Justin Grant is almost completed with his recreation of Don Schumacher's 1970s Stardust Barracuda. He sent us a few pics of the project.

Champion sport compact racer Marty Ladwig will unleash a new race car for the
2007 NHRA season as the 13-time NHRA winner eyes a third championship and hopes
to become the first Front Wheel Drive racer to clock a six-second
elapsed time. Ladwig will compete
exclusively on the NHRA Xplod Sport Compact Racing
Series.

The 2007 Lucas Oil-sponsored
Chevrolet Cobalt will feature a full tube-chassis from S&W and will be
completed by Roush Industries. It will be powered by a 2.0-liter Ecotec engine
with a Garrett GT 45 turbocharger. The motor will run on Methanol and should
produce nearly 1,500 horsepower.

Ron Meer Motorsports (RMM) has announced that they will have Sean
Bellemeur drive the Meer Homes Inc. Top Alcohol Funny Car. Bellemeur, a
25 year old second generation driver from Fullerton, CA will take over
the controls of the car with his sights set on the Lucas Oil Pacific
Division 7 Championship and the National Title. “To say I’m excited is
an understatement!” said Sean who spent the last three seasons driving
a funny car with his family. “It is going to be a lot of fun to work so
closely with such talents of the sport. I know I am going to learn a
lot and I really feel that we have a potent recipe to compete with the
best in the country.”

Quain Stott plans to leave no stone unturned during the 2006 season.

Within
its ongoing efforts to support Canada’s
drag racing scene, DragRaceCanada is pleased to announce its third annual
"Canadian Drag Racer of the Year" awards program designed to
recognize the top achieving Canadian drag racers this past 2006 racing season.

The 2006
DragRaceCanada "Drag Racer of the Year" awards program will honor four
Canadians; one Professional Pro driver,
one Sportsman driver, one Crew chief/Tuner
as well as the Most Improved/Up-And-Coming drag racer.

ADRL President Kenny Nowling has been recognized by Drag Racing Online e-zine as their Man of the Year.

The National Hot Rod Association, which has set the bar among
Motorsports sanctioning bodies in the field of diversity, was selected
as one of two finalists for the prestigious Diversity in Motorsports
Award following a 2006 season that was highlighted by the emergence of
Auto Club Road to the Future winner J.R. Todd.

The other finalist is the Urban Youth Racing School and the winner will
be announced next week, Tuesday Jan. 9, 2007, at the 11th annual Urban
Wheel Awards ceremony, which will take place at the Max M. Fisher Music
Center in Detroit. The Urban Wheel Awards ceremony is the only official
event honoring African-Americans, Latinos and Asians during the North
American International Auto Show.

Torco's CompetitionPlus.com has just received an email from the IHRA
chaplain Renee Bingham informing us that Funny Car racer Vinny Arcadi
has died after a battle with cancer. We will post details once they are
available.

Ron Capps, driver of the Brut
Revolution Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car in the
NHRA POWERade Drag Racing
Series, will greet fans and sign autographs at the
Motorsports 2007
Presented by VP Racing Fuels Race Car show at Atlantic
City¹s Convention
Center on Jan. 12.

Capps, three-time season
runner-up in the Funny Car championship chase, will
participate in two
autograph sessions - from 1-2 p.m. and again from 3-5
p.m. - at the Brickel¹s
Racing Collectibles (of Leesport, Pa.) display which
will also feature the
race car driven by two-time Nextel Cup champion Tony
Stewart.