Nine of the 16 Funny Cars on hand at Pacific Raceways made full passes
over two rounds of qualifying. Those really struggling were John Force,
Jack Beckman, Gary Densham and Ron Capps. Capps best run was a
disappointing 6.953 in the second round.

After two rounds of Funny Car qualifying for the NHRA Northwest Nationals, Tony Pedregon was looking to show
off the media center to his nine year old daughter, Cecily. Well,
scratch that, but Pedregon was still happy to be the fastest qualifier
of the day posting quickest et and fastest speed – 4.182 seconds,
289.63 mph.

“This is really the press room?” Pedregon ask, looking around. “This
really is? Absolutely amazing. I will say a prayer for you guys and
myself, because I am parked in the dirt with the ants.”

While conditions in the media center worsened as the day got longer,
conditions on the race track vastly improved with surface temperatures
dropping from around 125 to 105 degrees between the two sessions.
Despite improved conditions only nine of the 16 qualifiers made full
passes through the two rounds.

Troy Coughlin is pulling double duty this weekend racing both Pro Street and Nostalgia

Troy Coughlin suffered a nitrous backfire during Friday's Nostalgia Pro Street qualifying. (Sam Martin Photo)

Pro Street at the NMRA/NMCA Super Bowl in Joliet, Ill.

The NHRA Pro Stock turned Pro Modified and now Pro Street racer from
Delaware, Ohio, got off to a rough start when the Nostalgia Pro Street
car he’s racing suffered a nitrous fire just off the starting line.

Clay Millican described Friday's first two qualifying rounds at the NHRA Northwest Nationals in Seattle as a good
day overall. The day went so smooth, he nearly forgot he was driving a
car that had surgery just days earlier in the chassis shop.

The LifeLockracing.com Top Fuel dragster -- with a new front-half
installed this week -- registered two very competitive elapsed times,
3.934 seconds at 302.08 mph in the evening session that put him sixth
going into Saturday's final sessions, and a 4.040 at 291.45.

To know Pat Musi is not to love him, but to know where he’s been and where he plans to go. Even more important is how he says he plans to get there.

The Carteret, N.J.-based engine builder came up through the Pro Stock
ranks and made a name racing both the mountain motor and 500-inch
applications.

He was a dyed-in-the-wool, no nonsense carburetors and gasoline man all
the way. If it had doors, weighed 2,350 pounds and was naturally
aspirated, Musi could be found inside the cockpit.

Tradition is an important part of family life, along with passing those traditions to the next generation.
 
Although still in their teens, Lisa and Monica Spiering have grown up
around race tracks, and have always been at the races while father Carl
Spiering progressed his way from street-based cars to racing in the
popular Pro Modified class.
 
But during the past two years, Carl has spent more time with his
daughters, nurturing them into the world of drag racing as he stepped
back from competing himself to teach and mentor.

At a time when many businesses are on a hiring freeze or working
through layoffs, Forward Sports Marketing (FSM) is seeing a
considerable growth in its business representing sponsors, race teams,
and race tracks in drag racing and open wheel series events. By
mid-August, 2009, FSM expects to complete an expansion project to add
an office in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area.

Competitionplus.com received these construction photos of the first in-house constructed Don Schumacher Racing Top Fuel chassis designated as the DSR TF-1. The chassis hasn't been
assigned to a team as of yet and is expected to hit the track after the
NHRA Western Swing.

Veteran chassis builder Brad Hadman was instrumental in the creation of the DSR TF-1 according to DSR Team Manager Lee Beard.

It's hard to picture Ed "The Ace" McCulloch elbow-deep in the grimy guts of the NAPA Dodge Charger that Ron Capps has driven to

Ed
McCulloch [left] shown here celebrating a father/son tuning victory
with son Jason, has been cooking this season. The dish he's serving up
tastes great to he and driver Ron Capps yet leaves a bad taste in the
mouths of the competition.[Roger Richards]

five victories this NHRA season, wearing a tall, crisply starched, white chef's hat.
 
But that's the image of his crew chief that Capps painted earlier this
season at Chandler, Ariz., when he became the first Funny Car driver
since John Force in 1997 to win the first two races of the year. His
winless 2008 and a lackluster eighth place finish in the standings was
an embarrassment for his new sponsor and especially shocking after he
led the 2007 standings after 14 consecutive races in the heart of the
season.

For the first time in ten years, Jim Dunn enters a NHRA Full Throttle national event as the defending champion.

Last season, he and his driver at the time, Tony Bartone, stopped Ron
Capps in the Funny Car final round of the NHRA Northwest Nationals in
Seattle.

This year Bartone has returned to his former stomping grounds of Top
Alcohol Funny Car and been replaced with storied veteran Jerry Toliver.

"Getting Tony's first win wasn't as good as me getting one," quipped
Dunn. "No, that was cool to get Tony his first win; I was glad to get
one for him. He had worked hard for it. If you're right, you're right,
and on that day we were right."