Nitro Funny Car racer Bob Gilbertson and his Autolite XP Spark Plugs team will skip the next two NHRA races (Dallas this weekend and the rescheduled Reading, Pa. event the following weekend) so that he can compete in the two conflicting IHRA races in Canada and Maryland with hopes of winning the IHRA eMax World Championship.

Gilbertson is currently third in the IHRA points standings and only 24 points out of the lead and believes that he's got a very good chance of winning the title.

"This was a tough decision to make but with the blessing of everyone at Honeywell, Autolite, Prestone and FRAM they've given this team the opportunity to go after a World Championship and I just can't tell you how much their support means to me and this team," Gilbertson said. "My guys have been on the road since the 4th of July and will have run 14 weekend in a row racing on both the NHRA and IHRA circuits when they return back to Charlotte the second week of October. They voted to run both sanctioning body's events and their reward will be all the prize money that the car wins in the IHRA and again I'm glad that Autolite will back us for these races. Having a sponsor that realizes the importantance of winning really makes me proud to be part of their team and hopefully we'll be able to close the deal at the last race in Rockingham (N.C.) in October."