Anytime Jack Beckman gets the opportunity to test his MTS/Valvoline
Funny Car, he takes advantage of it. This weekend’s test session
provided more than enough kick for Beckman to shake off the cobwebs of
winter.

While the recent economic downturn is causing problems for some
companies and race teams, Rick Jones has decided not only to maintain
his involvement, but to increase his commitments for the 2009 season.
The owner Quarter-Max Chassis and Racing Components and RJ Race Cars,
Inc. says he is resolved to not let the nation's struggling economy
dictate their commitment to customers and fans.

"In these tough economic times we want to prove that Quarter-Max and RJ
Race Cars, Inc. is in this for the long haul," Jones communicates.
"When the going gets tough the tough get going. We are planning on
attending all 24 of the NHRA Full Throttle events. Also Quarter-Max
will have a new display trailer with inventory on the manufactures
midway to better service the racers and our loyal customers."

Jones, along with son Rickie as driver of the Quarter-Max Mopar Dodge
Stratus, also plans to increase involvement with his successful Pro
Stock operation.

Three former IHRA World Champions and reigning IHRA Spring Nationals
champion Elijah Morton are among the headliners already committed to
the fifth annual Rock Batteries Spring Blast which will culminate in
the crowning of a combined champion on Saturday, Feb. 21 at Rockingham
Dragway.

Morton, a Pro Stock veteran from Jacksonville, N.C., has driven his
Ford Mustang into the finals at the last two IHRA races at The Rock,
beating John Montecalvo to win the Spring Nationals before the New York
driver reversed the order of finish at last October’s World Finals.

The lineup of former IHRA World Champions includes “Tricky Rickie”
Smith of King, N.C., who won five Pro Stock and two sportsman world
championships; and Robert Patrick of Fredericksburg, Va., the 2007 Pro
Stock champ.

In a press release issued this afternoon, the NHRA said that its
competition department has reported as many as 18 teams in each of the
event’s three featured pro categories (Top Fuel, Funny Car and Pro
Stock) have confirmed their plans for participating in the first of 24
races in the 2009 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series.

In Top Fuel, 18 teams have entered to date, featuring the following
drivers: six-time champ Tony Schumacher, Brandon Bernstein, two-time
champ Larry Dixon, Antron Brown, Doug Kalitta, Cory McClenathan, Morgan
Lucas, rookie Spencer Massey, Clay Millican, David Baca, Mike
Strasburg, Troy Buff, Joe Hartley, Arley Langlo, Rob Passey, Steve
Chrisman, Urs Erbacher and Andy Carter, the FIA European Top Fuel champ.

The recent restructuring of Don Schumacher Racing’s nitro teams had arguably the largest impact on McClenathan’s team which
lost not only the crew chief Mike Green to his U.S. Army-sponsored
teammate Tony Schumacher, but also other key team members. On top of
that, McClenathan’s new tuners are in their first year of tuning a
dragster after many years of turning the wrenches on floppers.

McClenathan made the third quickest run of the weekend with a 3.887
elapsed time. His speeds were non-essential considering most of his
runs were aborted, mainly due to tire-shake.

 Members of MPE Motorsports and Rolling O Store Headed to Sudan …

Mark
and Lauren Pickens have pledged to donate 10% of the winnings for their
Top Fuel dragster to assist in war-torn Sudan. Lauren, along with two
other members of the drag racing community, will visit Sudan later this
month on a missions visit.

What started out as a plan to bring awareness to a
poverty-stricken war torn region, has turned into an effort that will
take three members of the drag racing community to the other side of
the world later this month.

Mark and Lauren Pickens adorned their 8,000 horsepower Top Fuel
dragster with the logo Hope4Sudan in hopes that that the Clay
Millican-driven dragster would inspire others to support the children
of Sudan, a country in northeastern Africa.

The team debuted their dragster during the NHRA Toyo Tires Nationals
and the vision of the decorated dragster was enough to inspire an
announcer to comment, “Sudan is something I never envisioned on a race
car.”

Consider it a cyber rain delay.

Consider it the reality of a new season rapidly converging on the off-season.

Regardless of how you see it, the two day delay of the second annual
CompetititonPlus.com War Stories final round could be labeled the calm
before the storm. Only two remain, John Force and Pat Musi, and this
one ought to be a battle for the ages.

Force, all fourteen world championships behind him, has performed
worthy of his fan-voted No. 1 seed in the annual competition which pits
drag racing’s finest storytellers in head-to-head contest with the
readers of the popular e-zine becoming the deciding factor as to who
wins and who loses.

The
Finals of round two of the ENZED International Nightfire New Year
Series at Willowbank Raceway had the crowd on their feet this evening,
with both the Top Fuel category and USA v AUS Nitro Funny Car Showdown
seeing ‘underdogs’ giving it their all down the quarter-mile.

Top Fuel comeback racer Darren Morgan and Australian Nitro Funny Car
rookie Mark Sheehan faced off against the current Top Fuel championship
leader Phil Lamattina and US Nitro legend Gary Densham respectively –
and while the odds-on favourite took the win in both categories, each
was fought closely and to the very end.

Up until a last minute charge by Del Worsham, Ron Capps had the quickest Funny Car mark during the Palm Beach International Raceway test with a 4.098 elapsed time at 299.66 mph in seven runs.

Capps was appreciative of the efforts made to ensure this weekends test was successful for those who participated.

"This track is great. Every time you go to a track for the first time
you don't know what to expect, especially in preseason testing. It's
not just the crew chiefs testing, it's not just the crews testing, it's
everybody, including the drivers. We're just trying to get used to the
cars again. And this facility is great. It's 100 percent concrete.
They've bent over backwards and have done everything as far as
preparation of the track goes and it's been a real pleasurable
experience.