Reigning NHRA POWERade Pro Stock Motorcycle Champion and current
points leader, Matt Smith is hoping that all of his tire issues from
Dallas are gone as he heads to Memphis Motorsports Park this weekend.

Smith alleges that he got a bad batch of tires in Texas. 

Smith,
who is normally among the quickest in 60 foot times, said he diagnosed
the problem but there was no time to remedy the situation in Dallas.

IHRA Pro Stock star pursuing NHRA Pro Stock aspirations full-time ...

Rob
Mansfield is leaving his longtime IHRA Pro Stock team owner Dingman
Racing in an attempt to pursue his NHRA aspirations with Wilson
Manifolds. 

Wilson Manifold partners Keith Wilson and Scott
Revell are pushing hard to put Mansfield behind the wheel of a third KB
Racing Pro Stock machine for the 2009 season.  Mansfield has already
demonstrated his abilities with two impressive appearances at the Indy
Nationals and again during the Southern Nationals at Concord, NC.

 When U.S. Army Top Fuel driver Tony “The Sarge” Schumacher glanced at the sports section of his local newspaper on Monday, he could not help but crack a smile at what he saw.

“Low and behold, there’s a big story on the front page about the New
England Patriots having their 21-game regular season winning streak
snapped by the Miami Dolphins,” he offered. “Needless to say, I could
immediately relate to how that team must be feeling.”

Of course, it’s been said time heals all wounds and Schumacher has
already moved well beyond the disappointment of seeing his seven-race
winning streak leveled by J.R. Todd at the Texas Motorplex last weekend.

The wait is almost over for the exciting season finale of the most
diverse Pro Modified organization anywhere. September 27 marks the
final stop on the 2008 tour, which will take place at Maryland
International Raceway, just outside Budds Creek, MD.

Point leader, Jeff Blasi, hopes to put a period on a stellar season at
the upcoming MIR meet. What started with Blasi’s first career Northeast
Outlaw win at Cecil County last July has turned into a solidly
consistent year for the New Jersey racer. Blasi drove his Mike
Hodges-built, Pat Musi-powered 63 Corvette to a win over the blown
Corvette of Bruce Mullins.

Blasi’s opposition will be fierce as the series meets at MIR on
September 27. Steve Cossis, who's fresh off an 1/8 mile win at Atco,
hopes for continued success at MIR this Saturday. Fred Scriba, Gary
Courtier, Marc Hayes, Milt Decker – not to mention Matt Deistch – who’s
currently second in points are just a few of the tough nitrous racers
who’s likely to attend the MIR event. Reports have surfaced that Team
Shafiroff with talented driver, Vinny Budano, are also planning to tow
their championship-winning Camaro to compete in this final event of the
season.

The invitations for the JEGS ProMod Challenge event that will take
place Oct. 10-12 during the NHRA Virginia Nationals at Virginia
Motorsports Park includes many of the top Pro Modified racers in the
country.

Past champions Josh Hernandez, Jay Payne, and Rickie Smith are arguably
the biggest stars on the roster, but a hungry group of JEGS ProMod
Challenge regulars as well as current IHRA points leader Kenny Lang are
sure to challenge for the trophy.

"The interest from drivers wishing to participate in this race was as
high as the U.S. Nationals," series organizers Troy Coughlin said. "It
was very tough to meet the NHRA requirement of just 20 entries, but we
did the best we could do. It's awesome to have so much interest in our
series, although it's tough to turn people away. Hopefully, moving
forward, we won’t have that problem. It's something we're working on
very hard.

Tickets for the NHRA Softball Classic are now for sale by calling Ticketmaster, 213-480-3232, or logging on to www.ie66ers.com or www.ticketmaster.com.

The NHRA Softball Classic will be held Nov. 12 at Arrowhead
Credit Union Park in San Bernardino, Calif., home of the Inland Empire
66ers, the Class A affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers. The first
attempt at the game, at the Reading Phillies' stadium in Pennsylvania, was rained out.

As a prelude to the 21st annual O'Reilly NHRA Mid-South Nationals
presented by Pennzoil in Memphis, the third event in the NHRA POWERade
Countdown to 1 playoffs, racers will kick off weekend with Fan Fest at
Coyote Ugly on Beale Street Thursday, Sept. 25.

Beginning at 7 p.m., the NHRA Fan Fest will feature a free driver
autograph session. Among those scheduled to appear are Jeff Arend,
"Fast Jack" Beckman, Dave Connolly, Chip Ellis, "Hot Rod" Fuller,
Johnny Gray, Justin Humphreys, Allen Johnson, Cory McClenathan, Clay
Millican, Richie Stevens Jr., Karen Stoffer, Jerry Toliver, Craig
Treble, Melanie Troxel, Tim Wilkerson, Hillary Will, and T.J. Zizzo.

As the Countdown to 1 playoffs point standings tighten up with four national events remaining in the 2008 NHRA POWERade Drag
Racing Series, serious contender for the Funny Car championship Jack
Beckman knows he and the Valvoline/Mail Terminal Services Dodge Charger
R/T team cannot afford a slip-up. This weekend's 21st annual NHRA
Mid-South Nationals in Memphis will demand stellar performances from
every driver in the top 10.

Beckman is third in the standings, 29 markers behind first-place Tim
Wilkerson, but with the way the points have see-sawed, even in one
weekend, it is still anybody's race. Beckman has won the most rounds
(21) of any Countdown driver in the last eight events, has reached the
final round at five of those races, winning twice, and is driving one
of the hottest cars in the class.

One of the most coveted and rare pieces of hardware in drag racing -- the JEGS Crown -- will be up for grabs Oct. 3-5 during the JEGS NHRA Pacific SPORTSnationals at Auto Club Dragway in Fontana, Calif.

Since its inception in 2004, only one racer has managed to earn the
beautiful trophy, which signifies that the recipient has won two of the
JEGS SPORTSnationals events in a single season. Mike Ashley pulled off
the feat in 2004 by taking the Pro Mod title at both the JEGS Cajun
SPORTSnationals at No Problem Raceway in Belle Rose, La., and the JEGS
Northern SPORTSnationals at National Trail Raceway in Hebron, Ohio.

Now, 16 talented racers will try to join Ashley in the elite JEGS Crown
club by scoring big wins in Southern California. But it won't be easy,
as the sportsman-only races tend to draw the best racers in the country
and the upcoming JEGS Pacific SPORTSnationals is no exception.

The NHRA race at Memphis Motorsports Park
marks the third event this season that will see three Caterpillar
dealer groups participate in the NHRA technician recruiting program.
The David Powers-owned, Hot Rod Fuller-driven Caterpillar dragster will
fly the logos of Riggs CAT, Louisiana Machinery and Thompson Machinery
during the 21st annual O’Reilly Mid-South Nationals at Memphis Motorsports Park, Sept 26-28. CAT Financial and Nashville Auto Diesel College also will be involved in the team’s activities during the weekend.

The
relationship between David Powers Motorsports, Caterpillar and the
Caterpillar Dealer Groups was designed as a pilot program to increase
technician recruiting. Many Caterpillar dealers are experiencing a
shortage of technicians, and after successful events in several NHRA
markets during the 2007 season, DPM and Caterpillar inked a multiyear
agreement last August to participate in the NHRA dealer recruitment
program.