Transcript of the NHRA POWERade Series teleconference Wednesday, Oct. 11.

JOHN FORCE
RON CAPPS
ROBERT HIGHT
GREG ANDERSON

John Force hinted earlier this year that he might put (daughter)
Ashley Force in a Nitro car possibly (in Las Vegas) or Pomona. In
yesterday's NHRA teleconference, Force said that is not happening now.

"No, that will not happen," Force said. "She's testing at
Richmond this week on Monday. She's flying in to test. She'll be
testing at Vegas. She'll be testing -- that will be the end of it till
we start testing the beginning of the season.

With Mother Nature providing a few extra days to test their new
SKULL Gear Chevrolet Cobalt, Dave Connolly, crew chief Tommy Utt and the crew
took full advantage at Rockingham, N.C. Raceway. 
 
The decision was made
to run the new Cobalt the when the rain-delayed Torco Racing Fuels Nationals
resumes at Virginia Motorsports Park, Friday through Sunday.

“We are going to
give it a try,” Connolly said after completing test runs Wednesday evening. 
“The car ran 6.66 (seconds) but made a couple of bad runs, too. I think we got a
handle on the car down the back half of the track.  The car ran good down low.” 

The International Hot Rod Association (IHRA) and
Tulsa Raceway Park announced Tuesday during a press conference that the
track will host the Skull Shine Sooner Nationals, an IHRA national
event, May 25 – 27, 2007.

The Sooner
Nationals, which will continue annually through 2011, is the third race
of the 12-event 2007 eMax Nitro Jam™ Drag Racing Series.“When this drag
strip opened in 1965, it was host to many national events, including
the World Finals and the Spring Nationals,” Tulsa Raceway Park owner
Dan Guterman said.

“After extensive
renovation, Tulsa Raceway Park is again a premier drag racing facility,
and I’d like to thank the Tulsa Sports Commission in helping bring this
event to Tulsa.”

Four National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) rookie drivers,
representative of two pro categories, have been selected as nominees
for the 2006 Automobile Club of Southern California Road to the Future
Award, it was announced today by officials from the NHRA and Automobile
Club of Southern California.           

Alan Bradshaw (Top
Fuel), Max Naylor (Pro Stock), J.R. Todd (Top Fuel) and Hillary Will
(Top Fuel) are nominated for the prestigious award, which annually
recognizes the top rookie competitor in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing
Series and offers a $20,000 prize and traditional trophy to the
winner. 

The Automobile Club of Southern California Road to the Future
Award will be presented during the NHRA's annual championship awards
ceremony on Monday, Nov. 13 at the Westin Mission Hills Resort in
Rancho Mirage, Calif.

If Bakersfield
is too long a trip, or if you were rained out at Bowling
Green or Indy, come on down to South
GeorgiaMotorsports Park, Cecil, Georgia!  Entries continue to pour in from as far away
as Colorado
for the Southern Nostalgia Shootout to be held the weekend of October
27-29.  The event is billed as the
largest gathering of nostalgia cars in the Deep South.  Don’t miss these exciting cars on the only
full concrete quarter mile east of Texas.
  Famed announcer Marvin Noel will be
calling the action.

When the Budano/Shafiroff
trailer rolled into Memphis Motorsports Park

for the NMCA World Street
Finals the championship was all but locked up.

Driver Vinny Budano
readjusted his sights on winning his third consecutive race,
no small feat given the
level of competition in the NMCAPro Street ranks.

A
member of our drag racing family is ailing at this time. IHRA Hot Rod (10.90)
racer Steve Corker is in a Raleigh,
North Carolina hospital suffering
from what doctors call as a bacteria infection in his lungs. The preliminary
diagnosis was pneumonia.

The NHRA’s decision to implement a NASCAR style “Chase for
the Championship” was based on the fact that in the past some titles have been
decided by the completition of the US Nationals on Labor Day. What we are doing
here is analyzing the current point breakdown and comparing it with the new
scenario. It is ironic that last year’s Funny Car points chase was the tightest
of the modern era with three drivers vying for the title going in to the finals
at Pomona. As you will see from our calculations applying the new breakdown to
this year’s points would have one team running away with the lead at the
moment. We have counted the points scored by Jack Beckman to keep things
straight in the case of Whit Bazemore’s tally. In the case of the Pro Stock
Bikes we have added the points from Memphis to the tally so the the number of
races matches that of next year’s schedule.