NHRA has been invited to ring the Opening Bell on the New York Stock
Exchange (NYSE) today. Antron Brown leads a banner list of NHRA stars
that will be at the 9:30 a.m. ceremony. Matco Tools Vice President Tim
Gilmore will attend the opening bell ceremony on behalf of Danaher
Corp. and Matco Tools.
 
NHRA president Tom Compton will be joined in ringing the bell by
Coca-Cola/Full Throttle executives Bea Perez and Ben Reiling and IMG
President George Pyne.

Other NHRA drivers expected to participate in the Opening Bell and/or
the day's Car Show/Fan Fest in front of the NYSE include Morgan Lucas
(Geico/Berkshire-Hathaway), Bob Tasca (Ford), Tony Pedregon (Q
Horsepower/Royal Dutch Shell), Eddie Krawiec (Harley-Davidson) and
Karen Stoffer (Geico/Berkshire-Hathaway).

When Terry McMillen bumps his Amalie Oil / Wolverine Boots and Apparel Top Fuel Dragster into the staging beams at Old Bridge Township
Raceway Park it will mark his fifth start in NHRA competition. While
McMillen holds a perfect 5-0 qualifying record as owner/driver, he's
looking for a little more this weekend.

Melanie Troxel, a veteran of Top Fuel Funny Cars and Dragsters as well
as their alcohol-burning cousins, will be making her debut in Pro Mod
competition driving for R2B2 Racing and ProCare Rx during the NHRA SuperNationals in Englishtown, N.J. Having earned the
title of the NHRA's quickest woman, Troxel said she completely respects
the power and unpredictability of these cars.

Hardee’s Restaurants is serving up an extra-fast product July 3-4, as
the title sponsor of the National Guard American Drag Racing

In a well-attended press conference Tuesday morning at the Capital
Plaza Hotel in downtown Topeka, Kansas, National Guard American Drag
Racing League (ADRL) Executive Vice President Jeff Fortune officially
announced the Hardee's Independence Drags III will be held July 3-4, at
Heartland Park Topeka, a multi-purpose motorsports facility located
about five miles south of the city.

League’s
(ADRL’s) Hardee’s Independence Drags III at Heartland Park Topeka. This
will mark Hardee’s second title sponsorship of a National Guard ADRL
event this year.

Heartland Park Topeka chairman Steve Johnson said the track is
“thrilled” to be hosting the National Guard ADRL and looking forward to
bringing the Hardee’s Independence Drags III to Topeka drag racing fans
on a long-term basis.

“We’re very happy to be offering yet another world-class motorsports
event to our local fans,” Johnson said. “The race teams in the National
Guard ADRL put on an unbelievable show and we can’t wait to see them
blister the eighth mile here at Heartland Park Topeka.”

Technically CompetitionPlus.com was right and wrong.

Over the
course of the weekend, we published a story declaring that Billy
Glidden had won 21 rounds of competition and counting. When he won the
final round at this past weekend’s ADRL Memphis Drags, the victory
marked 21 consecutive rounds of competition that he’d won since his one
legitimate loss dating back to last August in Norwalk, Ohio.

Though
the ADRL counts Glidden’s decision to withdraw from the well-intended,
yet meaningless arm-drop competition, neither Glidden nor this
publication legitimize that as a loss.

Three new Pro Modified drivers will make their respective 2009 debuts on the Get Screened America Pro Modified Challenge during the NHRA SuperNationals in Englishtown, N.J.

Local-favorites Vinnie Budano and Dave Hance along with veteran Jimmy Halsey and Frank Patille driving his Tim McAmis-built 1957 Buick Pro Mod will compete in the invitation-only field.

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Hindsight is always 20-20 and "Monday morning quarterbacks" always have the winning combination. Drag racing, like other competitive
ventures, lends itself to second guessing and doubt. Terry McMillen,
team owner and driver of the Amalie Oil / Wolverine Boots and Apparel
Top Fuel Dragster, was beginning to form a few doubts of his own when
he entered the IHRA Amalie Oil Texas Nationals recently.

In his second season as Top Fuel team owner, he had hoped to improve on
his five final round appearances and two wins from the previous year.
While team stats proved that he was no further behind last season's
pace, it just didn't feel right to McMillen. Seventh in points after
two IHRA events is not what he had envisioned9

Bob Tasca’s mail is delivered to his home in Rhode Island, but he can
think of no better place to haul the mail than the track that he considers his home away from home, just a short blast down I-95 in New Jersey.

Tasca has been going to races at venerable Old Bridge Township Raceway Park all of his life.

He watched his grandfather race there. It’s where he was bit by the
drag racing bug himself and the place where he won his very first NHRA
national event – in Top Alcohol Funny Car during his sportsman racing
days.

Top Dragster racer Scott Hall and engine builder Pat Musi are out to
prove that a 632 cubic inch engine that lists for under $27,000 has the
capability of not only being reliable and consistent, but can also win.
This past weekend they drove the point home to the winner’s circle.

Hall won Sunday’s Dan Page Race Cars Top Dragster Series event at New
England Dragway in Epping, N.H. He was also the No. 1 qualifier with a
6.77 elapsed time at 200.80 miles per hour.