Following what was to be a “one-off” appearance of the Ron Capps-driven Adaptive One Brakes Dodge Funny Car body at Bristol Dragway
last week, NAPA AUTO PARTS has opted to run the body one more time at
this weekend’s NHRA Summer Nationals at Heartland Park Topeka, the
ninth round of the 2009 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series.

“It’s a cool design representing a great product,” said Capps, the
class points leader and winner of three of the first eight national
events of the season. “And we’d like nothing better than to put it in
the winner’s circle in Topeka.”

Journeyman Funny Car driver Phil Burkart, Jr. hopped into the cockpit
of Nick Boninfante's "U.S. Male" nostalgia nitro Funny Car at a
test
session Thursday afternoon at Maple Grove (Pa.) Dragway and after an
early shut-off check out pass he cranked out the quickest and fastest
run the car has ever made, a 4.843 at 243.99 mph.
 
Crew Chief, Nicky Boninfante, Jr., who tunes the Kalitta Motorsports
DHL Funny Car on the NHRA Full Throttle circuit, was ecstatic about the
results and predicts that the car will run a lot quicker and faster at
the car's first public appearance this year at the 34th Annual "Night
Of Thrills" next Saturday night at Raceway Park in Englishtown, N.J.

Five-time drag racing champion Jeg Coughlin Jr. was the first of
several guest speakers at this year's appropriately named HOBY Grand
Prix Ohio South Circuit leadership conference at Denison University in
Granville, Ohio. Coughlin spoke Thursday to an eager group of 300
top-flight high school students on the importance of teamwork,
communication, honesty, and integrity and how these attributes can
relate to their ultimate success in life.

"We kicked off their conference in style," Coughlin said. "We started
with a great video of fast-paced NHRA action and believe me, that got
everyone's attention. As we all know, the sound and fury of NHRA Full
Throttle Drag Racing has quite an affect on people."

Founded in 1958 by old-line Hollywood movie star Hugh O'Brian of Wyatt
Earp fame, HOBY’s mission is to inspire a global community of young
people to a life dedicated to leadership, service, and innovation to
the benefit of all mankind.

In the opening day of racing at Brainerd Int’l Raceway’s Thunder at the
Lakes event, a round of the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series, Dan
Kracht of Gretna, Neb., set the pace in Top Alcohol Dragster while Des
Moines, Iowa’s Vern Moats heads up the Top Alcohol Funny Car
contingent.  St. Cloud racer Pat Nahan is No. 1 in Comp
Eliminator.         

Kracht blasted the field with a 5.395-second, 256.80 mph pass.  The No.
2 qualifier, Ed Schmeeckle of Gothenburg, Neb., ran 5.465 seconds at
261.88 mph.

Moats, a veteran racer wheeling his ’08 Mustang, laid down a
5.720-second lap at 254.14 mph.  Kirk Williams, Glenwood, Iowa, is in
the second qualifying spot with a 5.758-second, 248.25 mph pass.  Bruce
Carlson of Prior Lake, Minn., is qualified No. 4.

Twelve-time NHRA National Champion Frank Manzo and Mike Kosky grabbed
the top spots for this weekend’s NHRA Northeast Division Lucas Oil Drag
Racing Series event at Maple Grove Raceway.

Manzo put his Lucas Oil sponsored ’08 Monte Carlo in the No. 1
qualifying position of the Top Alcohol Funny Car field running 5.568
seconds at 258.81 mph.  The Morganville, N.J., racer, who picked up his
100th NHRA divisional win last weekend in Norwalk, Ohio, is followed by
Olympic gold medalist Marty Nothstein.  Nothstein, who was born in
Allentown, Pa., and now calls Orefield, Pa., home, clocked in at 5.649,
255.82 mph, good enough for the No. 2 position in funny car.

Kosky of Cuddy, Pa., covered the quarter mile in 5.441 seconds, 263.77
mph in his Top Alcohol Dragster for the top spot.   Bill Evan, Miramar,
Fla., is right on Kosky’s heels running 5.449 seconds at 262.39 mph and
John Finke, Selkirk, N.Y., sits in the No. 3 spot at 5.453, 262.39.

Shawn Cowie of Delta is leading the Top Alcohol Dragster qualifiers at
the Lordco BC Nationals, a round of the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing
Series at Mission Raceway Park, while Brian Hough, Junction City, Ore.,
is No. 1 in Top Alcohol Funny Car.  Another Delta resident, Terry
Spargo leads the Top Sportsman contingent and Kelly Vos of Burnaby is
the best qualifier in Sportsman Motorcycle presented by Harley Davidson.

Cowie made a 5.371-second, 269.94 mph pass which was enough to put him
ahead of No. 2 qualifier Joey Severance of Spanaway, Wash.  Severance
ran 5.408 seconds at 260.64 mph.

Hough laid down a 5.657-second, 256.77 mph lap in the opening round of
qualifying while Clint Thompson of Klamath Falls, Ore., ran 5.748
seconds at 251.53 mph to put him in the second slot.  Chilliwack’s Tim
Nemeth is qualified in the No. 4 position.

Success in drag racing is largely predicated on having a routine.

That’s why Extreme Pro Stock provisional low qualifier John Montecalvo
was concerned during the first day of qualifications at the ADRL
Quarter-Max Memphis Drags in Memphis, Tenn.

Montecalvo slipped out of his usual game plan of arriving on Thursday
in order to get as many shots as possible during professional time
trails on Friday.

“I was a bit concerned,” Montecalvo said. “We were delayed a bit at the
airport. I really wanted to make a time run and we never got to make
one.”

A brilliant, record-setting run by Pro Extreme star Jason Scruggs
highlighted the opening round of qualifying today for National Guard ADRL
Quarter-Max Memphis Drags II at Memphis Motorsports Park. Scruggs
covered the Memphis eighth mile in an incredible 3.66 seconds at 207.43
miles per hour with his supercharged ’68 Camaro, making it the quickest
and fastest pass in history by a full-bodied drag racing car.

“To
be honest, I feel very fortunate,” the cotton farmer and businessman
from Saltillo, Mississippi said. “I knew it was on a good pass, but it
surprised me just how good it was. Everything had to come together just
about perfect for that to happen.”

Boy, that 70.5 Camaro is a looker.

ADRL.us

If you’ve ever seen the Armor All commercial where NASCAR racer Tony
Stewart stands in a daze staring lovingly at his clean car, then you’ll
get a good idea of how Alex Hossler feels when he looks at his new toy
from Duncan Race Cars.

Hossler has the first of the Cynergy Composites lightweight 70.5 Camaro
bodies and has mated the impressive bodywork with an extremely
lightweight chassis chock full of ingenuity and, oh yeah, titanium.

A 3.90-second, 190 miles per hour test run gives Hossler the feeling
this classic muscle car will be a trophy girl when it’s all said and
done.