Mike Neff will be celebrating his 2008 Rookie of the Year award with a specialty paint scheme at the NHRA Virginia Nationals this weekend. The Ford Drive One Mustang that Neff has campaigned all season has been redesigned as a surfer themed Woody style ride complete with a caricature of Neff “hanging ten” on the side. For a driver who keeps his emotions in check the new look has Neff pretty excited.

“I think it is pretty neat. It is something different. It is a little off the wall. I am sure I might catch a little flack about the caricature on the side but that is alright. They did a really good job of getting my abs just right like they are in real life so I am really pleased about that. My M.O. has always been to not get too excited one way or the other over much good or bad. I grew up in Huntington Beach and lived there for ten years through high school. We would go surfing on the weekends or every chance we got,” said Neff.

John Force isn't tangling with Tony Pedregon anymore.
 
He has taken on ESPN analyst Mike Dunn.
 
Their verbal sparring during Sunday morning's "NHRA Race Day" broadcast had an element of comedy to it. But Force clearly was irked by Dunn's "Do-or-Done Line" ("Do-or-Dunn Line?")  graphic that separates drivers performing well from those who are in danger of dropping out of championship contention.
 

Winning a coveted world championship in NHRA’s pro classes – Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle – is like winning a marathon.

Now, with the finish line approaching, several drivers in the Countdown to the Championship have emerged as championship contenders, while others are pretenders.

The Top Fuel, Funny Car and Pro Stock classes have three races left in their respective seasons. The NHRA Virginia Nationals Friday, Saturday and Sunday in Richmond, the NHRA Las Vegas Nationals (Oct. 29-Nov. 1) and the Auto Club NHRA Finals (Nov. 12-15) at Pomona, Calif. The Pro Stock Motorcycle competitors, meanwhile, only have two events left at Las Vegas and Pomona.

On the quick trip from West Tennessee to deep in Virginia, NHRA drivers have had only a few days to think about the upcoming fourth race in four weekends. The window closed a little bit more with last weekend's rain-delayed Memphis race spilling over into Monday.
 
But here's what they're thinking as this weekend's Virginia Nationals, the fourth of six Countdown events, approaches:

We came across this YouTube gem featuring the first round of Top Sportsman Quick Eight action at the IHRA Gateway Nationals in St. Louis. Scotty Cannon won the competition and became the first and only driver in the pre-Pro Modified era to win the Saturday night Quick Eight and Sunday's Quick 32 bracket race. 

Top Fuel drivers Morgan Lucas, Shawn Langdon, Spencer Massey, and Cory McClenathan, along with Pro Stock racer Erica Enders, will spend eight days this off-season visiting U.S. troops overseas as part of a morale-boosting USO Tour.

The visit will receive corporate support from GEICO Powersports, Lucas Oil, Toyota, and Mach 1 Global Services.

There is nothing quite like a good old fashioned shootout, especially in the highly competitive world of professional drag racing.

And fans of big money shootouts won’t have to look any farther than the World Finals in Rockingham, N.C. later this month as two door car shootouts will highlight four days of thrilling drag racing action capped off by the crowning of world champions October 22-25 at Rockingham Dragway.

Mark Pickens, MPE Motorsports president and team owner, released veteran crew chief Lance Larsen on Wednesday, ending a 28-race tenure that included driver Clay Millican’s final-round appearance at Topeka, Kan., in May and qualifying for NHRA’s Countdown to the Championship season-ending playoffs.

“MPE Motorsports has announced the release of crew chief Lance Larsen,” Pickens said.  “Lance is a knowledgeable and experienced tuner and a trusted friend.  He is truly one of the good guys in the sport.  Having become a close member of our personal family, we wish him the very best going forward.

Greg Cope has taken a position with Star Racing’s high performance engine and cylinder head department. 

Cope, who began his racing career with Star in the early 1980’s, is a cylinder head porting specialist and engine building expert who brings 30 years of experience to the Star team. 

Gainesville Raceway officials today announced a 3-year agreement naming VP Racing Fuels the track’s Official Fuel through 2012. The agreement calls for VP to be Gainesville Raceway’s exclusive supplier of race fuels including VP110, C12 and Motorsport 103 in bulk. VP also will maintain pail and drum inventory of its most popular specialty fuels, including C16, Q16, U4.2, M1 and M5 Methanol and others. In servicing the track, the VP Southeast distribution center based in Ft. Lauderdale will staff the track full time, providing on-site technical support to racers with fuel-related questions.