SCHUMACHER CONTINUES DREAM-TEAM SEASON AS BARTONE,LINE ALSO WIN IN SEATTLE

After a shaky first half of the season that included six DNQs, Tony Bartone raced to his first NHRA POWERade Series victory.

After a shaky first half of the season that included six DNQs, Tony
Bartone raced to his first NHRA POWERade Series victory Sunday at the
21st annual Schuck’s Auto Supply NHRA Nationals after more than six
years of professional racing.

Bartone defeated veteran driver Ron Capps, also looking to break out of
a winless streak that dates back to Richmond 2007, in the final round.
Bartone powered his Canidae Pet Foods Chevy Monte Carlo to a
4.454-second pass at 238.17 mph to get the long-awaited win, while
Capps posted a 4.708 at 227.46 in his NAPA Auto Parts Dodge Charger R/T.

Unnoficial point standings (top 10) for IHRA professional categories
following the Mopar Canadian Nationals presented by Castrol at Grand
Bend Motorplex, the sixth of 10 events in the  2008 Knoll-Gas Nitro Jam
Drag Racing Series -

Top Fuel

1.  Bruce Litton, 499; 2.  Spencer Massey, 497; 3.  Bobby Lagana Jr.,
445; 4.  Mike Strasburg, 438; 5.  Kevin Jones, 354; 6.  Terry McMillen,
351; 7.  Scott Palmer, 222; 8.  Chris Karamesines, 118; 9.  Mitch King,
99; 10.  Tim Boychuk, 74.

Point standings (top 10) for NHRA professional categories following the
21st annual Schuck's Auto Supply NHRA Nationals at Pacific Raceways,
the 14th of 24 events in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series -

Top Fuel

1. Tony Schumacher, 1,297; 2. Antron Brown, 940; 3. Larry Dixon, 901;
4. Rod Fuller, 852; 5. Cory McClenathan, 840; 6. Brandon Bernstein,
834; 7. Hillary Will, 751; 8. Doug Herbert, 738; 9. David Grubnic, 617;
10. Doug Kalitta, 598.

Final round-by-round results from the Mopar Canadian Nationals
presented by Castrol at Grand Bend Motorplex, the sixth of 10 events in
the  2008 Knoll-Gas Nitro Jam Drag Racing Series:

TOP FUEL:

ROUND ONE -- Spencer Massey, 4.768, 306.33 def. Bruce Litton,
4.896, 302.21; Bobby Lagana Jr., 5.905, 154.94 def. Mitch King, foul;
Terry McMillen, 4.665, 322.42 def. Kevin Jones, 4.997, 249.30; Mike
Strasburg, 10.066, 90.10 def. Todd Paton, foul;

SEMIFINALS -- Massey, 4.726, 310.41 def. Lagana Jr., 4.859, 272.01; McMillen, 4.864, 247.93 def. Strasburg, 6.714, 134.91;

FINAL -- McMillen, 4.867, 278.52 def. Massey, 5.393, 201.43.

Sunday's final results from the Mopar Canadian Nationals presented
by Castrol at Grand Bend Motorplex.  The  race is the sixth of 10 in
the  2008 Knoll-Gas Nitro Jam Drag Racing Series:

Top Fuel -- Terry McMillen, 4.867 seconds, 278.52 mph def. Spencer Massey, 5.393 seconds, 201.43 mph.

Nitro Funny Car -- Terry Haddock, Dodge Stratus, 5.183, 254.38 def. Steven Macklyn, Chevy Monte Carlo, 5.821, 183.19.

Pro Modified -- Ed Hoover, Chevy Camaro, 6.062, 234.53 def. Tommy D'Aprile, Chevy Bel Air, 6.873, 220.22.

Alcohol Funny Car -- Paul Noakes, Dodge Avenger, 5.869, 238.55 def. Larry Dobbs, Chevy Corvette, 5.934, 237.75.

Pro Stock -- Frank Gugliotta, Ford Mustang, 6.389, 217.14 def. Pete Berner, Pontiac GXP, 6.398, 217.00.

Final round-by-round results from the 21st annual Schuck's Auto Supply
NHRA Nationals at Pacific Raceways, the 14th of 24 events in the NHRA
POWERade Drag Racing Series:

TOP FUEL:

ROUND ONE -- David Grubnic, 4.136, 249.81 def. Hillary Will,
4.650, 195.73; Morgan Lucas, 3.887, 302.69 def. Doug Kalitta, 4.314,
258.96; Rod Fuller, 3.922, 300.13 def. Steve Torrence, 8.167, 102.15;
Bob Vandergriff, 4.229, 269.19 def. Antron Brown, 6.784, 105.24; Tony
Schumacher, 3.877, 310.05 def. Steven Chrisman, broke; Brandon
Bernstein, 3.856, 310.77 def. Troy Buff, 3.879, 308.71; Doug Herbert,
3.919, 304.87 def. Larry Dixon, 4.423, 179.83; Cory McClenathan, 3.966,
276.52 def. J.R. Todd, 4.148, 254.52;

A scary moment transpired during Friday’s Top Fuel qualifying at the NHRA Schucks Auto Parts Nationals in Seattle, Wash.

Top Fuel driver Hillary Will had lifted in her KB Racing Top Fuel
dragster and deployed the parachutes when the ESPN2 cameras showed her
head lean dangerously forward as if she were not buckled in.

For some inexplicable reason, the Kalitta Motorsports driver suffered a
belt failure. Such an incident happened two weeks ago to an Alcohol
Funny Car racer during the IHRA Rocky Mountain Nationals in Edmonton,
Alb. He was uninjured but made abrupt contact with the steering upon
parachute deployment.

The final day of qualifying at the NHRA Schucks Nationals in Seattle, Wa.,

John Force’s Last Seattle DNQ came 29 years ago but since 2007 the 14-time champion has four DNQ’s.

was bittersweet for John Force. As
temperatures continued to rise throughout the day tricky track
conditions hampered John Force and his Castrol GTX Ford Mustang’s
chances of getting into one of the tightest Funny Car fields in recent
memory.

A decent but not spectacular run in the first session was not enough to
move Force into the Top sixteen and in his final attempt his Ford
Mustang lost traction just past the halfway point and his hopes of
racing on Sunday went up in smoke. From the top end Force was motivated
to improve and fire-up his teammates.

A DOUBLE DIP FOR RICHARD HARTMAN

Tunes Bruce Litton (Top Fuel) and Andy Kelley (Nitro Funny Car) to #1 qualifier positions at Mopar Canadian Nationals

Andy Kelley remained on top of the Funny Car class for the second day of qualifying.

Richard Hartman spend a good portion of the day running back and forth
between the pits of Bruce Litton and Andy Kelley. As Crew Chief on both
cars he has little idle time, working with both teams to get them ready
between afternoon and evening qualifying sessions.

At Grand Bend Motorplex for the Mopar Canadian Nationals Hartman was on
his game. He put Andy Kelley on top of the Torco Pro Nitro Funny Car
qualifying sheet with a 5.013 at 294.31 mph. Then, when rain washed
away the final Top Fuel session, Bruce Litton became the second
Hartman-tuned nitro car to find the top of the qualifying sheet…this
time in the Torco Pro Nitro Top Fuel class.

CONNOLLY, HIGHT, SCHUMACHER EARN NO. 1 QUALIFIERS, CRUCIAL POINTS ENTERING SUNDAY’S RACE NEAR SEATTLE

Tony Schumacher has been in the final round in Seattle every year since 2004.

Tony Schumacher has been in the final round in Seattle every year since
2004. Out of four consecutive final rounds here, he’s won three. He
looked primed to add a fifth after qualifying No. 1 Saturday at the
21st annual Schuck’s Auto Supply NHRA Nationals, piloting his U.S. Army
dragster to a 3.802-second pass at 316.90 mph in prime conditions
Friday for his fourth No. 1 qualifier of the season and the 51st of his
career.

"We’ve been lucky at a lot of tracks," Schumacher said. "Indy’s
(O’Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis) another good track for us, and
this is one. If you can hand-pick a few, the Western Swing is a
beautiful place to have a good streak on and so is Indy. I’m not going
to complain about it and I’m sure not going to look for answers. I’m
just going to let them ride out the storm here and enjoy it. It’s
fantastic."