Southeast Texas' largest racing facility, Houston Raceway Park in the Houston suburb of Baytown,
suffered approximately $100,000 in damage from Hurricane Ike. The storm
system pummeled the track with 110-plus mph winds for more than 12
hours, battering the track's buildings, scoreboards, and signage.

"All
things considered, we made out okay," track general manager Seth Angel
said. "First and foremost, no one was hurt, which is always the top
concern. We had the facility locked up tight and the staff was all sent
home early to be with their families.

"When we
returned on Sunday, we started accessing the destruction. It's never
easy to see something you've spent so much time and money on beat-up
like that, but we had to begin the process of rebuilding. Fortunately,
we have insurance for these things."

Del Worsham’s Funny Car team will disband at the end of 2008 but doesn’t mean they’ve quit working. In fact, the CSK Auto Parts team thundered to the third qualifying position at the NHRA Fallnationals in Dallas, Tex.

"Today was about getting your race-day tune-up in shape, and we scored
an A on the test, I'd say," Worsham said.  "That's pretty much exactly
what we wanted to do, and the car went right down there twice.  The
guys told me about our qualifying streak, how this is our 10th straight
race with a single-digit spot on the ladder, and even though I knew
we'd been doing a lot better in qualifying, I really didn't know that.

The day Warren Johnson gets his new combination completely figured out will be the day the Pro Stock class pays. The veteran drag racer qualified No. 9 at a booming 208.26 miles per hour during the NHRA Fallnationals in Dallas, Tex.

“Looking at the stat sheet, we were quicker on every run, so we’re
starting to get a handle on this new approach we’re using with this GM
Performance Parts GXP, which is more driver-friendly in terms of
getting it down the racetrack, because it doesn’t want to move around
as much,” Johnson explained. “It also seems to have a bigger tuning
window.

Pro Mod racer Ray Vettel of Phillips, Neb., was examined and released
by doctors at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas after his
Friday night qualifying accident at the NHRA Fallnationals in Dallas,
Tex

Pro Mod racer Ray Vettel makes contact with the Texas Motorplex concrete barrier during Friday's qualifying. (Roger Richards)

.
Vettel's 1970 Plymouth Barracuda hybrid went out of control
approximately 800 feet down the quarter-mile, crossed the centerline,
and impacted the right-side retaining wall. As a precautionary measure,
he was transported by medical helicopter to BUMC.

At each JEGS Pro Mod Challenge event, Ohio Crankshafts awards the low
qualifier of the 16-car field a $1,000 bonus and Josh Hernandez has won
more than his share of them.

Hernandez, the defending world champion from Conroe, Tex., decided he had a better use for the money.

Hernandez donated the $1,000 bonus from the NHRA Fallnationals in
Dallas, Tex., to a special project chassis builder Tim McAmis has
started.

There was a lot of shuffling that went on during the final day of Pro Stock Motorcycle qualifying during the NHRA Fallnationals in Dallas, Tex..

Eddie Krawiec had a good view of the action from his perch atop the
qualifying ladder. His Friday evening 6.970-second run at 191.65 mile
per hour run went untouched although two other riders joined him in the
six second zone.

Krawiec, the Team Screamin’ Eagle Harley-Davidson rider, scored his third No. 1 qualifier of the season.

The likelihood that anyone could touch Robert Hight’s provisional Funny Car No. 1 was slim, but in the rough and tumble world of nitro Funny Car, Robert Hight has learned nothing is untouchable, even a 4.063 elapsed time in the heat of the day.

“We came into here last year doing well and didn’t qualify,” Hight
explained, following qualifications at the NHRA Fallnationals in
Dallas, Tex. “My teammates know that feeling with John [Force] not
making the show in two events and Mike Neff this weekend. You’re always
wondering when it is your time in the barrel.”

Hight has learned quickly, ace tuner Jimmy Prock or not, you will do time in the barrel.

Top Fuel racer Larry Dixon knows all too well a wounded horse won’t win races. That’s why the jockey of the U.S. Smokeless-sponsored thoroughbred dragster skipped the final session of qualifying at the NHRA Fallnationals in Dallas, Tex.

He wasn’t conserving parts or saving money. Instead he wanted to give his crew the best opportunity to repair his limping ride.

“We had a fuel system malfunction and it ended up hurting the engine,”
Dixon admitted. “Instead of just making a run, we wanted to stay back
and make the car perfect for Sunday.”

After back-to-back DNQs, the 14-time world champion John Force and his crew chiefs were open to suggestions from within the camp.

Longtime Robert Hight tuner Jimmy Prock was all too eager to offer his
suggestions. Considering that Prock had tuned Force's son-in-law to low
elapsed time amongst the Funny Cars at this weekend's NHRA
Fallnationals, the boss and his crew were ready to listen.

The end result was the biggest
roar of the day from the Texas Motorplex crowd as he thundered to the
No. 7 position and for the 75th time in his career he will pull up
beside veteran and nemesis Cruz Pedregon. Tomorrow’s first round
match-up will only be the third head-to-head race at the Motorplex for
these two heavy-weights with Pedregon holding a 2-0 advantage.

 Four-time NHRA world champion Gary Scelzi announced today that he will
step down from NHRA POWERade Drag Racing
Series competition at the end
of the 2008 season.

Scelzi, a one-third partner with his brothers Jim and Mike in Scelzi
Enterprises, a custom truck body manufacturing company based in his
hometown of Fresno, Calif., said he will concentrate on maintaining and
growing the family business during these tough economic times.

The California native joined Don Schumacher Racing in the Funny Car
class in 2003 after capturing three Top Fuel championships (1997, 1998,
2000). In 2005, driving the Mopar/Oakley Dodge for DSR, he also claimed
his first Funny Car crown.

"After the season finale in Pomona, Calif., I'll be leaving Don
Schumacher Racing to go back to work at Scelzi Enterprises," said
Scelzi. "With the economy in the state that it is, business being off
in these tough economic times, and with all the travel that competing
on the pro NHRA circuit entails, I feel it is in my best interest to
leave Don Schumacher Racing a year before the contract is up and go
back to work at Scelzi Enterprises and get myself more involved with
what's going on there.