After deliberating for more than a week, Kenny Koretsky decided Tuesday to put
Richie Stevens in the seat of his Nitro Fish/Indicom Electric Pro Stock Pontiac
GXP for this weekend’s Summit Racing Equipment Nationals in Norwalk,
Ohio,
 
“It’s no secret I’ve been thinking about doing something like this
since my crash at Topeka (May 31),” said the fan friendly Koretsky.  “Well, now
it’s official.  Richie was in Joliet (Ill.) testing with Eddie (Guarnaccia, team
crew chief) and getting comfortable in the car.  If everything goes well – and
it should – Richie will be racing at Norwalk.”

Here’s a tip to drag racing fans. Don’t tell Pro Stock driver Larry Morgan, “Welcome back.”

“I never left,” Morgan responded.
Race fans were likely referring to the first eight races Morgan had
failed to qualify in. Morgan failed to qualify, but his engine lease
customers were flat flying. In fact, one of them won a race.

“We’ve been trying a lot of things to make our rental program better,”
Morgan said. “When you have a bunch of guys out here running, you just
have to move forward with the program.”

Morgan admitted he was trying to change the way he ran the engines.

Chip Ellis said a lot of people felt the Suzuki combination couldn’t win any more. He believes they greatly

Chip Ellis won his first Pro Stock Motorcyle event under the DSR banner.

underestimated the resolve of Steve Tartaglia.

The final round during the NHRA Supernationals in Englishtown, N.J.
represented far more than a show of brand supremacy. This represented
the first head-to-head match for Ellis against his former employer G2
Motorsports.

G2 declined to renew the Ellis contract after he lost on a hole shot at the NHRA Auto Club Finals in Pomona.

Ellis, 38, of Brownsburg, Ind., scored his sixth national event victory when Chris Rivas fouled.

One might say that Tony Schumacher had extra incentive to win the trophy at the NHRA

Tony Schumacher gave his winning trophy to the Kalitta Motorsports team on behalf of his team and the U.S. Army.

Supernationals in Englishtown, N.J. He wanted to give the award away.

Schumacher’s team and the U.S. Army made a joint presentation to Team
Kalitta in honor of Scott Kalitta, killed in a high-speed accident on
Saturday afternoon.

The five-time world champion has history with the Kalitta family and
that was usually in taking away victories and two seasons ago, a world
champion.

Today he wanted to give back to a family he said has given so much to
the sport and the country. The family’s Kalitta Air Services regularly
transports fallen soldiers back home.

Let the voting begin.

After three weeks of
collecting car paint scheme designs from Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation
(JDRF) kids, on-line voting begins today for the design that will appear on the
Motorcraft/Quick Lane/Custom Accessories Shelby Mustang Funny Car, driven by Bob
Tasca III, at the NHRA U.S. Nationals later this summer.

Diana Harker made history at the Lucas Oil Super Nationals this past
weekend by claiming her first NHRA National Event win in the Top
Alcohol Dragster Class and by doing so became the first Australian
Female to win an NHRA National Event.

In only her sixth National Event career start, Harker began her dream
weekend by qualifying in the number 5 spot after smoking the tires in
the first session then making passes of 5.39 and 5.50 to secure the
Lend America A/Fuel team a solid start for eliminations.

After Saturday’s tragic loss of Scott Kalitta and all racing
rescheduled till Sunday, the Top Alcohol classes never saw round one of
eliminations till late Sunday Afternoon. Harker paired against 12th
qualifier, Jackie Fricke and in one of the closest races of the
weekend, Harker took the win by 0.0053 with a 5.55et to Fricke’s 5.57et.

After the tragic death of their teammate and family member, NHRA Funny Car
driver Scott Kalitta, last Saturday, the remaining Kalitta Motorsports drivers,
Doug Kalitta, Dave Grubnic, and Hillary Will, and their teams will compete this
weekend, June 26-29, at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals at Summit
Motorsports Park in Norwalk, Ohio.

"We're a race team, and that's what we do," Jim Oberhofer, Kalitta
Motorsports general manager, said. "Scott was a drag racer to the core, and he
would want us to compete in Norwalk, so we’re going to go racing this weekend.
Our thoughts will of course be with his wife Kathy and his sons Corey and Colin
and Connie, but we feel it’s the right thing to do.”

A public memorial service to celebrate the life of Scott Kalitta will be held this Thursday, June 26th at 7:00 p.m. at:

Ernsthausen Performing Arts Center
350 Shady Lane Drive
Norwalk, OH  44857

The Kalitta family appreciates your desire to send flowers to express
your sympathy and asks that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to
these charities close to Scott's heart:

In an emotional tribute to World Champion and friend Scott Kalitta,
Robert Hight took the green light as Kalitta’s entire team stood in the
lane beside him during the first round of eliminations at the NHRA
Supernationals in Englishtown, N.J.

Hight covered the
quarter-mile barely above an idle to pay tribute to Kalitta who just
the day before succumbed to injuries sustained during the final
qualifying session. Fans stood and clapped as the Auto Club Ford
Mustang crossed the finish line twenty-three seconds after taking the
Christmas Tree.

“My motor was idling and I could see my car on the Motel 6 Vision and
it showed the Kalitta team and family. That really chokes you up. Then
they showed the stands and everyone clapping. I could see out the sides
of my Mustang at all the people clapping. The whole time down the race
track it was a twenty three second run I couldn’t even tell my motor
was running it was so quiet,” said Hight.

Mike Ashley remembers a day when a promoter told him he couldn’t race.
The promoter, Ashley recalled, was Duane Nichols and his United States
Super Circuit presented one of the earliest exhibitions of the Pro
Modified division.

“I called and asked if I could run with them, and he asked, 'Who are
you?'” Ashley recalled. “He told me he had enough cars and didn’t need
me. I told him that even though he wouldn’t let me run I was coming
anyway and I’d just enter the sportsman classes and make his cars look
foolish.”

Ashley's motive for his desire to race with the USSC was simple, he
wanted to race at Old Bridge Raceway Park when the tour came to town.
The opening weekend for the USSC featured an event at Budds Creek, Md.,
on Saturday and Englishtown, N.J., on Sunday.