Steve Spiess knows what being a Pro Stock winner is about. In the
interestof fair reporting, Spiess' experience was gained racing in the
IHRA’s Mountain Motor division.

In this world of corporate downsizing, Spiess has downsized in his own
kind of way – under the hood. He’s replaced the 800-plus cubic inch
engine that aided him in winning the 2005 IHRA world championship with
a standard issue 500-inch powerplant.

“Everybody said it wasn't going to be easy and it's not,” Spiess said.
“We're gaining on it pretty fast and learning quickly. Everything
you've looked at in the mountain motor stuff you just do the same way
in this just not in as big of moves. There's no room for error.”

Tom Hammonds, NHRA Pro Stock Car driver/owner  and retired NBA player,
will kick off his new student achievement program, Tom Hammonds Race
for Achievement, on Wednesday, Mar. 26, at 2:00 p.m. CST at The Imani
School in Houston.

“This program is a dream that has come true, and I am extremely excited
about the chance to share my message about academic excellence with the
kids,” says an elated Hammonds, “and to kick it off at The Imani School
is icing on the cake.”

Southern Motors specializing in Southern collectable cars will be the title
sponsor of the Milan Dragway Outlaw 10.5 class part of the Aeroquip Heads Up Series presented
by Golf Carts Plus and Discount Tire. Look for them at many of the events this
summer at Milan Dragway. They will be bringing classic cars to display at the
events just to show a sample of the awesome inventory they keep. You will also
see them going down the 1/4 at over 200 mph on the side of Outlaw 10.5 racer
Greg Blevins.

Reigning NHRA Div. 3 Top Dragster champion John
Coughlin received a departmental award from the Police Chief of
the City of Delaware (Ohio) in recognition of JEGS Mail Order's support of DPD's
fledgling K-9 program. JEGS Mail Order, a leader in the high-performance mail
order parts business, is based in Delaware and
boasts more than 350 employees, many of whom call Delaware home.

The 2007 Departmental Awards will be presented at 5:30 p.m. in room G35
of the newly-constructed courthouse located at 140 Sandusky
Street.

Two-time IHRA World Champion Marco Abruzzi is poised and ready for his
drag race season to begin. As the owner of Abruzzi Racing
Transmissions, Marco has focused on the needs of his customers all
winter long.

“I have always said that winning any race is an accomplishment. The one
thing more gratifying than winning a race myself is watching an Abruzzi
Racing Transmission customer win. Living in Ohio, our personal race
season starts off a little late,” admitted Abruzzi. “But our season of
building race winning transmissions started early this year.”      

As the holidays came and went, so did many race transmissions. They
were shipped to customers like former World Champion and bracket racer
extraordinaire, Edmond Richardson. He came out swinging with an early
win during the IHRA Florida triple header.      

Ohio Crankshaft will award $1,000 to the low qualifier at each event on the 2008
JEGS ProMod Challenge and a season-long bonus of $10,000 to the racer who
accumulates the most No. 1 qualifier awards over the course of the
season.

The Ohio Crankshaft Low Qualifier Award offers a total purse of
$20,000 in bonus money to racers competing in the JEGS ProMod Challenge. It's
another incentive for racers to bring their best combination to each of the 10
national events on the 2008 schedule.

"We're thrilled to have Stan Ray
and Ohio Crankshaft offer up this program," said Scott Woodruff, Director of
Media and Motorsports Marketing for JEGS. "They're a heritage company in the
racing world and an extremely vital part of what we're trying to do in raising
the profile of our series. It's important to note that 100-percent of the money
he's offering up goes right back to our competitors. We're excited to have them
on board."

After a successful two-year stretch as one of the top go-kart racers in
the nation, David Powers Motorsports development driver Zach Beard is
shifting his driving focus to the quarter-mile. The 17-year-old Beard,
son of fuel-tuning legend Lee Beard, earned his NHRA competition
license after wheeling Randy Meyer’s A/FD to a pass of 5.48 seconds at
252 mph March 17 at Gainesville Raceway.

Beard began racing
go-karts in 2005, winning the SIRA Super Can championship in his first
season on tour. He won on the Florida Winter Tour in 2007 and has
finished in the top five the past two seasons in the Stars of Karting
presented by IRL series. Beard also has raced Formula BMWs in Spain. He
is a junior at Covenant Christian High School in Indianapolis.

Australian Rookie driver, Diana Harker made her season debut at this
past weekend’s NHRA Gatornationals in Gainesville, FL March 13-16 with
a solid start for the Lend America and Randy Meyer Racing A/Fuel
Dragster Team.

After making successful passes at the Eastern Spring Test Nationals in
Valdosta, GA the Harker-Meyer team headed to their first NHRA National
event with much hope and anticipation, however Friday’s qualifying was
cancelled due to rain leaving the team with only two runs on Saturday
to make the 16 car field.

Conditions slightly improved for Saturday’s qualifying sessions and
Harker moved into the field in the 11th position after the first
session with a 6.53et at 157mph pass. The tricky weather conditions did
not ease going into the final session, giving the Harker-Meyer Team
trouble as again Harker’s car dropped cylinders at the hit and never
recovered. Only slightly improving on their previous run with a 6.09et
at 221mph pass putting them right on the bump in 16th position and
looking to take on number 1 qualifier, Morgan Lucas 5.30et at 268mph in
the first round.

Buoyed by its extremely successful season-opener in Gainesville, Fla.,
organizers of the JEGS ProMod Challenge are pleased to extend invitations to the
second race of the 2008 schedule -- the 21st annual O'Reilly Spring NHRA
Nationals presented by Pennzoil, which runs March 27-30 at Houston Raceway
Park.

The field will be led by Gatornationals champion Joe Baker, the
current series points leader. Baker was a last-minute alternate for the race
that made the most of his opportunity by winning the event. The man he replaced,
Mike Knowles, whose car was damaged in a testing accident prior to the event,
will also compete in Houston, as will Chip King, who has competed in 49 of the
64 races in series history, the second most ever.

Reigning series
champion Josh Hernandez will try to make use of his hometown advantage.
Currently fifth in the JEGS points, Hernandez hails from the Houston suburb of
Conroe.

Roger Richards Photos

Matt
Guidera has won before but not like he did during the NHRA
Gatornationals. The Loomis, California-based rider scored his second
NHRA POWERade Pro Stock Motorcycle championship title in as many years
by stopping Andrew Hines in the final round.

“We ran great all weekend. The event started off slow for us. We ran a
little faster than everyone else and I think we came around faster than
the other teams. We had everyone covered but not by a whole lot. The
field was close and showed parity today.”