If there were one race
that Cory McClenathan would love to win for his team's sponsor it would be this
weekend's 21st annual FRAM-Autolite NHRA Nationals, the final stop on the
Western Swing (Denver, Seattle and Sonoma, Calif.) and the 15th of 24 2008 NHRA
POWERade Drag Racing Series events. The driver of the FRAM Top Fuel dragster
wants to present the winner's trophy to FRAM and earn his second career victory
at Infineon Raceway.

He enters this weekend's
event fifth in the Top Fuel point standings following a quarterfinal effort
last Sunday in Seattle,
one victory this season in two final rounds, and four semifinal finishes in the
first 14 events of the year.

Peterson Holding has again partnered with David Powers Motorsports and
seven-time NHRA Top Fuel winner Hot Rod Fuller during the 21st annual
FRAM-Autolite Nationals, July 25-27, at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma,
Calif. it was announced today. Fuller’s Caterpillar dragster will fly
the colors of Peterson during the Sonoma NHRA race.

The relationship between David Powers Motorsports, Caterpillar and the
Caterpillar dealers was designed as a pilot program to increase
technician recruiting. Many Caterpillar dealers are experiencing a
shortage of technicians. After successful events in several NHRA
markets during the 2007 season, DPM and Caterpillar inked a multiyear
agreement last August to participate in the NHRA dealer recruitment
program. Peterson Holding is the parent company to Peterson Tractor
Co., Peterson Machinery Co. and Peterson Power Systems. Peterson has 19
locations in Northern California and Southern and Central Oregon and
employs more than 1,000 people.

“Peterson is one of our biggest supporters for the NHRA recruiting
program and were awesome to work with last year,” Fuller said.
“Needless to say, it’s great to have the Peterson logo on our dragster
again this year. Last year we went to the semifinals, now we want to
celebrate in the winner’s circle with all our friends at Peterson.”

Texas Motorplex has engaged Glenn Menard owner of GEM Consulting, an event and facility management firm, to provide
management services to the metro Texas Motorplex that is home to the
O’Reilly Auto Parts Super Start Battery Fall Nationals September 18-21,
2008.

Menard will provide on-site management services as interim General
Manager, prepare for this year’s NHRA event, and provide recruitment
services to identify a permanent General Manager.

With an extensive background in event and facility management for
events ranging from top-tier, live entertainment to professional,
collegiate and amateur sporting events, Menard has directed operations
for more than 100 concerts, Super Bowl XXXVI and NFL regular season
games, three NCAA Final Fours, BCS Championship, NBA basketball,
Olympic tennis in Atlanta and World Cup soccer in Dallas.

Dave Connolly lhopes a strong performance will punch him into the Pro Stock top ten.

Maybe the final stop on NHRA’s Western Swing will be where Dave
Connolly finally punches his way into the POWERade Series top 10.
 
The goal was established in April when he returned to Pro Stock
competition with new Cagnazzi Racing Chevy Cobalt sponsors Charter
Communications and LifeLock.
 
His chore was to do in just 13 races what his rivals did in 18:  score
enough points to be among the Countdown to 1 championship chasers over
the concluding six events.  And he’s almost there.
 
As Connolly prepares for the FRAM Autolite Nationals at Infineon
Raceway, Friday through Sunday, he knows making the top 10 is one
thing.  Then he must stay there until points are reset for those
Countdown finalists prior to the inaugural event at Charlotte, Sept.
11-14.

ACDelco crew member Brian Strait, who is assisting Kurt Johnson during
the three-race Western Swing, actually gave up a seat at the World
Series of Poker to go drag racing.  Strait, who owns the Las Vegas Ski
& Snowboard Resort, had won an online event to earn his way to the
Rio Hotel & Casino, but opted to give up his seat when Johnson
called following the unexpected departure of a crewmember following the
race in Norwalk, Ohio.

Robert Patrick was only six years old when the first mountain-motor Pro
Stock race was contested in March of 1977. One of his greatest regrets
is he never got to compete in that inaugural event.

Thirty years later, the defending IHRA Pro Stock world champion from
Fredericksburg, VA, will get another shot at the history books to win
an inaugural mountain-motor Pro Stock event when Patrick and a
multitude of other drivers usher in the ADRL’s Extreme Pro Stock era
July 25-26, at Maryland International Raceway (MIR) in Budd’s Creek, MD.

As part of the inaugural ADRL 1-800-GO-GUARD U.S. Drags, Patrick will
compete in the first leg of the Sonny’s Extreme Pro Stock Challenge
presented by Purvis Ford, a special, two-event series to conclude at
Rockingham, NC, in September.

An unsubstantiated rumor has permeated the drag racing community
suggesting team owner Roger Burgess will park his Funny Car driven by
Melanie Troxel. A call to Gotham City Racing’s operations manager Julie
Mosher squashed this rumor.

According to Mosher, the team will compete throughout this season and
all of 2009. In addition, Mosher confirmed, the team is working towards
bringing out the second team for a full tour in 2009.

“We have full funding at this moment for Melanie to run the rest of
this season and the entire season next year,” Mosher said. “The
intention is to grow this team and have both cars full operation for
the entire schedule next season. Right now our focus is on finding
funding to bring our second team out for more races this season. Right
now on our schedule our second car is only supposed to be out for two
more races, but if all goes well we could have the second car out for
four more races. There is no truth to any of these rumors.”

There aren’t many synonyms for the word “dominant” that haven’t already
been used to describe Tony Schumacher. Perhaps none exist.

Schumacher,
the 38-year-old son of team owner and drag racing pioneer Don
Schumacher, took only three years to prove himself as a professional
driver after his Top Fuel debut in Indianapolis, the oldest and most
storied stop on the NHRA POWERade Series tour, in 1996.

Maybe it was symbolic that the now five-time world champion – he’s won
the last four titles and is working on a fifth consecutive, sixth
overall – started his career in Indy and advanced to the final round in
his first ever start.

After a frustrating San Antonio parts failure, McMillen exacts revenge on rookie Spencer Massey

Terry McMillen had two cars in the finals this weekend. The one he
drove, the Top Fueler, reached the winner's circle. He's won two events
in two seasons.

Terry McMillen isn’t a Top Fuel driver who cries over spilled milk.
That’s why, when a throttle cable prevented him from running for the
Top Fuel crown at the 2008 IHRA season-opener, he didn’t fret.

McMillen just bode his time knowing another opportunity to race the up-and-coming rookie Spencer Massey would present itself.

Sunday afternoon in Grand Bend, Ont., McMillen had the opportunity for
a little bit of payback during the IHRA Mopar Canadian Nationals.

When Pro Stock points leader Greg Anderson becomes your crew chief on
Sunday, that’s usually an indication of how tough your day is going to
be.

Anderson was eliminated in the first round during the NHRA Schuck’s Auto Parts Nationals in Seattle, WA.

Jason Line used the key personnel addition to his advantage. Starting
from the No. 3 qualifying position, Line marched through a tough Pro
Stock field to capture his second national-event victory of the season
- his first ever at Pacific Raceways during the NHRA Schuck’s
Nationals.

"It feels great to win, especially here in Seattle," Line said. "I've
been out here, I don't know how many times, and never had any success
whatsoever even when I raced in Stock eliminator. It feels really good
to win here and it felt really good to drive well today. We didn't have
the greatest car in qualifying - we had some issues. We tested some
parts along the way, which is kind of cool, although you don't want to
be testing at national events. But it all worked out and the guys did a
great job, especially getting down that left lane, which was a little
bit tricky.”