Torco Race Fuels has served as title rights sponsor for the NHRA's
POWERade national event at Virginia Motorsports Park since its
inception in 2006. For the first time in the history of the event,
unless backing is procured before the October 12 - 14 date, the event
will be simply known as the Virginia Nationals.

The NHRA provided CompetitionPlus.com with the following statement.

"NHRA is in the same situation as many others regarding Torco Racing Fuels," the statement read. "We fulfilled our contractual obligations
through Chicago and unfortunately, to date, Torco has not.  As a result, we have decided to pursue a
new sponsor for the Richmond race."

Gary Scelzi is looking for his first E-town victory this weekend. (Jon Asher Photo)

Gary Scelzi entered this season with only four tracks he’s
never won at. The four-time NHRA world champion races at one of those
venues this weekend in Englishtown, NJ.

Scelzi has won 37 career national events in 58 final rounds and not one
of those triumphs transpired at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park.

His Englishtown record includes a 2000 Top Fuel runner-up, a 2006 Funny
Car runner-up and two Top Fuel No. 1 qualifiers, in 1998 and 1999.

Josh Hernandez, driver of the Tommy Lipar Racing Team Rage '68 Camaro Pro Mod,
owns both sides of the Old Bridge Township Raceway quarter-mile Pro Mod track
records -- 5.950 seconds and 244.03 m.p.h., and the defending world champion is
prepared to defend his records as well as advance toward protecting his series
crown as the JEGS ProMod Challenge competes at the Lucas Oil NHRA SuperNationals
this weekend.
 
Knowing his car is performing at its peak coming into the
contest this weekend, Hernandez said he wants to make a move in the points race
and get closer to the top. Currently sitting No. 6 and 94 points behind the
leader, Tony Pontieri, entering the second half of the ten-race series, the
Texas native knows it's time to "turn it on."

Jack Beckman will have new pipe underneath his Valvoline/Mail Terminal
Services Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car shell this weekend at the NHRA
Supernationals in Englishtown. The Don Schumacher Racing driver will
run the new DSR1 chassis prepared by the team’s shop in Brownsburg, Ind.

The new in-house chassis will come two races before the mandatory
“safer” chassis rules go into effect at the NHRA Mopar Mile High
Nationals in Denver, Co. Beckman had previously tested the chassis in
Martin, Michigan.

"We made five runs in the new car," said Beckman, who is 12th in the
NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series Funny Car point standings with one
victory this season, the fourth of his career in six final rounds. "It
went down the track. We never went past half -track because what we
needed to know we would have known early.

Pro Stock Motorcycle Champ alleges approval and then denial …

Matt Smith said he undertook the financial task of building a
different Buell body style only to have the project axed by the NHRA.
The NHRA said no such approval was given.

Pro Stock Motorcycle world champion Matt Smith built a different style
Buell for competition but the new design will never see the light of
day in NHRA competition. Smith alleges he was given permission from the
NHRA and blessings by Buell to undertake the development of the Buell
1125R as a potential successor to the XB-9.

The problem for Smith is both the NHRA and Buell are saying they never approved.

“We got the approval to do everything and once we got finished, the
project got shot down,” Smith explained. “We are sitting on it right
now.”

On the heels of announcing his departure from the cockpit for the
season, Mike Ashley is preparing for his final scheduled race of 2008
in the Lend America Dodge Charger R/T this weekend at the Lucas Oil
NHRA SuperNationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway. Ashley, from Long
Island, New York, considers the venerable quarter-mile his hometown
track, and plans to celebrate the weekend with family, sponsors and
employees and guests from his company, Lend America, where he is Chief
Business Strategist.
 
"The decision to make this my last race of the season is because of my
intense desire to put myself completely behind the things I do - and
right now, in the current state of the economy, I am focusing on
growing Lend America," Ashley explained.
 
Taking the top two qualifying spots at the last NHRA event in Topeka,
Kansas, the team has proven their ability to perform in a variety of
weather conditions, and with Gotham City Racing lead driver Melanie
Troxel winning one event already this season, Team Gotham is staged to
enter the top ten and make the Countdown to One playoffs.

A disappointed Kenny Koretsky said Wednesday he will not be racing this weekend
at one of his favorite NHRA venues, Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in
Englishtown, N.J.
 
The personable fan favorite from Richboro, Pa. – about
an hour’s drive from Raceway Park – will be at the track for NHRA’s Lucas Oil
SuperNationals (Friday through Sunday) without his Nitro Fish/Indicom Electric
Pontiac GXP Pro Stock entry.  The car is undergoing repairs following Koretsky’s
accident at Topeka, Kan., May 31.
 
“I’m feeling okay,” said Koretsky, who
received numerous bumps and bruises when the car made hard contact with the
track’s concrete barriers during a qualifying attempt.  The impact damaged the
car’s front end and it was sent to builder Jerry Bickel’s shop to have the front
end replaced. 

Spinal Technology company K2M, Inc., and NHRA Top Fuel star Hillary
Will, the fastest female in NHRA history, announced that they will be
partners to promote spinal awareness and encourage contributions to
charitable healthcare hospitals at the upcoming NHRA POWERade Drag
Racing Series event in Englishtown, N.J., June 19-22, at legendary Old
Bridge Township Raceway Park.

K2M, along with FOCOS (Foundation of Orthopedics and Complex Spine) and
CURE International will share signage on a special paint scheme on
Will’s 8,000-horsepower, nitro-fueled KB Racing, LLC Top Fuel dragster
for all of the 330-plus mph drag racing action on the famed
quarter-mile track in Englishtown.

K2M became an associate sponsor on all four Kalitta Motorsports race
cars at the beginning of the 2008 season to become marketing partners
with Will, Doug Kalitta, driver of the Mac Tools Top Fuel dragster,
Scott Kalitta, driver of the DHL Toyota Solara Funny Car, and Dave
Grubnic, driver of the DHL Top Fuel dragster.

Dale Creasy scored his first win of the season by dominating the Nitro Funny Car division from start to finish. (Roger Richards)

Dale Creasy Jr. was once tickled pink to qualify for an event. Once
qualifying became commonplace, getting a round win provided excitement.
Round wins turned into event wins and event wins led to the ultimate
thrill of winning championships.
There’s something about turning over two-world championships that
raises the expectation level for even the most humbled of race car
drivers. After losing in the first round twice in 2008 and reaching the
final round once, he had to counsel his volunteer crew.

“I told my guys that we aren’t doing bad, we’re just not doing what we
did last year. That was a season if you wrote it all down on paper that
no one would believe you. That’s just the way last year went for us.

Creasy won an incredible six national events out of eleven in 2007 en
route to a 23-5 eliminations record. This season was his championship
defense season.

His victory during the IHRA Torco Race Fuels President’s Cup Nationals
put him atop the championship standings for the first time in 2008.

The ADRL's Extreme Pro Stock division could attract a lot of the top name IHRA Pro Stock cars for at least three races in 2008 and for a potential full tour in 2009. (Roger Richards)

ADRL President Kenny Nowling confirmed the sanctioning body is prepared
to add another item to their eighth-mile menu in 2008. Nowling added
the doorslammer friendly series will add the mountain motor division to
their line-up for at least three events in 2008 and are planning a
full-time program in 2009.

Thus is born the Extreme Pro Stock division.

“Our first priority is to build a home for the mountain motor Pro Stock
cars,” Nowling confirmed. “I love those guys and I love the class. I
think it is the right class for us now. I wasn’t so sure some years ago
and we stepped forward with the Pro Extreme Motorcycle division.”

Nowling said the first of those three events could come in Budds Creek,
Md., followed by Norwalk, Ohio, and Rockingham, NC. Of the three, only
the Norwalk event conflicts an IHRA race.