IHRA Canadian Nationals Under Rain-Delay

Saturday qualifying for the IHRA Canadian Nationals at Toronto
Motorsports Park is under delay due to inclement weather. Racing will
resume today when the rain stops. Eliminations are scheduled for Sunday
with first round at 11 a.m. and final round at 4:15 p.m.

ASHLEY, KALITTA AND ANDERSON LEAD QUALIFYING AT O'REILLY NHRA
FALLNATIONALS

New Yorker Mike Ashley raced to the
qualifying lead in Funny Car Friday at the O'Reilly NHRA Fall Nationals
presented by Castrol Syntec.

Ashley posted a 4.799 at 314.53 mph in his
Torco Racing Fuels Dodge Stratus at the all-concrete Texas Motorplex to lead his
category and join Top Fuel points leader Doug Kalitta and reigning Pro Stock
champion Greg Anderson as leaders after the first day of qualifying.

A
heavily-accented mortgage broker from Long Island, Ashley posted a
4.799 at
314.53 mph in his Dodge Stratus to overshadow the championship
battle between
Ron Capps and John Force. Capps' Dodge has him fifth
after a 4.865, while
Force's Ford carried him to 11th with a 4.983. It
is the first time Ashley
has led the 7,000 horsepower category since
moving from Pro Modified to Funny
Car last year at the U.S. Nationals.

"I think we've been underrated the
last four races," Ashley said. "I'm a
former champion. This is not the first
time I've been No. 1 qualifier. This shouldn't be a surprise. We've got all the
pieces here; a great sponsor in Torco Fuels, the resources of Don Schumacher
Racing, and a proven crew chief in Brian Corradi. The weak link has been me, but
this is my one-year anniversary driving these cars and I've learned a lot."

Keep up with this weekend's event on our EVENT PAGE

Rodger Brogdon and the RoofTec Racing team have thrown down
the gauntlet to raise assistance for one of drag racings best, Lynn Nickerson.
NHRA’s division 4 and national event announcer is once again dealing with
cancer and Rodger Brogdon has issued a challenge to all of the racing community
to answer the call. Brogdon’s RoofTec Racing team has anted up a $5000.00
initial contribution and challenges each and every one of the NHRA POWERade
teams to meet or beat the team’s challenge.

Back when there were just a handful of races each NHRA national event

season, Billy Meyer battled other Funny Car drivers for each and every

round win. He drove in 112 NHRA events and earned 12 victories in 22

final round appearances. Do the math – he was in the finals 20 percent

of the time. Not bad for a guy who was also racing in IHRA events,
doing
match races as well as running any number of businesses Meyer has
started
and owned throughout his lifetime. Want the short list of some
of his
accomplishments? He finished in the top 10 each year that he
raced behind
the wheel of a Funny Car, including turning in
second-place finishes in the
final point standings three times; he was
the youngest person ever licensed
to drive a Funny Car (16 years old);
he earned an IHRA Winston world
championship (1980); was partner to Hal
Needham in the Budweiser Rocket Car
– the car that set the land speed
record at the Bonneville Salt Flats,
becoming the first land vehicle to
break the sound barrier; he helped create
Racers for Christ; he's the
author for the Boy Scouts of America badge
requirements for Automotive
Mechanics; he owned IHRA in 1988; he also owned
and published Drag
Racing Today. On top of all that, Meyer has dabbled in
areas outside
the racing industry too. He has started and owned businesses
in
publishing, corporate jets, real estate and website design, to name a

few. Oh yeah, he also owns the Texas Motorplex, the site of this

weekend's 21st annual O'Reilly Fall NHRA Nationals. In this Q&A session

Meyer talks about what his dad contributed to his life, what his

weakness is as a track owner and what he considers to be his best
racing
statistic.

Don Schumacher confirmed today that
DonSchumacher Racing has inked a three-year associate sponsorship
agreementwith Matco Tools to support all DSR teams through
2009.Matco Tools had been a primary sponsor of a DSR Funny Car team in
the NHRAPOWERade Drag Racing Series and an associate sponsor on all DSR
teams from2001 through 2006. "We are pleased to maintain our longtime
relationshipwith Matco Tools through this multi-year associate sponsorship
agreement,"said Schumacher.

Three weekends ago, Torco's
CompetitionPlus.com reported that General Motors motorsports head man Fred
Simmonds was none too happy with the way the NHRA handled the move of their
event in Columbus to Norwalk. Reportedly, Simmonds was notified via a voicemail
on the day of the annoucement. Torco's CompetitionPlus.com knew of the
announcement weeks in advance.

The general consensus was that GM was going to pull its loaner vehicles from
the program but rumors suggest the event sponsorship will be pulled as
well.

Jeg Coughlin Jr., impressed with
his recent test session at Virginia Motorsports Park is ready for the NHRA
POWERade Pro Stock wars. And, he has an agenda as well. He wants to run quick
and fast en route to helping Victor Cagnazzi teammate Dave Connolly pursue a
world championship.

Coughlin will make his return at the upcoming Torco Race Fuels NHRA Nationals
in Petersburg, Va.

Torco's CompetitionPlus.com has obtained this
rendering of the scheme Dave Connolly will utilize as his team makes a
late-season push for the Pro Stock World Championship.