Despite
his opener of, “It’s the same old crap, just a different day,” Pro
Stock Dodge driver Larry Morgan was comfortable in what’s become his
new home town track in Norwalk. “I only lived a few minutes from Columbus,” he
lamented, “but this place is great, and it’ll have to be my new home
track.

“This is an absolutely beautiful facility. I’ve always said it was
beautiful. I’ve raced here my whole life, and have always enjoyed the
Baders, they’ve been very good to me. I think Summit coming in is
great. It’s like it’s in their back yard. If they can make this
facility like it needs to be, this will be a great place to race.

“I think this track is goig to be right up on the list of the best
place, but I hate the fact that they left Columbus because it was so
close to home for me, but this facility is definitely better than the
Columbus facility.”

Dave Connolly made his second trip this season to the NHRA Pro
Stock winner's circle with a final-round victory over Larry Morgan at today's
inaugural Summit Racing Equipment Nationals at Summit Racing Motorsports Park.
The 24-year-old Connolly, who hails from nearby Elyria, Ohio, turned in an
impressive weekend performance that culminated in his 11th career victory, and
low elapsed time of the meet for the Torco Racing Fuels Chevy
Cobalt.

"This is pretty sweet," said Connolly. "I grew up at this track -
I made my first run in a racecar here, so to come back at the first NHRA event
ever held here, and to be this successful, the weather to be this nice, in front
of 40,000 fans in the seats, this is about as good as it gets."

Connolly
entered the Sunday eliminator with his Torco Racing Fuels Chevrolet qualified in
the No. 4 position. He defeated Warren Johnson in round one with his Chevrolet
running the quickest time of the meet at 6.628 seconds. He came back in round
two to defeat Greg Stanfield, and then advanced to the championship heat with a
semifinal-round win over Cagnazzi Racing teammate Jeg Coughlin Jr.

Matt Hagan Racing is proud to welcome Cody McManama to the team.
25-year-old McManama, formerly a Pro Mod driver for Cody Mac
Motorsports from 2001 to 2004, has also crewed for Pro Street Champion
Pat Musi and as served as team manager for a Pro Stock Team.

McManama will be filling the role of clutch and chassis specialist for
Matt Hagan Racing, as well as assisting Matt with day-to-day operations
of the team.

A month ago, the NHRA’s technical department added ten pounds to the
minimum weight for Buell Pro Stock Motorcycle teams. In successive
races, the Harley-Davidson and Suzuki teams rewrote the performance
standards. The Buell teams fell behind.

The NHRA made an adjustment earlier this week to restore parity.
Instead of removing the extra ten pounds from the Buells, the NHRA gave
back five pounds and nailed the Harley-Davidsons and Suzukis for a five
pound increase.

Wouldn’t it have been easier to remove the 10-pound adjustment to the
Buell teams to achieve the unified minimum weight? That’s the question
pondered by many in the class.

“I think they know they made a mistake,” said Matt Smith, the rider
cited for the Buell weight adjustment following his record-setting
performance in St. Louis. “They’ll probably never admit it. It hurt us
for a couple of races and luckily we have this new Countdown to the
Championship. Each race is not as critical as it used to be.”

Sunday's
final results from the Inaugural Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals
at Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park. The race is the 11th of 23
in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series:

Greg Anderson was upset in the first round, and he also lost.

Erica Enders gained a first-round win light at Anderson’s expense when he was timed out on
the starting line. Immediately thereafter a serious discussion broke out
between Anderson’s
car owner Ken Black and NHRA Chief Starter Rick Stewart. Anderson’s wife Kim chimed in as well.

The cause of their ire was their driver’s disqualification after Enders
lit both the pre-stage and stage bulbs as Anderson
eased into the beams. He was rolling in to activate the second bulb when Enders
got the green and the multi-time champ went red.

A second heated discussion, this one between NHRA Senior Vice President,
Racing Operations Graham Light and Anderson, ensued, but no reprieve was
forthcoming, bringing one of the worst weekends of Anderson’s racing career to
a disappointing end. The top-runner from North Carolina
earned No. 1 qualifier honors at Norwalk,
but he only made it to the finish line under power one time all weekend.

“We all know as racers when a driver lights both bulbs that we are to
turn off the auto timer,” Anderson
said. “That eliminates the standard seven seconds so you don’t have to rush in.
There is too much that has got to happen to get in that quick.

Point standings (top 10) for NHRA professional categories following the
Inaugural Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals at Summit Racing
Equipment Motorsports Park, the 11th of 23 events in the NHRA POWERade
Drag Racing Series -

Final round-by-round results from the
Inaugural Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals at Summit Racing
Equipment Motorsports Park, the 11th of 23 events in the NHRA POWERade
Drag Racing Series:

HOMETOWN DRIVER CONNOLLY DRIVES TO WIN WHILE ASHLEY, SCHUMACHER, HINES EARN TITLES IN NORWALK

Funny Car racer Mike Ashley figured
out the perfect way to get over his streak of two DNQs in a row by
winning the inaugural Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals Sunday at
Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park.

Defending series Top Fuel champion Tony Schumacher also erased a
downturn in his recent performances with a victory over current points
leader "Hot Rod" Fuller, while Dave Connolly and Andrew Hines won in
Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle, respectively.

TOP FRIDAY TIMES HOLD AS FIELD IS SET FOR INAUGURAL RACE IN NORWALK

Clear, sunny weather conditions in Northern Ohio kept elapsed times and
top speeds in check Saturday during the final day of professional
qualifying for the inaugural Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals in
Norwalk, Ohio.
            
All four of Friday night's professional category leaders remained in
control of their respective categories, including Funny Car top gun
Robert Hight, the son-in-law of 14-time world champion John Force, who
posted a best of 4.713 at 313.73 mph.

Top Fuel's "Hot Rod" Fuller (4.533), Pro Stock's Greg Anderson (6.654),
and Pro Stock Motorcycle's Matt Smith (6.965) joined Hight on the low
qualifier's podium at Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park.