The rumors are now reality for nitro crew chief Alan Johnson.

At the conclusion of the 2008 season, the seven-time NHRA Top Fuel
champion crew chief who has 75 professional-level national event
victories to his credit will field a two-car team in 2009 through a
partnership with Qatar-based Al-Anabi Racing

This new alliance will field a Top Fuel dragster and a Funny Car. They
will start the 2009 season on Feb. 5-8 with the NHRA Winternationals in
Pomona, Calif. Johnson has not selected drivers for the new cars.

As if their recent forays into Pro Modified didn’t create enough of a
stir, Al-Anabi grabbed a monster share of the media spotlight by adding
noted tuner Alan Johnson to direct their newly formed two-car nitro
team expected to debut in Pomona next January during the NHRA
Winternationals.

The goal for Sheikh Khalid Bin Hamad Al Thani, the leader of the
spending spree, is to promote the domestic and international awareness
of motorsports in the nation of Qatar. As a result of his efforts,
Al-Anabi Racing has emerged as one of the leading drag racing teams in
the region.

An era may be over, or at least it seems that way.

Andy Hoefer, Director of Marketing for United States Smokeless Tobacco,
confirmed that currently there are no plans for his company to return
as sponsor for the $100,000-to-win United States Smokeless Showdown in
2009.

Clay Millican believed he could fly under the radar into Indy and maybe, just maybe, he could slip up

Clay Millican didn't miss a beat in his time away this season.

on a few opponents and grab a qualifying berth and possibly a first round win.

That was his thought process until an earlier return to competition
with team owner Mark Pickens and the Hope4Sudan/Lend American/Nitro
Fish Top Fuel team netted a semi-final finish during the NHRA Toyo
Tires Nationals in Reading, Pa.

So much for the sneak attack.

“We went to Reading thinking if we qualified we would’ve had a
successful weekend,” said Millican, of Drummonds, Tenn. That race
provided four qualifying runs and three more in eliminations in
national event conditions and became much better than a test session.

Cory McClenathan grabbed the provisional pole position on Friday during the opening qualifying session of the

The perfectionist in McClenathan demands that he ratchets up all facets of his and the team's overall performance.

54th annual U.S. Nationals at O'Reilly Raceway Park. McClenathan
recorded a run of 3.852 seconds at 312.57 mph, his quickest elapsed
time since the NHRA began racing to the 1,000-foot mark.

Four more rounds of qualifying are scheduled for Saturday and Sunday
before the final 16-car field is set for Sunday's eliminations.

Jeff Arend’s 4.193 elapsed time was only good enough to put him in the seventh spot in

Jeff Arend isn't trying to fill Scott Kalitta's shoes, he's just
trying to do the best he can for Kalitta Motorsports to honor the
memory of Scott Kalitta.

provisional qualifying at the NHRA U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis, but the lap was as good as the top spot in his heart.

Arend made his debut as the driver of the Kalitta Motorsports Funny Car, the same ride Scott Kalitta made famous.

The experience left Arend feeling both apprehensive and cautious in the same token.

On August 4, CompetitionPlus.com reported that noted tuner Alan
Johnson was being courted by two entities, one foreign and the other
domestic. RELATED ITEM - THE A.J. SWEEPSTAKES
A special announcement is scheduled for Saturday, which speculation
suggests could signal the courtship is over. USA Today confirmed the
announcement in their Friday edition.

Multiple sources indicate Johnson will announce his plans to sign with
a start up team from the Middle East wielding a budget of upwards in
the $10 Million range for two cars.

Dan Pikarsky, Sr. VP of Sports and Event Marketing for Attitude Drinks
Inc., had one thing to say about the detractors who said Vis Viva was
finished in the drag racing sponsorship arena.

“I told you so,” Pikarsky said.

Pikarsky confirmed the Vis Viva team and Tuttle Motorsports will be
back at select events in 2008, although he couldn’t confirm which of
the remaining six races those will be. The team sat out the last race
in Reading because their sponsor had no distribution in the region.

HIGHT SALVAGES OTHERWISE OFF-DAY FOR JOHN FORCE RACING

McClenathan, Allen Johnson, Krawiec round out provisional pole-sitters

Robert
Hight salvaged an off day for John Force Racing by powering his Auto
Club Ford Mustang to the provisional No. 1 qualifying position in Funny
Car at the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals at O’Reilly Raceway Park at
Indianapolis on Friday.

The other provisional No. 1 qualifiers on the first of three days of
qualifying at the world’s most prestigious drag race, the 18th and
final regular season event in the 2008 NHRA POWERade Series season,
were Cory McClenathan (Top Fuel), Allen Johnson (Pro Stock) and Eddie
Krawiec (Pro Stock Motorcycle). The six-race Countdown to 1 playoff
begins in two weeks with the Sept. 12-14 Carolinas Nationals.