It seems like only yesterday that John Force and Eric Medlen were
playing cowboy with two-time PRCA champion Jerold Camarillo on his
ranch just outside Oakdale, Calif., Medlen's hometown.

It seems like only yesterday the two were floating in the pool at a Bay
Area spa for an episode of the hit A&E Network TV series, Driving
Force.

And it seems like only yesterday Force was celebrating with Medlen in
the winners' circle at Infineon Raceway, site of the 20th annual
FRAM/Autolite Nationals, where, in a perfect world, his young protégé
this week would have been defending his Funny Car championship.

But, as Force so often has been reminded the last four months, the
world is not perfect and Medlen, one of the brightest young stars of
the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, is gone now, his light
extinguished in a freak accident during testing last March at
Gainesville, Fla.

Scott Griffin Motorsports has made a change in personnel by releasing
crewchief Wes Cerny. Assistant crewchief Tony Shortall will assume the
duties this weekend with Rahn Tobler serving as a consultant.

When Pete Berner laid down some
impressive passes at the recent Tulsa race, the Pro Stock pits quickly
became a hornet’s nest of rumor and innuendo. The Jon Kaase-built
powerplant in Berner’s GTO was topped by carburetors from the shop of
Dave Braswell, and some claimed that this gave Berner an unfair
advantage.

Like so many similar situations, this turned out to be a tempest in a
teapot, as Berner explained. “Everybody has them now. When it started
out we did the prototype work for Dave Braswell, with the castings that
we had last year. Out of what we learned last year Dave developed this
casting. We had the first set, the prototype set, and in fact we’re
still running them on the car. To tell the truth they’re not as good as
the productions carbs are now – Brian Gahm ran a 6.29 with them last
night.

Clay Millican and SPEED TV are looking for feedback on Clay's new Blow It
Up TV program airing at 10 p.m. Sunday nights. The series began last Sunday. 
Anyone interested should send it to rich@launchhour.tv.

Drag racer turned Speed Channel analyst Johnny Rocca will be on camera
at Summer Thunder V in Purcellville VA this Saturday July 28 starting
at 3:00PM. Rockville, MD’s 3AM Studios, who are well acquainted with
filming automotive events, will be taping a TV quality DVD of this
years show.

Those of you familiar with some of the Speed Channel’s programming have
seen the shows that are filmed at car events all over the
country. Johnny will be the Summer Thunder’s Don Garlits, Dennis Gage
and Barry Meguiar all rolled into one. Johnny is an internationally
know racer and Gear Head of the 1st degree. Rest assured, if any one
can handle this task it's Johnny Rocca.

Although few drag-racing fans got to see the improvements Friday because the first two qualifying sessions were rained out, Pacific Raceways has a few new features to show off this weekend.

Doug Greenfield, new general manager of the facility that will celebrate its 50th birthday next year, said a number of program are in the works, with even more to follow in their 5-7-year plan. “We’re making changes like you wouldn’t believe around here,” he said.

SCHUMACHER, BECKMAN AND CONNOLLY WIN RAIN-PLAGUED SCHUCK'S AUTO SUPPLY NATIONALS

Capps, Fuller and Connolly clinch berths in the Countdown playoffs

Four-time
Top Fuel champion Tony Schumacher defeated Brandon Bernstein on a
holeshot by just .004-second to claim the Top Fuel title on a
rain-plagued Sunday at the 20th annual Schuck's Auto Supply NHRA
Nationals.

"Fast Jack" Beckman made it two wins in a row in Funny Car when he
defeated John Force in a final round that concluded with Force's
Castrol GTX Ford in flames but, other than some singed paint, he was
okay.

Connolly climbed back into the winner's circle and ended Allen
Johnson's bid for not just a second straight win on the Western Swing
but also his second straight in Seattle with the quickest pass of the
weekend.

Point standings (top 10) for NHRA professional categories following the
20th annual Schuck's Auto Supply NHRA Nationals at Pacific Raceways,
the 14th of 23 events in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series

Final round-by-round results from the 20th annual Schuck's Auto Supply
NHRA Nationals at Pacific Raceways, the 14th of 23 events in the NHRA
POWERade Drag Racing Series: