Stykemain Pontiac-Buick-GMC in Defiance, Ohio, will hold an NHRA Motorsports
Extravaganza on Thursday, June 26. The event, which will be held in conjunction
with this year's Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals in Norwalk, Ohio, will
feature a driver autograph session and an up-close opportunity to meet Pontiac's
contingent of NHRA Pro Stock racers and GMC Top Fuel driver Cory McClenathan.
The Motorsports Extravaganza and open house will also help celebrate Stykemain
Pontiac-Buick-GMC's new location at 25124 Elliott Road.

"The Motorsports
Extravaganza promises to be a lot of fun for everybody," said Joe Stykemain of
Stykemain Pontiac-Buick-GMC. "It's a pleasure to be able to host some of the
best racecar drivers in the world and another wonderful opportunity to welcome
everyone to our new location on Elliott Road."

Hoosier Thunder Motorsports released a brief statement today regarding team
owner Terry McMillen's relationship with Torco Race Fuels. After a five year
relationship, as of June 9, 2008 McMillen and Torco will no longer maintain a
relationship.

The owners of Houston Raceway Park have been hard at work for the last two
months completely resurfacing and expanding the professional pit area in an
effort to update and improve the racing facility. Up next, the track surface
itself will be smoothed to perfection using the latest state-of-the-art
equipment available.

"We listened to the racers and we listened to
O'Reilly Auto Parts and we are taking the necessary steps to make Houston
Raceway Park the absolute best it can be," track general manager Seth Angel
said. "As soon as the O'Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals had cleared out of here our
crews went to work on the pits and the result is fantastic.

ESPN has announced it will provide a special 20-minute repeat airing of
final eliminations from Sunday’s weather-plagued Torco Racing Fuels
Route 66 NHRA Nationals at Route 66 Raceway near Chicago.

The special rebroadcast will air Wednesday evening, June 11 at 6:40
p.m. (ET) on ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD. The 20-minute program, which will
follow ESPN2’s NASCAR Now, will provide highlights of final
eliminations in all four professional categories.

6th Holley NHRA National Hot Rod Reunion Honoree discusses drag racing in the 1960s and '70s

In the late '60s and early '70s, Ohio was a hot bed of dragster
activity, and Jim Walther was consistently one of top performers of the
nitro class. Walther gained national prominence in 1972 by driving his
"Special Edition" machine to NHRA Top Fuel World Championship honors
over the nation's best racers. In addition to racing, Walther an
Honoree at the 6th annual Holley National Hot Rod Reunion, June 13-15,
Beech Bend Raceway Park, dedicated more than 40 years to the production
of top quality speed equipment.

Another solid outing for Cruz Pedregon and his Advance Auto Parts Toyota Solara Funny Car team moved

Introducing the "Red Hornet".

the former champion back into third place in the POWERade rankings.
Pedregon managed to pass legend John Force in the world rankings with a
quarterfinal finish Sunday at Route 66 Raceway in Joliet, Ill.

Pedregon qualified 5th and took out Bob Tasca III., before losing to Scott Kalitta in their first head-to-head meeting.

"Something weird happened with the fuel system and we ended up making
the run on seven cylinders," Pedregon said. "We made a pretty good run
for being down on power like that but a car running on seven cylinders
is never going to beat a 4.89. We needed a pit stop about halfway down
the track.

After a completely rained out final day of qualifying, the final
eliminations of the Goodguys 20th Hot Rod Nationals here at O’Reilly
Raceway Park @ Indianapolis were as sunny and hot as the previous day
was wet. A field of over 200 cars did battle on the ORP quarter mile
today in twelve different classes offering everything from ground
pounding Nostalgia Top Fuelers and Funny Cars to 13-second station
wagons. Variety and ingenuity was the order of the day.

In Nostalgia top fuel, Cedar Falls, Iowa racer Roger Lechtenberg won
the battle and the war. Driving Dale Suhr’s “Orange Crate” dragster,
the man they call “radar” breezed through eliminations, routinely
pulling his parachute at the 1,000 foot mark. Maybe he was saving gas?
“We’ve tinkered and tinkered with our tune up,” said car owner and
chief mechanic Dale Suhr. “But today we left it basic and got the
trophy.” Lechtenberg took Suhr’s hot rod through three flawless
elimination rounds running as quick as 6.001 (in the semi final) and as
fast as 251mph. In the final he defeated the gritty and consistent
Randy Bridges of Virden, IL 6.024 @ 236 to the runner up’s 6.324 @
236.71

The 8-car Nostalgia Funny Car exhibition delivered in a big way with
ear-piercing nitro burning retro funny cars bringing the fans to their
feet throughout the afternoon. Veteran racer John Dunn of Monticello,
IL driving his maroon “Dunn & Gone” ’69 Nova pounded out a hard
earned victory over rival Steve Nichols in the Mill Road Boys ’70
Camaro. It was Nichols who got the performance spoils of the weekend,
setting Low ET and Top Speed of the meet @ 6.195 @ 226.96 in Friday’s
qualifier. In the final, Nichols appeared poised for sure victory but a
sheared magneto rotor spelled his demise. Dunn’s 6.290 was good for the
event victory.

Super Comp racer Ron Erks and Super Stock driver Anthony Bertozzi enjoyed landmark weekends in Joliet with both men

scoring wins in the 24th annual JEGS Allstars event Saturday and the
Route 66 NHRA Nationals on Sunday. The exceptional feat was rewarded
with a "Double-up" bonus from JEGS High Performance that pushes their
weekend winnings to impressive levels.

Racing against seven of the best Super Comp racers in the country, Erks
survived three tough rounds in the Allstars event, beating Sherman
Adcock Jr. in the final on a double-breakout race that favored the
Division 3 star and defending event winner. The victory was worth
$4,500 for the decorated racer from Clinton, Ohio.

Kurt Johnson scored his second win of the 2008 season by defeating Mike Edwards, Greg Anderson and his father Warren Johnson before squaring off against No. 1 qualifier Jeg Coughlin in the final.

Knowing he would need a near perfect performance to earn the victory,
Johnson responded with his best reaction time of the day at .019 to
gain the advantage by one-hundredth of a second at the starting line,
capping the day with a 6.733-second, 205.22 mph pass to easily defeat
Coughlin, who suffered severe tire shake at the hit of the throttle. 
This was the 38th win of Johnson’s career and third at Route 66
Raceway, allowing him to extend his lead in the POWERade championship
standings.

“What a great day,” said Johnson.  “Going into the final, I knew I
would have to come up with a good light, because Jeggie is like a
machine on the starting line, repeatedly putting up twenties and
teens.  I figured we had a couple hundredths on him in performance, so
I felt I had to have a thirty or better to give us chance to win.  To
come up with that .019 was just huge.

There’s something about a points lead that changes a driver.

For Tim Wilkerson, he used to rarely give the points standings a glance
following an event. Now he’s fixated on the point tallies.

Each time the Springfield, Ill.-based driver checks to see if he’s
still on top. Since the NHRA Midwest Nationals early last month, he’s
walked away from the experience with a smile on his face.

Wilkerson still leads the points following a quarter-final finish this
past weekend during the NHRA Torco Race Fuels Route 66 Nationals in
Chicago.