It was almost like magic.
Frank Gugliotta, a close friend of Justin Humphreys and his parents,
accompanied their RaceRedi Motorsports Pro Stock team to Commerce, Ga., to provide chassis
tuning advice in the NHRA national event.

He did, and the Pontiac
GXP responded better than it ever had. 
Humphreys turned in four solid qualifying runs at Atlanta Dragway and
qualified third.  And then he tacked on
three more good runs during Sunday’s eliminations en route to a semifinal
finish – his best outing of the season.  
He was so pleased that a minus .003-second red-light start in the semifinals
against Jason Line didn’t alter his mood.

Full
Throttle Energy drink announced plans to take over the primary
sponsorship of the NHRA Drag Racing Series on Friday at the NHRA
Southern Nationals in Commerce, Ga.

Rafael Acevedo, senior brand manager for Energy Drinks, Coca-Cola North
America, opened the press conference with the catchphrase, “Go Full
Throttle or Go Home.”

Last week the first victim got sent home. Vis Viva, an existing advertiser in the
official event program, was sent packing with the notice their full page
ads could no longer be accepted.

Dan Pikarsky, Vice President of Attitude Energy Drinks, said the agency who publishes the program called him early in the
year and he bought into the program well before the change in
sponsorship.

NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle racer Steve Johnson will no longer serve as President of PRO2, the

Steve Johnson has resigned his position as the President of PRO2. (Roger Richards)

motorcycle equivalent of the Professional Racers Organization. He resigned his post earlier this week.

Johnson cited the failure for the organization to fully understand the
business side of Pro Stock Motorcycle racing as one of his leading
factors to step away.

Another factor in his decision was likely the questioning of his
actions by members of the group for a past meeting with the NHRA’s
technical department specifically raising parity concerns regarded to
the Suzuki combination and a clear decline in the Suzuki participation.
The meeting was funded through the Suzuki owners.

When other members of PRO2 found out about the meeting, the controversy
and grumblings made their way around. Questions of a conflict of
interest abounded.

Were Johnson’s concerns supplemented by the stats?

The day started and ended with racing a friend for Bob Tasca III at
Atlanta Dragway. The driver of the Motorcraft/Quick Lane Shelby Mustang
earned himself a spot in his first semi-final of his nitro Funny Car
career after facing best friend Tony Pedregon in the first round, Gary
Densham in the second round, and mentor and hero, John Force, in the
third round of the NHRA Southern Nationals.

“To run Tony Pedregon and John Force and make it into the semi-finals
with this new team, is just really, really tremendous,” said Tasca.
“But we come to every race wanting to win, so when you don’t, you’re
disappointed. But when you look back at our program that we just
started in November, and to move into the 11th position coming out of
this race is just great for the team and my sponsors. After today, we
believe now, more than ever, that we can win.”

Tasca’s semi-final round against Force was the closest round he ran all
weekend, with both drivers having identical reaction times, but with
Force having an edge on time by .003 of a second.

Ashley Force powered her Castrol GTX Ford Mustang into the winner’s
circle yesterday during the 28th annual Summit Racing Equipment NHRA
Nationals at Atlanta Dragway to become the first female to ever win a
Funny Car NHRA national event. Force defeated her father drag racing
icon and 14-time champion, John Force, in the final and immediately
after the race she signed her Old Spice Victory Towel which is
available now through an online auction on eBay with 100% of the
proceeds going to the Ronald McDonald House charity.

Rarely do the diverse worlds of PGA Golf and NHRA Championship Drag
Racing intersect. David Rampy's new sponsorship presents one of those rare occurrences.

The multi-time NHRA sportsman world champion Rampy will race the rest
of the season thanks to backing from PGA tour golfer Boo Weekly.

Rampy had planned to sell all of his equipment and step away from
racing. Up until the Tuesday before the NHRA Southern Nationals, he was out of racing.

Jack Harris recorded an incredible 5.69 elapsed time at  252 miles per hour during the NHRA Division 6 in Boise, Idaho.

(Brian Losness Photo)

Terry Jenkins of Cummins, Ga., was named the sixth NAPA AUTO PARTS
Honorary Crew Member of the 2008 NHRA Drag Racing Series on Sunday at
the NHRA Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway.
 
As an assistant service director of Just Right Auto Sales, Jenkins was
selected after winning a contest for the highest sales increase over
the month leading up to the Southern Nationals. The contest was open to
all the NAPA AUTO PARTS stores across the state of Georgia. During the
season the NAPA distribution centers at each event will have different
criteria for choosing the people who are potential NAPA Honorary Crew
Members.

After reaching the semifinals in the first two events of the season, Schumacher
Electric Suzuki Pro Stock Motorcycle rider Chip Ellis made it one better at the
NHRA Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway. He was runner-up today to Andrew
Hines in the third of 17 races for the class on the 2008 NHRA POWERade Drag
Racing Series schedule. Ellis set low elapsed time (6.943 seconds) and top speed
of the event (192.60 mph) en route to his eighth career final
round.

Following a lengthy delay due to rain, the PSM class finally made
it to the starting line at 3:30 p.m. Ellis was on his game in the first round
with a solid .019-of-a-second reaction time (.000 is perfect) coupled with a
6.967-second elapsed time at 192.11 mph to defeat Junior Pippen, who was
disqualified for a red-light start.
 
In the quarterfinals Ellis continued
to run strong, recording a 7.008/189.79 to outrun Shawn Gann's 7.047/188.41 and
advanced into his third consecutive semifinal of the season. Ellis enjoyed a
solo run into the final after Angelle Sampey broke on her burnout. Ellis laid
down the quickest and fastest run of eliminations with a 6.943/192.60 to advance
to his first final of the year, where he would have lane choice over Andrew
Hines.

Reigning POWERade Pro Stock champion had a strong semifinal showing at Atlanta
Dragway to maintain a firm grip on the No. 2 ranking in the championship points
standings.

After his JEGS.com race team returned his Chevrolet Cobalt to
the set-up they had at the start of the year, Coughlin returned to championship
form on race day, beating six-time world champion Warren Johnson in Round 1 and
low qualifier Ron Krisher in the quarterfinals before bowing to Mike Edwards in
the semis on a holeshot.

Coughlin had the quicker car against Edwards but
the veteran from Oklahoma pulled off a cosmic .008-second reaction time against
Coughlin's .037-second start to win with a 6.667 at 206.54 mph over Coughlin's
6.657 at 206.29 mph.