Former series champ Jay Payne posted a huge upset win over No. 1 qualifier Josh
Hernandez in Saturday's first round of JEGS ProMod Challenge eliminations at
Bristol Dragway. After barely making the field in the final qualifying session,
Payne zoomed to a 6.029 at 237.21 mph in his Valvoline Camaro to stop
Hernandez's 6.064 at 239.78 mph.

Payne's wife Shelly wasn't as lucky in
her Valvoline racer as she was beaten on a .036 to .065-second holeshot by the
lower qualified car of JEGS points leader Tony Pontieri.

Sunday's final
three rounds will offer Pontieri and his Quality Plus Compressors '57 Bel Air
team a great chance to pad his points lead as the closest driver to him in the
standings that is still alive this weekend in Jay Payne, who moved up to fifth
place in Round 1. Still, Payne is more than four rounds back and has Mike Ashley
in the quarterfinals. Ashley ran low elapsed time of the first round in his Lend
America/ProCare Rx Camaro when he tripped the timers in 6.001
seconds.

Reigning
JEGS ProMod Challenge champion Josh Hernandez collected his third Ohio
Crankshaft Low Qualifier Award of the season Saturday at Bristol
Dragway. Hernandez is in the best position possible to score
back-to-back wins at the O'Reilly Thunder Valley NHRA Nationals with
elimination set to begin at 7 p.m. Saturday evening.

"I never thought we'd see five-second Pro Mod runs on the mountain,"
said Hernandez, who ran a 5.950 at 241.11 mph Friday night, the only
five-second run of the weekend thus far. "It's exciting. I can't wait
to see what everyone will be running tonight in Round 1 of eliminations
because it's going to be awesome again. We might just shoot for that
national record (5.916).

Gotham City Racing co-owner Roger Burgess wanted to expose a few drag racers to a once in lifetime
experience and did so Thursday evening before the NHRA Thunder Valley
Nationals. The former Vietnam Veteran and now successful businessman
chartered a jet to Atlanta, Georgia for himself and nitro racers
Melanie Troxel, Tommy Johnson Jr. and Frank Hawley to attend the
Company of Heroes dinner at the Atlanta Aquarium.

The event was to honor those who have been presented the Congressional
Medal of Honor for valor on the battlefield. Only 105 of those
recipients are alive.

Jeg Coughlin Jr. is off to an unusual start at Bristol Dragway. The
defending series and event champion opened with a mid-pack 6.765 at
203.71 mph to place his JEGS.com Chevrolet Cobalt 10th out of 27 racers
on the ladder. But in the cooler and quicker evening round, Team JEGS
encountered a malfunction, which left Coughlin silent just a few feet
off the starting line.

"The guys from the engine shop (in Mooresville, N.C.) had a new motor
they were just pumped about and we got it in the middle of the day
today," Coughlin said. "It was a scramble to get it in the car in time
for Q2 but we got it done. Unfortunately, when I dropped the clutch
something happened and I was done.

Mike Neff continued to build momentum as he grabbed the provisional No. 1 qualifying

Mike neff already adjusting to life in the really fast lane.

position for the first time at the 8th annual O’Reilly Thunder Valley Nationals.

Neff is still on an advanced learning curve and with each run he takes
a huge stride forward as he transitions from world champion crew chief
to a world class driver.

“It’s exciting driving the car. There’s no other way to explain it.
It’s the uncertainty of what happens when you step on the gas,” said
Neff.  “When you’re a crew chief, in these conditions, you’re really
licking your chops.”

NEFF, SCHUMACHER, JOHNSON, CLAIM PROVISIONAL NO. 1 QUALIFYING SPOTS IN THUNDER VALLEY

One race after reaching the final round, rookie driver Mike Neff holds the provisional pole.

Mike Neff raced to the provisional top spot in Funny Car Friday as he
looks to collect the first No. 1 qualifier of his career at the eighth
annual O’Reilly NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals.

Neff drove his Old Spice Ford Mustang to a 4.783-second pass at 321.04
mph to become the provisional top qualifier at Bristol Dragway.

Tony Schumacher and Kurt Johnson were also No. 1 qualifiers in there
respective categories at the eighth of 24 events on the NHRA POWERade
Drag Racing Series.

Josh Hernandez took full advantage of unseasonably cold weather to storm to the
Day 1 qualifying lead of the JEGS ProMod Challenge at Bristol Dragway.
Hernandez's 5.950 at 241.11 mph was more than enough to put the reigning series
champ and Tommy Lipar's InterLinc Mortgage Camaro out front under cloudy and
sometimes rainy conditions. It was the only five-second pass of the
day.

"We're on a serious roll at the moment," said Hernandez, who has won
races in each of the past two weekends, one on the JEGS series and one in ADRL
competition. "Jim Oddy, my crew chief, when he gets onto something he's tough to
beat. He just stays in a groove and I get to go along for the ride.

"The
car has been exceptionally consistent for the last few races, and it's fast.
That's a great combination in Pro Mod drag racing. We're having fun and we'll
see if we can't go quicker tomorrow and shoot for the record. If the weather
stays like this, it could be time to swing for the fences."

The Darrell Russell tribute firesuit worn by Top Fuel driver Alan
Bradshaw at the recently-completed 12th annual O'Reilly Midwest NHRA
Nationals will have a permanent home in Russell's hometown of Houston.

Seth Angel, general manager and co-owner of Houston Raceway Park, was
the highest bidder for the firesuit, which was auctioned online at
eBay. Angel paid $1,100 for the one-of-a-kind item and plans to have it
framed and hung in a prominent place in the racetrack's Top Eliminator
Club, which is already named in Russell's honor.

"I was going to pay whatever it cost to get that suit," Angel said. "It
belongs here. It belongs in Texas and Houston Raceway Park, where
Darrell had so much success. We're going to get it mounted and framed
up so we can share it with Darrell's fans. It's great to remember and
honor a wonderful person like Darrell. He will never be forgotten at
Houston Raceway Park."

It’s a long way from May to September when the subject is qualifying for NHRA’s
Countdown to the Championship. 
 
Only the top 10 drivers will be title
hopefuls after the POWERade Series’ first 18 races, so the scramble for
positions is far from finished.  This weekend’s Thunder Valley Nationals at
Bristol Dragway is No. 8 and it’s an important one for sophomore Pro Stock
driver Justin Humphreys.
 
He is on the bump spot in 10th with 286
points.  Humphreys has been in the top 10 since the season opener and maintained
his place among the leaders despite an off-weekend at St. Louis (May 4). He
couldn’t get the RaceRedi Motorsports Pontiac GXP to make a run without spinning
the tires and it cost him a place in the starting lineup.
 
Now
Humphreys, new crew chief Frank Gugliotta and engine builder Richard Maskin plan
to hunker down and get back to winning elimination rounds.  Gugliotta, a
Humphreys’ family friend and IHRA Pro Stock competitor, stepped in when veteran
Bob Glidden retired.  The Pontiac picked up the pace at Atlanta before
encountering traction trouble the next weekend.

T.J.
Zizzo will make his Torco Pro Nitro Top Fuel season debut at the Motor
City Nationals in Milan, but his opinions and aspirations are already
in mid-season form.

Zizzo has yet to compete this season after finishing second in IHRA Top
Fuel points standings last year. He fell 41 points shy of Bruce Litton,
who won the title, but his bank account was much further behind than
his season points total. Zizzo is a case study in how a sponsorship can
go very, very wrong.

He headed into the 2007 season as one of the favorites to compete for
the World Championship. He had a new sponsorship with the now-defunct Race News Magazine
and things seemed to be headed in the right direction…but things were
not as they seemed. The sponsorship soon started to crumble and, by
midseason, had completely fell apart leaving Zizzo and his race team
with a stack of unpaid bills and an uncertain future. It was a
situation Zizzo is still trying to fight his way out of…even to this
day.