FAST™ Relocates R&D Center, Expands Engineering & Tech Support Resources

FAST™ (Fuel Air Spark Technology™), a leading manufacturer of high
performance electronic fuel injection and tuning products, plans to
relocate its Brighton, Michigan Research & Development Center to
the Memphis, Tennessee headquarters of its parent company, the COMP
Performance Group™ (CPG), effective immediately. Coinciding with the
move, FAST™
announces it has added key engineering and tech support personnel to
handle ambitious plans for future growth and rapid product development.

The relocation of the FAST™ R&D Center marks the culmination of a
nearly two year effort to centralize all aspects of the company,
including tech support, sales and production in one location. Plans are
to relocate all current employees of the Brighton, Michigan facility to
the Memphis facility and continue their assignments within the FAST™
product line. In anticipation of the move, several key engineering
personnel have recently been hired or reassigned from other CPG
divisions - further strengthening what is already arguably the
strongest engineering team of any performance electronics company. The
newly expanded FAST™ engineering team is currently in place at the
Memphis facility and actively engaged in “fast tracking” new product
development efforts with several breakthrough products scheduled for
debut at this year’s SEMA show.

The new Countdown to the Championship playoff-style system to decide the 2007
POWERade champions is already delivering the big-time thrills NHRA officials
were hoping for when they instituted the plan at the start of the season.

The
first phase, which will end Tuesday at the conclusion of the rain-plagued 23rd
annual Toyo Tires NHRA Nationals, has trimmed each Pro class down to eight
racers that will fight for their respective titles. Remarkably, all four Pro
categories have been pushed to the very end with eight racers still alive for
the last four Countdown spots.

From the moment Gary Scelzi said it, he
wanted to reel it back in. Not so in the world of drag racing news and rumors.

Scelzi effectively hinted on Saturday’s ESPN2 show
that he could return in 2008. Is the sabbatical off?

“No it isn’t off, but I have had some interesting
offers,” Scelzi said. “I have been offered everything from people offering part
ownership to flying me to the races from California. Then Don Schumacher has
made offers to keep me here another year so we can train someone new.

“I would say the chances of me coming back stand at
10%. I probably shouldn’t have said anything on television but there is a
chance. The logistics play a big role. That part has not been worked out yet.”

So who’s courting Scelzi?

“I can tell you they’re big and it’s not John
Force,” Scelzi said. “Everybody keeps thinking I am going to John Force Racing.
I am not going anywhere. The ultimate thing for me would be to stay here.”

Using the largest and most prestigious race on the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing
Series as a backdrop, Hillary Will’s KB Racing LLC-owned, Kalitta
Motorsports-managed Top Fuel dragster will debut its new paint scheme at the 53rd
annual NHRA Mac Tools U.S. Nationals. What began as a one-race deal will now extend to the balance of the 2007 season.

KB Racing owner, Ken Black, and
Torco’s owner, Evan Knoll, have joined forces for the Labor Day weekend event
that has Will’s dragster carrying an unique paint scheme, from graphic artist
Greg Ozubko and the graphic design studio of GOS Motorsports, with a special
message that urges all to “Support Our Troops And Their Families.”

Don Schumacher has been in this sport long
enough to know that what is said isn’t always interpreted as intended. Case in
point, when Schumacher said he hopes Force doesn’t hurt Neff; he explained that
he his comments were intended as a means of concern for a longtime employee and
friend.

“I care about Mike Neff,’ Schumacher said. “He has
been an employee, a friend and a member of a family. I have a genuine and
caring feeling for Mike Neff.

“If people take that as being someway reflected on
the Force operation, and their terrible tragedy that took the life of Eric
Medlen, then I apologize for anyone that could put those together. There’s no
correlation into that at all.

“I care about Mike Neff and as much as anything Mike
has been promised an opportunity there. Don’t hurt him by that opportunity not
happening. There are lots of things out there but you can’t put anything
together with these comments.

The pathway to Funny Car has become colorful
lately. If you thought going from crew chief to driver was an interesting
route, try sunglass salesman to flopper pilot.

Donnie Faulkner,
proprietor of the Rolling O Store on the Manufacturer’s Midway, says he’s ready
for the challenge. He said he has inspiration and confidence on his side.

Reportedly, Faulkner has
progressed into the latter stages with at least one major team who is
interested in offering a 12-race gig. He’s declined to identify the team at
this time.

“I didn’t really know I
wanted to drive a Funny Car until my son died,” Faulkner said. “Then I figured
if I was ever going to do I had better do it now that the opportunity presented
itself. The availability of sponsorship and a ride is what is driving me.

“I know there will be a
lot of naysayers and a lot of people will tell you a novice can’t do it. But
look at Mike Neff. He’s going into one of the best rides out there. He never
drove a car.

RELENTLESS RAIN AT MAPLE GROVE PUSHES ELIMINATIONS TO MONDAY

The
23rd annual Toyo Tires NHRA Nationals have been postponed until Monday
after a light but steady rain halted the action midway through the
first round of Funny Car eliminations and continued to fall for many
hours thereafter. Action will resume at the exact same spot in the
proceedings Monday morning at 10 a.m.

FIVE DRIVERS CLINCH AS FULLER, WORSHAM, ANDERSON AND SAMPEY HANG ON AS TOP QUALIFIERS

Whit Bazemore, Bob Vandergriff, Kurt Johnson, Chip Ellis, and Karen
Stoffer finished qualifying for the 23rd annual Toyo Tires NHRA
Nationals Saturday by securing positions in the Countdown to the
Championship, the new playoff-style format to decide the 2007 POWERade
Drag Racing Series champions.

The next phase of the Countdown -- the Countdown to Four -- begins Aug.
29 at the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals. The final seven open slots will be
filled during Sunday's elimination racing at Maple Grove Raceway.

Top Fuel points leader "Hot Rod" Fuller, Funny Car Countdown hopeful
Del Worsham, three-time Pro Stock champion Greg Anderson, and Pro Stock
Motorcycle maven Angelle Sampey remained in control of their respective
categories in Day 2. Sampey impressed the most in Saturday's cooler
conditions, running a 6.901 on her Suzuki, which is tied for the second
quickest elapsed time in history.

Top Fuel leader Fuller will try to break the curse of the No. 1
qualifier -- none have won this year -- for the fourth time this year.
Fuller's Friday night pass of 4.521 at 327.19 mph in the Ransome
Caterpillar dragster was mostly unchallenged Saturday.

In a commemorative program hosted by GM Racing and the National Hot Rod
Association on Saturday, a group of 19 retired veterans from the Army Special
Forces Association, Randall Shughart Chapter 64, based in nearby Carlisle, Pa.,
took center stage at the 23rd annual Toyo Tires NHRA Nationals at
Maple Grove Raceway.

Throughout the year, SFA Randall
Shughart Chapter 64 members visit U.S. combat-wounded troops at the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany bringing words of hope and
good cheer, as well as souvenir gift bags with items donated by NHRA teams and
sponsors. They also conduct fund-raising events to purchase telephone cards,
clothing items and duffle bags for use by wounded/injured personnel at
Landstuhl, traveling to LRMC via SpaceA on U.S. Air
Force aircraft to distribute the items. 
Earlier this year monies were raised by SFA Chapter 64 at the NHRA event
in Englishtown, N.J., by auctioning off a racing helmet
autographed by more than 40 NHRA drivers. 
   

For the past two years, members from
SFA Chapter 64 have served as the advance team and on-site organizers for
"Operation Support Our Wounded," a postseason visit with American troops in
Germany by NHRA goodwill ambassadors
Warren Johnson, Jim Yates, Melanie Troxel, Tommy Johnson Jr. and Cory
McClenathan. The drivers are currently scheduled to return the weekend following
this season’s Auto Club of Southern California NHRA Finals in Pomona, Calif., but on Saturday, GM Racing and the
NHRA wanted to give a little something back to this special group of Green
Berets and say, "Thank you, for a job well done."

WORSHAM, FULLER, ANDERSON AND SAMPEY TOP FIELDS AFTER FIRST DAY OF QUALIFYING IN READING

Funny
Car veteran Del Worsham began his last-gasp fight for the eighth and
final spot in the Countdown to the Championship by leading Friday's
action at the 23rd annual Toyo Tires NHRA Nationals at Maple Grove
Raceway.

Worsham's 4.800-second pass at 323.97 mph placed him alongside fellow
low qualifiers "Hot Rod" Fuller (4.521 in Top Fuel), Greg Anderson
(6.685, Pro Stock), and Angelle Sampey (6.987, Pro Stock Motorcycle) at
the midway point of professional qualifying.

Fighting for his playoff life, Worsham pulled out all the stops in his
Checker Schuck's Kragen Chevrolet Impala SS Friday, blasting to the
provisional pole with a 4.800 at 323.97 mph. Should Worsham stay No. 1
and win the race, and No. 8 points earner Jim Head -- who is qualified
seventh here -- retain his position and lose in the first round,
Worsham would make the Countdown to the Championship field by one point.

"I'm not going to say it's too little, too late, but I think we're down
to needing a miracle at this point," Worsham said. "We've had miracles
happen before with this team so we won't quit."