AUTOSPORTS NW SEASON OPENS MARCH 29-30
A typical entry in Autosports NW at the Deer Park Airport. Autosports NW Photo
DEER PARK, Wash. – The old Deer Park Airport was once home to drag racing in the Inland Northwest until Spokane Raceway Park opened in 1974.
The motors still roar, however, with autocross racing that opens in the spring and runs into October under the eyes of Autosports Northwest starting this weekend.
Competition will take place both Saturday, March 29 and Sunday, March 30 starting at 7 a.m. each day.
According to Wikipedia, Autocross is a form of motorsport in which competitors are timed to complete a short course using automobiles on a dirt or grass surface, except where sealed surfaces are used in United States.
Rules vary according to the governing or sanctioning body, such as the length of the course, the amount of permitted attempts, or whether competitors start the course individually at intervals or at the same time as others. In this latter form, Autocross differs from other forms of motor racing by using a system of heats or alternative timing methods for the classification rather than racing for position and declaring the first across the finish line as the winner.
Autocross began in the United Kingdom in the early 1950s at an amateur level within local motor clubs using temporary courses marked on grassy fields to not cause damage to any cars.
“We do use the old road course / drag race strip in Deer Park, which is a decommissioned runway,” ASNW Vice President Jason Aguilar wrote in an email.
Each event has a new course design, so competitors have to learn it and drive it in the same day.
“Most courses last about 60 seconds, some less, some more and that will also vary depending on cars, setup, and drivers,” Aguilar explained, adding, “Autocross racing has the most driving inputs per minute than any other auto racing.”
Autocross offers one of the widest arrays of classes in motorsports, Aguilar said. A typical event will bring in 60 to 80 drivers and can see 100-plus on a rare occasion.
“We have many classes so you can run a stock car up to a fully modified car and anything in between.”
Prerequisites are very much limited to take part in Autocross.
“If you have a car and a driver’s license, you are able to run with us,” Aguilar said. “The skills you will learn will not only help you become a better racer but a better driver in general.”
“I personally like to race at the track to keep any street racing temptations at bay,” Aguilar said. “This is a very inexpensive way to safely play with your car and push boundaries both personal and automotive, without breaking laws on the street.
Further information on Autosports NW and autocross can be found by visiting www. asnw.org.
LANGDON, LEE, ANDERSON ROLL TO WINS AT NHRA ARIZONA NATIONALS
From NHRA Media
PHOENIX (March 23, 2025) – Top Fuel’s Shawn Langdon won for a second straight year at Firebird Motorsports Park on Sunday, powering past Kalitta Motorsports teammate Doug Kalitta in the final round in front of a sellout crowd at the 40th annual NHRA Arizona Nationals.
Paul Lee (Funny Car) and Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) also won the second of 20 races during the 2025 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season. It was the second straight sellout this weekend in Phoenix, as fans packed Firebird Motorsports Park.
Langdon put together the quickest run of eliminations in the championship round, going 3.724-seconds at 330.39 mph in his 11,000-horsepower Kalitta Air Careers dragster to get past Kalitta’s 3.770 at 325.53. It was the second straight final round for Langdon to open 2025, as he defeated Scott Palmer, Justin Ashley and Brittany Force earlier in the day before picking up his 20th career win and first this season.
He’s now made the final round in Phoenix three straight years and enjoyed another stellar weekend at the facility, winning the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge on Saturday and following it up with Sunday’s victory, also putting him in the points lead.
“Running [Alan Johnson, crew chief] and Doug in the final, we know what they’re capable of, and the run they made in the semi’s [3.76], and the one we made only going 3.83, we knew we had to step up, so we kind of threw the kitchen sink at it,” Langdon said. (Crew chief) Brian Husen has turned this whole team into a bunch of superstars. All the guys have done such a fantastic job and have made no mistakes.
In Funny Car, Lee became the 96th different Funny Car winner in NHRA history on Sunday with his first career victory, defeating reigning world champion Austin Prock with a run of 4.030 at 313.22 in his 11,000-horsepower McLeod/FTI Performance Dodge Charger SRT. It was a remarkable performance from Lee, who defeated a slew of standouts to earn his first career win in the category.
“Twenty-one years ago was the last time I won a Wally in Englishtown, N.J., at my home track in Top Alcohol Funny Car and I’ve dreaming of someday standing here with a nitro Funny Car Wally,” Lee said.
In one of the wildest Pro Stock final rounds in recent memory, Greg Anderson picked up his second straight Phoenix win when Dallas Glenn went red in the final round. Anderson, the reigning world champ, barely moved off the starting line as his car had its own trouble, lost power and didn’t even make it to half-track.
“I’m still trying to figure out how the heck I won,” Anderson said. “When you go into a final against Dallas, you know he’s going to be double .00 (reaction time) and you’re just on edge trying to leave the starting line.”
Glenn, who won the opener in Gainesville, defeated David Cuadra, Greg Stanfield and No. 1 qualifier Matt Hartford to reach the final round for the 29th time in his career.
The NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series returns to action March 27-30 with the 65th annual Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip.
KYLE LARSON GETS FIRST 2025 CUP WIN AT HOMESTEAD-MIAMI
By Holly Cain - NASCAR Wire Service/em>
Kyle Larson, driver of the #5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, celebrates after winning the NASCAR Cup Series Straight Talk Wireless 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. NASCAR Photo
HOMESTEAD, Fla. (March 23, 2025) – Kyle Larson, proved himself the weekend’s most dominant driver at Homestead-Miami Speedway winning two of the three national series races, capping off the extraordinary three-day performance with a victory in Sunday’s Straight Talk Wireless 400 NASCAR Cup Series race.
Larson was able to seize upon a miscue by his Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Alex Bowman, who put his pole-winning No. 48 Chevrolet in the outside retaining wall with six laps remaining. That contact allowed Larson’s No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet to pass him for the race lead and jet off to a 1.205-second win – the 32-year-old Californian’s first series trophy of the year.
“I knew me coming towards those guys they were going to start moving around and making mistakes and I felt like if I could just keep pressure on Alex [Bowman], he may make a mistake and he caught the wall there and I got around him easier than I expected to,” the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion Larson said.
Bowman, who started from pole position, led 43 laps and was obviously disappointed even in a second-place outcome, coming so close to his first victory of the year.
23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace finished third, leading a season high 56 laps in the No. 23 Toyota. Joe Gibbs Racing’s Chase Briscoe finished fourth in the No. 19 Toyota – the afternoon proving to be season best finishes for Larson, Bowman, Wallace and Briscoe.
JGR’s Denny Hamlin rounded out the top-five finishing order and won Stage 2 – his 15 laps out front are most on the year for him.
Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing’s Chris Buescher rallied to a sixth-place finish, followed by Kaulig Racing’s A.J. Allmendinger, 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick, RFK’s Ryan Preece and Spire Motorsports’ Justin Haley.
With the win Larson moved into second place in the NASCAR Cup Series championship standings, 36 points behind Hendrick teammate, Daytona 500 winner William Byron. Bowman is now third in the championship, 39 points back. The fourth member of the team, Chase Elliott finished 18th and is sixth in the standings
The NASCAR Cup Series returns to action next Sunday at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway for the first short track race of the season, the Cook Out 400 (3 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Byron is the defending race winner.
