One week after his triumphant return to the driver’s seat, Kenny Koretsky is sitting out this weekend’s O’Reilly Mid-South Nationals. Replacing him in the blue Nitro Fish/ISC Racers Tape Pro Stock Dodge is Dave Northrop.

“Everything went well for me last weekend,” said Koretsky, who made his first driving appearance since his on-track accident with Bruce Allen in October. “I was pleased with the way I drove and everything, but I just need to devote more time to my businesses right now.

Point standings (top 10) for
IHRA professional categories following the 25th anniversary Torco Racing Fuels
Northern Nationals at US 131 Motorsports Park, the seventh of 11 events in the 
2006 eMax Drag Racing Series -

Top Fuel

1.  Clay Millican, 482; 2.  Doug Foley, 445; 3.  Rick Cooper, 386;
4.  Bobby Lagana Jr., 381; 5.  Bruce Litton, 341; 6.  T.J. Zizzo, 260; 7. 
Andrew Cowin, 240; 8.  Chris Karamesines, 230; 9.  Louie Allison, 194; 10. 
Mitch King, 157.

Nitro Funny Car

1.  Dale Creasy Jr., 466; 2.  Jack Wyatt, 450; 3.  Bob Gilbertson,
402; 4.  Vincent Arcadi, 389; 5.  Gary Densham, 322; 6.  Terry Haddock, 315; 7. 
Gary Cooper, 228; 8.  Paul Lee, 221; 9.  Doug Kalitta, 97; 10.  Mitch King, 84.

Pro Modified

1.  Glen Kerunsky, 416; 2.  Danny Rowe, 356; 3.  Quain Stott, 354;
4.  Tommy D{Aprile, 293; 5.  Mike Janis, 292; 6.  Jim Halsey, 290; 7.  Mike
Castellana, 289; 8.  Carl Spiering, 283; 9.  Steve Bareman, 263; 10.  Scott
Cannon, 253.

Alcohol Funny Car

1.  Mark Thomas, 505; 2.  Thomas Carter, 459; 3.  Rob Atchison,
458; 4.  Terry McMillen, 373; 5.  Frederick Tigges, 269; 6.  Terry Munroe, 258;
7.  Larry Dobbs, 248; 8.  Trevor Lebsack, 241; 9.  Paul Noakes, 223; 10.  Chris
Foster, 168.

The 25 th Annual Torco Racing Fuels
Northern Nationals was a weekend of firsts for Illinois-based racer T.J. Zizzo.
He claimed his first career pole position when final qualifying was said and
done and, back where he made his first IHRA appearance last season, registered
the low ET of the meet and captured his first career national event victory at
US 131 Motor sports Park.

Zizzo was the best Knoll Gas-Torco Racing Fuels Pro Nitro
Top Fuel car all weekend. After his Friday qualifying hit stood up he knocked
off J.R. Todd, a recent two-time NHRA national event winner, in the first round
of eliminations. He then handled Bruce Litton in the semifinals and Doug Foley
in the finals to take home his first Ironman.

(8-7-2006) - Point standings (top 10) for IHRA professional categories following the 25th anniversary Torco Racing Fuels Northern Nationals at US 131 Motorsports Park, the seventh of 11 events in the  2006 eMax Drag Racing Series -

Top Fuel

1.  Clay Millican, 482; 2.  Doug Foley, 445; 3.  Rick Cooper, 386; 4.  Bobby Lagana Jr., 381; 5.  Bruce Litton, 341; 6.  T.J. Zizzo, 260; 7.  Andrew Cowin, 240; 8.  Chris Karamesines, 230; 9.  Louie Allison, 194; 10.  Mitch King, 157.

Nitro Funny Car

1.  Dale Creasy Jr., 466; 2.  Jack Wyatt, 450; 3.  Bob Gilbertson, 402; 4.  Vincent Arcadi, 389; 5.  Gary Densham, 322; 6.  Terry Haddock, 315; 7.  Gary Cooper, 228; 8.  Paul Lee, 221; 9.  Doug Kalitta, 97; 10.  Mitch King, 84.

Pro Modified

1.  Glen Kerunsky, 416; 2.  Danny Rowe, 356; 3.  Quain Stott, 354; 4.  Tommy D{Aprile, 293; 5.  Mike Janis, 292; 6.  Jim Halsey, 290; 7.  Mike Castellana, 289; 8.  Carl Spiering, 283; 9.  Steve Bareman, 263; 10.  Scott Cannon, 253.

Alcohol Funny Car

1.  Mark Thomas, 505; 2.  Thomas Carter, 459; 3.  Rob Atchison, 458; 4.  Terry McMillen, 373; 5.  Frederick Tigges, 269; 6.  Terry Munroe, 258; 7.  Larry Dobbs, 248; 8.  Trevor Lebsack, 241; 9.  Paul Noakes, 223; 10.  Chris Foster, 168.

a d v e r t i s e m e n t

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The 25 th Annual Torco Racing Fuels Northern Nationals was a weekend of firsts for Illinois-based racer T.J. Zizzo. He claimed his first career pole position when final qualifying was said and done and, back where he made his first IHRA appearance last season, registered the low ET of the meet and captured his first career national event victory at US 131 Motor sports Park.
Zizzo was the best Knoll Gas-Torco Racing Fuels Pro Nitro Top Fuel car all weekend. After his Friday qualifying hit stood up he knocked off J.R. Todd, a recent two-time NHRA national event winner, in the first round of eliminations. He then handled Bruce Litton in the semifinals and Doug Foley in the finals to take home his first Ironman.

“This is an all-volunteer team, and I mean all volunteer,” Zizzo said. “Not even Dave Settles, the Crew Chief, gets paid a dime on this deal. US 131 is one of my favorite race tracks and I’ve won here before in an alcohol dragster, so this win really means a lot to us.”

Zizzo won the Ironman when he defeated Foley in the final, but it was his first-round match-up with J.R. Todd that Zizzo was most keyed-up for.

When
records are discussed regarding the IHRA eMax Drag Racing Series, the topic
usually centers on performance on the track. Saturday, at the 25^th
Annual Torco Racing Fuels Northern Nationals, all the talk was about everything
surrounding the race.  

Waves of people filed into the facility from the time the
gates opened until just after the final professional qualifying sessions were
completed. IHRA officials had to delay pre-race ceremonies for 45 minutes while
the late-coming drag racing fans made their way through the line of traffic that
backed up down the access road and onto US 131 in both directions.

“I have never seen anything like this,” IHRA President
Aaron Polburn said. “We are having trouble keeping up with the demand for
tickets at the gate. It is amazing to me that Jason and Stephanie Peterson and
their staff are still standing when you consider everything they have been put
through today. I have to take my hat off to them because they are performing way
above and beyond the call of duty.”

Ticket sales for the 25^th Annual Torco Northern
Nationals surpassed last season’s sales before the first pair of cars went down
the track Saturday. Saturday ended up being the single largest day, crowd-wise,
in Northern Nationals history. That record was not broken by hundreds, it was
surpassed by thousands.

Here's a look at Troy Coughlin's new
turbocharged Pontiac Grand-am. It is rumored to be headed to the IHRA with the
legalization of turbochargers in the Pro Modified class.

Troy Critchley put the Dr. Moon’s
Rage AMS ’57 Chevy in the sand, and in the air, at the end of his qualifying
attempt on Friday, and in an interview with John Waldie and 1320 TV he explained
what happened and how he managed to walk away from the scary crash with no ill
effects.

“We seem to be testing the boundaries right now,” he said.
“Our other car, the ’70 Cuda, has been 237 miles an hour three times now, but
the second time we did it we had problems with the chutes. The chutes went down
under the car and wrapped around the rear-end, actually. It’s pretty hard to
pull one of these things up – 2700 pounds at 237 miles an hour.

For drag racers, it’s burnouts,
shifting gears and parachute pops – but this weekend in Martin Funny Car driver
Mike Ashley will be moving to a different beat, adding his own creative flair.
Along with his Sponsor, Evan Knoll, Ashley and his team were involved in the
shooting of a music video with a drag-racing theme.

 
Having captured the
attention of all drag racing fans with their “Go Hard or Go Home” song which is
featured on NHRA POWERade drag racing telecasts on ESPN2, The Formula Project
will compile drag racing footage for their new rap/hip-hop song “The
Choice.”

Worsham Racing's popular Murray's
Discount Auto-sponsored "Madman Murray" car will make a surprise appearance at
this weekend's O'Reilly Midwest Nationals near St. Louis, with veteran Funny Car
driver Jeff Arend at the controls.   The Worsham organization will operate the
additional car at the event, while Del Worsham and Phil Burkart will drive their
standard red and blue Checker, Schuck's, Kragen Monte Carlos, respectively.  
The Murray's car is also scheduled to appear in both Memphis and Indianapolis
later in the year, with Burkart driving.

"We have the equipment, we had a
good driver at our disposal, and we
have enough additional crew guys to do
this for one race without a lot
of extra effort," Worsham said.  "So, we got
with CSK and discussed the
idea with them, and the consensus was to do this
with the Murray's body
on the car.  This way, we're able to give the latest
addition to the
CSK family of stores some additional exposure, while we also
get to
provide the St. Louis fans with a chance see this great car.  With
our
midwestern shop in Auburn, Ind. being right on the way from

Englishtown, it wasn't that difficult of a project to take on.  We just

stopped here on the way, and got to work on it."