Frank Hawley has been around drag racing long enough to know an
incredible upset when he sees one. He almost had a front row seat for
one in Reading when he came close to winning the Toyo Tires Nationals
at Maple Grove Raceway.

His final round against Jack Beckman marked only his fourth race of the
season and first race in two months and their first with Rite Aid. It
wasn’t a fluke. Hawley qualified second with a 4.128-second time.

A two-time Funny Car series champion (1982-83), Hawley began
eliminations by defeating his teammate, Melanie Troxel (4.355 seconds,
247.57 mph to 4.670 at 214.66), reigning Funny Car champion Tony
Pedregon (4.211, 289.76 to 4.223 at 288.95) and Mike Neff (4.237 at
284.39 to 4.294 at 276.75) before squaring off against Beckman.

Less than a year ago, a battered John Force was holed up in a hospital bed with a plethora of injuries related to an accident during
the NHRA Fallnationals in Dallas, Texas. Force had made his way into
the Countdown to Four points with the round victory which ended his
season.

An emotional Force plotted every which way he could return to
competition, even though he couldn’t walk, push the gas pedal or much
less grip the steering wheel.

Travis Harvey proved last Saturday night that he can win a big race
- even in the midst of the boss. The Mad Dawg event in Mooresville,
N.C., ran late into the night, and when the smoke cleared, August 16,
first time event winner, Travis Harvey, hoisted the Mad Dawg trophy -
dispelling all rumors that car owner Russ Farmer is bad luck. 

"They told me I couldn't come tonight, but I showed up anyway," laughed Race Tech Race Cars owner, Russ Farmer.
 
Harvey, resident of Burlington, NC is having a spectacular year, which
started in July with his first ever Big Dog trophy - an event Harvey
won while Farmer was on vacation creating grounds for the good-natured
ribbing. Harvey's Mad Dawg performance on Saturday, was anything but a
joke, as he dipped into the teens to qualifying No. 1 in the heat with
a 4.19 elapsed time at a series high 181 miles per hour. 
 
First round of eliminations got underway as the sun sank low in
Mooresville's sky, and the packed grandstands were ready for some
heads-up doorslammers. In round one action, eventual winner, Travis
Harvey had to first catch Darrin Hoyle, who took an early lead out of
the gate (.026 -.049). Hoyle's 4.24 came up short at the stripe though,
as Harvey goes low for the round with a 4.18, 180mph.

Richard Hogan will
return to Don Schumacher Racing as crew chief on the Mopar/Oakley Dodge
Charger R/T Funny Car driven by Gary Scelzi, beginning at the U.S.
Nationals in Indianapolis on Labor Day weekend. Hogan will step in
while Todd Okuhara continues to recuperate from a viral inner-ear
infection.

Hogan previously worked at DSR as crew chief on the Top Fuel dragster
driven by Melanie Troxel in 2006. He tuned Troxel to two victories in
nine final rounds that season.

"Our two biggest concerns at DSR are that we allow Todd to recuperate
fully and that the team perform well for all the sponsors," said
Schumacher. "It's been a major burden on Rockstar Energy Drink Dodge
tuner Phil Shuler, who's been pulling double-duty to also tune the
Mopar/Oakley Dodge, and the other DSR crew chiefs who have lent their
support."

The National Football League had the New England Patriots in 2007.

In 2008, drag racing has Tony Schumacher.

The Chicago-based driver, who drives the U.S. Army Top Fuel dragster,
thundered to his 51st career victory by defeating Larry Dixon in the
final round at Maple Grove this past weekend.  His NHRA Toyo Tires
Nationals triumph marked his fifth in a row and tenth of the season.

“This is incredible,” said the five-time world champion. “I could try
to explain [the experience] all day long but this has been a gift of a
season. You wake up every day and realize … we’ve been together for
five years and we’ve already won nine races in a season and now ten.
We’ve come back from ten races. Of all the season’s, this has been the
most dominant.”

Rarely does a student get to match skill against their teacher.

During the Funny Car final round at the NHRA Toyo Tires Nationals in Reading, Pa., Frank Hawley learned just how good of
an instructor he is. Beyond that, he found out just how good of an
instructor he’s got on staff at his Frank Hawley Drag Racing School.

Jack Beckman was merely basking in the glow of the opportunity to race his mentor.

"Imagine being a Little League player and you get to pitch against
Mickey Mantle,” Beckman said. “Frank Hawley has been all of that to the
sport. To have him come back in adds a whole other dimension to
this...and, hell no, I wasn't going to cut him any slack.”

Sunday'S two-car Pro Stock final at the NHRA Toyo Tires Nationals in
Reading, Pa., provided a win-win situation for Team Cagnazzi, who
started the
season with only one team car and now has three since Connolly returned
and adopted Ron Krisher earlier in the season.

"We knew we couldn't go wrong with Dave (Connolly) and me in the finals
for Cagnazzi Racing, but it felt good to get the win light there
against my teammate," Coughlin said. "Congratulations to Victor
(Cagnazzi, team owner) and the entire team back in Mooresville (N.C.);
they've done a fantastic job. We're hoping this is a sign of things to
come when we start the Countdown in Charlotte. We've had a pretty slow
summer, but the last couple of races we've gone to the finals (Sonoma)
and the semis (Brainerd), and to pull off a win here is huge."

Usually 40 will represent an over-the-hill number, but for 38-year old Jeg Coughlin Jr. the number stood for so much more.

Coughlin secured his 40th national event victory by defeating teammate
Dave Connolly in the Pro Stock final round. The win put Coughlin all
alone in fourth place in the all-time list for Pro Stock victories, a
remarkable accomplishment for a 38-year-old racer.

"We've been flirting with a win for awhile now and it feels wonderful
to get it done," Coughlin said. "The main thing is we want to carry
momentum into Indy and then the playoffs and there's no better way to
build up momentum than to go out there and turn the win light on. Great
work by the entire JEGS.com Chevrolet Cobalt team."

Johnny West has had a calming effect on the Valvoline/MTS Dodge Funny
Car that Jack Beckman has driven to back-to-back final rounds.

"A couple of times it wanted to move over toward the centerline, but it
was a pretty smooth car all weekend long,” explained Beckman of his
Reading win. “Didn’t throw us any curve balls out there.

"(Crew chief) Johnny West is a very conservative-by-nature type of guy,
so he and (assistant crew chief) Tommy Delago balance each other well
and I think now that we've been consistent for a few races we're
starting to get quick and I think if we can take that to cold-weather
tracks we will be contending for the championship."

Tony Schumacher spoke directly to someone without mentioning their
name during his post-race press conference at the NHRA Toyo Tires
Nationals in Reading, Pa.

Those in the know immediately drew the
conclusion he was speaking to Hot Rod Fuller because of his criticism
of the championship format in 2007 after leading the majority of the
season and then having the lead wiped away per the rules of the reset.

During the post-race press conference, emcee Bob Frey suggested that
Schumacher was a fan of the Countdown to the Championship in 2007
because the format worked to his favor. He also suggested this season
could generate the opposite feelings since Schumacher has to surrender
a tremendous lead.