Each year our “crack”
staff of prognosticators joins together shortly after the final test session to
determine the champions of the upcoming season. We had a dismal 25% success rate last
season but we feel good about our chances this year. Here’s how we see it all
shaking out for 2008.

Scotty Cannon was very angry. He fumed for a while. Took a walk and
then returned to his car just as angry as when he left. Then he
unloaded on the staging lane director who was merely trying to get as
many cars down the strip as possible to compensate for two days of bad
weather at the recent test session in Valdosta (Ga).

Why was the six-time Pro Modified world champion so angry?

The official should have known better than to pair him alongside of another driver.

Considering Cannon’s credentials of 28 victories in 45 Pro Modified
finals and then two more victories in Top Fuel, not to mention three
Top Sportsman triumphs as a sportsman drag racer, the race official
obviously wasn’t thinking.

“He wasn’t thinking,” Cannon agreed. “Here I am out here trying to get
used to a new car and driving again and I’m doing my best not to mess
anyone up and they pull that.”

You've heard the old
saying time and again...

"The best way to make
a million dollars in drag racing is, start with TWO million."

Now here's a living
eyewitness to refute that saying:

Victor Cagnazzi, a
Renaissance Man.

You know Cagnazzi,
successful New York
businessman along with his brothers, owner of the Jegs championship 2007 NHRA
POWERade Pro Stock car, which most recently won the AC Delco Gatornationals and
took over the points lead.

We're not questioning
Cagnazzi about his bank balance, but here's his eyewitness report:

The memories rolled through my head as I received the instructions from a drill instructor type voice.

“Turn the fan on, the fuel pump and bring it around here to do your
burnout,” was the instruction that resonated through the helmet as I
sat strapped into the 235-inch Undercover Chassis wheelbase dragster.

I do so, and the horsepower of the dragster provided the momentum to
roll towards the staging lanes. You’d be amazed just how many thoughts
your mind can process as you idle to the staging lanes. A short trip
can seem like a marathon journey. You certainly see the scenery in a
different way.

Thirteen years had passed since Roy Hill had used up every cuss word
imaginable to describe this novice drag racer who couldn’t master the
use of a trans-brake. In fact, the trans-brake was only a small piece
in the puzzle for a long-haired know-it-all who couldn’t seem to do
anything correctly. In fact, the only thing I got correctly in my 1995
Roy Hill’s Drag Racing School visit was being incorrect.

Robert Patrick created unofficial drag racing history when he propelled his
Purvis Ford-sponsored Cobra Mustang to a 6.266 elapsed time during the Eastern
Spring Test Nationals in Valdosta, Ga. The second-generation drag racer from
Fredricksburg, Virginia heads into the 2008 season in a position unfamiliar to
his career -- defending world champion. In this Q&A session, Patrick
discusses his plans for the upcoming season as well "the run" in Valdosta and
some news for his team.

As a starry-eyed 11 year old kid, Dave Wallace never envisioned he’d
one day end up on the stage as an inductee into the International Drag
Racing Hall of Fame. He never envisioned what would happen as he began
his acceptance speech, either.

The table holding the beautiful trophies collapsed, sending the precious awards crashing to the floor. 

Wallace shook his head in disbelief. Then the emotion came. The former
founding editor for Petersen’s Drag Racing magazine and past Hot Rod
staffer handled the situation in the same manner he’s handled adversity
in his thirty-year plus career. He laughed and later hoisted two pieces
of a broken trophy in the air.

“I thought Wally Parks was in the room,” Wallace said. “Wally had to
have been spinning because I was getting in there. I knew he was making
his presence known.”

As engines throughout the garage fired up, signaling the start of the
qualifying sessions for this year’s National Hot Rod Association
Gatornationals in Gainesville, Fla., an older man, looking rather like
a good ol’ country boy from Iowa, settled into the cockpit of a Top
Alcohol Funny Car and as his crew  flop a 2002 Camaro body down over
the chassis, history recorded a thirty fifth year.

As alky-powered FC racing enters its 35th year under the NHRA banner
(the Funny Cars and dragsters were split into separate classes for the
’81 season), Vern Moats heads into his 35th year of racing alky-powered
FCs – as far as we know, the sole racer still competing in the class
from that first season.

Angelle Sampey knew there would be a learning curve as she switched
teams and manufacturers in 2008. What she didn’t know is the curve
would be a hairpin turn.

Sampey, a three-time Pro Stock Motorcycle champion from Houma, La., has
found out the differences between her new ride, the Buell and the
Suzuki she campaigned for many years.

Sampey left Don Schumacher Racing following the 2007 season to ride for Karl and Kim Klement.

“Riding a Buell is fun once you get used to the shaky nature and the
vibrations,” Sampey explained. “The vibrations are pretty outrageous.”

Sampey, who stands 5-feet tall and 100 pounds, prides herself in being
in top-notch physical condition. However, the ride on this breed of
motorcycle has demanded the absolute full effort from the mixed martial
arts devotee.

Hall of Fame outfielder Duke Snyder once said that even in his golden years, he often dreamed of jogging out to his usual spot in center field at Dodger Stadium to play against the stars of baseball today.

Tom "The Mongoose" McEwen, a Hall of Famer in drag racing, has no such thoughts. As far as the Funny Car icon is concerned, he's put away his past. When he stepped out of the driver's seat in 1992 McEwen moved on to the other portion of his life.

"I had a real good career," recalled McEwen, who was recently back in the limelight of drag racing when he served as co-Grand Marshal of the  50th March Meet in Bakersfield, Calif. with longtime friend and rival Don "The Snake" Prudhomme. "I look back and I'm proud to be able to do what I did in drag racing. I came up with a lot of safety features that helped the sport in a lot of ways and met a lot of good people and I enjoyed the whole time.