Pat Ross leads qualifying from the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series
event in Gainesville Raceway. The veteran driver from Avon Lake, Ohio,
was the No. 1 qualifying Friday in Comp Eliminator. 

Ross took the No.2 qualifying position at Bradenton Motorsports Park
event last weekend but was unable to capitalize on his high seed. This
weekend provides an opportunity for redemption. 

Grant Lewis, of Jesup, Ga., wheeled his ’05 Grand Am into the second position behind Ross.

In
Super Stock action, Shorter, Ala., resident Bobby Dennis grabbed the
top spot with Terry Pearson, Spanish Fort, Ala., landing right behind
him. Randy Harrison of Orlando, Fla., grabbed the No.1 seed in Stock
Eliminator.

Larry Dixon fully believes his first run in Phoenix during the NHRA Lucas Slick Mist Nationals, was essentially the non-existent second qualifying session from two weekends ago in Pomona, Ca.

Dixon missed the field in rain-abbreviated qualifying at the
season-opener but more than made up for that shortcoming with the
provisional top qualifying effort during the second event on the tour
this weekend.

“Alan [Johnson] and Jason [McCulloch] made the adjustments from that
first run in Pomona to the first one here in Phoenix and the car went
down the track,” Dixon said. “That is what they wanted to do and I had
all of the faith in the world that they would have done the same thing
in Pomona.”

AsomBroso Tequila, in association with Affliction Clothing, announced the sponsorship of popular veteran driver, Gary
Densham and his nitro funny car team beginning with the 2009 Lucas
Slick Mist NHRA Nationals at Firebird International Raceway.

“The sponsorship of Gary’s Funny Car is a great way to expose my
high-end brand of tequila to a select audience. I’m also a fan, so it
allows me to combine my passion for tequila with my passion for
racing,” explains Ricardo Gamarra, founder of AsomBroso Tequila. “Plus,
I’m friends with the folks at Affliction Clothing, so I was able to
convince them to join me in helping to sponsor Gary’s effort.”

You know you’ve got it going on when you start quoting your crew chief in the interviews.

Funny Car driver Ron Capps couldn’t help but to make good use of his
crew chiefs words on Friday evening after he sped to the quickest
elapsed time in provisional qualifying at the NHRA Lucas Slick Mist
Nationals in Phoenix, Az.

"I quoted Ace (crew chief Ed McCulloch) at the top end, 'confidence
breeds success,'" said Capps. "That's so apparent now. Obviously,
[when] you win, you have a lot of confidence, but I really left there
knowing we had a great car. And you always want to show up at a race
after winning and at least in the next couple of runs show that you did
win because you were the best car. And we proved that already. So, it's
just nice to keep doing that.”

DIXON, CAPPS AND EDWARDS RACE TO QUALIFYING LEAD AT LUCAS OIL SLICK MIST NHRA NATIONALS

Larry Dixon turned his season around Friday at the Lucas Oil Slick Mist NHRA Nationals by racing to the qualifying lead in Top Fuel.

Ron Capps and Mike Edwards also were qualifying leaders in their
categories at the second race of the season in the NHRA Full Throttle
Drag Racing Series.

Dixon, who failed to qualify for the NHRA season-opener two weeks ago
in Pomona, Calif., rebounded with the quickest run on Friday at
Firebird International Raceway, a performance o f 3.807 seconds at
313.95 mph in his Al-Anabi Racing dragster.

Duane Shields of Boulder City, Nev., reached the No.1 qualifying spot
in Top Alcohol Dragster with Saturday’s run at the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag
Racing Series event at Gainesville Raceway.  Claremont, Calif.,
resident Jay Payne wheeled his ‘08 Mustang to the No.1 qualifying seed
in Top Alcohol Funny Car.

Shields posted a 5.259 second, 270.59 mph run, which was enough to keep
him ahead of Shayne Lawson, Broken Arrow, Okla.  Shields, who also
claimed the top spot at last weekend’s Bradenton event, is hoping to
take the lead position all the way to the winner’s circle.

Payne, Gainesville’s 2008 event champ in Top Alcohol Funny Car,
returned to the head of the class posting a 5.7 second pass.  Last
year’s Division 2 champ locked up the top spot which placed him in
front of Frank Schuster from Chesterfield, N.J.

Following the lead of his peers in the NASCAR racing world, Roy Hill
has launched a Driver Development Program as a new division of his
popular drag racing school. Roy already has his first three protégé’s
in class, working to become the next leaders of the sport.

Seventeen year-old Buddy Perkinson, who is currently working to get his
Pro Stock license through Roy Hill, will headline the school’s
participation at the upcoming Virginia Motor Trend International Car
Show. Roy Hill’s Drag Racing school will feature a 120’ display of race
cars available at the school, along with autograph sessions from Roy
and conversations with students like Buddy.

Force Becomes Second JFR Team to Run Ford’s New Nitro Engine …

When a trend starts to go south, sometimes you have to pull out the secret weapon.

John Force, the 14-time NHRA Funny Car champion, has won at Firebird
Raceway an unprecedented eight times in the last 15 seasons. He has,
however, been winless the past two years, at least at Firebird Raceway.

Time to roll out a new weapon, to get an "edge" up on the competition.

The guy who had a streak of 17 consecutive round wins at NHRA national
events in Phoenix won’t get a chance to start a new one this year.
Instead of being strapped into a 7,000 horsepower Top Fuel Dragster at
this year’s NHRA Lucas Oil Slick Mist Nationals, ‘Hot’ Rod Fuller will
likely be watching the race from one of the VIP suites.

Fuller, like several other prominent racers, is on the sidelines
working on sponsorship prospects to put him back out on the track later
this season.

Long-time John Force Racing crew chief John Medlen was admitted to
an Indianapolis hospital for discomfort in his chest late last night.
After an examination by doctors a routine medical procedure was
performed and a stent was inserted into his heart. 

This is the second such procedure for the 59 year-old. In 2002
Medlen had a stint inserted as a precaution and, as a result, missed
the NHRA national event at Seattle, Wash. He returned a week later to
resume his responsibilities at Sonoma, Calif. A year later, he won the
NHRA POWERade championship for JFR with driver Tony Pedregon.