Mike Ashley Racing (MAR) and the Matco Tools Top Fuel team have
partnered with Jim Dunn Racing to offer NHRA fans the ulitimate drag
racing hospitality experience. Jim Dunn Racing and its Canidae Funny
Car will be pitted adjacent to the Matco Tools Top Fuel dragster for
the 2009 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series, it was announced today.

The Iron Eagle Club hospitality area, a 3,800-square-foot structure,
was introduced two years ago to host Matco Tools distributors and their
loyal Matco customers. Last season, the Iron Eagle Club hosted more
than 14,000 guests. The partnership between MAR and JDR will see more
than 1,800 Canidae guests join Matco Tools and other MAR sponsors at
the IEC during the 24-race NHRA Full Throttle season.

Two-time IHRA Champion Abandons His Longtime Stomping Grounds …

Mike Janis has served many years as an iconic member of the IHRA’s Pro
Modified fraternity with an occasional appearance on the NHRA tour.
This season the two-time world champion from Lancaster, N.Y., plans to
open a new chapter of his racing career.

Janis joins a number of racers committing to a full ADRL tour in the Pro Extreme doorslammer division.

The 19-time IHRA national event winner has already begun steps to
convert his proven high helix combination over to that of the
outlaw-oriented screw supercharger.

Pete Berner's Quarter-Max.com Team will renew their commitment to Quarter-Max® Chassis and Racing Components' customers
in the 2009 season by again being the Quarter-Max® parts source at IHRA
National Events. Berner will house a variety of the most essential
Quarter-Max® products in his racing operation hauler. With Berner and
Quarter-Max® owner Rick Jones both wishing to provide the best service
possible to IHRA racers and customers, they are excited to renew the
partnership that allows Berner to house parts out of the
Quarter-Max.com Pontiac Motorsports rig.

If
you prefer the modern day old school Funny Cars over the current
creations competing on the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing series, then
drag racing website owners Mark King (Nostalgia Funny Car news) and
Dean Murdoch (SpeedZone Magazine.com) will soon have a calendar that
caters to your preference.

The two are combining forces to present a unique Nostalgia Funny Car
calendar featuring 12 of the most popular cars of this type in North
America.

Such a project comes natural for Murdoch, who has been in the forefront
of producing Drag Racing calendars for the last nine years and has
produced close to 30 different ones in that time. Among his pass
ventures includes Top Alcohol calendars, Super Stock Hemi calendars,
Pro Mod calendars and Top Sportsman/Doorslammer calendars have proven
to be very popular amongst the various teams seeking added exposure
that comes along with such a venture.

In an ongoing effort to assist in curtailing escalating costs
associated with the operation of professional nitromethane category
vehicles (Top Fuel and Funny Car), NHRA has implemented the following
testing limitations for the 2009 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series
season.

Unlimited testing for Top Fuel and Funny Car teams will be permitted
until the 2009 season opener at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona, Feb. 5,
2009.  At that point, and during the 2009 NHRA Full Throttle Drag
Racing Series season (Feb 5 to Nov 15), professional nitromethane teams
will be limited to a maximum of four (4) one-day test sessions.  This
policy applies to both the team and driver.

Last Year’s IHRA Champion Becomes This Year’s NHRA Champion in Waiting …

Forgive Spencer Massey if he appears a bit awestruck these days.

The sophomore Top Fuel driver who already has an IHRA Top Fuel world
championship to his credit still finds it hard to believe that he’s got
the driving gig that many would die for.

In less than 12 months, he’s gone from being a rookie on the IHRA
circuit to the driver for Don “Snake” Prudhomme on the NHRA circuit.

On Wednesday, Massey was driving around his new home of Brownsburg,
Ind., making last minute arrangements and finishing up some errands
before hopping a plane to Phoenix for his first test session as
Prudhomme’s driver.

Total prize money soars to over $1.25 million

American Drag Racing League officials announced today a significant
increase in prize money for the 2009 National Guard ADRL season which
opens in Houston on March 6-7.

"My entire team has worked tirelessly during the off season to pursue
additional partnerships to allow us to make a considerable increase to
all of our professional purses," said ADRL President and CEO Kenny
Nowling.

Drag racing series to showcase dragsters versus door-slammers
 
A new Quick 32 Sportsman-class series is being organized that will pit door-slammers against dragsters in every race day final.
 
Comprised of 16 door cars and 16 dragsters, this new Ontario-based drag
racing series will compete at 2009 races with the Pro Modified Racing
Association (PMRA) events as well as selected special events at the
Grand Bend Motorplex, St. Thomas Dragway and Toronto Motorsports Park
and offer some of the best in dial-in competition.
 
The new venture is providing a $3000 to win for each event and $5000
for the annual point award series champion, payouts which will be very
popular and should present large fields of race cars.

High performance lubricant manufacturer Royal Purple and online game
company Cie Studio have partnered to  develop a unique integration in 
Cie Studio’s popular automotive enthusiast online drag racing game and
social network Nitto 1320 Legends.  The integration is unique in that
it will provide consumers the opportunity to virtually sample and
experience Royal Purple products.

The Nitto 1320 Legends online gaming environment allows gamers to buy
virtual performance upgrades for their car(s).  Gamers then experience
the impact of the upgrades to their car’s racing performance and engine
life. The game is available as a free download to anyone via the URL
www.nittolegends.com.

Robert Hight hasn’t driven his Funny Car two feet in 2009 and he can
already tell a major difference from last year. The veteran driver for
John Force Racing spent much of his time during the off-season
fine-tuning a proven combination instead of developing one.

This off-season has been spent solely focusing on what it takes to win
a championship; a regular practice before the disasters of 2007.
Separate horrific crashes of Eric Medlen and John Force challenged JFR
to build safer Funny Cars for the future between 2007 and 2008. Those
challenges also put the team behind the eight-ball.

Hight has all the hard work behind him as he enters 2009 on a mission to win his first ever NHRA Funny Car world championship.

“I think we are in better shape as far as going out and contending for
a championship and winning races because last year was so chaotic,”
Hight admitted. “Last year, a week before we went testing in January,
we were still putting together all the cars that we had completely
redesigned. It was a total redesign of the chassis after all the
accidents we had in ’07. At that point, performance and winning races
wasn’t really the focus.