Veteran Pro Stock driver Jim Yates will reach a career milestone at this weekend's ACDelco NHRA Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas
Motor Speedway. When the two-time NHRA champion (1996-97) breaks the
staging beams with his Wiley X GXP for his first qualifying attempt
sometime around 1 p.m. local time on Friday, he will officially enter
his 400th national event behind the wheel of a Pontiac.

Tonight at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, Ashley Force accepted the 2008
“Female Athlete of the Year Award” from the Jim Murray Memorial
Foundation (JMMF) at its Tenth Anniversary “Tribute to Living Legends
of Sports and Media” Awards Dinner.

Ashley Force, the 25-year-old NHRA Funny Car driver, was introduced by
her 14-time Funny Car Champion John Force and spoke emotionally about
growing up in a racing family and her journey to the top of her
profession.

“Being presented with the Jim Murray Foundation Female Athlete of the
Year Award means a lot to me and my team. Seeing all the people here at
this event and hearing all the great things they have said about Jim
Murray just shows me what a great writer and individual he was. The
sports media is so important I just want to continue to showcase all
the positive sides of NHRA POWERade Drag Racing and being presented
with this award is just a great honor,” said Force during her
acceptance speech.

It's all come down to the one race. The Texan versus the Canadian; Hernandez versus Pontieri. Three rounds of qualifying.
Four rounds of eliminations. Twenty points between them, with the
defending World Champion in the lead. It's a battle of epic proportion
for the Jegs ProMod Challenge Crown, this weekend at the ACDelco Las
Vegas NHRA Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas.

"This one is for all the marbles, and Tony's going down first round, that's all there is to it," Josh Hernandez said.

All reserved seats for Sunday’s elimination rounds of the ACDelco Las
Vegas NHRA Nationals have been sold, it was announced Thursday by Las
Vegas Motor Speedway officials.

A few reserved seats remain for qualifying rounds on Friday and
Saturday. General admission seating is still available for all three
days.

The NHRA POWERade Drag Racing season is winding down, with only two
races remaining on the schedule.  This weekend’s ACDELCO Las Vegas
Nationals will bring fun and excitement to The Strip at Las Vegas Motor
Speedway.  And Pro Stock driver, Johnny Gray is anxious to take his
beautiful Dodge Stratus down the famed quarter-mile, in his quest to
continue the recent success he has enjoyed.

Gray is fresh off of one of his best outings of the season at the
Virginia NHRA Nationals.  He ran the quickest and fastest run of his
Pro Stock career and went to the semifinals.  This is the kind of
performance, Gray and his team has been looking for all year.  So,
they’re hoping to continue the momentum this weekend.

Defending two-time NHRA Top Alcohol Dragster Champion Bill Reichert and his Rislone Engine Treatment backed team secured
their third-straight title by winning his fifth-straight event during
this past weekend’s Division 2 Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series closer at
Silver Dollar Raceway in Reynolds, Ga.  Reichert reset the track
elapsed time record in the process.
 
Reichert, who runs the family business, Reichert Racing Engines in
Owosso, Mich., qualified his injected-nitro dragster on the pole with a
5.268 second elapsed time at 274.05 mph.  In round one, he defeated Dan
Lucas with a track-record 5.236 at 274.66 mph, then defeated engine
customer Artie Allen, who clinched the Division 2 Championship earlier
in the year, in the semifinals with a 5.303 at 274.44 mph.  The
semifinal win clinched his third-straight World Championship.

When Funny Car contender Cruz Pedregon thinks about this weekend's eighth annual ACDelco Las Vegas Nationals he's quick
to borrow a phrase from the most famous boxing referee in the city's
history, Judge Mills Lane -- "Like Mills always said at the start of a
heavyweight fight; Let's get it on," Pedregon said.
 
Locked in a fierce battle for the 2008 POWERade championship, Pedregon
arrives at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in third place, just
69 points behind leader Tim Wilkerson and 18 back of second-place
runner Jack Beckman. He also rolls into town with the most momentum,
having won the NHRA's last race in Richmond, Va.
 

A myriad of gaming establishments, swank hotels, posh eateries and four-star entertainment year-round doesn’t entice Peggy Llewellyn one iota when she visits Las Vegas.

“It’s one of my favorite cities and I really like to go there,” said
Llewellyn, who has a Las Vegas business trip scheduled October
30-November 2 to ride the R2B2 Motors Pro Stock Motorcycle in NHRA’s
ACDelco Las Vegas Nationals.  “I’m not into gambling . . . but I do
like to shop and I think they have a new mall there.”

Infineon Raceway will again join forces with the public this holiday
season for its 8th annual Thanksgiving Food Drive, Nov. 3-21.

These are incredibly difficult times, making this year’s drive
extremely important — all of the non-perishable food items collected
will be given to the Committee on the Shelterless (COTS) in Petaluma
and Friends in Sonoma Helping (FISH) in Sonoma.  The annual food drive
has generated more than 11,000 pounds of food since its inception in
2000, including 2,300 pounds in 2007.

Through the generosity of the public, Infineon Raceway hopes to at least match the number from 2007.

Last evening CompetitionPlus.com posted a news item regarding a group
raising funds for cancer survivor and NHRA announcer Lynn Nickerson to
fulfill a lifelong dream of driving a race car.

Thanks to the
generosity of the Harker Top Alcohol racing family and drag racing
school instructor Frank Hawley, Nickerson will realize his dream.