The Folk Race Cars team will present their inaugural driving school at
Byron Dragway in Byron, IL June 26-27. The class, which will be hosted
by Brian and Nick Folk, along with guest instructor Luke Bogacki, will
be split into four main segments: two classroom sessions, and two
on-track sessions on the fabled Byron Dragway quarter mile.

While the school is open to any interested parties, the curriculum has
been designed for current racers who hold a basic understanding of the
principles of bracket and/or class racing, but are looking to improve
their game, and take their racing to the next level. The classes
instructors have assembled enormous credentials and accomplishments
between them, in all forms of sportsman drag racing competition. Brian
Folk is a former IHRA Super Rod World Champion, and a two-time Moroso
5-Day points champion. His brother Nick Folk has a pair of IHRA World
Championships to his credit, in Top Dragster and Stock Eliminator.
Bogacki has a pair of DragRaceResults.com Bracket Series World
Championships on his resume, and was voted the 2008 IHRA Sportsman
Driver of the Year. Additionally, the trio has assembled countless
national, divisional, and big dollar bracket wins and several
divisional championships.

This past weekend at the John Gates Memorial Race held at Barona Dragstrip in Lakeside, CA, the 2008 defending CIFCA Series Champions,
Jam-Air Motorsports, led by driver Will Martin began their 2009 season
by debuting a brand new 1969 Chevy Camaro RS Alcohol Funny Car and
defeated Jamie Leppanen in the Arizona Thunder Firebird in the final.
In testing on Friday night, the team shattered the Barona eighth-mile
ET record with a 4.18 ET at over 162 MPH.

With the racing season underway, Gateway International Raceway is
announcing its preferred hotel partners as a convenience to race fans
making plans to attend events at the multi-purpose motorsports facility.

GIR’s three preferred hotels are the Millennium in downtown St. Louis
($ 99/night), the Doubletree in  Collinsville, Ill. ($ 99/night), and
the Ramada Inn in Fairview Heights, Ill. ($ 69/night). These prices
will remain in place, even during the O’Reilly NHRA Nationals May 1-3,
the Missouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers 250 July 18, and the Camping World
200 Sept. 12.

Veteran motor sports engineer and aerodynamicist Terry DeKoninck has
been hired as the team engineer for Mike Ashley Racing (MAR) it was
announced today. The Michigan native will work closely with crew chiefs
Brian Corradi and Mark Oswald on the Matco Tools dragster and future
racing projects at MAR.

In his new role, DeKoninck, 42, will support in failure analysis,
product life management, component design, data analysis, and
mechanical engineering projects. He previously spent nine years as a
project engineer and senior aerodynamicist with Dodge Motorsports where
he directed the development of the Avenger, Stratus and Charger Funny
Car bodies used in NHRA Funny Car competition. He also managed the
design of the Neon and Stratus Pro Stock cars and the Dakota Pro Stock
Truck. He currently operates Aerospeed Solutions, an automotive,
aerodynamic and motorsports engineering firm located in Clarkston Mich.

Championship Team Owner, Championship Rider testing ADRL Waters …

George Bryce never threatened to leave NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle racing, he just made good on a promise.

After six world championships, 78 national event victories in 160 final
rounds and a multitude of top ten finishes, the Americus, Ga.-based
Bryce decided his team ownership program had run its course following
twenty consecutive events.

Bryce is now ready to embark on a new journey, which for the time
being, will be charted by past world champion and current NHRA Pro
Stock Motorcycle world champion Matt Smith.

Tommy Johnson Jr., isn’t proclaiming a done deal but the veteran Funny
Car driver does say he’s closer than ever to his return to driving.
He’s confident that he could be back in nitro racing as early as next
weekend at the NHRA Summit Southern Nationals in Commerce, Ga.

“It’s getting closer, so we’ll see,” Johnson confirmed.

If everything pans out as hoped for, Johnson could be Jim Head’s driver for the balance of the 2009 tour.

The Steve Kent owned Pro Stock team and driver Rodger Brogdon today
signed with Victor Cagnazzi racing to run Cagnazzi power for the
balance of the NHRA 2009 Full Throttle tour. The combined effort will
include Tommy Utt joining the Louisiana based team to help guide their
efforts in pursuing a top ten finish in the 2009 campaign.

“Steve Kent made the commitment last year to run a competitive Pro
Stock operation,” said Brogdon. “And we have steadily made progress to
attain that level both within our own team as well as with the Cagnazzi
power we’ve had in the car since Gainesville.”

“But when the opportunity arose to permanently join forces with
Victor’s operation, it was something that we felt we needed to
seriously explore. While we wanted to build an in house engine program,
it’s a far tougher task than anyone could possibly realize.” Rodger
added, “By joining forces with Cagnazzi’s established team we not only
gain in the horsepower department, we also gain the experience and
knowledge of Cagnazzi crew chief Tommy Utt, an addition that has
already proven itself with our on track performance.”

NHRA's Division 3 Photographer, Bob Hesser, died April 7 after a short illness. He was 48.

Hesser, who began shooting for the North Central Division in 2002,
was well-known and universally liked by not only the racers and track
operators in his division, but by racers everywhere who enjoyed his
easy-going demeanor and marveled at his great photographic skills.

The decision to keep the MPE Motorsports Top Fuel dragster at home  versus entering the NHRA SummitRacing.com Nationals in Las Vegas was made by driver Clay Millican, who manages the team for owner Mark Pickens.

Millican, a six-time IHRA Top Fuel champion who now drives exclusively
in NHRA Full Throttle competition, confirmed  he made the decision to
ensure the future for the organization.  The team will return to
competition in Commerce, Ga., the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern
Nationals, April 16 – 19, 2009, the next event on the NHRA Pro schedule.

“It is Mark's team,” reminded Millican when asked about the decision.
“He put me in charge of his money and I am doing my best to take care
of it.”

Millican said Pickens supported his driver/manager’s decision to skip the fifth race of the 24-race tour.

“Mark told me that he knows what my budget is and appreciates me
treating his money as if it were mine,” Millican said Monday afternoon
from his Memphis, TN.-based shop.

Remember the Top Alcohol Dragster final from last weekend’s NHRA
O’Reilly NHRA Springnationals? You remember the one where one dragster
nearly tried to draft the other NASCAR style across the finish line?

Chris Demke remembers it and with good reason. He was behind the wheel
of the seemingly possessed dragster owned by his stepfather, Jerry
Maddern.

They left Houston feeling fortunate.

“As I hit my (first to second gear) shift, I found the car going a
little bit to the left. I remember seeing the 660’ cones and thought,
those cones are way to close,” recalled Demke, a ten-time winner on the
NHRA Divisional tour.