Gary Scelzi had a strong, solid weekend at the NHRA Summer Nationals driving the
Mopar/Oakley Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car to his first semifinal finish of the
2008 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series.

No. 10 qualifier Scelzi saw his
round-winning streak end when he and opponent Tim Wilkerson had a pedalfest down
Heartland Park Topeka's quarter-mile. With track temperatures reaching 130
degrees, Scelzi took off with a stellar reaction time of .056 to Wilkerson's
.080 (.000 is perfect), then struck the tires first, while Wilkerson hazed his
later. As both scrambled to regain traction, Scelzi recovered, but the finish
line came too soon as Wilkerson claimed the win with a 6.009/194.32 to Scelzi's
6.138/210.70. Margin of victory: .1051 of a second.

En route to the
semifinal, Scelzi defeated Robert Hight with a 4.927/305.70 and Bob Tasca III
with a 4.997/298.14.

Jeg Coughlin Jr. showed why he's a four-time champion Sunday at Heartland Park
Topeka, racing from the No. 13 position and upsetting two higher-slotted drivers
to card a strong semifinal showing that lifted him two spots in the world
rankings. The extraordinary effort after a trouble-filled qualifying session
placed him second in the points, just 20 markers behind new leader Kurt
Johnson.

Coughlin's JEGS.com Chevrolet Cobalt looked good during his two
victorious runs. The 52-time national event winner beat Greg Stanfield with a
6.751 at 203.52 mph to Stanfield's 6.770 at 203.00 mph in Round 1, before
knocking off Mike Edwards in the quarterfinals with a 6.774 at 204.17 mph to
Edwards' 6.793 at 203.28 mph.

"You always want to win but we're pretty
pleased with the weekend and how it turned out," Coughlin said. "I can't say I'm
too surprised. We didn't look that great in qualifying but that was more of a
result of how things fell into place. We hurt a motor in Q2 and that was the
session everyone was putting up the big numbers.

Tim Wilkerson increased his POWERade points lead today at the O’Reilly Summer
Nationals at Heartland Park Topeka by taking his Levi, Ray & Shoup
Chevy Impala SS all the way to the final-round.

The very talented Wilkerson put his qualifying struggles
behind him as he charged his way through the ranks.  In the first-round,
Wilkerson sent Frank Hawley packing with a holeshot as Wilk’s .072 reaction time
gave his 4.889 the win light against Hawley’s 4.849.  In the second round,
Wilkerson beat Jerry Toliver with a 5.005 to Toliver’s 5.021.  In the semi’s
Wilkerson faced Gary Scelzi.  This round was a pedal-fest, and when the dust
settled, Wilkerson again had the win light.

WILL BECOMES 11TH WOMAN TO WIN A NATIONAL EVENT; FORCE, KRISHER ALSO WINNERS AT HEARTLAND PARK TOPEKA

Hillary Will (near lane0 ran 4.744 seconds at 304.53 mph to defeat Larry Dixonin the Top Fuel final round.

Hillary Will became the 11th woman in NHRA history to win a
national event when she raced to the win in the Top Fuel category at
the O’Reilly NHRA Summer Nationals.

John Force and Ron Krisher also won in their respective categories at
Heartland Park Topeka in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series event.

Point standings (top 10) for NHRA professional categories following
the 20th annual O'Reilly NHRA Summer Nationals presented by Castrol GTX
at Heartland Park Topeka, the ninth of 24 events in the  NHRA POWERade
Drag Racing Series -

Top Fuel

1.  Tony Schumacher, 779; 2.  Antron Brown, 670; 3.  Larry Dixon, 659;
4.  Hillary Will, 567; 5. Cory McClenathan, 527; 6.  Rod Fuller, 502;
7.  Brandon Bernstein, 480; 8.  Doug Kalitta, 418; 9. David Grubnic,
391; 10.  Doug Herbert, 377.

When John Force and his Castrol GTX High Mileage Ford Mustang took the
measure of points leader Tim Wilkerson’s Chevrolet in the final round
of the 20th annual O’Reilly Summer Nationals at Heartland Park-Topeka,
Kim Crum of Mission, Kansas was also a big winner as part of the
BrandSource “Win with Force” promotion.

At 16 selected events including the Summer Nationals, when John Force
Racing wins the Funny Car money, one lucky spectator wins a 65-inch
Mitsubishi television courtesy of BrandSource.

“I feel real good. I’m glad I was here for his first win back from when
he got hurt. Thanks to BrandSource and Mitsubishi and John Force I’ll
be able to watch the races on a new TV,” Crum said.

Sunday's final results from the 20th annual O'Reilly NHRA Summer
Nationals presented by Castrol GTX at Heartland Park Topeka.  The  race
is the ninth of 24 in the  NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series:
 

Top Fuel -- Hillary Will, 4.744 seconds, 304.53 mph def. Larry Dixon, 4.960 seconds, 281.42 mph.

Final round-by-round results from the 20th annual O'Reilly NHRA
Summer Nationals presented by Castrol GTX at Heartland Park Topeka, the
ninth of 24 events in the  NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series:

TOP FUEL:

ROUND ONE -- Brandon Bernstein, 4.625, 311.99 def. J.R. Todd,
4.667, 286.74; Tony Schumacher, 5.862, 235.97 def. Alan Bradshaw,
11.201, 84.69; Morgan Lucas, 4.749, 305.98 def. Rod Fuller, 4.856,
261.98; Larry Dixon, 4.630, 308.85 was unopposed; Cory McClenathan,
4.587, 314.46 def. Bob Vandergriff, 13.150, 74.69; Antron Brown, 4.612,
294.50 def. David Grubnic, 8.328, 89.43; Joe Hartley, 4.727, 311.85
def. Doug Kalitta, 5.327, 208.84; Hillary Will, 4.633, 310.91 def. Doug
Herbert, 4.672, 308.43;

The following letter was sent to the National Hot Rod Association by
Jeremy Farmer of Malvern, Arkansas, an admitted lifelong fan of NHRA
drag racing. Farmer copied CompetitionPlus.com on his letter and
provided his blessings for publication. - Editor