With the final race of the 2008 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing season this
weekend and five riders still mathematically in the fight, the POWERade
Pro Stock Motorcycle world championship could very well come down to
the final pass of the season at the Auto Club NHRA Finals at Auto Club
Raceway in Pomona.

For every story of unprecedented courage told here on the pages of CompetitionPlus.com, there are millions of others that will go untold.

In the days to come, CompetitionPlus.com will bring you five stories of incredible bravery, dedication and determination. Stories of people who did not let accident or illness end their dreams of racing.

The first lady of drag racing Shirley Muldowney, fourteen-time world champion John Force, second-generation Top Fuel driver Brandon Bernstein and cancer survivors Jack Beckman and Steve Torrence have all shared with CompetitionPlus.com their innermost struggles and fears coupled with undying determination to live.

This first chapter of our three-part series deals with the emotions from the crashes of Muldowney, Force and Bernstein.

In honor of Veteran’s Day, NHRA is proud to make available to all
active and retired military personnel one free ticket to enjoy the
racing action at the Auto Club NHRA Finals on Friday, Nov. 14.

The NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series event at Auto Club Raceway at
Pomona is being held this weekend (Nov. 13-16).  It is the last race of
the 2008 season and the final event of the Countdown to 1, NHRA’s
Playoffs, where NHRA POWERade Series world champions will be crowned.
The race will be televised on ESPN2 and ESPN2HD.

The PMRA Champion will return for 2009.
 
Winner
of the 2008 Pro Modified Racing Association season, Hamilton, Ontario’s
Bruce Boland, plans to return to PMRA racing next year.
 
“I plan to run in the PMRA next year,” Boland said earlier this week.
“I’m going to show Brown (Terry) how to win three years in a row,’ he
added with a smile. “And with three different cars.”
 

With the 2008 NHRA season finale looming this weekend at Auto Club Raceway, U.S. Army Top Fuel driver Tony Schumacher finds himself in a surprisingly less than celebratory mood.

Despite clinching his fifth consecutive POWERade world championship in
Las Vegas two weeks ago, Schumacher is aware his existing U.S. Army
team will be disbanding at the conclusion of the Auto Club of Southern
California Finals.

Schumacher’s crew chief, Alan Johnson, is leaving the organization to
start his own Top Fuel and Funny Car operation in 2009 and most of the
U.S. Army crew will be joining Johnson.

Much of the racing world already knew, but a press release on Tuesday
afternoon confirmed that Doug Herbert would no longer be with Snap-On
Tools after Pomona.

“We were actually working on a final 2009 agreement when I got a call
on Friday”, said Herbert, a 10-time NHRA national event winner. “I was
surprised because we’ve had such a great run, it’s unfortunate that my
contract came up for renewal at such a bad time but we will move on. 
I’m thankful for everything Snap-on has done for my team and for all of
their support over the last 16 years.”

“We appreciate the long relationship that we have had and we are open
to discussing opportunities with Doug Herbert Racing again in the
future when the financial situation of business improves,” said Alicia
Smales, Vice President Marketing of Snap-on Tools, in a letter to
Herbert.

A Rash of Crashes Inspired Debate 24 Years Ago …

According to a December 1984 Super Stock & Drag Illustrated
article, NHRA officials pondered the belief that 1,000-foot drag racing
provided a safer alternative to the traditional quarter-mile strip. The
debate came on the heels of scores of high-speed finish line crashes
most notably Shirley Muldowney’s crash earlier that season when the
antiquated wheel/tire design failed between the 1,000 to 1,320 foot
marks.

The nitro cars of that era were on the cusp of 260-miles per hour.

The article, penned by noted drag racing journalist Bob Abdellah,
confirmed that the highest ranking drag racing officials believed
1,000-foot racing would make drag racing safer.

This weekend's NHRA
Finals at the Auto Club Raceway at Pomona (Calif.) will also be Gary
Scelzi's last national event as a competitor in the NHRA POWERade Drag
Racing Series...at least for now. Scelzi, who entered his first pro
race in 1997 and has driven the Mopar/Oakley Dodge Charger R/T Funny
Car for Don Schumacher Racing since 2003, will be stepping down to tend
to the family business and his family following this race. But he won't
say he is retiring from the sport in which he's captured four world
championships and 37 national-event wins in 58 final rounds as one of
the most popular racers on the circuit.

Australia’s quickest-ever Top
Doorslammer drag racer, Perth-based Robin Judd, is looking to run a five-second
three-peat at this weekend’s 37th annual Goldenstates at Perth Motorplex,
Kwinana Beach, West Australia.

The event is also round two of
the 2008/09 Australian Top Doorslammer championship series.

Judd has recorded five-second
passes, considered a milestone in Top Doorslammer drag racing, at Queensland’s
Willowbank Raceway, near Brisbane and at Western Sydney International Dragway
(WSID).   

It took a day longer than planned but the
Short Line Express Market Gambler Shootout, a round of the NHRA Lucas
Oil Drag Racing Series at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, is in
the books. It was the last of 44 races on the 2008 Lucas Oil Series
schedule and boasted more than 800 cars with racers vying for
last-minute points toward divisional and national titles. Ultimately,
Shawn Cowie, Richmond, B.C., wheeled
his Top Alcohol Dragster to the winner's circle and was joined there by
Top Alcohol Funny Car pilot Steve Harker of Gainesville, Ga.

Cowie qualified in the No. 5 spot and took out No. 1 qualifier Michael Manners of Willis, Texas, in the semifinals. In the final round he squared off against Phoenix's
Mark Niver. Cowie laid down a 5.460-second lap at 266.32 mph which was
more than enough to cover Niver who slowed to an 11.418-second pass.
For Cowie, the win marked his first trip to the winner's circle after
three straight runner-up finishes.