The
dateline is "Las Vegas," but Jack Beckman's location could be anywhere
in the United States since he left Richmond, Va., in his motor coach
with wife Jenna and son Jason Russell on Oct. 13 and headed west to The
Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the NHRA Nationals this weekend,
the penultimate event of the 2008 season.

The driver of the Valvoline/Mail Terminal Services Dodge Charger R/T
Funny Car in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, who is second in the
Countdown to 1 playoffs point standings with a strong chance of winning
his first championship, is a capitol junkie.

An avid historian, Beckman is enjoying one of his life's goals of
visiting ever capitol in the United States as he travels the country to
each racing venue. As of this writing, he's checked off 20, including
those in Des Moines, Cheyenne (double-back visit) and Salt Lake City
this past week.

If 2008 is an indication of what 2009 will bring, Chevrolet IHRA
Mountain Motor Pro Stock driver John Montecalvo is ready to start the
new season next weekend. The veteran driver from New York’s Long Island
capped his 2008 season with an impressive win and runner-up in
Rockingham, N.C., one in the finals of the IHRA World Finals and the
other in the rain-delayed $50,000-to-win Pro Stock Showdown.

Not to be overshadowed is a season that produced two victories in four
final rounds. A handful of semi-final finishes added to the strong
point total.

The end result was a third place finish in the championship, a mere 26
points from first place. Throw out the IHRA’s Last Man Standing points
which rewards winning qualifying runs and the championship would have
been Montecalvo’s.

Call Dave Connolly the Comeback Kid.

He’s accomplished more in 17 races than all but two other POWERade
Series Pro Stock drivers have in 22 as the 2008 season reaches its
penultimate stop at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Oct. 31-Nov.
2.

Connolly – with an assist from NHRA’s Countdown to the Championship
format – goes into the ACDelco Las Vegas Nationals still in title
contention, albeit 77 points behind Jeg Coughlin, the pacesetter,
defending champ and his Cagnazzi Racing teammate.  Connolly, who placed
third in three of his four Pro Stock campaigns, is three points behind
runner-up Kurt Johnson.

Greg Anderson is the odd man out.

Of all of the regular season champions, Anderson’s the only one not in
the points lead. He’s not in second or third, either. Anderson’s in
fourth place, 82 points behind leader and reigning NHRA POWERade Series
world champion Jeg Coughlin, the man who denied Anderson’s bid to
reclaim his title last year.

A few seasons ago, when Anderson was all but literally putting tire
tracks on the backs of his competitors for three straight dominating
seasons, this kind of disadvantage was unthinkable. For others, a
top-five finish in the season standings would be welcomed; the best of
their careers. But Anderson? Not him. He was winning half the events on
the schedule, which makes it particularly absurd to see him lagging
behind like a kid who missed the bus.

And yet he is, with two events left to make up ground. The NHRA
POWERade Series comes to The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway Oct.
30-Nov. 2 for the eighth-annual ACDelco Las Vegas NHRA Nationals. It’s
the last race before the Auto Club NHRA Finals in Pomona, Calif., where
this year’s champions will be crowned.

Long before Mad Dawg events or Pro Modified Quick Eight associations
ever existed, Farmington Dragway (Winston-Salem, N.C.) threw down the
gauntlet with their southern style Pro Stock events. We uncovered this
sweet gem of doorslammer action featuring southern Pro Stock legends
such as “General” Lee Edwards, the late Don Carlton, Reid Whisnant and
a score others. There’s even a Ronnie Sox cameo along with Hubert
Platt’s Pinto in a small clip from Shuffletown Dragway in Charlotte,
N.C.

Ron Capps impressed team owner Bill McAnally, his fellow Late Model competitors, and even himself by finishing sixth in the 100-lap
NASCAR Whelen All American Series race, a companion event to the NASCAR
Camping World Series championship finale at All American Speedway
Saturday night.

Usually behind the wheel of the Don Schumacher Racing NAPA AUTO PARTS
Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series,
Capps started 15th in a field of 25 cars in his first stint in a
NASCAR-sanctioned event. He maneuvered his way through the pack,
avoided several incidents and brought home the NAPA-sponsored Late
Model with just one tire "doughnut" on the sheet metal.

Defending JEGS ProMod Challenge champion and current point leader Josh Hernandez is okay after a high-speed accident during
the ADRL Len Mar World Finals Saturday night at the Texas Motorplex
near Dallas. Hernandez hit both retaining walls in a '57 Chevrolet Bel
Air racecar after completing a 4.90-second, 129-mph pass. He was
examined by emergency medical personnel at the track and released.

"I'm starting to feel like I upset the racing gods," Hernandez said.
"We've had two first-round losses and an accident in our last three
races. Fortunately, I'm fine. I hit my right hand and forearm on
something when I hit the wall the first time and it hurts a little bit
but it's not bruised-up this morning so I'm lucky in that regard. I'll
be in Vegas next weekend, no problem."

Earlier this season in Denver, reigning Pro Stock world champion Jeg Coughlin Jr. sported a specially-designed racing helmet commemorating
the 50th anniversary of the North American Aerospace Defense Command
(NORAD). That helmet is now on permanent display at NORAD's museum on
Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado Springs, Colo.

As part of the presentation of the helmet, which took place at the
conclusion of the Mile-High NHRA Nationals, Coughlin toured NORAD and
its support headquarters at Peterson Air Force Base, met with various
dignitaries, and signed autographs for hundreds of military personnel
from both the United States and Canada.

Quain Stott made the decision earlier in the week to go ADRL in 2009 and got off to a good start with a win.

Quain Stott proclaimed earlier in the week that he planned
to make the ADRL series his primary source for racing in 2009. On
Saturday night at the ADRL LenMar Motorsports World Finals in Dallas,
Texas, he got a head start on the competition.

Joining Stott (Pro Extreme) in the winner’s circle were such
heavy-hitters as Mike Castellana (Pro Nitrous), Billy Glidden (Outlaw
10.5) and Scott Gray (Pro Extreme Motorcycle).