Up until a last minute charge by Del Worsham, Ron Capps had the quickest Funny Car mark during the Palm Beach International Raceway test with a 4.098 elapsed time at 299.66 mph in seven runs.

Capps was appreciative of the efforts made to ensure this weekends test was successful for those who participated.

"This track is great. Every time you go to a track for the first time
you don't know what to expect, especially in preseason testing. It's
not just the crew chiefs testing, it's not just the crews testing, it's
everybody, including the drivers. We're just trying to get used to the
cars again. And this facility is great. It's 100 percent concrete.
They've bent over backwards and have done everything as far as
preparation of the track goes and it's been a real pleasurable
experience.

Tim
Wilkerson brought another new chassis out on Sunday during yesterday's
testing at Palm Beach International Raceway testing, making one aborted
lap followed by one nearly full-pull, and although he posted his best
lap of the weekend on the second attempt (a 4.198 at 284.62 mph) it was
the construction of the new chassis that had the attention of the other
testing pros in West Palm.  The new McKinney chassis features front
suspension, with struts and springs attached to the beefy A-arms.   It
is the first McKinney Funny Car with a suspension system, and
represents a radical departure from the norm.

On the first lap, the new car ran well to nearly half-track but began
drifting left and, when Wilkerson lifted off the throttle, the move
toward the wall became more abrupt.  The Levi, Ray & Shoup veteran
was able to keep the LRS Mustang out of harm's way, but adjustments had
to be made to a body strut to correct a problem related to the left
front tire rubbing across a diagonal support.

Every
Friday, CompetitionPlus.com brings you our Feedback letters.
Read what our readers have to say about our feature articles and you
can even offer your opinions.

FEEDBACK FRIDAY - JANUARY 18, 2008

The classic video comes from home video shot at Orange County Raceway
during his days of running the Wendy's Corvette. You'll see Force do
dry hops and burn throughs. He probably consumed 55-gallons of nitro on
this run alone. At the finish line, the run gets a little squirrelly
but the real treat is in seeing the El Camino chase vehicle with Laurie
Force driving.

The management at Palm Beach International Raceway has announced
that Sunday's nitro testing at the facility located in West Palm Beach,
Fla., will be open to the public. There is a charge of $20 for the
event which lasts from 10 AM until 4 PM.

On hand are the fastest
drivers in the world with the likes of current NHRA Top Fuel champion
Tony Schumacher as well Larry Dixon (in Alan Johnson's Al-Anabi
dragster) and Cory McClenathan. A healthy sampling of Funny Cars
including such names as Tim Wilkerson, Bob Tasca III, Ron Capps, Jack
Beckman and Jeff Arend are all expected to make testing laps. 

Team
owner Don Schumacher announced today that tuner Lee Beard will join
Don Schumacher Racing as team manager for the 2009 NHRA Full Throttle
Drag Racing Series. Beard's responsibilities will include overseeing
the operations of each of the six pro teams under the DSR umbrella as
well as the in-house research and development programs at the DSR
facility in Brownsburg, Ind.

Beard previously worked for DSR
as crew chief from 2001-2005, tuning Whit Bazemore to 12 Funny Car
wins in 28 final rounds. He's been a crew chief since 1976 and has
tuned both Top Fuel and Funny Cars to 57 NHRA national-event
victories. His record also includes a Top Fuel crown with the late
Gary Ormsby in 1989, and he was instrumental as a team manager when
Cruz Pedregon won the 1992 Funny Car championship. He has also tuned
for Ed McCulloch, Kenny Bernstein, Cory McClenathan, Rod Fuller and
most recently Antron Brown. Beard drove Top Fuel dragsters and Funny
Cars in the early '70s and was named the Crew Chief of the Year and
Person of the Year in 1989 by Car Craft Magazine.

Larry Dixon moved into his new home on Friday.

Showing up for his first day on the job as the driver of the Alan
Johnson Racing/Al-Anabi Motorsports Top Fuel dragster, Dixon was
sporting a broad smile.

The veteran driver is in his maiden test session with the team. The
move is a substantial one for Dixon who had been under Don Prudhomme’s
employ for a little over twenty years. He bought out the remaining time
on his contract to drive for Johnson.

Longtime Ford Super Stock Racer John Calvert to Run Special Edition Mustang in Stock

John
Calvert has raced NHRA’s Super Stock for a long time; thirty-five years
to be exact. Next month in Pomona, the diehard Ford racer will be one
of four drivers to experience a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Calvert is one of four drivers expected to debut Ford’s new race ready
Cobra Jet package during the NHRA Winternationals in Pomona, Ca. The
four cars are owned by Brent Hajec, a Ford enthusiast, Calvert
explained, who purchased several of these special edition machines and
then farmed out four of them.

SPEED TV has revised the show times for the four hours of coverage it's
devoting to the fourth annual Whelen Geoff Bodine Bobsled Challenge.
The first race will begin airing at noon, Jan. 18, with the second show
starting at 4 p.m., Jan. 25.

While the usual testing venues in Gainesville, Fla., and Valdosta,
Ga., were in the midst of a southeastern freeze, the newly rennovated
Palm Beach International Raceway in south Florida was just the right
temperature for some of the leading nitro racers. CompetitionPlus.com
contributor Bill Walters will be on hand with all the action over the
course of the weekend. Our veteran lensman Roger Richards will be there as well with a
full gallery posted.