The ADRL was racing on the track and against the sky Sunday at Motor Mile Dragway in Radford, Virginia, as ominous storm

Travis
Swearingen experienced a traditional winner’s bath after earning his
career-first ADRL Pro Extreme race July 6, at Motor Mile Dragway in
Radford, Virginia.

clouds appeared on the horizon just
as the final rounds were about to be run at the 2nd annual Shelor Motor
Mile Independence Drags.

Just minutes after the exhaust notes of Pro Extreme winner Travis
Swearingen’s supercharged 1941 Willys faded into the rolling hills of
southwest Virginia, the skies unleashed a violent storm that sent fans
and teams packing. But they left satisfied, knowing Billy Glidden and
Charlie Prophit also scored their first ADRL wins in Extreme 10.5 and
Pro Extreme Motorcycle, respectively, while Billy Harper continued his
dominance of the Pro Nitrous class with his third-straight ADRL
national-event win.

Defending Mopar-Mile High NHRA Nationals Funny Car champion Jack
Beckman is ready for this weekend's 2008 edition at beautiful Bandimere
Speedway outside of Denver as the nitro teams prepare to compete for
the first time to the 1000-ft. mark instead of the standard 1320-ft.
finish line of a quarter-mile dragstrip.

Beckman, who drives the Valvoline/Mail Terminal Services Dodge Charger
R/T for Don Schumacher Racing, defeated his teammate Ron Capps in last
year's event, then won the next race in Seattle to collect his two
victories of the 2007 season.

"All I want to do is as well as we did last year," said Beckman, who is
13th in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series Funny Car point standings
this season aiming to be in the top 10 for the Countdown to the
Championship, which begins after the U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis on
Labor Day weekend. "It's interesting, because a lot of people said to
me, 'Ah, man you do great in Denver and on the Western Swing.' Well the
reality is we have a different car, different crew this time. The only
thing that hasn't changed on the team is the driver, and I don't know
if that counts for anything.

Laurie Cannister has won four of five races this season. She's reached the finals in every event in 2008.

“Welcome to Alberta.” That’s the response you’ll elicit
most of the time when referring to anything meteorological in this part of the
world. And it will quickly be followed by “if you don’t like the weather, just
wait a minute.”

Stock answers that we’ve all heard
before, for sure, but at Edmonton this weekend, well, you could have written the
owner’s manual for unpredictable weather.

Friday and Saturday rapidly
developing storm cells disrupted qualifying for the CARS RV & Sport & Marine
Rocky Mountain Nationals, limiting pro qualifying to no more than two rounds,
depending on class. 

While much conversation has been focused on the NHRA and it's
national event shutdowns, ADRL Pro Nitrous Harold Martin learned the
same issues can be found at eighth-mile facilities like the one in
Radford, Va. One other Pro Nitrous racer, Greg Godwin, flipped his car
in the runoff area.

FULL SEQUENCE 

Nitro Funny Car driver
Dale Creasy Jr., was seriously injured in an accident on Sunday afternoon
during the IHRA Rocky Mountain Nationals in Edmonton, Alb.

Next Generation Race Team faces adversity as its star driver,
George Landis, suffered an accident in his shop, SRC Racing, while outfitting a
vehicle with a high performance exhaust.

"The H-pipe slipped and came down
across my lower leg, completely severing the muscle right above the Achilles
tendon," says Landis.

After 6-7 weeks of complete immobilization of the foot,
Landis' surgeon is expecting a complete recovery. "In the meantime, I've been
rolling around in my wheelchair with a laptop doing engine tuning," laughed the
good-spirited Landis.

Mother Nature Has the Last Say at Jam-Packed Castrol Raceway

Kevin Jones (Top Fuel), Dale Creasy Jr. (Nitro Funny Car), Mike
Janis (Pro Modified), Thomas Carter (Alcohol Funny Car), and Bob
Bertsch (Pro Stock) claim No. 1 qualifying spots after rain brings
early end to second day of qualifying  

Bob
Bertsch is the lone Pro Stock driver at Edmonton. His decision to
attend the race was twofold. He lost crew member and friend John
Weisler during the previous event, at Budds Creek, Maryland, and
Weisler's widow urged him to continue racing.

For the second day in a row rain and lightning brought an exciting day
of qualifying for the CARS RV & Sport & Marine Rocky Mountain
Nationals to an early end.

The day which started with a huge crowd enjoying top-notch racing
action under clear blue skies ended prematurely when, as Friday, strong
winds blew rain into the area. And, as Friday, attempts to dry the
track after an initial stoppage proved futile despite the best efforts
of Castrol Raceway and IHRA staff.

Engine
builder Sonny Leonard (left) and ADRL President Kenny Nowling are all
smiles after announcing the Inaugural Extreme Pro Stock Challenge
presented by Purvis Ford-Lincoln-Mercury to be contested within ADRL
national events at Budd’s Creek, MD, and Rockingham, NC, later this
year.

The Flowmaster American Drag Racing League (ADRL) presented by the
National Guard announced today that it has added mountain-motor Extreme
Pro Stock as an experimental class for two of its remaining races in
2008, with the possibility of making it a full-time class in 2009 and
beyond.

The two races will make up the inaugural Sonny’s Extreme Pro Stock
Challenge presented by Purvis Ford-Lincoln-Mercury. The Challenge will
be contested as part of the inaugural ADRL 1-800-Go-Guard.com U.S.
Drags at Maryland International Raceway in Budd’s Creek, MD, and
Hushpower Dragstock V at Rockingham Dragway in Rockingham, NC.

Paducah,
Kentucky’s Bily Harper, winner of the last two ADRL national events,
maintained his momentum with a number-one qualifying effort at the 2nd
annual ADRL Shelor Motor Mile Independence Drags at Radford, Virginia.

The 2nd annual ADRL Shelor Motor Mile Drags will be one
day longer than originally scheduled as rain pushed back eliminations
to Sunday, July 6, at the eighth-mile Motor Mile Dragway in Radford,
Virginia.

Antron Brown is living the dream as a Top Fuel driver. (Roger Richards Photos) 

Four wheels or two, no problem for Antron Brown. After a decade as
one of the elite riders in the Pro Stock Motorcycle category, Brown was
tabbed to drive the David Powers-owned Matco Tools dragster. Making an
unprecedented move, Brown earned the pole at the 2008 season-opener at
Pomona, Calif. and won in just his fourth Top Fuel start by edging
two-time series champion Larry Dixon in the final round at Houston
Raceway Park on March 30. Brown didn’t look back, advancing to three
consecutive final rounds where the Matco Tools driver earned the trip
to the winner’s circle twice. After 12 of 24 races on the 2008 NHRA
racing schedule, Brown finds himself trailing only five-time champion
Tony Schumacher in the Top Fuel standings. In this Q&A, the former
college track star discusses his move to Top Fuel, what it’s like
working with his crew chief, Lee Beard, and teammate, Hot Rod Fuller,
and the second half of the ’08 NHRA racing season.

Q: You’ve made the transition from Pro Stock Motorcycle to Top Fuel appear seamless. Has it been that easy?

BROWN: No, it hasn’t been that easy. What made things so smooth was
the great chemistry our Matco team has. Starting at the top with Lee
Beard and all my team, the way we jelled, made the transition very
smooth. We took things one step at a time and tried to minimize common
rookie mistakes. I didn’t have to learn to race, I just had to learn to
drive the car and that helped make us more competitive early on.