Eight competitors will have the opportunity to double up in the win
column July 4-5, when the Flowmaster American Drag Racing League (ADRL)
presented by the National Guard visits Motor Mile Dragway in Radford,
Virginia, for the 2nd annual Shelor Motor Mile Independence Drags.

Heavy rain washed out the ADRL’s national event at Knoll Gas
Motorsports Park in Martin, Michigan last weekend before the final
round for all four professional classes could be completed. A lightning
strike also damaged the track’s starting-line tree, prompting ADRL
President Kenny Nowling to quite literally take matters into his own
hands with arm-drop start signals throughout eliminations from the
second round on.

“Sometimes you just have to do whatever it takes,” Nowling said of what
one team quickly dubbed the Arm Drop Racing League (ADRL). “We had fans
in the stands expecting a race, teams that had towed more than a
thousand miles just to get there and a method available—though I’ll
admit it was a little unusual—to get the job done. Plus, with the
points and purse distributed equally among those racers remaining it
took a lot of the pressure off and I think most who took part had a lot
of fun. I know I did; it was probably the most fun I’ve ever had at a
drag strip.”

Bruce Litton on Top of Provisional Top Fuel Field at IHRA President’s Cup Nationals

Dale Creasy Jr. (Nitro Funny Car), Tommy D’Aprile (Pro
Modified), Larry Dobbs (Alcohol Funny Car) and Jeff Dobbins (Pro Stock)
also claim provisional #1 qualifier spots Friday at Maryland
International Raceway

Fresh
off his win at the Motor City Nationals in May, defending IHRA Top Fuel
World Champion Bruce Litton thundered to the top of the provisional
qualifying sheet in the Torco Pro Nitro Top Fuel class, carding a 4.699
at 287.90 mph at the President’s Cup Nationals in Budds Creek. Litton
made a clean pass right down the groove at Maryland International
Raceway to move to the top of the sheet heading into Saturday’s two
qualifying sessions.

Pro Modifed pioneer Charles Carpenter is heading to Farmington Dragway
this weekend with consistent performance from his brand new ’55 Chevy
on his mind.

“The car ran really well right out of the box,” said Carpenter. “In
this day and age of ultra-lightweight cars, huge motors, and new
technology, just getting a car together and and on the track is a feat.
To go out and run well in your first outing is sort of in the back of
your mind, whereas making sure everything works is the main priority.”

Carpenter will return to the same place he debuted the car, which
should aid in gathering the data that is crucial to consistent success
on the track.

Outlaw 10.5 racers of all
models, brands & types will find out who their daddy is at the Battle of
the Brands race to be held in conjunction with Fun Ford Weekend at Atlanta
Dragway in Commerce, GA June 14-15th, 2008. Up for grabs will be a
$20,000 to win top prize with another $5,000 going to the runner-up, which will
make this the richest Outlaw 10.5 event announced thus far in 2008.

Cacklefest is the sweetest sight and sound in the world for car folks: 30 or
more vintage dragsters fire up and "cackle" 10 gallons of nitromethane fuel in
less than five minutes. The sound of that exploding nitro will be music to the
ears of thousands of fans at Beech Bend Park Raceway, Bowling Green, Ky. on
Saturday night, June 14, as Cacklefest once again roars at the 6th annual Holley
NHRA National Hot Rod Reunion. The 3-day Reunion runs from June 13-15.

"A
Cacklefest is like a barely controlled atomic bomb," said Greg Sharp, curator of
the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum, producers of the Reunion and the man
who coined the term back in 2000. "That exploding nitro cracks like a gun shot
and shoots header flames into the night sky. It's a sight to behold and people
love it," said Sharp.

Among drag racing fans, Cacklefest is now a common
word - there's even a www.cacklefest.com.  This year, according to Sharp, more
than 30 cars will push-start their early-style front-engine dragsters like they
did in the 1950s and '60s, then line then up down the center of the drag strip
at Beech Bend with the headers glowing and the motors running or 'cackling.'

A record number of teams is expected for the upcoming Fourth Annual KC
Auto Parts Family Day PMRA Challenge presented by Paul Wolf Electric
& Lighting Supply Inc., Osram Sylvania and Independent Electrical
Distributors at Toronto Motorsports Park in Cayuga, Ontario Saturday,
June 28.
 
“This event has proven very popular with our competitors,” said PMRA
Director of Operations Bruce Mehlenbacher. “The teams love running at
Cayuga, and we’re expecting a high number of them for this race.” The
event will be the third in the six-race PMRA presented by Torco Racing
Fuels Ontario 2008 tour.
 
Last year’s race was won by Toronto’s Sam Andreacchi, who bested a field of 15 others to take his first PMRA win.

Current severe weather and flooding in parts of Wisconsin, specifically in the area where National DRAGSTER is printed, has affected production of National DRAGSTER. This, along with flooding of several postal facilities, will likely result in delayed delivery of National DRAGSTER for many subscribers throughout the country in the days ahead, at least through the June 20, 2008, issue.

NASCAR, trophy queens, vintage motorcycles and the 75th anniversary of
the Model 40 Ford are all part of the excitement coming to the Wally
Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum, presented by Automobile Club of Southern
California, the second half of 2008. Here's a brief checklist of what's
ahead:

-    New exhibit: NASCAR: A Salute to 60 Years of Racing opens Aug. 6
and runs through Mar. 1, 2009. Authorized by NASCAR, exhibit will
feature racing memorabilia and photos, along with a selection of race
cars, including one of the most famous, Dale Earnhardt's 1998 #3 Chevy
Monte Carlo courtesy of Schroeder Racing Products.

-    New exhibit: Trophy Queens, a photo exhibit honoring the glamour
girls of racing, runs Aug. 27 through August 2009. Included in the
dozens of rare shots of models presenting racing trophies from the '50s
through the '70s are images of a 19-year-old Raquel Tejada, later to
become Raquel Welch and Barbara Huffman, i.e., Barbara Eden star of the
long-running "I Dream of Jeanie." Also highlighted is the most famous
trophy queen of all, Linda Vaughn, known as the "First Lady of
Motorsports."

The IHRA will alter their standard Pro Stock fueling procedure this
weekend during the IHRA President’s Cup Nationals in Budds Creek, Md.
Instead of fuel from the official supplier, the teams will be permitted
to run an equivalent spec from a rival supplier.

Torco’s 118NOS mix has been the spec fuel for the past two seasons, but
since allegations of hurt motors during the most recently completed
event on the IHRA tour, race officials will allow Pro Stock teams to
run VP’s C23 blend.

CompetitionPlus.com has learned from a source close to the situation
that as many as seven engines could have been affected as the result of
running this particular grade of Torco fuel. At least three teams
stepped forward with allegations that they have suffered engine damage
as the result of the fuel’s inconsistency.

NHRA Top Alcohol Funny
Car driver Alexis De Joria has a few more items on her agenda than most of her
counterparts headed into this weekend's NHRA Division 7 Lucas Oil Drag Racing
Series event at Top Gun Raceway in Fallon, Nev. The up and coming Top Alcohol
Funny Car star attended this weekend’s world premiere of Adam Sandler's
"You Don't Mess With Zohan" major motion picture.