Several months ago before the start of the 2007 Pro Modified Racing
Association season, Bruce Boland let it be known he was going for the
points race and the championship.
 
Early in the season, the veteran had some traction and driveline
issues, but once the car was sorted out, Boland was able to pull some
impressive numbers with the new ERD powerplant.
 
During the final PMRA event at the Grand Bend Motorplex over the Labor
Day weekend, the Hamilton, Ontario driver qualified for the show, and
when he made it to the semi-finals, he had amassed enough points to
take the title.
 
“I got my ring,” he said after running in the final round, and just
losing the race to Joe Boniferro of Niagara Falls, Ontario. “It was a
close race, and I gave it my all,” he continued. “I may have not won
the race, but I’m happy to take the title.”

In recent years, engine horsepower along with
compression ratios have increased substantially. In some applications, ring
gear failures have resulted virtually industry-wide in the world of drag
racing.  To assist racers, J.W.
Performance Transmissions has issued a Flywheel Technical Bulletin outlining
what to look for to eliminate ring gear failures.

To check out this new information, simply log onto www.racewithjw.com If you have questions
pertaining to R&D matters, contact Ken Frederick at 321-632-6205, or email
to: jwresearch@bellsouth.net. 

You can also call the sales department at 321-632-6205,
or email to: jwperf@digital.net. For
JW’s marketing department and racer support program information, call
321-632-6205, Extension 13, or email to: tracyw@digital.net. 

Paul
Athey defeated Steve Salvadore to win the rain-delayed Jet Cars Under The Stars
event hosted by New England Dragway in Epping,
NH.

Athey won
the Chicago Style event from the #1 seeded position.

Salvadore,
the #2 seed, fouled negating the need for Athey’s incredible .002 reaction.
That worked well for Athey as he lost traction and drifted dangerously close to
the wall before aborting the run.

IHRA President Aaron
Polburn denies any truth to an unsubstantiated rumor circulating that suggests
the IHRA plans to run a complete eighth mile schedule in 2008.

In fact, Polburn laughed
for a full 15 seconds before responding, “Does that answer your question?”

“Where did that one come
from?” Polburn asked. “We would consider running one or two somewhere, but as
of right now – no.”

Polburn told Torco's CompetitionPlus.com that the IHRA
Knoll Gas Nitro Jam Series is looking very seriously at running an eighth-mile
national event in 2009 at a facility not currently on the tour.

Jon Yoak made his place in
history by becoming the first IHRA mountain motor Pro Stock driver to win a
championship having never won a national event.

The second-generation Yoak
said the keys to his team’s success were consistency and knowing his comfort
zone.

In just five years, the
father and son duo of Bob and Jon Yoak amassed four victories in fifteen
final-round appearances. He won two championships – in his sophomore season of
1996 and in 2000, the final full season in his career.

“Consistency was our key
and my dad always provided us with the best stuff - from the car to the parts we
put in it,” said Yoak. “We maintained it and that worked out best for us.”

If there were ever
competitors who exemplified the term baseline, it was the Yoaks.

“We didn’t know a whole lot
to do much testing,” Yoak said. “We had a lot of good help from people like Pat
Norcia at Ram Clutches, who showed me the ropes. I always did the clutch and
never really stepped outside of the bounds of what I was assigned to do. I kept
doing what worked for me and tweaking a bit here and there. We didn’t really
know a lot to step out of our comfort zone.

At 13, Gunnar Boelman is already a local celebrity.

He’s been praised by his middle school principal, he’s on a first-name
basis with two professional drivers, and he can even do a pretty smooth
interview with media.

He’s just short of signing autographs at the lunch table.

Boelman, an NHRA O’Reilly Auto Parts Jr. Drag Racing League driver from
Diamond Bar, Calif., was one of six finalists featured in September on
the Cartoon Network program “Props,” a contest that lets online users
choose the most impressive American kids from a field of 16 using links
on the network’s website. Boelman was nominated by his AYSO league
soccer coach.

To select the six finalists, fans watched special videos made for each
contestant and voted for their favorite one. Boelman knew his friends,
family and NHRA fans were voting in the hopes of pushing him to the
Final Six, but he didn’t expect what came next.

Torco Racing Fuels Funny Car driver Mike Ashley is determined to continue the
momentum following up his dramatic win at the U.S. Nationals just two weeks ago,
and his Gotham City Racing team is fully prepared to be his supporting cast this
weekend at the O'Reilly NHRA Mid South Nationals in Memphis,
Tenn.
 
"Trying to put that win into words is still difficult, but amazing
and awesome come to mind right off the top," Ashley said. "I can't say it
enough, that the win was a team effort, and I have the best team and sponsor in
drag racing behind me."
 
Coming into Memphis, Ashley is ranked second in
POWERade Championship points and just 21 points out of the lead -- solidly
ensconced among the top four who will advance to the next stage in the NHRA
championship battle: the Countdown to One. This weekend is the second of four
events in the next month that determine which of the top teams will advance and
compete for the Funny Car crown.

“Hot Rod” Fuller has many reasons to dislike the new
Countdown to the Championship format. In fact, he’s got 174 of them.

That’s how many points
Fuller surrendered when the points were readjusted for the second phase of the
championship.

Timing is everything for
Fuller and earlier this week, the current point leader announced a marketing
partnership for 2008 with CAT. In a sport where marketing value ensures
survival of a team, Fuller sees a greater value under the former system.

“You look at a guy like me
that has been the No. 1 car all year long and the top car should get the top
exposure,” Fuller said. “I didn’t get a lot of exposure because they were
concentrating on the six through twelve cars. Now that we are down to eight,
the focus is on the Countdown itself.

“There’s a lot of things I
like about the Countdown and a lot of things I don’t. They could at least
spread it out a bit and talk about the points leader and the guys who are
winning races. I’ll be waiting to see how all of this pans out and to see what
kind of exposure we get. To see how this second cut-off deal is. I’m not a big
fan of this second cut-off deal. I don’t think a championship should be decided
on two races.”

Bristol Dragway received yet another prestigious honor when the
track was inducted into the Fun Ford Weekend Hall of Fame at the Second Annual
Fun Ford Weekend awards banquet last Sunday night in Ennis, Texas. 

In his award presentation, Bill Alexander, Fun Ford Weekend
Event Director, explained that the facility and its staff are the main reasons
why Bristol Dragway was selected for the award.

“We produce the Fun Ford Weekend at the finest facilities in
America, all of them national event caliber race tracks,” said Alexander.  “But
like everything else, what makes Bristol stand out from the rest of the pack is,
quite simply, the people.  The staff and crew at Bristol Dragway are among the
absolute finest professionals of anywhere we go.”