The Desert Dawgs headed to their closest (in miles) All Harley Drag Racing
Association (AHDRA) National event, The Screamin’ Eagle Performance Parts
Arizona Bike Week Nationals in Wittmann, AZ and never thought it would turn out
the way it did!

It was only a seven
hour ride after working the day on Thursday, but the Dawgs were still wandering
through the desert looking for the entrance of Speedworld’s Dragstrip at 12:30
am.  Yes, the trailer and bikes were
packed and coolers were full, but did any of them ever think of ‘calling’ the
track and actually asking…how do you get in?…nope!  So, the adventure added an extra hour to the
evening, but that hour was gained back by crossing over the time zone, so no
‘time’ was really lost, just the Dawgs.

The new safety wall at Cordova Dragway Park has been poured after
several weeks of preparation. It's awesome" said Track Operator Scott
Gardner.

The automotive industry carried a strong marketing concept in the 1960s
when drag racing was used to showcase their latest concepts and trends.
The term, race on Sunday, sell on Monday was not idle chatter.
Dealerships were serious about selling the same cars running up and
down the strips across the country.
 
This adage was initially locked into the Super Stock division and later Pro Stock.
 
The
concept will take a new route in today’s world as Bobby Lagana, Jr. and
team owner Evan Knoll will use the concept to boost sales for
Michigan’s largest automotive dealership. Their program will be
centered around an 8,000-horsepower Top Fuel dragster -- obviously not
your average showroom vehicle.

Torco Racing Fuel Quad Rider Dalton Millican
is off to a great start within the National Motocross Series and his performance
at the ATV Spring Nationals confirms it. Millican is the son of famed Top Fuel
racer Clay Millican, a six-time IHRA Top Fuel World Champion.

The Gotham City Racing Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car Melanie Troxel drives will
have a sparkling new look for the SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals at Las Vegas.

The sparkle is courtesy of Simayof Diamond Cutters and Jewelers, a family-run
San Francisco-based diamond cutter and jeweler with four locations, including
one at the Grand Canal Shoppes located in the Venetian Hotel & Casino in Las
Vegas. Simayof is the jeweler of choice for Gotham City Racing co-owner Roger
Burgess and his wife Barbara.

Their long relationship now has evolved into this unique one-race partnership
with team co-owners Roger Burgess and Mike Ashley for the event at The Strip at
Las Vegas Motor Speedway, April 11-13.

"What more could a girl want . . . to race cars and be around fine jewelry?
It looks pretty good to me," said Troxel, who is in her first season of Funny
Car racing. "This is Simayof's home track so we want to do well for them and put
on a good show."

Troxel has four victories in Top Fuel, the second coming at Las Vegas in
2006, and she became only the fourth woman to qualify in nitro Funny Car in
February. Her husband, Tommy Johnson Jr., also drives a nitro Funny Car.

In his own going effort to help educate teen drivers on safe driving,
Doug Herbert will participate in East Lincoln High School’s Pre-Prom
Safety Program.

The program, organized by Officer Robert Milton of the Lincoln County
Sheriff’s Department, will advise teens on the importance of driving
safely and responsibly during prom season and beyond.

Herbert, who lost his sons Jon, 17, and James, 12, in an automobile
accident in January, will speak to the teens about BRAKES, the program
he is developing to educate teens on the importance of responsible
driving. Sergeant Trooper Barry of the North Carolina Highway Patrol
will also be addressing the students.

The NOPI Drag Racing Series website reports that last weekend’s
event at Atlanta Dragway in Commerce was cancelled due to inclement
weather.  However, of particular interest to NHRA competitors who will
be competing at the Summit Racing Equipment Southern Nationals at the
facility on the weekend of April 24-27 was this inclusion: “…there was
a crack at the transition of the newly resurfaced track at this world
class facility that had the drag racers questioning the track’s
safety.  Some have expressed the opinion that maybe it was a good thing
the race was cancelled all together (sic.).” 

Our sources at NHRA report that the issue is already
being addressed and that there will be no problems during the Southern
Nationals.

NHRA Top Fuel driver Rod Fuller was uninjured following a harrowing car fire to
his personal vehicle near his home in Las Vegas on March 31. Fuller was
traveling less than 45 mph at the time of the incident.

Fuller was returning from a short
trip in his 2001 Lamborghini Diablo when the car caught fire. The cause of the
accident is undetermined. He was less than one mile from his home in Southwestern Las Vegas at the time of the accident.
Fuller, a six-time NHRA Top Fuel winner, was not injured and will next compete
at the Ninth annual Summitracing.com Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor
Speedway, April 11-13. Fuller won the fall NHRA Las Vegas race at LVMS last
October.