The U.S. Army and its NHRA Top Fuel driver, Tony “The Sarge”
Schumacher, will be staging a text message promotion surrounding the
upcoming Mac Tools U.S. Nationals here over Labor Day weekend.

NHRA fans can text – ARMYSTRONG – to 30364 and receive a free,
exclusive Schumacher wallpaper download. Additionally, they will get
the chance to win two (2) tickets for final eliminations at O’Reilly
Raceway Park on Monday, September 1, while also participating in a meet
and greet session with the five-time world champion in the U.S. Army
pit-side hospitality tent.

The U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis is a race that Bob Tasca III and his
Motorcraft/Quick Lane Shelby Mustang team circled on the calendar at
the beginning of the season. And now that the biggest and most
prestigious racing week of the season has arrived, the team is ready
and focused, and will take to the track in style with a special
Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) paint scheme this weekend.

Tasca’s Motorcraft/Quick Lane Shelby Mustang will be transformed into a
JDRF-themed car for the weekend, which will be unveiled for the first
time in Monument Circle in downtown Indianapolis on Thursday.

“I’ve always said the greatest thing about my job is spending time with
kids, and to be part of a charity [JDRF] that raises [awareness and]
money to help cure a terrible disease, is just really special,” said
Tasca. “To see this project unfold with [being] such a creative idea to
raise money, and to be a part of such an innovative way of leveraging a
race program, it’s really something that is a dream come true.

The Second Season
compilation DVD set of the popular ESPN TV series American Dragster
will be released September 15th.  Discounted pre-orders are available
now on the AmericanDragster.tv website.

American Dragster, the popular drag racing behind the scenes reality
show aired ten episodes in 2007 featuring driver and teams
participating on the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series.  All the
episodes that aired on ESPN are now available on DVD along with never
before seen footage, and photos as part of the special feature contents.

The 3-disc DVD set takes viewers behind the scenes of three pro drag
racing categories with four entertaining drivers.  Four-time NHRA
POWERade Champion, Tony Schumacher and the US Army Top Fuel Dragster
Team, Ron Capps and the BRUT Revolution Fuel Funny Car Team are back
from the first season.  Max Naylor and the Jagermeister Pro Stock Team
and Erica Enders and the Race Girl/Revive Pro Stock team join
Schumacher and Capps for the second season.

In addition to the racing and behind the scenes action, season two
includes segments devoted to exploring details of some of the more
technical aspects of the sport.

Provisional No. 1 qualifier Joe Baker helped the JEGS Pro Mod Challenge return
to action in grand style Friday at the 54th
annual Mac Tools U.S. Nationals as
the series shook off the rust of two months off since its last event. Baker
powered down O'Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis in 6.030 at 236.01 mph to put
his R2B2 Corvette in the early lead at drag racing's most prestigious
event.

Baker's elapsed time was actually matched by veteran racer Tim
Tindle, but the early season points leader got the nod as the No. 1 qualifier
due to his superior top speed. Baker won the first two JEGS ProMod Challenge
events in Gainesville, Fla., and Houston, the second race in the same car he's
driving this weekend.

The NHRA’s Countdown to the Championship Regular Season concludes a
week from today with the 54th running of the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals
beginning at 11 a.m. ET on Labor Day Monday at O’Reilly Raceway Park in
Indianapolis.

The following are the remaining clinching scenarios for No. 1 seeds and
the final playoff berths. As a reminder, this year the top seeds will
receive a 20-point bonus so when the playoffs begin Sept. 11-14 with
the Carolinas NHRA Nationals at zMax Dragway @ Concord and the points
are reset, first place will have 2,090, second will have 2,060 and each
of the remaining drivers in the Countdown to 1 will be separated by 10
points down to 1,980 for 10th place.

They are a drag racer's favorite sounds, the voice of their hearts: the
long rev of the engine at 8,000 RPM, the burn of the tires and the
screech when they catch half-way down the track, the bang when the
chutes fill to slow the car down. Veteran drag racers Rick Stivers and
Quain Stott along with Lee Boy Paving Equipment have chosen to use
their racing voice to say thank you in their own special way this
coming weekend as the JEGS ProMod series competes at the NHRA Mac Tools
US Nationals in Indianapolis.
 
Stivers will field a special-edition "Support Our Troops" '64 Corvette
Pro Mod as his way to communicate the message, "job well done" to the
troops coming home from their time in harm's way.
 
"I know a lot of teams have done something similar, but I don't think
you can say thank you enough.  Because this war has gone on so long,
some of our boys and girls are being forgotten, and I don't want to let
them slip by without doing my part to welcome them home," Stivers said.

Phoenix, Arizona based hot rodder Joe Schott along with brother’s Mike
and Randy Way of All Ways Hot Rod shop rolled into the Goodguys 22nd
West Coast Nationals in Pleasanton with their eye on one prize – the
Goodguys 2008 America’s Most Beautiful Street Rod presented by
Hushpower. Thanks to their stunning blue three- window coupe, they got
their wish, taking home the AMBSR honors at a special award ceremony
Saturday night, August 23rd.

Four years ago, Schott, a hot rodder since he was 18, commissioned the
Way brothers to build his dream car, a’32 Ford three-window coupe. The
project started with a rendering from Jimmy Smith (also of Phoenix) and
a rare Dearborn Deuce coupe (one of only five ever made). A chassis
from the late Boyd Coddington was then massaged and upgraded with
inboard coil over suspension. Under the hood, the Ways installed a
painted and polished LS-1 mated to a 4L60 transmission with cruise
control. All engine and chassis components were then meticulously
polished and chromed taking the coupe to the “next level”.

John Wright driver of the Nostalgia Fuel Altered
Association AA/FA 'Chaos' Topolino survived this wreck with just a
bruised finger. The car hooked right toward the centre line
against the similar machine of Tony Betts during qualifying then
corrected, hit the left guard rail before barrel rolling several times at the
Shakespeare County Raceway's Open Sport Nationals run over the end of the August
Bank Holiday in England. (Roger Gorringe Photo)

Veteran driver would welcome a mix of distances in 2009 …

The IHRA has plans to incorporate 1,000-foot drag racing into a mix of eighth-mile and traditional quarter-mile venues in

2009. The NHRA has yet to reveal whether  1000 foot racing will continue beyond 2008.

The NHRA announced a temporary scale back to 1,000 foot drag racing for
the nitro division through the 2008 season following the tragic death
of Funny Car racer Scott Kalitta during the NHRA Supernationals in
Englishtown, NJ.

Veteran nitro Funny Car racer Ron Capps, a drag racing purist by his
own admission, wouldn’t mind seeing the NHRA run quarter-mile at
certain venues while scaling back to 1,000-foot on those tracks with
shorter shutdown areas.

Mopar® has  relaunched Moparspeed.com, its Team Mopar racing Web site
for  motorsports enthusiasts. The revamped Web site will feature
exclusive new  content, including a weekly Team Mopar driver blog
section and updated  desktop wallpaper graphics featuring Team Mopar
race teams available for  download. The site changes also include
enhanced navigation and design.  

Headlining the new Web site’s debut will be blog entries from two-time 
Formula Drift champion Samuel Hübinette and four-time NHRA POWERade 
champion Gary Scelzi. Blog entries will be posted each week from Team 
Mopar drivers including: NHRA Pro Stock driver Allen Johnson, SCCA
SPEED  World Challenge GT pilot Cindi Lux, SCORE Desert Series off-road
racer  Brian Collins and USAC Racing Series circle track drivers Brady
Bacon and  Brad Sweet.