For FRAM Top Fuel dragster driver Cory McClenathan Bristol Dragway has been
feast or famine. The feast came when he won $200,000 in the Top Fuel-vs.-Funny
Car Invitational "Showdown" in 1999. The famine came when his dragster was
destroyed in a spectacular accident in 2006.
 
McClenathan will be looking
to turn things around with his first victory at Bristol Dragway this weekend at
the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals, the eighth stop on the 24 race NHRA POWERade
Drag Racing Series tour.
 
The driver of the second Don Schumacher Racing
Top Fuel dragster this year enters the Bristol event No. 5 in the Top Fuel point
standings with one win (Las Vegas) and one runner-up (Atlanta).

Hernandez scored his 100th round win in NHRA Pro Modified en route to beating Tony Pontieri in the final round. (Roger Richards)

Josh Hernandez's victorious final-round pass against Tony Pontieri at the
recently-completed O'Reilly Midwest Nationals in St. Louis marked his 100th
elimination round in the JEGS ProMod Challenge. The win capped a weekend where
Hernandez improved many of his long-established class records, including most
wins (14), most top qualifiers (10), and best overall race day record
(77-23).

"One hundred rounds? The first word that comes to mind is 'wow,'
" said Hernandez, driver of the Team Rage Camaro sponsored by Interlinc Mortgage
and Tommy Lipar Racing. "I don't really stop to look at the numbers very often
but when you hear something like that or look at the stats on JegsProMod.com, it
is mind-boggling.

"Credit (team owner) Tommy Lipar, who is my wife
Amber's uncle. When he put this team together he said if we were gonna do this
thing then we needed to do it right. We want for nothing and our success is the
result of many, many people, but none of it would have happened without Tommy."

Mike Ashley's first round experience at St. Louis can be traced back to his first Pro Modified win. (Roger Richards)

Winning is always relevant to two-time Pro Modified World Champion Mike
Ashley regardless of which car he drives in competition.

Case in point, two weeks ago at the NHRA Midwest Nationals in St.
Louis, Mo., Ashley’s day behind the wheel of his nitro Funny Car
appeared to be over when he smoked the tires early in the race. His
opponent Scott Kalitta was well on the way to victory when he also
smoked the tires. A resourceful Ashley settled down his Dodge Charger
and re-engaged the throttle, never lifting from that point.

The end result was a victory by only inches. The lesson was a mile
long. Ashley exited the car and proclaimed, “You know what the moral of
the story is, you never quit. You just never, never, ever quit.”

Shortly after uttering the telltale statement, Ashley remembered a
similar day which set in motion his career of vast successes in drag
racing. He returned to the setting of his first national event victory.

With his most recent Pro Stock win at St. Louis last week, Chevy driver Kurt
Johnson will not only enter the gates of Bristol Dragway for this weekend's 8th
annual O'Reilly NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals with at least one win in each of
the last 14

Kurt Johnson has won at least one race in the last 14 seasons and leads all Chevrolet Pro Stock drivers. (Roger Richards Photos)

seasons, but the driver of the ACDelco Chevy Cobalt now has 27 wins
behind the wheel of a Chevrolet, the most by any Chevy racer in the history of
the Pro Stock category. Johnson's St. Louis win broke his tie with the legendary
Lee Shepherd for most Chevy wins and moved him up to third in the NHRA POWERade
Pro Stock standings, less than a round win behind points-leader Jason
Line.

"It's brutal out there; every run's a challenge," Johnson said.
"But it's great to win 14 years in a row; it's been a long time since (the win
in) Phoenix last year. This is the seventh race of the season and we now have
six different winners, so that just shows you how tough it is, and it's great
for the fans."

NASCAR great Randy LaJoie will be the special guest of four-time NHRA champion
Jeg Coughlin Jr. at this weekend's eighth annual O'Reilly Thunder Valley NHRA
Nationals at Bristol Dragway. The longtime round-track racer and Coughlin became
fast friends in January at the third annual Chevy Geoff Bodine Bobsled Challenge
in Lake Placid, N.Y., when they raced against one another in the charity event.
They've kept in contact ever since.

Jack Beckman is braced to compete at both the famed Bristol Dragway and Bristol
Motor Speedway during this weekend's NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals.

As a
contender in the 2008 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series Funny Car class, he will
drive the Valvoline/Mail Terminal Services Dodge Charger R/T down the
quarter-mile aiming for his second victory of the season. As a circle-track
newbie, he will compete against his NHRA peers in the NHRA Circle Track
Challenge on the half-mile paved oval across the way Saturday night.

The
affable cancer survivor, former Air Force sergeant and instructor at Frank
Hawley's Drag Racing School is stunned that he garnered 33 percent of the fan
votes so far which will likely put him on the pole for the Circle Track
Challenge once the voting is over.

"We put Bristol Dragway's release
about voting for the polesitter on our nhra.com blog and it just went nuts. My
dad sent it to two friends, and so on and so on and so on," explained Beckman.
"Sitting on the pole may be the last time I lead that event. It's pretty cool.
It will be fun. It will give me a great opportunity to get spun out early in the
race, I think," he laughed.

With the theme of the season being to take it one step at a time for Bob Tasca
III and the Motorcraft/Quick Lane/Custom Accessories Shelby Mustang team, the
rookie heads into this weekend’s NHRA race
at Bristol Dragway eager to capture his team's
first win.

“This weekend
is a real important race for us,” said Tasca. “If you look back at the last few
races; in Vegas we qualified our season
best in the No. 3 position, Atlanta was our best showing with making it to the
semi-finals, and St. Louis was hands down our most consistent performance of the
season with getting the quickest ET of my career. So you can just see that at
each race, we establish a new high point
for the program.”

The one step
at a time approach has allowed the team to put together a solid collection of
data through the first seven races of the season, and to successfully make more
and more consistent runs down the
track.

“Going into
Bristol, you kind of want to pull it all together,” said the Rookie-of-the-Year
contender. “We want to qualify in the top half of the field, we want to have an
extremely consistent car throughout qualifying and we want to go to the finals
and ultimately win the race.”

The Drag Racing and Yachting communities of Australia and friends and
family are in deep shock at the tragic loss of National youth sailing
Champion Nick Peate, aged just 17 years.

The youngest brother of female Drag Racing star Kath Stevens and
brother-in-law to the legendary Brett ‘The Boss’ Stevens, he passed on
sadly while at home in Ballina (NSW) on Saturday the 10th May.

A year 12 student at The Southport School (QLD) where he was the 2008
Sailing Teams Racing Captain, Nick was a regular in the Willowbank
Raceway grandstands and a smiling face and friend to many in Drag
Racing circles.

He was also a natural elite sporting talent in his own right with
numerous representative honours throughout his life including multiple
National Sailing Championships, NSW State Gymnastics, NSW State Cross
Country, NSW State Hockey, Schoolboy Rugby Union, Cross Country,
Athletics and Rowing, and the Bronze Medallion Surf Life Saving Award.

Having recently surpassed the 250th career race mark, U.S. Army Top
Fuel driver Tony Schumacher will now focus on another milestone here
this weekend in the O’Reilly Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol
Dragway.

Schumacher, who is the defending NHRA POWERade world champion, needs
just three more elimination round wins to reach the coveted 400 level.

“Given that John Force just got his 1,000th round win, I’m not so sure
that 400 round wins is that big of a deal,” he offered. “But, just the
same, I’m happy that my career has led me to this juncture. I’ve been
fortunate to have been surrounded by a lot of great people over the
years, including my crew chief, Alan Johnson.

“Without Alan calling the shots the last few years, I certainly would
not be in the position that I’m in right now. He’s the best in the
business and I’m blessed that he’s on my side.”

Three times racing Bristol, he’s yet to win a national event there …

Hot Rod Fuller has been to the finals twice in three races at Bristol Dragway. (Roger Richards)

The phrase, two out of three ain’t bad, sounds pretty good to NHRA Top
Fuel driver Rod Fuller considering he’d headed into Bristol Dragway
with two final round appearances in only three tries racing at the NHRA
Thunder Valley Nationals in Bristol, Tenn.

The timing is perfect for Fuller who is hot off of a win two weeks ago
at Gateway International Raceway near St. Louis. He qualified his
Caterpillar dragster eighth with a time of 4.541 seconds.

The Las Vegas racer then raced to his seventh career Top Fuel victory
by defeating five-time series champion Tony Schumacher in the final
round 4.525 to 4.583 seconds. It was Fuller’s 20th career NHRA national
event victory. He also has won 13 races in the Super Comp/Gas category.