The NHRA mandate which limits teams to four test days throughout the entire year has at least one

Les Welch Photo

team using the two days of qualifying as test sessions.

Funny Car class points leader Ron Capps and legendary crew chief Ed
"Ace" McCulloch once again took advantage of certain atmospheric and
track surface conditions to test components on the NAPA AUTO PARTS
Dodge Funny Car during qualifying for the NHRA Northwest Nationals. As
a result, Capps qualified No. 6 for the event and will face Cruz
Pedregon in the opening round of Sunday's eliminations.

World
champion drag racer Jay Payne used the quickest and fastest pass of the
weekend to beat Brian Thiel for the Top Alcohol Funny Car title of the
NHRA Division 6 points meet, which was held over one week from the
rain-battered race in Woodburn, Ore.

It was Payne's first victory for new title sponsor FireIce, which inked
him to a primary deal in May. The trophy race was run during the final
round of qualifying for this weekend's NHRA Northwest Nationals at
Pacific Raceways.

"I'll admit I was really nervous before the race," Payne said. "The
track was hot and greasy so you never know what it's going to give you.
At the same time, Brian had run career-best numbers during his last two
qualifying passes before he raced us so I knew he was coming on strong.
We had to go-for-it."

It is always fun being the center of attention – just ask Alcohol Funny Car driver Paul Noakes.

As a professional race car driver racing in front of his home crowd
this weekend, Noakes’ name has been on the tip of everyone’s tongue
heading into this race. Appearing on television and radio stations and
in dozens of newspapers across the area, Noakes’ showdown with Rob
Atchison this weekend has garnered plenty of attention and has race
fans thrilled about Saturday night’s showdown.

“I am not sure about being a local celebrity, but we do have a good
following of race fans here in Canada. That is why the IHRA comes to
Canada,” Noakes said. “There are a lot of fans that fill the stands
that will sit through rain storms, snow storms and anything the weather
throws at them.

Hardee’s Restaurants knows a thing or two about going back for second
or third helpings, which in the restaurant business can be considered
quite a compliment. So it is with great pride and honor that the
National Guard American Drag Racing League (ADRL) announces that
Hardee’s has signed on as an event title sponsor for a record third
time in 2009 for the ADRL Hardee’s Gateway Drags II, Aug. 7-8, at
Gateway International Raceway in Madison, Illinois.

“We’re very excited about putting the Hardee’s name on a third National
Guard ADRL race,” Hardee’s Vice President of Marketing and Media Steve
Lemley said. “We’ve been involved with ADRL races in Georgia and Kansas
earlier this year and the response from our customers has been nothing
but positive. The ADRL puts on a great event and really knows how to
appeal to our customers, both leading up to the race and at the track.”

Troy Coughlin had one of his best days ever at the drag strip Saturday, posting a national record pass of 6.279

Sam Martin Photo

seconds
at 223.76 mph in his JEGS.com Pontiac GXP to claim top qualifying
honors at the fourth annual Nitto Tire NMRA/NMCA Super Bowl of Street
Legal Drag Racing at Route 66 Raceway.

"The car is 100-percent better than it's ever been," Coughlin said. "We
took the engine and had it freshened up after the last race and it's
definitely stronger. Everything is working better and it's showing on
the track.

A pair of Canadians owned the Pro Modified class as Tony Pontieri
leaped to the top of the charts in the popular doorslammer category and
Del Cox (Top Fuel), Frank Gugliotta (Pro Stock) and Bruce Boland (PMRA)
all claimed spots at the top of the charts during the popular “Night of
Fire” at the MOPAR Canadian Nationals Saturday at the Grand Bend
Motorplex in Grand Bend, Ontario.

Rain showers wreaked havoc on the evening portion of the schedule, but
after a few delays the ‘Night of Fire’ produced some of the best racing
of the weekend before a final storm ended the evening just a few runs
shy of the finish.

But not even the rain could slow down Del Cox.

With a short field this weekend in Pro Mod, the pressure is off many of the teams as they try to focus on moving up the ladder and getting ready for Sunday instead of worrying about possibly missing the race.

And that is exactly what Pro Mod rookie Melanie Troxel needs in her
first full season behind the wheel of a supercharged monster that is
IHRA Pro Mod.

“We are still trying to sort this car out. This car sat in the shop for
a year and wasn’t running at all this year,” Troxel said. “Everybody is
going to qualify so there is no reason to go out and push things too
extreme and that is kind of nice. We get four runs to go out and play
around and really make some big changes to the car and not feel under
pressure.”

First-round pairings for professional eliminations Sunday for the
22nd annual NHRA Northwest Nationals at Pacific Raceways, the 14th of
24 events in the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series.  Pairings based
on results in qualifying, which ended Saturday. DNQs listed below
pairings.

No one would mistake Tony Pedregon for Jim Nabors, the actor who played Gomer Pyle on the television
show of the same name, but that didn't stop Pedregon from being
surprised at the outcome of Funny Car qualifying during the NHRA
Northwest Nationals in Seattle.

“We're making a big transition coming from a mile high up, so everybody
is having to change their combination to compensate to race here,” said
Pedregon. “I think most of the teams are one or two runs away from
getting the set up right.”

Pedregon wasn't surprised he held onto the top spot, improving on his
late afternoon Friday run by a thousandth of a second, but he was
surprised no one posted a bigger challenge.

With the exceptions of Terry Haddock and Shawn Langdon, nothing changed in the Top Fuel dragster lineup.
Dixon stayed on top with his second round effort of 3.891 seconds,
302.21 mph over Morgan Lucas, Spencer Massey and Cory McClenathan.
Langdon jumped from 10th to fifth and Haddock moved into the 11th spot
from outside the top 12.

Dixon claimed his fourth number one qualifying spot this season in the Al-Anabi dragster.

“The first run we made, they were pressing it, spun the tires so, they
calmed her all back down,” said Dixon. “We put a set up in it that we
thought would go down the racetrack and we got down the track in the
final qualifying session. We just take the stuff and see what we can do
with it tomorrow.”