It’s been almost two months since Jon and James Herbert, sons of Top Fuel pilot Doug Herbert, lost their lives in an automobile accident on Jetton Road near their home in Cornelius, N.C. Since their passing, friends and family members have sought ways to heal and to keep the memory of these two special young men alive.

On Saturday, March 22, 2008, a special ceremony will take place at Jetton Park. Friends of the family have worked with park officials to dedicate a spot at the beach overlooking scenic Lake Norman to the memory of Jon and James. 

Rev. Jody Seymour of Davidson United Methodist Church and Jeff Tarte, mayor of Cornelius, will officiate the ceremony. Two benches, one in memoriam of Jon and one in memoriam of James, will offer a place for friends and family to sit and remember, reflect, and begin to heal.

In a rare four-car showing for all of the Ypsilanti, Michigan-based Kalitta Motorsports nitro-fueled entries, Team Kalitta took the opportunity Monday to test and refine the tune-ups of its race cars at Gainesville Raceway after this past weekend’s running of the ACDelco NHRA Gatornationals in Gainesville, Fla.

The Mac Tools dragster team started “from scratch” Monday in an effort to pinpoint the woes that have followed them since the end of the 2007 season. “We basically took everything off of the car and started over,” crew chief Jon Oberhofer said. “It was time to just step back and re-work the whole car.”

Doug Kalitta, driver of the “Big Red” Mac Tools machine, and his team have struggled to get their hot rod to perform at the level that has seen them be perennial championship contenders since Doug’s inaugural season in 1998, in which he won Rookie of the Year honors. “It’s been tough,” Doug, a 43-year old resident of Ann Arbor, Mich., said. “We know that our Mac Tools car can be one of the most dominating cars on the tour, so it’s definitely been frustrating, but I think we’ve taken the right steps now to get everything figured out and get back to the level of performance we know we’re capable of.”

The torrential rainstorms that blew through Dallas did not dampen the excitement level of participants at 2008 BrandSource Summit who were thrilled to spend a few minutes with 14-time POWERade Funny Car Champion John Force and 2007 Rookie of the Year and Funny Car rising star Ashley Force. The BrandSource Summit brought together thousands of representatives from some of the biggest companies including Whirlpool, Serta, LG, GE, Mitsubishi and many more. Fans lined up for two hours to get autographs, pass along positive messages to the recuperating elder Force and offer words of encouragement to Ashley, one of only two Funny Car females competing at one of the highest levels of motor sports.

In addition to autographs, fans also snapped photos and gawked at Ashley Force’s 8,000 horsepower Castrol GTX Ford Mustang which served as a high powered backdrop. Both of the Forces enjoyed spending time with new and old fans. It comes as no surprise to anyone who knows John Force that spending time at sponsor appearances is as important as getting a win light during eliminations at an NHRA POWERade national event.

Spring will soon make its long-awaited return, bringing with it birds in song, flowers in bloom—and Mopar Performance HEMI®-powered 1968 Plymouth Barracudas and Dodge Darts in full-throated roar as they compete in pitched battle in the 2008 Mopar® HEMI Challenge Race Series.

The 2008 HEMI Challenge racing series resumes on Saturday, March 29 at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The Vegas HEMI Challenge stop, held in conjunction with the über-popular Mopars at The Strip event, is the fourth of eight legs in the 2008 HEMI Challenge points race (three 2008 HEMI Challenge points events were contested in late 2007).

The performance gains would be substantial; The cost would be devastating to many ...

The topic has not even reached the NHRA’s radar screen, but a month ago, Torco’s CompetitionPlus.com asked multi-time champion Greg Anderson what would he feel about increasing the cubic inch for the NHRA’s Pro Stock division.

Anderson admitted a cubic inch increase would be great for the NHRA's Pro Stock class. Virtually every other one of his opponents said the move would the final nail in the coffin for their racing efforts.

Torco’s CompetitionPlus.com discussed the idea with several teams in the wake of the real possibility IHRA’s Pro Stockers will soon dip into the 6-teens, leaving the five-second zone on the not-so-distant horizon. The consensus was the extreme cost would never be justified by the meager amount of publicity and performance gains they'd achieve.

One might think the new wicker increase might be working well for Warren Johnson considering he’s scored substantial top speeds during the NHRA Gatornationals in Gainesville, Florida.

“Truth be known, we’ve burned two holes in the body because of it,” Johnson said. “We did that in Valdosta where the downforce is compressing the rear so much.

“The situation wasn’t so bad in Gainesville but when we get to a facility that is bumpy at the finish line – then we’ll have problems. Someone is going to get in some serious trouble past the finish line. There is too much downforce for these cars.

There are times when the difference between winning and losing is attitude.

Even though six-time IHRA Top Fuel world champion Clay Millican didn’t light a single win-light during the NHRA ACDelco Gatornationals in Gainesville, Fla., he and his SinFuel Choppers Top Fuel dragster presented by Torco Race Fuels/Knoll Gas might as well have scored the overall victory.

The real triumph was in providing a measure of encouragement for team owner Evan Knoll, who was sidelined earlier in the year with serious health issues. Millican drove his way into a tough sixteen car field with only one testing weekend’s worth of preparation.

Check out the action from last weekend's Pacific Street Car Association event in Fontana, California.

PHOTO GALLERY 

All of a sudden, the sting of a first round loss doesn’t burn as much for Cory McClenathan. The Fram-sponsored driver from Avon, Indiana lost in the first round during the NHRA Gatornationals to Hillary Will but the impression of a Saturday afternoon encounter remained emblazoned in his memory banks.

McClenathan, a 29-time winner in Top Fuel, was asked by a family of race fans to place the ashes of their patriarch inside the parachute. He obliged without hesitation.

“I do this every once in a while,” McClenathan pointed out. “This is twice we’ve done this in 2008. How can you say no to a request like that?”

Tony Pedregon pointed out on Saturday during the NHRA Gatornationals in Gainesville, Florida, he didn’t subscribe to the superstition of the No. 1 qualifier jinx. On Sunday, he showed why. The two-time NHRA world champion from Torrence, California drove his Quaker State-sponsored flopper to his first victory of 2008 by stopping Gary Densham in the final round.

 

“Qualifying number one anytime is an accomplishment in itself but to be able to go into eliminations with that kind of pressure, and we had some pretty tough opponents, this is a good day,” said Pedregon. “The weather hung in there, it got a little warmer than the crew chiefs would've liked, but under these circumstances the teams who can adapt better are going to have an advantage.” 

Sometimes championship prowess doesn’t mean scoring low elapsed time every single round. Even though Pedregon nailed the best run of the first round, he did what was necessary to win from then on.

"It was going to be tough to make a better car than the Pontiac GTO, but the folks from GM Motorsports and Quarter-Max Chassis have done it."

 

This statement comes from Pete Berner, hot off his first time out with the new Quarter-Max.com Pontiac GXP. The team tested last week at South Georgia Motorsports Park in Valdosta, Georgia. The new Pontiac GXP proved itself a Championship worthy car in its maiden voyage. Berner was able to test two different motors, one of which was the same Jon Kaase engine that put him in a closely contested battle for the '07 Pro Stock Championship. Berner ran a best elapsed time of 6.30 at 223.21 mph during the test session. He is thrilled with the results.

IHRA Knoll Gas Nitro Jam racing will soon be on the big screen - literally. After a successful trial run last year in Rockingham's IHRA World Finals, Upstage Video will bring Nitro Vision to the IHRA national events in 2008.

The first meeting of the newly formed NHRA Sportsman Racer Advisory Council (SRAC) was held Friday, March 14, during the 39th annual ACDelco NHRA Gatornationals at Gainesville Raceway. Several of the 35 committee members attended in person, and the remainder participated via teleconference. NHRA President Tom Compton, NHRA Executive Vice President/General Manager Peter Clifford, NHRA Senior Vice President-Racing Operations Graham Light, and each of the seven NHRA division directors -- Bob Lang, Bill Holt, Jay Hullinger, Craig Hutchinson, Rob Park, Jonathan Adams, and Mike Rice -- were in attendance.

SRAC was formed in December to provide a means for discussing and evaluating rules and regulations pertaining to Sportsman racing at NHRA events. The committee consists of Sportsman drivers, crew chiefs, and team owners and is divided into five subcommittees: Top Alcohol, Comp, Super Stock-Stock, Super Comp-Gas-Street, and Top Sportsman-Top Dragster. Each subcommittee has one representative from each NHRA division. Hullinger has been appointed as the overall committee chairman, and Lang serves as the secretary. The other division directors also play integral roles in SRAC, serving as chairpersons of each subcommittee.

Former Top Fuel owner and crew chief Bobby Rex was rushed to a San Antonio emergency room earlier this week to be treated for a tear in his esophagus. After blood transfusions and a five-day stay in the hospital, he is back home recovering and doing well. Cards and letters may be sent to 219 Coral Avenue, San Antonio, TX 78223.

Allen Johnson continued his solid start to the 2008 NHRA POWERade Pro Stock season, advancing to the quarterfinals at the NHRA Gatornationals on Sunday and moving to the fourth spot in the NHRA Pro Stock points standings.

Johnson seeded his Mopar/J&J Racing Dodge Stratus R/T fifth on Saturday, after Friday's round of qualifying was cancelled due to rain. AJ defeated Dave Northrop in the first round, overcoming a shaky reaction time off the starting tree to drive his HEMI-powered Stratus R/T to the round win by more than a car length. In the quarterfinals, Johnson bettered his reaction time, reeling off a near perfect light of .003 seconds—only to see his opponent, Mike Edwards, earn a perfect .000 light and score the round win.