Eliminations are underway for the second annual CompetitionPlus.com War Stories Showdown, a competition which places sixteen of drag racing's personalities head-to-head in storytelling competition. Over the next four days, you will be presented with the first round strories of each respective contestants. They are paired on an NHRA eliminations ladder seeded by reader vote last week.

Today's competition features the #2 qualifier "Waterbed" Fred Miller versus #15 Ted Jones as well as #7 Whit Bazemore versus #10 Pat Musi. Voting concludes on December 28th at 5 PM.

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FEEDBACK FRIDAY - DECEMBER 26, 2008

NHRA Top Fuel star Hillary Will, the world’s fastest female, qualified
her 8,000-horsepower dragster in the No. 3 (5.013 seconds, 213.47 mph)
spot for tomorrow’s final eliminations of the Shannons U.S.A. v.
Australia Top Fuel Showdown at Western Sydney Int’l Dragway in Sydney,
Australia.

Will, a 28-year old native of Fortuna, Calif., is the only American
competing in the event. Her team, led by crew chief Jim Oberhofer, was
plagued by many mechanical problems throughout the three sessions of
qualifying Friday at WSID and had to hurry to make their final attempt,
which looked strong early but faded down track. Will’s 5.013-second lap
from the first qualifying session of the day ended up being the team’s
best. Will and the other seven competitors in tomorrow’s Top Fuel
eliminations will be vying to win the inaugural Scott Kalitta Memorial
Trophy.

Will is set to race against No. 6 qualifier (5.519 sec., 197.94 mph)
Mark Mariani in round one of eliminations tomorrow afternoon.

Pair of Grand Storytellers Paired in Second Round …

Gary
Scelzi and Chris Kaufmann placed more than a few proverbial body
lengths on the competition as they won their respective matches the
first round of the second annual CompetitionPlus.com War Stories
Showdown.

Scelzi scored a convincing 19.72% share of the votes to defeat Steve
Earwood in the first round. The four-time champion used a tale of being
on the road broke during his years in the Top Alcohol Dragster
division. The clincher for Scelzi was that alcohol was involved.

The second day of round one voting for the second annual CompetitionPlus.com War Stories competition is scheduled to

close on December 25, 2008 at 5 PM, EST.

Four-time NHRA champion Gary Scelzi holds a commanding 19.24% lead over
former NHRA Publicist turned drag strip owner Steve Earwood. You’ll
quickly wonder how Scelzi survived a week during his Top Alcohol
Dragster days and if you’re a doorslammer fan, Earwood will transport
you back to the days of the Southern Style touring Pro Stockers. Yes,
that includes Roy Hill.

He's the guy who challenged for the IHRA Pro Stock Championship with very little budget and nearly took home the championship.

He's also the guy who dressed the part of cartoon character Underdog in jest of his team's monetary shortcomings.

Past Multi-time World Champions Meet in the Second Round …

The battle went down to the final second for John Force but he pulled
out the closest victories by repelling an upset-minded Don Gillespie in
the first round of the second annual CompetitionPlus.com War Stories
Showdown.

For his efforts, Force will meet one of the fiercest competitors on and
off of the track – four-time Top Fuel Champion Shirley Muldowney. She
easily defeated form

Carl Robinson has more questions than answers this morning.

The Motorsports Manager for Mickey Thompson Tires learned the NHRA has
made Goodyear the spec tire for its Pro Stock car division. How he
learned of the news remains an issue for Robinson.

Someone sent him a link to a posting hidden within the NHRA’s website,
a rules amendment which would require some digging to locate.

Once Robinson clicked on the link, he saw the following:

Cancer
survivor and NHRA announcer Lynn Nickerson was recently awarded a
donated trip through Frank Hawley’s Drag Racing School in order to
fulfill a lifelong dream of becoming a licensed drag racer.

Andy McCoy Race Cars (AMRC) has reached an agreement with Denmark’s
Henrik Pedersen to make the popular 1970 Plymouth Duster body available
for drag racers in Europe exclusively through Pedersen’s All-In
Racecars. Specializing in the fabrication of high-performance Pro Mod
and Top Sportsman drag racing components from chassis to
competition-ready vehicles, Andy McCoy Race Cars designed the
nostalgic-looking race car body that made its competition debut in
September.

“We have received a tremendous amount of interest in the Duster since
its release, not only here, but abroad,” McCoy said. “We’re excited to
now have a presence in Europe and are happy to team up with Henrik
because of his reputation for excellent workmanship.”