Two of the more dedicated Outlaw Mad Dawg racers Chad Tilley of Lexington, NC and Rocky Raynor of Greensboro, NC squared
off in the final race of 2008 at the “Dirty Mo” Mooresville Dragway. 
Tilley, a former Mad Dawg winner driving David Lambert’s “Junkyard Dog”
Chevrolet Cavalier was up against former two time Dawg race winner
Raynor in his “We Fly Together” ’63 Chevrolet Corvette. Tilley who
normally drives his Stroupe built Pontiac Grand Am had just recently
sold his motor was glad to be back in the action with soon to
father-in-law Lambert’s Chevy. Coming from the number five qualified
spot, Tilley defeated number one qualifier Chris Rini from New York in
his ATI Performance Products Dodge Stratus in round one. Chad clicked
off a .001 reaction time along with a down the track run off a 4.25
seconds to stop the back pedaling “yank invader”. Rini making his first
Mad Dawg appearance, paced the field with a super 4.16 ET 174 MPH in
his Pat Musi powered “Hemi’. He came back later in a shakedown run and
clicked off a lightin quick 4.12 ET; we look to see more these guys
next year.

With three races left in the 2008 Countdown to 1, world champion Funny Car driver Cruz Pedregon has decided to step up his

game heading into this weekend's third annual Virginia NHRA Nationals at Virginia Motorsports Park.
 
Arriving in the home state of longtime sponsor Advance Auto Parts,
Pedregon's plan to push the performance of his Toyota Solara to a new
level might not be as radical as it sounds. After all, he and crew
chief Rahn Tobler have done extremely well with their semi-conservative
"lets make sure and get it down the track every run" philosophy. At the
same time, Pedregon wants to add a few more coals to the fire in an
attempt to win it all.
 
"Having last weekend off gave us all a chance to catch our breath and
analyze what we're doing and where we're at," said Pedregon, who led
the points outright just a few short weeks ago. "The first thought I
had is that we're still very much alive in the hunt for this year's
championship. The second thought is that we're not No. 1 at the moment
so it might be time to lean towards a more aggressive tune-up.

The season-ending 13th annual IHRA World Finals is still 10 days away but Steve Earwood’s Rockingham Dragway got an early
test on Tuesday when it played host to two former World Champions and
two other potential 2008 champions during an impromptu test session.

The stellar lineup included past NHRA Pro Stock Champions Greg Anderson
and Jason Line and their Mooresville-based Pontiacs, IHRA Pro Stock
Championship contender Jeff Dobbins of Wilmington, N.C., and his Ford
and the man who has finished second in the NHRA Funny Car standings the
past two seasons, Robert Hight.

Based on continued testing success of the Electrimotion Safety
Shutoff Controller, NHRA is mandating its use on all nitro Funny Cars
beginning at the ACDelco Las Vegas NHRA Nationals.

The Electrimotion Safety Shutoff Controller was designed by Dave Leahy of Electrimotion, a company based in Delaware, Ohio, that specializes in electronic control systems.  The
controller senses manifold burst panel failure and simultaneously
activates the fuel shutoff, shuts off ignition, and deploys parachutes.  Testing on the mechanism began in Reading, Pa., and the controller has been utilized by several Funny Car teams including Jim Head, Robert Hight, Del Worsham and John Force.

Jeremy McComb Teams Up with NHRA Top Fuel Driver Tony Schumacher

Parallel
Records recording artist Jeremy McComb is on a winning streak. Not only
is his new single “Cold” getting rave reviews but he recently shared
the stage with another winner – U.S. Army Top Fuel driver, Tony
Schumacher.

Clay Millican is returning to Speed TV in February with another automotive production from the fertile mind of Rich Christensen.

Millican, who is keeping his regular job as driver of the
Hope4Sudan/Lend America/Nitro Fish Top Fuel dragster, is going from one
program that called for engines to blow up in the aptly named “Blow It
Up” to overseeing the building of two competitive race cars in “Drag
Race High.”

The new program focuses on a group of students from two different San
Diego high schools who are building cars to race each other.  The
construction comes in the auto shops at each school.  And Millican, who
gave the command to “Blow It Up” in his last television project, is the
Head Judge/host of Drag Race High.

The IHRA’s Nitro Funny Car class hasn’t been cancelled yet but it’s clear the class isn’t on solid ground either.

IHRA President Aaron Polburn confirmed that unless the class secures
title sponsorship he doesn’t see the eliminator remaining on their
agenda.

“The bottom line is that we need funding for the class,” Polburn
admitted. “If the funding isn’t found, we will not run the class.”

No time line has been established to determine the future of the class.

With a new team and a new car Rodger Brogdon returns to NHRA Pro Stock
action at the NHRA Virginia Nationals this weekend, and will wrap up
the 2008 season with appearances in Las Vegas and Pomona as well.
Driving for team owner Steve Kent, (with Kent Services and Trucking
sponsorship) Brogdon will be at the wheel of a 2009 Pontiac GXP with
power coming from Tom Hammonds Enterprise (T.H.E.).

The partnership with Tom Hammonds Enterprises will allow Brogdon and
the Kent Services team the ability to gain some on track time in
preparation for a full on assault at the 2009 Full Throttle Drag Racing
Series championship.

ESPN2 has announced a schedule change for the Virginia NHRA Nationals
qualifying show. The one-hour qualifying show will now air at 7 p.m.
(ET) on Oct. 11, instead of the previously scheduled 11:30 p.m. (ET).
The qualifying show will re-air on Sunday, Oct. 12 at 11:30 a.m. (ET),
immediately following NHRA Race Day. Sunday’s three-hour eliminations
coverage on ESPN2 remains the same, starting at 7:30 p.m. (ET).