Greg Anderson will lead the K&N Horsepower Challenge field as the
No. 1 seed for the fifth year in a row as the lucrative
race-within-a-race bonus event takes center stage June 28 during the
second annual Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals at Summit Racing
Equipment Motorsports Park.

A purse of $76,000 is available for the eight drivers competing in the
24th annual K&N Horsepower Challenge. The winner of the K&N
Horsepower Challenge will earn $50,000. The runner-up will earn
$10,000, the two semifinalists $3,000 each, and the four first-round
finishers $2,500 apiece.

The combination of a sluggish economy and skyrocketing fuel prices
isn’t discriminating between the higher financed teams and those of
lesser means.

The rising cost of doing business has the large teams such as the one owned by John Force looking closely at their spending.  (Roger Richards)

Is this just a passing season of financial tightness or have tough times set in for the long haul?

Bill Corwin of Sunoco Race Fuels says such a forecast is tough to determine.

“It’s hard to say because I was around in the 1970s,” said Corwin. 
“Everything was inflated, but if you were working your salary would go
up to cover it. What we were used to paying isn’t as important. If
you’re living on a fixed income then it becomes a larger issue.”

While Corwin is likely talking about the average consumer and not a
race team, his point also hits home with those professional and
sportsman race teams who negotiated sponsorships years ago based on
23-races with a greater economy. Some teams are forced to accept the
higher operating costs on budgets forecasts prepared years ago.

The ground-pounding fury of NHRA Championship Drag Racing is literally
about to invade your living room via the technology offered by
ButtKicker. Working in conjuction with Scott "Woody" Woodruff of Team
JEGS, technicians with the Westerville, Ohio-based company are
conducting beta tests with Jeg Coughlin Jr. this weekend at the
national event in Norwalk to advance their work in conveying a much
more realistic drag racing experience to viewers at home.

Utilizing a small motor attached to the furniture or floors in the end
user's home, ButtKicker will transfer low frequency audio through the
viewer's body to simulate the feeling of being in a racecar during a
high-speed, quarter-mile pass.

The 10-year-old company already brings concerts and numerous other
sports to their customers through their unique systems, which cost
between $350-$400 at most chain audio-visual stores, but this is their
first foray into motorsports.

"Racing is actually the most logical sport for us to bring to the
living room because there's a lot of vibration and movement involved,"
said Ken McCaw, the founder of the company who spearheads product
development. "Although nothing will ever exactly replicate that feeling
of being in the stands or down on the starting line when two cars take
off, I believe we can enhance the viewing experience quite a bit.
That's why were exploring this further with Woody and Jeg Coughlin to
see what we can do for NHRA fans."

Four-time NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series champion Gary Scelzi
traveled directly to Ohio following the Englishtown, N.J., event last
weekend. Emotions took over the usually ebullient driver after his good
friend and fellow Funny Car racer Scott Kalitta was killed in a
qualifying accident at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park. He yearned to
hug his wife Julie and two sons (Dominic, 11, and Giovanni, 6) before
getting back into race mode for this weekend's Second Annual NHRA
Nationals in Norwalk, Ohio.

"The thing I'm looking forward to most is having my wife and my boys
come in (from their home in Fresno, Calif.)," said Fresno native
Scelzi. "We're going to go to a Giants-Indians game in Cleveland, we're
going to to to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and then we're going to
go to the Water Park in Sandusky and ride the dragster roller coaster
and make a mini-vacation out of it.

"I definitely need some relief right now. My family wasn't with me last
weekend and I sure could have used them, but my racing family was
there, so that kind of helped things along.

After leading the early qualifying at the NHRA Mopar Mile-High
Nationals and eventually settling for the fifth starting spot, Steve
Johnson of Irondale, AL rode his Snap-on Tools/WyoTech Technical
Schools Suzuki to his first appearance in a POWERade Series final round
of the season.  This followed his semi-final round finish in Ohio two
weeks ago, and confirms what event announcer Bob Frey said early on
Sunday:  “Steve Johnson is certifiably hot right now, and is a
legitimate contender for the NHRA POWERade championship.”
           

For rookie Mike Neff it was easy to put reaching his third final round
in five races but missing his first NHRA Funny Car win in perspective
last Sunday. He joined the rest of the John Force Racing team in
sending their condolences to Scott Kalitta’s family and his race team.
Being there to support your friends was much more important than
hoisting a trophy.

The sting of missing a win was obvious to the front-runner for NHRA
Rookie of the Year honors. Late in the evening the young driver
reflected on where his team has been and where it was going. Neff
frankly discussed how he felt his performance stacked up.

“It was another close one but as a driver you need to win those. I
didn’t do my job right there. I should have had a good enough light to
get us a win right there so I am really disappointed with myself. (Crew
Chief John) Medlen and the guys gave me a car that should have won
that. I am mad at myself for not being at my best. I just feel bad for
letting all these guys down.”

After deliberating for more than a week, Kenny Koretsky decided Tuesday to put
Richie Stevens in the seat of his Nitro Fish/Indicom Electric Pro Stock Pontiac
GXP for this weekend’s Summit Racing Equipment Nationals in Norwalk,
Ohio,
 
“It’s no secret I’ve been thinking about doing something like this
since my crash at Topeka (May 31),” said the fan friendly Koretsky.  “Well, now
it’s official.  Richie was in Joliet (Ill.) testing with Eddie (Guarnaccia, team
crew chief) and getting comfortable in the car.  If everything goes well – and
it should – Richie will be racing at Norwalk.”

Here’s a tip to drag racing fans. Don’t tell Pro Stock driver Larry Morgan, “Welcome back.”

“I never left,” Morgan responded.
Race fans were likely referring to the first eight races Morgan had
failed to qualify in. Morgan failed to qualify, but his engine lease
customers were flat flying. In fact, one of them won a race.

“We’ve been trying a lot of things to make our rental program better,”
Morgan said. “When you have a bunch of guys out here running, you just
have to move forward with the program.”

Morgan admitted he was trying to change the way he ran the engines.

Chip Ellis said a lot of people felt the Suzuki combination couldn’t win any more. He believes they greatly

Chip Ellis won his first Pro Stock Motorcyle event under the DSR banner.

underestimated the resolve of Steve Tartaglia.

The final round during the NHRA Supernationals in Englishtown, N.J.
represented far more than a show of brand supremacy. This represented
the first head-to-head match for Ellis against his former employer G2
Motorsports.

G2 declined to renew the Ellis contract after he lost on a hole shot at the NHRA Auto Club Finals in Pomona.

Ellis, 38, of Brownsburg, Ind., scored his sixth national event victory when Chris Rivas fouled.

One might say that Tony Schumacher had extra incentive to win the trophy at the NHRA

Tony Schumacher gave his winning trophy to the Kalitta Motorsports team on behalf of his team and the U.S. Army.

Supernationals in Englishtown, N.J. He wanted to give the award away.

Schumacher’s team and the U.S. Army made a joint presentation to Team
Kalitta in honor of Scott Kalitta, killed in a high-speed accident on
Saturday afternoon.

The five-time world champion has history with the Kalitta family and
that was usually in taking away victories and two seasons ago, a world
champion.

Today he wanted to give back to a family he said has given so much to
the sport and the country. The family’s Kalitta Air Services regularly
transports fallen soldiers back home.