The
opening round of NHRA POWERade Funny Car champion Tony Pedregon’s
defense of his title didn’t go as planned, with his Quaker State
Chevrolet erupting in one of the most spectacular explosions seen in
some years.  Although he escaped relatively unharmed, his race car
appeared much the worse for wear when it was returned to the pits. 
Pedregon himself escaped with minor burns and more than a few bumps and
bruises, but there’s a long way to go before this year’s champions are
determined.  He’ll have more than enough time to fully recover

We spoke with Pedregon early Sunday morning, before his on-track
incident.  Just as he was last year at the Finals here in California,
Pedregon appeared calm and certain of his future.  Like many others
we’ve spoken with, he’s most pleased about the new Countdown program,
and is looking forward to the year ahead.

Stop the presses, three-time champion Greg Anderson confirmed
that he’s a fan of raising the 26-year old cubic inch ceiling of
500-inches for the Pro Stock division.

”I always want to go faster,” Anderson said. “I'm a fan of faster is
better.  I think Pro Stock is neat, it's interesting, it's great
competition but I love the fact that they get faster every year.  We
work awful hard to find 15 horsepower, that's a good year.  A gain of
15 horsepower -- boy you could pull in 600 cubic and pull 200 more
horsepower -- so I'd be all about that.

Investing
in an exorcist might not be a bad idea of ADRL Pro Extreme Champion
Jason Scruggs but not for him - for the Dodge Stratus he's driving. For
the third time, the first man to 200 miles per hour in the eighth-mile
had his Mopar come out on the losing end of a calamity. As you'll
recall last year he debuted the car and crashed on the maiden voyage.

The
newly repaired ride returned and tested the day after the ADRL final
event and exploded the supercharger, taking out the windshield and
causing a fair amount of cosmetic damage.

Facility improvements are under way at
two of NHRA's most historic East Coast facilities, Old Bridge Township
Raceway Park in Englishtown and Maple Grove Raceway in Reading, both of
which host NHRA POWERade Series events.

Maple Grove Raceway, home of the annual Toyo Tires NHRA Nationals,
set for Aug. 14-17 this year, is undergoing a facelift for the 2008
racing season. Prior to the season-opening test-and-tune event March
22, several improvements will be in place. New LED Daktronics
scoreboards are first on the list of new items. The 20-foot-long boards
will feature red LED digits that will be much easier to see in daylight
and can be viewed from a wider range of angles so that spectators close
to the finish line will no longer find themselves straining to decipher
them. No longer having to frequently replace burnt-out incandescent
bulbs is another plus with the new LED scoreboards.

Fiber-optic wiring is second on the to-be-accomplished list. Bob
Brockmeyer from Compulink will soon install this latest technology in
track wiring. Maple Grove
will be the seventh national event facility to feature fiber-optic
cables the entire length of track. Utilizing fiber optics rather than
traditional copper wiring safeguards the entire track and all connected
components, such as the timing computer and Tree, against the
devastating damage that lightning strikes can cause. The electronic
damage that used to plague Maple Grove's computer after lightning storms will be one less thing to stand in the way of getting the show back on the road.

If
you’re one of the few that managed to gain a glimpse of Len Imbrogno
then chances are you did a double take. The reason for that is Imbrogno
is usually besieged by sportsman racers seeking to bend his ear with
complaints because of his NHRA Director of Sportsman Racing status.

Imbrogno resigned his position and accepted the role as General Manager
for Kenny Bernstein Racing. He said an ongoing discussion with
Bernstein eventual led to his leaving NHRA.

Brainerd, Minnesota (#5555) Super Gas racer John Bieringer Jr has
been diagnosed with bile duct cancer in his liver and is on his third
week of radiation and chemo treatments at the Mayo Clinc in Rochester, 

Bieringer will need a liver transplant, and his best hope is for a living donor transplant.

With an extra $65,000.00 bonus purse
on the line for Comp Eliminator racers in 2008 in NHRA’s Division 4, racers
from across the country are expected to begin rearranging their travel schedules
in hopes of taking advantage of the newly announced Comp Cash Reward program.

Racers this year will be in pursuit
of the Comp Cash Reward bonus at the
six Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series Division 4 events as well as the Jeg’s Cajun
SPORTSnationals. Comp Eliminator racers will compete for $40,000.00 in bonus
purse that features payouts of $1500.00 to win, $750.00 for R/U, $400.00 to the
semi-finalists, $200.00 to the quarter finalists and $100.00 to each first
round winner at the LODRS events with a double Comp Cash Reward purse for the Jeg’s SPORTSnationals that features
a $3000.00 winners bonus check. All Comp Cash Reward bonus checks will be
issued over and above the NHRA Lucas Oil Series payouts.

Four-time Top Fuel champion Shirley Muldowney pointed out last season
that she hoped to have a Top Fuel team for the 2008 season with Top
Alcohol Dragster driver Sheila Kopchick as the driver.

Muldowney’s vision of fielding a car under the Doug Herbert umbrella
didn’t pan out in time for the first race of the season, the NHRA
CARQUEST Winternationals in Pomona.

For
a man that made so many headlines as a Top Fuel dragster tuner, Mike
Kloeber appears to be settling into his new challenge of Funny Car crew
chief just fine.

“We started basically right around the first of November and we really
got to working in earnest right after Thanksgiving, but we're still not
done yet,” Kloeber said. “It's a lot of hard work and I couldn't be
happier to get the car down the race track.”

Not only did Kloeber and co-crew chief Chris Cunningham guide rookie
driver Bob Tasca III down the track, but also provided the impetus for
a first round victory. As different as the combinations are for a Funny
Car as opposed to a Top Fuel dragster, the tuning duo drew on Kloeber’s
Top Fuel experience.

Wally's Garage gets its first job! The special section, housed within the Wally
Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum, presented by the Automobile Club of Southern
California, is hosting a special Saturday seminar on Mar. 1, from 10 a.m. - 2
p.m., where the legendary Howard Cams Rattler will undergo a rebuild. Cost of
the event is $20 and includes admittance to Museum and refreshments.

"We
want to do more of these seminars in Wally's Garage," said Tony Thacker,
executive director of the Parks Museum. "These interactive events are what the
Museum's 'living history' philosophy is all about."

Former NHRA VP Steve
Gibbs, along with Dusty McWilliams, will work on the historic dragster while
Mike Kuhl (part of the famous Kuhl & Oslson team) will provide commentary
during the rebuild. The "Rebuilding the Rattler" seminar is sponsored by
A&EDesign.com, American Shine Products, Classic Industries, E3 Spark Plugs,
GoJaks (Zendex Tool Corp.), Grant Products and Injen
Technologies.