“Hot Rod” Fuller will compete in the upcoming Summit Racing Equipment
NHRA Nationals at Norwalk, Ohio with support from Michigan Cat
and their Think Big educational partner, Owens Community College. This
will be Fuller’s second race of the 2009 season, coming just three
weeks after his driving debut for Patten Cat and Illinois Central
College at the Joliet, Ill race. Michigan Cat, with seven locations
across Michigan, will be entertaining customers and promoting their
Cat® Certified Used Equipment with zero percent financing options
through the popular website michigancatused.com.

Brian Schulz, Vice President of Product Support at Michigan Cat, is excited about the upcoming race.

“We will be in Norwalk to support Hot Rod, because our customers want
to see him on the track and in a winning car. We saw how well he ran
with the Vandergriff Motorsports team in Joliet and had a tremendous
amount of positive feedback from customers for us to participate in
Norwalk,” Schulz said.

The readers have spoken again. A partial return to the 1320 is better than a full season of 1,000 foot racing.

CompetitionPlus.com wrote an article last week suggesting the NHRA was
considering running a mixed schedule of quarter-mile and 1000-foot
racing. The NHRA has denied an official plan to return to quarter-mile
racing, but didn't rule out the possibility.

Sponsor hometown, Maintaining Point Lead and Oh Yeah, Ice Cream …

Antron
Brown has his priorities in order headed into this weekend’s Summit
Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals in Norwalk, Ohio where he will endeavor
to reach his sixth final round and notch his third win, of the season.

The racing aside, Brown has a far simple reason for being excited about being in Norwalk.

“I'm ready for my pound of ice cream for a dollar,” Brown explained,
speaking of the track’s unique promotion. “I know my kids are ready for
that too.”

Due to a special arrangement with a local ice cream producer, the track
sells ice cream by the pound for a dollar. Sales of the summer treat
aren't measured in dollars, but in pounds and if the past is a fair
barometer, sales should easily exceed one ton.

Robert Hight has experienced a lot of success at Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park spanning from two No. 1 qualifying efforts in the past two years to a final round at last year's event.

So far success has eluded one of the pre-season championship favorites
in 2009. Entering the 3rd annual Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals
Hight will be in the middle of his longest winless drought of his
career – last win 2008 Mac Tools U.S. Nationals - as well as his
longest drought for No. 1 qualifiers as the streak hits ten entering
Norwalk. His Auto Club Mustang team sits in 12th place in Full Throttle
points, 80 points behind rookie Matt Hagan who holds down the coveted
No. 10 spot.

Sunday was a big day for the family of former IHRA Pro Modified World
Champion Quain Stott when his first cousin’s son Dylan and daughter
Mattie both won championships in the rain-plagued IHRA Summit Pro-Am
Series race at Steve Earwood’s Rockingham Dragway.

Dylan Stott, 17-year-old former Carolina Coalition Jr. Dragster
champion, was the upset winner in the featured Top Dragster class,
beating veteran Ken Batchelor of Leland in the final round after
forcing Arden’s Michael White into a breakout foul in the semifinals. 
Mattie Stott beat Jason McCandless, the grandson of former Pro Stock
standout Herb McCandless, to win the Beginners Division in the Jr.
Dragster class.

Rocky wants to give one lucky NHRA fan an “Experience of a Lifetime.” 

As part of the NHRA “Experience of a Lifetime” national sweepstakes,
Rocky, a leading manufacturer of work, western and outdoor footwear,
will give away tickets to the NHRA Las Vegas Nationals Oct. 29- Nov. 1,
which includes a behind-the-scenes VIP tour of the race and reserved
seating for all four days of the event.

The promotion will begin at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals,
June 25-28, in Norwalk, Ohio, and end at the O’Reilly Super Start
Batteries NHRA Fall Nationals, Sept. 24-27, in Dallas.

The Northeast Outlaws Pro Mod Association bills itself as providing “extreme racing.”
 
Fans who attend the Rumble at the Grove this Saturday should see plenty
of it as cars featuring 800-plus cubic inch motors and 2,500 horsepower
blower motors will be zipping down Maple Grove Raceway’s quartermile
strip at 200 mph.
 
There will be two classes of competition with Nitrous cars taking on
Normally Aspirated ones, and Blowers vs. Turbos. The drivers will be
battling for a $3,000 first prize in each category.

Rocky, a manufacturer of premium outdoor, work, and Western footwear, has inked a deal with Kalitta Motorsports to be a primary sponsor
of Doug Kalitta’s No. 50 Top Fuel dragster at the Summit Racing
Equipment NHRA Nationals in Norwalk at Summit Motorsports Park June
25-28.

This exciting new partnership includes an original paint
scheme for the race car, which will prominently feature the Rocky logo,
as well as a name change to the Rocky Boots Top Fuel dragster for the
event and activities around it.

“The Kalitta team has turned
vehicle overhauls into an amazingly speedy science by living and
breathing the same motto Rocky Work lives by: 'Work smarter not
harder,' ” said Chris Lorenzo, marketing manager for Rocky Work.
“Kalitta fans, people we want to reach, make that connection.”

Pro Stock racer Allen Johnson believes last season's Summit Racing
Equipment NHRA Nationals in Norwalk, Ohio was the most fun he's had in his drag racing career.

Johnson, of Greeneville, Tenn., has 50,000 reasons to back up his declaration.

Johnson defeated Greg Anderson with a perfect .000 reaction
time off the tree to bank the $50,000 K&N Horsepower Challenge
grand prize in 2008, but still walked away from his Norwalk visit with
a nagging sense of unfinished business.  In last year’s main event,
Johnson set low ET of the race yet was still knocked out in the
quarterfinals on a holeshot loss to fellow Mopar HEMI®-powered driver
Larry Morgan.

Bill Bader Jr., whose family owns Summit Motorsports Park at Norwalk,
Ohio, adamantly insists that driver Randy Adler's crash there two
weekends ago during the Super Chevy event did not occur because of water on the track.
 
Nevertheless, the Baders are absorbing a six-figure repair bill for
half the length of the racing surface as this weekend's Summit Racing
Equipment NHRA Nationals (with the Pro Stock K&N Horsepower
Challenge) approaches.
 
After more than five hours of discussions Friday with engineers, NHRA
Senior Vice President of Racing Operations Graham Light, and track-prep
consultant Wayne McMurtry, the Baders began ripping up and replacing
the asphalt racing surface from the eighth-mile to the finish line.
 
That, they said, will fix the drainage problems that the track has
experienced lately. However, a prepared statement from the family said
this problem is unrelated to the seepage trouble that popped up during
last year's rain-soaked national event. Those, the statement said, were
"due to heavy rains in the days leading up to the event, which raised
the water table. Those problems were cured with the installation of
drainage in those areas."