First-round pairings for professional eliminations Sunday for the
Eighth annual ACDelco Las Vegas NHRA Nationals at The Strip at Las
Vegas Motor Speedway, the 23rd of 24 events in the NHRA POWERade Drag
Racing Series.  Pairings based on results in qualifying, which ended
Saturday.

Top Fuel -- 1. Tony Schumacher, 3.781 seconds, 318.92 mph  vs.
16. Joe Hartley, 3.952, 301.60; 2. Antron Brown, 3.812, 315.49  vs. 15.
Troy Buff, 3.935, 300.26; 3. Rod Fuller, 3.816, 318.39  vs. 14. Tim
Boychuk, 3.919, 297.75; 4. Larry Dixon, 3.831, 313.88  vs. 13. Terry
McMillen, 3.918, 307.86; 5. Cory McClenathan, 3.852, 314.17  vs. 12.
Morgan Lucas, 3.895, 309.98; 6. Hillary Will, 3.861, 310.48  vs. 11.
Doug Kalitta, 3.894, 309.27; 7. J.R. Todd, 3.864, 313.37  vs. 10. David
Grubnic, 3.874, 308.99; 8. Brandon Bernstein, 3.864, 313.00  vs. 9.
Clay Millican, 3.865, 315.42.

An interesting chain of events went down during the fifth and final
qualifying session at the Orlando Real World Street Nationals in Orlando, Fla.

Jake
Carlton had his nitrous-assisted ’69 Camaro
staged up and ready to go while running against Spiro Pappas and his
potent turbo Camaro. Pappas took his time rolling into stage, and
infuriated Hank Hill in the process. Hill, a tuning consultant for a
multitude of cars on the grounds this weekend, walked over in front of
Pappas’ car and signaled for him to hurry up, among other things.

SCHUMACHER CLINCHES SIXTH CHAMPIONSHIP; HIGHT, COUGHLIN, SAMPEY ALSO NO.1 AT THE STRIP AT LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY

Top
Fuel driver Tony Schumacher clinched his sixth NHRA POWERade Series
world championship by qualifying at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor
Speedway.

Robert Hight, Jeg Coughlin and Angelle Sampey were the other No. 1
qualifiers in their categories Saturday at the eighth annual ACDelco
Las Vegas NHRA Nationals, the fifth of six events in the NHRA Countdown
to 1 playoffs.

Josh Hernandez added a second consecutive JEGS ProMod Challenge world championship to his resume Saturday evening by successfully
qualifying for the season-ending eighth annual ACDelco Las Vegas
Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Hernandez's No. 2
qualifying effort of 6.015 seconds at 236.75 mph combined with Tony
Pontieri's unfortunate DNQ sealed the deal for the series' most
successful racer.

"It's hard to describe how great this feels," Hernandez said. "It's
been so up and down over the last few weeks and we had a stumble there
in Richmond that opened the door for Tony but this team never let up
and we managed to get it done. It's been stressful but now it all seems
totally worthwhile. What a deal! I'm the happiest guy in the world."

Former NHRA Pro Stock runner turned Pro Street racer Tony Christian,
“The King of Pro Street”, is racing a
Reher-Morrison powered ’02 Grand Am at the Orlando Real World Street
Nationals in Orlando, Fla., after taking a short hiatus from
the event the last few years. He has made his presence felt this
weekend with arguably the best performing car in the front half of the
track, recording a 1.00 sixty-foot and going 2.77 to the 330 in his
last pass. He hit the traps with a 6.452 at 216.58 MPH on that run, but
that’s where the fun ended.

Christian hit the chutes, but had no help stopping as both chutes
failed. A driver with any less experience than the Pro Street pioneer
would have surely barrel rolled the car, but Christian was able to
bring the car to a stop without hitting anything but the grass.

Top Fuel driver Tony Schumacher said his chances of driving a Funny Car in 2009 are incredibly slim.

His tuner Alan Johnson said he’s not going to drive his own Top Fuel dragster next season.

Nothing kills the silly season banter like the facts.

“The chances are very slim,” Schumacher said, rating his chances of
switching nitro classes in 2009. “It’s a legitimate question and a
legitimate decision. I’ve thought about it and as interesting as it is,
there’s so much more to it.

“I’m a dragster driver right now. We’ve set some records and we have a
new crew and crew chief coming in and I see that as a challenge. The
Army expects to win and we are out here doing our job. To tell them we
are going to have a learning curve year after the season we’ve had, I
don’t think that’s fair.”

Jeg Coughlin Jr. apparently has no problem with a bull's-eye on his back as the current NHRA Pro Stock points leader held on to
the top spot after final qualifying for eliminations at the 8th annual
ACDelco Las Vegas NHRA Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor
Speedway.  Coughlin drove the JEGS.com Chevy Cobalt to a track-record
elapsed time of 6.703 seconds at 205.47 mph for his third No. 1
qualifier of the season and the 15th of his career.

Tony Schumacher pocketed his sixth career NHRA POWERade Top Fuel world championship on Saturday after qualifying number one for tomorrow’s ACDelco Las Vegas Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

While Schumacher came into the weekend having only to make the 16-car
field to capture his fifth consecutive crown, he went on to take his
eighth pole of the season and the 55th of his career.

“That’s the way the U.S. Army team does things,” said the Chicago-area
resident. “We wanted to get the pole and win the championship in the
proper way. We didn’t want to merely slide into the bottom half of the
order. Now, we can go out and celebrate a little bit.”

Alliance Will Put Current GM Driver In Ford Funny Car in 2009 …

The Ford Funny Car fraternity just increased by one.

Current Funny Car point leader Tim Wilkerson and Ford icon Bob Tasca
III announced an alliance for the 2009 season and beyond. The two teams
will merge their resources while maintaining their unique identities.

As part of the deal, Wilkerson will leave the GM operation and campaign a Ford-bodied entry in 2009.

Wilkerson will continue to campaign the Levi, Ray and Shoup backing on his new Ford Mustang.

“This is an exciting time for us,” Wilkerson said. “With the state of
this economy, I am encouraged that anyone would want to be involved in
drag racing. That makes me feel good.”

Chris Simmons of BME Photography captured the essence of the Orlando
World Street Nationals with a collection of carnage from Friday's
qualifying,

Our same day coverage can be accessed at ORLANDO SAME DAY

This unlucky racer suffered a collapsed front-end just as he
deployed the parachutes on his Mustang. The team vows to return on Saturday.