He had to wait until late Sunday evening to get the job done, but
Steve Engel was more than happy to break curfew to claim his first JEGS
ProMod Challenge victory. Driving his Diamond Heavy Haul '63 Corvette,
Engel beat two-time champ Mike Ashley by nearly two-tenths of a second
in the final, taking the stripe with a 6.051 at 238.17 mph to Ashley's
6.244 at 231.99 mph.

Engel becomes the fourth different winner of the first five races. His
Thunder Valley victory lifts him into the JEGS top 10 for the first
time this year. After beating Joe Baker Saturday night, Engel took out
points leader Tony Pontieri and Kirk Kuhns before downing Ashley in the
final.

Final round-by-round results from the Eighth annual O'Reilly NHRA
Thunder Valley Nationals presented by Q at Bristol Dragway, the eighth
of 24 events in the  NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series:

TOP FUEL:

ROUND ONE -- J.R. Todd, 4.589, 321.04 def. Rod Fuller, 4.635,
280.95; Larry Dixon, 4.621, 316.23 def. Doug Herbert, 4.679, 296.05;
Brandon Bernstein, 4.586, 324.44 def. Bob Vandergriff, 4.740, 330.23;
Doug Kalitta, 4.710, 308.64 def. Todd Paton, broke; Tony Schumacher,
4.514, 325.45 def. Alan Bradshaw, foul; Antron Brown, 4.901, 321.12
def. Morgan Lucas, 7.892, 101.17; Troy Buff, 4.666, 313.58 def. David
Grubnic, 4.873, 314.83; Hillary Will, 4.555, 320.43 def. Cory
McClenathan, 4.638, 329.34;

QUARTERFINALS -- Dixon,
4.631, 300.73 def. Buff, 4.681, 305.15; Bernstein, 4.545, 326.71 def.
Kalitta, 4.810, 280.19; Will, 4.541, 319.14 def. Brown, 4.560, 328.14;
Schumacher, 4.511, 321.42 def. Todd, 4.550, 330.80;

SEMIFINALS -- Dixon, 4.555, 317.05 def. Bernstein, 4.600, 322.88; Schumacher, 4.501, 329.50 def.
Will, 10.925, 78.27;

FINAL -- Schumacher, 4.555, 306.81 def. Dixon, 4.958, 253.37.

A spokesperson from Kenny Bernstein Racing told CompetitionPlus.com
that Jimmy Walsh remains the tuner for the Monster Energy drink Funny
Car driven by Tommy Johnson, Jr. The team offered no additional
statements on the matter.

Johnson, who is in his first season driving for KBR, has suffered five DNQ outings thus far in 2008.

Mike Neff became the first driver in 38 years to qualify No. 1 in a
pure Ford Funny Car when his Friday night time of 4.783 seconds in the
Old Spice Mustang proved good enough to claim the top spot for Sunday’s
eighth annual O’Reilly Auto Parts Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol
Dragway.

Not since Danny Ongais started his Mickey Thompson Mach 1 Mustang from
the top spot at the 1970 NHRA Winternationals at Pomona, Calif., had a
pure Ford (Ford engine and Ford body style) led Funny Car qualifying.
The next step for the 41-year-old rookie driver will be to get a win in
the red-and-white Mustang powered by the BOSS 500 Ford nitro motor
being developed jointly by Ford and John Force Racing, Inc.

Ongais was the last to win a Funny Car race in a pure Ford prevailing
in the 1969 U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis, Ind., in a Mustang powered
by a SOHC (single overhead cam) 427 Ford engine.

NEFF STAYS IN TOP SPOT AT THUNDER VALLEY NATIONALS; SCHUMACHER, JOHNSON ALSO NO. 1 QUALIFIERS IN BRISTOL

Warren Johnson stormed to his second pole position of the season in Pro Stock.

NHRA
Pro Stock legend Warren Johnson added another No. 1 qualifying
performance to his career stats, picking up his NHRA-record 138th
Saturday at the O’Reilly NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol
Dragway.

Tony Schumacher and Mike Neff also were No. 1 qualifiers in their
respective categories at the eighth of 24 events in the NHRA POWERade
Drag Racing Series.

Johnson powered his GM Performance Parts Pontiac GXP to a track record
performance of 6.674 at 207.43 for the top spot; his second of the
season and third at this track. 

The strong times during qualifying at the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals can be attributed to a

Bristol
Dragway underwent a leveling process in the month leading up to the
national event. The process was to correct problems caused by the
spectator tunnel downtrack. (Roger Richards)

leveling process undertaken in the month leading up to the national event.

“We had just had some problem with the grinding of the track and it was
certainly through no fault of those doing the grinding,” Byrd
explained. “The process would only cure one problem and create another.
The track would be all smooth but there would be surface problems.”

Byrd said that rather than chance a repeat last year’s postponement,
they decided to follow a similar technique successfully completed by
Las Vegas Motor Speedway [LVMS].

Neff’s No. 1 Qualifying Effort Puts Washer and
Dryer in Fan’s Hands

Mike Neff's low qualifying effort won a fan a washer and dryer from BrandSource. (Roger Richards)

Mike Neff used a dominating performance on Friday at the 8^th annual
O’Reilly Thunder Valley NHRA Nationals event in Bristol, to capture the No. 1
qualifying position with a run of 4.783 second and hand Jeff Clawson of
Kingsport, Tenn., a new Whirlpool washer and dryer as part of the BrandSource
“Win with Force” promotion. At sixteen select events during the 2008 POWERade
Drag Racing Series when any one of the four John Force Racing Funny Cars
qualifies No 1 at the event one lucky winner wins a Whirlpool washer and dryer
set.

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.