, backed by car owner and master tuner Joe Bettencourt, were close behind with a 2.299 ET. Dennis Rieck finally got his small block chevy back on pace and qualified with a nice 2.451 ET.

 

Gill/Bettencourt were able to take down Dennis Rieck who unfortunately had too much in the tank and not enough on the nose which resulted in a huge wheel stand ending in a tremendous crash. (Avenal Drags May 2009 Top fuel Crash video). Dennis was ok and thankfully did not receive any major injuries. Our heartfelt concerns go out to Dennis and the entire Hammer Down crew.

 

The climatic final round went to Gill/Bettencourt who ran a 2.30 to Whipple's 2.31. The entire CANIDAE Team would like to congratulate the entire Gill/Bettencourt Top Fuel Team for their tremendous accomplishment and consistent blistering elapsed times, as well as their first NSDA win as a team!

Toliver Falls in First Round at NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals

Jerry Toliver qualified the CANIDAE/Lucas Oil Chevy Funny Car 15th for today's eliminations at the 9th annual NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway which garnered him a first-round match-up with No. 2 qualifier Tim Wilkerson.  

In the Round 1 contest Wilkerson had a winning elapsed time of 4.165 seconds at 291.57 mph as Toliver hazed the tires before the 330-foot mark and slowed to a 7.289 e.t. at 87.10 mph.  Wilkerson's first-round e.t. was the quickest of the round as he advanced to the semifinals before losing to Del Worsham.  Worsham went on to defeat Tony Pedregon to claim the event win.  

Next stop on the 24-race NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series is the 21st annual O'Reilly NHRA Summer Nationals at Heartland Park Topeka in Topeka, Kansas, from May 29-31.

Kirk Weeks

Jerry Toliver/CANIDAE Racing Pre-Event 9th annual NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals

Funny Car driver Jerry Toliver will be looking to make some noise in "Thunder Valley" as the NHRA Full Throttle Series travels to the mountains of Bristol, Tenn., for this weekend's 9th annual NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway.  Toliver will be behind the wheel of the familiar green, yellow and white CANIDAE/Lucas Oil Chevy Funny Car fielded by NHRA legend Jim Dunn and his Jim Dunn Racing team.   

"I'm upbeat going into Bristol," Toliver said.  "The guys have been working their tails off and it's just a matter of getting more laps on this CANIDAE car.  The team has shown improvement, the car has shown improvement, and every lap is a test lap, as Big Jim (Dunn) likes to say.  So we learned some good lessons there in St. Louis, and at Bristol we'll have four more laps and race day.  Hopefully we can get this thing figured out, get down the track and go some rounds."

Bristol Dragway is one of four Bruton Smith-owned tracks including The Strip at Las Vegas, Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif., and zMAX Dragway in Charlotte that collectively host five Full Throttle Series events during the year. 

"Bristol is a class "A" facility, no doubt," Toliver said.  "All of Bruton Smith's tracks are that way.  And the fans are fantastic there so I've always enjoyed going to Bristol.  I've met a lot of people over the years there that still stop by and hang out with me.  It's a premier facility and very unique sitting there in Thunder Valley.  I haven't had a lot of success there, I haven't won there, but it's on my radar."          

A two-hour telecast of qualifying coverage for the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals can be seen on ESPN2 on Saturday, May 16, beginning at 6:00 p.m. (ET).  Coverage on ESPN2 continues on Sunday, May 17, when NHRA Race Day will kick off eliminator coverage starting at 11:00 a.m. (ET), and concludes with three hours and 30 minutes of final eliminations coverage beginning at 7:00 p.m. (ET).

Kirk Weeks

CANIDAE Motosport Kawasaki Season Finale at Sam Boyd Stadium

Sam Boyd Stadium has long been the final stop on the FIM Supercross Series. A perfect place to hold a grand celebration of a tremendous year for the entire Supercross community.

The East / West Shootout brought out the top riders from the East to take on the top riders from the West for Lites Class bragging rights. CANIDAE Motosport Kawasaki has 3 Lites riders that qualified for this event. Branden Jesseman would represent the East side for CANIDAE while Kyle Cunningham and P.J. Larsen would represent the West for the team. During the second practice session, Jesseman would go down hard over a tricky, triple in, double out section and knock himself out of the event. Kyle Cunningham would go down with 2 laps to go in his qualifier then suffer from a bad start in the LCQ which would result in him not making the main. The lone CANIDAE Motosport Kawasaki Lites rider would be rookie, P.J. Larsen.

P.J. got pinched off in the first corner, resulting in a bad start as he flew off the ski jump in 19th place. Larsen looked like he was riding tight, as he could not cleanly get around obviously slower riders early on in the race. After lap 3, Larsen calmed down and started to move forward. On lap 6, Larsen was 17th. By lap 9, he was up to 16th then up another spot by lap 11. On the 13th lap, Larsen would move into the 14th place spot where he would eventually finish the race. This was a good ride for this young, up and coming rider. Look for him to run up front next year.

As the season ends, P.J. Larsen finishes in 10th place and Kyle Cunningham in 11th in the West Coast Points Championship with Branden Jesseman finishing in 6th place and Hunter Hewitt in the 33rd position (Hunter has missed most of the season with a broken femur) in the East Coast Championship Series.

Tommy Hahn was set to do battle in the Supercross Class and battle he did. Tommy would figure out the tricky Las Vegas track and qualify out of his heat, directly into the main event. In the main, Tommy would get a bad jump off the start and cross the finish line in 17th place. He would however show his speed and move up quickly through the field, ending up in 12th place by lap five. After a 3 lap battle with Bowers, Hahn would cross the line in 13th place at the halfway point in the race. As Hahn closed in on the riders in front of him, Hahn’s bike malfunctioned as he pounded his way through the treacherous whoops. The night was over for Tommy as was the 2009 Supercross season. Hahn would finish the Championship Series in 19th place and looks forward to heading out doors for the MX Nationals.

CANIDAE All Natural Pet Foods sponsors the "Lucky Dog" L.C.Q., which is the final opportunity for all remaining riders to make it into the "Big Show.” In the “Lites” class, Daniel Blair and Chris Blose transferred into the main and in the “Supercross” class; Robert Kiniry took the win followed by Kyle Partridge to move into their respective main events.

Next up for the CANIDAE Motosport Kawasaki Team is the 2009, AMA Outdoor Nationals. This will be a tough series but the CANIDAE team should run up front all year. Come check it out as the season kicks off May 23rd in San Bernardino, CA. See you there!

Jason Cobb

Toliver Bows to Worsham in First Round at NHRA Midwest Nationals

A wet weekend on the NHRA Full Throttle Series tour came to an end for Funny Car driver Jerry Toliver and the Jim Dunn Racing team with a first-round loss at the O'Reilly NHRA Midwest Nationals at Gateway International Raceway. Toliver and his fellow NHRA competitors saw two rounds of qualifying cancelled due to rain on Friday and today's eliminations were run under mostly cloudy conditions.

Toliver in the CANIDAE/Lucas Oil Chevy lost to No. 3 qualifier Del Worsham who posted the second-fastest elapsed time in today's first round. Worsham had an elapsed time of 4.113 seconds at 295.40 mph as Toliver lost traction almost immediately and slowed to an 8.922-second e.t. at 73.22 mph. Worsham advanced to the Funny Car finals against Ron Capps.

"Despite the weather and lost laps on Friday, I felt pretty good going into eliminations today," Toliver said. "(Del) Worsham and his team are awful strong and we knew we'd have to step it up, and we just got a little too aggressive. I lost traction there at the start and that was it."

Toliver leaves the Midwest Nationals tied for 13th in points with Jeff Arend and Jim Head.

Next stop on the 24-race NHRA Full Throttle Drag Series is the 9th annual NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway in Bristol, Tenn., from May 15-17.

Kirk weeks

Toliver Anxious to Get Back on Track at Midwest Nationals

Jerry Toliver qualified the CANIDAE/Lucas Oil Chevy Funny Car 14th two weeks ago at the Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway, and despite a first-round loss he is confident going into this weekend's 13th annual O'Reilly NHRA Midwest Nationals at Gateway International Raceway in Madison, Ill.  

"Atlanta was a great weekend compared to what we were up against the race before (Las Vegas)," Toliver said.  "During our off time between those two races we found some real issues with the car that were really uncontrollable.  We had some problems with the ignition box, and there's no way you can know that without taking them off, sending them off and having them tested.  They were giving us erratic leads to the mags, so the engine didn't like it and was just blowing up.  It was a bad deal and a huge couple of steps back.  We just didn't know why it was doing that, and then come to find out it was a mechanical issue and we resolved it.  So we feel like we're back on track.

"I think Jim (Dunn) and Tony have a good handle on this CANIDAE car now, so we just need to work on some earlier numbers, getting them down right, and we'll be good.  This car runs really well from the 330-foot mark on, so if we can get this thing going to 330, and get those numbers down a little bit, I think we'll be very competitive on race day.  Our biggest challenge has just been dialing things in - new car at the start of the season, new driver, new engines, new fuel pumps, no laps on the new car.  We were getting close and then had the snafu with the points box, and it just really threw us for a loop.  That being said, once we found that out and got rid of the mechanical issues, now we're back to getting a handle on this race car again.  I think with a few more laps we can get this thing whittled down and be very competitive."

Toliver was just that, competitive, at this race in 2000 when he won his third race of the season to go with earlier wins at the season-opening Winternationals at Pomona (Calif.) and the Gatornationals at Gainesville (Fla.).   

"That was a fun race," Toliver said.  "I beat Dean Skuza in the finals, it was a night race, and it was a smoke-fest in that final round.  Any time you win at a racetrack, you go back in there knowing, 'Hey, I've won here before,' so maybe there's some magic left there."

A two-hour telecast of qualifying coverage for the O'Reilly NHRA Midwest Nationals can be seen on ESPN2 on Saturday, May 2, beginning at 6:00 p.m. (ET).  Coverage on ESPN2 continues on Sunday, May 3, when NHRA Race Day will kick off eliminator coverage starting at 11:00 a.m. (ET), and concludes with three hours of final eliminations coverage beginning at 7:00 p.m. (ET).

Kirk Weeks

CANIDAE Top Fuel Team Captures NSDA Spring Nationals Championship

Primm, NV - The Team CANIDAE Top Fuel Team led by driver Scott Whipple defeated Geoff Gill with the fastest pass of the day at 2.320/160.43 mph to win the 2009 NSDA Spring National Championship on Sunday. The team came into Sunday's final rounds as the #1 qualifier after posting the second fastest pass in Primm history at 2.303/160.83 mph on Saturday. The win moves Team CANIDAE to within one point of current leader Gill in the quest to defend their 2008 season championship.

After qualifying #2 with a ripping 2.499 pass on Saturday, Team CANIDAE's Top Alcohol Team and driver Mike Denunzio earned a semi final finish when they lost to season point leader and eventual Spring National champion Gary Mink in a very close race running 2.532 to Mink's 2.501. Congratulations Gary on a great race weekend from all of us at Team CANIDAE. The defending 2008 season champion CANIDAE T/A team currently sits in third place in this year's race for the season point championship.

Congratulations Team CANIDAE on another successful weekend of racing in support of responsible pet ownership and local independent pet food store retailers!

Toliver Loses First-Round Match-Up with Force at Atlanta

Jerry Toliver and his CANIDAE Racing team made an early exit from the Summit Racing NHRA Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway after a first-round loss to 14-time Funny Car champ John Force.

After near-identical reaction times, Force slowly pulled away with a winning elapsed time of 4.123 seconds at 308.57 mph as Toliver drove the CANIDAE/Lucas Oil Chevy to an elapsed time of 4.213 seconds at 301.74 mph.  

"Even though we lost, this was a good bounce-back weekend for us," Toliver said. "We made consistent runs in qualifying, and then made a good, solid run in the first round today that just wasn't enough. (John) Force is obviously a tough match-up, but we made a good pass and at least made him earn it. We got some good data this weekend, so it's on to St. Louis and we'll keep trying to get better." 

Toliver qualified 15th for the 16-car Funny Car field with a 4.201-second elapsed time at 299.13 mph to earn his first-round pairing with No. 2 qualifier Force. 

Next stop on the 24-race NHRA Full Throttle Drag Series is the 13th annual O'Reilly NHRA Midwest Nationals at Gateway Int'l. Raceway in Madison, Ill., from May 1-3.

Kirk Weeks

Between The Motos: Bill Keefe

Article courtesy of Racerxonline.com

Bill Keefe is the team manager for the Canidae/Motosport Kawasaki team, which has seen some success in this year's Monster Energy/AMA Supercross Championship, including a second-place finish by team rider Branden Jesseman recently. We talked to Keefe for this week's "Between the Motos."

Racer X: You've been a team manager in our sport for a few years now. Before that, what did you do?

Bill Keefe: I was at many places. Immediately before that, I was at Primedia working with the Dirt Rider guys in the marketing and sales department.

How long have you been involved in the motocross world?

I've been in motocross since I was a kid. I was an MXA test rider back when Lance Morewood... Back when MXA was really the only MX magazine. I raced motocross back then, and I rode for Mitch [Payton] - me, Troy [Lee], Jeff Jennings, we raced for him way back then on Husqvarnas. I've been in motorcycles most of my life, and then there was a time when I got involved on the automotive side, and I worked with NPTI, which was Nissan Performance Technologies, and they raced a GTP car that ran in the 24 hours of Le Mans, and Daytona, and all that. Automotive racing was really exciting and the technology was really interesting. But then, you know, I missed the motorcycle people. Motorcycle people are just great people.

They're different, that's for sure.

We're more like a community. While we are all competitive, we're there to help if somebody needs it. Not a lot of industries are like that.

It's not like that in the car industry?

I didn't find it to be that way, no. The car industry people would ruin people to gain in one way or another. I'm not comfortable in that situation, and I'm not that type of person. I think the motorcycle people are generally very good people.

You've been a team manager for the Motosport Kawasaki [now Canidae-sponsored] team for a few years, and also your son, Tyler, was racing for a while. Is that part of what brought you back to the motocross racers, to be there for your son?

Tyler was progressing, and he was going to race supercross and motocross either way. It seems like every five years or so, though, I change career paths, and that was about five years when this opportunity came up. Mark Johnson, who was the team manager at Motosport at that time, contacted me, and I spoke to him and Bill Butcher [of Motosport.com] and Mark Kvamme [investor in Motosport.com], and they decided this would be a good fit.

This year, you guys brought on Canidae dog food as a sponsor. A lot of teams have energy-drink sponsors, but not many have dog-food sponsors. How did that come about?

Canidae was involved in the NHRA in 2008, and when we met with the Canidae people, they are motorsport-type people. They understand the fan of motorsport, and they know that the fan is passionate. They're looking to expand their reach, and they like motocross and supercross, and their colors are green, yellow and black and white, and we fit the green quite nicely. So, after a few meetings, they decided that we were a team that they wanted to be a part of. We work together on doing things that are market-driven, such as the handouts [of sample dog food] in supercross, the bag on top of the truck, and the flags... Their reps are there to talk to supercross fans as they come through the pits, and they talk about their dogs... A lot of people ask me, "Why pet food?" It's really pretty simple: There are more guys on my team that have pets than have bikes. So, if you're trying to reach people with pets, supercross and motocross is a great place. Our demographic is very pet-driven.

Do they seem happy with it?

They're very happy. Getting them involved with Feld, too, was an important part of it, with the Canidae Lucky Dog LCQ winner, so that they were able to reach out even more. They've got the ad in the program, people can see them on the floor, and they can see our truck and sample the product out in the pits and see our riders. They've got great penetration on all levels at supercross, and marketing and technically, it's been a homerun. Each race we go to, their reps are there, and they purchase 40-60 tickets per event for workers and clients in the area. So they're really integrated well into their local areas and dealers.

And you've still got Motosport as a sponsor, too, which is the largest online parts source for motorcycles, right?

Yeah, I think they're number one.

So you guys have quite a strong set of sponsors on your team. It looks good for your team.

It's a great situation to be in at this time to have those two, plus all of our other sponsors are very strong. To have an outside sponsor like Canidae, then have Motosport, Scott USA, Kawasaki, Pro Circuit, Maxima, and all our other sponsors... We're in a pretty good position right now.

You also ventured into having a full-time 450cc rider this year, by moving Tommy Hahn up. It's something that Pro Circuit has toyed with doing, but never pulled the trigger on. Why did you guys do it?

Two things: Tommy had good success last year on the 450, so we knew that the potential was there for success, and looking at our team as a marketing arm, and the coverage 450cc racing gets on television vs. what the 250 class gets, it's a very powerful marketing tool to have a guy on a 450. We felt Tommy could give us the results that would be very marketable in that 450 class.

But he's spent quite a bit of the year hurt, including now having a fractured scapula...

It's frustrating, for sure. Pat Riley called it the "Innocent Climb" back when the Lakers dominated. It's funny, because you do things the first time, and you have good success, and then you go back to duplicate it, and times are tougher, whether luck just doesn't go your way, or you have new challenges, it's difficult to repeat something that happens so easily the first time.

I talked to Tommy, and he seems excited about the outdoors. How does your team view the outdoors?

Well, we're always optimistic at the beginning of the season, and with the package Davey [Coombs] put together with television, and with the live broadcast of the 450cc second motos, and the fact that Tommy is a really good starter - and hopefully has all his injuries out of the way - marketingwise, it should be successful, and hopefully we'll be able to get some podiums and be in the top five more consistently than he has been in supercross. But we'll be running three guys on the 250s and Tommy on the 450.

Did you say three guys on the 250s?

Yup.

So, who's not going to be around for the outdoors?

Well, Branden Jesseman's deal is a supercross-only deal, and it was from the very beginning. Even though he's been our most successful guy in supercross, the plan was only supercross for him. We're both working hard to try to put something together and allow him to come outdoors with us, and these are tough times to add a guy, budgetwise.

And having five guys out of one truck probably isn't easy, either.

Yeah, four works well, and three works okay, but five can be tough. But we'll have Kyle, PJ, Hunter and Tommy.

Toliver Looks to Bounce Back at Atlanta

Despite a temporary set-back at Las Vegas when he was bumped in the final qualifying session and failed to make the 16-car Funny Car field for the first time this season, Jerry Toliver is confident his CANIDAE Racing team can get back on track at this weekend's 29th annual Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway on April 16-19.

"Las Vegas was just a bad, bad weekend all the way around," Toliver said.  "We went in there with a lot of confidence in how we were improving the car, but we just had a bad weekend and ended up hurting a lot of parts.  We were fortunate that there was an off weekend between races, so the team had a chance to regroup before heading to Atlanta.

   

"But you're going to have a weekend like that over the course of a 24-race season, so we just have to put that one in the rearview mirror and keep marching forward starting with the race this weekend at Atlanta."

  

Starting the season as a new driver of the CANIDAE/Lucas Oil Chevy Funny Car with a new, untested Murf McKinney chassis, potential performance results, especially early in the year, were relatively unknown.  After qualifying for the season-opener at Pomona on a one-lap flyer due to weather conditions, Toliver qualified a season-best 10th at Phoenix, had his best race weekend to date with his first round-win of the season at Gainesville, and despite a close, side-by-side loss in the first round at Houston to No. 2 qualifier Del Worsham, Toliver qualified for his fourth consecutive race to start the season.  

Now he looks to start a new streak starting with Friday's first qualifying session; Toliver was a No. 1 qualifier at Atlanta Dragway in 2001.          

"Atlanta Dragway is a nice track and we're looking forward to a successful weekend there," Toliver said.  "Big Jim (team owner/crew chief Dunn) and the guys are working hard at this thing and that's all you can ask for."

A two-hour telecast of qualifying coverage for the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals can be seen on ESPN2 on Saturday, April 18, beginning at 6:00 p.m. (ET).  Coverage on ESPN2 continues on Sunday, April 19, when NHRA Race Day will kick off eliminator coverage starting at 11:00 a.m. (ET), and concludes with three hours of final eliminations coverage beginning at 7:00 p.m. (ET).

Kirk Weeks