Courtney Force is ready to get summer started. Unlike most college
students Force will not be reclining poolside but rather accelerating
beyond speeds of 260 mph in the BrandSource sponsored A Fuel dragster
she shares with her sister Brittany. The 8th annual TORCO Race Fuels
Nationals at Route 66 Raceway outside Chicago, which runs June 6-8,
will be a new experience for the young driver from Yorba Linda,
California.

“I’m excited to be going to Chicago. I’ve been there when I was little
and I am excited that it is one of the newer facilities,” said the
19-year old sophomore at Santiago Canyon College. It will be a new
challenge for me to race there.”

The A Fueler owned by Jerry Darien has qualified for all four NHRA
national events the sisters Force have entered but it has yet to
advance beyond the first round. This is a problem Courtney Force is
hoping to correct this weekend and she is drawing on her father’s
recent success in Topeka.

Justin Humphreys will be racing this "borrowed" Mopar again this
weekend. The car is the same Mopar formerly driven by Richie Stevens.

The first thing most NHRA Pro Stock drivers do when they drive a
different car is go into test mode.  The more runs he makes, the more
familiar he becomes with the car’s idiosyncrasies.
 
“No two cars are alike,” any racer or crew chief will tell you – not
even if they came off the same mold on the same day.  And there’s no
need to get into the myriad parts and intricate pieces that make it
work.
 
Thrust into a situation last week that forced him to sit in a totally
different race car for the first time and attempt to qualify for an
event, Justin Humphreys responded like the veteran driver he is.

After earning a runner-up finish last year, Division 7 racer Dwight
Downing will be among the favorites to claim the Super Street title
during the 24th annual JEGS Allstars, which will be held during the
upcoming Torco Race Fuels Route 66 Nationals at Route 66 Raceway.
Downing, of Glendale, Ariz., has qualified for the prestigious event
for a second-straight season, and will be eying the $4,500 top prize
when action gets underway on Saturday, June 7. In addition to the
individual honors, the 64 Allstars contestants, representing the best
racers in the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series from each of NHRA’s
seven geographic divisions, will be battling for a share of more than
$100,000, including a $20,000 bonus for the team that accumulates the
most round wins. Drivers qualify for the JEGS Allstars team following a
year-long battle within their home division.
 
Downing, a former Division 7 champion and the winner of the 2000 NHRA
national event at Heartland Park Topeka, is off to another solid start
in 2008. He recently won the Lucas Oil Series event in Tucson, Ariz.,
and is the current leader in the Division 7 standings.

In less than three seasons behind the wheel of the Anderson family Top
Alcohol Funny Car, Paul Anderson has garnered quite a few accolades. He
has been named the 2006 Division 5 Rookie of the Year, scored his first
win that season, and followed it up with a sophomore campaign that
included Anderson becoming the youngest Top Alcohol Funny Car champion
in Division 5 history as he reached four Lucas Oil event finals.

To Anderson, those are just steps toward where he wants to be. This
weekend in Chicago, he will take another huge stride into the
drag-racing spotlight when he will wheel his Dodge Charger as the
Division 5 representative in the invitation-only Jeg’s Allstars event.

The following is an open letter from Gateway International Raceway
Vice President and General Manager Lenny Batycki concerning the recent
timing system malfunctions on the GIR drag strip.

To the Racers, Sponsors and Fans of GIR:

This week and in weeks past we have had to cancel Test-n-Tune events in
order to complete repairs to our drag strip equipment. We wanted to
share with you how this situation came in to being and how things stand
currently.

The beginning of this matter was determined by Compulink to be a
lightning strike to our timing system between the NHRA Nationals and
the WSC. At that time Compulink believed the problem was simple enough
that we would be able to fix it. With the guidance of Compulink, we
were able to make due through the WSC with what we had on hand and
thought the problem was fixed. The May 20th Test-n-Tune ran fine, but
then we found the next day the problem reappeared and we were forced to
cancel that night's event. After working until midnight on Wednesday
trying to correct the issue, we sent our main timing computer back to
Compulink for analysis and repairs. They then worked on it on Friday
and ran multiple simulated runs without error in their test shop.

Rockstar Energy Drink Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car driver Jerry Toliver
is smiling once again. After struggling during the early part of the
season the California native is on the verge of turning his season
around after a quarterfinal finish in Topeka last Sunday. He aims to
keep that momentum going at this weekend's Route 66 NHRA Nationals, the
10th stop on the 24-race NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series tour.
 
With nine races to go in the NHRA regular season, Toliver realizes that
it's time to start making a move if he wants to be part of the
Countdown to the Championship, which begins for the top-10 drivers
following the U.S. Nationals Labor Day weekend in Indianapolis.
 
"Our car was front-halfed by Murf McKinney following a pair of
wheelstands in Bristol two races ago," said Toliver. "We didn't change
anything else on the Rockstar Energy Drink Dodge, but for some reason
it really seemed to come around in Topeka. After an engine explosion in
the first round of qualifying the car made it down the track in the
heat on five consecutive runs and we were extremely encouraged by our
performance."

Bruce Litton is confident his season is back on track. (Roger Richards)

The first two races of the 2008 season did not go as Bruce Litton would
have liked. The Motor City Nationals in Milan, however, put Litton and
his Indianapolis-based Top Fuel team right on track.

Litton defeated #1 qualifier Scott Palmer in the final round at Milan
Dragway to claim his 13th career Ironman and move to within one round
(19 points) of Spencer Massey atop the 2008 IHRA Top Fuel points
standings.
 
“We’re right where we want to be,” Litton said. “We’re in striking
distance of the lead with plenty of racing left on the schedule. (Crew
Chief) Richard (Hartmann) seems to have a handle on the car, our
performance has been strong and consistent and we look forward to
getting out there in Maryland. We’re getting into the heart of the
season and it’s time to work hard.”

As expected, NHRA Pro Stock driver Kenny
Koretsky will sit out the Torco Racing Fuels Route 66 Nationals in Joliet, Ill.,
this weekend.  The impact of his crash at
Heartland Park Topeka Saturday left him with numerous bumps and bruises – and
fellow drivers who don’t want him to miss a race.

“My body still hurts,” Koretsky said
Thursday.  “I couldn’t race this weekend
if I wanted to.  I felt pretty good
Wednesday, but I’m getting around a little slower
today.”

Even though the front end of his Indicom
Electric/Nitro Fish Pontiac GXP needed to be replaced after whacking the guard
wall, Koretsky would have had a car to race – if he could.  Drivers stepped up and volunteered cars,
parts and pieces to racing partner Greg Hill and crew chief Eddie Guarnaccia.

The NHRA has visions of bringing drag racing to a larger scale. Today,
the Glendora, Ca.-based sanctioning body retained the services of
Edelman, PRWeek’s 2007 Large Agency of the Year, to provide support and
counsel with the implementation of its national public relations
campaign.

Edelman will push the major non-automotive and major automotive media
venues while the NHRA's current media relations department will handle
local media for various national events as well as the drag racing
community. This move is intended to bring more exposure in the
mainstream media outlets such as Sports Illustrated and the major
television networks.

Edelman will be targeting predominantly non-endemic media in the
lifestyle, health & fitness, fashion and general news categories in
addition to building NHRA’s presence across multiple New Media
platforms.

Jim Dunn Racing is pleased to announce that the SONY® nav-u™ navigation
system will be the Official Navigation System of the CANIDAE Pet Foods
Chevrolet Funny Car team for the remainder of the 2008 NHRA POWERade
season. To mark this announcement, Jim Dunn Racing built a special
edition race car featuring the Sony nav-u brand and new associate
sponsors Radio Shack, Sears and ABT Electronics.  The special edition
race car will make its debut at the upcoming Torco Racing Fuels Route
66 Nationals on June 5 - 8 Route 66 Raceway in Joliet, Ill. During race
weekend at Joliet, the Jim Dunn Racing team will host more than 50 VIP
guests and dealers of the Sony nav-u system at its pit-side hospitality
area. 

"We're proud to have a premier, internationally recognized company like
Sony and its nav-u brand join our team for the remainder of the
season," said team owner Jim Dunn. "We've come up with a great looking
race car for the fans in Chicago, and we're looking forward to putting
on a good show for Midwest dealers of Sony's nav-u system."