Rockstar Energy Drink Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car driver Jerry Toliver
is smiling once again. After struggling during the early part of the
season the California native is on the verge of turning his season
around after a quarterfinal finish in Topeka last Sunday. He aims to
keep that momentum going at this weekend's Route 66 NHRA Nationals, the
10th stop on the 24-race NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series tour.
 
With nine races to go in the NHRA regular season, Toliver realizes that
it's time to start making a move if he wants to be part of the
Countdown to the Championship, which begins for the top-10 drivers
following the U.S. Nationals Labor Day weekend in Indianapolis.
 
"Our car was front-halfed by Murf McKinney following a pair of
wheelstands in Bristol two races ago," said Toliver. "We didn't change
anything else on the Rockstar Energy Drink Dodge, but for some reason
it really seemed to come around in Topeka. After an engine explosion in
the first round of qualifying the car made it down the track in the
heat on five consecutive runs and we were extremely encouraged by our
performance."

Bruce Litton is confident his season is back on track. (Roger Richards)

The first two races of the 2008 season did not go as Bruce Litton would
have liked. The Motor City Nationals in Milan, however, put Litton and
his Indianapolis-based Top Fuel team right on track.

Litton defeated #1 qualifier Scott Palmer in the final round at Milan
Dragway to claim his 13th career Ironman and move to within one round
(19 points) of Spencer Massey atop the 2008 IHRA Top Fuel points
standings.
 
“We’re right where we want to be,” Litton said. “We’re in striking
distance of the lead with plenty of racing left on the schedule. (Crew
Chief) Richard (Hartmann) seems to have a handle on the car, our
performance has been strong and consistent and we look forward to
getting out there in Maryland. We’re getting into the heart of the
season and it’s time to work hard.”

As expected, NHRA Pro Stock driver Kenny
Koretsky will sit out the Torco Racing Fuels Route 66 Nationals in Joliet, Ill.,
this weekend.  The impact of his crash at
Heartland Park Topeka Saturday left him with numerous bumps and bruises – and
fellow drivers who don’t want him to miss a race.

“My body still hurts,” Koretsky said
Thursday.  “I couldn’t race this weekend
if I wanted to.  I felt pretty good
Wednesday, but I’m getting around a little slower
today.”

Even though the front end of his Indicom
Electric/Nitro Fish Pontiac GXP needed to be replaced after whacking the guard
wall, Koretsky would have had a car to race – if he could.  Drivers stepped up and volunteered cars,
parts and pieces to racing partner Greg Hill and crew chief Eddie Guarnaccia.

The NHRA has visions of bringing drag racing to a larger scale. Today,
the Glendora, Ca.-based sanctioning body retained the services of
Edelman, PRWeek’s 2007 Large Agency of the Year, to provide support and
counsel with the implementation of its national public relations
campaign.

Edelman will push the major non-automotive and major automotive media
venues while the NHRA's current media relations department will handle
local media for various national events as well as the drag racing
community. This move is intended to bring more exposure in the
mainstream media outlets such as Sports Illustrated and the major
television networks.

Edelman will be targeting predominantly non-endemic media in the
lifestyle, health & fitness, fashion and general news categories in
addition to building NHRA’s presence across multiple New Media
platforms.

Jim Dunn Racing is pleased to announce that the SONY® nav-u™ navigation
system will be the Official Navigation System of the CANIDAE Pet Foods
Chevrolet Funny Car team for the remainder of the 2008 NHRA POWERade
season. To mark this announcement, Jim Dunn Racing built a special
edition race car featuring the Sony nav-u brand and new associate
sponsors Radio Shack, Sears and ABT Electronics.  The special edition
race car will make its debut at the upcoming Torco Racing Fuels Route
66 Nationals on June 5 - 8 Route 66 Raceway in Joliet, Ill. During race
weekend at Joliet, the Jim Dunn Racing team will host more than 50 VIP
guests and dealers of the Sony nav-u system at its pit-side hospitality
area. 

"We're proud to have a premier, internationally recognized company like
Sony and its nav-u brand join our team for the remainder of the
season," said team owner Jim Dunn. "We've come up with a great looking
race car for the fans in Chicago, and we're looking forward to putting
on a good show for Midwest dealers of Sony's nav-u system."

John Force isn’t sure physically if he can handle another victory like
Topeka. His physical therapist Robert Ortmayer wondered too.

Ortmayer called Force upon learning of his post NHRA Summernationals
victory. The physical therapist wasn’t concerned that Force went into
the stands, it’s how he got there which led to his concern.

Force explained, “Ortmayer called me on Sunday and told me, ‘Force quit climbing fences or you’re going to blow your foot out.”

Ortmayer’s concern is Force’s 0-2 record versus race track fences. He’d
attempted to climb a fence in Las Vegas once and fell. His return trip
from Topeka resulted in a stumble as well.

What Ortmayer didn’t understand is that Force had to be there in the
stands. Scaling the fence was the quickest way for him to achieve his
goal.

Jeff Romack of Pontiac Motorsports provided CompetitionPlus.com with this video tour of the Jim Yates Wiley X/Pontiac Motorsports team.

When a Funny Car driver starts qualifying No. 1 on a regular basis and
following that success with national event wins, things happen.

For Tim Wilkerson, he’s royalty in his hometown of Springfield, Illinois.

Springfield, Ill. Mayor, Timothy J. Davlin proclaimed June 3, 2008 as
Tim Wilkerson Day in the capital city.  In front of a packed house at
Tuesday night’s city council meeting, Mayor Davlin cited the owner,
driver and tuner of the Levi, Ray & Shoup backed Chevrolet Impala
SS Funny Car for bringing pride to the community.  Davlin went on to
cite the milestones in Wilkerson’s drag racing career culminating in
his current lead in the NHRA POWERade points standing.

“Tim Wilkerson has a long and distinguished racing career that has
brought pride and excitement to our citizens and community, and I am
honored to mark June 3rd as Tim Wilkerson Day in the City of
Springfield, Ill.,” proclaimed Mayor Davlin.

Melanie
Troxel has reached the finals in Chicago before while racing Top Fuel.
She wouldn't mind adding a Chicago win to her portfolio as a Funny Car
racer. (Roger Richard Photo)

Two years ago, Melanie Troxel was runner-up at Route 66 raceway just outside
Chicago behind the wheel of a Top Fuel Dragster, and this year, now driving the
ProCare Rx nitro Funny Car, she's hoping to take win one more round than 2006
and put her Dodge Charger in the winner's circle at this weekend's Torco Race
Fuels NHRA Route 66 Nationals.

 
In just her first season behind the wheel
of a nitro flopper, Troxel has gained momentum in the past several events,
moving up in the points chase and proving her mettle in a Funny Car. Troxel won
the event in Bristol, Tenn. just three weeks ago, made a quarter-final finish
last weekend in Topeka, Kan. and moved closer to breaking into the all-important
top ten in order to make the NHRA's Countdown to One playoffs.
 

Randy Jewell and the JFM
Racing team get the chance to race at home this weekend. The turbocharged Pro
Modified team will be competing at this weekend’s PMRA event at their home
track, New York International Raceway
Park.

“When we were away winning
two championships with the NSCA we never got to really race at home in front of
our family and friends,” Jewell explained. “Now that we are running the PMRA we
finally get to do that and its only half an hour down from the RJ ProFab race shop.
Our first outing at the cancelled Toronto
event gave us a lot of encouragement. I am pretty confident we could have
maintained our third spot and may even have been able to go quicker. Things
should go well for us this weekend. It will also allow some of our marketing
partners come out and see what we do. The PMRA is a truly professional series and
I am sure they will be impressed.”