NHRA CAROLINAS NATIONALS - EVENT NOTEBOOK
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SUNDAY NOTEBOOK - THE GREATEST DRAG RACING FACILITY EVER CONCLUDES FIRST EVENT
LOVE AND HATE, AND BOOS! – Tony Schumacher had better hope that Kyle Busch never decides to drag race. It seems 
the NASCAR heavy-hitter is the only one who can beat the five-time champion these days.
Before a packed house, Schumacher drove his U.S. Army-sponsored dragster to his 53rd career victory, passing the legendary Joe Amato for the role of winningest Top Fuel driver ever.
Just days earlier Schumacher proclaimed jokingly about Busch, “I only know the guy for two hours and I already hate him.”
Now Schumacher knows how the rest of his Top Fuel competitors feel about him.
“I walked out and they introduced the top ten, you get some cheers and get some boos and Dixon said ‘I wish I could win 11 races and get booed.” Schumacher said. “Everyone has fans, Dixon fans, Bernstein fans or Kalitta fans. We keep winning and they’re going to boo us. Jeff Gordon said it best the day they stop booing we’re in trouble. You need to be doing something good, if you’re going out just doing okay no one cares.
“We have something very special, something that won’t be seen again at least like this. That doesn’t mean we won’t see great moments or special moments because they’ve been a part of the sport for years. This is very special and very unique. I’m very proud to be the driver of that race car. I wish I could’ve been there for the starting line celebration, knowing they did something very special. People can boo me all day long as long as we keep winning, I’m not doing anything wrong, I’m not being mean to them. It’s nothing personal. It’s not like I don’t like Antron I’m just trying to win the race.”
Schumacher hasn’t been beaten since the second round of the NHRA Summit Nationals in Norwalk, Ohio. The Charlotte final round was his 84th career, and 14th time in 2008 tying Larry Dixon’s single-season mark established in 2002.
ALL ABOUT ROOTS – Note to bracket racers: never forget your tricks and experience because you never know when it might 
come in handy.
Jack Beckman, a former Super Comp world champion and avid bracket racer, looked more like he was racing a bracket dragster than Don Schumacher’s Valvoline/MTS-sponsored Funny Car.
At one point in his march to the finals, Beckman strapped a .002 light on one opponent.
“I think it was almost survival of the fittest here this weekend,” Beckman said. “It’s hot, it’s humid, these firesuits don’t breathe very well in there and we got pulled up there and had a lot of down time, I mean god bless the safety safari they’re fast but importantly they are effective. Ten minutes in that car more than what you’re used to will bear on you.
“I think it was a mental thing and the bracket racing that’s something that will teach you a lot of things the pros haven’t even considered. I look at Jeg Coughlin and the reason why he’s so tough is the bracket racing. It takes 12 or 13 hours to get done with those bracket races and so it’s a survival of the fittest thing.”
Beckman admitted a tendency because he is a bracket racer and drag racing school instructor at the Frank Hawley Drag Racing School to over-think the challenge in front of him.
“I’ve been accused of being over analytical at times,” Beckman admitted. “The driving portion of the racing team is far more mental than anything else. The guys that torque the cylinder heads and put the rods in. The crew and crew chief. The crew chief is the hardest part of them because you have to try and balance the two, mental and mechanical. The driver is mostly mental. I like to dissect and analyze things to see what route will work the best. I am amazed that with a brand new race track that hasn’t hosted any races yet, that is was going to be this fast this soon. All I can do as a driver is leave on time and not screw up the crew chief’s tune up. I can’t make his number any better than it is.”
Beckman’s victory delivered Don Schumacher Racing their 117th trophy in NHRA POWERade competition.
He was competing in his sixth final round of the season and the victory represented his third in 2008.
This is a drastic improvement for a driver who missed last year’s championship Countdown.
"It's been interesting," said Beckman. "Tim Wilkerson has been the dude all year long (led the points most of the year and today dropped to fifth after the points were reset for the Countdown). We did some interviews for the Countdown and (announcer) Bob Frey asked me who are the people that you're looking at the closest for being tough down the stretch, and [I said] it's all nine of the other cars. This year it's kind of been momentum swinging back and forth. Look at Cruz. Cruz has yet to win a race this year and he's been 'bad' at every single race.”
Just to be in his current status is something that has Beckman scratching his head.
"We started the off-season with a team that had never worked together as an entire team, an empty race car trailer and no chassis,” Beckman said. “It seems like everybody who crews for me has to work extra hard, so, guys, (directed to his crew), this is the thank-you for all the hard work that you have done. And I can't emphasize enough today that the crew won the drag race. I was just so lucky to be in that Valvoline/MTS car.
THE RELUCTANT WINNER – He’s Pro Stock’s most stunning example of the reluctant winner.
Justin Humphreys scored his first career Pro Stock victory in an odd scenario that would leave even the most seasoned veteran scratching his head.
As the call was issued to fire the Pro Stock final, the unthinkable happened. Kurt Johnson’s car wouldn’t fire.
In a scene reminiscent of the Keystone Cops, crews from both teams push started the car. NHRA officials ordered Johnson to shut off his car and re-fire; starting line officials instructed Humphreys to stage.
Then as the light flashed green, Humphreys shook the tires and shut off, coasting to a 19.84 elapsed time.
No wonder Humphreys hadn’t won a race, if this was what it took.
“It’s not the way we wanted to get our first win,” Humphreys admitted. “We’ll take the win but I really wanted Kurt in the other lane. We wanted to win heads-up and I think this would have been a good race.”
After all, Humphreys was running horsepower from the Johnson family. This was his first event running with engines prepared by Pro Stock icon Warren Johnson.
“I was driving as slow as I could to get up to the line,” Humphreys added.
Humphreys had a front row seat from inside his Pontiac GXP to the mayhem going on in attempting to start Johnson’s broken down Chevrolet Cobalt.
“I thought I heard him fire, so I went ahead and fired mine,” Humphreys recalled. “He’s my teammate now. I’m elated and disappointed at the same time.
“I won a lot of races in Sport Compact when there wasn’t anyone in the other lane. That takes a lot of emotion out of the win. A win is a win.”
Humphreys first victory made him the 51st different winner in NHRA Pro Stock drag racing history.
“You go up there and try to have a clear head,” Humphreys said. “I would hate to see him lose a championship over something like that but at the same time, my crew wants to win. It was a tough ordeal.”
Humphreys’ crew chief is IHRA mountain motor Pro Stock front-runner Frank Gugliotta.
TINKERS, TO EVERS TO CHANCE – In the oddest triple play combination, Humphreys ended up with Warren Johnson 
horsepower through an introduction by Roy Hill and goading from Bob Glidden. Both were at one time fierce WJ rivals.
The one common denominator is that all, to this day, carry a huge amount of mutual respect for each other.
“We had it planned to run 2009 with WJ, but since we were already out of the Countdown, we decided to go ahead and convert over from Mopar back to GM," said Humphreys.
Humphreys raced Mopar after a falling out with previous engine builder Richard Maskin, and that came after previous crew chief Bob Glidden had retired because of health reasons.
He began leasing engines from Mopar factory driver Allen Johnson.
The thought of WJ horsepower and “Mad Dog” Glidden tuning is something that leaves Humphreys shaking his head.
“That could bring some tension and a lot of chaos,” Humphreys admitted. “They have a mutual respect but I don’t think they’d want to be working in each other’s pits.
“I’d love to have Bob back, but he’s not in the best of health. He needs to stay at home and get his heart better before he thinks about coming out here in this mess. It would be fun but interesting.”
NO PARITY? – Steve Johnson may be winning Pro Stock Motorcycle races, back-to-back as a matter of fact, but he’s not 
carrying a measure of dominance.
At least that’s how he sees it.
He may win with a Suzuki in a class dominated by Harley-Davidson and V-twin Buells but that’s on account of his riding talent.
Want to set him off?
Ask Johnson if he thinks his victories waters down the argument of a lack of parity for the class.
He’ll leave you wishing you’d never asked the question.
“[Nitro tuner] Lee Beard told me to take the rules and go get the money,” Johnson said. “We have to fight for money because our team is an expensive one to run. At the end of the day, you want to be able to tell a sponsor you can qualify No. 1. When you can do that, a sponsor has the feeling that your team can win. That’s not to mention the points, money or marketing ability.
“That facts are – one Suzuki, and it’s ridden by a girl, has qualified No. 1 this year,” Johnson continued. “In the last four races, the fastest Suzuki is .06 off of the No. 1 qualifying position. If I’m a sponsor looking to come in, Suzuki is the last place I’m going to look because they don’t have the performance.
“You have to tell that sponsor that we race good and they have to buy into that. That’s not a good deal for a marketing guy. That’s why I think it flat out blows.”
Johnson told the press corps that one would have to go back to 2004 and 2007 that only 15 of the 60 races were led into race day by a Suzuki.
“They tell you that weight doesn’t matter and twelve of those fifteen times, the rider was Angelle Sampey, who is the lightest person in the class,” Johnson said. “Two of those times was Antron Brown and the other was Shawn Gann. It’s just not right.”
Johnson has a total of five victories to his credit in fourteen finals. The Concord victory represented his second in 2008 out of three final rounds.
STOP FORREST STOP – When a guy named Stumpy has to tell you that you’ve won, something’s wrong.
Steve Johnson doesn’t necessarily agree.
Stumpy is the lead ESPN2 camera man in charge of filming the winners.
Johnson lost focus in the shutdown area and instead of bringing his bike to a stop; he became mesmerized with the camera crew headed his way.
He realized he needed to stop just feet from the sand trap.
“I have the blinders on and I am focused as to where I am going,” Johnson admitted, not knowing that Krawiec had fouled.
“I said, ‘How did he get so far out on me?”
“I was going down the track and kept wondering how he got out on me so much. I did see my little win light, but I wasn’t convinced I had won. I kept going and then I saw the camera guy moving my way.”
There was one problem, Johnson was still rolling at an estimated 160-mph.
“I was looking for everything else and I was headed to the sand-trap hot,” Johnson said. “I wasn’t concerned with stopping at the time and I did not know I had won the race.
“I grabbed the brake and the bike spun sideways. You love that on a dirt bike, but not so much on a drag bike.”
BRILLIANT OBSERVATION – The notion just flew over Cruz Pedregon’s head after his second round win against Ashley Force. The victory set up a semi-final match with brother Tony Pedregon.
After watching and cheering for his sibling, Cruz was asked if he was going to cheer for Tony in their semi-final match.
“This is a big race with huge point championship implications,” Cruz said. “I just hope there’s a Pedregon in the finals.”
MISSED IT BY ONE – A flat tire cost Bob Frey his chance of pulling off the Concord trifecta.
The veteran announcer was en route to emcee an event at the old Concord, N.C. drag strip, the same one in which Tommy Ivo ran his front engine dragster off a small cliff.
Years later, under the employ of IHRA President Larry Carrier, Frey made the only other national event in Concord. This event was the IHRA Southern Nationals and was contested on pit road of Charlotte Motor Speedway.
The race had its plusses and minuses, but Frey was there to call the action.
“The rocket car crash was something you will never forget and I just remember the novelty of the whole thing,” Frey said. “It was the first time I had ever been to one of the super speedways with the grandstands out there.”
The one trait of these large motorsports stadiums is the enormity of it made crowd estimates very difficult.
“You could have 10,000 people out there and it would still look like the clean-up crew so I can’t imagine how many people were there,” Frey recalled. “It was an interesting race and an interesting concept.”
For the been-there-done-that Frey, this event presented a first-time experience.
“I can’t ever remember seeing an eighth mile race before,” Frey admitted. “To watch Kenny Safford and all these big fuel cars running on an eighth mile, it was pretty amazing.”
The event was amazing to more than Frey as he recalled an incident with the minister brought in to do the invocation for the event.
“The track had built this little temporary tower that shook as the cars would go by it,” Frey said, voice cracking with laughter. “You had all these cars like the Blue Max and everything. It was a great invocation.
Frey continued, “He said all the right things, ‘Please Lord give us the strength to do this and do that, and watch over us and as soon as he got finished the first two cars started burning out and the tower started shaking and ceiling tiles fell out.
“The minister yelled, ‘Jesus Christ that’s loud!”
BEEN THERE DONE THAT, HAD TO BE HERE – You name it in drag racing, chances are Steve Reyes has snapped a picture of it.
The revered drag race photographer, who has covered drag races all over the world for the last four decades, had to be in Concord, N.C. for the unveiling of the tomorrow’s drag strip.
“This is the 110th different Drag Strip I’ve ever been to and I just wanted to see it,” said Reyes, whose legend draws respect amongst his peers. “It’s beautiful and big and everything but I still like Freemont, my home town.”
He’s shot at the grand opening of many of those facilities such as the now defunct Orange County International Raceway [Southern California] and the Texas Motorplex [Ennis, Texas] and he cherishes those memories.
And as Reyes adds, “You can’t forget Lion’s either.”
“They’re [new strips] just getting super and super, and big and big and big,” Reyes observed. “Hopefully there’s a way they can fill them with people and continue to put on a great show.”
Reyes makes a stop or two a year on the NHRA Drag Racing tour, a far cry from the schedule he maintained earlier in his career of week-in and week-out travel.
The ace picture taker has his battles with diabetes but relishes in the fact he now has more time than ever to spend with his young children [9, 3].
Of course, Reyes does have some projects in the hopper for those nostalgic drag racing fans.
“Close to a deal to do a book on Don Prudhomme, and Tom McEwen,” Reyes beams. “And I’m going to do a front engine dragster book on all my old stuff and just keep doing those until I stop breathing I guess. That’s just me.”
Reyes does have another job, he laughs, pointing out his Ocala, Fla., residence.
“I drew the short straw,” Reyes said with a laugh. “Somebody had to live next to Don Garlits to keep an eye on him.”
KEEPING IN THE DARK, ON PURPOSE – Pro Stock racer and Countdown finalist V. Gaines has no problem whatsoever if race fans want to consider his Kendall Dodge as a dark horse for the title.
Gaines, the highly successful businessman who escapes the business demands by racing Pro Stock, entered the championship phase as the eighth seeded driver.
“We look forward to the challenge and opportunity,” Gaines said. “We know we have an extremely fast car, and a great team, we just have to do the right things at the right times. Right now we’re hampered a little bit by not having our crew chief Clyde but hopefully he’ll be back next week. If we can just get by the next couple of weeks here, we’re going after that championship.”
Gaines’ crew chief Clyde West has been fighting health issues for much of the season, and by the team owner’s admission, he’s a vital part of the team’s success.
This success has many of Gaines’ competition taking him more serious than ever. This season’s Phoenix victory has the competition seeing Gaines in a different light.
Gaines drove to victory on the strength of relentless starting line reactions.
“They are taking us a little more serious on the starting line than they used to,” Gaines said. “We’re running pretty good power so if they aren’t taking us serious we’re going to beat them.”
BRUTON LESSON – Defending Funny Car champion Tony Pedregon had seen the less-than-ideal weather forecast before coming into this weekend’s event.
A race fan reminded T-Ped of the pecking order in this part of the country.
“I had seen those weather forecasts and they didn’t look too good,” T-Ped admitted. “On Wednesday, a fan walked up to me and let me know that it didn’t rain on Bruton Smith. Bruton Smith must have connections.”
Not one drop of rain fell in all three professional days at ZMAX Dragway.
CHANGE OF PACE – Funny Car racer Del Worsham characterized missing out on the Countdown as a devastating blow, this came just ahead of long time sponsor CSK Auto Parts announcing they wouldn’t return next year after twelve years together.
Worsham’s first round victory over Gary Scelzi was a huge morale booster. The experience left Worsham wondering if the time had come to loosen up a bit.
“We are just now winning some rounds,” Worsham said. “We hadn’t been getting the good end of things this season. When I am up there now, I am having fun. I’m not as tense.”
QUIT WHILE YOU’RE AHEAD – NHRA top end announcer Alan Reinhart just doesn’t get it.
One day after being told by Ashley Force he ruined her night and reading a wisecrack from the media adding to her comment the next morning, he just couldn’t leave well enough alone.
After her convincing victory over Tim Wilkerson, Reinhart asked if she forgave him for ruining her night.
“You are forgiven,” Ms. Force said. “No one can stay mad at you.”
This time one of his announcing associates got in the last word.
“You’re the only one,” Bob Frey chimed in.
CORY MAC’S EARLY LANE CHOICE – Cory McClenathan has learned in his years of racing when to lead and when to follow.
McClenathan followed teammate Tony Schumacher’s lead in lane choice during the first round of Top Fuel eliminations.
The interesting thing is Schumacher didn’t have lane choice when he took the right lane. But, he ran clean in his first round victory against David Grubnic.
“We try to do stuff as a team and if one learns something they’ll pass it on,” McClenathan added. “That was the run we had been looking for all weekend long.”
McClenathan ran low elapsed time of the opening round with a 3.877 elapsed time.
The quality of the facility has McClenathan rethinking at least one decision he’d made early in his career. The veteran Top Fuel driver had planned to step away from driving in five years when he reaches 50.
“When you have facilities such as this one, I could see myself doing this another ten years,” McClenathan added.
HE’S GOT A POINT – NHRA announcer Bob Frey’s observation.
“Don Prudhomme, he’s the epitome of cool.”
DODGING A BULLET – Robert Hight will be the first to admit his first round victory over Jeff Arend bordered on pure luck.
“I thought we were dead on the burnout,” Hight admitted. “The engine sounded horrible. It was smoking out of the injector opening on the hood. I couldn’t even back up in a hurry because it was so bad.
“I had a pretty good idea what it was after listening to the crew on the radio. All of that stuff is nerve racking.”
LEFT ON - Hight raced to the semi-finals before he dropped a close race to Beckman.
Hight had previously defeated Beckman in the final round of the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals two weeks ago in Indianapolis and today Hight had the run to get a win but Beckman’s self-proclaimed starting line guess propelled him to his third win of the season matching Hight’s number of wins. Beckman jumped out to an early starting line advantage after a nearly impossible to duplicate reaction time of .002 seconds.
“I knew I wasn’t late. I knew it. As my foot was going down on the throttle I heard him (Beckman) leave. He was out there on me just a little past half track he came back to me. I was running really strong through the middle but I honestly knew I was running out of race track. I knew I wasn’t going to run him down. I guess it is one of those deals where it might have made me feel a little bit better if I would have gotten off of it so my ET wouldn’t have looked to good. Then I heard Jimmy say he got us. One of my guys at the top end told me he had an .002 light.”
Hight was encouraged that the competition felt they needed to take every advantage they could get to grab a win from the Automobile Club of Southern California Ford Mustang team.
“I guess that is a good feeling knowing that a guy goes up there and takes a shot at you because he knows that you are going to be right there with him,” said Hight. “Even if a guy in the Countdown especially if you are in the top half like we are if you went to the semis all six races you are going to win this championship. I don’t even think you would need a win if you did that.”
SHHHHHHH – Mike Neff has adjusted well to learning the ins and outs of driving a Funny Car. Public relations, now that’s another story.
After his first round victory over Gary Densham, “John had a meeting with the team this morning and said we needed to go out and win today. We need to bail him out.”
Uh Zippy, don’t think the boss intended for you to share that bit.
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SATURDAY NOTEBOOK - A LEGEND RETURNS, A LEGEND FALLS AND ZMAX CREATES A LEGEND
HAPPY HAWLEY – Frank Hawley wasn’t as excited about scoring his first top qualifying Funny Car effort since 1983 as 
much as he was about erasing that simple statistic.
“I hope to get a few more of these so people will quit reminding me how long ago it was that I last qualified No. 1,” Hawley admitted.
The days are long past when Hawley was tuned by the legendary Austin Coil to two world championships.
With no real desire to wax nostalgic, Hawley is very excited about the present and future driving a part-time schedule behind the wheel of Roger Burgess’ Rite-Aid sponsored flopper.
In three races, Hawley has reached the final round once and qualified no worse than second twice in his last three outings.
“The opportunity to get out here, even in a limited role is great,” Hawley said. “I really didn’t know if I’d get the opportunity to get out here again.
“The R2B2 Motorsports team is a group comprised of a lot of really talented people. We are excited about this top effort but we haven’t been really consistent and have fought a few mechanical problems. We have those behind us now.
“As rewarding as No. 1 qualifier is now, and as exciting as it is to be the first No. 1 at ZMAX Dragway and have our place in history, tomorrow you have to start all over again.”
Stopping and starting is nothing new to the performance-driven Hawley. After sitting out a score of events in 2008, Hawley returned to competition and drove his way to a runner-up finish in his first race representing Rite-Aid.
“Once you start on Sunday, qualifying positions don’t really matter,” said Hawley. “When you have a 16-car field separated by .06 of a second, we’ll enjoy the No. 1 spot for Saturday night and that’s it.”
Hawley’s statement carries credence as the bottom-half of ladder outperformed the top-half run-by-run in Saturday’s warmer qualifying sessions.
“Sunday will bring some of the closest side-by-side racing we’ve ever seen,” Hawley added.
Hawley’s top-running efforts earned the drag racing school owner from Gainesville, Fla., a first round match against defending world champion Tony Pedregon.
LEG UP ON THE COMPETITION – Kurt Johnson confirmed practice makes perfect, especially when it comes to finding the 
combination for a brand new racing facility.
Johnson and his famous Pro Stock father, Warren Johnson, made the trek to Concord, N.C. two weeks ago for a few test runs at the unproven race course. They gave the strip thumbs up after a multitude of test runs.
There were plenty of raised thumbs on Saturday when Johnson’s Friday blast stood up throughout the final day of qualifying. The top effort marked his second of the season and 29th of his career.
By outqualifying the competition, Johnson gained a few extra points towards his first championship and in the end; he feels every single one will be important.
“We are grabbing every [point] we can,” said Johnson.
As Johnson is quickly finding out, Sunday can work for or against him. Championship rivals Greg Anderson and Dave Connolly meet in the first round of eliminations. Johnson races the winner.
“I have to get past Vinny Deceglie first,” Johnson reminded the media in a post-qualifying press conference. “If we get past that first round and have to race either one, it’s going to be tough.”
Johnson’s absolutely correct. On his side of the ladder are fellow Countdown qualifiers Allen Johnson and V. Gaines.
MAN WITH THE PLAN – Matt Smith plans to fully exploit the fact this drag strip is his home facility.
Smith, who resides in King, N.C., scored his fourth top qualifier of the season and eleventh of his career when his 6.952 elapsed time stood throughout Saturday’s qualifying.
Smith is the first Pro Stock Motorcycle low qualifier in the history of his home track.
“This is awesome and I hope we can carry that momentum over into Sunday,” Smith said. “I really would like to get my name on that plaque the track has for their winners.”
At least for tonight, being the quickest bike on the property will suffice.
“We went back to our basic set-up to prepare for Sunday,” Smith added. “This evening we put a new tire on for tomorrow and they usually shake on the first pass and we got that out of the way. We’ll have that ready to go tomorrow.”
REACHING THE PEAK - Winning a championship is all about peaking at the right time.
Larry Dixon has qualified No. 1 for the second time in 2008 and 30th in his career this weekend.
“We were able to run at the back of the pack and work on our race day set up,” Dixon said. “Donnie Bender and Todd Smith [crew chiefs] changed around the chassis some for Indy and the car seems to be working better during the day and it has some bite to it.”
JOB DESCRIPTION – Dixon has settled on the best way to describe his job to the new drag racing fans migrating from NASCAR.
“I’m the guy who gets shot out of a cannon,” he said.
“It’s so nice to be back down in Charlotte area because there are racing fans,” Dixon continued. “We give them a taste of what we do. You can go up to the drivers and get autographs and not have to pay for it. Having the Smith family invest this much money in our sport is an honor.”
REINHART RAMBLINGS – NHRA’s top end announcer Alan Reinhart often brings out the best or worst in a driver during his top end interviews. Sometimes he reminds them of the obvious.
In the midst of Ashley Force’s elation of making the tough Funny Car field, Reinhart reminded her that her No. 4 efforts earned a first round race with top-seeded Tim Wilkerson.
"Oh crap, you ruined my night,” Ms. Force responded.
Often Reinhart’s comments will elicit a response or two from the members of the media listening.
In the background, following Reinhart’s comments the comment was uttered, “I'm sure that's not the first time Reinhart has heard that.”
ANYONE LISTENING? – Ron Capps said what every other drag racer in the pits was thinking after two days of racing at Bruton Smith’s latest palatial estate known as ZMAX Dragway.
"It is absolutely what the standard should be," he said. "Everything about it is great. In fact, my crew chief Ed McCulloch was just making a comment that he sure wishes we raced on more tracks like this, and that we could test on tracks like this."
HUMBLED FORCE – John Force just wanted to talk and he commandeered an audience who just wanted to listen.
For the first time since 1979, Force has failed to qualify in back-to-back races.
A dejected Force talked to the media about the shortcoming on Saturday afternoon following the final qualifying session at the NHRA Carolinas Nationals in Concord, N.C..
“This is hard for me,” Force admitted.
Force, who debuted a new chassis last race in Indianapolis, has struggled with his tune-up for the past few races.
“We had the same opportunities as everyone, and we just didn’t get it done,” Force explained. “I want to apologize to Bruton Smith and the NHRA fans. When they give you an arena like this, the greatest in the history of the sport, that brings in 50,000 and I’m not able to be a part of the race, this is the most painful.
“I’ve handled everything in my life, I’ve lost and I lost Eric Medlen and that brought me to my knees. I’ve endured the breaking of my arms and legs, and even in Indy I accepted as part of the game. But this hurt.
“In a town like Charlotte that I’ve fought my whole life to catch up to the NASCAR boys, I sure didn’t help. I ain’t doing my part of the job. I owe it to be in the show. Something’s broke and we’ll fix it.”
Force doesn’t want to hear any talk of provisional starts, even in NASCAR country.
“The rules are fair for everyone and I’ve gotten too old to cry,” Force said. “I’ll go home and closet cry. You have to earn the right to be with the best.”
But even that won’t stop Force from trying to find a way to get ink or television time for his sponsors. Just ask Force’s crew chief Austin Coil.
If anyone knows Force, it’s his crew chief of over two decades.
“I know you Force,” Force recalled the words Coil spoke to him this morning. “If you don’t qualify, don’t crash your car just to get television time for the sponsors.”
Force said he took in Coil’s question and responded, “Do I look crazy to you?”
Maybe so because before that Force was enamored with the shutdown area he wanted to run his car long just to test the innovative catch net.
Now that he failed to make the show, he still might.
“I might run my scooter down into it,” Force admitted, with a smile.
Then his true message came across, the pain of failing to qualify prevalent.
“You tell these NASCAR boys, these drag racing kids are coming and they are excited about racing here in Charlotte,” Force said.
DIVING AND THE COUNTDOWN – One of the foremost concerns of the designers for the Countdown to the Championship was the potential for multi-car teams to fix the outcome by taking “dives”.
Funny Car racer Jack Beckman is aware there will always be talk like that as long as team cars meet up during the championship-deciding phase of the season.
“John Force has four of his cars in the Countdown and I don’t think anyone would fault him when they get down to the nitty-gritty if one of his cars smokes the tires in the other lane,” Beckman said. “If I’m a sponsor and I have to please only one sponsor; and I have a car that is capable of winning, sometimes an 8,000 horsepower car smokes the tires.”
Two of Don Schumacher Racing’s floppers are in the Countdown to the Championship, Beckman and teammate Ron Capps.
“We are in a unique position where we have different major sponsors,” Beckman said. “We don’t and won’t have team orders.”
Beckman began driving for Schumacher in 2006 and this topic came up in the initial discussions.
“There will never be team orders at DSR,” Beckman added, revealing that discussion. “He told me that it didn’t matter if it was the last round of the last race and one car is in the championship hunt and the other isn’t.
Beckman continued to recall the conversation by adding, “If they are in the running for the championship and can’t beat the one who isn’t then they don’t deserve it.”
The attitude impressed Beckman.
“You have to tip your hat to someone with those kind of ethics,” Beckman said. “When we go up there to race, it's for more than the driver, it’s for all of those crewmen who have performance bonuses that are based on performance.”
TYPICAL BECKMAN - Beckman has reached the final round of eliminations at the last three events, which included one victory, and has won more rounds in the last six races than any other Funny Car driver, but has only qualified in the top half once in the last seven events, in Brainerd, Minn., where he was eighth.
"It's our typical m.o.," said Beckman, No. 6 in the point standings as the Countdown to 1 playoffs begin this weekend. "I hate going up Saturday not qualified (Beckman was out of the field before he produced his quickest lap), but this car is a bracket car in the heat. It is eerily quick and consistent in the heat and we were the quickest car both runs Saturday. And any time you throw 22 Funny Cars at a track like this, to be able to say that is an unbelievable accomplishment. Now we need to translate it to round wins tomorrow.
"It's also interesting the way the first-round match-ups play," added Beckman, who faces Jim Head in the opening round of eliminations. Head did not qualify for the Countdown. "One of the top-10 cars (John Force) doesn't qualify and several of them are matched against each other first round. But, at the end of the day, if we make it to the final round we're doing ourselves the ultimate favor."
SUPER BAD - Chip Ellis isn’t the least bit phased in running 6.9-seconds in the quarter-mile aboard his Don Schumacher Racing Suzuki.
Neither is he fazed bout running 7.9-seconds on a street-legal bike with no wheelie bars to prevent the ride from flipping over backwards.
Ellis took a spin down the new ZMAX Dragway in the days leading up to the event and laid down a 7.90-second elapsed time at 190 miles per hour.
“The bike belongs to a buddy of mine named Coby Adams,” Ellis said. “You can ride it home after running 7.90s on it.”
The bike is turbocharged and uses street tires.
“The main difference is it doesn’t leave as hard. The thing makes over 400 horsepower so it wants to get off its wheels and wheelie down the track a little bit,” Ellis said. “It’s just fun to run, it’s a lot heavier than my bike. It’s about a hundred pounds heavier than my bike. Street bikes are my background that’s where I came up from. It was fun to get back on one of those things, it was going about 150 mph at about half-track. It really pulls hard.”
WAY BACK THEN – Jerry Toliver remembers a more primitive era for drag racing. He was there in the early days tagging along with his uncle, the legendary Jack Chrisman.
He glances over the paved pits at ZMAX Dragway in Concord, N.C., and takes note of the large rigs and hospitality areas. Toliver remembers when the Top Fuel cars parked in the dirt.
Then he looked at the well-lit track he raced at last night and the pits, immediately the memories of fans having to line their cars along the guardrail just to keep the races going came to mind.
Drag racing has come a long, long way.
“There were no guardrails or safe barriers,” Toliver admitted. “The real comparison is within the competitors. The one thing that hasn’t changed is the drag racers want to still go out and win.
“When you look at tracks like this and compare it to those days, it’s like sandlot to Super Bowl.”
UNINTENTIONAL – Greg Anderson qualified eighth and had no clue.
Dave Connolly ended up ninth. He didn’t either.
Neither Pro Stock standout had a clue their mediocre qualifying efforts, by their previous accolades, would lead to Pro Stock’s marquee first round match.
Anderson meets Connolly and the three-time champion has lane choice over drag racing’s comeback kid.
“We have a big day Sunday," said Connolly, driver of the Mooresville-based Cagnazzi Racing Charter Communications/Lucas Oil Chevy Cobalt. "Why not start against Greg right away? It would be a great way to start.
"It's not liked we planned this. Both of our teams are better than (qualifying) eighth and ninth."
Connolly begins the Countdown in sixth place, 70 points behind Anderson (2,290-2,220).
"We didn't make the best of runs Saturday, but it's time to do better Sunday. We have a good shot to make up a lot of points. We definitely want to get off to a good start in the Countdown. This race is huge."
APPOINTED TO ADVISORY COUNCIL - Tom Hammonds will serve as a member of the North Carolina A&T State University Motorsports Advisory Council.
"I am honored to serve as member of the NC A&T Motorsports Advisory Committee," said an elated Hammonds. "For me to be in a situation where I can make recommendations to grow an excellent program so that other universities may use as a model is outstanding."
Racing since the age of 16, Chevrolet-backed Tom Hammonds made a triumphant return to full-time drag racing at the Gatornationals Gainesville Raceway in March 2007. He is the only African American owner (Tom Hammonds Enterprises, LLC) and driver of a race team in professional motor sports. Previous owner of a Chevrolet dealership, Hammonds was drafted 9th overall in the 1989 NBA draft and enjoyed his career with Washington, Denver, Charlotte, and Minnesota, where he completed his career. Before his illustrious NBA career, he played college basketball at Georgia Tech, where his jersey was retired for being the fourth all time leading scorer and received a bachelors of science in business management. He received a gold medal at the 1986 FIBA World Championship. A native of Crestview, Fla., Hammonds was inducted into the All Sports Association Hall of Fame of Fort Walton Beach, Fla. in March 2007.
Thurman Exum, Program Director for the North Carolina A&T State University's Motorsports Program endorsed Hammonds for the position because of his commitment to the development of motorsports professionals. Exum and his staff at NC A&T State University are looking forward to working with Hammonds and Tom Hammonds Enterprises, LLC to help deliver a quality education to our young people.
Hammonds' appointment is for two years, with the council meeting four times a year.
The eight member council is made-up of industry leaders and stakeholders. Members are charged with providing ongoing advice and consultation to the motorsports department by proposing program initiatives on recruitment, training and retention of young men and women who have selected motorsports as their career. Members will be active in securing and providing internships and co-op experiences to bridge the gap between classroom learning and real world knowledge.
N.C. A&T offers a four-year degree in motorsports technology. The program has been in existence since 2002 and provides a technical management course of study to develop motorsports professionals that fulfill the human resource needs of corporate sponsors, team owners, track facilities and product/service support suppliers. The curriculum was developed to create a strategic alliance to increase the number and quality of job opportunities for African American students in key motorsports and other related automotive business activities.
N.C. A&T's Motorsports Technology Program was featured on NBC Nightly News and received many awards, the latest one being an educational award from NASCAR for providing motorsports professionals to help them diversify the industry.
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FRIDAY NOTEBOOK - WHAT A FINE PALACE YOU'VE BUILT MR. SMITH
1-800-CALL BRUTON - When you want something done, NHRA President Tom Compton learned, help is only a phone call away.
Compton really wanted a drag strip track in the Charlotte/Concord area. This was the motorsports capitol of the world and the NHRA, outside of a few Pro Stock teams, had no presence there.
He picked up the phone and called Bruton Smith’s private line.
Compton carefully scripted his request to Smith.
“We need to introduce our great sport to motorsports fans because this a motorsports town,” Compton presented. “We think we have something that they will enjoy as much as NASCAR. If I recall there is only one person that can get that much done in one year and that’s you.”
The call was placed in mid-August 2007. Smith listened to Compton and responded that he’d call him back.
Smith returned the call as promised.
“A few days later Bruton called me back and said, ‘I have three sites for you to look at, when can you come out?” Compton recalled.
Compton, along with NHRA VP of Operations Graham Light, flew to the Charlotte area to meet with Smith’s engineers and jointly selected the current location of the ZMAX Dragway.
Compton had good reason to feel confident -- this before the first mound of dirt was moved.
“We had a press conference here in January as part of the NASCAR Media tour and there was more than 200 people in attendance,” Compton said. There wasn’t anything where this track is at right now. The track had been graded a little, no nail had been pounded and no cement had been poured. There was nothing here at the end of January of this year.”
Construction didn’t start until March, Compton added.
“We were here for a press conference about three weeks ago and the asphalt at the main entrance when you drive in had been poured the day before. They were hustling but they got it done and they had to take it up a couple of notches to get it done and they did. We are very proud to be part of it.”
It must be noted that Compton bore a larger smile than usual in telling the story.
“We’re real happy with this,” Compton added. “We think it’s the future of NHRA drag racing.”
Bruton did too and built accordingly.
NIGHT RIDER -
WHAT’S NEXT? - If Compton has his way, the next stop on the new track spree will stop in New England.
The thought of a track in the Boston area causes Compton to salivate.
“We’re in many of the top metropolitan areas, 37 out of the 50,” explained Compton. “We’re just south of New York and Los Angeles, and Seattle. But we’re not in New England and we’d really like to be in that market. So hopefully someday we can get up there. Building facilities in today’s environment is difficult, it takes time and money.
That’s probably the number one market that we’re not in that we wish we were in.”
Compton shared a press conference with Smith in-between professional qualifying sessions on Friday when the topic came up.
The topic of discussion was the success of the ZMAX Dragway, and Smith uttered, “We might do this again someday, somewhere, I don’t know.
Compton couldn’t resist.
“Maybe around New England?” Compton asked, clearly in reference to the recent acquisition of New Hampshire International Speedway.
“We’re busy up there, maybe Pomona?” Smith responded.
UNDERESTIMATED – Bruton Smith rarely second guesses himself but he was on Friday afternoon.
The Bellagio of drag strips his ZMAX Drag Strip may be, but if hindsight were 20/20, the billionaire would have put more seats in his latest masterpiece.
For now, he’s concentrating on more standing room only options.
“I didn’t realize it [the event] was going to be as big as it was going to be,” Smith said. “Had I have known that, we would have put in more seats. That doesn’t mean to say that doesn’t mean we can’t build more because we’ve been known to build more seats.”
Smith made an honest mistake. He thought he had built to the limit.
Even Smith doesn’t always understand his drawing power.
“We’ve sold out of seats and now we are selling standing room only,” Smith added. “My people had told me that we can’t sell any more tickets. That’s when I decided I needed to get involved. I asked let me get involved and told them I could probably find some more places where they can stand.
“I don’t know when we will cut off, but we may run out of places to stand. I think this is an incredible sign of success.”
The standing room only was only one part of the problem.
Smith, always preparing for the unknown, asked NHRA President Tom Compton in a press conference a question that elicited a few chuckles amongst the media members.
“How long is it going to take them all to leave?” Smith asked.
“There’s 140 acres of stuff out there in the pits,” Smith continued. “How long does it take them to leave?”
Compton calmly responded.
“A couple of days,” Compton responded.
“I’ve got a feeling some of them will be left here when we get here for the Bank of America race in October,” Smith contended. “You don’t do this often do you?”
“Twenty-four times a year,” Compton responded.
With that, Smith said he’s amazed.
That’s more of a feat than finding standing room only spaces, trust us.
ONE FOR THE TRIVIA BUFFS ...
RUMOR HAS IT – Bruton Smith still dodges the rumors of a possible purchase of the NHRA.
“I’ve heard that rumor before,” Smith confirmed, with a smile on his face. “I just say it’s a rumor and move on. I think this gentleman [Tom Compton] is doing such a good job in running the company that I don’t think anyone should come in and disturb it.”
“I think we should continue to work the way we do, and work into new markets,” Compton added.
“That’s a good answer,” Smith said. “I like that one.”
“My intention is to double his pay,” Smith continued.
Smith won’t say drag racing can catch up to NASCAR type money but is convinced the business of the sport is on the upswing.
“I see the intensity in the growth,” Smith said. “I like the small part I play in making it grow. I want to help build the sport.”
LEADER OF HIS PACK ...
NEIGHBORING BATTLES? - Bruton Smith’s battles with the neighboring homes around his ZMAX Dragway in Concord created quite the uproar in the local media earlier in the year. Homeowners lamented the high decibels of the unmuffled race cars would drive down property values in the area.
Smith felt vindicated after Friday’s qualifying.
He told a story of two local stations, neither of which he identified, performed decibel tests in order to measure the noise emitting from the facility.
Smith explained the news crews went into a neighboring housing development.
“They reported the crickets were higher in decibels than the track,” Smith said. “That’s kind of odd because there haven’t been any complaints about the crickets. They did use that. Thank God for crickets.”
Scott Cooper, director of Lowe’s Motor Speedway publicity, chimed in.
“In one report, the homeowner had to turn off a dishwasher and television set just to hear the drag strip,” Cooper explained.
“If I lived where they were, I wouldn’t have been washing dishes or watching television,” Smith said, a grin forming. “I would have been here.”
NOTHING LIKE A REMINDER - Drag racing school instructor and two-time world champion Frank Hawley erased all the 
memory of a disappointing outing at the U.S. Nationals two weeks ago when he surprised the large zMax Dragway crowd with a run of 4.072 seconds at 307.16 mph to claim the provisional No. 1 starting position for Sunday's inaugural Carolina Nationals.
He drove the red, white and blue Rite Aid Dodge Charger R/T to the top of the ladder with a stellar 4.072-second time at 307.16 mph in the night session of the inaugural Carolina Nationals.
Hawley, a two-time NHRA series Funny Car champion (1982-83), has an opportunity to claim his first low qualifier honor in 25 years and his first since 1991, when he drove a Top Fuel dragster.
"We will be trying to keep our Rite Aid Dodge Charger in the No. 1 position so people will stop asking me how long it's been since I qualified No. 1," said Hawley, tongue-in-cheek. "We are really happy with our performance.
"The track's racing surface is really good . . . and so is the rest of zMax Dragway."
ON THE OUTSIDE ...
WHEN SCHUMACHER RACED CHARLOTTE – Don Schumacher has done a lot in his lifetime, but chances are he’ll always remember the day he outran the legendary Carolina Pro Stock legend Ronnie Sox.
He pulled off the feat while drag racing on pit road at Charlotte Motor Speedway during the 1974 IHRA Southern Nationals.
This event was the first-ever national event contested on an eighth-mile course.
Schumacher drove a Funny Car at the time and Sox was amongst the best in the Pro Stock division.
Their race was not in motorized vehicles. It was quite the opposite.
Schumacher and Sox did battle for a children’s charity by racing an eighth-mile in wheelchairs.
The experience was a once in a lifetime opportunity for Schumacher, who learned a life’s lesson early in his career.
“It’s one thing to go one-hundred feet, but to go an eighth-mile, you really have to take your hat off to people who use a wheelchair to get around in life,” Schumacher said. “You quickly see how difficult it is for them. The experience quickly changed my view of this who are of limited mobility.”
DISTINGUISHED GUESTS – Jerry Richardson, owner of the NFL franchise, the Carolina Panthers, visited ZMAX Dragway@ Concord as a guest of Bruton and Marcus Smith. Also visiting the track as a guest of the Smiths was legendary wrestler “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair.
THE DRAG RACING EQUIVALENT - Team Chevy's Kurt Johnson showed a large NASCAR contingent that Chevrolet can pace 
the pack in drag racing.
Johnson's ACDelco Cobalt posted a 6.680 e.t. at 206.42 mph and sits at the top of the Pro Stock ladder with two qualifying sessions to be completed on Saturday.
"The ACDelco Cobalt made a great run and we have to thank the Smith family for letting us come out here and test last week," Johnson said. "We made some runs here, we went to Atlanta on Thursday and made some more runs, and it made a huge difference. It's all about going straight and collecting data and making the right decisions, and my team has been making some good decisions lately - that's what it's all about. Especially when it comes down to these last six races. We've been paying attention. We don't always do that, but lately it's been good.
“There's a bunch of fire-breathing dragons out there and it's so close. Jeggie (Coughlin) was four-thousandths behind me in the left lane, dad's right there and we're splitting hairs out there. It's all timing. You have to be in the right place at the right time. You have to make the right decisions, you have to have the right tires on the car, and it's all about the whole package. You've heard it before from several people and that's what it's all about."
Johnson entered the first race of the NHRA playoff format, the Countdown to 1, in second place in the POWERade standings, 30 points behind first-place Greg Anderson. The 45-year-old resident of Sugar Hill, Ga., has only one previous race day pole this season (Houston), but has qualified the ACDelco Chevy Cobalt in the top four of the 16-car Pro Stock field in 11 of the first 18 events. If Johnson can remain in the top spot at the close of time trials on Saturday, it will mark his 29 career No. 1 qualifying award. The ACDelco Chevrolet driver has three wins this season (St. Louis, Chicago, Brainerd) in four final-round appearances.
"We're just going to go out there and have some fun like we always do," Johnson said. "Qualifying is the hard part, and we go out there on Sunday and that's when I have fun. We're not going to stress out too much about it, we're going to do what we've been doing, and it's worked so far. We've come close to being No. 1 up to this point, and let the chips lay where they lay. That's all we can do.
"We have the ball rolling and now we need to keep it rolling. Even though we tested here we go to places that the tracks have been reground, changed, and added to, and subtracted from, and it's always different. The air's different, the track's are different, and you just have to look at your data, make the best call and shoot from the hip sometimes to get from A to B. Great racetrack. Great facility here."
LIKE SON, LIKE FATHER -KJ was on a tear Friday night and his dad wasn't far behind.
Warren Johnson was third after sessions of Pro Stock qualifying.
“We’ve been battling to get this car to perform in the first sixty feet for quite some time,” SAID WHO. “After the first run this afternoon, we made some major changes based on some advice we received, and it proved to be a step in the right direction, putting this GM Performance Parts Pontiac in a good position. What’s important is what we do with it from here. The forecast is calling for it to be a little warmer, but we’ll wait and see what we have to work with in the morning before making any changes.
“This facility is absolutely dynamite. If I had one quibble, it would be that the starting line is a little greasy. However, that is because the texture of the concrete is just too fine, and I would imagine they are probably waiting for it to properly cure before addressing it. After all, this is what we have come to expect from a Bruton Smith-owned facility – everything is top-notch.”
SECOND TIME IN A ROW - Larry Dixon took the Top Fuel provisional pole in the U.S. Smokeless car with a 3.846 e.t. at 
310.20 mph. Dixon is third in the points standings heading into this race with a win earlier this year at Phoenix to go along with four final-round appearances. Dixon was No. 1 qualifier two weeks ago at Indianapolis and in May in Topeka .
"It was a good run for our team," Dixon said. "We're coming into a racetrack where we have absolutely no experience. We watched a few cars run, and we put a moderate, baseline tune-up in the car, and it held. We were third quick after the first session. That put us at the back of the pack for tonight. We got to see what some of the other cars did, the track temperature and how they were going. We made some adjustments looking for a mid 3.80 and it ran a 3.84. It was a good run for Donnie, Todd and everyone on the U.S. Smokeless car."
FOOL ME ONCE, FOOL ME TWICE – The competition still isn’t fooled.
For the second event in a row, Top Fuel’s Tony Schumacher heads into the second day of qualifying on the outside looking in.
While Schumacher posted a 3.937-second pass at 308.92 mph in his initial qualifying session, he smoked the tires in the evening session and as a result ended up out of the top 12 heading into Saturday’s action.
“That’s all right,” said Schumacher, who entered the NHRA’s Countdown to One leading the Top Fuel standings. “We tried to step on it when it cooled down, but I guess we were a little too aggressive. The good news is that we ran well in the heat, which is what we’ll face on race day.”
With only 17 Top Fuel cars on the grounds, Schumacher merely has to be among the quickest 16 cars to guarantee a spot in Sunday’s line up.
“I’d like to think that we’ll be fine,” he added. “Certainly, our performance coming into this weekend would lead you to believe that we’ll be good to go. But, you can never assume anything in this sport. We’ve got to go out tomorrow and get the job done.”
The Chicago-area resident is coming off his 11th win of the year at the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis two weeks ago. He’s hoping to continue rolling along at Bruton Smith’s new facility in the heart of NASCAR country.
“We’ve done well to this point, but we’re starting the playoffs and our lead has been reduced to 30 points,” he said. “It really doesn’t matter what happened over the first 18 races. These next six races are the most important.”
SMOOTH OPERATOR - Matt Smith has been riding a motorcycle long enough to know when he’s on a good track. After 
storming to the top spot in Pro Stock Motorcycle, he’s convinced it’s here in Charlotte.
“This is one smooth track,” said Smith, who led the bikes with a 6.952 second run. “A bike will show the bumps easier than anything. It was smooth sailing.”
He’s charting a clear course of success into what is now the home track for the King, N.C. based rider. Smith said the friends and acquaintances are coming out of the woodwork this weekend.
“People I haven't seen in forever are asking me for tickets,” Smith said.
SATISFIED - On what is arguably the quickest track on the NHRA POWERade series, zMax Dragway at Concord, Robert Hight led the charge for John Force Racing laying down a blistering 4.072 second pass in his Auto Club Ford Mustang. It was the quickest run of the day equaled by Frank Hawley who took the top spot by virtue of a faster mile per hour.
“Since we dropped a cylinder on the first run as well as the last two runs at Indy you begin to think that you have a cylinder dropping disease again. That run we probably took too much fuel away from it. It only ran 300 miles per hour and it was hurt at the top end,” said Hight. “We were the quick car at all the incremental to half track and from there on it was kind of wounded. It was still good enough to get the top ET. Frank Hawley just ran a better speed.”
Hight knows that making consistent runs tomorrow could pay benefits on Sunday.
“Tomorrow we need to be in the top four both sessions in the heat. That puts us in a good position to race. If we are near the top every single run what it is going to do is it will make guys that you are racing against on Sunday push a little harder,” said Hight. “They know what you are capable of and you make other guys make mistakes. We just have to do what we know what to do. You can’t ask for anything more right now. I am pretty happy.”
SPONSOR RELATIONS 101 - On Thursday night before the inaugural NHRA Carolinas Nationals at zMax Dragway at Concord 14-time Funny Car champion John Force along with his young generation of drivers including daughter Ashley Force, son-in-law Robert Hight, and rookie Mike Neff signed autographs and posed for photos with hundreds of drag racing fans at Brandsource. The event was hosted by Brandsource manager Bill Pleasant at the Plaza Appliance location adjacent to the Concord Mills Mall.
“It was great to be able to come to one of our sponsor’s locations and meet with their customers and our fans in a new market like Concord/Charlotte. Brandsource has been a great partner with John Force Racing both on my Funny Cars and the A Fuel Dragsters driven by my two youngest daughters Brittany and Courtney. We signed autographs for almost two hours and it was great to meet new fans,” said John Force.
In addition to the appearance last night this weekend as part of the Brandsource “Win with Force” promotion if one of the John Force owned Funny Cars is the number one qualifier a lucky fan will win a Whirlpool Washer & Dryer. If a John Force owned Funny Car wins the inaugural NHRA Carolinas Nationals a fan could win a 65” Mitsubishi flat screen television. Fans can sign up at the Brandsource booth located on the pit side of the facility throughout the event to be eligible for either drawing.
THE BLUE OVAL ...
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