Bob
Gilbertson has picked Mike Kloeber as his crew chief for his
Rianni Tankless Hot Water Heaters nitro Funny Car for his return to NHRA
competition at the up-coming Carolinas Nationals Sept. 11-14 at zMAX Dragway @
Concord.

Matt Hagan has the physical stature of a linebacker and a heart to match.

The former Pro Modified racer turned Nitro Funny Car rookie tackled the
toughest assignment of his budding career by graduating to the nitro
ranks.

Hagan, from Christianburg, Va., validated the move by qualifying at the prestigious NHRA U.S. Nationals.

Ed Justice Sr., the last of three brothers who founded Justice
Brothers, Inc. which would become a worldwide manufacturer and
distributor of car care additives, lubricants and cleaners, died Aug.
30 in Arcadia, Calif., of complications due to kidney failure. He was 87.

With
$2,500 profit from a racecar they built in their garage, Justice and
his brothers Zeke and Gus started Justice Brothers, Inc. in Southern California.
In turn, it was built into one of the world’s leading brands for
professional mechanics and consumers. When Justice retired 20 years
ago, the company manufactured 13 products, today the product line
numbers in excess of 100. Zeke concentrated on the mechanical side and
the formulation of the products while Gus handled the accounting and
money side. Gus retired from the business in 1974 and Zeke retired in
1980.

Steve Johnson finally did it right this time. The veteran rider finally won Indy and managed to celebrate on the same day.

He’s even got the tape to prove that he won this time.

The 2008 U.S. Nationals victory marked his fourth career victory in thirteen final rounds.

“There’s a lot that motivates people, and then I saw Michael Phelps win
those medals in the Olympics and I asked myself, ‘What inspires a
person to win like that?,” Johnson pointed out.

For a brief moment, the Top Fuel contingent thought they had a chance.

Then final eliminations began.

Schumacher bettered his previous consecutive round win mark of 21 by
three rounds to 24 by defeating Doug Kalitta in the final round.
Schumacher had tied the record with a first round win over Bob
Vandergriff, Jr.

Mike Castellana has only raced two of seven events on the 2008 JEGS ProMod Challenge schedule, but he's certainly made the
most of his appearances. After racing to a runner-up finish at the last
stop in Englishtown, N.J., Castellana went one step further Monday,
winning the prestigious Mac Tools U.S. Nationals by driving around
defending series champion and new points leader Josh Hernandez.

"It feels great to win the biggest race of the year for NHRA drivers,"
Castellana said. "This is my first Indy win, so it means that much
more. What a great day. I'm going to enjoy every minute of this."

Robert Hight doesn’t need motivation when the mission is racing the NHRA U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis.

For the 39-year old driver from Yorba Linda, Ca, the inspiration came
while visiting his friend Eric Medlen at the cemetery on Monday morning.

Hight stopped on his way into the cemetery as he saw John Medlen on his way out.

“He stopped and rolled the window down and he couldn't even talk,”
Hight recalled. “His eyes were filled with tears. It's so tough to see
what this guy has to go through every day. All I could say was let's go
get them today. He drove off and I went and saw Eric. After I beat Mike
Neff [Medlen’s driver]  in the second round he came up to me and said,
'did you make a deal with Eric today?' I said 'whatever it takes. Yes.”

Rickie Jones, although in his rookie
year, certainly did not act like one at this weekend's U.S.
Nationals.

Jones qualified solidly in the number eleven position
and captured a round win in the Labor Day eliminations. Jones was
pitted against Ron Krisher in round one. Jones had him on the tree .039
to .089 and was able to hold him off despite Krisher's slightly quicker
elapsed time. The round win was outstanding for this rookie team. Jones
elaborates:

"We didn't really know what to expect going into our first race here at
Indy. We knew it was going to be tough and we would definitely have to
have our game together. We were thrilled just to qualify in this
extremely tough field. Winning a round today was pretty special for
this Quarter-Max Mopar Dodge Stratus team. We feel that's a great
accomplishment for any rookie team running at Indy."

Don Schumacher stepped away from the sport of drag racing, but came back as car owner where his success over the last ten

Don Schumacher says he's as proud as he can be of what his teams have accomplished over the past ten years. (Jon Asher)

years has added volumes to the NHRA record books. Still, he is
humble about his part in the program and humble about the importance of
the numbers in the books.

“I am very fortunate to be able to put great people together and form a
great team with great sponsors and have my son be at the top,” the
elder Schumacher recounted when asked of his part in the team's almost
unbelievable record runs which include six championships, eight Indy
wins, and 52 Top Fuel victories posted by Tony, which ties the junior
Schumacher with legendary Joe Amato.