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FEEDBACK FRIDAY - NOVEMBER 7, 2008

The
Automobile Club of Southern California Finals Nov. 13-16 marks the
final race of the 2008 season and for the Budweiser/Lucas Oil team it
will also turn the final page for Tim and Kim Richards as crew members
in the sport of drag racing.

The tuning duo has led the Kenny Bernstein-owned Top Fuel team to 33
victories and a Top Fuel championship in the seven years they have worn
the vibrant red team jerseys.

NHRA, working with the safety task force formed a little more than
three months ago, has continued to investigate, analyze, and determine
ways to implement initiatives to enhance racing safety. Among the areas
under review were parachutes and braking systems. Below is a brief
update on the progress being made on these two initiatives.

Weld Racing, LLC is pleased to announce that it has been acquired by a group led by management and Granite Creek Partners, LLC (www.granitecreek.com ).

Weld
Racing is a US-based manufacturer of aluminum wheels for performance
automotive enthusiasts and the auto racing industry. The company was
founded in 1967 and has a single manufacturing and distribution
facility in Kansas City, Missouri. For over four decades, the Weld
Racing brand has been known throughout the automotive aftermarket as
the premier aluminum race wheel manufacturer in all forms of
motorsports.

Structured as a management buyout, the acquisition
places ownership and leadership of the company in the hands of racers,
and allows the Weld Racing brand to do what it does best: engineer and
manufacture the best aluminum racing and street/strip wheels available.
The investor group includes management team members Kyle Fickler,
formerly of Aeromotive, Inc. and Scott Rider, Engineering and
Motorsports Group Manager of American Racing/Weld Motorsports.

Don Schumacher announced today that IHRA and Pro Mod racer Matt Hagan will drive a Dodge Charger Funny Car sponsored by BrakeSafe Rear-End Collision Avoidance System in the 2009 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series for Don Schumacher Racing.
 
BrakeSafe Rear-End Collision Avoidance System will be a primary
sponsor, with a co-primary sponsor to be named later. The associate
sponsors include NAPA AUTO PARTS, Mail Terminal Services, Matco Tools,
Valvoline, U. S. Army and FRAM. Tommy DeLago will move over from DSR's
Valvoline/Mail Terminal Services Funny Car team to take on the crew
chief duties.

Lee
Beard has established a reputation as one of the elite professional
crew chiefs during the last three decades. The Colorado native tuned
Gary Ormsby to the 1989 NHRA Top Fuel championship and has amassed 53
wins and 60 poles. Perhaps even more impressive is that Beard has tuned
10 drivers to the winner’s circle and eight racers to the No. 1
qualifying award in the Top Fuel and Funny Car ranks. This season,
Beard has his latest shoe, first-year Top Fuel standout Antron Brown,
in position to finish second in the NHRA POWERade Top Fuel standings.
Last weekend during qualifying at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor
Speedway, the Matco Tools dragster uncharacteristically caused two long
delays during qualifying. In this Q&A, the David Powers Motorsports
team manager discusses last weekend’s events and why it happened.

CompetitionPlus.com has assembled a staff of weekly bloggers
for your reading pleasure. Tune in for a week in the life
of such notable correspondents as European Top Fuel racer Urs Erbacher,
John Force Racing's Robert Hight, Kendall Racing Oil's V. Gaines, Laurie Cannister, top running IHRA TAFC driver, and CompetitionPlus.com editor Bobby Bennett. 

Of course, there's Timmah.

Blog Central has been updated for your reading pleasure.

VISIT BLOG CENTRAL 

New driving technique provides challenges for veteran Pro Modified driver …

Thomas
Patterson believed stepping outside of his comfort zone would make him
a better driver in 2008. The veteran Pro Modified driver from Houston,
Tex., who campaigns with his dad Richard, felt that it was easier to
change his driving style than to spend more money and exercise
resources bringing the car to his technique.

That’s why, Patterson said, the PMS Excavation team looked brilliant at times and well … not so brilliant in others.

NHRA Technical Services yesterday announced certain rule changes
that will be included in the 2009 NHRA Rulebook. "We have worked to
minimize cost impact to the teams from 2009 changes, given the current
economic situation," said Don Taylor, NHRA senior director-national technical operations.

Select changes are listed below. See the 2009 Rulebook for the
final and complete wording of the rules. The Rulebook will be available
in December and sent to NHRA members with Issue 48 of National DRAGSTER.

This year at the IHRA Champion’s Banquet there will be an
alternative for kids who might not want to sit through the entire
Saturday evening ceremony. Science of Racing will be hosting a pizza
party for children who are in attendance during banquet weekend.

While
you are at the ceremony, enjoying the speeches and celebrating a great
season of racing with your friends your kids can be enjoying a
supervised evening with the gang from Science of Racing. Science of
Racing is a non-profit informal science education organization
committed to inspiring kids and their families to discover the
excitement of the sciences while contributing to the nation’s
development of its human resources. Through innovative exhibits,
programs and services that tie the thrill of auto racing to the
engineering that literally fuels it this organization hopes to make a
real difference in our nation and in the lives of all they reach.