CECIL – South Georgia Motorsports Park has had a tough time this weekend out on the drag strip, with mother nature canceling events for the second straight day.

But according to track officials, the race will be on today, with the gates opening to the public at 10 a.m. and racing beginning at noon. The drivers will be running as long as the track stays warm, even into the night.

On Friday, a large thunderstorm forced SGMP to push their annual Eastern Spring Test National event back one day. The ESTN was originally supposed to go from Friday through Saturday, but will now be a Sunday-only event.

Strong 40 mph winds made it unsafe for drivers to try and take on break-neck speeds on Saturday. The drivers were allowed to perform burnouts at the starting line, but that was about it.

But on Sunday, fans of drag racing will finally be able to catch some of the world’s best drivers flying down the track in the world’s fastest cars.

Already this week, two SGMP track records were broken when testing began on Thursday.

Andrew Hines, a three-time NHRA Powerade Pro Stock motorcycle World Champion, set the SGMP record with a run of 6.889 at 193.13 mph. Hines drives the Screamin Eagle Harley Davidson.

The winningest driver in Top Fuel history, Clay Millican, also set a track record. The six-time world champion ran a record 4.721 despite coasting to the finish line.

Nearly all of the top drivers from the NHRA and IHRA will be in attendance on Sunday preparing for the start of the 2008 race season. The Gator Nationals are next weekend in Gainesville, Fla.

With weather looking like it could be a factor again next week, more teams could pull in, trying to get a last test run before the Gators.

A lot of race teams have been at SGMP since the beginning of the week, but even more of the sport’s best have pulled in during the last few days.

NHRA Top Fuel driver Brandon Bernstein and his Budweiser team are in attendance, as well as Funny Car drivers Gary Scelzi and Jerry Toliver.

Bernstein, the driver of the Budweiser/Lucas Oil dragster, is coming off a career-best five-win season last year and a third place points finish for the third time in his career.

Scelzi, the driver of the Mopar/Oakley Dodge Charger, is a three-time Top Fuel World Champion and 2005 Funny Car World Champion. Toliver, the driver of the Rockstar Dodge Charger, returns to racing for the second year in a row after missing the 2005 and 2006 seasons.

Those drivers and many others will be burning up the track all day today at SGMP, and fans are invited to see the best and fastest the drag racing world has to offer.