If you're sitting in your favorite reclining chair, channel-surfing and looking for some good off-season drag racing action, here's a heads up.

Today ESPN2 will showcase the 2007 edition of “NHRA Thrills & Spills,” a 30-minute special that features the most spectacular on-track moments from 2007 and past NHRA POWERade Series seasons.

Two-time defending NHRA Top Alcohol Dragster World Champion Bill Reichert will display his Rislone Engine Treatment backed injected nitro dragster at the upcoming World Drag Expo, Jan. 19-20, at the Schaumburg Convention Center in Schaumburg, Ill. 

The Rislone dragster will be the centerpiece of the main entrance into the show hall.

The World Drag Expo is one of the premiere trade shows in the motorsports industry. Clayton Parks, Vice President of Marketing for Bar's Leaks/Rislone said he is excited to have Reichert's championship-winning car as the focal point in the prominent exhibit.

Roger Gustin, President of AutoStar Productions, Inc. announced recently that JEGS has retained the Title Sponsorship of the JEGS Bracket Two Battle at all Super Chevy Show events in 2008.  JEGS has also been named presenting sponsor of events in Tucson and Atlanta, as well as the sponsor of the Monte Carlo Car Class within the TREMEC Transmission Car Show Series.

Since 1999, Torco's CompetitionPlus.com has offered the spirit of friendly competition amongst the racing community in a "Best of" competition. Our readers have assisted us in voting on everything from the best drag racers to their favorite drag strip to the presigious Person of the Year. There are also a few new categories. Please cast your vote in this annual tradition.

DOT COM AWARDS BALLOT 

Speaking from the airport in Houston, Texas, Whit Bazemore revealed that he will not be competing on the NHRA circuit in 2008.

“Nothing, actually,” Bazemore said in his standard straight from the hip style when asked what he might have in the hopper for the coming season. “It's doesn't look like I will race next year.

“I guess you could say I am taking a sabbatical.”

No tears. No sound of depression. If anything, Whit expressed a feeling of relief knowing he isn't facing the issues confronting the sport in 2008 that his fellow competitors will not be able to avoid.

Today's classic video on YouTube.com carries us to the 1963 Smokers Fuel & Gas Championships at Bakersfield. This is two minutes of video guaranteed to make you smile.

Former IHRA Pro Stock racer Carl Baker and his wife Donna were uninjured in an accident involving a deer according to the Chronicle-Telegram newspaper in Ohio.

According to the newspaper report, a deer crossed into the path of the minivan driven by Carl.

The resulting impact sent the deer into the opposite lane of traffic where it went through the windshield of any oncoming Jeep.

Only one vote per IP address. Polls close January 4, 2008 at 12:01 AM.

For the next three weeks, Torco’s CompetitionPlus.com will conduct its inaugural War Stories Showdown presented by Mach Series Accelerator. The veterans of yarn spinning are paired for what promises to be a series destined to produce the finest behind-the-scenes stories.

We thought we'd seen it all and then came across this. Apparently, we've been missing the boat with power tool drag racing. There are some events staged in Europe, but this one took place last year in San Francisco, Ca. Maybe this could be the NHRA's replacement for the ill-fated Sport Compact series?

Jack Beckman, driver of the Mail Terminal Services Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car for Don Schumacher Racing in the 2007 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, will make a special appearance at the Los Angeles Shriners Hospital for Children on Friday, Dec. 21, 2007, at 1:30 P.M., on behalf of the Racers Who Care program.
 
Beckman, of North Hills, Calif., finished fifth in the 2007 NHRA Funny Car standings with back-to-back national-event victories during the season. He has also won four championships and over 50 events at the NHRA Sportsman level during his drag-racing career. But his racing accomplishments are overshadowed by the fact that he is a survivor of lymphoma, a form of cancer which he successfully battled and overcame in 2004 after enduring six months of chemotherapy.
 
The 41-year-old father and husband will be visiting the top-notch Shriners Hospital in Los Angeles in an effort to provide companionship, inspiration and a distraction to the children who are in the same situation he was in not long ago. Beckman has visited similar facilities in the past in an effort to show his love and caring to those who are facing the same situation and challenges that he has experienced.  

How ironic it is in the same week that former U.S. Army-sponsored teammate Angelle Sampey landed a new Pro Stock Motorcycle ride, Antron Brown pulled within two passes of earning his crossoverTop Fuel license. Brown completed three days of testing at Gainesville (Fla.) Raceway on Wednesday making eight tries at the historic Gainesville quarter mile behind the wheel of the Lee Beard-tuned Matco Tools dragster.

The team battled cooler than normal temperatures during the first two days in Florida, limiting Brown to just four tries at the quarter mile on Monday and Tuesday. The low 50-degree temperatures created tricky track conditions causing tire-shake during the run. Wednesday’s warmer temperatures allowed the team to make four passes.

After a whirlwind month of personnel changes in the Pro Stock Motorcycle division, Angelle Sampey will fill the position recently vacated by Peggy Lewellyn when team owners Karl and Kim Klement announced they would not renew her contract in 2008. The three-time NHRA POWERade champ Sampey will pilot their Rush Racing Products Buell in 2008.
 
Klement Racing signed major sponsor Rush just in time for the 2007 Countdown to the Championship. The addition was almost in unison with the U.S. Army's decision to abandon their Pro Stock Motorcycle marketing effort.

The timing was perfect for Rush president Lou Pringle. 

I never thought the Army would give us such a golden opportunity." lsaid Pringle. "Given Angelle's popularity, she's a perfect marketing tool for our products. We're very excited."
 

After three days of solid "story-telling," the readers of Torco's CompetitionPlus.com are casting their votes for the best war stories in the inaugural WAR STORIES Showdown presented by Mach Series Accelerator. Later today, we will present the final two pair of the first round. Some of these veterans are coming to the first round loaded for bear.

The competition began on Monday and today at 5 PM, voting will end for the first two pairs of competitors. If you haven't voted yet go to WAR STORIES Showdown . This page will have a rundown of all the match-ups, as well as links to the respective pages.

So far, here are the unofficial results -