The NHRA O’Reilly Jr. Drag Racing League Eastern and Western conference
finals will be featured during two episodes of Inside Drag Racing on
ION TV. Inside Drag Racing is produced by Masters Entertainment Group,
producers of NHRA drag racing programming for more than a decade.

The Eastern Conference Finals will air at 4:30 p.m. (ET) Saturday, Aug.
9.  The event is being contested July 10-12 at Bristol Dragway in
Bristol, Tenn.

The Western Conference Finals will air at 4:30 p.m. (ET) Saturday, Aug.
23.  The event is being contested July 24-26 at Bandimere Speedway near
Denver.

The NHRA has entered into a strategic alliance with global sports and
entertainment company IMG to serve as its exclusive outside sponsorship
marketing agent.   IMG will work alongside the current sales team at
NHRA, led by senior vice president of sales & marketing, Gary Darcy.

 “IMG brings with it more than 50 years of leadership and innovation in
the world of sports,” said Darcy.  “With strong relationships within
corporate America, and abroad, we believe IMG will be able to help
deliver NHRA’s unique attributes to key decision makers in the sports
sponsorship arena.”

IMG will be charged with business development and securing non-endemic
sponsorship to NHRA, which continues to offer the best value in terms
of sports sponsorship according to a leading sports business
publication.  The team will be led by George Pyne, president of IMG
Sports & Entertainment.   Much of the initiative will be driven out
of the New York and Charlotte offices of IMG, giving NHRA a presence in
both the business and motorsports capitals of the world for the first
time in its 50-plus year history.

Clay Millican confirmed today he is a free agent in the drag racing world again.

Millican, a veteran driver for Evan Knoll’s Top Fuel team, confirmed he
and the rest of his team was informed they “should start exploring
other opportunities” in drag racing.

“I was told by Torco they weren’t sure what was going to happen with
the race teams at this time,” Millican confirmed. “The whole team was
instructed to explore other opportunities.”

Reigning European Top Fuel champion Urs Erbacher of Switzerland completed his
early season tour of the United States with a computer full of data that the FIA
titleholder is convinced will help him defend his crown this
summer.

Racing at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway this weekend,
Erbacher successfully qualified for his fourth event in as many tries on this
year's POWERade Drag Racing Series. The four-time European champion has proven
he can run well at the sport's elite level and should now be an even bigger
force on the 2008 FIA tour.

"The experience we gained here this spring
has made us stronger," Erbacher said. "It was an expensive expedition,
especially without the primary sponsorship we continue to need, but the
dividends it will pay should make it all worthwhile. I'm not sure if our
European counterparts have found time to test for the upcoming season but even
if they have, it would be hard to compare with the experience of racing
NHRA.

The recently-completed NHRA Summit Nationals in Las Vegas marked the
second time that Bob Tasca III advanced to the quarter-finals in 2008,
his

Sunday’s race marked the second time that Bob Tasca III advanced to the quarter-finals in 2008, his rookie season.

rookie season.

“The car got real loose on me and came sideways,” said Tasca, following
his second run of the day. “I stepped off it and I pedaled it once just
in case Ron may have smoked the tires, but then I saw him out in front
of me. The car came around towards the cone as I lifted, and when I
lifted, I hit the cone. But that’s the difference between racing and
qualifying. On Sunday, within reason you do whatever you can to get to
the finish line and unfortunately for us we lost a little bit of
traction and the car came around pretty hard. But Capps made a real
good run down that left lane.”

Hillary Will maintain her foothold as the fastest female in the history of NHRA drag racing by running the

Hillary Will retained her position of the being the fastes femaledriver in drag racing.

fastest
speed of the weekend in Las Vegas, 331.85 mph. At the first two events
of this season, she set the track record for speed at both Phoenix
Int’l Raceway (334.32 mph) and at the Auto Club Raceway at Pomona
(Calif.) (334.56 mph). Her 330.63-mph speed mark at the event earlier
this season in Gainesville, Fla., tied for the fastest lap of the
event. Her booming blast in California established her as the fastest
female in the history of the sport.

The NHRA handed down the
largest fine in the history of NHRA POWERade championship drag racing on Sunday
afternoon after discovering Don Schumacher Racing to be in possession of four
drums of nitromethane not purchased from the official fuel supplier of the
NHRA, VP Racing Fuels. NHRA VP Graham Light announced DSR’s fine was $100,000.

“Yesterday we discovered nitromethane
in Don Schumacher Racing’s pits that was not purchased through the official
distributor and that is clearly in violation of the rules,” Light said, in an
interview with ESPN2. “As stewards of that product we take our responsibility
very seriously. There are very strict guidelines as to the purchase and use of
nitromethane. As a result of this violation, a $100,000 fine has been levied
against Don Schumacher’s team.”

Don Schumacher was in
complete protest of NHRA’s decision.

“I’ve been told by Tom
Compton and Graham Light that Pro Nitro is a legal nitromethane that can be
used in the NHRA,” Schumacher said, in reference to his brand that is legal in
IHRA, Nostalgia and test events. “We had four drums of Pro Nitro in our pits Saturday
and they have been removed. They feel this is inappropriate and have fined me. I
will appeal the fine and I don’t feel the rulebook is being enforced the way it
is written. That’s the bottom line.”

Thursday night before the Summitracing.com Nationals I got
the chance to participate in the grand opening of Carroll Shelby’s Shelby Café
at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. There was an autograph session with Carroll,
Snake, John Force, Bob Tasca III and myself and after the signing event I got
the chance to get into Mike Kuhl’s front engine dragster for a mini-cacklefest.

VISIT BLOG CENTRAL

Rod Fuller raced a harsh reality in losing his first round match
opposite of Troy Buff during the first round of the NHRA Summit
Nationals at LVMS. The Las Vegas driver now ranks
seventh in the NHRA Top Fuel standings.

Atco Raceway's Quick 8 started this Sunday with a light field (5 cars). Not sure
if it is a little early in the season or the possibility of rain showers and
temps in the 50's that kept some racers from showing. We did see Joe Newsham lay
down a 6.81 @ 216 with his Mustang in the first round. 

Qualifying
video http://ywnv.vidiac.com/video/9f364b6f-c24b-4710-8ef5-9a7d016bc772.htm

Newsham
went to the Finals against Charlie Dolbin and won the first Event of the
year. 
 Eliminations video with Joe in the Winners Circle speaking 
http://ywnv.vidiac.com/video/f8bc9120-3ef0-4483-a498-9a7d01610719.htm

Also
Sunday we had an added treat (because of rain on Saturday) the East Coast
Stock/Superstock Associations season wheel standing season opener