It’s been a long time since this happened but Tim Wilkerson will head into Saturday not qualified.  Even

Tim Wilkerson heads into Saturday's final day of qualifying on the outside looking in.

though Wilkerson’s Levi, Ray & Shoup Chevrolet Impala SS made two
consistent runs which put him in the No. 13 spot tonight at the
Schuck’s Auto Supply Nationals; he fell under the new qualifying ruling
where only the top 12 cars qualify on Friday.  Wilkerson and the other
non-qualifiers will have their Friday runs thrown out and must start
from scratch on Saturday.

Dave Connolly led the Pro Stock field during the first day at Pacific Raceways.

Dave Connolly is hard at work making up for lost time.

The 25-year-old Connolly, a resident of Charlotte, N.C., drove his Chevy Cobalt to a track-record and
career-best elapsed time of 6.573 seconds at 209.49 mph to take the
provisional pole with two rounds of qualifying remaining on Saturday.

"Last year we ended up winning this race after the rain delay and wound
up setting the track record in the finals," Connolly said. "We came out
today, reset the record in Q1 and then reset it again in Q2. Seattle
has been excellent to us and we're on a chase to make the top 10 and
hopefully that Countdown to One. We missed the first five races of the
season, so we have our work cut out for us.

Tony "the Sarge" Schumacher drove his U.S. Army Top Fuel Dragster to the number one position

Tony Schumacher has the quickest 1,000-foot elapsed time since the NHRA temporarily shortened the race course for nitro cars.

following the first day of qualifying for the 21st Annual Schuck's Auto Supply NHRA Nationals at Pacific Raceway.
       
Schumacher, who came into this weekend leading the NHRA POWERade Top
Fuel championship race, recorded low elapsed time in both qualifying
sessions as well as posting the day's top speed. He traversed the
1,000-foot course in 3.802 seconds at 316.9 miles per hour during the
second round, bettering his first lap of 3.821 seconds at 314.97 mph.
       
"The air was great, the track was terrific and (crew chief) Alan
(Johnson) really had a handle on the setup," said the Chicago-area
resident. "But Alan understands this track. We have gone to the finals
here the last four years - winning three, including last year."

Robert Hight has a good feeling about the performance of his Auto Club Ford Mustang after two

Sea level racing jibes well with Robert Hight who was the provisional low qualifier in Funny Car.

qualifying runs at Pacific Raceways for the 21st annual Schuck’s Auto
Parts Supply NHRA Nationals. His final pass of the day, a blistering
4.056 second run at 304.39 mph, nailed down the provisional No. 1
qualifying position for the leader of the John Force Racing Next
Generation drivers.

Hight has been seeing steady improvement over the past two events and he is eager to get back to the track tomorrow.

Bruce Litton Heads Friday Top Fuel Qualifying in Grand Bend

Andy Kelley (Nitro Funny Car), Mike Janis (Pro Modified), Rob
Atchison (Alcohol Funny Car) and Rob Mansfield (Pro Stock) also claim
provisional #1 qualifying spots at Mopar Canadian Nationals

Defending
World Champion Bruce Litton (Indianapolis, Ind.) moved to the top of
the provisional Torco Pro Nitro Top Fuel behind the wheel of his Lucas
Oil Canada Hadman Dragster qualifying sheet with his 4.743 pass at
302.75 mph. Litton was in the last pair of cars that went down the
track in Friday’s Top Fuel qualifying session and was just looking to
get his feet under him at Grand Bend Motorplex. He ended up on the top
of the list heading into Saturday’s pair of qualifying sessions at the
Mopar Canadian Nationals.

Wicked Quick will sponsor defending NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series
Funny Car Champion Tony Pedregon, who’s racing in Schucks Auto Supply
NHRA Nationals July 18-20 in Seattle, Washington.   The event will be
shown on ESPN2.

Tony is a two-time champion: 2003 and 2007. "Tony Pedregon epitomizes
the brand, “ said Wicked Quick CEO and founder Tarran Pitschka. “We're
proud to expose our brand nationally with this championship team.” Tony
is a great supporter of the brand wearing it each week on his helmet
and firesuit.

The next stop on the 2008 Pro Modified Racing Tour presented by Torco
Racing Fuels Ontario will be at Dunn Tire Raceway Park Saturday, July
26.
 
This event, the fourth in the six-race series, is the Fourth Annual
PMRA Challenge presented by G-Force Race Cars, Grainy's Automotive and
Niagara Auto, and co-sponsor Jack Grainy said he is pleased to be a
part of the race.
 
“This is worth every penny for us,” said Grainy, whose father, also
named Jack, drives the Grainy Brothers 1967 Camaro Pro Modified. “I’m
proud to be a part of the team.
 
“I’m also pleased to be able to help present this race, especially to
our hometown race fans,” added Grainy. “We know that new track owner
Ralph Galluzzi will present a great show, and we’re happy to work with
him and be a part of it.”

Another stellar group of Honorees have been chosen for the 17th annual
California Hot Rod Reunion, presented by the Automobile Club of
Southern California. The 3-day festival of speed and rods takes place
at Auto Club Famoso Raceway near Bakersfield, Oct. 10-12.

The Honorees are Grand Marshal Junior Thompson, Steve Davis, John
Edmunds, Georgia Seipel, Walt Rhoades and Butch Maas. The Justice
Brothers' Reunion Spotlight will shine on Gas Ronda.

"This year's Honorees are a highly eclectic group of deserving
individuals who have dedicated their lives to hot rodding and drag
racing," said Greg Sharp, curator of the nonprofit Wally Parks NHRA
motorsports Museum, which produces the Reunion. "I'm glad we can honor
folks like this who have meant so much to the sport."

Drag racing is a numbers game. Speeds, elapsed times, and horsepower are just a
few areas where great numbers are key to victory.

Through the use of an online fundraising contest for the design that will
appear on Bob Tasca III’s Shelby Mustang Funny Car during the NHRA U.S.
Nationals in Indianapolis, Ford Customer Service Division (FCSD) and the
Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF), have brought forth a new set of
great numbers and statistics into the world of drag racing.

Following five weeks of collecting designs from JDRF kids, close to 500
donations for 301 car designs, has resulted in more than $30,000 in donations
for type 1 diabetes research.

Every
Friday, Torco's CompetitionPlus.com brings you our Feedback letters.
Read what our readers have to say about our feature articles and you
can even offer your opinions.

FEEDBACK FRIDAY - JULY 18