The wait is all but over for the 2008 season-opening event of the
Northeast Outlaw Pro Mod Association. Rising Sun, Maryland's Cecil
County Dragway is now the relocated site of the season-opener, after
rain washed out the previously scheduled launch at Numedia Dragway 2
weeks ago.
 
Cecil County Dragway, owned by Pro Mod superstar Jim Halsey, is
recognized as the home track of the Northeast Outlaw Pro Mod
Association, a series founded by John Mazzoranna in 1992. Cecil County
will host the action-packed "Extreme" race opener on Saturday, May 31.
 
"Extreme" is a worthy description of this special event, as fans will
be treated to a very diverse drag racing experience. Four distinct
performance combinations will square off in two separate 8-car fields.
Nitrous assisted doorslammers will battle normally aspirated mountain
motor entries, while blower cars will race turbos. "If I'm short on
anything I think it will be blower cars, and I want to send a message
loud and clear that all competitors who drive IHRA-legal blower cars as
well as turbo entires has a place to race with the Northeast Outlaws,"
says John Mazzoranna.

It was hot and humid for the opening day of qualifying at the

O’Reilly Summer Nationals Heartland Park Topeka.  Funny Car
points leader, Tim Wilkerson had a little trouble with his Levi, Ray & Shoup
Chevrolet and looks for Saturday to bring better runs.

BARTONE SITS NO. 1 IN TOPEKA; DIXON, CONNOLLY ALSO IN PROVISIONAL SPOTS AT HEARTLAND PARK

After
nearly two years since his last No. 1 qualifier, Funny Car driver Tony
Bartone raced to the provisional top spot Friday at the O’Reilly NHRA
Summer Nationals.

Larry Dixon and Dave Connolly were also No. 1 qualifiers in their
respective categories at the ninth of 24 events on the NHRA POWERade
Drag Racing Series.

Bartone drove his Canidae Pet Food Chevy Monte Carlo to a 4.881-second
pass at 301.81 mph to become the provisional top qualifier. It would be
Bartone’s second career No. 1 qualifier, with his first coming in 2006.

As a newcomer this year to contending for NHRA’s POWERade Drag Racing
Series Pro Stock Motorcycle championship, Chris Rivas has adopted the
Alfred E. Newman approach of “what, me worry?”
 
That mindset most recently paid dividends at Las Vegas (Nov. 2), when
the talented rider of the G2 Motorsports Drag Specialties S&S Cycle
V-Twin motorcycle earned his second victory in four Countdown to the
Championship races to move within 39 points of the lead.  And now, with
the Southern California Automobile Club Finals at Pomona, Calif., on
deck Nov. 13-16, Rivas is once again adopting the same attitude.
 
“I was busy at my (motorcycle) shop, trying to get customer bikes
worked on, doing lots of performance motor work, head porting and dyno
tuning,” said Rivas, of Fresno, Calif.  “I got all the bikes done so
they could have a good weekend and I haven’t had a chance to really
think about racing. I think that’s probably a really good thing for me.”
 
Rivas is in third place with 2,354 points, 19 behind second place (one
round) and two rounds behind the leader with four rounds of racing on
Sunday’s docket.

Today, VP Race Fuels offered the following statement/clarification through their
public relations director Steve Scheidker in response to an article
published on CompetitionPlus.com titled NHRA FUEL SUPPLIER - "THERE'S A SHORTAGE OUT THERE"

NHRA nitro racers were
notified by the sanctioning body management their testing will be limited to
non-national event facilities and all day-after event testing is postponed
indefinitely until the impending nitro shortage for the official distributor is
resolved.

Sources within the NHRA
are also considering abbreviating qualifying down to three sessions depending
on how serious the situation gets.

CompetitionPlus.com was
told the current nitro supply belonging to VP Race Fuels could last through the
Norwalk national event and another shipment en route could extend the
availability through Indy. A planned shipment after that could overcome the China
shutdown and enable the official supplier to fulfill their obligation through
the season.

The nitrous-injected Pro Modifieds are knocking on the door of the
five-second zone and the IHRA has adjusted their rules to get them
there quicker. In a statement issued today, the IHRA's technical
department has reduced the minimum weight for the nitrous cars by 25
pounds.

If it’s 8 p.m. on Friday night at an ADRL race; it must be time for
qualifying to begin. At least that’s the way it’s been for the
Flowmaster American Drag Racing League presented by the National Guard
almost since its inception four years ago.

That’s going to change July 25-26, however, at Maryland International
Raceway (MIR) for the inaugural ADRL 1-800-GO-GUARD.com U.S. Drags. The
addition to ADRL’s all-pro show of the Sonny’s Extreme Pro Stock
Challenge presented by Purvis Ford has required a slight revision of
the qualifying and elimination rounds schedule.

The biggest change comes in conducting two qualifying sessions on
Friday evening with a third and final qualifying opportunity on
Saturday before eliminations begin, instead of the other way around.
That first qualifying session also has been moved forward to 6 p.m.
with the second scheduled to begin at 8:30 p.m. Saturday’s action will
begin with qualifying at noon, as it always has, but the opening round
of eliminations moves ahead one hour to 3 p.m.