DIXON OUT TO END STREAK AS HIGHT, COUGHLIN, KRAWIEC LOW AFTER DAY 1 OF QUALIFYING

Larry Dixon’s up to bat with two strikes and a day to go.

At the past two events, Dixon’s qualified No. 1 on the strength of his
provisional nights of qualifying. And at the last two events, he didn’t
make it out of the second round on Sunday.

On Friday, Dixon yet again went low to claim the title of provisional
No. 1 qualifier – meaning he has a leg-up on the rest of the field
entering the final two rounds before race day Sunday at the O’Reilly
Super Start Batteries NHRA Fall Nationals presented by Castrol. Now
it’s up to him and his U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Top Fuel dragster crew to
break the streak.

Pro Modified racer Ray Vettel drifted out of the groove just shy of the
eighth-mile mark and made a move towards the left retaining wall about
200 feet later before crossing the centerline. His wild ride continued
as he moved towards the right wall, where he spun around and made contact with
the retaining wall again. He was transported to a local hospital for
evaluation. (Roger Richards sequence).

Josh Hernandez drove the Team Rage '68 Camaro to the provisional top
qualifying spot in the JEGS ProMod Challenge at the O'Reilly Super
Start Batteries NHRA Fall Nationals, and soundly set both ends of the
Texas Motorplex track record in the process.
 
The Houston-area resident delivered consistent sub-six second runs,
blasting to a 5.964/242.02 in the heat of the day and backing it up
with a 5.973/241.54 in the evening session.
 
"What can I say about this Oddy and Critchley horsepower," Hernandez
exclaimed. "Dave and Jim Oddy along with Troy Critchley have built such
an amazing machine, it runs fast in the heat and when it's cool - these
guys are geniuses!

One can easily draw the conclusion that this year’s visit to the Texas Motorplex is already better after just one day for Robert Hight than last year’s outing.

Last year, Hight missed the field and team leader John Force survived a near career-ending crash during eliminations on Sunday.

Tonight before a packed Texas Motorplex crowd, Hight made two
tremendous runs including a 4.06 second blast in the second session
that brought the NHRA fans to their feet. The run was the 2nd quickest
since the NHRA truncated the racing distance to 1000 feet following the
tragic loss of world champion Scott Kalitta. Hight also is the owner of
the quickest 1000 foot pass set during the Seattle event in July. His
excitement was evident at the top end of the race track immediately
after his run.

Del Worsham has been named the driver of the Alan Johnson Al-Anabi
Racing Funny Car effective at the conclusion of the 2008 NHRA POWERade
Drag Racing season.  In addition, Aaron Brooks has been named the
team’s crew chief, it was announced today.
           
After five years with Don Schumacher Racing, legendary NHRA crew chief
Alan Johnson will return to team ownership when Alan Johnson Al-Anabi
Racing debuts in 2009 as a two-car NHRA team with one entry in both Top
Fuel and Funny Car competition.  The driver and crew chief for the Top
Fuel car have not yet been finalized.  The location of the team’s shop
is yet to be determined.

The Flowmaster American Drag Racing League (ADRL) presented by the
National Guard announced Sep. 19, that effective immediately,
turbocharged and centrifugally supercharged engines will no longer be
permitted to compete in its Pro Nitrous category.

The rule change was already planned for the season-ending 4th annual
LenMar Motorsports ADRL World Finals Oct. 24-25, at the Texas Motorplex
in Ennis, Texas, ADRL Vice President of Competition Bubba Corzine said.
However, when Pennsylvania racer Andy Jensen twice covered the eighth
mile in a record-setting 3.87 seconds with his turbocharged 1968 Camaro
during the ADRL’s Hushpower Dragstock V at Rockingham (NC) Dragway this
past weekend, he felt an announcement had to come as soon as possible.

“The timing of this rule change is unique in that regardless of Andy
Jensen’s performance at Dragstock V—which was awesome, by the way, and
we congratulate him on his achievements—our intention for 2009 was to
return the Pro Nitrous class to an all-nitrous class anyway. Our points
chase for the 2009 Battle for the Belts actually starts on Saturday at
the last race this year, so the change was coming, regardless.”

For Hillary Will, speed clearly pays off.

On the basis of her semi-final finish in Charlotte, the third year
driver for Ken Black's Top Fuel dragster, climbed the ladder from
seventh to fifth in the point standings, 117 points behind leader Tony
Schumacher.

"The KB Racing, LLC dragster driver's seat is my favorite place on
Earth," Will, a 28-year old native of Fortuna, Calif., said. "Our car
has been running great and I see absolutely no reason for that to stop.
My crew chief, Jim Oberhofer, has got our car out there running numbers
that are capable of winning every time we get on the track. I'm really
excited about these last five events of the season. I think we have a
great chance of winning this weekend in Dallas and to keep moving up in
the points."

Will was the fastest-driving female in the quarter-mile and after the
recently completed NHRA Carolinas Nationals, she holds the honor in the
1,000-foot arena. She passed through the traps at a booming 315.12 mph.

Come hell or high water, Morgan Lucas intends to race his way to the winner's circle.

The driver of the Lucas Oil Stabilizer Top Fuel dragster team refuses
to allow his failure to score a position in the Countdown to 1 to serve
as an excuse for giving up on the season.

He's simply refusing to hang his head.

"We're taking the higher road and working on constantly improving,"
said Lucas. "We missed the Countdown, but we're not going to let it get
us down. We have a strong team and now with Jimmy Walsh on board, I
look forward to seeing things improve that much more."

14-time champion says team just a little off on tune-up …

A lesser team owner might have already made a change.

The key word being lesser.

Clearly 14-time champion John Force is not just any other team owner or driver, for that matter.

He's not making changes to his tuning combination of Austin Coil and
Bernie Fedderly. The thought is out of the question says Force.

It has been six long months since 25 year old Australian Top Alcohol
Dragster driver Kate Harker has been behind the wheel in competition.
At this weekends O’Reilly Auto Parts Supper Start batteries NHRA Fall
Nationals Harker will take the seat of the Randy Meyer Racing, R2B2
Motors A/Fuel dragster.

R2B2 Motors with the support of CEO, Roger Burgess will be the lead
sponsor on the Meyer Racing Team dragster at this weekend’s event held
at the Texas Motorplex. The company builds, restores, customizes and
sells hot rods, muscle cars, exotic cars, popular high-end SUVs and
custom motorcycles for customers worldwide. R2B2 Motors is also an
authorized Eliminator Boat Dealer.

“Diana and I would like to thank Roger and his wonderful people for
their continued support of our racing programs.” Said Kate “Roger
understands how tough it can be off the track and the dedication
required to make a successful business. We are privileged to know Roger
and are gratefully for the opportunities that he has presented us.”