Pro Modified racer Paul Athey’s racing season came to an
abrupt end on last Wednesday when he was struck by a garbage truck while riding
his 2008 Harley Davidson Cross Bones. Athey was recently discharged from the
hospital where he’d been since the accident. The driver of the truck did not
stop at the scene.

Athey was riding to his job at the Mohegan Sun casino when the incident
occurred and amazingly kept his bike upright and never hit the ground. The
incident left Athey with numerous broken bones in his left leg and foot, a
dislocated ankle, his foot was crushed in two places and other injuries.

There were no driver introductions and quite simply, no one was offended – racers or fans.

Replacing the yellow DHL-sponsored Toyota Solara the left lane
during the first round race with Robert Hight was nearly three-dozen
members of the Team Kalitta operation. Hight idled down the track at
the green light. (Roger Richards Photos)

A dark cloud of emotions permeated the entire Old Bridge Raceway Park a
day after the tragic loss of Funny Car driver Scott Kalitta, killed in
a top-end accident during Saturday’s final qualifying session.

Many race fans and racers filed into the Sunday morning Racers for
Christ chapel service and the large congregation listened to Pastor
Larry Smiley deliver a message on how to cope with the tragedy.

Father’s Day was last week but Tim Wilkerson felt a special need this weekend to be a dad.

Saturday's tragedy inspired Tim Wilkerson to view the incident from a father's standpoint. (Roger Richards)

After watching Scott Kalitta lose his life in a racing accident on Saturday afternoon, he felt the need to call his son Daniel.

The 20-year old, second-generation Wilkerson has aspirations to become
a nitro Funny Car driver and has piloted his dad’s car on occasion.

Wilkerson just wanted to remind his son how dangerous the sport can be.
He tried his best to understand how Connie Kalitta was feeling. Such a
thought was too painful for him to imagine.

Rookie Mike Neff continued to make a case for his anointment as NHRA
Rookie of the Year racing to his third final round as a driver in the
last five races. Neff was tripped up for the second time in a final
round by veteran and POWERade points leader Tim Wilkerson. Before he
reached Wilkerson the 41 year-old had to race his way through a “Who’s
Who” of veterans and world champions at the 39th annual Lucas Oil NHRA
SuperNationals.

In the first round Neff defeated perennial championship contender Ron
Capps. In the process he made the quickest run of the session covering
the historic Old Bridge Township Raceway Park quarter mile in 4.874
seconds setting up another tough race.

In the second round he had to dispatch reigning POWERade World Champion
Tony Pedregon before squaring off against 14-time World Champion and
boss John Force in the semi-finals. Force had lane choice but in a
classic side-by-side race Neff edged the winningest driver in NHRA
history, 4.971 to 4.977. Neff also evened his head-to-head record with
Force at 1-1 avenging a first round loss in Atlanta.

Cory McClenathan has experienced easier weekends at the drags.

During the weekend of the NHRA Supernationals in Englishtown, N.J.,
McClenathan found himself grieving the loss of a fellow racer and
recovering from eye surgery in the days leading up to the event.

He reached the semi-finals only to lose on a holeshot to teammate Tony Schumacher. On this day racing seemed unimportant.

Expecting to face Doug Kalitta in the opening round, McClenathan was
first up in eliminations and made a solo pass after Kalitta's team made
the decision to withdraw its teams (Doug Kalitta, Hillary Will and Dave
Grubnic) after Doug's cousin Scott was fatally injured. The FRAM
dragster recorded a run of 4.586/322.50, which gave him lane choice
over Larry Dixon in the second round. After a rain delay, he defeated
Dixon with a 4.671/304.74 to Dixon's 4.701/282.19 and advanced to the
semifinals.

Reigning JEGS ProMod Challenge champion Josh Hernandez made a big move Sunday
with his second victory of the season. Hernandez beat Mike Castellana in the
final round of the 39th annual Lucas Oil NHRA SuperNationals to jump from sixth
to second place and is now just 51 points behind leader Tony
Pontieri.

This was Hernandez's 15th win in the eight-year history of the
JEGS ProMod Challenge series, by far the most of any racer. It was the first
time he claimed a trophy at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park.

"We owed
this to a couple of people," Hernandez said. "We were on a great streak coming
into this race a year ago and Tim Tindle whipped us and ended that deal so we
wanted to come back strong here. That was the plan and it all worked
out."

Point standings (top 10) for NHRA professional categories following
the 39th annual Lucas Oil NHRA SuperNationals at Old Bridge Township
Raceway Park, the 11th of 24 events in the  NHRA POWERade Drag Racing
Series -

Top Fuel

1.  Tony Schumacher, 1,009; 2.  Antron Brown, 765; 3.  Larry Dixon,
756; 4.  Rod Fuller, 668; 5.  Hillary Will, 652; 6.  Cory McClenathan,
633; 7.  Brandon Bernstein, 609; 8.  Doug Herbert, 499; 9.  Doug
Kalitta, 483; 10.  David Grubnic, 480.

Sunday's final results from the 39th annual Lucas Oil NHRA SuperNationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park.
The  race is the 11th of 24 in the  NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series:

Top Fuel -- Tony Schumacher, 4.589 seconds, 325.06 mph def. Brandon Bernstein, 4.562 seconds, 323.04 mph.

Final round-by-round results from the 39th annual Lucas Oil NHRA
SuperNationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park, the 11th of 24
events in the  NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series:

TOP FUEL:

ROUND ONE -- Cory McClenathan, 4.586, 322.50 def. Doug Kalitta,
broke; Bob Vandergriff, 5.295, 144.06 def. Hillary Will, broke; Rod
Fuller, 4.963, 245.23 def. Morgan Lucas, 5.245, 209.49; Doug Herbert,
4.748, 298.80 def. Doug Foley, foul; Antron Brown, 4.567, 322.73 def.
J.R. Todd, 4.639, 310.05; Brandon Bernstein, 4.692, 316.60 def. Todd
Paton, broke; Tony Schumacher, 5.044, 263.82 def. Steve Torrence,
5.125, 258.27; Larry Dixon, 4.638, 313.58 def. David Grubnic, broke;