Championship contender Tim Wilkerson announced that The Residence Inn
by Marriott-Ontario Airport will be an associate sponsor on his Levi,
Ray & Shoup Funny Car for the 44th annual Automobile Club of
Southern California Finals, November 13 – 16 and the 49th annual NHRA
Winternationals, February 5 – 8, 2009.  To commemorate the partnership,
the hotel will be offering a NHRA package special to fans and will be
hosting a Tim Wilkerson Fan Appreciation Night.

The Residence Inn is offering all NHRA race fans and Tim Wilkerson fans
a special package for each race at the rate of $199.00 per night, which
includes general admission for the race.

Chatting With Director of Ford Racing Technology

You'll have to forgive Brian Wolfe while he pauses for a moment to live a dream.

Wolfe, a management veteran for the Ford Motor Company, succeeded
Dan Davis as the Director of Ford Racing Technology back in June. He
says that every day since the appointment has been a dream. Come to
think of it, hearing Wolfe discuss his involvement with Ford, even
indirectly, is proof his dream started long before his executive
appointment.

Cut him and Wolfe bleeds Blue Oval Blue, something he has done since
being old enough to drive. He has a drag racing background, having
visited the strip just hours after procuring a driver's license.

What else would you expect from a man who once labeled Henry Ford as one of his heroes?

CompetitionPlus.com Editor/Publisher Bobby Bennett recently caught up
with Wolfe during the recently completed Las Vegas event to discuss the
current state of Ford’s racing endeavors among other topics.

READ THE FULL INTERVIEW

Tour the SEMA show in Las Vegas through the lens of CompetitionPlus.com photo editor Roger Richards. You'll see all the latest in neat automotive technology as well as quite a few of the "honeys" at the show. We'll have complete galleries from all three days of this prestigious show.

Five
of NHRA’s most compelling and successful female drivers were the
featured guests this morning at the popular NHRA Breakfast, which has
become an annual tradition at the SEMA Show in Las Vegas.

Hillary Will (Top Fuel); Melanie Troxel (Funny Car); Ashley Force
(Funny Car); Karen Stoffer (Pro Stock Motorcycle) and Peggy Llewellyn
(Pro Stock Motorcycle) were engaging and entertaining as they answered
questions from host Bob Frey as well as from members of the record
crowd who gathered for the 7:30 a.m. wake-up call.

Top Fuel driver Clay Millican has done more than his share of fishing
in the last few months. However, the pole he’s had in the water isn’t
down at the local lake.

He’s fishing for a major sponsorship for team owner Mark Pickens
Enterprises. The Drummond, Tenn.-based Millican says he’s had a few
nibbles lately.

“I’ve done a whole lot more the past couple of months than I’ve done
since Pete Lehman owned this team,” Millican admitted. “It’s a crazy,
crazy business world out there right now and we’re certainly finding
that you have to do crazy, crazy things just to get a sponsor to talk
to you nowadays. I’m not a fisherman but we sure do have a lot of hooks
in the water right now. We just need to find our way into landing one.

Edelbrock 347 Small-Block Ford Crate Engines Unveiled at SEMA Show

A new line of Ford crate engines made their debut at the 2008 SEMA
show. Edelbrock's RPM 347s deliver up to 440 horsepower and 425
ft./lbs. of torque (dual-quad) and 437 hp and 415 ft./lbs. of torque
(single-carb).

Reigning world champion Jeg Coughlin Jr. has built a reputation as a cool customer behind the wheel of his JEGS.com Chevrolet
Cobalt, as witnessed by his dominating performance Sunday at The Strip
at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. But just across Las Vegas Boulevard at the
home of the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds, Coughlin admits his nerves
just about got the better of him.

The four-time world champion drag racer became the latest NHRA
professional to soar with the world's top air demonstration team
Tuesday morning but it wasn't without some pre-flight trepidation.

Alan Bradshaw has big plans for 2009 and should they come to pass,
he’ll be back behind the wheel of a Top Fuel dragster with some
innovative marketing scenarios.

“At this point we are looking to bring in sponsorship to two or three
teams,” Bradshaw explained. “If we get the right synergy between the
companies we might put those together and compete for a 24-race
schedule. If we have to we might look at a three-quarter schedule.”

Only a few things can bring all sides of drag racing together to support a great cause. Rarely do bitter rivals on
the track become team members, such as Dodge, Chevy, Pontiac drivers
joining together, business competitors such as Jeg’s Mail Order and
Applied Racing Technology. But in 2008, these racers and businesses put
that competitive nature toward a good cause as the combined efforts in
the “Team on a Mission” program that is led by Mike Edwards raised more
than $50,000 that will be donated to the Young Life’s “Sending A Kid To
Camp.”

“Right now, I could not be more proud of the racing family in what they
have done for this program,” said Edwards. “Each weekend, we battle so
hard to make sure we get to the finish line first, but so many
understand the bigger pictures and helping the kids is something so
easy to get behind.

For the fourth consecutive year, a group of drivers from the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) will take part in a post-season,
USO-sponsored trip to visit Army/Air Force personnel stationed at the
Kaiserslautern Military Community (KMC) in Germany. During this year's
tour the drivers' contingent will first stop in Kuwait to visit with
U.S. troops stationed there before flying on to Germany and the second
leg of their goodwill mission.  

Six-time NHRA Pro Stock champion Warren Johnson, two-time NHRA Pro
Stock champion Jim Yates, 2006 POWERade Pro Stock champ Jason Line and
Top Fuel driving ace Cory McClenathan will participate in the late
November trip to visit troops stationed overseas in Kuwait and Germany.

For more than 67 years, the USO (United Service Organizations) has been
providing morale, welfare and recreational services to U.S. military
personnel and their families. The USO is a nonprofit, charitable
organization that relies on the generosity of the American people to
support its programs and services. The USO will be providing air
transportation for the group's trip to Kuwait and Germany, and GM
Racing will ship 1,500 souvenir gift bags to the two destinations for
distribution during the visits. The 435th Services Squadron at Ramstein
AB will host the NHRA drivers and provide transportation and logistics
support during the group's stay in Germany.