National Hot Rod Association

Winning a record five National Hot Rod Assn. funny car championships hasn't kept John Force from worrying about increased competition and advancing age. In a move to combat both concerns, the talkative Yorba Linda veteran decided to form a two-car team this year, the better to develop space-age technology for his 5,000-horsepower Pontiac Firebird replica and establish the groundwork for the day he retires as a racer to become a team owner.

The National Hot Rod Assn., which was founded in 1951 in part to give hot-rodders opportunities to race their souped-up cars legally instead of on city streets or deserted highways, has come full circle. Acceptance of the NHRA was solidified in 1953 when Ralph Parker, then police chief of Pomona, agreed to have his department help supervise races at the Los Angeles County Fairgrounds--still the site of the NHRA's Winternationals in February and Winston Select Finals in October.

Buster Couch has spent most of a lifetime standing tall between snarling 5,500-horsepower engines fueled with volatile nitromethane, revved to the breaking point and straining to launch dragsters down a quarter-mile strip in five seconds or less. Or explode like a hand grenade. Couch, 60, has been the official starter for National Hot Rod Assn. events for 31 years. More than half a million times, he has pressed the button to start side-by-side racing at drag strips across the country.

Adrenaline rushes are nothing new to Steve Johnson. After eight years on the National Hot Rod Assn.'s Pro-Stock Motorcycle Tour, racing machines that can reach 100 miles a hour in two seconds, the Chatsworth resident has become immune to speed. But even Johnson, a Monroe High graduate, has paused to slow down and enjoy his accomplishments in what has been the best season of his career.

The National Hot Rod Assn.'s planned sale of its professional racing series was derailed on Thursday when shareholders of a Santa Monica company voted not to complete the $121-million deal. The proposed sale, which NHRA founder Wally Parks blessed months before his death in October 2007, would have transferred the Powerade Drag Racing Series, NHRA's Pomona headquarters building and other assets to HD Partners Acquisition Corp.

It will be business as usual at the L.A. County Fairgrounds in Pomona today when the National Hot Rod Assn. opens its 2008 season with the annual Winternationals, which run through Sunday. Engines will roar, fat tires will lay down bands of rubber and cars will speed down the drag strip at upward of 300 mph. Off the track, however, the pro drag racing circuit hit an unexpected speed bump Jan.

THEY are four-wheeled behemoths buffed up on automotive steroids, built for climbing over sedans parked in the middle of packed stadiums, flashbulbs lighting their way. Like concert big shots who sell out arenas, monster trucks enjoy all the spoils of celebrity. They have made big-screen appearances for decades, from 1984's "Cannonball Run II" to last year's "Herbie: Fully Loaded." They have appeared in a Kid Rock music video, can be seen on cable TV and have been miniaturized into popular toys.

The speeches had been made, the sponsors introduced, the one-on-one interviews completed. When the conference call was finally over, John Force, a 14-time funny car champion in National Hot Rod Assn. drag racing, could take a deep breath. And then came a casual question: "Is today your proudest day?" Yes, he said, because Daddy's little girl was following in his tire tracks as a professional funny car driver.

The quickest funny car field in the history of the National Hot Rod Assn. had no tolerance for "Driving Force" on Sunday. John and Ashley Force? The stars of the reality television series were gone after the opening round of the CarQuest Auto Parts Winternationals, the first of 23 events in the Powerade Drag Racing Series. Father and daughter Force captivated the Pomona Raceway crowd for three days as they tried to qualify for the race, Ashley's first as a professional.

The National Hot Rod Assn. agreed Wednesday to sell its professional drag-racing series and certain other assets for $109.5 million to a group led by the pioneer developer of the DirecTV satellite-television company. The NHRA, based in Glendora, will remain the sport's nonprofit sanctioning body and focus on its amateur drag-racing activities. But its high-profile professional league, the Powerade Drag Racing Series, will be acquired by HD Partners Acquisition Corp.