EVENT NEWS EVENT NOTEBOOK POINTS AFTER EVENT ROUND-BY-ROUND RESULTS FINAL ROUND RESULTS			EVENT GALLERY

SUNDAY NOTEBOOK – EDWARDS FORGES AHEAD; WILKERSON GROUCH AGAIN AND SCHUMACHER READY FOR THE FUTURE

THE FUTURE IS NOW – If hindsight measures 20/20 then Mike Edwards’ foresight measures a little better.

Edwards and team owner Roger Stull made the gamble to invest in an in-house engine program following the 2007 NHRA U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis. The result has been two national event wins in 2008.

Prior to this season Edwards hadn’t won a race since 2006.

“I can’t express how good this has been,” Edwards said clutching his 15th career Pro Stock trophy. “It’s phenomenal. I mean our program last year, I think we had six or seven DNQs. We have none so far this year and we’ve won two races so we’re in the Countdown. That just doesn’t happen in Pro Stock. You just don’t turn your season around from one year to another, I got the same guys I always have so it’s not like our guys or anything. It’s just our engine program just stepped us up to the next level and they got us better and better.”

The meek-spirited former world champion has a feeling he’s on the cusp of a breakout but is careful to not go beyond what he describes as a fortunate win in Memphis.

“Hopefully we’re just scratching the surface, we’ve got a long way to go and we’ve got a lot of things we need to get better at,” Edwards said. “I’m really excited about our chances to get better.”

The victory moved Edwards from eighth to fifth in the championship standings, just 69 points out of first place. Each round win represents 20 points.

Such a deficit could easily be made up in three races but Edwards admits that’s a huge number when one considers the talent in this class. Add in the fact a lot of wacky circumstances faced a lot of drivers who had made winning a work of art.

“I really didn’t think we had any chance of coming close at all to winning the championship,” Edwards admitted. “It seems like ever since the Countdown has started strange things are happening in Pro Stock. We have a lot of people that are better than our team and they’re just having problems just like everyone else and we’re just fortunate today making two nice runs in the first two rounds and boy the track got totally different and we lost the handle on it and those other cars lost the handle on it too.

“I’m just very blessed and very thankful and I want to give the Lord all of the glory, our team is all about him.”

The Memphis final marked the second time this season the veteran gun-slingers have met in the finals, both times Edwards emerging victorious. This time Line crossed the center-line in the final round.

Edwards drives a car that wasn’t number one, wasn’t top speed, wasn’t low elapsed time, and hasn’t been dominant all year long and is still right in the thick of this thing.

“We’re having an exceptional year,” Edwards said. “It’s not just me, it’s my entire team. Al Lindsey, Josh Robinson, John Phillips, Terry Adams, the guys at the shop. We’re not the upper class of the teams but we aren’t short of effort by any stretch, either.”

DRAGGING THE LINE – Jason Line drove to victory in a first round match that by all accounts he should have lost.

Kurt Johnson left him sitting on the starting line by .048, a deficit nearly unconquerable in the Pro Stock division.

Line pulled off the feat with a 6.618 to 6.666.

“I haven’t passed anyone in a while,” Line said. “That’s kind of cool. I didn’t do a good job on the starting line. But I managed to get the job done.”

Only .0005 separated the two drivers at the finish line.

NOT LOSING SLEEP – Tony Schumacher is sure that Alan Johnson has a long list of drivers seeking to join his forthcoming Al-Anabi Top Fuel team. The five time champion says the line will be just as long with those seeking the role as tuner for the U.S. Army team.

Who wouldn’t want the gig considering Schumacher drove his way to his 54th national event victory and eighth in the last ninth races?

“We’re not going to slum, we are going to have the cream of the crop,” Schumacher said. “We already have some great people within our team.”

Thus far only two crew members off of the Schumacher team have committed to leaving and such a move doesn’t anger Schumacher or team owner Don Schumacher, who scored his 120th victory as a team owner since 1998.

“There are no chains on anyone and you really don’t want anyone who doesn’t want to be there,” Don Schumacher added, answering questions regarding how many more will follow Johnson.

As of now the Army team will be losing their top three members in the tuning braintrust. Also traveling with Johnson will be assistant crew chiefs Jason McCulloch and Brian Husen.

Schumacher is not getting involved in the ego game that many believe is going on behind the scenes.

“I love it,” Schumacher said, regarding the reality he’ll face Johnson in 2009. “It’s not about the trophy; it’s about what it took to get it. When you beat that team it’s going to be tough. No wonder what happens, it’s going to be tough. You’re looking at a Goliath versus Goliath match.”

Schumacher even admitted, he’d put his hat in the ring for the Johnson gig as a driver if he didn’t drive for his dad and the U.S. Army.

“I just wouldn’t leave the opportunity I have here,” Schumacher admitted. “You just can’t put a price tag on it.”

Schumacher said he’s not bothered that Johnson gets a monster share of the 2008 season because as he puts it, “he’s a monster share of the deal.”

“If you ask him, he can tune the car because of the driver,” Schumacher added. “He does it differently than he would if he had to be cautious. We all do a helluva job together.

“I will tell you that whoever he hires, I feel sorry for the guy. When you have a monster car you have monster pressure. There’s only a few guys out there who can deal with that stuff. People out here break with less pressure. They haven’t seen pressure until they get in his car. If you don’t win it’s because you suck.

“It’s a gift to have him and I’ve won an awful lot of races because of him. I understand why he is doing this but his leaving isn’t going to be the end of my winning.”

JUST NOT CONDUCIVE – Tim Wilkerson appeared to be the angriest winner in Memphis.

There was barely a smile on the face of the six-time 2008 winner as he entered the post-race press conference.

The devil is in the details.

Wilkerson was docked 15 points for putting oil on the racing surface after stopping Ashley Force in the final round. Such a penalty left him with less points than the driver he beat in the final round.

Nevermind the fact he almost single-handedly dismantled the entire John Force Racing juggernaut on race day.

After winning last weekend’s Dallas title, Wilkerson told the media his wife was on the verge of evicting him from their house because he’d been a grouchy S.O.B. since losing in the first round to Ashley Force in Charlotte.

He was grouchy again in beating her in the final and it all whittled down to what he deemed as a mistake that led to the oil put on the track. He’s been a clean runner with a plethora of free oildown credits prior to the championship phase of the season.

Just like his points lead, those were erased as well.

“I seen some 4.22’s and 23’s in front of me so it didn’t make me feel too bad winning with a 23,” Wilkerson said. “I knew we could go faster than that so when we came back we stepped it up because I thought the track was better than we gave it credit for all weekend. We were really behind all weekend doing bad and then we just had some dumb errors there.

“Now I’m getting points taken away for leaking on the track and that’s just not conducive to our car so we need to go back and fix that thing. If we lose this thing by 15 points, I’m going to be a mad hombre.”

Wilkerson is hopping mad at dumb luck. His car didn’t blow up in the final round.

“No, it was the same thing in Dallas,” Wilkerson added. “A bolt comes out of the car and goes all the way through, no rods break lose but it was just silly. It’s silly to have two oil downs like that. It’s just a little bit because of that pressure and the time restraints you get put on you in between rounds. Things don’t get checked as close as they normally do and we’re going to have a long talk about that back in the pit area. The stuff needs to be looked at a little bit closer. That’s all my tears for the day.”

Once he got past the anger, he did have to smile at beating all of those Force cars. He’s adamant that his success isn’t making a mockery of the multi-car teams.

If anything, Wilkerson points out, he’s in the position today because of them.

“Truth be known there hasn’t been a day one of those crew chiefs hasn’t helped me in one way or the other and tomorrow I could go over and talk to Coil or talk to Jimmy Prock or talk to Johnny West or Todd Okahara, any of those guys,” Wilkerson said. “If I had a question or a problem, they would be nice enough to help me. Now, they might tell me something wrong but they still might want to help.

“We’re like a family over there. There’s not a crew chief out here in the last couple of years that hasn’t helped me fix something on my car that is bad on it.”

Wilkerson is sitting back and every detail seems to be falling in place. He might have lost 15 points, but the pain was lessened when the three drivers ranked behind him fell early.

“I think that happened for Tony last year, he had everything falling in place for him at Vegas everyone went out and he went out and won the race ,” Wilkerson said. “Although we have been leading the points since St. Louis and the only time we weren’t leading the points was when we left Charlotte. We know we have a good car; we just have to keep from making those dumb mistakes where we win the race and in the final round have an oildown like we did here and in Dallas.

“We’ve got to stop getting nicked for the points on those stupid leak downs. I’m a little upset with myself over that type of thing but you have to put that kind of thing behind you and say hey we won the race.”

Make no bones about it. Wilkerson likes playing the odds, puts him in reminds of his high school wrestling days.

“When I was a kid I wrestled in high school and I wasn’t very big and I wasn’t very good, you know we were in an AAA school and the kids were very good,” Wilkerson recalled. “I used to spar with this kid who was a state champion and the coach would say when you wrestle him you don’t even look like the same wrestler you wrestle so good. Once you treat everybody else that way when you wrestle.

“I’ve been thinking about that maybe when I race these champions I got to start treating them like that not like there is no chance I can beat them.

WALL COMES TUMBLING DOWN - Ashley Force was the last line of defense against the Wilkerson juggernaut.

Wilkerson had dispatched team leader John Force in the second round and Robert Hight in the semis before the sophomore driver pulled up beside him in the final. In their last head to head race Force ended Wilkerson’s day in the first round at zMax Dragway in Charlotte at the first Countdown to 1 race dropping the points leader from first to fourth. In Memphis she made a strong run at Wilkerson but in the end it was not her day.

“At the beginning of this race we said we didn’t want to just win Full Throttle in qualifying but we wanted to get the Full Throttle and make four great runs on Sunday, too. We actually did it. I think this was the best race we have ever had where we made four great runs in qualifying and then made four solid runs on race day,” said Force. “All eight runs were good competitive runs that we were happy running. Everything just kind of fell into place and it paid off. We made it to the final and we haven’t been to a final since April when we won in Atlanta.”

In the final Wilkerson oiled the track and was docked 15 points allowing Force to pick up more points for a runner-up finish than the eventual event winner, 98 to 97, respectively, thanks to her strong qualifying effort.

“We are happy with how our car is performing. Of course we wanted to win but we were just that close to getting the win. That is drag racing. The tuning was great. I did a great job driving. Everything worked out well it just wasn’t our day.”

ALMOST A SWEEP - Overall, John Force Racing had a near record day almost advancing four Mustangs to the semi-finals. In the second round Ashley Force dispatched Gary Scelzi, Mike Neff beat Jack Beckman, Robert Hight nipped Cruz Pedregon and with only one Force Funny Car left to fill up the semi-final quartet John Force dropped his race to Wilkerson as his Castrol GTX Ford Mustang over-powered the track at about 500 feet. Force was even with Wilkerson at the 660 foot mark even though he was drastically losing power at that point.

“Getting three Fords in the semis was tough. There are a lot of good cars out here but I’ve got four great Mustangs too. I’m with a new sponsor’s Sanyo right in their hometown. We really wanted to get them a win. The trick is even if you don’t win and get the money you get into the final. You need to get all the exposure. Ashley and her Castrol GTX Mustang have covered us. That is exciting,” said the 14-time Funny Car Champion.

ONE, TWO PUNCH – This weekend was a good one to be a Don Schumacher Motorcycle rider. Craig Treble knows that what he lacks, teammate Chip Ellis makes up for and vice versa.

In the final round at Memphis, Treble lacked for nothing as he scored his first win of the season and 26th overall by defeating Eddie Krawiec, whose Screamin’ Eagle Harley-Davidson broke in the final round.

“It’s a privilege to be a part of this team,” Treble said in a post-press conference. “Chip Ellis is an awesome rider but struggled on the tree today. He’s a great rider and pretty darned good racer.

“I’m not as good of a rider as he is, but maybe on Sunday I may be a better racer. If we combine our efforts, I think we can be some tough guys out here.”

Ellis drew blood with an untouchable 6.910 elapsed time on Friday and Treble scored the knockout punch in the money run bringing his points ranking up to 8th, one spot behind Ellis who fouled in the first round.

“A racer focuses and does his job,” Treble explained. “You have to hit the tree, your shift points and do everything right. Some of the smoothness I could work on. Chip is awesome in that department. I’m pretty good on the tree and he’s hurting there a little bit. If we combine our efforts, maybe we can come up with a dynamic duo.”

Treble admitted that much of the day he was in awe of the performance attributed to crew chief Steve Tartaglia’s tune-up.

“That 6.91 pass shocked a lot of people,” Treble admitted. “He turned around and backed it up with a 6.92 that left me wondering where that came from. Chip is ultra smooth and a contributing factor to some of that elapsed time. I’m trying to do my part and that 6.98 … I don’t know where Steve Tartaglia pulled that one out from.”

Treble said he established a personal best sixty-foot clocking four times over the course of the day in ending with a 1.052. His previous best was a 1.059.

The Memphis triumph marked Treble’s third final round appearance of the season with runner-ups in Chicago and Norwalk. His victory in Memphis upped his career win total to 26.

NEW HOME FOR KLOEBER – Mike Kloeber’s dismissal from Bob Tasca’s Funny Car team left him on the sidelines for much of the 2008 season. A call following the NHRA Fallnationals in Dallas, Texas, put Kloeber back in the ranks of the gainfully employed.

Kloeber’s resume isn’t exactly chopped liver considering that he tuned Clay Millican to six IHRA Top Fuel world championships and among other accolades as the first-ever 300-mph Funny Car run while working with Jim Epler.

“I had been calling all the big teams to try and find myself a home with a good team with a lot of funding and good parts,” Kloeber said. “Kenny’s been one of the guys that I have been talking to off and on all year long. Kenny’s been trying to stick with the guys he’s started with and that kind of stuff. Kenny was trying to do what he thought was best for his team so even though we talked a lot he didn’t elect to hire me and finally after Dallas he gave me a call. I got on a plane and came straight to Memphis.”

The time on the sidelines provided Kloeber with an opportunity to carefully script his plan for the next gig whenever it arrived. Bernstein’s call couldn’t have come at a better time for both parties.

“It’s made me bored but hungry as well,” Kloeber said, speaking of the effect time on the sidelines had on him. “I’ve had a high desire to come out here and perform well and prove that I can still make a car run the way that I have in the past. It was a chance to stop, start over and just to think about everything. I wanted to not make the same mistakes I would have made here in the past with a new opportunity.”

Kloeber’s agreement with Bernstein extends until at least until the rest of the season.

“This is for the rest of the season because Kenny isn’t sure what he has, as far as sponsors and stuff for the 2009 season,” Kloeber said. “We’ll just take care of these four races and see what happens after that.”

TOUGH SITUATION – Kloeber placed himself into a tough situation by taking over the tuning for a team who hadn’t won a round since March and had DNQ’d eight times in 2008.

The first order of importance was to take inventory of the situation and begin steps to implement his combination.

“I just wanted to see how they did things, how they serviced their engines and how they serviced their clutches,” Kloeber said. “I had to see what parts they had and when Kenny told me I could do whatever I wanted I got my Comp Cams Camshaft in the cars and some of that fuel system stuff that Pete Jackson’s made for me that I’ve had for years and years. So I put my slide valve on the car and my camshaft, there were some things on the engine that didn’t need to be changed at all. So we changed some of those basic components and we made significant changes to the clutch, different kind of pressure played in.”

The end result was three consecutive qualifying runs before the team smoked the tires. In two of the three runs, driver Tommy Johnson ran within the five fastest of those sessions.

Friday night’s session in Memphis provided the team to run back in the pack in optimum conditions. The feat may seem insignificant to many, but to this team it was important.

“I think they were all pleasantly surprised, they all had smiles on their faces,” Kloeber said. “That was fulfilling to see Kenny happy and to see all the crew guys who have worked hard all year and to come in and make them change everything on the car. They certainly have worked harder than a lot of the other teams, with little success. So it is very, very fulfilling to see all these guys happy and that was one of me and Kenny’s ultimate goals to help these guys enjoy the little success they can have this year. To be reunited with Tommy Johnson was great too.”

Kloeber didn’t totally walk into a foreign situation as he had worked closely with Johnson before. They teamed up in 1995 when the Johnson family campaigned a Top Fuel dragster with backing from Mopar.

“I’ve been a good friend to the whole Johnson family after these years have passed,” Kloeber said. “Tommy is a very, very good driver. For me it was just kind of like old times with Junior on the radio it was very comfortable for me.”

The weekend was a positive one for Kloeber, who gained a good opportunity to redeem himself after the Tasca family released him from his contract citing “team chemistry” as the reason.

Kloeber said his “bedside manner” is much better these days.

“I’m probably a little kinder and a little gentler maybe,” Kloeber admitted. “The Tasca thing there was a lot to do in a little bit of time. I probably stepped on too many toes trying to get an awful lot done in not a lot of time. We did get it done. We did get the car to run well and the basic combination that they are using up there is mine. It made it easier knowing what worked on Bob’s car to come over here and work on Kenny’s car.”

BECKMAN’S OPENING SALVO – Jack Beckman had nothing but praise for his first round opponent Tony Pedregon, also the defending Funny Car world champion.

Pedregon out-reacted Beckman, forcing the drag racing school instructor to chase him down for the win.

“If you’re going to rate Funny Car drivers, Tony Pedregon is the best,” Beckman admitted. “Tim Wilkerson could have something to say at the end of the season, but Tony is almost flawless. That team is amazing.”

RISING STOCK - Beckman moved from third into second place following his quarterfinal finish.

“My hat is off to NHRA for making this Countdown exciting, but they're killing us," Beckman said, with a laugh. "We were hoping it wasn't going to be quite this exciting here. This championship is going to come down to the final race in Pomona.

"Last year with the two-race shootout it was almost over in one of the races, and this year we're going to have a six-race shootout and I think we're going to have five or six cars still in it at the last race. That's going to be incredible.

"Today was our little stumble. And it's a good thing it didn't happen a round earlier. We made five good runs before that second round. We'll just pick up and head to Richmond.

"The good thing is we turned the corner on the cool weather tune-up. So, I don't think it matters if it's hot or cold. I think we've got a top-five car either way."

BEATING THE MONKEY – For ten consecutive races, Warren Johnson has lost in the first round. He threw that monkey off his back with a win over V. Gaines.

He also ran down a quicker-reacting Larry Morgan in avbattle of the only Pro Stock drivers who have competed in every Memphis event since 1988.

SCELZI BOOMER – Gary Scelzi’s crew chief Richard Hogan was surprised with the quarter-final engine explosion that halted his team’s car at mid-track.

"It spun the tires, put some cylinders out, backfired the supercharger, and blew the rod out,” explained crew chief Richard Hogan. “It also caused some minor body damage, but we'll have to check that closer to make sure.

"Luckily, it happened early in the run; he was not up to speed. If he was further down track and it spun the tires and did that it could have resulted in a fire.

"You might get away with it spinning the tires 50 times and not having it do that and then the next time it goes out and spins the tires it has an explosion."

HEAD GAMES – The boys weren’t paying nice with Angie McBride on Sunday.

McBride has been a strong player of late, most recently scoring a semi-final finish at the NHRA Fallnationals in Dallas, Texas.

Those kinds of performances will make the competition take notice.

In her first round match against Steve Johnson, the two-time 2008 winner rolled in and lit both bulbs. He sat and even stared over McBride. She never wavered in her routine. Neither did she stage.

Once he backed out of the second bulb, shortly thereafter McBride rolled in and lit her top bulb. Johnson fouled.

She met up with Andrew Hines in the quarters and the two engaged in a lengthy staging battle. Hines eventually broke the battle of determination and staged first. He also red-lighted.

STILL IN THE HUNT - Cruz Pedregon remains in the running for the championship despite a quarter-final finish.

Pedregon lost to Robert Hight.

"It was a very tight race and certainly could have gone either way," Pedregon said. "I think both teams were probably asking themselves what happened that round because it's obvious we both pulled back a little too much. Still, this was a good day. Any time you go rounds out here you've accomplished something.

"When I got back to the pits Rahn (Tobler, crew chief) came right up and said, 'Hey, that one's on me.' He told me he got something in his head and just pulled back more than he should have. That's why I love the guy. He's a straight shooter."

"We'll be fine. There are still three races left to go and it's anyone's championship at this point. We're only halfway through the playoffs. The Countdown to 1 makes the point race seem bigger but it's the same as it's been all year. This team is one of the best in the world and I'll be just as proud of them if we finish 10th as if we win the championship. The effort has been superb all season."

Pedregon remains within one race of points leader Tim Wilkerson and is just two rounds behind second place.

EXTENDING THE LEAD – Even when he loses, Jeg Coughlin Jr. gains.

Sunday at Memphis Motorsports Park wasn't the best day in Coughlin's career, but it might turn out to be one of the more pivotal in the 2008 title chase as the driver of the JEGS.com Chevrolet Cobalt managed to increase his lead in the championship standings from 14 to 32 point with his quarterfinal finish.

"It was an exciting round throughout the pro ranks, just watching who was advancing and who was going home early," Coughlin said. "We've all been pointing to the Countdown to 1 since the start of the year and now it's here and every round seems so big. Huge swings can happen and you know the rounds remaining are slipping away fast. It's intense."

Coughlin would square off with the event's top qualifier, Allen Johnson, in the quarterfinals. Continuing the theme of the opening session, Coughlin was fortunate enough to have run quicker than Johnson in Round 1 and therefore carried lane choice into their Round 2 race.

That's where Coughlin luck dried up.

Just after completing his burnout, Coughlin realized something was wrong with his Victor Cagnazzi Racing powerplant. He still eased the car to the starting line and staged against Johnson, hoping his opponent would jump the tree and red light, but it didn't happen and he was forced to just shut his car off and watch Johnson steam away for the victory.

"We had some misfortune but I find it hard to complain when you look at the end result of this particular race and we actually gained ground in the points," Coughlin said. "Obviously, it would have been huge to go a few more rounds and pad our lead even more but we burned up a pushrod again, just like in the first round of qualifying, and that was all she wrote.

"To have that happen twice in one race is unheard of and I've found out this weekend that we're not the only ones having this problem so I don't know if we have an issue with the materials we're all being supplied. It could be a bad batch. The bottom line is we need to pick this thing apart and figure it out. We need motors that last eight runs.

"The encouraging thing for us is we have a weekend off and we also have Joe Hornick and Stevie Johns in our corner building these motors. They're two of the best in the world and I know they'll have us ready for Richmond."

MORE RISING STOCK - Cory McClenathan drove the FRAM Top Fuel dragster to a quarterfinal finish today and moved into second in the Countdown to 1 point standings. It marked the fifth time this season that McClenathan has reached the quarterfinals.

"We obviously needed to get that 20 points in the first round and needed certain people to go out and that all went very well," said McClenathan. "In the second round the FRAM dragster was flawless once again. I just flat made a mistake. I didn't concentrate on what I was supposed to do at the time and sometimes as a driver those split second deals are enough to cost you a race.

"When I glanced over to see if Hillary was in (the staging beams) the lights were already coming down and I knew I was late off the line. I knew I got beat on a holeshot before I even got out of the car and I don't even have a radio. But I wanted to make sure that the FRAM dragster went down the track so the team would know that they didn't make a mistake.

"The FRAM guys are great and they're a championship-caliber race team. I just made a crucial mistake today. Hopefully I'll be given a chance to make up for it in the next race or two. We're not out of this thing. We go to Richmond in a couple of weeks and I've had a lot of good luck at that track so we can't wait to get there."

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SATURDAY NOTEBOOK – JOHNSON THINKING CHAMPIONSHIP, ELLIS KILLS PARITY DEBATE AND BERNSTEIN CHASING SCHUMACHER

PERFECT OPPORTUNITY - Allen Johnson can’t help it.

The veteran driver from Greeneville, Tenn., has a legitimate chance to contend for the 2008 NHRA Pro Stock title and the status has him counting points.

“This gives us almost a half of a round,” Johnson said, speaking about his third No. 1 qualifier of the season. “We just have to do something with it tomorrow.”

Make no bones about it; winning a championship would provide an incredible experience for Johnson.

“It would be huge for my family, my Dad and our whole team,” Johnson said. “Winning a championship is what we set out to do twenty-one years ago when we started racing Pro Stock. We’re close enough that if we can get a break and I can do my job, we can tighten it up.”

Johnson didn’t improve on his Friday evening session as he predicted

“We took both runs and tried to learn from them,” Johnson said. “The first run was really good and the second not as good. I think we’ll be able to pull a happy medium out for tomorrow.”

One thing Johnson knows for sure is that he has the hot rod to beat on Sunday.

“I’ve felt pretty good about our chances in the last few races,” Johnson said. “I’ve had some pretty decent lights and I’d like to get them down even more so we could win some races without having to make such a good run. I feel good headed into Sunday; about as good as I have felt all year.”

CHASING – Brandon Bernstein needed the momentum qualifying No. 1 in Memphis provided. At this stage in the championship battle, he can use every point he can get as he tries to keep pace with leader Tony Schumacher.

“It’s tough when you look at the points system and that car is so consistent,” Bernstein said. “He runs the number so much that you begin to question if you can catch him or not. As long as we are in this fight, we are going to fight to the end. Anything can happen on Sunday.

“He’s got a good consistent race car but anyone can stumble and if he does, that could provide an opportunity to step up and get some points.

Bernstein wishes no ill-will on anyone. He would, however, like an opportunity to make up ground.

“We have to do everything at this point with four races left,” Bernstein said. “It’s critical that we do something this weekend, either a semi-final or final round finish.”

Bernstein’s Memphis qualifying success represented his second No. 1 qualifier of the season and 13th in his career. For the first time in his career, Bernstein enters Sunday’s Memphis eliminations as the No. 1 qualifier.

PARITY ISSUES? – Chip Ellis pretty much blew the argument for Steve Johnson.

Johnson ranted for about 5 minutes following his NHRA Carolinas Nationals victory about how the Suzuki’s couldn’t qualify with the Screamin’ Eagle Harley-Davidsons and Buells.

Ellis ran a 6.910 elapsed time at 191.10 miles per hour in Saturday’s first session on his Suzuki.

So much for that argument.

Ellis stormed to his first No. 1 qualifier of the season, the 13th of his career. No one was more surprised than he was when he made the turn off from the track.

“I was surprised as much as everyone else because the smooth passes usually won’t feel very fast,” Ellis said. “I was blown away when I was told what we ran. Steve Tartaglia is doing a really good job on this bike.

“That was a good run and I feel like that was my best run of the season as far as doing everything right. We didn’t leave anything on the table with that run.”

The top seeding headed into final eliminations serves as a great confidence builder for Ellis who has qualified No. 2 a total of five times this season.

“As long as you can get in, you can win, that’s how competitive this class is,” Ellis said. “We were the best bike today and I hope we are the best tomorrow.

Ellis said parity is present in Pro Stock Motorcycle.

“I think that right now it’s pretty even,” Ellis admitted. “When it’s hot like it has been for the last three races, our bike has struggled. But when you get some good dry air, I think we are competitive. I am not complaining. We should have won a lot more races than we have this season – at least four or five.”

If Ellis has one gripe, it’s not with parity. His complain centers around the Christmas tree and its tendency to work against him and the fellow racers in the class.

“If I am going to complain about something I think the NHRA needs to speed the tree up,” Ellis said. “Then all of us can hit the tree hard. The name of the game is to hit it hard and we can’t do it in Pro Stock bikes. Lots of good riders are red-lighting. Who wants to see eight red-lights in a row?”

STILL THE ONE - Ashley Force’s Friday night pass of 4.07 seconds kept her at the top of the qualifying ladder, her third No. 1 effort of the season, and her three other consistent runs netted the sophomore Funny Car driver another Full Throttle Award presented to the most consistent qualifier of the race in each class.

“My Castrol GTX Mustang is running really well. It is doing exactly what Guido and Ron want it to, even a little better maybe on the night session last night. I don’t think they were going for an .07 but we’ll take it. The weather plays a big part of it and the track has been pretty good. Both lanes are pretty even so it should be a good race tomorrow,” said the 2007 Rookie of the Year.

Ashley was at the top of her game on Friday and Saturday in qualifying and now she plans on taking that consistency into Sunday’s race day. As the Countdown heats up she knows that round wins are becoming scarcer for all the teams.

“I think the guys on the outside know they can ruin our day. They don’t really have the pressure that the Countdown teams have maybe. I know (Jerry) Toliver is up against Cruz (Pedregon). That will be a big match-up for everyone in the Countdown because Cruz has been great the last few races. Toliver has a really good car this weekend and he maybe doesn’t have the pressure that Cruz has going into the first round. Maybe Toliver can go out there and have some fun and take out Cruz.”

She is also happy to be able to hopefully not face a teammate until the semi-final round. The ladder stacks up in John Force Racing’s favor as they possibly could load up all four slots in the semis.

“We are very fortunate tomorrow my teammates and I don’t line up until the semis. That is rarely how it works out. Usually we meet each other in the first or second round. Lately it seems that one of us will not do that well in qualifying and will be further down the ladder and someone from the top half will match-up with them early,” said Force.

GANN’S DQ – An icepack falling from the body of his Suzuki Pro Stock Motorcycle during a run was enough for the NHRA to disqualify rider Shawn Gann from the event. They deemed the incident as a safety hazard.

Team owner Blake Gann said the team uses an icepack while sitting in the lanes to keep the gas tank temperatures down while they run. Such a procedure ensures a bike will perform at its highest potential when the time comes to run.

Gann said their team has a ritual when they fire the bike; they automatically remove the icepack. He said a crew member forgot this time.

Before the next session, the NHRA made a sweep of the staging lanes and ordered any team covering their gas tanks to remove the items.

“Our crew man forgot to snatch it off and it fell off on the race track at about the eighth-mile,” Gann admitted. “There’s not much of a performance advantage to riding with this on unless you want it to hit your rider and knock him off.”

Gann doesn’t understand why they were disqualified considering other teams have mistakenly launched with rock guards still attached to their bikes, as recently as last week and there was no punishment for such an offense.

Gann said the NHRA’s Elroy Adams, NHRA’s technical crew chief, handed down the disqualification at the scales.

“He was shaking the cool pack and telling me that it was dangerous and I was out of the event and another racer could have hit it,” Gann explained. “They picked it up right after the run.”

“He told me later that it all just struck him wrong. I don’t think he’s ever seen anything like that. We’ve been doing this for four years.”

BEARD’S FUTURE – It’s the fall and veteran nitro tuner Lee Beard has been in the game long enough to know it is silly season time.

Will he be here? Will he be there?

Beard has heard it all over the years.

“I’m still here wearing this Matco Tools uniform; that rumor mill can stir up a lot of stuff,” Beard said. “I don’t know where a lot of this stuff comes from but it’s that time of the year.”

Beard has been rumored to be the successor to Alan Johnson at Don Schumacher Racing as well as Morgan Lucas Racing, claims that all parties involved contend are nothing more than rumors.

Beard said he doesn’t concern himself with the talk floating around.

“I have one of the best drivers out here and I am a part of one of the best teams out here,” Beard said. “We are very comfortable here and I don’t get overly concerned with the stuff I don’t have control over.”

He addressed his status for this year, but CompetitionPlus.com asked Beard about next season.

“We’ll just have to see what uniform shirt I’m wearing in Pomona, I guess,” Beard said.

ON THE MOVE – Look out Top Fuel, former model turned drag racer Malinda Bertozzi has a Top Alcohol Dragster license with a hankering to upgrade to Top Fuel.

Bertozzi earned her A/Fuel Dragster license recently at Doug Foley’s Drag Racing School.

“I’m just trying to find the sponsorships to make it all happen,” Bertozzi said.

She’s already fielded a few offers from several teams but those opportunities are contingent to bringing money to the game.

“This is a stepping stone to Top Fuel,” Bertozzi said. “I’ve really pursued racing Top Fuel a lot in the past few years, but I’ve always wanted to race this class for as long as I can remember. Everyone tells me that I have to run Top Alcohol if I want to get to fuel, so that’s what I am doing.”

THE WEEK AFTER - J.R. Todd wouldn’t have objected to a couple of weeks in between events following his sixth win in eight career national events. It was his first since March of 2007 when he won the NHRA Spring Nationals in Houston, Texas.

The icing on the cake was halting the 31-round win streak of five time world champion Tony Schumacher.

A few more weeks to savor the victory would have been nice, but he’s not complaining. Back-to-back events provide the opportunity to reduce the likelihood of the victory being construed as a fluke.

“It was cool … being the assassin of Schumacher … that was a cool feeling,” said Todd, discussing the week after the monumental final round victory. “But now it’s a new race we’ll see if he’s going to start a new streak this weekend. He’s got 15 other cars trying to do that now. So it was fun we’ll take it but we have to move on to the next race.”

When a driver carries a dry spell for as long as Todd did, the experience can definitely have an effect. He was wondering if the opportunity to win would ever present itself again.

“Definitely, it gets in your mind,” Todd admitted. “I was like was that win in Houston going to be our last one. It was definitely a long dry spell, I’m just glad we picked up the win for our team. We’ve been struggling all year and everyone knows that, but these guys never gave up and that’s what it takes. We have a good bunch of guys and some good equipment over here. We deserve to be better up in the points than what we are but it’s just been a bad year. But now it’s starting to turn around for us. That win salvaged the year for us.”

The season had been such a tumultuous one that Todd, who left on Schumacher in the Dallas final round, kept waiting on Schumacher to come around him in the lights. The pass never came.

“As soon as I stood on the gas and we didn’t spin the tires and I didn’t see him I was like Uh-oh, uh-oh, whoa,” Todd recalled. “I saw the win light and I was happy. Got out of the car a little prematurely and did a little celebrating. It was well worth it and a lot of fun.”

FLAGGED FOR EXCESSIVE CELEBRATION - Todd took a page from NFL football player Chad Ocho Cinco’s celebration book following the victory. Just like the pigskin player, he was flagged for excessive celebration.

The only difference was Johnson’s celebrations come after a touchdown and usually in the end-zone of a football stadium.

Todd’s celebration came as his 300-mph dragster was coasting to a stop. He partially exited from the car and began clapping his hands, and saluting.

You know, he did the celebration thing with the car rolling and parachute deployed.

In the days following the event, Todd confirmed the NHRA sent over a letter of reprimand.

“I got a slap on the wrist,” Todd admitted. “There was a warning telling me not to do it again.”

THANKS MAN – J.R. Todd said his defeat of Tony Schumacher was a present for Larry Dixon. Schumacher had knocked off the No. 1 qualifier Dixon earlier in the day.

While appreciate of the gesture, Dixon is sure that Todd had enough motivation on his own. He’s appreciative nonetheless.

“We’re a neighborhood on wheels,” Dixon said. “I know sometimes people don’t like the reference of a circus, but we are a traveling show that goes from time to time. Ever since J.R. has come up in the ranks, he’s had questions and I’ve tried to help him.

“We’re all trying to beat Tony Schumacher. He got the job done.”

Envy on Dixon’s behalf?

“I had my day,” Dixon said. “I’m trying to get it back.”

THE RUMORS – Dixon addresses the rumors of his walking away from Don Prudhomme Racing to join Alan Johnson’s new Al Anabi Racing Top Fuel the same way.

“My answer has changed since the last time I was asked the question,” Dixon said, when asked if he was in his last season with Prudhomme. “I have a contract here and I’ll be driving this car until Snake doesn’t want me driving anymore.”

BERNSTEIN UP IN THE AIR - Kenny Bernstein confirmed with CompetitionPlus.com that nothing is final either way regarding his Monster Energy drink sponsorship for 2009. The six-time NHRA world champion said he’s waiting for an answer before he can make a decision regarding next year.

He’s talked about a two-car Top Fuel team as well but until the answer comes through, he’s not elaborating.

If Bernstein does continue with the Monster Energy drink sponsorship, changes in the grandfathered marketing rules will allow him some latitude in how to present the sponsorship.

In other words, if he chooses to run two dragsters, it can happen.

“Whichever kind of car you start 2009 with, if it’s Top Fuel or Funny Car, you have to stay there for the rest of the season,” Bernstein explained. “You cannot switch teams and if you do leave the sport, you cannot come back.”

Reportedly, Bernstein approached the NHRA about the fairness of their grandfathering rules and the aforementioned amendments were returned by Coca Cola and the NHRA.

Previously a team couldn’t leave the category they were sponsoring even if they remained within the same team.

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FRIDAY NOTEBOOK - BRAT PACK DELIVERS, PRO STOCK AJ TICKED OFF AND RIVAS STILL HASN’T GOT A CLUE

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY - Dad might have seen Elvis at 1,000 feet, but his daughter didn’t see a thing other than her Ford Mustang moving down the course faster than her fellow competitors.

Ashley Force’s 4.079-second run at only 298.87 miles per hour put her in an incredible position to score her second career No. 1 position. This was her anniversary present to her dad, John Force and mom Laurie, who when asked how long they had been married commented, “If you ask mom she’ll probably say 100 years.”

Friday night’s run was out of character for crew chief Guido Antonelli. Ashley is accustomed to more cautious numbers and a car not as aggressive as Friday’s provided.

“I was surprised when I got those numbers,” said Ms. Force. “I felt like I was just driving all over the place. Some runs they’re real good runs they go nice and smooth and don’t feel that fast but others do. It just depends. I thought when we got out there we were going to run a high teen or a mid teen. I was very pleasantly surprised with the number. I was shocked that we pushed it that hard, usually my team is on the consistent side. We don’t try to go out and run the world record. We just go out and try to get on base for Sunday’s race, but apparently we were in the mood to push the car more.”

THIS IS MEMPHIS? – There was something about being thrown back in the seat of his Budweiser dragster that let Brandon Bernstein know that Friday evening’s conditions weren’t the norm for Memphis.

He’s used to nasty, hot and humid conditions.

This time the front wheels were in the air en route to what could be his second No. 1 qualifier of 2008 and 13th of his career. The 3.825-second run at 313.88 miles per hour was a pleasant surprise.

“You couldn’t have asked for much better conditions than we got here tonight,” Bernstein explained.

He should have known something was up when crew chief Tim Richards had a little extra spring in his step. That’s what running a 3.88 in the opening session will do for a tuner.

“You could tell that Tim was anxious to get up here and see what this track would hold,” Bernstein added. “That opening run was a good step because he could tune from that. You could really tell.”

Bernstein said he could tell right at the hit the tune-up is aggressive.

“I think we are still trying to get a handle on it,” Bernstein said. “Historically our car didn’t run really quick in the first half of the track. We concentrated more on speed. That would allow us to drive around people at the end. I think Tim is still tweaking on it.”

MOPOWER TO YA – Allen Johnson has been around drag racing long enough to know one can never say never in this sport. However, the Mopar-sponsored driver feels pretty confident in saying that his 6.591 elapsed time will stand throughout Saturday’s qualifying.

Simply put, the weather at Memphis will be the deciding factor.

“By 11 am today it was already 80 degrees, and when it gets like that you’re not going to see those .971 and .969s,” Johnson said, in reference to the sixty-foot times recorded in Friday’s much-cooler second session.

Johnson is carrying a large measure of confidence into each race because his Mopar is running strong in the latter half of the season. Such a performance increase at the right time in the season suits Johnson.

He continually credits his engine builder/dad Roy Johnson for the performance gains.

“This engine he had in the car was about six or eight horsepower stronger than the engine we ran last weekend,” Johnson added. “We usually perform good in these kinds of conditions and we just went for the throat.

“If I can do my job as a driver, Mark Ingersoll do his as a crew chief, we’ve got the car to beat. We’ve had the car to beat for about the last few races. If we get it together we can win the next four races.

“We haven’t done anything for the past few races. It’s our time and we’re about pissed off.”

STILL STARTING - Chris Rivas will be the first to admit changing everything combination-wise on the Drag Specialties/G2 Buell was a huge gamble. He’ll also tell you that it was a gamble that is still delivering a jackpot.

If you ask Rivas what change led to his recent victory at Dallas and provisional No. 1 qualifying effort at Memphis, he’ll simply say the changes.

No details. No one particular part.

There’s a good reason for those answers. He doesn’t know.

What he does know is the every one of those changes worked.

“I think the tune up on my bike, it’s more than me doing anything different,” Rivas admitted. “At this point, I don’t think I have to do anything different then what I’ve been doing. I’ve been riding the bike real well, hitting all the shift points and doing everything the way we are supposed to do. It’s up to the bike at this point to make all the power.”

All of a sudden Rivas considers himself a championship contender unlike when the team left Charlotte in a funk, the end result of a no-start in the first round.

“We’re definitely on an upstroke here,” Rivas said. “We’re feeling real good about the whole countdown and everything. Having that no-start in Charlotte was a killer to the morale and everything else. It was real hard on the whole team and that’s why we did the drastic things we did. They really helped out and we’re definitely back in it. That was a huge shot in the arm.

“[Owner/crew chief] Big George Smith was down on everything about this season because we’ve had some situations where we don’t look too smart out here. But now the fact is us moving up five spots it was like everything was given back plus a little bit more, so it feels great.”

SO THAT’S IT? – Much of the first qualifying session P.A. topic was Gary Scelzi’s stepping down from his driving role at Don Schumacher Racing.

The four-time NHRA world champion reiterated that he’s not retiring, he’s simply going back to work at the family business.

Leave it to Scelzi’s teammate Jack Beckman to put it all in perspective.

“He's like a burned out English teacher, he's taking a sabbatical,” Beckman explained.

250 – Doug Kalitta has raced a lot of races since his debut in 1998 – 250 to be exact.

Since then, he’s accumulated 30 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series Top Fuel event titles and 345 elimination-round wins and finished in the top ten in POWERade championship points for 11 consecutive straight-racing seasons.

“It’s hard to believe I’ve competed in that many events,” Kalitta, a 44-year old resident of Ann Arbor, Mich., said. “It never gets old, though. Every time I get in the car it’s still as exciting as it was the first lap. I still learn something new almost every time I go down the track. Top Fuel cars can be quite unpredictable at times, so you can’t ever get complacent.

Kalitta took home the Top Fuel title trophy from Memphis in 2006.

ONE WAY TO GET INK – When you run a limited schedule, the chances of getting publicity remains slim.

Leave it to T.J. Zizzo to do what it takes.

He’s sporting a new look but not with his Peak/Herculiner/O'Reilly Auto Parts Top Fuel Dragster.

One must look under the helmet.

Zizzo is sporting a pair of Elvis style sideburns for the weekend.

"I grew some 'chops'," Zizzo chuckled. "Memphis is about Blues, bar-b-que, Elvis and NHRA Drag Racing. So, I just want to fit in and maybe hang around and race awhile on Sunday."

It’s not all about hairstyle for Zizzo. He’s racing in Memphis for the first time since 1999 when he raced in the Top Alcohol Dragster division.

"We made our first five second pass there in that car," he said. "Maybe we can have another first this year."

THANK YOU VERY MUCH – If only John Force had been on top of the drag racing world when rock and roll superstar Elvis Pressley began belting out tunes.

They could have sold a boatload of t-shirts.

Fully 16 years after he "saw Elvis at 1,000 feet" while careening backward down the Memphis Motorsports Park quarter mile at 200-plus miles per hour Force thinks that maybe "The King" was trying to tell him something.

Drag racing's biggest winner has had an epiphany. Force still wants to win but he wants to do so safely.

A year after suffering near fatal injuries in a devastating crash in Dallas, Texas, the working man's champion is back this week at a track on which he won most recently in 2004 and 2006.

He returns at the wheel of a Castrol GTX High Mileage Ford Mustang that may finally have turned the competitive corner in what has been an often frustrating season.

After consecutive DNQs at Indianapolis, Ind., and Charlotte, N.C., Force qualified solidly in a triumphant return last week to the scene of his 2007 crash and then won two rounds to move from dead last in the Countdown standings to eighth.

He hopes to continue to move up this week in his bid for an unprecedented 15th series title -- all of them since 1989.

"I like Memphis," Force said. "I've always been a big Elvis fan and one of my cars is over at his museum. I always go by to make sure it's still there.”

Force started this weekend 152 points behind Tim Wilkerson, to whom he lost in last week's semifinals.

"We need some magic," Force said. "We need to win a couple of these races but it's hard to do. You look at the competition with Wilkerson and (Jack) Beckman and Tony (Pedregon) up there 1-2-3 followed by Robert and Cruz (Pedregon). This is the toughest bunch of Funny Cars I've ever seen. And that's the truth. I thought it was tough when (Don) Prudhomme and (Raymond) Beadle and (Kenny) Bernstein and 'the Ace' (Ed McCulloch, now the crew chief on Ron Capps' Dodge) were out here, but it's tougher now."

EXTRA CREDIT – The “Professor” Warren Johnson has a full agenda for the rest of 2008.

Johnson is conducting a clinic on the ultimate multitasking.

This weekend the six-time champion will be simultaneously working on returning his GM Performance Parts GXP to winning form, continuing his long-range research and development efforts, and doing his part to ensure the successes of his son and teammate, Kurt Johnson in the ACDelco Cobalt as well as engine leasing customer Justin Humphreys. It is a daunting task; to say the least, but one WJ believes is well worth doing.

“We are currently working with a total of three cars, namely my GM Performance Parts GXP, Kurt’s ACDelco Cobalt, and Justin’s GXP,” stated Johnson. “As such, I consider it a success any time one of those three wins a race. I am certainly focused on getting our program back to the winner’s circle as soon as possible, but with Kurt competing for this year’s championship, if I had to establish a pecking order, he would have to come first.

“At this point, everyone is working really well together. We’re using an off-shoot from Justin’s car that is finally getting our times in the early part of the run to be competitive, although we’re still not where we want to be quite yet. We have some work to do in so far as the shock, springs and other areas are concerned, but that is more in the realm of fine-tuning than major changes. Kurt and his crew then took that information and applied it to their car during a test session this past Monday in Dallas to see if it could help them during these last few races. It’s just part of a team effort that comes down to gathering information, which we then use to increase our chance of winning.”

RACED THEM ALL - WJ has qualified at every national event held in Memphis since the track debuted in 1988. With a solid record of success in his previous visits, including a class-leading four wins, Johnson is well-versed on what it takes to win in the Volunteer State. However, any sense of familiarity is tempered by reports or work performed on the track since last year’s race.

“Just as it is at every race, we won’t really know what kind of track we have to race on until we get there,” said Johnson. “Although we haven’t seen it personally, we’ve heard the track in Memphis has been worked on. Other than that, it’s just another track. Although it has had a few issues in its time, the surface really hasn’t been that bad.

“Of course, the surface at Memphis Motorsports Park is of the more traditional concrete-and-asphalt variety as opposed to the all-concrete tracks we’ve raced on the last two weeks. However, any changes we make to the tune-up in our GM Performance Parts GXP will be based more on the atmospheric conditions and what shape the track is in as opposed to its composition. Looking at the forecast for this weekend, I believe our performance level should be the same as it was in Dallas and Concord. We’ll just have to see what we have and adapt to it as best as possible, doing what we can to produce positive results on race day.”

THAT WAS A RIDE – The glow from Tommy Johnson Jr.’s rear brakes told the story of his Friday evening. His first run of the day yielded a hung throttle but the seventh quickest pass.

The second run had another hung throttle and a broken parachute cable.

There were mechanical maladies all day long but the Monster Energy Drink car was qualified provisionally.

Newly signed crew chief Mike Kloeber shook his head in disgust but such details didn’t really matter to Johnson.

“Mike Kloeber has this Monster car running so good that it just doesn’t want to stop,” Johnson said. “He’s done a great job of turning things around. We have to find out what’s hanging the throttle open on this car; we thought we had it fixed but evidently not.”
 

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