Team Plans Agressive Approach To Rest Of Season ...

Cruz Pedregon made a historic run at Virginia Motorsports Park to put him atop the Richmond field.

Pedregon and crew chief Rahn Tobler decided before the event that it
was time to go-for-broke in their quest for the 2008 POWERade title and
accordingly the duo uncorked a candidate for NHRA's top pass of the
year.

Together they posted the quickest elapsed time of drag racing's
1,000-foot era when he blasted down track Saturday afternoon with a
4.041-second pass at 306.88 mph that earned his team the No. 1
qualifying position heading into Sunday's eliminations.

Title chase heats up considerably in JEGS ProMod Challenge

Just when it looked like Josh Hernandez would streak away to his second
straight championship in the JEGS ProMod Challenge, the series came to
Virginia Motorsports Park and everything went haywire.

Instead of closing out his rivals at the third annual Virginia NHRA
Nationals, Hernandez inadvertently opened the door for top contender
Tony Pontieri, who through one round of eliminations was more than
happy to walk through the portal and put some considerable heat on the
class leader.

Pontieri fired the first salvo Friday evening when he qualified No. 1
while Hernandez struggled slightly to get down the track under full
power. But showing championship form, Hernandez regained his swagger in
Saturday's final qualifying session when he ran the quickest Pro Mod
pass in history -- a whopping 5.900 at 242.71 mph -- pushing Pontieri
into second place on the grid.

CRUZ PEDREGON DELIVERS A STUNNING NO. 1 QUALIFYING RUN IN FUNNY CAR

Schumacher, Anderson also earn provisional poles at fourth of six races in the Countdown to 1

Cruz Pedregon bolstered his flickering championship aspirations
Saturday with a stunning 4.041 at 306.88 in his Advance Auto Parts
Toyota Solara to claim the No. 1 qualifying position in Funny Car at
the Virginia NHRA Nationals.

Tony Schumacher (Top Fuel) and Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) rounded out
the No. 1 qualifiers at the 22nd of 24 NHRA POWERade Series races this
season and the fourth race in the six-race NHRA Playoff, the Countdown
to 1.

In a move to continue to grow and improve his racing team, Bob Tasca
III will add Marc Denner as Assistant Crew Chief to the Tasca Racing
team roster for the 2009 season. Denner will join current Crew Chief,
Chris Cunningham, with tuning duties on the Motorcraft/Quick Lane
Shelby Mustang Funny Car.

“I’m really honored to be able to join Tasca Racing next season,” said
Denner. “I’ve got a great relationship and history working with Chris
and a lot of guys on that team and it’s going to be good to team back
up with them for the 2009 season.”

Denner, who has spent the past 12 seasons working within the Worsham
Racing organization, is currently Car Chief on Del Worsham’s Funny Car.
With the recent announcement of Worsham moving to a new team next
season, the timing was right for both Tasca and Denner to make this
addition to the race team for next season.

Today's video classic rewind comes from home movie footage with sound
shot at the 1978 IHRA Dixie Nationals in Commerce, Ga. There are some
rough spots in the flick which opens with Big Daddy Don Garlits and
then goes into Pro Comp with Dale Armstrong's AA/DA. Then a good
portion of Modified eliminator ensues with a sprinkling of the old
Modified Compact VWs and Karman Ghias. There's even a rare appearance
by the Chi-town Hustler.

Ben Bray has revealed the exciting new look for remainder of it's
2008-2009 ANDRA Top Doorslammer Championship campaign. The car was
unveiled in Bathurst as part on the Supercheap Auto 1000 festivities.

Team patriarch Victor Bray was understandably thrilled when the covers
came off Ben's Monaro CV8Z - to reveal the striking new livery.

"We couldn't be any happier than we are today unveiling this car as
part of the Supercheap Auto 1000. It looks fantastic and together with
Ben's performances at round one of this season's championship, the
outlook is exciting," Victor said.

Ben explained, "The Monaro CV8Z has a very vibrant racy red livery
which blends perfectly with his outlook of the 2008-2009 Top
Doorslammer Championship. This is my seventh full season in a Group 1
category and also with some of my sponsor partnerships, like Castrol
EDGE, Hogs Breath Café, Sidchrome, and Karcher. Their importance to my
Top Doorslammer Championship programme is reflected with their
prominence on the car".

Mike
Castellana earned his place in drag racing history Friday night by
becoming the first Pro Mod driver in history to record a five-second
pass in a nitrous-assisted doorslammer at a sanctioned race. Competing
in the JEGS ProMod Challenge at the third annual Virginia NHRA
Nationals, Castellana powered to a 5.963 at 237.84 mph in his Al-Anabi
'68 Camaro to thrill the crowd at Virginia Motorsports Park.

Castellana had been the leader for the most part in the race to the five second barrier with a 6.000 lap in IHRA competition.

Considering the way he's been running lately, Pro Stock point leader
Jeg Coughlin Jr. was more than a little surprised to end the first day
of qualifying in 13th place on the provisional race day grid. It left
the 53-time national event winner with one overriding thought -- "Thank
God for Saturday qualifying."

Coughlin was eighth after an opening-round pass of 6.609 seconds at
207.75 mph. He slowed slightly to a 6.621 at 207.27 mph in a round
where most of his peers improved.

"We're struggling with either an engine problem or an electrical
problem, we're just not sure at this point," Coughlin said. "But I can
assure you we'll figure it out before tomorrow morning. We've got two
more engines in the trailer and all the electrical parts you could ever
need so we'll do the whole shuffle, go through the entire car, and fix
it.

Noted IHRA Pro Modified runner Tommy D'Aprile made his debut Friday on the Jegs Pro Modified Challenge
driving Mel Bush's radical 1962 Bel Air. The debut during the NHRA
Virginia Nationals in Richmond is one he'll likely remember for a long
time.

Pulling out all the stops in an attempt to catch point leader Josh Hernandez and win his first JEGS
ProMod Challenge championship, second-ranked racer Tony Pontieri earned
provisional low qualifier honors Friday evening during the third annual
Virginia NHRA Nationals at Virginia Motorsports Park.
 
Entering the weekend 59 points behind Hernandez, Pontieri crushed both
ends of the existing VMP track records set one year ago by Hernandez
when he powered his Quality Plus Compressors '57 Bel Air to a stout
5.947 at 242.84 mph. Should the time hold through Saturday's final time
trial, Pontieri will slightly close the gap on Hernandez and will
become the favorite to win the race Sunday. Hernandez qualified a
distant 12th with a best of 6.019 at 241.32 mph in the Team Rage Camaro.