Rockingham
Dragway owner Steve Earwood announced Thursday that Goodyear Tire &
Rubber Co. has renewed its presence package at the North Carolina track
for the next three seasons.

Goodyear, which has been involved with The Rock since 1993, will
continue to sponsor one of the track’s 4 X 16 electronic scoreboard
signs.

NHRA Technical Services has announced that the maximum nitromethane content for non-supercharged cars in the Top Alcohol Dragster class will be adjusted from 96 to 94 percent for 2009.  This requirement will be in effect for all events, except those conducted at Bandimere Speedway in Denver, where 100 percent nitromethane will still be permitted.

Jim Dunn Racing has announced that Lucas Oil Products will increase its
involvement with the team and join Canidae All Natural Pet Foods as
secondary title-rights sponsor on Dunn's Funny Car entry in 2009. The
Canidae Pet Foods/Lucas Oil Funny Car will be driven by Jerry Toliver. 

"We've got a great group of sponsors that support our racing efforts,"
team owner Jim Dunn said, "and I've always appreciated the strong
support from Forrest and Charlotte (Lucas) over the years. Great
sponsors like Canidae Pet Foods and Lucas Oil allow us to keep racing
in an increasingly tough and competitive Funny Car class. We're already
looking forward to getting back on the track with the new Canidae Pet
Foods/Lucas Oil Funny Car."

Don Schumacher confirmed today that Pro Stock Motorcycle rider Matt
Smith will join Don Schumacher Racing to ride a DSR TL-1000 Suzuki
sponsored by Nitro Fish Ultimate Gear and XXX Racing Fuels in the 2009
NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series. Schumacher also confirmed that
he has released riders Chip Ellis and Craig Treble, who rode to two
national event victories under the DSR banner in 2008.

The DSR Hayabusa engine development program, a joint effort entered
into between DSR and Suzuki in 2008, continues, with introduction of
the new engine slated for the 2009 season. A second motorcycle may be
entered in the PSM class during the season as a test vehicle, while
longtime DSR motorcycle tuner Steve Tartaglia will be the crew chief.

Smith, 36, of King, N.C., is the 2007 Pro Stock Motorcycle champion,
claiming four wins in nine national rounds that year. He came close to
claiming his second straight PSM crown in 2008 after leading the
standings for the last six of seven events in the NHRA Countdown to the
Championship playoffs. A mechanical problem in the final event of the
season dropped him to a third-place finish for the year. He is the son
of NHRA Pro Stock racer Rickie Smith, has 10 career national-event wins
in 20 final rounds, and was low qualifier 14 times since joining the
class on a limited basis in 2003. He became a full-time competitor in
the class in 2005.

Eliminations begin on Monday …

The votes have been tallied and the fans have spoken – John Force is
the man most capable of telling a war story like none other. One thing
Force has learned in story-telling, qualifying is one thing,
competition is another.

This time Force is taking no chances considering last year’s upset first round at the hands of Aaron Polburn.

“I really want to thank the fans who voted for me,” Force said. “I have a few stories that might make a few people smile.”

Trailing Force in the voting was former high-profile Raymond Beadle
crewman “Waterbed” Fred Miller who has more than a few tales of his own
to share.

Alan Johnson Al-Anabi Racing confirmed the worst kept secret in drag racing on Thursday.

Two-time NHRA Top Fuel world champion Larry Dixon has been named the
driver of the team’s Top Fuel dragster, effective immediately. Jason
McCulloch will be the team's Top Fuel crew chief.

Dixon brings a wealth of experience to the team having worked his way
into the cockpit of Don Prudhomme’s dragster in 1994. He was named NHRA
Rookie of the Year in 1995.

The Indianapolis resident has recorded 43 NHRA wins in 83 final rounds
and is third on NHRA's all-time Top Fuel winners list. He finished
second in the 2008 NHRA Countdown to the Championship, and in 2007, he
finished fourth.

Jerry Baltes’ historic 1960’s vintage Top Fuel Dragster recently
served as the centerpiece of the East Coast Drag Racing Hall Of Fame
booth at the PRI Show, December 11-12-13, in Orlando, Florida.  Baltes
and his wife Pat brought the car from their home in North Carolina and
displayed it during the entire 2008 edition of the Performance Racing
Industry (PRI) show in Orlando. 

Acting as hostess and representative of the East Coast Drag
Racing Hall of Fame and its weekend’s activities was Nancy Wilson, the
event’s President and Director of the Vance County Tourism Development
Authority, headquartered in Henderson, North Carolina.

CompetitionPlus.com has learned that longtime Bobby Lagana Jr. crewman Eric "Lippy" Litvin, passed away on Wednesday.

Glidden named Driver of the Year; Taylor wins Jim Oddy Award

The National Guard American Drag Racing League (ADRL) celebrated recently crowned ADRL world champions Jason Scruggs (Pro
Extreme), Billy Harper (Pro Nitrous), Billy Glidden (Extreme 10.5) and
Billy Vose (Pro Extreme Motorcycle) December 13, at the ADRL’s 2008
Racer Appreciation and Awards Gala in the Regency Ballroom at the
Embassy Suites Hotel in Orlando.

Glidden was also named the ADRL’s 2008 Driver of the Year.

“Actually, we’re pretty elated,” Glidden said. “To grow up being
(racing legend) Bob Glidden’s (son) and to find that our peers think
enough of us with these kind of thoughts is just awesome; I mean, how
do you give that back?”

NHRA Top Fueler Hillary Will to vie for the Scott Kalitta Memorial Trophy in Australia

NHRA
Top Fuel star Hillary Will, the world’s fastest female, along with a
crew of mechanics led by venerable crew chief and Top Fuel tuner Jim
Oberhofer, will travel across the world this holiday season to compete
for the inaugural Scott Kalitta Memorial Trophy at the Shannons U.S.A.
Top Fuel Showdown at Western Sydney Int’l Dragway in Sydney, Australia,
Dec. 26-27.

“I’m so excited about this opportunity” Will, a 28-year old native of
Fortuna, Calif., said. “It’s wonderful to get a chance to go to
Australia and race our dragster, but it’s even more special to have a
chance to go there and win the first Scott Kalitta Memorial Trophy.
Scott was my mentor, and we all still miss him very much. It would be
such an honor for me and all of us at Kalitta Motorsports to bring the
trophy home with us.”