Formula One
Santander Italian Grand Prix, September 11-13
Autodromo Nazionale Monza, Monza, Italy

Brawn GP's Rubens Barrichello won the Italian Grand Prix in Monza on Sunday to score his second victory of the season – illustrating yet again that the ex-Honda F1 team is, in fact, not to be trifled with this year. Teammate Jenson Button came home second in the final European contest of the 2009 world championship, while Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen rounded out the podium before the constructor's home crowd.

For the 37-year-old Barrichello, it is his third W at Monza and eleventh F1 career win. Brawn's weekend netted its eighth victory and fourth one-two finish of '09, practically making the team a shoo-in for the constructor's title.

The 60th running of the Italian Grand Prix was all about strategy, as in who could maximize their time best on F1's fastest circuit and spend the least amount of time in Monza's long pit row. After qualifying on Saturday, McLaren's Lewis Hamilton found himself at point, flanked surprisingly by Force India's Adrian Sutil (another milestone in the squad's recent rise to prominence) and trailed by Raikkonen. Barrichello and Button locked out the third row, beginning from P5 and P6, respectively.

At lights out, Hamilton led from the start, using KERS in his lightly-fueled McLaren to sprint away from Raikkonen and Sutil. Barrichello and Button slipped into fourth and fifth places, around Heikki Kovalainen's fuel-heavy McLaren, which an aggressive Vitantonio Liuzzi also overtook for sixth place in the second Force India.

The first lap was an all-out scramble behind the leaders, with Red Bull Racing's Mark Webber the victim of a racing incident when BMW's Robert Kubica tangled with him through the track's first chicane, giving the Australian the dubious honor of posting the first retirement of the afternoon. It was also Webber's first DNF of 2009 (Kubica would later retire on Lap 16).

Hamilton meanwhile stretched his lead to around five seconds after setting a series of fastest laps until his first refueling stop on Lap 15. Sutil stopped on Lap 17, and Raikkonen Lap 19, those three the only drivers on two-stop strategies. That left the Brawns one-two from Lap 20 until their much later pit stops, on the 28th lap for Button and the 29th for Barrichello.

The call for a single stop was the game changer for Barrichello and his teammate. Button was 2.1sec adrift before his stop, 4.2sec after it, and Barrichello proceeded to pull away as the pair set after Hamilton, Raikkonen and Sutil, who had re-passed them while they pitted. Each of those guys had another stop to make, though.

When Hamilton made his stop on Lap 34 and emerged behind the Brawns, the writing was on the wall, but the reigning champ refused to give up quietly. As Button responded to the heat behind him, both Englishmen ate into Barrichello's 5.4sec lead, which dwindled steadily. The veteran Brawn pilot appeared to have things under control, though, and so did Button.

Hamilton, however, did not. Going into the last lap, Button was 3.3sec behind Barrichello, with Hamilton a second further back. Going through the second half of Monza's Lesmo complex, Hamilton incredibly lost control of his car, spun and smacked the inner wall before spinning again and having a yard sale of Mclaren debris across the track.

Out went the Safety Car, the race finished under caution, and Barrichello crossed the stripe to nab his second victory of the year and reduce Button's championship points advantage to 14, 80 to 66.

It was an epic victory for Ross Brawn's team, on a day when Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull Racing took just a point, and one that was gifted to them courtesy of Hamilton's wreck. Brawn thus have 146 points to Red Bull's 105.5.

Sutil was only four-tenths behind Raikkonen at the finish as he scored his first points of the season. Fernando Alonso brought his Renault home fifth ahead of Kovalainen, while BMW Sauber's Nick Heidfeld held off Vettel for seventh.

The AT&T Williams team's compromised start towards the rear of the grid for the Italian GP presented limited opportunities and plenty of potential threats. As evidence, the team's two hot shoes, Kazuki Nakajima and Nico Rosberg, made contact in the early stages of the race, resulting in damage to the bodywork of Nakajima's car, the debris from which became lodged in his teammate's FW31.

Rosberg as a consequence made two unscheduled stops, the first for a suspected puncture which in fact turned out to be an aero problem caused by debris, and the second due to damage sustained to the front right wheel which required a precautionary check to ensure the wheel nut locking mechanism had engaged properly. The time loss relegated Rosberg to a P16 finish, while Nakajima, despite carrying an additional technical problem, managed to climb up the order to finish P10.

The works Toyota squad, Panasonic Toyota Racing, also saw neither TF109 finish in the points. Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock both started with extremely heavy fuel loads from the midfield in a bid to make up places. Trulli, starting on the medium compound Bridgestone Potenza tires, jostled for position at the first chicane while Glock, on the soft tires, had to avoid peril after being squeezed to the outside. Trulli finished the first lap in 13th, with Glock 17th.

After long first stints, Trulli pitted from the top 10 on Lap 35 and Glock doing likewise three laps later. Glock, now on the medium tires, emerged directly next to Trulli, on medium rubber, at the first chicane and they battled for position for half a lap. Trulli completed the lap in 12th, with Glock just behind, and set about pressuring Nakajima in front.

He got alongside the Williams under braking for the first chicane at the start of Lap 48, but too hot he bounced across the curbs and returned to the track alongside Glock, almost making contact with his teammate. The battle concluded when Trulli ran wide through Curva Grande, leaving him 14th and Glock 11th as the checkered and yellow flags flew.

The title chase is now beginning to look more and more like an in-house Brawn duel, with Button 27 points ahead of Vettel. These last four event of 2009 should be nuts.

The championship continues September 25-27 at the SingTel Singapore Grand Prix on the Singapore Street Circuit in Marina Bay, Singapore (MFL photography provided by Brawn GP, Force India F1, ING Renault F1, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, BMW Sauber F1 and Red Bull Racing).

Santander Italian Grand Prix
Autodromo Nazionale Monza, Monza, Italy

National Guard American Drag Racing League
ADRL Flowmaster Dragstock VI, September 11-12
Rockingham Dragway, Rockingham, North Carolina

The National Guard American Drag Racing League's (ADRL's) Flowmaster Dragstock VI lived up to its promise of a great event September 12, delivering record-setting fields, outstanding individual efforts, massive crowds and exciting on-track action.

Before a standing room-only crowd that packed historic Rockingham Dragway to capacity, Jason Hamstra won his second Pro Extreme race of the year, Pro Nitrous veteran Mike Castellana scored his second win of the last three events, Chuck Ulsch doubled his Extreme 10.5 win total in record-setting fashion, Extreme Pro Stock racer Doug Kirk won his second of the year and Pro Extreme Motorcycle rider Eric McKinney became the lone first-time winner.

Hamstra, the number-one qualifier in the quickest 16-car field the National Guard ADRL has ever seen, opened with wins over Travis Swearingen, Gaylen Smith and Joshua Hernandez before defeating Pro Extreme newcomer Ken Walsh with a 3.76-seconds pass at 204.73 mph over the Rockingham eighth mile in the final round.

Flowmaster Dragstock VI also represented the final points-paying opportunity toward securing a qualifying position for the National Guard ADRL's unique Speedtech Battle for the Belts, which pits the top eight finishers in each of the series' five pro classes against each other in winner-take-all, championship-deciding playoffs at the 2009 season ender this October in Dallas, Texas. With his win, Hamstra cemented a seventh-place points finish and a chance at a National Guard ADRL championship.

Westbury, NY's Castellana knew going into the race he'd be part of the post-season Belts race and will start as the third seed in Dallas. Like Hamstra, he also qualified in first place at Rockingham before taking out Fredy Scriba, Charles Carpenter, and his own Al Anabi Racing teammates Shannon Jenkins and Burton Auxier in the semis and final round, respectively.

With team owner His Highness Sheikh Khalid Bin Hamad Al Thani looking on, Auxier got the jump off the start in the final, but Castellana's 1970 Camaro quickly reeled him in and posted its third 3.90 pass in a row and won with a 193.16-mph blast.

Riding on relatively narrow 10.5-inch-wide rear slicks presents its own set of challenges, but since his debut of a new supercharged, Hemi-powered '68 Camaro three races prior to Dragstock VI, Ulsch has mastered the Flowmaster Extreme 10.5 class.

After starting from the number-two slot with a 4.02 at an incredible 204.01 mph, the Clarksville, Maryland-based driver downed fellow Belts contenders Todd Moyer, Spiro Pappas and Jeff Paulk before facing off against top qualifier Gary White and his turbocharged, six cylinder 2007 Scion.

Ulsch left with a .045 holeshot and never looked back, running another 4.02 and increasing his speed to a whopping 206.39 mph. His qualifying speed becomes the official class record, however, since it's not within the required one percent to back up the higher speed.

Following a seventh-place qualifying effort, Kirk, from Lenore, West Virginia, raced through Jason Collins, number-one starter Dean Goforth, and Elijah Morton before reaching his close friend, Brian Gahm, in the final round.

Prior to racing, Kirk and Gahm arranged with National Guard ADRL and Rockingham Dragway officials to stage a unique show for the thousands of fans on hand, swapping lanes while backing up from their burnouts.

"It's something we've talked about doing for at least 10 years, but either no one would let us do it or it just wasn't the right time to ask. We felt with the ADRL's willingness to do things a little differently and the atmosphere and reputation of Dragstock as a unique race that this was the perfect opportunity. I hope the fans liked the show because we sure did. I especially liked the ending,"Kirk said after making his best pass of the weekend, a 4.09 at 176.12 mph, in the final round.

Starting from the number-three spot on the Pro Extreme Motorcycle qualifying list, McKinney ran through Coodee Thomas, Ashley Owens and Monte Campbell to reach the final against Travis Davis. Mckinney's race with Owens produced the first side-by-side passes in the 4-teens for the class, with McKinney taking a holeshot win with a 4.19 that beat Owens' then-record 4.18 pass.

In the very next pair, Davis stepped up with a 4.16 to beat Lance Hines, then ran another 4.16 in the semis against Speedtech Battle for the Belts points leader Scott Gray to officially set the elapsed-time record.

In the final, Davis left first, but his bike's engine expired before reaching the finish line and McKinney rode his '09 Suzuki to a 4.21 win at 170.60 mph.

In the National Guard ADRL's only non-heads-up and non-professional class, Manchester, Kentucky's Tyler Allen earned his first Pro Jr. Dragster victory, running a final-round 8.33 at 75.84 mph against an 8.30 dial.

The Speedtech Battle for the Belts will take place Oct. 23, on the first day of the LenMar Motorsports ADRL World Finals V at the Texas Motorplex in Ennis, Texas (MFL photography provided by ADRL Communications).

ADRL Flowmaster Dragstock VI
Rockingham Dragway, Rockingham, NC

www.adrl.us

Coming up:
NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series
NHRA Carolinas Nationals, September 17-20
zMax Dragway, Concord, NC
www.nhra.com

Grand-Am KONI Sports Car Challenge
KONI Challenge at Miller Motorsports Park, September 18-20
Miller Motorsports Park, Tooele, UT
www.grand-am.com

IndyCar Series
Indy Japan 300, September 18-19
Twin Ring Motegi, Motegi, Japan
www.indycar.com

American Le Mans Series
12th Annual Petit Le Mans powered by MAZDA6, September 23-26
Road Atlanta, Braselton, GA
www.americanlemans.com

Formula One
SingTel Singapore Grand Prix, September 25-27
Singapore Street Circuit, Marina Bay, Singapore
www.formula1.com

Redline: Time Attack! Series
Round 7, September 26-27
Spring Mountain Motorsports Ranch, Pahrump, NV
www.redlinetimeattack.com

Battle of the Imports
Round 5: BOTI Oregon, September 27
Woodburn Dragstrip, Woodburn, OR
www.battleoftheimports.com

World Rally Championship
Rally Catalunya, October 2-4
Salou, Catalonia, Spain
www.wrc.com

Formula DRIFT
Round 7: Judgment Day, October 16-17
Toyota Speedway at Irwindale, Irwindale, CA
www.formulad.com

National Guard American Drag Racing League
LenMar Motorsports ADRL World Finals V, October 23-24
Texas Motorplex, Ennis, TX
www.adrl.us

Super Lap Battle Time Attack
Finals, November 11
Buttonwillow Raceway Park, Buttonwillow, CA
superlapbattle.com