The PRI Trade Show’s annual Friday night tradition of an exciting
evening of racing at the PRI Sprint & Midget Classic will be
postponed for one year as the event undergoes a major renovation in
anticipation of its return to the PRI calendar of events in 2009.

“We’re currently working on plans to make the event even bigger and
better, but we need more time to put everything in place. We will start
promoting the events at the 2008 Performance Racing Industry Trade
Show, as we still have a lot of details yet to be worked out with
regard to big changes in the race program,” said Steve Lewis, PRI Trade
Show producer and the race’s organizer.

Drag racing icon John Force said Thursday that, for now, he supports
the unprecedented step taken by the NHRA on Wednesday when it announced
that starting with next week’s Mopar Mile-High Nationals at Denver,
Colo., Top Fuel and Funny Car races at least temporarily will be
contested to 1,000 feet instead of to the traditional 1,320 feet.
 
 “As a PRO member, I support the NHRA decision, for now,” Force said. 
“(Shortening the race course) was one of several options they
considered but it’s one of the few things that could be done
immediately to reduce speeds (in the aftermath of the qualifying
accident two weeks ago that claimed the life of Funny Car driver Scott
Kalitta).”

Reigning Pro Stock champion Jeg Coughlin Jr. will don a specially-designed
racing helmet for the upcoming Mile-High NHRA Nationals to honor the 50th
anniversary of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), which is
located in nearby Colorado Springs, Colo.

Noted helmet artist Jason Beam
was contracted to paint the helmet, which will be presented to Lieutenant
General Charlie Bouchard of the Canadian Armed Forces, NORAD's Deputy Commander.
General Bouchard, the highest ranking Canadian Officer on U.S.
soil, is slated to be the honorary starter of the Mile-High NHRA Nationals.

"Much like the North American
Aerospace Defense Command team, world champion driver Jeg Coughlin Jr. and his
racing team are committed to excellence," Lieutenant General Bouchard said.
"NORAD and Jeg are also both in the business of high performance and we share
working in an area where there is no room for error.

When NHRA Pro Stock driver Dave Connolly made his 2008 racing debut, he
and the Charter Communications/LifeLock Chevy Cobalt team were nattily attired
in the team’s purple, black and yellow colors.

The team’s apparel also caught the eyes of those judging
special awards at the Southern Nationals because the Cagnazzi Racing team was
awarded “NHRA Best Appearing Crew” honors at the event. 

QTM/Sparco produces the team’s racing apparel and will become an NHRA
contingency sponsor beginning with the upcoming race in Denver.

Graybar Denver will support David Powers Motorsports and the Hot Rod
Fuller-driven Caterpillar dragster during the 29th annual Mopar
Mile-High Nationals at Bandimere Speedway it was announced today. Graybar
Electric Company, Inc., is a Fortune 500 company.  

The Graybar logo will feature
prominent placement in the driver’s compartment area on Fuller’s Caterpillar
rail during the popular Denver NHRA race, July 11-13, at scenic Bandimere
Speedway near Denver. Graybar also will host more than 100 guests at the team’s
Iron Eagle Club hospitality area during the weekend to entertain customers and
employees.

A season ago, Hot Rod Fuller was playing the lead part in what
turned out to be a dramatic finish to the 2007 NHRA racing season. Now
the fiery Las Vegas racer has a new role, that of the hunter. Through
the first 12 races of the 2008 NHRA racing season, Fuller and his David
Powers-owned Caterpillar Top Fuel team rank fourth in the arduous Top
Fuel division. With the bulls-eye no longer on his back, Fuller and his
Rob Flynn-led Caterpillar team overcame a slow start to the 2008 NHRA
season and have moved within striking distance of the second and third
place drivers, Antron Brown and Larry Dixon. The former Super Comp and
Gas stalwart has one win and one pole this year along with recording
low E.T. and top speed honors multiple times. In this Q&A, Fuller
talks about his first-half performance and his outlook on year two of
NHRA’s Countdown to the Championship.

Q: Assess the first half of the 2008 NHRA racing season for Rod Fuller and the Caterpillar team.

FULLER: We’re right on par with where I thought we’d be. I like
where we’re sitting. There were some rule changes and we have a few new
crew members. I felt if we could be top five going into the Western
Swing, we’d be happy with that. That’s right where we are. We started
slow, but we have a race win, a final round, a pole and the car is
starting to be a lot more consistent. That’s important to not give
races away.

Top Fuel racer Bobby Lagana Jr. is one of the racers excited about racing in Edmonton this weekend.

With the 2008 season championship points races heating up IHRA will
head to Canada for the first of two Canadian races this season July
4-6. The CARS RV & Marine & Motorsport Rocky Mountain Nationals
Presented by Torco Racing Fuels at Castrol Raceway in Edmonton will
bring the thrill of the Knoll Gas Nitro Jam to the rabid racing fans in
Western Canada for the sixth time since the race’s inception in 2003.
It is one of the hottest tickets in town and consistently sets
attendance records as each year the nitro frenzy grows in what is known
as “Festival City” and one of the largest cities in North America
area-wise.

While the City of Edmonton has embraced IHRA and the Rocky Mountain
Nationals, the drivers have slowly warmed to Castrol Raceway. The
longest haul on the circuit for most racers, many drivers have been
reticent to make the long trip over the years. Those who have been to
the facility, and have experienced the passion and enthusiasm of the
drag racing fans in Alberta, would not miss the race for the world.

Four-time NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series champion Gary Scelzi will appear on
Wind Tunnel with Dave Despain this Sunday, July 6, on Speed Channel. The show
airs live from 9-10 p.m. EST.

Jim Head embraces 1,000-foot drag racing for safety and financial
reasons. His only disappoinment is the NHRA has labeled this as a
temporary decision.

The world of drag racing's nitro classes encountered a major
change on Wednesday afternoon when the NHRA announced the shortening of
their national event race course to 1,000 feet. This move is designed
to be a temporary one while the investigation into Scott Kalitta’s
tragic death continues to move forward.

The move to a shorter run was the topic of many roundtable discussions
since the NHRA Supernationals in Englishtown, N.J., two weeks ago.

"We all talked about this a lot, last weekend in Norwalk, and the
1,000-foot idea was the one we were all discussing the most,” said NHRA
POWERade Funny Car racer Del Worsham. “We need to do something while
people analyze how to make the sport safer for the nitro cars; we can't
just close our eyes to what happened and hope it doesn't happen again.
I know this is pretty radical, but we have some issues with 330-mph
race cars and tracks that weren't built to hold them, and until we
settle those issues we have to be aggressive and not just stand by.

When the Flowmaster American Drag Racing League (ADRL) presented by the
National Guard visits Motor Mile Dragway in Radford, Virginia July 4-5,
for the 2nd annual ADRL Shelor Motor Mile Independence Drags, fans and
racers alike will be in for a history-making experience.

The conclusion of the first day of this year’s Independence Drags will
feature a unique event as all four finals from the ADRL’s
rain-shortened previous event in Martin, Michigan will be run with ADRL
President Kenny Nowling personally starting each pair of competitors
with hand signals. The unusual format came about as a result of severe
electrical storms in Michigan taking out the track’s starting-line tree
and scoreboard displays, but leaving the staging and timing equipment
intact.