It seems NHRA heard a rumor that some of the Pro Stock cars may have
been using wheels an inch or so wider than permitted, so an effort was made to
do some spot measuring.  In more than one
instance, when inspectors arrived in the pits and teams were hard at work they
announced their intentions, and said they’d return the next day!  Like someone who might have been using
illegal wheels couldn’t have switched them overnight?  And people wonder why we write, “What were
they thinking?” more than a half dozen times each year.

Already maintaining a comfortable points lead, Mike Slowe's Mickey Thompson Pro
Street championship campaign got a big boost in round 1 of eliminations of the
AMA/Prostar Orient Express U.S. Motorcycle Nationals at Atco Raceway when points
rival Kent Stotz went down hard on a holeshot. "After that there was no
pressure," said Slowe. "The championship was already locked up."
 
It is
Slowe's second straight AMA/Prostar Pro Street championship, and along with his
three MiRock 60-inch championships and Pinks TV win makes him the currently most
successful no-bar motorcycle drag racer on the planet.
 
After winning the
Prostar opener at Valdosta in March, Slowe runner-upped in Atlanta and
Indianapolis, and won Memphis and Columbus before racing at his home track at
Atco, New Jersey. All the Pro Street competitors at Atco had a difficult and
disappointing track surface to deal with in perfect air. "I went testing
Thursday, rolled off the trailer and went 7.332 and put the bike away," said
Slowe. "But on Saturday, I almost blew it up 'cause it was on the rev limiter so
hard. The fuelers and Super Street bikes didn't seem to have near as much
trouble as the Pro Street bikes, so I couldn't get it through my head how bad
the track really was. The first part of the track was real good. It was when you
hit third gear that it started spinning. It took me 'til Sunday morning to make
the decision to shorten the bike to 65 1/2 inches, same as the slicker tracks
like Columbus and Memphis." By this time, Slowe was uncharacteristically fifth
in the qualifying order.

Troy Ladd, founder and president of Hollywood Hot Rods in Burbank, California was
presented with the 2007 Goodguys Trendsetter award, Wednesday evening, October
31st in Las
Vegas. Ladd accepted the award during the Hot Rod
Industry Alliance awards reception here at the SEMA
show.

The Goodguys Trendsetter Award is presented annually at
SEMA to rising young talents in the realm of rod & custom car
building.

The Huntsville Engine "King of the Coast" Bracket Series
visits State Capitol Raceway in Baton Rouge, LA with Event 5 of 7 slated as the
Championship Points Battles could not be any tighter in all classes of
competition as racers vie for the coveted "KOC" Championship.

The Pro Electronics Category has Baker, LA veteran bracket
racer Wayne Henry holding on to a slim one point lead over Long Beach, MS native
G.O. Fennell. Fennell had a strangle hold on the points lead all season long
until Event 3 at State Capitol when Fennell was only able to produce 2 points on
the weekend, and Henry struck for a seven point weekend and thus a one point
lead going into Event 4 back in August which was a rain out both days. All
racers only earned race competition points that weekend. With Event 5 coming up
this weekend, Henry holds the top spot with 26 points and Fennell 25 points.
James Page of Slidell, LA who until late last year was a highly decorated
Footbrake Racer, 2007 MS State Bracket Championships Pro Footbrake Champion,
stepped into the Electronics world and did not skip a beat with numerous final
round appearances around the Southeast. Page has earned a tie for the 2nd
position in the standings with Fennell also with 25 points. David Reynolds of
Petal, MS and 2007 "KOC" Champion Tadd Gates of West Monroe, LA hold the tie for
the 3rd spot with 24 points. The remaining current "KOC" Top 10 are Kris Morris
Pride, LA & Lester Bernadas Jr with 22 points, Alan Jordan of Canton, MS
with 21 points, Mike Buchwald, Wade Ellis & Wade White round up the Top 10
with 20 points.

Eddie Krawiec has signed a contract
extension and will continue to be part of the Screamin' Eagle/Vance
& Hines Motorsports Pro Stock Motorcycle team for the next two
seasons.

Krawiec joined the team in February – just in time for the March season opener in Gainesville, Fla.
Krawiec earned a trip to the semifinals in that first race with the
team. He went on to finish in seventh place in the 2007 NHRA POWERade
Pro Stock Motorcycle standings, making two final-round appearances this
season.

"Eddie was a great addition to the team this year," Harley-Davidson
Racing Manager Anne Paluso said. "He had great riding capability before
he joined the team, and they just improved each race. He was a great
asset to the Screamin' Eagle team, and we're excited about him staying
with the program for the next two seasons."

Krawiec set many goals before the season began, including making the
first cut of the new Countdown to the Championship points system. The
top eight riders competed for the championship after the first 11 of 16
events, and Krawiec and teammate Andrew Hines were both part of that
first group.

Castrol GTX Ford Driver Joins List That Includes Bernstein, Line, Hight and Todd

Ashley Force, 24, applied a measure of positive energy to a difficult
season Monday when she accepted the Automobile Club of Southern
California’s 2007 Road to the Future Award as the professional
Rookie-of-the-Year in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series.

The daughter of injured icon John Force accepted a check for $20,000
from the Auto Club before crediting her father, her family and her
team, especially crew chiefs Dean “Guido” Antonelli and Ron Douglas,
for a history-making first season at the wheel of the Castrol GTX Ford
Mustang.

Although she missed two races, one following the death last March of
teammate Eric Medlen and the other after her father suffered the most
serious crash of his 32-year career, the graduate of Cal
State-Fullerton made history last month at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor
Speedway where she became the first woman to race in a Funny Car final
in a national series.

SCHUMACHER, PEDREGON, COUGHLIN AND SMITH CROWNED NHRA POWERADE SERIES
WORLD
CHAMPIONS

Ashley Force named Auto Club Road to the Future winner during
NHRA Awards Ceremony in Los Angeles

Tony
Schumacher, who became the first Top Fuel driver in NHRA history to win four
consecutive POWERade Series world championship crowns by racing to victory at
Sunday's season finale in Pomona, Calif., headlined the four
world-championship winning drivers crowned Monday evening during the 2007
NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series awards ceremony at the Westin Bonaventure
Hotel in downtown Los Angeles.

Three other NHRA POWERade Series world
champions - Tony Pedregon, Jeg Coughlin and Matt Smith -- also were presented
checks and trophies for their achievements during the 2007 POWERade Countdown
to the
Championship, NHRA's first championship playoffs.

Sunday’s eliminations
at the NHRA Auto Club Finals in Pomona,
Ca., marked the last time that Melanie Troxel will strap into a Top Fuel dragster,
at least for now. She’s departing the Top Fuel category to drive Evan Knoll’s
forthcoming Vietnam Veterans/POW-MIA Dodge Charger Funny Car under the Gotham
City Racing umbrella. 

 
Last Monday, during a
post-race Las Vegas
test session, Troxel completed the cross-over licensing requirements to make
the move.

“We had planned on going
out and doing some testing most of the year and just the way that the season
has gone we haven’t had a lot of opportunities to do that,” Troxel said. “I was
really happy and getting my license was important.  Just making a couple of passes to the finish
line was important to me as a driver and I know what to expect for next year
and at the same time I was having a lot of fun.”

Troxel expected a bit of
the learning curve considering the differences in the two breeds of race
vehicle.

After years of learning the ropes and soaking up everything possible as crew
chief of his father’s Pro Modified operation, Mike Carpenter is finally getting
a chance to experience what it’s like behind the wheel.