Every summer we make a pilgrimage to Route 66 Raceway in Joliet, Illinois, for the annual Nitto Tires Super Bowl of Street Legal Drag Racing that pits the NMCA-Flowmaster series against its rival, the NMRA-Keystone Ford Drag Racing sanctioning body. Both are owned by ProMedia Events and the idea is to bring both racing leagues together for a bonus runoff where the winners get additional prize money and the winning team walks away with Nitto Tire Diamond Tree championship rings (which look like a Super Bowl ring to go with the event's theme).

The Chevy High Performance Nationals is the largest all-GM event of the year featuring a huge car show, bracket and True Street racing, LSX racing, a special autocross presented by JET-HOT and Wilwood Brakes, a world-class all-GM manufacturers' midway, a giant used parts swap meet, 300+ mph jet cars, and much more.

With its chrome-topped tail fins and chrome hood rockets, the '57 Chevy rolled off General Motors' assembly lines as a classic from the factory. Surprisingly enough, the '57 Chevy Bel Air is among the most sought after cars in America - for car thieves. In 2012 alone, forty-two '57 Chevys were stolen; a total of 23,250 Bel Airs have been stolen from 1958 through 2012.

It's been nine years since Art Morrison experimented with his own project '55 Chevy (Project GT55) at the Goodguys "Street Machine of the Year" competition. For the project he used his own chassis design, and has since assembled and sold 1,000 of the Tri-5 GT Sport chassis. Engineered in 2004 as a groundbreaking "bolt-on" high performance chassis for 1955-57 Chevrolets, Morrison has produced a product that's established a proven reputation for success.

When Pomona Raceway’s Street Legal Drags program closed down in 2001, the average street car guy was essentially denied the privilege of racing at this iconic facility with the exception of one-off events that happened every few years. Due to residential complaints, racing at Pomona was restricted to NHRA events only and for someone with a street car Pomona’s quarter-mile might as well have been located in Turkey. So when we heard that the NMCA was coming to SoCal with a new West Coast series and Pomona was one of the stops, we had to be there.

The National Muscle Car Association (NMCA) is synonymous with some of the baddest heads-up drag racing in the country, and when we heard they were bringing their program to the West Coast, appropriately named the all-new NMCA West series, there was no way we were going to miss it.

Take a look at the live photo coverage that we have for this year's 2012 SEMA Show. As you can see the 2010 Chevrolet Camaro continues to be a popular draw, but the turn out for Chevy in general was fairly impressive. There was also a performance ride along event .

Events

If you missed the very first Chevy High Performance Nationals last June 1-3, then you shunted a great gathering of some of the baddest Chevys in the country competing for car show, autocross, and drag racing glory. For those who couldn’t attend, read on, as we showcase a whole bunch of Chevy action from the event in the next several pages that will make you obsess about showing off your Bow Tie at the event next year.

Last year the NMCA Flowmaster traveling tour of street freaks made a return to Atlanta Dragway, located approximately 60 miles north of Atlanta in the quaint town of Commerce, Georgia. The action was dramatic; cars burst into flames and crashed into walls. Those vehicles that remained unscathed ran quick times, thanks to the excellent weather and track conditions. This year, the NMCA event was every bit as exciting, but thankfully the heart-breaking accidents were kept to a bare minimum, with some fender benders here and there, but nothing that made you shake your head in despair. The 2012 running of the Nitto All-Star Nationals was all about racing, and we packed up a few cameras and loaded up on sunscreen to cover it all.

Several years ago there was an explosion of events geared toward guys who wanted to run their cars hard rather than just endlessly rub on them with microfiber towels. The main problem for us West Coasters was that all these events seemed to be East Coast, or at best Midwest, affairs. Luckily, a few cats back East took pity on us and organized the inaugural Run To The Coast event in 2010. It combined a full-blown road course, autocross, and Speed-Stop competition into two days guaranteed to satiate the needs of those wanting to haul ass in their hot rods.

It was the seventh running of the Street Car Super Nationals at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in what has become the premier heads-up race west of the Mississippi. The event’s humble beginnings started with the notion of being a West Coast–based event that is a big deal, much like many events in the eastern part of the land. In the seven years of existence, the Street Car Super Nationals has blossomed into an East versus West showdown as several East Coast hitters make the cross-country trek each year. The promoters of the PSCA racing series put the SCSN extravaganza together and the racing categories are a mixture of the PSCA series rules with an outlaw influence. The late season race date before Thanksgiving provides cool conditions for exceptional performances.

There was a time when Pro Street cars ruled the show circuit and even the pages of magazines. They looked fast, but they seemed relegated to idling through fairgrounds or maybe the occasional clandestine blast down a deserted street. The look was race car, but they soon gained an almost poseur status. Why? Because there was something wrong with a car all gussied up to dance just sitting it out.

When GM’s LS engine platform burst onto the scene in 1997, people quickly figured out that it was a game changer. While the LT1 engine was an evolution of the Gen I V-8, the LS1 was designed on a fresh sheet of paper. Since then it’s become the go-to engine for hot rodding and racing. Given this popularity, the guys at the National Muscle Car Association (NMCA) decided that the LS engine deserved its own racing series, so in 2007 they introduced the LSX Shootout. This year the shootout has moved to Lucas Oil Raceway in Indianapolis, and in addition to the LS-powered rides, they also folded in their FueLab World Street Finals, which is open to any American-made car looking to blast down the quarter-mile.

Twice a year (February and October), South Georgia Motorsports Park (Valdosta, Georgia) plays host to a wild and crazy drag race known as Radial Revolution. It is a gathering of raw horsepower with little regard to rules, other than safety and some loosely strung together concepts to keep it somewhat fair among the various nitrous, turbocharged, and supercharged entries. The lack of rules almost forces this event to be run as an eighth-mile competition rather than the mainstream quarter-mile length of the dragstrip. The speeds achieved in 1,320 feet would be too much to consider safe in vehicles running on stock suspension and race weights coming in over 3,200 pounds for most combinations. This event is fast paced and exciting. We watched cars stand on their bumper, make close encounters with the wall, and explode as if it was a nitro-burning engine letting loose. This type of racing is that intense.

The LS phenomenon has really caught on and it couldn’t have been more evident after hanging out at this year’s Holley LS Fest in Bowling Green, Kentucky. If this event is new to you, then let us fill you in.

Truth be told, we’ve wanted to host our own event for quite some time now, but we wanted something different, something far better than the typical cookie-cutter challenges. It took a little forethought, but in the end the solution seemed pretty obvious to us, and it was worth the wait.

Take a look at the live photo coverage that we have for this year's 2011 SEMA Show. As you can see the 2010 Chevrolet Camaro is still popular draw for this year as well. We also have exclusive photos of the new Camaro ZL1.

The sixth annual NMCA/NMRA Super Bowl of Street Legal Drag Racing returned to Route 66 Raceway (Joliet, Illinois) this past summer. The two sanctioning bodies once again pitted the class winners of the NMCA-Flowmaster series against the Mustang class winners of the NMRA-Keystone sanctioning body in a staged index-based dual. The situation is this: both racing series run separately all weekend long and on Sunday, once the eliminations are over, all the class winners head back to the staging lanes. NMCA and NMRA officials pair the categories against each other in a pre-determined listing. Essentially the officials pair up the corresponding classes, like Pro Street against NMRA’s Pro Outlaw. The cars are run off using staggered starts based on an index but there is no breakout like in index or bracket racing. The index for each racer is their quickest pass of the weekend.

Before we begin, we want to make sure that we get the name of this event perfectly correct: the Inaugural JE Pistons NMRA/NMCA West Coast Shootout presented by Lucas Oil. Why all the worry about making a proper introduction? That’s easy—in bringing the NMRA/NMCA act to the Left Coast for the first time, the efforts of the sanctioning bodies and sponsoring companies combined to produce a great event period, no debate. It was a load of fun, an extravaganza with something for everyone—well, there were no open laps on the Auto Club Speedway oval, but short of that, there’s not much more a gearhead could have asked for.

The third stop on the NMCA-Flowmaster traveling tour was at the storied Maryland International Raceway in scenic Budds Creek. The track, nestled in a rural area less than an hour from both Washington D.C. and Baltimore, is the crown jewel of the IHRA sanctioning body and hosts some of the hottest racing action in the Mid-Atlantic region. The racing action wasn’t as dramatic as the previous event, held at Atlanta Dragway (Commerce, Georgia) as some readers might remember the intense fire that erupted under the hood of Super Street 10.5 racer Tony Nesbitt’s ’02 Corvette. This event was highlighted by extremely quick performances, thanks to excellent track prep by the Maryland International Raceway track personnel and favorable weather conditions.

The CHP crew checks in from time to time with the NMCA-Flowmaster Drag Racing series and our first taste of high-speed action in 2011 was the second stop on the 2011 tour at Atlanta Dragway (Commerce, Georgia). It had been a couple of years since the NMCA-Flowmaster series held an event at the famous southern drag racing facility and a packed house of excited Georgian fans cheered for the series’ return. The action was intense as the event, nicknamed the Nitto Tire All-Star Nationals, featured the popular GM Performance Parts LSX Challenge Series as a bonus to the NMCA-Flowmaster show. Three days of action was capped off with record-setting performances and drama as racers fought hard for cash, contingency, and fun.

We’ve mentioned Goodguys Rod & Custom Association in the past, but in case you’re new here, we’ll give you a quick background: Since 1983, Goodguys has put together a really well-organized series, producing more than 20 shows a year across the country. And while the shows are generally better known for older street rods, they do allow street machines and muscle cars, as long as they are ’72 and older. If you don’t fit in that category and would still like to show off your ride, you’ll be happy to know they also have additional get-togethers, allowing all years, makes, and models.

There’s something to be said for grassroots types of events; you know the kind where there’s little cause for worrying. Instead you’re there to hang with your peers, packing minimal tools, and buckled up behind the wheel for a spirited thrill ride. There isn’t big money involved for winning; instead the winner earns a small trophy and the prestige of being the champ. That, my friend, is what Run to the Coast (RTTC) is all about.