Doug McRobie, 49, from Mount Eaton, Ohio, was involved in a high-speed
racing accident Sunday during the Jegs NHRA Northern SPORTSnationals at
National Trail Raceway when his Super Gas roadster went out of control
just past the finish line and impacted the guardwall.

McRobie was extracted from his roadster by emergency services personnel
and was transported to Licking Memorial Hospital, where he was later
pronounced dead.

Pro Stock racer Greg Stanfield didn’t believe he could feel any lower than he did when he and the team
packed up prior to the final qualifying session in Indianapolis and sat
out the session. Their lack of horsepower was evident.

That was until this weekend at the NHRA Fallnationals in Dallas, Tex.

Before the first tire turned under power, Stanfield and the Attitude
Apparel team learned that team owner Greg Hill’s granddaughter, Erika
Bauermeister, had been killed in a traffic accident.

Stanfield learned that it’s darkest before the dawn.

If the Funny Car contingent is looking for someone to blame for the resurgence of Tim Wilkerson after the early loss in Charlotte, blame his wife.

She’s the one who got the 11-time winner all riled up headed into Dallas.

“I went home and I was a grouchy S.O.B.,” Wilkerson admitted with a
smile. “You can ask my wife. She said ‘I hope we get to Dallas and do
some good, I’m about to throw you out of the house.’ She’s going to be
happy because now I’ll be smiling again.”

Wilkerson took the first round loss in Charlotte to Ashley Force
extremely personal because in addition to being driver, he’s the crew
chief.

If Josh Hernandez claims the 2008 NHRA Jegs Pro Mod title, he won’t return in 2009 to defend the title.

Team Rage issued a statement today citing their intention to run
exclusively on the National Guard ADRL tour which is expected to
increase from eight to ten events in 2009.

J.R. Todd carried out his role rather well during the 2006 season, the year he won the NHRA’s Rookie of the Year accolades.

Todd had a penchant that season of becoming Tony Schumacher’s nemesis
and knocking off the champion during the most inopportune times which
is generally in the final round.

After a 2007 which ended rather anticlimactically and for the most part
a dreadful 2008, Todd stepped up with a performance of old behind the
wheel of the Morgan Lucas Racing dragster. Schumacher just happened to
have been in the opposite lane when Todd broke out of his shell again during the NHRA Fallnationals in Dallas, Tex.

South Georgia Motorsports Park presents the Southern Nostalgia Festival
and Night of Fire October 24-26.  This incredible event combines
nostalgia drag racing, Vintage Thunder nostalgia circle track racing, a
Saturday evening cackle event, a car and bike show with over 40
classes, and a swap meet into one fantastic weekend of family fun.

Special guests for the event include former Funny Car World Champion
Shirl Greer with his restored funny car and NASCAR Winternationals
competition eliminator Bunky Bobo with his National Hot Rod Reunion
memory lane award-winning Hemi Hurricane Willys.

Denny Fenstermaker’s restored Roger Gates California Top Fuel Dragster from the 60s will also be there.

When the 2008 POWERade title is handed out at the end of the season, this Sunday's race at the Texas Motorplex could very well be the one defending series champ Jeg Coughlin Jr. points to as the most critical of them all.

After watching championship contenders Greg Anderson and Jason Line
inexplicably bow out in the first round of the 23rd annual Super Start
Batteries NHRA Nationals -- Anderson on a rare red-light and Line on a
tragically late light -- Coughlin knew he had a chance to do something
special. That thought was extended one round later when former point
leader Kurt Johnson also was eliminated earlier than expected.

Tim Wilkerson and Ron Capps came up to the starting line for their first-round Funny Car match-up in eliminations at the NHRA Fallnationals in Dallas,
performed their burnouts and began to stage for their race when a
glitch in the starting-light system forced them to shut down and
restart again several minutes later.

When the two finally squared off, Wilkerson took the win with a
4.120-second elapsed time at 298.34 mph. Capps, in the NAPA AUTO PARTS
Dodge Charger R/T in the other lane, was credited with what would have
been a remarkable .003 reaction time (.000 is perfect) and a losing
finish of 4.289, 295.14. It was clear that Wilkerson had crossed the
finish line first, but Capps questioned the numbers in his lane.

"Usually a light like that is just a bad red light," he said, "and I'll
be the first to admit it. But something was obviously wrong with the
clocks. The NAPA Dodge didn't run that slow either. We are trying to
figure out what was wrong because I left on the amber light and, by the
way it looks on the computer, it looks like the car ran way better than
that.

A week ago Chris Rivas and his Drag Specialties/G2 crew couldn’t get their potent S&S-powered Buell started.

At the NHRA Fallnationals in Dallas, Tex., they couldn’t get it to stop – winning that is.

It’s not like they tried either.

Rivas scored his second career victory and second of 2008 by outrunning
former employer Matt Smith in the final round. The victory vaulted him
all the way to the third place position, just one point behind last
week’s winner Steve Johnson.

“This is a huge jump for us in the points,” Rivas said. “We didn’t know
if we were still going to be in the hunt after the no-start in
Charlotte.”

Tony Schumacher accounted for the greatest streak of fortunes in the Top Fuel division by carrying an undefeated streak which began in early-July during the NHRA Mile High Nationals in Denver, Co. going into the finals.

The U.S. Army-sponsored driver figured there would be a day when the streak would be halted.

That regretful day transpired in the final round of the NHRA Fallnationals in Dallas, Tex.

“It had to end some time,” said Schumacher of his win streak. “You have
to tip your hat to J.R. and his team. They did what they had to do.”