The Unnamed Driver of the Forthcoming Top Fuel Provides Hottest Rumor Fodder …

Silly Season has been in full force the past three months; the past three weeks have pushed the tales a notch or two higher.

CompetitionPlus.com has learned the former NHRA track prep ace and
recent IRL official Chad Head will serve as team manager for Alan
Johnson’s Al-Anabi nitro team scheduled to debut in 2009.

Sources close to the situation have told CompetitionPlus.com the move
to name a driver for the Top Fuel dragster should hit a crescendo in
the weeks to come.

Rockingham Dragway track owner forced to limit sportsman fields for national event …

Steve
Earwood hasn’t decided whether he’s for or against the IHRA’s new
Tournament of Champions, at least from a track operator’s point of view.

Earwood, owner of Rockingham Dragway, site of the final
championship-determining event stands to be the most affected by the
IHRA’s decision to limit sportsman fields at the final event of the
season to only those who won national events and divisional
championships, as well as the No. 2 and No. 3 division finishers during
the course of the year.

Aaron Brooks knows what a human version of a steam locomotive feels
like. The up-and-coming tuner, named as the new crew chief for the
forthcoming Al-Anabi/Alan Johnson Racing Funny Car in 2009, has been
extremely busy in the past few weeks preparing for his new venture.

“The parts are all rolled in; the cars are coming next week,” Brooks
added. “The bodies are starting to show up; we’ve been full steam ahead
for a couple of weeks now.”

Pro Stock veteran Warren Johnson, during Sunday's eliminations at the
NHRA AAA Finals, made comments disparaging of the NHRA’s management
when asked of his plans in 2009.

“I don’t know given the NHRA’s leadership or lack thereof,” Johnson
said, as the microphone went dead silent, seemingly in mid-sentence.

Tim Wilkerson admits his first round foul against John Force on Sunday during the NHRA AAA Finals was
the most expensive red-light loss he’s ever endured in his career. The
driver of the Levi, Ray & Shoup Chevrolet Monte Carlo forfeited the
opportunity to contend for $500,000.

He sure could have used that check to cover some of the expense
incurred with fending off the heavier financed/sponsored teams
throughout the season.

“I just got in too deep,” Wilkerson said of his first and only
red-light of 2008. “I had good lights in qualifying, but I just got it
in too deep. Both of us were amped up on the starting line.”

Two-thousandths of a second separated them – in the red-light. Wilkerson drifted deeper into the negative.

Top Fuel driver Cory McClenathan ended the 2008 POWERade Drag Racing
Series season with a semifinal finish in Pomona. It was his eighth
semifinal result of the year and moved him up to No. 3 in the final Top
Fuel point standings.
 
McClenathan lost a tough match to eventual winner Larry Dixon.
 
“All the emphasis was on the Funny Car points battle and nobody seemed
to realize all the scenarios in Top Fuel for second place,” said
McClenathan, who is still seeking his first Top Fuel crown. “We could
have finished second or seventh coming in here and nobody emphasized
just how close second place really was in Top Fuel. It just wasn’t the
big story but, in my eyes, it was all I could think about last night.

Following an incredible season on the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing tour
and at numerous Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series events across the United
States and Canada, Chevrolet has won the 2008 NHRA Manufacturers Cup,
one of the longest and most enduring standards of racing excellence.
This year marked the 17th time that Chevrolet has won the NHRA
Manufacturers Cup, the most ever by any automobile manufacturer in the
history of the sport.

The NHRA Manufacturers Cup has been awarded since 1964. It is presented
to the automobile manufacturer whose current models in Pro Stock, Super
Stock and Stock earn the most points for qualifying and category
victories at NHRA Drag Racing Series national and divisional events.

Veteran Pro Stock racer Larry Morgan didn’t feel any affects of the recent Mopar pullback and with good reason, he never had any support to lose.

Morgan, who drives the Lucas Oil-sponsored Pro Stock, said he hopes to return in 2008 with the same sponsorship intact.

Vic Edelbrock, President and CEO of the Edelbrock Corporation,
recently awarded the Vic Edelbrock Sr. Memorial Scholarship award at
the SEMA Show in Las Vegas, Nevada. Now in its fifth year, this
scholarship is endowed by Vic Edelbrock and the Edelbrock Corporation
in support of continued automotive education through the WTI Foundation
and WyoTech. This scholarship is based on an essay submission and is
awarded annually to a WyoTech student who exemplifies hard work,
dedication to the automotive industry and outstanding citizenship. The
2008 recipient of this five-thousand five-hundred dollar scholarship
award is Barry Derheim of Sioux Falls, IA.