Torco Racing Fuels Top Fuel competitor Bruce Litton has announced he will return
to competition this weekend, October 20 – 22, at Rockingham Dragway for the
Universal Technical Institute World Finals. Litton missed the last two races
while recovering from injuries sustained during the IHRA race in Epping, N.H,
the first races he’s missed in nearly fifteen years.

“We’ve missed the last two races, and those are
the first national events I’ve missed since 1993,” said Litton. “The Rock has
been as good to me as any track, so it’s comforting to make my return to racing
at that facility.”

Erica Enders was quite a bit excited when her Dodge Stratus recorded
a 6.56 at 210 mph during a practice run in Virginia on Monday. Terry
Adams was driving the car.

"You never put too much into testing numbers," Enders said
cautiously. "But any time your car goes that quick and that fast it's hard not
to get pumped up a little bit. "The crew stayed after the Virginia race
and wanted to try a new clutch combination they'd been working on. The car
absolutely matched up perfectly with what they did and it just flew down the
track. Sure it's testing, but we were legal weight and the track was pretty much
identical to the day before so it's a legit run. Now we need to come to The
Strip and duplicate it."

Stock eliminator racer Donovan Whitehurt was killed in a racing
accident on Saturday at Outer Banks Dragway in North Carolina. He is
survived by a wife and daughter.

Funeral services will be held at 12:00 PM on Friday, October 20 at Memorial Missionary Baptist Church, Elizabeth City, NC at 12:00 Noon. Reception
will be held at National Guard Armory on Westover Street Elizabeth City.

Following the Virginia event the new points system would have reduced the championship contender ranks to just four drivers in each of the professional categories, again with a fixed point split going into the last two events . In this week’s points breakdown comparison we will look at what effect that would have on various driver’s title hopes as well as the fact that now only four drivers have even a mathematical hope for the big prize.

NHRA announcer blamed it on the world spinning backwards and then his
crewchief called him an idiot. After running a career best 6.59 in
Virginia, "Captain Choas" Kenny Koretsky was the first to admit he was
a little confused and caught off guard.

“[crewchief] Eddie [Guarnccia] came on the radio and said what I
thought was a 6.659. He said, ‘No, you idiot…I said a 6.594. I was excited and I
knew we had to have run fast because all of the cameras came over to speak with
me.”

Dwayne Rice and Robert Perry have joined forces for 2007,
and plan to compete for the NHRA Championship title in Pro Stock. Rice and
Perry, with a vast history of racing between the two, have decided to combine
their efforts in order to compete in the upcoming PowerAde series.

“The idea of running NHRA Pro Stock has been a life-long
goal of mine,” stated Rice, who will be driving for the team. “And now with
Robert and his company, Boscoe HVAC, coming alongside as partner we will have
the chance to see if we got what it takes to compete in such a tough category.” 

There was a scary moment in the NHRA Torco Nationals semifinals when 13-time champion John Force
exited his burning car and fell limp onto the racing surface. After a few tense
moments, he rose to his feet with an obvious injury to his leg.

“I have
the greatest firesuit in the world from Simpson…but my old stuff that I
laundered was half the weight,” Force said. “My crew guy kept telling me that if
I had a fire I was going to get burned. When you’re old…you think you’re
Superman. The old heap lit on fire. I thought I had it covered with the fire
bottles. It went up my leg.

For the second consecutive event, Mark Pawuk has posted a career best elapsed
time only to end up the 17th qualifier – first alternate during the NHRA Torco Race Fuels Nationals.

“I can’t
explain it,” Pawuk said after qualifying ended, “and I don’t have a solution for
it either. No matter what we do, things just aren’t clicking for
us.

“There’s no doubt about the fact that I’m facing some very hard
decisions here,” he added.

“I’m seriously debating whether or not we’ll
compete in the year’s last two races. We’re obviously not involved in the points
race, nor are we competitive right now. Add into that some serious problems I’m
having outside of racing and, in all candor, right now I just don’t have a lot
of enthusiasm.

NHRA POWERade Series driver Melanie Troxel, who has advanced to a Top
Fuel-best eight final rounds this season, has been honored by Billie
Jean King’s Women’s Sports Foundation as its “Sportswoman of the Year,”
it was announced today.

Past Sportswoman of the Year Award winners include a who’s who of the
greatest female athletes of all-time, from Annika Sorenstam and Juli
Inkster to Sarah Hughes and Michelle Kwan to Martina Navratilova and
Chris Evert.

Troxel, who drives the Skull Shine/Knoll Gas-Torco Racing Fuels
dragster for Don Schumacher Racing, is the first auto racer to win the
award.