Though Tom Hammonds Enterprises, LLC (THE) took a small sabbatical from
drag racing, the team never stopped working towards building a premier
engine program. The results of the NitroFish car driven by Richie
Sevens and powered by a THE engine for the Brainerd, Minn. and Reading,
Penn. events gives credence to that. 

"Although we have not been at the race track competing for the last few
events, we have really been working hard on our engine program," said
Tom Hammonds, owner/driver of THE.

Headed by 30-year engine builder Jim Oliver, THE's engine program is in
its second year, and this season has leased engines to Kenny Koretsky
and Jim Yates, with both drivers resulting in qualifying.

"Up until the time we leased an engine to Koretsky in Las Vegas this
season, we did not know where our program was," explains Oliver.  "All
we had was an engine dyno, which gives you a number, and it's just a
number unless we had one of the top players' engines on the same
machine. We can say wow their engine is 30 horsepower better than ours,
but until then we just had a number."

Mark Thomas knows it’s the little things that have kept him from
successfully defending his IHRA Alcohol Funny Car

championship in 2008.
The veteran driver from Louisville, Ohio, has won 29 career national
events but none of them have come this season.

He’s frustrated, but the likable Thomas, a past sportsmanship winner, keeps the negatives at bay.

“You come off two championships in a row then you come into a year
where little things keep happening over and over," Thomas said. “Yeah
it’s better than knocking the hinges off of it every run. But it’s one
small thing after another. Yeah it’s tough and we’re not getting beat
up over it. I mean if someone said you could take two championship
years and one terrible year out of three years or just three
middle-of-the-road years. That’s a no brainer. The longer you do it the
more you’re going to see everything happen that can happen.

Morgan Lucas has confirmed his Lucas Oil A-Fuel dragster entry for the
Mac Tools U.S. Nationals Top Alcohol division will be with 17-year old
Zach Beard in the cockpit.

The son of noted tuner, Lee Beard, crew chief/team manager for Antron
Brown’s David Powers Racing Top Fuel dragster, has afforded the young
man a racing background from a first-hand perspective.  His father has
earned 53 wins and 59 poles and is considered one of the best nitro
crew chiefs in NHRA racing.

If the 54th annual Mac Tools U.S. Nationals wasn’t already the
busiest weekend in drag racing, bear in mind, try seeing it from Morgan
Lucas’ perspective.

This
24-year Brownsburg resident is going to be driving his own personal
Indy 500 this week all around the ‘Circle City’ with all the social
functions, hospital visits, the introduction of the new Lucas Oil
Stadium, and oh yes, a fierce battle in the NHRA POWERade Top Fuel
points standings during the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals, the main event
which holds the week all together in keeping Lucas going straight.

NHRA race fans will get their opportunity to rub elbows with some of drag
racing’s best drivers and owners on Wednesday night at LANDSHARKS on 810 Broad
Ripple Ave. for the inaugural Rock-n-Race Party, a racer appreciation
get-together sponsored by Lucas Oil Products, Applebee’s and Pinnacle Vodka
benefiting the Rupert’s Kid’s foundation.  After 9 p.m., the public is invited to
gather in this social setting to meet the drivers and team
members.

           

For more information please log-on to www.land-sharks.com.

Pete Berner had visions of a fun-natured poke at the tight nature of the 2008 IHRA Pro Stock championship battle.

Never did the Crete, Ill.-based driver figure a caricature t-shirt design would become a clear vision of reality.

Berner, the 2006 IHRA world champion, pulled to within three points of
proverbial “underdog” Jeff Dobbins by stopping John Montecalvo in the
final round of the IHRA Sooner Nationals in Tulsa, Ok.

Few track owners are as sensitive to the effect of escalating fuel
prices as Steve Earwood, whose Rockingham Dragway sits equidistant
between the Carolinas’ major population centers: Charlotte,
Raleigh-Durham, greater Greensboro and Columbia.

“We’re two hours from just about anywhere in the Carolinas,” Earwood
said.  “We have a great location, but with the economic situation being
what it is, we know that even a two-hour drive burns up a lot of cash. 
That’s why we’re making free gasoline part of our purse package at the
North Carolina Open bracket races on Sept. 6th and 7th.”

The two-day event will pay daily cash purses of $3,000 to the Top
Eliminator winner, $1,500 to the Footbrake champion and $250 to the
winner in Junior Dragster.  In addition, the Saturday and Sunday events
will be the last in which drivers can earn points applying toward
Rockingham Dragway track championships and berths on the team that will
represent the track at the IHRA bracket finals.

Matt Hagan Climbs Back into Nitro Funny Car Title Hunt

Tops Andy Kelley in final round at Sooner Nationals in Tulsa to pull within 51 points of front-running Terry Haddock

When
Matt Hagan did not qualify for the eight-car Nitro Funny Car field at
the Northern Nationals in Martin three weeks ago, the prevailing
thought was that his championship hopes flew out the window. After he
stopped Andy Kelley to claim the Ironman Sunday at Tulsa Raceway Park
those title hopes, which seemed so slim in Michigan, came roaring back.

In the blistering heat at Tulsa Raceway Park Hagan stopped Andy Kelley,
the champion at US 131 Motorsports Park three weeks ago, in the final
round to claim the Nitro Funny Car Ironman at the Skull Shine Sooner
Nationals. The victory over Kelley capped a brilliant weekend for Hagan
that saw him win 10 Last Man Standing bonus points, qualify #1 overall
and end up pulling to within 51 points of Haddock at the top of the
standings.

Unofficial point standings (top 10) for IHRA professional categories
following the Skull Shine Sooner Nationals presented by Wolverine and
Academy Sports + Outdoors at Tulsa Race Way Park, the eighth of 10
events in the  2008 Knoll-Gas Nitro Jam Drag Racing Series -

Top Fuel

1.  Spencer Massey, 724; 2.  Bruce Litton, 651; 3.  Terry McMillen,
572; 4.  Mike Strasburg, 553; 5.  Bobby Lagana Jr., 546; 6.  Kevin
Jones, 433; 7.  Scott Palmer, 292; 8.  Tim Boychuk, 177; 9.  Mitch
King, 158; 10.  Chris Karamesines, 128.

Sunday's final results from the Skull Shine Sooner Nationals
presented by Wolverine and Academy Sports + Outdoors at Tulsa Race Way
Park.  The  race is the eighth of 10 in the  2008 Knoll-Gas Nitro Jam
Drag Racing Series:
 

Top Fuel -- Spencer Massey, 4.891 seconds, 304.94 mph  def. Terry McMillen, 8.186 seconds, 104.39 mph.