Dickie Venables has remained silent through the recent parting of ways
with former employer Tony Pedregon for a reason. He’s not one who
prefers to get dirty slinging mud and considers himself a no-BS person
who refuses to deal in rumors, gossip and innuendo.

Today he’s decided to tell his side of the story. He’s won’t sling mud
because, in his words, there isn’t any mud to sling. According to
Venables, there is nothing more to the story than two friends, in a
working relationship, who didn’t agree on the way a situation was
handled.

“I was called into the office the first of last week and Tony informed
me that he was releasing Kurt Elliot,” Venables said Friday morning in
a telephone interview. “Out of respect for Tony and I am not going to
get into the reasons for that, that [Elliot] was my assistant crew
chief, my right hand man, he was my second set of eyes and hands … a
very important person.

Morgan Lucas raced again to the Top Fuel qualifying lead Friday at the Toyo Tires NHRA Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway.

Ashley Force Hood, Mike Edwards and Hector Arana also were qualifying
leaders in their classes at the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series
event, the 17th of 18 races in the NHRA regular season.

Morgan Lucas powered his GEICO Powersports/Lucas Oil dragster to a
3.867 second run at 307.37 mph to lead the field.  Lucas just came off
the second win of his career at the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals.  If the
time stands through tomorrow’s qualifying, it will be Lucas’ second
consecutive No. 1 qualifying position and third of the season.

Matt
Smith and the Nitro Fish Ultimate Gear Suzuki Pro Stock Motorcycle team
spent the Monday after last Sunday's NHRA Nationals at Brainerd
International Raceway making test runs down the quarter-mile dragstrip
trying to determine the cause of their recent mechanical issues. By
Tuesday the problem was solved and they're ready to attack the
quarter-mile at Maple Grove Raceway, outside of Reading, Pa., at this
weekend's 25th annual NHRA Nationals, where he won the event last year.

Smith and the Nitro Fish team, tuned by Steve Tartaglia and racing the
quickest Suzuki on the circuit behind the dominant Harley-Davidsons,
experienced problems during qualifying and the first round of
eliminations in Brainerd, which even an engine change did not fix.

Six of NHRA’s greatest legends will be featured at the 2009 SEMA Show
in Las Vegas, as NHRA highlights the “50th anniversary of the
Winternationals” during its annual NHRA Breakfast. The SEMA Show, the
premier automotive specialty products trade event in the world, draws
the industry's brightest minds and hottest products to one place, the
Las Vegas Convention Center, Nov. 3-6.

The NHRA Breakfast will be held Wednesday, Nov. 4 at 7:30 a.m. in Las
Vegas Hilton ballrooms A&B. The NHRA Breakfast is open to all
registered SEMA Show attendees. A continental breakfast will be
served. 

Officials at O’Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis announced today that
some additional programs and benefits have been added to the popular
Top Eliminator Club to further enhance the premium seating experience
for its members during the 55th annual Mac Tools U.S. Nationals
presented by Lucas Oil, the world’s most prestigious drag race.

The Mac Tools U.S. Nationals presented by Lucas Oil, the 18th of 24
events in the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series and the final race
of the Countdown to 1, is scheduled for Sept. 2-7 at the historic
multi-purpose motorsports facility.

TEC members will be eligible to compete in several interactive
competitions and trivia contests throughout the weekend where they can
win bonus prizes, including the following:

To be the best you have to beat the best – and that is exactly what the drivers in the IHRA’s Stock classes are going to have to do come October.

With five world champions already qualified for the new Tournament of
Champions, the field in Rockingham is going to be stout. A handful of
new faces in the championship hunt will look to challenge many of the
world’s best in the Stock and Super Stock categories at the World
Finals in Rockingham later this year.

This time, they’re talking Taurus.

Last fall, Ford Racing’s top personalities in the NASCAR Sprint Cup
Series and NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series gave race fans access
to their behind the scenes thoughts, videos and photos as they test
drove a variety of Ford’s 2009 product lineup.

They’re back once again, but this time they’ll be showing off the new
2010 Taurus and Taurus SHO as Ford officially kicks off “I’m Driving
One,” an online national sweepstakes where one lucky winner will take
home Ford’s latest all-new Taurus in December.

The online campaign officially launches today at www.imdrivingone.com, as well as a variety of Ford, driver and team websites.

“We continue to look for unique ways to utilize our personalities and
racing programs to support the company’s primary goal of selling cars
and trucks,” said Brian Wolfe, director, Ford North America
Motorsports.  “Last fall, the first ‘I’m Driving One’ campaign proved
to be a big hit, both with consumers, and with our drivers, so we
decided to bring it back this year for the launch of the all-new
Taurus.   I think race fans are going to have fun while learning more
about Ford’s new flagship.”

HANS Performance Products informed NHRA that it has found counterfeit
Post Anchor parts on a helmet.  HANS has posted further information on
its Web site, hansdevice.com .