DIXON, CAPPS AND EDWARDS RACE TO QUALIFYING LEAD AT LUCAS OIL SLICK MIST NHRA NATIONALS

Larry Dixon turned his season around Friday at the Lucas Oil Slick Mist NHRA Nationals by racing to the qualifying lead in Top Fuel.

Ron Capps and Mike Edwards also were qualifying leaders in their
categories at the second race of the season in the NHRA Full Throttle
Drag Racing Series.

Dixon, who failed to qualify for the NHRA season-opener two weeks ago
in Pomona, Calif., rebounded with the quickest run on Friday at
Firebird International Raceway, a performance o f 3.807 seconds at
313.95 mph in his Al-Anabi Racing dragster.

Duane Shields of Boulder City, Nev., reached the No.1 qualifying spot
in Top Alcohol Dragster with Saturday’s run at the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag
Racing Series event at Gainesville Raceway.  Claremont, Calif.,
resident Jay Payne wheeled his ‘08 Mustang to the No.1 qualifying seed
in Top Alcohol Funny Car.

Shields posted a 5.259 second, 270.59 mph run, which was enough to keep
him ahead of Shayne Lawson, Broken Arrow, Okla.  Shields, who also
claimed the top spot at last weekend’s Bradenton event, is hoping to
take the lead position all the way to the winner’s circle.

Payne, Gainesville’s 2008 event champ in Top Alcohol Funny Car,
returned to the head of the class posting a 5.7 second pass.  Last
year’s Division 2 champ locked up the top spot which placed him in
front of Frank Schuster from Chesterfield, N.J.

Following the lead of his peers in the NASCAR racing world, Roy Hill
has launched a Driver Development Program as a new division of his
popular drag racing school. Roy already has his first three protégé’s
in class, working to become the next leaders of the sport.

Seventeen year-old Buddy Perkinson, who is currently working to get his
Pro Stock license through Roy Hill, will headline the school’s
participation at the upcoming Virginia Motor Trend International Car
Show. Roy Hill’s Drag Racing school will feature a 120’ display of race
cars available at the school, along with autograph sessions from Roy
and conversations with students like Buddy.

Force Becomes Second JFR Team to Run Ford’s New Nitro Engine …

When a trend starts to go south, sometimes you have to pull out the secret weapon.

John Force, the 14-time NHRA Funny Car champion, has won at Firebird
Raceway an unprecedented eight times in the last 15 seasons. He has,
however, been winless the past two years, at least at Firebird Raceway.

Time to roll out a new weapon, to get an "edge" up on the competition.

The guy who had a streak of 17 consecutive round wins at NHRA national
events in Phoenix won’t get a chance to start a new one this year.
Instead of being strapped into a 7,000 horsepower Top Fuel Dragster at
this year’s NHRA Lucas Oil Slick Mist Nationals, ‘Hot’ Rod Fuller will
likely be watching the race from one of the VIP suites.

Fuller, like several other prominent racers, is on the sidelines
working on sponsorship prospects to put him back out on the track later
this season.

Long-time John Force Racing crew chief John Medlen was admitted to
an Indianapolis hospital for discomfort in his chest late last night.
After an examination by doctors a routine medical procedure was
performed and a stent was inserted into his heart. 

This is the second such procedure for the 59 year-old. In 2002
Medlen had a stint inserted as a precaution and, as a result, missed
the NHRA national event at Seattle, Wash. He returned a week later to
resume his responsibilities at Sonoma, Calif. A year later, he won the
NHRA POWERade championship for JFR with driver Tony Pedregon.

There was a day that the element of surprise worked like a charm for Pro Stock racer Vieri Gaines.

Gaines, of Lakewood, Co., slipped into the 2008 NHRA Nationals in
Phoenix, Az., like a wolf in sheep’s clothing and proceeded to slay the
competition in a new Roger Holmgren-built Dodge Stratus that he
contends Helen Keller could cut a light in.

Gaines pieced together four above average elapsed times with a string
of reaction times that spanned as quickly as .007 to as slow as .02.

Mickey Thompson Tires & Wheels will continue their partnership with Billy Glidden Racing for 2009. Through this renewed
partnership, Glidden will continue to help Mickey Thompson Performance
Tires & Wheels develop new performance products, and Mickey
Thompson will provide financial support to Glidden to defend his ADRL
Extreme 10.5 Class Championship.

“Working with Billy Glidden is amazing,” said Ken Warner, VP Sales
& Marketing, Mickey Thompson Performance Tires & Wheels. “He
works very hard, and drives like no other racer I know. We get reliable
data from Billy that is used to develop and maintain the best
high-performance products. Billy is part of the Mickey Thompson family
and we want him to get out on the track and win.”

Gregory Pfiefer, the 14-year old son of former Torco Race Fuels General Manager Brian Pfiefer, is currently listed in critical but controlled condition at Bronson Hospital in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Gregory developed complications from the flu which led to his admission to the Pediatric intensive care unit. We'll have more details as they are provided by the family. Until then, please keep Gregory and the family in your prayers.

NAPA
AUTO PARTS store owner Tim DelCid, who was named the NAPA AUTO PARTS
Honorary Crew Member at the NHRA national event in Las Vegas last year,
was presented with a special Ron Capps autographed helmet at the recent
season-opening Pomona NHRA national event.

Mike Heffley, an employee at one of the Bakersfield, Calif., NAPA
stores owned by DelCid, and Fresno, Calif., NAPA wholesale manager Tony
Guerrero, surprised DelCid when they gave him the helmet in
appreciation.

"Tony and I got together and thought it would be a good thing to give
Tim a Ron Capps-autographed helmet," said Heffley, "and we made it
happen and dropped it on him at Pomona. He had no idea we were doing
this. I've worked for the same NAPA store for nine years and he's a
really good boss."