Rookie Top Fuel driver has never raced at Thunder Valley Nationals before ... 

What
a rookie season it has been for Antron Brown. A pole position in his
first race and two national event victories. (Roger Richards)

This season has been one of many firsts for freshman Top Fuel driver
Antron Brown. The former Pro Stock Motorcycle standout turned Top Fuel
driver will race this weekend at Bristol Dragway for the first time in
a national event atmosphere.

Brown has never competed in a national event at Bristol Dragway.  He
did compete at Thunder Valley in 1999 and 2000 during the Winston
Showdown bonus event driving a Pro Stock motorcycle. Brown qualified
second and advanced to the final round in the 2000 Showdown, posting a
runner-up finish to three-time PSM champion Matt Hines, 7.337 to 7.364
seconds.

“I’m so excited to get to Bristol,” Brown said. “I haven’t raced there
in years. The last time we ran there was during the Winston Showdown
almost 10 years ago. Our Matco team has been on a roll and we want to
get into Bristol and have a consistent car that goes down the track.
Both of our DPM cars are running strong and we want to keep that going.”

In the dark of night last Wednesday, Jack Beckman and the Valvoline/Mail
Terminal Services Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car team were spotted at Rockingham
Dragway secretly testing a new, trick Funny Car under the lights. Well, that's
one way to start a rumor.

In actuality, Beckman and the Don Schumacher
Racing crew were shooting a commercial for the team’s primary sponsor Valvoline
at the North Carolina facility in the shadow of Rockingham Speedway, the
one-mile oval that hosts NASCAR events, among others.

"It was great,"
said Beckman, who is currently No. 8 in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series
Funny Car rankings. "I've never been to Rockingham before. Steve Earwood manages
it and he gave us the total red-carpet treatment.

Reigning series champion Jeg Coughlin Jr. and Rookie of the Year candidate Mike
Neff beat 14-time champ John Force and 2008 Pro Stock Motorcycle titlist Matt
Smith in the first ever drag race down zMax Dragway at Concord, site of the
inaugural Carolina NHRA Nationals.

Driving identical Volvo dump trucks
down a dirt strip in the middle of a construction site might not sound as
exciting as a real drag race, but for Coughlin the thrill was
there.

The Darrell Russell Tribute helmet and firesuit worn by Top Fuel driver
Alan Bradshaw during the recent O’Reilly NHRA Midwest Nationals in St.
Louis raised over $3200 for Racers for Christ.  The custom Impact
Racing firesuit sold for $1101.99 while the Impact Racing helmet netted
$2126.99. Because both items were generously donated by Impact Racing,
along with the custom helmet paint job donated by Brandon Mendoza, the
total amount raised will go to RFC.

"I'm glad that Darrell's name is being associated with helping others,"
Brother Chris Russell said. "The whole point of the tribute in St.
Louis and the online auction was to help the people who helped me and
my family when we lost Darrell almost four years ago. This is how I
want Darrell to be remembered, as the kind and generous person that he
was. I really want to thank everyone who participated in the eBay
auction."

He's making alliances right and left ...

When you’re the NHRA POWERade Funny Car point leader, everyone wants a little bit of your success – even if by accident.

Tim Wilkerson found that out last week when he overtook Ashley Force
for the lead in the first phase of the championship standings. This was
the first time he’d led any points chase in his life.

During the post event press conference he referred to the invaluable
assistance Don “the Snake” Prudhomme has provided with the availability
of second-hand parts.

Dave Connolly's first phase of the Countdown to the Championship only lasts 13 races. (Roger Richards Photos)

The only thing Dave Connolly could do while his NHRA Pro Stock rivals
were adding up POWERade Series points for five races was watch.

 
Their Countdown to 10 portion of the overall championship format is a
full 18 events.  His is 13.  But two races into his own mini-countdown,
the driver of the Cagnazzi Racing Charter Communications Chevy Cobalt
already put a dent in the difference between his current 18th and 10th
place.  An impressive runner-up at St. Louis (May 4) in only his second
race brought Connolly’s point total to 130. 
 
As he prepares for the Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway,
Connolly sits 156 points out of the last transfer spot into the
six-race championship gallop that begins in September.
 

Larry
Carrier sat in his office in Bristol, Tennessee, and looked over the receipts
from his events. The founder and president of the nearly decade-old IHRA wanted
to make a decision, but he needed a little more ironclad data before reaching a
final verdict. Carrier wanted a way to ensure that his flagship event, the
Spring Nationals at Thunder Valley Dragway, became as much of a conversation
piece as the NHRA’s heralded U.S. Nationals.

Carrier
felt it could be done, but it would take some moving here and some cutting
there. A little finessing in certain places and massaging in others could make
it happen.

In
a sense, by 1980, the event was already a conversation piece.

Creasy Family Motorsports announced today that VSI has renewed their 13 year relationship with the Nitro Funny Car Team.

Built over 60 years, and located in the Midwest, Vehicle Specialties,
Incorporated is a friendly, family-owned Distributor of Wholesale High
Performance Parts and Accessories to the Automotive, Truck, SUV, and
Racing Industries.

The increasingly popular Speed TV show, Pinks All Out, came to Atlanta
Dragway May 9-10, 2008 to tape another episode of its growing series.
Well over 20,000 spectators (a one day attendance figure rivaled only
by the NHRA Southern Nationals) packed the grandstands on both sides of
the track. They definitely received their money’s worth during the
event, which features nearly 500 “little guy” racers vying for a spot
in the 16 car field that the show revolves around. David Harris, media
relations manager for Speed said, “Never has there been so much
excitement over the little guy racer.”

Pinks All Out is a spin-off of the original Pinks, which aired in 2005
with the premise of old style, “lose the race, lose your ride” pink
slip racing. “All Out” is a successful effort by host and executive
producer, Rich Christensen, to bring grass roots style drag racing to
television. Instead of the typical “Christmas Tree” start,
Christensen’s classic “arm drop” first ensures both racers are ready,
and then starts them off in a style similar to 50s style drag racing.
However, Pinks does use the staging portion of the “Christmas Tree” to
ensure both racers are positioned correctly at the starting line.

Pinks technical advisors Nate and Adam Pritchett, stars in their own
right, are the ones who ultimately choose the 16 car field for the
show. Their goal is to choose the ones that are closest together in
elapsed time, to ensure an even, heads-up, wide open, side by side, no
holds barred competition. Going into an event, no one knows what range
will be selected, although mid ten second quarter mile times are
prevalent. For the Atlanta event, the selected field ranged from a
quickest time of 10.30 seconds to a slowest of 10.38. Similar to street
racing, no times are displayed on the scoreboards, and after the
competition begins, not even the competitors are allowed to know their
elapsed times. It’s simply a case of the first person to the finish
line wins each round. The final round is done a little differently.
Both finalists are allowed to start when they get ready, but then are
not allowed to turn off their engines, and are not even allowed to
remove their safety equipment during a best two out of three passes
elimination.

Although he may be out of contention for this season's Australian Top
Alcohol Championship that certainly hasn't stopped reigning champion
Wayne Newby from taking round victories.

In what was his third victory of the 2007/08 season, Newby took out the
top honours during the recently held Nitro Champs at his home track of
Western Sydney International Dragway (WSID).

After qualifying second earlier in the weekend, Newby marched through
to the final by downing John Cannuli in national record time during the
opening round of eliminations, followed by advancing through to the
final when Aaron Hambridge red lighted during their match up in the
semi-final, and he then faced Aaron Lynch in the final and took out a
comfortable victory with a 5.884 second pass and that therefore sealed
his Nitro Champs victory.