This weekend’s NHRA race in Topeka marks the halfway point until The Countdown
for the NHRA POWERade championship begins, and the first visit for rookie Bob
Tasca III to the Heartland Park quarter-mile track.

“We’re
excited about going to Topeka,” said Tasca. “We found an issue with the cam gear
after the Bristol race which affected the car’s performance. While it was
disappointing to go out that first round, we
were pleased with how the car ran before we had that problem on Saturday and Sunday. We feel like we’ve got
it fixed and ready to go headed into this
weekend.

“I’ve
never even been to Topeka, not even as a spectator, so I’m looking to make it a
memorable first visit,” said Tasca. “I think it will be an interesting race
compared to the last couple that we’re coming off of, primarily because of the heat. The conditions show that
it’s going to be real hot out there, which is really a big equalizer for all of
the teams. From a traction standpoint, it’s more a finesses than it is a power
deal.”

Brett Stevens

Australia’s leading Drag Racing teams are on a final
Championship charge as they gear up for the pinnacle event on their calendar,
the Winternationals at Queensland’s Willowbank Raceway this weekend
(5th-8th June).

The Brett Stevens Racing team is entering the largest
Drag Racing event in the southern hemisphere, which also doubles as the season
finale for ANDRA Championship series, in the unprecedented position of leading
three professional categories out of the four that it competes in, and is second
in the other one.

What better gift is there, to give dad on Father's Day, than a car? And
you can give him one by being one of the first 1,000 people through the
spectator's gate on Father's Day, Sun., Jun. 15, at the 6th Holley NHRA
National Hot Rod Reunion.  The 3-day Reunion, which runs from Jun.
13-15, will be held at legendary Beech Bend Park in Bowling Green, Ky.

"We're giving the first 1,000 spectators through the gate a Mattel Hot
Wheels collectible die-cast car to help celebrate Father's Day," said
Tony Thacker, executive director of the nonprofit Wally Parks NHRA
Motorsports Museum, presented by the Automobile Club of Southern
California, which produces and benefits from the event.  "Usually, it's
the kids asking dad to give them a car, but by getting dad up early,
the kids will be able to give dad a car - and get one for themselves,
too."

The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company's racing division has announced the introduction of the next-generation rear drive tire for the NHRA's Top Fuel and Funny Car categories.

The D2550 will be offered for optional use during the June 19-22 Lucas Oil NHRA SuperNationals at Englishtown, New Jersey and the June 26-29 Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals in Norwalk, Ohio.  It will be the only offering for those applications beginning at the Mopar Mile-High NHRA Nationals at Bandimere Speedway in Denver, July 11-13.

Goodyear's current tire, D2420, will also be available for use at Englishtown and Norwalk.

Leading NHRA drivers worked with Goodyear engineers during the
development procedure. Carolyn Ashbee, Goodyear's sales account manager
for drag racing, said driver input was an important part of the process.

The most prestigious Sportsman drag race of the year is just a few days away and
the top 64 drivers in the country are prepped and ready for the start of the
annual $100,000 JEGS Allstars, to be contested June 8 during the Route 66 NHRA
Nationals in Chicago.

Each year, JEGS High Performance invites the best
racers in eight Sportsman categories from each of the NHRA's seven divisions to
battle for big money and bragging rights. The unique event breaks from the
traditional drag racing format in the sense that each division must work as a
team to beat their rival divisions. There're also individual titles, but most
participants agree the team title means the most.

"Drag racing, by
nature, is a one-on-one sport," race organizer and Division 3 participant John
Coughlin said. "With the JEGS Allstars, a big part of that goes out the window
because each driver becomes a single piece of a determined team that must work
together to claim glory for their respective Division. It's a big deal to the
people involved and you even see racers not participating in the Allstar race
out there rooting for guys and gals from their Division. There's some big-time
bragging rights involved.

A collection of weather conditions dogged the competitors throughout
the first day of qualifying. The most prevalent of those elements were
the estimated 30-mph winds blowing across the track.

Some racers were bothered by the winds and others just considered as an inconvenience.

"Conditions were terrible; the wind was really deceiving," said Pro
Stock Motorcycle low qualifier Rivas.  "I had to do a lot more driving
in this round because when I took off from the starting line, the
motorcycle tried to go right, so I had to bring it back to the center;
then when I got to the grandstands it tried to push me left, so I had
to bring it back right.”

Bob Tasca, in his rookie season, wondered how the NHRA would react to the winds.

Heartland Park Topeka holds a very special place in the heart ProCare
Rx Dodge Charger driver Mike Ashley. More than the site of his first
NHRA nitro Funny Car win, Topeka is the place where Ashley said "it all
just came together."
 
"Last year, we'd done everything except win an event: we'd been to the
finals in Atlanta, been number one qualifier three times in a row, and
we even had a DNQ to keep us humble," Ashley explained.
 
"All day Sunday, we just had everything running like clockwork. Brian
Corradi [Crew Chief] and the team were in 'the zone' and we just knew
it was right. I always go the line expecting to win, and everything
worked as planned.
 
"As my first season with the jobs of both team owner as well as driver,
the win was extremely satisfying," said the mortgage banker from New
York.

Gary Scelzi has experienced the good, the bad and the ugly at Topeka. (Roger Richards)

Four-time NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series champion Gary Scelzi has a
mixed bag of memories of his previous visits to Heartland Park Topeka
for the NHRA Summer Nationals. The driver of the Mopar/Oakley Dodge
Charger R/T counts a Top Fuel victory, a fiery crash, and a
record-breaking result among them. He’d like to add a Funny Car win to
the list at this weekend’s event.

"I am looking forward to going to Topeka," said Scelzi, who has three
Top Fuel crowns and one Funny Car championship on his resume. "It's
where unfortunately I had one of my first major crashes in Top Fuel,
but it's also one of the places where we broke the record for most wins
in a season in Top Fuel. We won our seventh Top Fuel race of the year
in 2000 to break the record. We beat Doug Kalitta in the final and we
went on to win nine races that year. So, Topeka was a great start to a
season which ended with our winning the championship.

Richard Maskin of Dart Machinery has released the following statement
regarding the  parting of company with Justin Humphreys and RaceRedi
Motorsports.

IHRA President Aaron Polburn smiled as he chatted during the IHRA Motor
City Nationals in Milan, Michigan about his take on the impending nitro
crisis that

IHRA President Aaron Polburn says the IHRA will face no shortages of nitromethane because of early planning. (Roger Richards)

threatens
drag racing’s supply. He explained that he got a call asking him if he
feared having enough nitro to finish the season.

“I asked them if they were talking about 2008 or 2009,” Polburn mused.

Polburn has assured his nitro racers the lifeblood supply concerns will
not affect the IHRA whatsoever. Their eight-car fields and 11-race
schedule significantly reduce their demand. IHRA nitro cars only have
three sessions.