Change is inevitable. It’s
safe to say this year in Funny Car we’ve already heard more about chassis
changes than we did in the last decade.

Why is that?

There are two influencing
factors in today’s racing world – safety and performance.

In this scenario, the
issue appears to be more of a performance issue.

“I think it boils down to
some drivers switched over to the slip-tube chassis because we though they were
easier to drive,” Gary Scelzi said. “Now some of the drivers are switching back
to the solid car.”

There are two chassis
being employed in today’s Funny Car division – the age-old rigid and the new
kid on the block, the slip-tube chassis.

The difference between the
two is that rigid, as implied, has all of the junctions welded and doesn’t move
to a great degree while a slip-tube car has sleeves around the frame rails at
the tube junctions. The uprights and cross members are welded to those sleeves
which are free to rotate around the rails thus making the chassis more limber.
Those sleeves are located longitudinally by short sleeves that are welded in
place at their extremities so that the chassis does not flex beyond pre
determined limits.

ROCKSTAR Energy Drink, primary sponsor of Jerry Toliver’s Toyota Solara
Funny Car, and AutoZone, the nation’s largest retailer and distributor
of auto parts, today announced a partnership that returns AutoZone to
NHRA drag racing.

What is being called the “biggest payday in drag racing”
will play out to hundreds of bracket racers over the September 27-30 weekend at
Memphis Motorsports Park and has become known by many as simply “the Million.”

The Comp Cams Million Dollar Race, 12^th edition,
is once again being presented by Alabama racing promoter Comp Cams and George
Howard, who came up with the idea of paying $1,000,000 to one winner of a
special bracket race for electronics-equipped cars that is based on the total
number of cars entered. If there are 500-plus cars entered, the full million
bucks will be awarded to the winner on Saturday, September 29. Entry fee for
the Million is $2,000, with $500 buy backs available first or second round.

Several months ago before the start of the 2007 Pro Modified Racing
Association season, Bruce Boland let it be known he was going for the
points race and the championship.
 
Early in the season, the veteran had some traction and driveline
issues, but once the car was sorted out, Boland was able to pull some
impressive numbers with the new ERD powerplant.
 
During the final PMRA event at the Grand Bend Motorplex over the Labor
Day weekend, the Hamilton, Ontario driver qualified for the show, and
when he made it to the semi-finals, he had amassed enough points to
take the title.
 
“I got my ring,” he said after running in the final round, and just
losing the race to Joe Boniferro of Niagara Falls, Ontario. “It was a
close race, and I gave it my all,” he continued. “I may have not won
the race, but I’m happy to take the title.”

In recent years, engine horsepower along with
compression ratios have increased substantially. In some applications, ring
gear failures have resulted virtually industry-wide in the world of drag
racing.  To assist racers, J.W.
Performance Transmissions has issued a Flywheel Technical Bulletin outlining
what to look for to eliminate ring gear failures.

To check out this new information, simply log onto www.racewithjw.com If you have questions
pertaining to R&D matters, contact Ken Frederick at 321-632-6205, or email
to: jwresearch@bellsouth.net. 

You can also call the sales department at 321-632-6205,
or email to: jwperf@digital.net. For
JW’s marketing department and racer support program information, call
321-632-6205, Extension 13, or email to: tracyw@digital.net. 

Paul
Athey defeated Steve Salvadore to win the rain-delayed Jet Cars Under The Stars
event hosted by New England Dragway in Epping,
NH.

Athey won
the Chicago Style event from the #1 seeded position.

Salvadore,
the #2 seed, fouled negating the need for Athey’s incredible .002 reaction.
That worked well for Athey as he lost traction and drifted dangerously close to
the wall before aborting the run.

IHRA President Aaron
Polburn denies any truth to an unsubstantiated rumor circulating that suggests
the IHRA plans to run a complete eighth mile schedule in 2008.

In fact, Polburn laughed
for a full 15 seconds before responding, “Does that answer your question?”

“Where did that one come
from?” Polburn asked. “We would consider running one or two somewhere, but as
of right now – no.”

Polburn told Torco's CompetitionPlus.com that the IHRA
Knoll Gas Nitro Jam Series is looking very seriously at running an eighth-mile
national event in 2009 at a facility not currently on the tour.

Jon Yoak made his place in
history by becoming the first IHRA mountain motor Pro Stock driver to win a
championship having never won a national event.

The second-generation Yoak
said the keys to his team’s success were consistency and knowing his comfort
zone.

In just five years, the
father and son duo of Bob and Jon Yoak amassed four victories in fifteen
final-round appearances. He won two championships – in his sophomore season of
1996 and in 2000, the final full season in his career.

“Consistency was our key
and my dad always provided us with the best stuff - from the car to the parts we
put in it,” said Yoak. “We maintained it and that worked out best for us.”

If there were ever
competitors who exemplified the term baseline, it was the Yoaks.

“We didn’t know a whole lot
to do much testing,” Yoak said. “We had a lot of good help from people like Pat
Norcia at Ram Clutches, who showed me the ropes. I always did the clutch and
never really stepped outside of the bounds of what I was assigned to do. I kept
doing what worked for me and tweaking a bit here and there. We didn’t really
know a lot to step out of our comfort zone.

At 13, Gunnar Boelman is already a local celebrity.

He’s been praised by his middle school principal, he’s on a first-name
basis with two professional drivers, and he can even do a pretty smooth
interview with media.

He’s just short of signing autographs at the lunch table.

Boelman, an NHRA O’Reilly Auto Parts Jr. Drag Racing League driver from
Diamond Bar, Calif., was one of six finalists featured in September on
the Cartoon Network program “Props,” a contest that lets online users
choose the most impressive American kids from a field of 16 using links
on the network’s website. Boelman was nominated by his AYSO league
soccer coach.

To select the six finalists, fans watched special videos made for each
contestant and voted for their favorite one. Boelman knew his friends,
family and NHRA fans were voting in the hopes of pushing him to the
Final Six, but he didn’t expect what came next.