Pro
Stock Motorcycle rider Matt Smith didn't feel like doing much after
scoring his third top qualifying effort of the season. The defending
world champion said he wanted to sit in some water, preferably at a
local hospital, and get rid of what he considers to be a kidney stone
ailing him.

The Motorsports Hall of Fame of America will
expand its honor roll by seven at its 20th annual Induction Ceremony on
Wednesday, August 13, 2008, at the Fillmore Detroit.

The class of 2008 includes drag racing king John Force (presenter: Tom
Compton), open-wheel racing champion Michael Andretti (presenter: Mario
Andretti), NASCAR great Buddy Baker (presenter: Humpy Wheeler), sports
car champion Richie Ginther (presenter: E. Forbes-Robinson), motorcycle
hero Wayne Rainey (accepting for Mr. Rainey: Roger Edmondson), aerobatic
pilot Betty Skelton (presenter: Patty Wagstaff), and one of America's
most versatile competitors, Paul Goldsmith (presenter: Donald Davidson).

Legendary Indy car team owner Carl Haas will also be recognized as the
ninth recipient of the Bob Russo Heritage Award for his significant
contribution to American motorsports.

At this point in the 2008 championship battle, Del Worsham is open to any and all suggestions, even if they are out of the normal. The latest suggestion no longer has him seeing red, but rather black and white.

Although other teams have recently gone to a bare carbon fiber shell
with minimal vinyl logos in an effort to save weight, Worsham and his
team are taking a different approach and are doing so for a different
reason, and most of them will agree it's simply superstitious.   
Rather than adhere the vinyl panels to a car painted in a base coat of
red, Worsham has devised a new "look" for his car's vinyl that is based
solely on shades of gray, and those sheets of vinyl have then been
applied to the bare shell.  The reason?  The current red and white
design has not won a race since it became the official design for the
team in 2006, yet this particular body has a win under its belt, when
it was covered in K&N Filters colors earlier this season in Houston.

For the second time in five-month Big Dog career, Jason Harris hoisted
the famous canine shaped trophy in Piedmont Dragway's winner circle
last evening.

Harris, son of Big Dog founder Bob Harris, used an even mixture of
starting line quickness, a consistent car and a measure of good luck to
score his latest Big Dog win of 2008. Harris fended off the incredibly
tough Ronnie Gardner in the final round. Both drivers yielded 4.257
elapsed times.
 
Qualifying 6th in the 8-car main event, Harris used a Rick
Jones-fabricated GTO and a Billy Albert-assembled 632-inch engine, the
smallest motor in the field, to record a 4.26 elapsed time at 171mph in
arguably the tightest Big Dog field of the year.

NHRA Top Alcohol Dragster driver Brandon ‘The Kid’ Lewis and the Lewis
Family Racing team have retained the services of legendary tuner Steve
Boggs for the remainder of the 2008 season.  Boggs was available after
Top Fuel racer Morgan Lucas disbanded his A/Fuel team.  Team owner Dave
Lewis quickly took advantage of the opportunity to hire Boggs, who is
considered by many to be one of the greatest tuners in the history of
the sport.  The TigerFlow Systems/Morrison Construction backed A/Fuel
Dragster team debuted with Boggs in their corner during this weekend’s
Lucas Oil Nationals at Brainerd International Raceway in Brainerd, Minn.
 
Lewis, 22, of Broken Arrow, Okla., is excited about getting to race
under the direction of Boggs.  Boggs’ tuning résumé includes tuning
Mitch Myers’ A/Fuel Dragster to a World Championship in 2004, along
with tuning Joe Penland and Tony Bartone to World Championships in Top
Alcohol Funny Car.  Lucas ran a 5.16 second elapsed time last year
under the direction of Boggs, which is the quickest run by an A/Fuel
Dragster at 96% nitro.  He also has numerous other national records to
his credit.

Tony Schumacher hasn’t been spoiled by his success in 2008. Instead, it comes as a pleasant surprise.

“I’m thoroughly amazed,” Schumacher said, following Friday night’s
provisional top qualifying spot in Brainerd, Minn., during the NHRA
Lucas Oil Nationals. “This season has been amazing.”

Schumacher not only swept the most recent portion of the NHRA tour
known as the Western Swing, but now stands three races away from tying
Joe Amato’s career win mark of 52.

FORCE, SCHUMACHER, ANDERSON AND RIVAS LEAD BRAINERD QUALIFYING FRIDAY

Ashley Force's strong Friday performance put her in a good position for a second consecutive No. 1 qualifier.

Ashley Force raced to the Funny Car qualifying lead Friday at the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals.

She covered the Brainerd International Raceway dragstrip in 4.110
seconds at 299.40 mph in her Castrol GTX Ford Mustang as she goes for
her second straight No. 1 qualifying position of the season and works
to improve on her fourth place points position in the Countdown to the
Championship with only three races remaining in the regular season. The
Countdown to 1, NHRA's playoffs, begin with the NHRA Carolinas
Nationals, Sept. 11-14 at zMax Dragway at Concord near Charlotte, N.C.

In the shadows of the higher financed efforts of nitro racers Mike Neff
and Bob Tasca III, rookie Pro Stock racer Rickie Jones, 21, has been
hard at work establishing his value as a legitimate Rookie of the Year
candidate on the NHRA tour. 

Only three times since 1996 has a Pro Stock driver won the award and since 2004, the award has been exclusively nitro winners.

Those figures don’t faze Jones, the second-generation driver and son of
chassis building figure Rick Jones. He’s grown up around the sport and
at one time served as crew chief for his dad and raced a Top Sportsman
bracket car on the off-weekends of racing IHRA Pro Stock.

There’s no place like home and for veteran doorslammer racer Billy
Glidden, the ADRL’s Extreme 10.5 class appears to be as

adrl.us photo

good of a home
as any.

The eldest son of Pro Stock legend Bob Glidden has driven his Pontiac
Grand-Am to victory in two of the three ADRL events he’s competed in
this year. He could easily have a clean sweep but withdrew from
competition at the ADRL event in Martin, electing not to compete in the
arm-drop competition.

“We’re certainly competitive that’s for sure,” Glidden said. “The car’s
just working really well. We were just starting to figure this car out
right when the plug was pulled on me [in NHRA Pro Stock]. Luckily, it
has been an easy transition, as dumb as that could possibly sound. We
put all of this stuff in it and obviously you make all your adjustments
for the right heights and what have you. Just small four-link changes
to try and compensate for what you’re doing and go. That’s the way it
has been.”

Glidden began the season racing his Pontiac in the 500-inch NHRA Pro
Stock ranks with the backing of tire manufacturer Mickey Thompson
Tires. He was to assist the company in developing their large tire
program.

Not many people in Colorado know of Steve Meade. After all, most of his
passions are common ones; muscle cars, motorcycles, snow boarding or
anything your typical ‘adrenalin junkie’ might enjoy.

But everyone in the city of Denver knows ‘Willie B.’ The morning show
deejay for FM rock station 106.7 KBPI, one of the most listened to
morning shows in the market.

Meade, better known as ‘Willie B,’ is one of the more than 450 racers
who will be taking their shot this weekend at trying to make the final
16 during this weekend’s PINKS All Out shoot at picturesque Bandimere
Speedway, just outside Denver.

Radio is this Kentucky natives passion, which he started at the young
age of 16 years old at a modest station known as WFMI. But his big
break came in Denver, where he’s eventually carved out a big following
in the morning and some of the cities highest ratings.