It’s not only hot, bad and fast, it’s the creation of legendary custom-car designer – RJ de Vera.

The one-of-a-kind de Vera-inspired 2008 ROUSH Mustang GT-V that
captures a modern yet classic look will be the grand prize for a
Valvoline online promotion.

Known as the Valvoline Challenge, contestants can enter the ROUSH
Mustang giveaway by going to http://www.valvolinechallenge.com.

The first stage of the contest is to answer a Valvoline motor oil quiz.
After answering the questions correctly, contestants are required to
send a picture of their current car and in 20 or fewer words explain
why they should win the ROUSH Mustang, named after the automotive and
racing entrepreneur Jack Roush.

NHRA Top Fuel star Hillary Will, who won her first title
trophy Sunday, June 1, in Topeka, Kan., and Jim Oberhofer, crew chief of her KB
Racing, LLC dragster, are scheduled to be featured guests this Sunday on ESPN2's NHRA Race Day at 10:00 a.m. (CT).

Kurt Johnson's in the posts lead but his focus is on winning and not counting points.  (Roger Richards)

For the first time in five years, Kurt Johnson and the ACDelco
Cobalt Racing team will arrive at an NHRA national event as the leaders
in the POWERade Pro Stock Championship standings.   Although naturally
pleased with their current standing, with more than half the season
remaining, including the final six-race Countdown to One playoff,
everyone on the team realizes that the battle has just begun. 
Therefore, their focus entering this weekend’s Torco Racing Fuels
Nationals in Joliet, IL remains squarely on winning their second race
of the season. 

“We’ve done well so far, but it’s still early,” said Johnson.  “At this
point, we would like to have more than one win, but this category is so
tough, as shown by the eight different winners in nine races. So far,
it has been a crazy year in Pro Stock, so we’re pretty pleased to have
our ACDelco Cobalt at the top of the page.

CompetitionPlus.com has learned former NHRA funny car world champion Mark Oswald will handle driving duties for Mike Ashley this weekend at the NHRA Torco Route 66 Nationals in Chicago.

Fourteen-time NHRA Funny Car champion John Force had as much warning as
everyone else on the latest nitro price increase. In the middle of a
news teleconference related to the NHRA Summernationals victory in
Topeka, Kansas, someone slipped him a note.

“I just got slipped a note,” Force said, as he paused in the middle of
answering a question. “I’ve just been told by the price of nitromethane
has just gone up to $1405.”

Force paused and then uttered, “That’s going to be a big hit.”

The increase caught Force off guard, much like last week’s announcement
of a ban on testing at NHRA national event facilities to accommodate a
nitromethane shortage by the official supplier VP Race Fuels.

A&R TRANSPORT PROVIDES PRIMARY SPONSORSHIP FOR MIKE ASHLEY IN CHICAGO

Joliet-based transportation company A&R Transport will take the
role as primary sponsor on Mike Ashley's Dodge Charger R/T nitro Funny
Car and as Major Associate on Melanie Troxel's Charger this weekend for
the Torco Race Fuels NHRA Route 66 Nationals. In addition, PneuTech -
Pneumatic Tank Trailer and Parts Sales - joins the Gotham City Racing
team as an associate sponsor on both cars this weekend.

A&R has been an associate sponsor for Gotham City Racing since the
beginning of 2007, and company owner, Mike Bedeker, said he wanted to
be sure both Team Gotham cars were competing in Joliet this weekend, so
he stepped up to take title rights on Ashley's car for the weekend.
Bedeker is also a principal in PneuTech.

"We're very excited that Mike's going to run his car this weekend with
the A&R name on it, and we're more than happy to help the team,"
Bedeker said.

Cory Mac has raced many race tracks, Route 66 Raceway is one of the few he's yet to win . (Roger Richards)

FRAM Top Fuel dragster driver Cory McClenathan has reached the winner's
circle at 16 different tracks over the course of his 17 years of
competition, but the most tenured driver in the class has yet to score
a victory or reach the final round at Route 66 Raceway.

This weekend he hopes to change that at the Route 66 NHRA Nationals,
the 10th stop on the 24-race NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series schedule.
It also marks the beginning of the second half of the 18-race regular
season, leading up to the Countdown to the Championship, which begins
following the U.S. Nationals on Labor Day weekend in Indianapolis.
 
McClenathan is No. 5 in the Top Fuel point standings following a solid
semifinal finish in Topeka last Sunday, where he qualified No. 2, the
sixth time he's entered eliminations in the top half of the 16-car
field. McClenathan's Don Schumacher Racing entry has been the picture
of consistency for much of the 2008 season and he looks to continue
that trend this weekend at the Route 66 Nationals.

After having one of his most consistent showings last weekend in
Topeka, Bob Tasca III looks to continue his move up the NHRA POWERade
championship points ladder this weekend in the Route 66 NHRA Nationals.

“With how we qualified and ran in Topeka, we were able to jump back up
into the top 10 in points,” said Tasca. “We lost on a holeshot to Gary
Scelzi in the second round, but overall for us, it was a great weekend.
My team won the Full Throttle award for the first time this year and we
earned our best qualifying position of the season.

“I think Chicago is going to be great for us,” said Tasca. “I’ve never
felt as confident driving a car as I do now. Chris [Cunningham, crew
chief] and the guys on the team continue to give me a car that
consistently goes down the track, and the value of that for a rookie
driver is immeasurable. I have more confidence now than at any point in
the season as a rookie driver, and I think my team has more confidence
now than they have ever this season. Being at the halfway point until
the countdown begins, I don’t think we feel the pressure because of the
preparation and the level of focus that we bring to every race,
regardless of where we are in the points.”

Ron Capps, the Funny Car runner-up to his Don Schumacher Racing
teammate Gary Scelzi in last year's Route 66 NHRA Nationals and the
winner of the 2005 fall event here, is ready for a second victory this
weekend at the driver-friendly Route 66 Raceway.

Driving the NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car, Capps has
jumped up in the last few races from outside of the top 10 into sixth
place in the 2008 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series Funny Car rankings.
He's focused on staying high in the standings when the Countdown to the
Championship kicks in for the top 10 following the U.S. Nationals in
Indianapolis on Labor Day weekend.

"Like I talked about last week in my blog on www.napaautoparts.com ,"
said Capps, who also was runner-up here in the 2002 fall event, "we are
getting into the part of the schedule where adversity is going to be
thrown at all of the teams, with the triple-digit track temperatures we
expect at all these tracks coming up. You look at Englishtown, N.J.,
and Norwalk, Ohio, after Chicago, and they're all places we expect to
have to run in the heat.