Carpenter looking to end 2008 and start 2009 on a high note

Charles
Carpenter will head to Texas Motorplex for this year’s ADRL LenMar
World Finals with a different agenda on his mind than he did in 2007.
Last year, Carpenter was solidly in the field for the Battle for the
Belts championship playoff. This year, he just missed the cut for the
Battle, but that won’t change his excitement for 2008’s final race.

“All things considered, we’ve had a great season,” said Carpenter. “To
come out with a brand new car and run like we have is something we’re
proud of. We didn’t win any races, but we got to some final rounds and
set new personal bests in elapsed time and speed. We hope to lower
those numbers even more this weekend.”

Family safe in blaze that damages 25% of Don Schumacher’s home

A fire broke out at NHRA team owner Don Schumacher’s home leaving a
significant amount of damage in its wake. Schumacher wasn’t home at the
time, but his wife and daughter were and they safely escaped with the
family pets.

The Schumacher's were adding new gutters to their home and reportedly
the construction crew had soldered the ends when they burned into the
soffit. Unbeknownst to them, this started a fire on the roof. The crew
had left for the day.

Every year at the Halloween Classic, a six day bracket race held at
Firebird Raceway in Boise Idaho, a very special event on Saturday night
gets the crowd really riled up. This show is known as the Firebird Air
Show, a wheel standing contest.  The 2008 champion was 64-year old Bill
Heard who pulled off the winning run of 224 feet in a Pinto sans the
front end.

Veteran photog Brian Losness shared a few shots from the competition.

Mike Neff, driver of the Old Spice Ford Mustang, and Bob Tasca III,
driver of the Motorcraft/Quick Lane Shelby Mustang, are two of the five
nominees for Rookie-of-the-Year honors in the NHRA Funny Car class.
With only two races remaining in their rookie seasons, Neff and Tasca
talk about the challenges they’ve faced this season and what each of
them has learned.

MIKE NEFF – Old Spice Ford Mustang –

ON BEING UNDER CONSIDERATION FOR ROOKIE OF THE YEAR.

“I
would be very honored and proud to accomplish that. That’s a great
award. Robert [Hight] has won it and Ashley [Force] has won it. I just
think it’s a neat accomplishment if that would be something that we
could do. I look at it that it’s a team effort, so it’s not just about
me but it’s about the team. I feel like the team has as much to do with
it as I do, really. A lot of it is based off of performance, and that’s
what makes you look good and get good results. So, I would be really
honored and happy for all of us if we were able to accomplish that.”

Unlike other racing series that follow NASCAR’s lead and arbitrarily reset their points order after a prescribed number of

The Battle for the Belts that determine each year’s ADRL world
champions initially came about as a means to entice racers to make the
long tow to Texas, series president Kenny Nowling says, but have now
become a defining point of ADRL racing culture.

events,
the Flowmaster American Drag Racing League (ADRL) presented by the
National Guard employs a unique, end-of-year “playoff” amongst its top
racers to determine each season’s world champions.

The top eight points earners in each of four professional ADRL classes
will face off in the Battle for the Belts tournament this Friday night
(Oct. 24) to open the 4th annual LenMar Motorsports ADRL World Finals
at the Texas Motorplex, just south of Dallas. Only Belts contenders
will race each other, eliminating the potential for non-qualifiers to
play the role of “spoiler.”

Funny Car points leader Tim Wilkerson
took part in a national NHRA teleconference to assess his thoughts
and plans for the final two
events remaining in the six-race NHRA
Playoff, the Countdown to 1: the ACDelco Las Vegas NHRA Nationals next
weekend and the Auto Club Finals November 13-16 at Auto Club Raceway at
Pomona. The following is a transcript from that press conference.

Q: Tim, you've been one of the great stories this year in
NHRA if not in all of sports. You've won more races this season, six –
including two of the four playoff races – than you'd won in your first
12 years of racing. Of course, you're in the points lead now for the
first time in your career as well. Are the last two races business as
usual for you, or are you doing a little scoreboard watching, watching
what the drivers behind you are doing?

Wilkerson: I'm trying not to watch what they're
doing. Let's put it that way. I think it's hard not to. You try to just
do your own deal and whatever happens happens. That's what we've done
all year. I heard Jeg talk about being on offense. I remember talking
with (NAPA crew chief Ed) Ace (McCulloch) and (NAPA driver Ron) Capps
in the past, when they were doing so well. It come down to the last few
races, they ended up getting beat by a little bit. I believe that's
exactly what happened to them. They started playing defense. Let's just
run good enough, let's get in the show.

Organization Offers Promotions for B.R.A.K.E.S. Teen Pro-Active Driving School

B.R.A.K.E.S., the charity organization founded by NHRA drag racer Doug
Herbert to encourage safe driving, is supporting National Teen Driver
Safety Week by offering special promotions for its upcoming
B.R.A.K.E.S. Teen Pro-Active Driving School.

National Teen Driver Safety Week, held October 19-25, was established
by Congress in 2007 to focus attention on the number of teen car
crashes that occur each year in the United States.  In honor of this
nationally-recognized week, the B.R.A.K.E.S. foundation announces that
it is lowering the cost of its Teen Pro-Active Driving School.

“The fact that Congress addressed this problem last year by taking
action and creating a National Teen Driver Safety Week says a lot about
the awareness being brought to unsafe driving,” said Doug Herbert,
whose two young sons died in a car accident in January 2008.  “More and
more teens each year are involved in accidents on our roads.  People
are taking notice and want to do something about it.  If we all work
together it is a problem that we can change.”

Four finalists named for JEGS ProMod Rookie of the Year

First-year racers Joe Baker, Roger Burgess, Taylor Lastor, and Brad
Personett have been selected as finalists for the 2008 JEGS ProMod
Challenge Rookie of the Year award. The winner will be announced
Sunday, Nov. 2, at the year-ending "Crowning of the King" ceremony at
Christian Audigier The Nightclub at Treasure Island Hotel and Casino on
the Las Vegas strip.

"All four of these finalists should be extremely proud of their
accomplishments this year," said series director Troy Coughlin. "I
congratulate them on being nominated for this award and I can say we
look forward to honoring the winner in Vegas. I'm also excited about
having all four of these great racers competing with us on the JEGS
ProMod Challenge for many years to come."

A last-minute replacement at the first race of the season in
Gainesville, Fla., Baker stunned the Pro Mod world by driving his '41
Willys from the No. 16 qualifying position to the winner's circle in
his first start in the JEGS ProMod Challenge.

Lang Provides First for Canadian Drag Racing Scene

Many
have tried before him, but it will be the name Kenny Lang that the
annals of drag racing history will show as being the very first
Canadian World Champion in Pro Modified class racing.

Last Sunday, Lang, from Grand Pointe Manitoba,clinched the 2008 IHRA
Pro Modified title during the season ending World Finals held at
Rockingham NC.   Driving his Al Billes tuned, NitroMoose.ca
supercharged ’53 Corvette,  Lang’s hard fought season quest became a
reality during the first round of competition.

Funny Car is a reality based on departing tuner’s gameplan …

Tony Schumacher let a wildcat out of the bag during Tuesday’s NHRA
teleconference. He’s looking seriously at driving a nitro Funny Car for
2009 and right now the chances of that happening stand at 25% but he
told CompetitionPlus.com that number can grow larger each day.

The deciding factor will be Alan Johnson, Schumacher confirmed.

If AJ drives Top Fuel as rumored, Schumacher isn’t going anywhere.

If he doesn’t, then the five-time champion will likely start a new chapter in his drag racing career.