UNIVERSAL TECHNICAL INSTITUTE NAMED TITLE SPONSOR OF IHRA WORLD FINALS

IHRA has announced Universal Technical Institute, Inc., (UTI) will sponsor the upcoming World Finals at Rockingham (N.C.) Dragway, October 20 – 22. With nine campuses and 22 dedicated training centers in the United States, Universal Technical Institute is a provider of technical education training for automotive, motorcycle and marine applications.

“Universal Technical Institute is proud to serve as title sponsor of the 2006 IHRA Nitro Jam™ World Finals, and like motorsport enthusiasts across North America, we’re looking forward to seeing the IHRA crown five world champions at this landmark event,” said Terry Emig, UTI’s Director of Event Marketing. “UTI’s commitment to turn our students’ passion for automobiles into rewarding careers as professional technicians has driven us to build a strong, mutually beneficial partnership with the IHRA.”

Mickey
Thompson promoted Carl Robinson to the position of Motorsports Manager. Carl is
a native of Smithtown, NY
and has previously been employed by Weld Wheel Industries, Inc. in Kansas City, MO
as the Director of Motorsports. Carl has over 20 years experience in motorsports
marketing and is the former President of Race Wheel Enterprises Inc. in Dania, FL. 

George Case, vice president and general manager at Maple
Grove Raceway, has accepted the Pro Stock Motorcycle challenge issued by
Infineon Raceway in Sonoma with open
arms.

Maple Grove Raceway and Infineon Raceway are considered the
two fastest quarter-mile dragstrips in the country for the Pro Stock Motorcycle
class in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series.

The International Hot Rod Association announced today
the 2007 eMax Nitro Jam™ Drag Racing Series schedule. After 11 races in
2006, next year’s schedule creates a 12-event series throughout the
U.S. and Canada.

Including new markets in Tulsa, Okla. and Mansfield,
Ohio, the series will again kick-off March 23 – 25 at San Antonio
Raceway with the Amalie Oil Texas Nationals and conclude October 19 –
21 at Rockingham (North Carolina) Dragway with the World Finals.
Mansfield Motorsports Park will become the new host of the World
Nationals on June 15 – 17, keeping the event in Ohio and in close
proximity to the sanctioning body’s headquarters in Norwalk. The new
event at Tulsa Raceway Park, the Skull Shine Sooner Nationals, will be
held Memorial Day weekend, May 25 – 27.

 IHRA Pro Stock driver Rick Jones will sit out Rockingham in order to tend to his chassis business.

“It has been so busy lately with all of the things that I have going on at work and racing. And with more and more new customers in IHRA and NHRA, it is in my best interest that I sit out right now and have Mike drive the car” says team owner Rick Jones. “We have been really close to Mike and his family for many years and I think he is a really good driver and deserves this shot. Mike has driven Top Sportsman, Comp Eliminator and NHRA Pro Stock Truck & Pro Stock cars over the years.”

Cackle Event to be part of the Southern Nostalgia Shootout.

In the
tradition of the Cacklefest events held at the California Hot Rod
Reunion
and the National Hot Rod Reunion formerly in Kentucky, South
Georgia
Motorsports Park will present a Saturday night Cackle Event as part
of the
Southern Nostalgia Shootout, October 28, 2006.  Cackle events are a
way to
honor Drag Racing's past.  Restored cars are started and lined up to
idle
until they run out of fuel.  Early dragsters are push-started as they
were
in the 1950s and 1960s.  Flames explode out of the headers in a very
special
type of fireworks that stirs the imagination and recounts racing as
it was
in the past.  Grown men have been known to shed tears at these
events, and
it is not because of the nitromethane fumes. The "cackle" in
Cacklefest
comes from the staccato sound the engine makes.

Torco Racing Fuels POWERade Top Fuel driver Doug Foley will not be able to compete at this weekend’s Torco Racing Fuels NHRA Nationals in Virginia due to a crash last week that has temporarily sidelined the team.

The eventual outcome of the accident after a two day stay in the hospital is a broken ankle and leg, four cracked ribs, a separated shoulder and a concussion, but as Foley puts it, “Except for a leg in a cast, I can still walk and that’s all that matters. But in the mean time, my family and I are extremely grateful for all the prayers and thoughts that have poured in from phone calls and e-mails. And I could never thank Torco’s Evan Knoll enough for the undeniable support for my wife Shelagh, my sons Douglas and Joseph, and our entire team.”