Two Seattle Seconds! Canadian-based Sportsman racers came very close to notching two Lucas Oil level drag racing wins at NHRA’s Northwest Nationals last week.  Steve Lowe (above photo) placed R/UP for the 9.90 Super Gas division with his Langley BC-based Firebird.  Steve collected 5 round win lights at Seattle but lost out in a “double break out” final round to Cooper Chun by a 9.889 to 9.876 secs margin.   For Super Street 10.90 racing it was Dustin Ward (from Slave Lake AB) also going to the final round.  Dustin (who is husband to Frankie Plaizier) raced his ’67 Dart to five round wins but lost to Dana Glenn in the championship round.  For Ward — the placing was in fact his 3rd career R/UP at this race — having went to the finals in this class too in both 2023 and 2025.

Next Gen Winner! — A very cool victory at Seattle’s NHRA Northwest Nationals came in the event’s special edition annually held Junior Dragster Shootout.  The race features an 8-car field of nothing but top contenders from within NHRA Division 6 JDRL.  That 2026 event win went to  Zach Standeven (from Prince George BC) who took the prestigious title.  Zach qualified #1 for the event (position based on quickest RT) and ran a final round 8.188 secs at 73.30 to defeat Jaxson Gonzales.

Pace Setter! — British Columbia’s uber fast Top Sportsman racer – Kirk Lanz – was the quickest car during NHRA’s NorthWest Nationals event. Lanz (who is from Mission BC) paced that 26-car field with his Pro-charger ’69 Camaro running a 6.193 secs. Kirk did advance to the 3rd round for TS class eliminations – before losing out to David Cooke.  Lanz’s 6.148 secs recording during his round #2 win — was low ET of the event for TS racing.

Daniel in the House! — Quebec’s superstar drag racer Daniel Mercier once again supported Napierville Dragway’s biggest race of the year – their recent NHRA National Open event (July 17-19).  Mercier delivered an exhibition test run best of  3.15 secs 271 mph (1/8th mile) to please the masses in attendance!

A Bonzana Prelude — In advance of Luskville Dragway’s huge Bracket Bonanza week of racing – the track did host it’s first ever “NT” event (on July 25th) which featured an 8-car 1/8th mile field of cool Canadian creation cars.  That event was won by Wayne Cross from Curran Ontario who drove his Big Block Chevy Monte Carlo (below photo) to the title.

Dashing Doorcar Debuts! — Atlantic Canadian drag racing fans in attendance for the NHRA JSCCS event held at Miramichi New Brunswick last weekend did get a first look at two great new area Stock eliminator class cars.  Terry Kelson (from Utopia NB) ran a spectacular new AA/SA 1964 Thunderbolt for the first time (above) and it was Trevor Ervin (from Sackville NB) making his competition debut with this all new 1970 Chevelle in B/SA trim.  Both cars were impressive – dipping well under their national class indexes.  The Chevelle which has an Armstrong-built 402/375/395  ran over 1-second under while Terry’s T-Bolt – which features a Line-built 427 FE engine (425/425) clocked in at (-.73)!