Regardless of where or when on the 24-event NHRA POWERade schedule it is
achieved, whether it's the first, last, or 10th race of the season, the term
"first place" always carries with it a special ring. Coming off his second
national-event victory of the year in Chicago on June 8, that's where Team
Chevy's Kurt Johnson finds himself, and where he hopes to be when the season
comes to a close in Pomona, Calif., on Nov. 16. Given the ultra-competitive
nature of the Pro Stock category these days, the 45-year-old resident of Buford,
Ga., knows that staying in the top spot will be a difficult task.

During
the first 10 events of the 2008 campaign, the factory hot rod division has seen
eight different winners. Johnson captured his first win of the year at St. Louis
on May 4, and at Chicago, he became just the second driver in Pro Stock to win
more than once, joining Greg Anderson on the short list of multiple winners this
season.

"To come back and win two of the last four races - the car's
just been good," said Johnson. "When you go to the first nine races and have
eight different winners it shows how competitive it's been. Nobody's had the
perfect combination. There have been eight drivers, eight cars with the perfect
combination on one day, but only two of us in the last 10 races have been able
to duplicate it. It's brutal out there.

CompetitionPlus.com has confirmed with a member of Kenny Bernstein Racing management that Monster Energy Funny Car tuner Jimmy Walsh has resigned his position within the team. His replacement we are told will be Rick Cassel with assistance from Danny DeGennaro.

Sources indicate Walsh could return to the Top Fuel division with a familiar name. 

A kid with a dream, Brown realizing reality

Antron Brown returns to Etown, the site of his childhood dreams. (Roger Richards) 

Dreamers will always dream and there are some instances where those fantasies become reality.

Antron Brown returns this weekend to the place where he formed his
first visions of grandeur. The former Pro Stock Motorcycle icon turned
Top Fuel front-runner will roll through the gates of Old Bridge
Township Raceway Park a different man in some aspects.

Deep inside he’s still the same kid with an insatiable will to play the game.

“I am excited to get back to my hometown track where it all started for
me,” Brown said. “To come back to Englishtown, where I grew up watching
the Summernationals, is like a dream come true to race in Top Fuel.
There will be a lot of family and friends and Matco distributors
rooting us on. I don’t feel any extra pressure, I feel less pressure
with all the great support our team has.”

Bobby Lagana Jr. and his brother Domenick scored an incredible Father's Day present for Dad. (Roger Richards)

Top Fuel racer Bobby Lagana Jr., grabbed a microphone in the winner’s
circle and let out an ear-piercing scream of elation. Then he smiled.

“I don’t know whose ears that’s gonna hurt or a computer gigabyte or megabyte, I don’t care,” Lagana said with a smile.

He celebrated some more.

“If my head was strong enough I’d break it over my head!” Lagana
exclaimed as he brandished a champion’s bottle of champagne. “That’s
what we’ve been doing our whole lives.”

Pro Stock veteran scores monumental victory in Maryland

Frank Gugliotta drove his way to the Pro Stock winner's circle  (Roger Richards)

Frank Gugliotta had won eight IHRA Pro Stock titles in his career and
though he’s grateful for the triumphs, he’s had an empty feeling of
sorts. He’d never won at his home track.

Gugliotta will never experience that feeling again as he and the Bob
Yoak team scored a convincing victory during the IHRA Torco President’s
Cup Nationals hosted by Maryland International Raceway in Budds Creek,
Md.

Gugliotta of Mr. Airy, Md., also scored his first victory for Yoak, the
team owner who gave him his first taste of Pro Stock racing earlier in
the decade.

Busy summer schedules will keep two of the top 10 and four of the top 20 racers
in the JEGS ProMod Challenge out of the field at this weekend's 39th annual
Lucas Oil NHRA SuperNationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park.

The
most notable driver out of the mix is Eddie Ware, the Disturbed Motorsports
racer who won the Atlanta national event on April 27th in his 1967 Pontiac
Firebird. Ware is currently third in the JEGS rankings, just 46 points behind
leader Tony Pontieri.

Last week, two-time series champion Mike Ashley
announced he was removing himself from all competition for the remainder of the
year to concentrate on his mortgage business, Lend America, which is the
presenting sponsor of this JEGS event. Ninth in the points, Ashley was winless
on the tour this year but raced to a runner-up result at the last Pro Mod stop
in Bristol, Tenn. He was also the Ohio Crankshaft No. 1 qualifier in
Gainesville, Fla., in his ProCare Rx hot rod.

The whisperings and murmuring floated throughout the pits at Pro
Modified events. At the traditional Pro Modified settings the consensus
amongst those naysayers was the nitrous combination couldn’t compete.
The spoken but unwritten memo made its rounds.

Mike Castellana heard the talk but never subscribed to the belief.

If last month’s firestorm of nitrous potential in Milan, Mich., didn’t
send a message to the competition, his victory at the IHRA President’s
Cup Nationals in Budds Creek, Md., made the point crystal clear.

He not only won his seventh national event to pull into a tie for the
ninth position amongst all-time winners in Pro Modified, he also laid
down the fastest speed amongst nitrous-injected racers in the class
with a 239.14 mph blast.

Hillary Will, the world’s fastest female and driver of the 8,000-horsepower KB
Racing, LLC Top Fuel dragster, will join other NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series
stars Wednesday, June 18, in Brooklyn, New York at Metro Ministries / Chances
for Children in their inaugural NHRA-themed event for underprivileged children.
Will along with Jack Beckman, Mike Edwards, Tom Hammonds and others will visit
with over 500 children and young adults with a full day of interaction.

CompetitionPlus.com's rendering artist Greg Russell has fired off an artist conception of the new 2009 Camaro Funny Car body.

Going Straight, Collecting Points Connolly’s Primary Mission at E-Town

The math is simple. 

Dave
Connolly continues his bid for a top ten ranking despite missing the first five events of the season. (Roger Richards)  

Dave Connolly currently trails 10th place Warren
Johnson by 130 points as they challenge for the final Pro Stock position in the
coveted Countdown to One six-race championship playoff.  Eight races remain in
the regular season. And they aren’t the only ones with designs on a top 10
finish.
 
Connolly has been impressive since his personal 19-race NHRA
POWERade Series campaign began five races behind the other contenders.  He
signaled his return with a runner-up finish in his second race and a victory at
Bristol, Tenn., in the third event.  The victory pushed him all the way up to
12th, where he remains after disappointing outings in recent back-to-back races
at Topeka, Kan., and Joliet, Ill.