Tim Wilkerson never imagined an antiquated chassis could be considered
a performance advantage, or that his fellow racers
would consider it to
be an issue.

The unlikely became likely in 2008.

In a rash of sweeping changes intended to promote better chassis
safety, the NHRA's rule makers determined all Funny Cars would weigh
more for 2008, to accommodate the required additional bracing in the
chassis. The 100-pound addition raised the minimum weight for the
floppers to 2,550 pounds.

The drivers running older chassis found themselves at an advantage
which equated to stronger performances. The experience of racing with a
heavier car gave them a data edge.

When you win Indy doors of opportunity open up.

When you win it twice, really big doors open.

For Pro Stock Motorcycle rider Steve Johnson,
he’s parlaying the success into a NASCAR appearance this weekend in Richmond,
Va. He’s grabbing all the gusto he can.

After driving his way to six world championships and tuning his son
Scott Jr. to one, Scotty Cannon has reached his fill. The doorslammer
icon from Lyman, SC, has decided to sell or lease his entire operation
effective immediate. This operation includes a brand new motor home and
trailer as well as the championship-winning 1968 Firebird.

“We have put the word out that we are in search of a sponsor and have
had no results in getting anything going,” Cannon admitted. “The
economy has taken its toll on our efforts and I just cannot continue to
run the car without a major sponsor. If it had not been for Richard and
Thomas Patterson we would not have been able to compete at all this
season.”

Trying to win a championship yet prepare for the inevitable dogs on Tony Schumacher …

Tony Schumacher spent much of his time during the NHRA U.S. Nationals
weekend fielding questions about the impending departure of crew chief
Alan Johnson.

Johnson announced on Saturday in Indianapolis that he intends to leave
the U.S. Army team in pursuit of a new role as team owner with backing
from Al-Anabi Motorsports.

Six races are left in the 2008 season and for now, that’s Schumacher’s focus.

“I’ve said it a million times    I said it before this weekend, I wake
up in the morning and I believe in God and I have a beautiful family,
and that’s what my focus is 99 percent of the time,” Schumacher said.
"Alan leaving a race team is not going to make me any less of a father
or a husband. I’ll still come home and enjoy life.”

Antron Brown secured the No. 2 seed in the Countdown to 1 during the
prestigious U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis. With the first 18 races behind
the first-year Top Fuel standout, Brown now trails five-time champion
Tony Schumacher by just 30 points. With two wins and three poles among
his 2008 accomplishments, Brown and the Matco Tools team look to add
the word “champions” to those accolades when the Countdown to 1 begins
at zMax Dragway near Charlotte, Sept. 11-14. In this Q&A, Brown
talks about competing in his first Countdown to the Championship, the
new structure of the Countdown and his thoughts on beating Tony
Schumacher.

CP - You secured the No. 2 seed in the Countdown to 1. Are you
surprised the Matco Tools team has been so successful this season?

BROWN: No, I wasn’t surprised on how well we’ve done. I knew from
the start that we had a great team that Lee (Beard) structured. I’ve
never been with a group that’s so determined to do well. It’s hard to
get nine or 10 guys that have the same willingness to win and that ‘do
what it takes’ attitude. That’s why I knew we had something special
with this team and why I’m not surprised on how well we’ve done.

Jerry Toliver admits his buddy

Is this Rockstar's final year?

Alan Johnson will be besieged with applicants in the next few days. That’s why he’ll likely hold off submitting one.

Johnson announced on Saturday in Indianapolis that he plans to leave
Don Schumacher Racing to field his own nitro team in partnership with
Al-Anabi Motorsports. The new team will have a dragster and a Funny
Car.

“You never know, we’ll see what happens over there,” Toliver said.
“Knowing Alan, it’s going to be a great running organization and I
think he’ll have a good time.”

The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway will present its annual
Thanksgiving Weekend high-stakes bracket race Nov. 26-30. The Las Vegas
Bracket Nationals will feature a complete show with winners each day in
the Super Pro, Pro, Sportsman and Motorcycle classes from Thursday
through Sunday of the Thanksgiving holiday. The Super Pro class will
race for $7,500 to win on Saturday and Sunday.

The thrilling and extremely popular Ultimate Gambler returns on Sunday
morning with its $1,000 entry fee and winner-take-all purse. In the
past, purses for the 1/8-mile shootout have paid as much as $67,000 to
the final-round winner.

Tom Hammonds Enterprises, LLC named Kenny Tom as the Crew Chief for Tom Hammonds Racing.

"Kenny brings a wealth of knowledge and has been in Pro Stock a number
of years with quality teams," said Tom Hammonds, president and driver
of Tom Hammonds Enterprises, LLC.  "What I like about Kenny is he is a
hard worker and fits right in with what we are doing.  He knows what he
is doing, and we are extremely happy to have him."

Three days after competing in the U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis, IN,
the father-and-son team of Warren and Kurt Johnson were back on the
track on Thursday, putting in a full day of testing at Bruton Smith’s
latest contribution to the POWERade Drag Racing Series, the Zmax
Dragway in Concord, NC.   Battling stifling heat and a relatively green
racing surface, the Johnsons were among four Pro Stock teams making
runs at the state-of-the-art speedplant, with their performance often
stopping the numerous workers rushing to complete the facility in time
for the upcoming Carolina Nationals.

Making a total of 14 runs between them, KJ set low elapsed time for the
day in the ACDelco Cobalt (pictured) with his 6.680-second, 206.35 mph
pass in the early afternoon, with WJ, who set top speed at 207.43 mph,
close behind,  tripping the finish line timers in his GM Performance
Parts GXP in 6.685 seconds.  Afterwards, the duo had nothing but praise
for the magnificent new track.

Bob Vandergriff Jr., in this election year was elected into office and the interesting part of it all, he never campaigned.

Vandergriff was voted by his peers to serve as the Chairman of the newly formed
drivers committee for nitro racing. The honor is one the UPS-sponsored
driver holds in high regard.

Also appointed as class representatives were Larry Dixon [Top Fuel] and Ron Capps [Funny Car].

“It’s an honor to be chosen by my fellow drivers for that role, to
represent them,” Vandergriff said. “I think there is a lot of good we
can accomplish, working myself with Larry Dixon and Ron Capps. Really,
all the drivers and their inputs, I think sometimes that kind of stuff
gets overlooked and they even bring things to my attention that I
haven't thought about. I think communication between all of our drivers
is really important. Even on safety issues, if there's something some
driver has found out that is better than what we use or he ran into a
situation that he wants to make us aware of, I think it’s good we now
have a group that we can relay that information to everybody. Where in
the past, he might have told two or three of his buddies that he hangs
with, but it didn't get passed down to the group. I think this is a
really good thing for us to have.”