To know Pat Musi is not to love him, but to know where he’s been and where he plans to go. Even more important is how he says he plans to get there.

The Carteret, N.J.-based engine builder came up through the Pro Stock
ranks and made a name racing both the mountain motor and 500-inch
applications.

He was a dyed-in-the-wool, no nonsense carburetors and gasoline man all
the way. If it had doors, weighed 2,350 pounds and was naturally
aspirated, Musi could be found inside the cockpit.

Tradition is an important part of family life, along with passing those traditions to the next generation.
 
Although still in their teens, Lisa and Monica Spiering have grown up
around race tracks, and have always been at the races while father Carl
Spiering progressed his way from street-based cars to racing in the
popular Pro Modified class.
 
But during the past two years, Carl has spent more time with his
daughters, nurturing them into the world of drag racing as he stepped
back from competing himself to teach and mentor.

At a time when many businesses are on a hiring freeze or working
through layoffs, Forward Sports Marketing (FSM) is seeing a
considerable growth in its business representing sponsors, race teams,
and race tracks in drag racing and open wheel series events. By
mid-August, 2009, FSM expects to complete an expansion project to add
an office in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area.

Competitionplus.com received these construction photos of the first in-house constructed Don Schumacher Racing Top Fuel chassis designated as the DSR TF-1. The chassis hasn't been
assigned to a team as of yet and is expected to hit the track after the
NHRA Western Swing.

Veteran chassis builder Brad Hadman was instrumental in the creation of the DSR TF-1 according to DSR Team Manager Lee Beard.

It's hard to picture Ed "The Ace" McCulloch elbow-deep in the grimy guts of the NAPA Dodge Charger that Ron Capps has driven to

Ed
McCulloch [left] shown here celebrating a father/son tuning victory
with son Jason, has been cooking this season. The dish he's serving up
tastes great to he and driver Ron Capps yet leaves a bad taste in the
mouths of the competition.[Roger Richards]

five victories this NHRA season, wearing a tall, crisply starched, white chef's hat.
 
But that's the image of his crew chief that Capps painted earlier this
season at Chandler, Ariz., when he became the first Funny Car driver
since John Force in 1997 to win the first two races of the year. His
winless 2008 and a lackluster eighth place finish in the standings was
an embarrassment for his new sponsor and especially shocking after he
led the 2007 standings after 14 consecutive races in the heart of the
season.

For the first time in ten years, Jim Dunn enters a NHRA Full Throttle national event as the defending champion.

Last season, he and his driver at the time, Tony Bartone, stopped Ron
Capps in the Funny Car final round of the NHRA Northwest Nationals in
Seattle.

This year Bartone has returned to his former stomping grounds of Top
Alcohol Funny Car and been replaced with storied veteran Jerry Toliver.

"Getting Tony's first win wasn't as good as me getting one," quipped
Dunn. "No, that was cool to get Tony his first win; I was glad to get
one for him. He had worked hard for it. If you're right, you're right,
and on that day we were right."

In honor of Lowe's Motor Speedway's 50 years of racing, fans can now
reserve any ticket for the NASCAR Banking 500 Week, NHRA Nationals and
the World of Outlaws World Finals for only $19.60 by calling the
speedway's ticket office at 1-800-455-FANS.
   
The significance in $19.60 is from the speedway's maiden year, 1960,
which not only marked the first Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe's Motor Speedway,
but the first fall race as well, when Alfred "Speedy" Thompson drove
the No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford to Victory Lane in the inaugural National
400. Now, for only $19.60, fans can reserve their seat for the
speedway's 50th fall race, the Oct. 17 NASCAR Banking 500 only from
Bank of America.
   
"The payment plans at Lowe's Motor Speedway are very popular with our
fans," said Marcus Smith, president and general manager of Lowe's Motor
Speedway. "It allows fans the opportunity to pay over the course of
several months, where at one time, not long ago, they had to pay it all
up front.

There are five races left before the cut-off for the NHRA Countdown to One Championship. Robert Hight and the Auto Club Ford Mustang
have been taking baby steps towards qualifying since Chicago but this
weekend at the 22nd annual NHRA Northwest Nationals the No. 12
positioned Funny Car driver wants to start making big strides up the
points list.

On the first stop of the Western Swing in Denver Hight made some
progress on the mountaintop at Bandimere Speedway advancing to the
semi-finals and defeating one of the drivers he is chasing closely
rookie Matt Hagan in the process.

After his second round victory over Hagan Hight knew he still had some work cut out for himself.

T.J. Tindle, son of NHRA Pro Mod racer Tim Tindle, brought home another
season victory for the Tindle Racing team after winning the Thunder
Valley Outlaw 330 Junior Dragster title event at Bristol recently.
Tindle defeated Evan Wilson after delivering a holeshot .009 reaction
and running a 4.321 elapsed time to Wilson’s 4.352.

Funny Car points leader and NHRA fan favorite Ashley Force Hood will race a specially designed Ronald McDonald House Charities Castrol
GTX Ford Mustang during the 22nd annual NHRA Northwest Nationals in
Seattle, July 17-19, and again at the 22nd annual FRAM Autolite NHRA
Nationals, July 24-26, in Sonoma (CA). The Mustang was unveiled today
to the media at the famed Seattle Space Needle during the pre-event
press conference for the Seattle NHRA national event.

“I am thrilled to be helping raise awareness and donations for Ronald
McDonald House Charities. BrandSource, one of our major sponsors, is
very involved with this organization and their president Bob Lawrence,
started talking with us about getting involved earlier this year. We
got really excited about all the opportunities to help so this program
came together very quickly,” said Force Hood.

"The biggest thing for me is being able to race this amazing looking
Ford Mustang. I know it will draw a lot of attention and I want to turn
that excitement into donations for RMHC. We’ll be accepting donations
this weekend in Seattle and again in Sonoma. People can also donate
online if they can’t get to the race. I have so many fans that are
children I really want reach out to them and their families to
encourage them to give to or volunteer with this great organization,”
added Force Hood.