Second round kicks off Friday morning with blockbuster match …

WAR STORIES HOMEPAGE

It was the greatest race that never happened and luckily for John Force it didn’t.

“I would have been crying so much that I couldn’t have raced,” said Force, a 14-time NHRA Funny Car Champion.

Force crosses paths on Friday with his quarterfinals opponent Shirley
Muldowney in the second annual CompetitionPlus.com War Stories. This
unique contest pits sixteen drag racing figures in a head-to-head
competition to determine who can tell the best drag racing story.
Readers vote on the stories and the winners advance in competition
while paired on an NHRA professional eliminations ladder.

Canadian Team Purchases Mark Thomas Operation …

Kon Rodz Racing will expand in 2009 with the purchase of the two-car Alcohol Funny Car operation of Mark Thomas.

“This acquisition has rejuvenated and excited our Kon Rodz Team and I
personally am extremely excited about our team's future for next year,”
said team owner Spiro Kontos.

Drag racing is peopled with characters.  Without them the sport would be just another form of motorsports.  It’s the individuality
of those who drive, spin wrenches, regale us with humor over the PA
system and even shoot photos that keeps the quarter mile a refreshing
place to be.  Bill Crites, gone at a too-young 68, was one of those.

A long time employee of the National Hot Rod Association as a graphic
artist and part-time photographer, Crites – and few knew him by his
first name – was known by his fellow employees and friends more for his
personality than for his visible contributions to the sport.  This
isn’t to downplay those contributions, but when it came to
behind-the-scenes contributors, they didn’t come any further behind
those scenes than Bill.

SPEED has reached an agreement with Feld Motor Sports, Inc., to extend
its broadcast rights deal for the International Hot Rod Association
(IHRA) Nitro Jam series.

Australian Drag Racing’s favourite daughter, Debbie Reed, has added to her trophy cabinet by taking out the Top Alcohol bracket at Western Sydney International Dragway’s Boxing Day USA Showdown over the weekend (26th-28th December).

With this, she has also shot to the top of the National Championship
table becoming the first female in history to lead the professional
category.

The win is Debbie’s second in her Top Alcohol Dragster with the first
at the 2006 East Coast Nationals, however victory was just as sweet
second time around for the popular Queenslander.

Five nitro funny cars, 13 Top Doorslammers, nine Top Alcohol funny cars
and dragsters, five Pro Stock Motorcycles and 152 sportsman racers will
celebrate the beginning of 2009 in high octane style at Willowbank
Raceway this Friday and Saturday, January 2 and 3, for round one of the
ENZED International Nightfire New Year Series.

USA
Nitro Funny Car legend Gary Densham will be on hand alongside the
Australian stars of the sport to salute the New Year in their unique
way, with Densham and four Aussie Nitro Funny Cars set for a USA vs AUS
Showdown over the two days.

The Event will also host ANDRA Championship rounds for the Top
Doorslammer, Pro Stock Motorcycle and Top Alcohol categories, with the
Top Alcohol racers set for an extra challenge with their last
competitive hit-out taking place just two days ago in Sydney – handing
them a race against time to be ready for Friday’s qualifying.

The HangoverFest is a winter wonderland of drag racing at Cordova
Dragway Park, Cordova, Illinois and is on Thursday, January 1, 2009.
Cordova Dragway Park is one of very few race tracks in the northern
United States to race in the middle of the winter.

For the most part all out race cars are not the norm as mostly those
with street cars, trucks and motorcycles race and it’s a great chance
to see friends and wish them a great new year on what is traditionally
a day when people sit around at home. In addition, there will be a free
gift to the first 500 through the gates plus free aspirin for those who
might have partaken too much on New Year's Eve.

Drag
racing legend Jeg Coughlin Sr. will make a special appearance this
Saturday, Jan. 3, at the Murray's Speed & Custom Full Throttle Car
Show benefiting the Darrell Gwynn Foundation. The can't-miss event
takes place from 6-10 p.m. at the Sheehan Autoplex, 2800 North Federal
Highway, Lighthouse Point, Fla.

Coughlin will help his longtime friend Gwynn give away a special
wheelchair at the event, while taking time to sign autographs and pose
for pictures with the fans in attendance.

No Funny Car Experience and a Willingness to Learn Crowned Tobler in 2008 …

His experience was non-existent. His challenge was monumental.

Neither prevented Rahn Tobler, a world championship tuner from the Top Fuel ranks, from learning how to make a Funny Car work.

Tobler, the former tuner for four-time Top Fuel champion Shirley
Muldowney and later championship contender Doug Kalitta, not only
accepted a challenge from Cruz Pedregon late in 2007, but also made the
decision by his employer rank as a move of sheer genius.

The then past Funny Car world champion wanted Tobler to tune his Funny Car.

Fresh off his second straight and fifth overall world championship, Pro
Stock drag racer Jeg Coughlin Jr. is ready to trade in his 1,500-horsepower
JEGS.com Chevrolet Cobalt for a gravity-driven JEGS.com bobsled at the
fourth annual Whelen Geoff Bodine Bobsled Challenge, Jan. 2-4, in Lake
Placid, N.Y.

The charity event created by NASCAR veteran Bodine raises money for the
Bo-Dyn Bobsled Project, which designs and makes bobsleds exclusively
for Team USA. Prior to Bodine's involvement, U.S. bobsledders were
afterthoughts on the world stage, racing the castoff bobsleds from
their European counterparts. Now they routinely win medals at the
highest level of the sport, including the Olympic Games and World
Bobsled Championships.

"It's very exciting to return to this event," Coughlin said. "I've
thought about our return since last January and I'm thrilled that our
family business, JEGS Mail Order, is now involved in helping fund the
project. We're all very proud of our young American athletes and the
bobsled team has certainly come a long way since Geoff started this
deal back in the 1990s. They're gold medalists now and it's exciting to
be a part of something where we're really making a difference."