Terry Jenkins of Cummins, Ga., was named the sixth NAPA AUTO PARTS
Honorary Crew Member of the 2008 NHRA Drag Racing Series on Sunday at
the NHRA Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway.
 
As an assistant service director of Just Right Auto Sales, Jenkins was
selected after winning a contest for the highest sales increase over
the month leading up to the Southern Nationals. The contest was open to
all the NAPA AUTO PARTS stores across the state of Georgia. During the
season the NAPA distribution centers at each event will have different
criteria for choosing the people who are potential NAPA Honorary Crew
Members.

After reaching the semifinals in the first two events of the season, Schumacher
Electric Suzuki Pro Stock Motorcycle rider Chip Ellis made it one better at the
NHRA Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway. He was runner-up today to Andrew
Hines in the third of 17 races for the class on the 2008 NHRA POWERade Drag
Racing Series schedule. Ellis set low elapsed time (6.943 seconds) and top speed
of the event (192.60 mph) en route to his eighth career final
round.

Following a lengthy delay due to rain, the PSM class finally made
it to the starting line at 3:30 p.m. Ellis was on his game in the first round
with a solid .019-of-a-second reaction time (.000 is perfect) coupled with a
6.967-second elapsed time at 192.11 mph to defeat Junior Pippen, who was
disqualified for a red-light start.
 
In the quarterfinals Ellis continued
to run strong, recording a 7.008/189.79 to outrun Shawn Gann's 7.047/188.41 and
advanced into his third consecutive semifinal of the season. Ellis enjoyed a
solo run into the final after Angelle Sampey broke on her burnout. Ellis laid
down the quickest and fastest run of eliminations with a 6.943/192.60 to advance
to his first final of the year, where he would have lane choice over Andrew
Hines.

Reigning POWERade Pro Stock champion had a strong semifinal showing at Atlanta
Dragway to maintain a firm grip on the No. 2 ranking in the championship points
standings.

After his JEGS.com race team returned his Chevrolet Cobalt to
the set-up they had at the start of the year, Coughlin returned to championship
form on race day, beating six-time world champion Warren Johnson in Round 1 and
low qualifier Ron Krisher in the quarterfinals before bowing to Mike Edwards in
the semis on a holeshot.

Coughlin had the quicker car against Edwards but
the veteran from Oklahoma pulled off a cosmic .008-second reaction time against
Coughlin's .037-second start to win with a 6.667 at 206.54 mph over Coughlin's
6.657 at 206.29 mph.

Point standings (top 10) for NHRA professional categories following
the 28th annual Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals at
Atlanta Dragway, the sixth of 24 events in the  NHRA POWERade Drag
Racing Series -

 
Top Fuel

1.  Tony Schumacher, 511; 2.  Antron Brown, 485; 3.  Larry Dixon, 415;
4.  Cory McClenathan, 386; 5.  Brandon Bernstein, 322; 6.  Rod Fuller,
321; 7.  Hillary Will, 305; 8.  Doug Herbert, 278; 9. David Grubnic,
265; 10.  Doug Kalitta, 254.

HISTORY MADE; ASHLEY FORCE BECOMES FIRST WOMAN TO WIN IN FUNNY CAR

Ashley Force became the first female nitro Funny Car winner in NHRA drag racing history.

In a final round for the ages Ashley Force beat father John, becoming
the first woman in NHRA history to win a national event in Funny Car at
the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals in Commerce, Ga.

Ashley faced father and NHRA legend John Force in the final round,
driving her Castrol GTX Ford Mustang pass the iconic legend with a run
of 4.837 at 320.36. Though John was competing in his 500th race and
came within one round win of reaching 1,000, it was the younger Force
who stood in the winner’s circle at the end of the event.

Eddie Ware collected his first victory on the JEGS ProMod Challenge Sunday with
a convincing win over first-time finalist Roger Burgess at Atlanta Dragway. The
two Georgia-based racers were close for the first half of the race before Ware
drove away to take the stripe with a quick 6.055 at 235.51 mph to Burgess' 6.499
at 179.56 mph.

Ware's victory moved him from eighth to third place in the
rankings, just four behind second-place runner Tony Pontieri and 22 behind
season-long points leader Joe Baker, who failed to qualify for this event after
winning the first two races of the year. Burgess jumped from 14th to
eighth.

"The whole day I was adding points and trying to figure out where
we were in the standings," Ware said. "We knew when Joe DNQ'ed we'd have a
chance to make up a bunch of ground and we just stayed focused on getting as
many round wins as we could. In the end, this turned into the perfect
weekend.

Sunday's final results from the 28th annual Summit Racing Equipment
NHRA Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway.  The  race is the sixth of
24 in the  NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series:
 

Top Fuel -- Antron Brown, 4.537 seconds, 325.14 mph def. Tony Schumacher, 4.521 seconds, 329.58 mph.

Final round-by-round results from the 28th annual Summit Racing
Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway, the sixth of 24
events in the  NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series:

 
TOP FUEL:

ROUND ONE -- Antron Brown, 4.580, 319.29 def. David Grubnic, 4.597,
321.81; Doug Herbert, 4.724, 306.12 def. Doug Kalitta, 5.103, 224.43;
Hillary Will, 4.581, 317.72 def. Alan Bradshaw, 4.743, 319.75; Bob
Vandergriff, 5.061, 305.42 def. Larry Dixon, 5.698, 215.58; Cory
McClenathan, 4.556, 318.09 def. Todd Paton, 5.520, 180.77; Rod Fuller,
4.542, 323.04 def. Terry McMillen, foul; Tony Schumacher, 4.551, 326.56
def. Morgan Lucas, 4.614, 321.58; J.R. Todd, 4.624, 322.11 def. Brandon
Bernstein, 4.621, 312.64;

QUARTERFINALS -- Vandergriff,
4.668, 298.93 def. Todd, 4.647, 279.61; Brown, 4.591, 325.61 def.
McClenathan, 4.562, 320.89; Fuller, 4.556, 324.44 def. Herbert, 4.754,
265.33; Schumacher, 4.572, 324.12 def. Will, 4.587, 321.19;

SEMIFINALS -- Brown, 4.555, 330.47 def. Vandergriff, 4.642, 296.11; Schumacher, 4.511, 325.45 def.Fuller, 4.539, 325.53;

FINAL -- Brown, 4.537, 325.14 def. Schumacher, 4.521, 329.58.

COUGHLIN CRASH SEQUENCE

Pro Mod veteran Troy Coughlin was shaken but otherwise uninjured after crashing
hard into the retaining wall of Atlanta Dragway during Saturday's first round of
eliminations in the JEGS ProMod Challenge.

The accident overshadowed an
upset-filled opening round where four drivers from the bottom half of the ladder
advanced. Ninth-place qualifier Roger Burgess beat Shelly Payne with a 6.08.
Tenth-place Jay Payne avenged his wife's loss by beating Kirk Kuhns, 6.06 to
6.11. Eddie Ware got past a higher-ranked Mike Ashley, who encountered severe
tire shake, while Tony Pontieri won when No. 5 qualifier Coughlin impacted the
wall.

WILKERSON, McCLENATHAN, KRISHER, HINES STAY IN NO. 1 QUALIFYING SPOTS

Tim Wilkerson retained the top spot from Friday qualifying.

The
No. 1 provisional qualifiers from Friday in all four categories held on
to those top spots as qualifying wrapped up Saturday for the Summit
Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals in Commerce, Ga.

Tim Wilkerson’s run of 4.774-second pass at 325.92 mph in his Levy Ray
& Shoup Chevy Impala SS from the previous day was enough to keep
him in the top spot in Funny Car. It is Wilkerson’s third No. 1
qualifier of the season and 13th of his career.