Four-time world champion drag racer Jeg Coughlin Jr. will join a
contingent of NHRA professionals deep into the heart of NASCAR Country
at this weekend's Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte to promote the inaugural
NHRA Carolinas Nationals, to be held Sept. 11-14 at zMax Dragway at
Concord, N.C.

"I always try to take in a few NASCAR races each year as a fan,"
Coughlin said. "JEGS is a contingency sponsor in that series and Kenny
Wallace and Kevin Harvick are part of Team JEGS so we go and support
them when our schedule allows.

"It'll be a treat to show the assembled media a little more into our
world. I was there for the unveiling when our friends Bruton and Marcus
Smith announced the new drag strip and I can't wait to see how
construction is progressing. You just know that whatever Bruton does,
it's going to be spectacular."

Pro Modified Racing Association driver Scott Wildgust had a nasty ride
during a qualifying attempt at the Third Annual PMRA Challenge event at
Toronto Motorsports Park in Cayuga, Ontario May 17, and although he
crashed heavily in the Ajax Engines/Torco Racing Fuels Ontario 1967
Chevrolet Camaro owned by Kirk and Maria Silbermann of Ajax, Ontario in
the third round of qualifying, he is now recuperating after getting
checked out in the hospital.
 
“We’ll survive,” said Wildgust who is resting at home from the crash. “I’m pretty sore, but I was given a clean bill of health.”
 
Wildgust, an experienced drag racer of 17 years, including several
seasons in the Pro Modified ranks and in Funny Cars, said he does not
really remember what happened at Cayuga last Saturday before the car
crashed into the left lane wall.

Lucas Oil Products will be the title sponsor of the 2008 Lucas Oil NHRA
SuperNationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in Englishtown,
N.J., June 19-22.

Lucas Oil Products has sponsored many events through the years in the
NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series.  Currently, the company sponsors the
Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals in Brainerd, Minn.  Along with their
sponsorship of the two races Lucas Oil flies its colors on the Top Fuel
dragster driven by Morgan Lucas, the Pro Stock car of Larry Morgan and
the Pro Stock Motorcycle of Hector Arana.

The father and son world
championship Pro Modified duo Scotty and Scott Cannon will race in 2008 thanks
to a last minute sponsorship from Mark Pullen, owner of Mark’s Truck Repair LLC
in Baltimore, Md. Pullen had taken delivery of a brand new
Pontiac Firebird from Vanishing Point Race Cars, one nearly identical to the
one Cannon recently sold.

Scotty had planned to sit
out the balance of the 2008 season and search for a sponsor to replace Torco
Race Fuels.

“I told these guys when
they bought the car I would be able to help run the car because without a
sponsor we would not be at the remaining events,” Cannon said. “It looks like
now we will be at all the races with two cars just like our original plan. Mark
has stepped up as well as Damien Moore from Moore’s
Body shop in Baltimore
because they want to see us continue to race. We are absolutely still in search
of a major sponsor at this point.”

Dick LaHaie was arguably the most humble, yet fiercest competitor around.
Selected No. 31 on the NHRA's all-time Top 50 drivers list, it's no surprise the
Lansing, Mich. racer/owner/crew chief was named Grand Marshal of the  6th annual
Holley National Hot Rod Reunion, June 13-15, Beech Bend Raceway Park. LaHaie has
proven himself worthy of numerous honors, and is a member of The Drag Racing
Hall of Fame. In a career that has spanned nearly 50 years, LaHaie won The NHRA
Top Fuel championship as a driver in 1987 and as the crew chief for Scott
Kalitta in 1994 and 1995. LaHaie joined Don Prudhomme Racing and guided Top Fuel
ace Larry Dixon to NHRA Top Fuel world championships in 2003 and 2004. LaHaie
retired as Dixon's crew chief following the 2005 NHRA season but decided in 2007
to return as a tuning consultant for Kalitta Motorsports. In addition to his
professional racing accomplishments, LaHaie, 66, and wife Claudia own several
show quality street rods.

Pro Mod veteran Troy Coughlin is hoping to be back on track in time for the NHRA
SuperNationals, to be held June 19-22, at Englishtown, N.J. Coughlin has been
sidelined since wrecking his JEGS.com Pontiac GTO in Atlanta but has since
purchased a replacement car and is aiming for a return at the site of his first
JEGS ProMod Challenge win in 2005.

"We're still shooting for
Englishtown," Coughlin said. "We'll just have to see how it all comes together.
The days sure click by fast when you need time. They only drag when you can't
wait to get to the next event."

Coughlin was able to buy a brand-new '68
Camaro built by Tommy Mauney of TM Race Cars. The recently-completed car was
intended for racer Danny Blakenship but he was willing to part with the piece to
help out Coughlin and his predicament.

The cost of doing business in a complex United States economy is starting to

Donnie
Faulkner of the Rolling O Store admits drag racing is starting to feel
the crunch of the high gas prices and sluggish economy. (Roger Richards Photos)

show
signs of reaching the drag racing economy. Though the NHRA’s attendance
seems unaffected, those who participate in the traveling “circus” are
starting to feel the sting.

Donnie Faulkner, operator of the Rolling O store at NHRA events, admitted business has been tough the past few events.

“I believe we are starting to see the effects of this now, we didn’t
see a problem in the early part of the season, but I think it’s going
to cost us about 20 – 25% on the bottom line,” said Faulkner. “Until
the gas prices get back down under $4.00, we are all in trouble.”

Several of NHRA’s elite drivers, including defending NHRA POWERade
Series world champions Jeg Coughlin and Matt Smith, and John Force
Racing’s John Force and Mike Neff, will attend next week’s Coca-Cola
600 NASCAR event to promote the inaugural NHRA Carolinas Nationals at
zMAX Dragway @ Concord.

The NHRA Carolinas Nationals at zMAX Dragway @ Concord, Sept. 11-14,
will be the 19th of 24 events in the 2008 NHRA POWERade Series, and the
first event in the six-race Countdown to the Championship playoffs.

This weekend's Third Annual PMRA Challenge event at Toronto Motorsports Park in Cayuga, Ontario was rained out.
 
The rescheduled date for the event will be announced next week.
 
Carl Spiering from Jordan Station, Ontario was the number one qualifier
driving the Eaton Cutler-Hammer sponsored 1963 Chevrolet Corvette
Stingray.