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.

This past fall, NMCA racers and some of the wildest LSX-powered machines assaulted Gateway International Raceway near St. Louis in one of the track’s final racing moments in its storied history. The backstory to the NMCA-Edelbrock World Finals was how it was the last national event hosted by the famous facility. The track closed its doors permanently at the conclusion of the 2010 racing schedule and the NMCA World Finals sent it off with a big one.

If you missed out on this year’s annual CPP Nova cruise, don’t worry because we’ve included the images here for your viewing pleasure. As you know, CPP has a ton of suspension, steering, and disc brakes components for our beloved Nova’s. Best of all, on March 5th, 2011; they opened their doors to strut their stuff.

The hot-rodding spirit is as American as apple pie, burnouts, baseball, and drive-in movies. And what better place to showcase that strength than in the green heavy hills of the South? Never was that more evident than at the Beech Bend Parkway in Bowling Green, Kentucky. It was there, during the weekend of Sept. 9-11, 2010, an all-out assault on the grounds was underway.

Two worlds collide every year when the NMCA-Edelbrock Drag Racing Series and the Mustang circuit, dubbed the NMRA-Keystone Ford Nationals, invade Route 66 Raceway in Joliet, Illinois. The parent company for both racing sanctioning bodies, Pro Media Events, calls it the Super Bowl of Street Legal Drag Racing; Nitto Tire is the primary sponsor for the extravaganza. This year marked the fifth run of this shootout as racers and fans from across the USA and Canada packed the famous dragstrip. Several Chevrolet vehicles made quite an impact in the NMCA series, and we were there to capture the action.

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

This past March the NMCA-Edelbrock Drag Racing Series roared into action at the season opener at Bradenton Motorsports Park (Bradenton, Florida). Our attention was focused on not only the 6-second, 200-mph Pro Street cars but also the nearly dozen different heads-up and index categories. Reports from Florida included a 7-second '69 Camaro in True Street (30-mile drive followed by three consecutive runs without a cool down) to one of our favorite categories, Xtreme Street where the cars run low 8s on true 10.5-inch tires and loosely limited engine combinations. We missed the season opener but jumped on tour at its second event, which took place at Maple Grove Raceway (Reading, Pennsylvania), to catch the action. It was a hot and humid weekend but it didn't seem to slow down the competition as a few competitors reset different class records.

Over the past year, there's been a host of muscle car events popping up all across the country. And folks, these are not to be looked over lightly; especially when manufacturers are providing a new arena for enthusiasts to compete against one another, along with the opportunity to push their muscle cars like never before in a safe and secure manner.

Several months ago, during the weekend of March 19, we decided to check out the Super Chevy show in Las Vegas with our cohorts. Something new for this year was the autocross course sponsored by Currie Enterprises, Total Cost Involved, and Wilwood Engineering. But, before we could even make it there, the plan was to host a convoy beginning from Original Parts Group (OPG) in Seal Beach, California, where the good folks there were nice enough to open their facility to a number of enthusiasts making the trek with us to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Over the past several months, we've pushed our C5 Z06 through its paces by entering a number of autocross events, and the one thing we've learned above everything else is that the more seat time you get the better you become.

Held on the heels of the annual SEMA show in early November, the Optima Ulitimate Street Car Challenge is making noise and won't be slowing down anytime soon. When you take the upper echelon muscle cars from around the country and have them play on the same grounds, you're sure to have a spectacle on your hands. While it's currently an invitation-only event, we made sure to get you the complete low-down of how the event unfolded.

The 2009 running of the Street Car Super Nationals was the fifth such extravaganza that has grown from a West Coast shootout to a countrywide high-stakes game of speed. The event was born from the burgeoning PSCA (Pacific Street Car Association) series that operates exclusively in the West. The PSCA boss, Mel Roth, wanted to extend the West Coast-style Street Legal Drag Racing scene to the rest of the country and he decided to throw a big bash at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. He dubbed it the Street Car Super Nationals (SCSN) and the ensuing madness has grown to massive proportions, attracting racers from all over the North American continent. One look at this year's running reveals competitors from as far east as Atlanta, way north as Alaska and parts of Canada, as well as Texas and many other states in the union far and near.