Throughout their six-year involvement
with the NHRA’s fall race at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway,
automotive replacement parts leader ACDelco has strived to appoint a
Grand Marshal who embodies both the spirit of the Las Vegas Strip and a
Real Car Guy’s passion for anything automotive. It can be argued that
for the 2006 edition, they may have found the one person who best fits
this description – legendary ZZ Top singer/guitarist Billy F. Gibbons,
the Grand Marshal of the Sixth Annual ACDelco Las Vegas Nationals,
which will be held on October 26 - 29.

“We are thrilled to welcome Billy Gibbons as the Grand Marshal of the
ACDelco Las Vegas Nationals,” said Duane Miller, Executive Director for
General Motors Service and Parts Operations’ Field Operations. “Billy’s
reputation as a rock and roll legend is matched only by his status as a
top car collector, with his stable featuring some of the world’s best
hot rods. Having a Real Car Guy of his stature as our Grand Marshal
will only add to the event’s excitement, and serve as the culmination
of what will be a great week for ACDelco in the entertainment capital
of the world.”

The real question is not whether this is an Evan Knoll-sponsored Top
Fueler but which team will the car run out of of and who will the
driver be? Could it be someone outside of the usual suspects? That's
what Knoll is hinting.

Excerpts from the NHRA teleconference Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2006 with
the POWERade Series championship contenders in Top Fuel and Pro Stock
Motorcycle, and they are:

Torco Racing Fuels Top Fuel competitor Bruce Litton has announced he will return
to competition this weekend, October 20 – 22, at Rockingham Dragway for the
Universal Technical Institute World Finals. Litton missed the last two races
while recovering from injuries sustained during the IHRA race in Epping, N.H,
the first races he’s missed in nearly fifteen years.

“We’ve missed the last two races, and those are
the first national events I’ve missed since 1993,” said Litton. “The Rock has
been as good to me as any track, so it’s comforting to make my return to racing
at that facility.”

Erica Enders was quite a bit excited when her Dodge Stratus recorded
a 6.56 at 210 mph during a practice run in Virginia on Monday. Terry
Adams was driving the car.

"You never put too much into testing numbers," Enders said
cautiously. "But any time your car goes that quick and that fast it's hard not
to get pumped up a little bit. "The crew stayed after the Virginia race
and wanted to try a new clutch combination they'd been working on. The car
absolutely matched up perfectly with what they did and it just flew down the
track. Sure it's testing, but we were legal weight and the track was pretty much
identical to the day before so it's a legit run. Now we need to come to The
Strip and duplicate it."

Stock eliminator racer Donovan Whitehurt was killed in a racing
accident on Saturday at Outer Banks Dragway in North Carolina. He is
survived by a wife and daughter.

Funeral services will be held at 12:00 PM on Friday, October 20 at Memorial Missionary Baptist Church, Elizabeth City, NC at 12:00 Noon. Reception
will be held at National Guard Armory on Westover Street Elizabeth City.

Following the Virginia event the new points system would have reduced the championship contender ranks to just four drivers in each of the professional categories, again with a fixed point split going into the last two events . In this week’s points breakdown comparison we will look at what effect that would have on various driver’s title hopes as well as the fact that now only four drivers have even a mathematical hope for the big prize.

NHRA announcer blamed it on the world spinning backwards and then his
crewchief called him an idiot. After running a career best 6.59 in
Virginia, "Captain Choas" Kenny Koretsky was the first to admit he was
a little confused and caught off guard.

“[crewchief] Eddie [Guarnccia] came on the radio and said what I
thought was a 6.659. He said, ‘No, you idiot…I said a 6.594. I was excited and I
knew we had to have run fast because all of the cameras came over to speak with
me.”

Dwayne Rice and Robert Perry have joined forces for 2007,
and plan to compete for the NHRA Championship title in Pro Stock. Rice and
Perry, with a vast history of racing between the two, have decided to combine
their efforts in order to compete in the upcoming PowerAde series.

“The idea of running NHRA Pro Stock has been a life-long
goal of mine,” stated Rice, who will be driving for the team. “And now with
Robert and his company, Boscoe HVAC, coming alongside as partner we will have
the chance to see if we got what it takes to compete in such a tough category.”