6th Holley NHRA National Hot Rod Reunion Honoree discusses drag racing in the 1960s and '70s

In the late '60s and early '70s, Ohio was a hot bed of dragster
activity, and Jim Walther was consistently one of top performers of the
nitro class. Walther gained national prominence in 1972 by driving his
"Special Edition" machine to NHRA Top Fuel World Championship honors
over the nation's best racers. In addition to racing, Walther an
Honoree at the 6th annual Holley National Hot Rod Reunion, June 13-15,
Beech Bend Raceway Park, dedicated more than 40 years to the production
of top quality speed equipment.

Another solid outing for Cruz Pedregon and his Advance Auto Parts Toyota Solara Funny Car team moved

Introducing the "Red Hornet".

the former champion back into third place in the POWERade rankings.
Pedregon managed to pass legend John Force in the world rankings with a
quarterfinal finish Sunday at Route 66 Raceway in Joliet, Ill.

Pedregon qualified 5th and took out Bob Tasca III., before losing to Scott Kalitta in their first head-to-head meeting.

"Something weird happened with the fuel system and we ended up making
the run on seven cylinders," Pedregon said. "We made a pretty good run
for being down on power like that but a car running on seven cylinders
is never going to beat a 4.89. We needed a pit stop about halfway down
the track.

After a completely rained out final day of qualifying, the final
eliminations of the Goodguys 20th Hot Rod Nationals here at O’Reilly
Raceway Park @ Indianapolis were as sunny and hot as the previous day
was wet. A field of over 200 cars did battle on the ORP quarter mile
today in twelve different classes offering everything from ground
pounding Nostalgia Top Fuelers and Funny Cars to 13-second station
wagons. Variety and ingenuity was the order of the day.

In Nostalgia top fuel, Cedar Falls, Iowa racer Roger Lechtenberg won
the battle and the war. Driving Dale Suhr’s “Orange Crate” dragster,
the man they call “radar” breezed through eliminations, routinely
pulling his parachute at the 1,000 foot mark. Maybe he was saving gas?
“We’ve tinkered and tinkered with our tune up,” said car owner and
chief mechanic Dale Suhr. “But today we left it basic and got the
trophy.” Lechtenberg took Suhr’s hot rod through three flawless
elimination rounds running as quick as 6.001 (in the semi final) and as
fast as 251mph. In the final he defeated the gritty and consistent
Randy Bridges of Virden, IL 6.024 @ 236 to the runner up’s 6.324 @
236.71

The 8-car Nostalgia Funny Car exhibition delivered in a big way with
ear-piercing nitro burning retro funny cars bringing the fans to their
feet throughout the afternoon. Veteran racer John Dunn of Monticello,
IL driving his maroon “Dunn & Gone” ’69 Nova pounded out a hard
earned victory over rival Steve Nichols in the Mill Road Boys ’70
Camaro. It was Nichols who got the performance spoils of the weekend,
setting Low ET and Top Speed of the meet @ 6.195 @ 226.96 in Friday’s
qualifier. In the final, Nichols appeared poised for sure victory but a
sheared magneto rotor spelled his demise. Dunn’s 6.290 was good for the
event victory.

Super Comp racer Ron Erks and Super Stock driver Anthony Bertozzi enjoyed landmark weekends in Joliet with both men

scoring wins in the 24th annual JEGS Allstars event Saturday and the
Route 66 NHRA Nationals on Sunday. The exceptional feat was rewarded
with a "Double-up" bonus from JEGS High Performance that pushes their
weekend winnings to impressive levels.

Racing against seven of the best Super Comp racers in the country, Erks
survived three tough rounds in the Allstars event, beating Sherman
Adcock Jr. in the final on a double-breakout race that favored the
Division 3 star and defending event winner. The victory was worth
$4,500 for the decorated racer from Clinton, Ohio.

Kurt Johnson scored his second win of the 2008 season by defeating Mike Edwards, Greg Anderson and his father Warren Johnson before squaring off against No. 1 qualifier Jeg Coughlin in the final.

Knowing he would need a near perfect performance to earn the victory,
Johnson responded with his best reaction time of the day at .019 to
gain the advantage by one-hundredth of a second at the starting line,
capping the day with a 6.733-second, 205.22 mph pass to easily defeat
Coughlin, who suffered severe tire shake at the hit of the throttle. 
This was the 38th win of Johnson’s career and third at Route 66
Raceway, allowing him to extend his lead in the POWERade championship
standings.

“What a great day,” said Johnson.  “Going into the final, I knew I
would have to come up with a good light, because Jeggie is like a
machine on the starting line, repeatedly putting up twenties and
teens.  I figured we had a couple hundredths on him in performance, so
I felt I had to have a thirty or better to give us chance to win.  To
come up with that .019 was just huge.

There’s something about a points lead that changes a driver.

For Tim Wilkerson, he used to rarely give the points standings a glance
following an event. Now he’s fixated on the point tallies.

Each time the Springfield, Ill.-based driver checks to see if he’s
still on top. Since the NHRA Midwest Nationals early last month, he’s
walked away from the experience with a smile on his face.

Wilkerson still leads the points following a quarter-final finish this
past weekend during the NHRA Torco Race Fuels Route 66 Nationals in
Chicago.

Tony Pedregon in the Q Horsepower Chevy Impala SS and his crew made an
impressive recovery from a major fire on Saturday night's final qualifying run,
the result being Pedregon advancing to his second final round of the season. 
Ironically, the defending POWERade champion defeated Densham at Gainesville. 
Today Pedregon, who qualified tenth, defeated Jerry Toliver in Round 1, No. 2
qualifier Mark Oswald in round 2, and Ashley Force in the semifinals to face
Scott Kalitta in the DHL Toyota in the money round.  In the finals Pedregon had
a winning elapsed time of 4.818 seconds at 319.75 mph to Kalitta's 4.957 e.t. at
308.92 mph for his second win of the season and 38th of his career.    

Doug Herbert’s
500th career round of eliminations coincided with the first round of
the NHRA Torco Route 66 Nationals in Chicago, Ill. The milestone also
coincided with a victory lap.

Herbert’s personal triumph came at the expense of J.R. Todd, who he handled easily.

After a lengthy rain delay and a tornado watch issued by the National
Weather Service, Herbert drove past Dave Grubnic in the second round.

Schumacher Electric Suzuki
Pro Stock Motorcycle rider Chip Ellis had three semi-final finishes and a final
round appearance on his resume headed into Chicago. He left with a new addition to the
resume – a first round loss.

Ellis qualified No. 3 for
the event, posting an elapsed time of 7.039 seconds at 183.54 mph during the
second qualifying session, but lost on a holeshot to Craig Treble.

After a blistering start in his Charter Communications/LifeLock Chevy
Cobalt, Dave Connolly is struggling. He lost in the first round for the
second time this season, an early exit he can ill-afford. 

Connolly missed the first five events of the season due to sponsorship
issues. He knew the late start would force him into a semi-final or
better situation to make the cut for the Countdown to the Championship.