All Tony Schumacher needed to do in order to clinch a sixth NHRA Top Fuel world championship was to qualify at the NHRA ACDelco Las Vegas Nationals.
Friday evening he left little room for error as he thundered to the top
spot with a 3.781 elapsed time at 316.60 miles per hour.

“After Antron [Brown] went out and ran that 3.81, I told the Sergeant
Major of the Army who was here that the car was either going to smoke
the tires or run really fast,” Schumacher said. “The car went out there
and it shook and then went into warp speed. I think it burned a few
pistons because it stopped pulling at the finish line.”

Had Angelle Sampey known a cheerleader outfit would factor into vaulting her to the top of the qualifying list she might have donned the Halloween outfit back in March.

Sampey, who described Halloween as her second favorite holiday next to
Christmas, rode her way to her first provisional No. 1 qualifying of
the season and first on a Buell during the NHRA ACDelco Las Vegas Nationals. If her track record 6.993 elapsed time
holds, she’ll collect her 45th career low qualifying effort.

It just so happens Sampey deems the fall Vegas event as her favorite
stop on the tour. The Pro Stock Motorcycles only run the second Vegas
event.

Commisso goes low, while point race takes a turn

Canadian
racer Ray Commisso got a little help from sponsor Roger Burgess in the
JEGS Pro Mod Challenge and this unique Las Vegas pairing seems to be
working well.

Burgess wasn't going to run his ProCare Rx Camaro at The Strip at Las
Vegas Motor Speedway this weekend, but agreed to lend his car for the
weekend. Commisso returned the favor by claming the provisional pole
with a 6.012-second pass at 239.87 mph.

For Commisso, the opportunity to jump in Burgess' car was a welcome one.

FORCE LOOKS FOR FIRST TOP QUALIFIER; SCHUMACHER, COUGHLIN, SAMPEY ALSO NO.1 AT THE STRIP AT LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY

Funny Car driver John Force looked to grab his first No. 1 qualifier of
the season in his Castrol GTX-High Mileage Ford Mustang at The Strip at
Las Vegas Motor Speedway

Tony Schumacher, Jeg Coughlin and Angelle Sampey were the other
provisional No. 1 qualifiers in their categories Friday night at the
eighth annual ACDelco Las Vegas NHRA Nationals, fifth of six events in
the NHRA Countdown to 1 playoffs.

With the sun going down and cool track and air temperatures, Force used
a second round run to vault himself from fifth to first with a run of
4.062 seconds at 307.37 mph.  If the time holds it would be the 14-time
world champions first No. 1 qualifier of the season and 132nd of his
career.

CompetitionPlus.com has learned that GM's Marketing Manager Fred Simmonds will be retiring his post next week making this
weekend's NHRA ACDelco Las Vegas Nationals in Las Vegas his final event.

Simmonds
has attended nearly every NHRA Powerade event since taking on the
position and his presence had far more value than simple public
relations appearances. His decision making has been critical to GM's
success in drag racing through turning motorsports involvement into
increased sales at dealerships.

Every
Friday, Torco's CompetitionPlus.com brings you our Feedback letters.
Read what our readers have to say about our feature articles and you
can even offer your opinions.

FEEDBACK FRIDAY - OCTOBER 31

Ford
unveiled its newest Cobra Jet Super Stock package on Thursday evening
at the Carroll Shelby Café located just outside of the Strip at Las
Vegas. Ford’s Director of Motorsports Technology Brian Wolfe introduced
the 30th anniversary Super Stock package scheduled to debut during the
2009 season.

On the day after Halloween Robert Hight gave his boss and father-in-law John Force the ultimate trick and treat during the NHRA ACDelco Las Vegas Nationals in Las Vegas.

After
an agonizingly long delay due to an Antron Brown oil down at the
conclusion of the final Top Fuel qualifying session the entire Funny
Car class started their last session nearly an hour and a half after
the estimated start time. Hight, in the next to last pair of Funny Cars
racing his sister-in-law Ashley Force, was then forced to wait again
after their burnouts when a quick rain shower halted the racing action.
Both Ford Mustangs shut off and then had to restart forcing both teams
to double and triple check their starting line procedures.

Caterpillar’s undercarriage division has partnered with David Powers
Motorsports to co-sponsor Hot Rod Fuller’s dragster during the eighth
annual ACDelco Las Vegas Nationals, Oct. 30-Nov. 2, at The Strip at Las
Vegas Motor Speedway it was announced today. It is the first time a
Caterpillar internal business unit will support Caterpillar’s NHRA
racing program with a developed marketing effort.

“I’m so excited for this Las Vegas race,” Fuller said. “The (Las) Vegas
race is always a big one for me living in Las Vegas and it’s a great
venue to showcase the sport of NHRA drag racing to the undercarriage
division and its customer group. The paint scheme for the race looks
great and we hope to put on an encore performance from last fall by
winning the race again.”

The Caterpillar undercarriage division will have a display on the
popular Manufacturer’s Midway at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Undercarriage employees will be on-site to answer questions about
Caterpillar undercarriage products and services. The Caterpillar
display will feature a D6T track-type tractor, CAT compact track
loader, and D8 cut-away model. The undercarriage division also will
host customers during the event.

Switzerland's only Top Fuel pilot, Urs Erbacher, has earned four FIA
European championships in his drag racing career. Now he'll travel
6,000 miles from Geneva to Las Vegas to add another piece of hardware
to his trophy case -- a Wally from an NHRA national event.

Earlier this year, prior to the start of the FIA season, Erbacher
competed in four NHRA events and earned the distinction of becoming the
first European-based racer in more than three decades to win an
elimination round. Erbacher did so in
impressive style, taking out No. 1 qualifier Alan Bradshaw at the
O'Reilly Spring Nationals in Houston. Prior to Erbacher's big win, the
last European to claim a round in the U.S. was Clive Skilton in 1977.

"That was one of the biggest round wins of my career because of what it
meant back home," Erbacher said. "When we returned for our regular
season in Europe, everyone was very excited for our team. All the other
racers and crewmen came to
us with congratulations. They were happy to see one of their own have success in America.