UPDATED - The two positions have already been filled. 

Officials with the JEGS ProMod Challenge have announced a rare opportunity for
two racers to join the tour and run at this weekend's 12th annual O’Reilly NHRA
Midwest Nationals at Gateway International Raceway. The coveted spots will go to
the first two racers who contact officials at
JegsProMod@earthlink.net .

"We've got 24 spots at this race and we're
looking to fill the last two," series spokesman Woody Woodruff said. "It's a
last-minute deal but we're hoping a couple of racers can put something together
in a short amount of time and come and spend the weekend with us."

This weekend, May 2-4, native Australian Dave Grubnic and his team will have
primary sponsorship support on their 8,000-horsepower Kalitta Motorsports Top
Fuel dragster from the St. Louis Carpenters Union as the NHRA POWERade Drag
Racing Series rolls into Madison, Ill., just across the Mississippi River from
downtown St. Louis, for the annual running of the O'Reilly NHRA Midwest
Nationals at Gateway Int’l Raceway.

“The St. Louis Carpenters Union has been supporting NHRA drag racing for many
years, and it’s an honor for me and our Kalitta Motorsports team to represent
them this weekend in St. Louis,” Grubnic, a 45-year old resident of Ennis,
Mont., said. “They’re going to bringing out a lot of guests to Gateway this
weekend, and we’re looking forward to meeting them and hopefully showing them a
great performance with our race car on the drag strip.”

Some teams don’t know they’re hot.

When Alan Bradshaw qualified No. 1 in Gainesville, his crew didn’t
believe it. It took a visit from an NHRA official, a trip to the media
center for Bradshaw and a run sheet before they finally did – and then
the Vis Viva Fuel Top Fuel dragster team followed it up with another No.
1, in Houston, proving they weren’t just lucky.

The 2008 season has been good to the one-car teams.

Six one-car teams – at least one in each category - won in the first
five races of the season alone, before Atlanta. The proverbial Goliaths
might not be scared when they pull into St. Louis for the 12th annual
O’Reilly NHRA Midwest Nationals, but they must be a little shaken. The
event at Gateway International Raceway is the seventh of 24 in the
nationwide NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series.

For
long-time drag racing fans, former world champion Mark Oswald's return
to competition in this weekend's NHRA Route 66 Nationals in Joliet,
Ill. was like a return to days gone by. Round-by-round, the "Ice Man"
drove the A&R Transport Dodge Charger like he'd been in the seat
every day in the past eleven years - not tuning and working behind the
scenes.
 
Oswald was tapped late Thursday night by Mike Ashley to drive the car
because Ashley was once again called into action by his company, Lend
America, and had to miss the race. Although Oswald hadn't driven
competitively since 1997, he took the challenge knowing that the car he
was getting into was one of the best in the field.
 

Ron Capps cannot bring himself to leave an autograph-seeking fan sitting at the ropes of his pit area.

Ron Capps said each autograph is special to him.

“It’s that one person you can walk away from, and maybe it’s a kid, that gets to you,” Capps admitted.

Capps remembers, as a kid, drawing the wrath of Funny Car legend Don
Prudhomme for seeking an autograph while walking through a restaurant.

“He was eating and I wanted his autograph,” Capps recalled. “I remember him yelling at me.”

Capps rewinds the memory of his devastation every time he’s tempted to walk away, leaving a fan.

No Top Fuel driver has
ever won the NHRA Midwest Nationals Top Fuel crown four times. Doug Kalitta
hopes he can change that.

Kalitta, an 11-year Top
Fuel veteran, visited the winner’s circle at GIR in 2004, 2003, and 2001.

On the heels of his second Top Fuel win in three races, Matco Tools Top
Fuel driver Antron Brown will be a guest on XM Powershift with Joe
Castello. The 18-time NHRA winner will appear on the popular satellite
radio show at 9:25 p.m. (ET) on April 29. The show airs Monday - Friday
from 8- 10 p.m. (ET) on XM Sports Nation (XM 144).

Drag racing fans and pizza lovers will be getting more than just
“America’s Favorite Pizza” in western Michigan thanks to a new
sponsorship agreement announced today between Pizza Hut and the
American Drag Racing League (ADRL).  Not only has Pizza Hut acquired
the title rights to the 4th annual ADRL Pizza Hut Summer Drags, but
they also will be providing complimentary tickets to the event being
held June 6-7, at Knoll Gas Motorsports Park at U.S. 131 in Martin,
Michigan. 

“The ADRL serves up the fastest and hottest eighth-mile drag racing in
the world and Pizza Hut is dedicated to fast service and hot delicious
deals, so it represents an ideal marketing partnership for us,” said
Brian Cronkrite, Vice President of Marketing, Trigo Hospitality. “We
are thrilled to be a partner with the ADRL in bringing one of the most
popular and exciting racing series in America to western Michigan.”

Pro Mod racer David Hance hasn't contested a single event in the JEGS ProMod
Challenge but he's so excited about the series that he's posting a $500 cash
prize for the fastest racer at each of the tour's final seven national events.
The New York Motorsports Top Speed Award will begin this weekend, May 2-4, with
the 12th annual O’Reilly NHRA Midwest Nationals at Gateway International
Raceway.

"Running top speed of the meet is a remarkable accomplishment
and it's something we think should be recognized," Hance said. "We're honored to
align ourselves with JEGS and the JEGS ProMod Challenge. They've done a
wonderful job this year since they took over the series. The excitement level
for Pro Mod racing is sky-high thanks to their exceptional
efforts."

Hance is anxious to join the competition at some point in the
near future. His New York Motorsports race team, led by crew chief Steve Petty,
has been working feverously to get his turbo-powered '57 Chevy up to speed. He
hopes to be on track in the next month.

Spectators at the May 2-4 J.W.
Performance Transmissions Thunder Valley Southern Shootouts will witness some of
the greatest bracket racing action to grace the strip at Bristol Dragway.  In addition, fans will be treated to a
best two-out-of-three grudge match between 2007 IHRA Pro Mod World Champion
Scott Cannon Jr. and the outrageous 1969 Pro-Mod Dodge Charger Daytona of Chip
King.

Cannon, the son of Pro Mod godfather
Scotty Cannon, collected the 2007 IHRA Pro-Mod World Championship after a
stellar season. 

Cannon is no stranger to the world
of drag racing.  He worked on his
dad’s championship Pro Mod in the early 90’s.  During his tenure, Cannon worked on the
bottom end of the team’s engines, and then followed his famous father to the
NHRA Funny Car division years later.

“A lot of people ask me if it was
easy to get a driving job because of my dad’s championships,” he said.  “I tell them it was harder for me to get
in the driver’s seat.  I didn’t
start out with an easy job on the crew. 
My dad made me earn it. 
Later, my dad joined the Funny Car ranks and I crewed there also, doing
the bottom end.”