Six-time
NHRA Full Throttle Series Top Fuel world champion Tony Schumacher has
been nominated for the ESPY Best Driver Award, it was announced today
by ESPN.

The ESPY Awards, for Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly, was
created by ESPN in 1993. Sports fans can vote for Schumacher and their
other sports heroes in each of 37 different categories via an online
poll at: www.espys.tv  or at  www.espn.mobi. Voting begins today and
concludes at 11:59 p.m. (ET) on July 11.

Schumacher, 39, driver of the U.S. Army dragster, finished the 2008
season in dominating fashion, by winning a record fifth consecutive and
sixth overall Top Fuel championship. He raced to 15 victories and
became only the third driver in NHRA history to claim the coveted
Driver of the Year Award. An elite panel of motorsports journalists
voted Schumacher the Driver of the Year over NASCAR drivers Jimmie
Johnson and Carl Edwards, among others.

A multitude of pioneers of drag racing will converge on the York Expo
Center, York Fairgrounds for the presentation of the 8th Annual
Musclecar Madness, July 10 - 11, at the York Reunion brought to you by
York Traditions Bank and GGS Technical Publications Services.
 
Top fuel veterans Jim and Alison Lee and their popular driver Tom Raley
will reunite and visit with a whole host of drag racing legends who
will be in attendance for the two days.  Pioneers who provided the
impetus for today's championship drag racing will be in abundance
including Jerry Baltes, Wally Booth, Gordy Foust, Bob Tasca, Sr., John
Healey, Earl Wade, Bob Harrop, Jack Werst, Wally
Bell, Hubert Platt, Phil Bonner, Sam Auxier, Jr., Al Joniec, Jere
Stahl, Bill "Grumpy" Jenkins, "Miss Hurst Golden Shifter" Linda Vaughn,
"The Voice of Drag Racing" Jon Lundberg, Arlen Vanke, Bruce Larson, Joe
Jacono, Bob Chipper, George Snizek, Jerry Jardine and the list goes on.

Matt Smith has been busy lately.

The former Pro Stock Motorcyle world champion has been working around
the clock on a new chassis for the Don Schumacher Racing’s new Suzuki
Hayabusa.

Tony Bartone has learned that one can always come back home.

Roger Richards

Bartone, a decorated Top Alcohol racer who departed for the world of
Nitro Funny Car racing, has returned to the Top Alcohol Funny Car
division with the help of Valencia, Ca.-based team owner Rick Johnson.

“Rick Jackson is a quality person who loves to win and has assembled a
team who share this passion for success,” remarked Bartone. “Stevie
(Boggs) has been tuning over here with Jackson’s team for a few years.
We (Boggs and Bartone) have enjoyed many levels of success in the past
and the magic is coming back.”

Matt Smith is likely to be in the Angie McBride’s good graces for a long time.

The former Pro Stock Motorcycle world champion who rides the Nitro Fish
Hayabusa Suzuki for Don Schumacher Racing delivered to his fiancé the
birthday gift she wanted and as a result, this weekend she’ll race in
the NHRA Summit Racing Equipment Nationals at Norwalk, Ohio.

For most drivers, reaching the final at four straight events or five of
the last six stops, which includes two victories, would be something they
would hope for, Mike Edwards included. But now that he has lived
through that and knows he should have collected a few more trophies,
Edwards wants to turn those three final-round letdowns into a summer
run toward his first Pro Stock championship.
 
"This has been an incredible run we have been on as of late," he
admitted. "I just wish it would have translated into a few more wins.
We have had the car to beat at every race, so being in those shoes
makes it tough when the trophy goes home with someone else."

Jerry Coley has been around drag racing for a long time; long enough to honestly use the phrase, “back in the day when I raced”.

Jerry
Coley prepares to burnout behind the wheel of the Camaro that he drove
in NHRA Division 2 Modified over three decades ago.

The former NHRA Division 2 Modified eliminator standout now works for
Steve Kent Racing as a marketing agent. But, for one moment last Sunday
at the NHRA Holley Hot Rod Reunion, he was vaulted back into the day
when he crossed paths with racers Cotton Perry, Garley Daniels and even
Mike Edwards.

Coley was perusing the pits when he happened upon a familiar 1969
Camaro. Upon closer inspection, Coley realized why he recognized the
classic Chevrolet. The Camaro was one that he owned and raced 33 years
ago in Modified Production. 

Dave DeAngelis believes that some dreams need to be followed up.

The veteran drag racing photographer, who traded in his Nikons for a
Top Alcohol Dragster a decade ago, has embarked on another chapter in
his storied drag racing career. This summer, DeAngelis will make his
Nostalgia Nitro Funny Car driving debut behind the wheel of a 1971
Mustang flopper, a tribute car to the legendary Lou Arrington and his
Brutus entry.

“I have wanted to build a Funny Car since I was ten years old,”
DeAngelis said. “The only reason I didn’t want to do it at five was
that there were only slingshot dragsters.”

Nitro Fish Wear owner Kenny Koretsky will continue his sponsorship
agreement with NHRA Full Throttle Series Funny Car leader Tony

Tony Pedregon beats Ashley Force Hood in the Englishtown Funny Car final.

Pedregon at this weekend’s Summit Racing Equipment Nationals in Norwalk, Ohio.

“I’m going with the hot driver in Funny Car,” Koretsky said Wednesday. 
“I said Tony was a winner before our last race at Englishtown (N.J.,
June 14) and he proved it on the track.  He has all the tools to win,
and he’s a great driver.  His team is consistent, and that’s what it
takes to win the championship.

Very few expected Larry Dixon to sneak up on the competition in 2009.

Instead, it was expected the Alan Johnson Racing/Al Anabi team would
bury the competition in the asphalt from the start. When the wins
didn’t come as quickly as some had predicted, the naysayers began to
write the team off as one that couldn’t live up to the hype.

Just as some were about to count out the prospects of this
championship-caliber team, the team found its groove, starting in
Topeka.