Lex Joon, owner and driver of the Lex Joon Racing Top Fuel Dragster has
announced that he has re-established his relationship with long time
backer, MPM International Oil Company of Delft, the Netherlands for
2009 and beyond.  In a time when the word recession is used every day
and most race teams are struggling to manage their budgets, the most
successful and well-known Dutch racer will again be able to compete in
the FIA European Drag Racing Series with the help of MPM.

In October of 2008, Joon, the 2005 FIA European Top Fuel Champion and
2007 and 2008 runner-up announced that he was halting his racing
operation, citing time constraints and money issues.  But the long time
racer couldn’t sit on the sidelines for long, so after reassessing his
program and meeting with MPM, Joon decided to continue the long and
successful relationship with a renewed determination.

“Our race activities were asking more of my time each year,” explained
Joon, “and at the same time my presence was needed more in my other
business due to staff issues. A secondary issue was the amount of money
that was needed to be invested in the race team in order to stay
competitive.  So, I made the very difficult decision to put racing
aside.

When the IHRA and ADRL posted their opening events on the same date,
many doorslammers were left with a tough choice of where to make their
season start. For New York racer John Montecalvo, there was only one
obvious choice to make:  run them both!

The IHRA Mardi Gras Nationals held in Baton Rouge, Louisiana is a scant
270 miles (roughly five hours in a race rig), from the ADRL
Safety-Kleen Dragpalooza V in Houston, Texas. With eliminations being
contested on different days, Montecalvo sees the feasibility of
competing in both events. His plan is to qualify deep into the IHRA Pro
Stock field on Friday, pack up and head to Houston where he hopes to
qualify, race, and win ADRL Pro Stock Extreme on Saturday, then pack up
and head back to Baton Rouge to capture the Iron Man on Sunday.

Grammy Award winning singer Whitney Houston sang a chorus of prophetic words in her hit song “The Greatest Love of All”.

Top Fuel racer Antron Brown can recite those same words on demand.

Brown truly believes the children are our future, teach them well and they’ll lead the way.

That’s why it’s not an uncommon sight to see the driver of the Matco
Tools-sponsored dragster at the ropes of his pit area not only signing
autographs for the kids and young adults in attendance, but also
interacting and learning about their dreams and wishes.

The stimulus package to be presented at the 8th Annual Musclecar Madness at the York Reunion show will include Kenny Warren's "Virginia Twister" funny car, and the "Dixie Twister" funny car of Houston Platt in the background.

South Georgia Motorsports Park presented the Eastern Spring Test
Nationals February 25-28.  This event is designed to allow racers from
all series to test prior to the major national events in the eastern
United States. With the NHRA limitations on nitro testing this year,
the doorslammers stole the show, although alky dragsters and one funny
car participated.  Quarter-mile and eighth-mile Pro Mods, Outlaw 10.5s,
Drag Radial cars, Pro Mod cycles, snowmobiles, and sportsman cars
provided thrills for four days on the SGMP all-concrete quarter mile.

After taking the top qualifying position at the Emerald Coast Outlaw
Winter Nationals in Holt, Fla., 2008 NHRA Promod Rookie of the Year Joe
Baker bested his competition and took home a resounding event victory,
the first in the 3-round ECHO (Emerald Coast Heads Up Outlaw) Series.

”This is just great,” said an elated Baker after the race.  “We stayed
to our game plan for this race, and it worked.  We were up against cold
weather and a cold track, just like everyone else.  We didn’t put down
any big numbers, remained consistent throughout, and it paid off.”

Baker qualified No.1 after making a stellar 4.05, 180 mph pass and
backed it up with a 4.02, 182 mph lap while defeating Mike Neal during
the second round of eliminations.

It was almost too cool for words.

When Don Wootton climbed out of his nitro-injected ‘69 Camaro after its
maiden voyage he stopped for a moment to find the right words to say.

“It’s hard to explain in words how cool this is,” said Wootton. “It
makes a tremendous amount of power. When you leave the starting line it
doesn’t quit.”

Despite having lasted a mere 70 feet, the debut run of the National
Guard ADRL’s first nitro-injected Pro Extreme entry went according to
plan.

The team had discovered the cause of Friday’s problem that led to the
engine shutting off after the burnout and after a nearly four hour wait
in the staging lane on Saturday, it was show time.

Eliminations are complete from the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series
event held at Firebird International Raceway. Top Alcohol Dragster
pilot Shawn Cowie of Delta, B.C., and Top Alcohol Funny Car driver Sean
O'Bannon from Ontario, Calif., took home the goods.  This event
concludes the first of seven in Pacific division competition in which
racers earn points towards divisional and national championships.

Cowie ran a 5.385-second pass at 267.80 mph in the final defeating the
No.2 qualifier, Del Cox Jr. of Downey, Calif., who shut it down
mid-track. This is Cowie’s first win of the season and jumps out to the
early lead of divisional competition.

O’Bannon went up against Doug Gordon of Paso Robles, Calif., in the Top
Alcohol Funny Car final and ran a time of 5.678 seconds at 255.19 mph
to take the victory.  O’Bannon, who ran preseason testing at the track,
took the No.1 qualifying position all the way to the winner’s circle.

The Champion Speed Shop Special is set to run the March Meet at Famoso
Raceway in Bakersfield, California. The 51st running of the premiere
nostalgia drag racing event will mark the official end of a six year
hiatus of the legendary nitromethane powered Chevrolet dragster from
the nostalgia AA/FD drag racing ranks.

The latest incarnation of the Champion Speed Shop Special continues the
tradition of lightweight small block Chevrolet powered dragsters set in
motion by Jim McLennan in 1953, and carried on by son Bobby McLennan
into the modern era. The Champion Speed Shop Special will be driven by
Adam Sorokin, whose own father Mike Sorokin drove The Surfers front
engine top fuel dragster in the sixties.

John Montecalvo is back on track after the long winter break. He’s left
the wind and cold of New York for some southern heat and sunshine to
test before the Mountain Motor season starts next weekend. Montecalvo
began testing Thursday at South Georgia Motorsports Park and has
already laid down some good numbers. He has run consistently in the
6.30 range, with each pass progressively faster than the last. His best
lap thus far in testing eclipsed the standing world record MPH, 223.95,
when he laid down a 6.281 at 223.99. Montecalvo has spent the first
part of his time in Georgia testing in IHRA legal form. He will also
test the car in ADRL trim to get a good eighth mile tune up, since he
plans to run with both sanctioning bodies.

 “This is the first time I’ve been in the car since the IHRA World
Finals [Oct. 2008]. It feels good to be back. The car has been working
great and we’ve laid down some good numbers so far. We’ve got more
testing to do this year since we want to have a good quarter and eighth
mile tune up to run both ADRL and IHRA. I’m looking forward to
competing with both organizations.