Jerry Toliver's Rockstar show played in Topeka Saturday and the crowd
went wild. He's hoping for an encore performance on Sunday.
 
Toliver
began the qualifying rounds with a run of 7.293 seconds at 95.64 mph (good for
No. 12 at the time) that ended with the car in flames following an engine
explosion. The Rockstar Energy Drink team quickly repaired the car between
rounds and Toliver came back to post a 4.917/298.27 on his second attempt to
jump into No. 6. The California native made two full runs in the Kansas heat
today, recording a 5.026/292.71 and a 4.946/296.57, which kept him in the No. 6
spot.

He'll have lane choice over No. 11 qualifier Tommy Johnson Jr.
during the first round of eliminations on Sunday.
 
"The weekend started
out bad with a big fire on the first lap," said Toliver. "We bounced back and
ran a 4.91 and that just shows the depth of this Rockstar Energy Drink team.
Today we went down the track twice. On the last lap we ran a 4.94 in the heat
and that's good. That shows that we have a good tune-up for race day.

"Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah," is all Jack Beckman could say after
qualifying the Valvoline/Mail Terminal Services Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car in
No. 12 for the NHRA Summer Nationals at Heartland Park Topeka.

After
experiencing DNQs (Did Not Qualify) in the last two events, the 2008 Phoenix
winner was ecstatic to qualify here under hot and humid conditions with a strong
pass of 4.940 seconds at 306.12 mph, which he established in the cooler Friday
night session.

His other attempts included a 4.993/295.98 (No. 3), a
7.223/113.75 (No. 12) and a solid 4.984/303.43 in the final round.

Friday’s announcement of a moratorium on all nitro testing at NHRA
national event facilities came as an acknowledgment by the NHRA of a
situation they’ve largely avoided commenting on – an impending crisis
facing their official supplier.

The traditional P.R.O. test session the week before the NHRA U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis has also been canceled.

The qualifying show for the O’Reilly NHRA Summer Nationals at Heartland
Park Topeka has been pre-empted to Sunday from 11:30 a.m. – 2 p.m. (ET)
on ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD.

DIXON, BARTONE, AND CONNOLLY KEEP TOP QUALIFYING SPOTS IN TOPEKA

Larry Dixon was the low qualifier in Top Fuel for the first time in 2008.

Larry Dixon, Tony Bartone, and Dave Connolly were able to hold on to
the top spots in their respective categories Saturday at the O’Reilly
NHRA Summer Nationals.

Despite the heat and humidity at Heartland Park Topeka the three
drivers’ Friday night qualifying runs were enough for them to maintain
the No. 1 qualifying positions in their respective categories.

Dixon’s run Friday night of 4.527 seconds at 325.30 mph in his U.S.
Smokeless Tobacco dragster was strong enough to keep the top spot in
Top Fuel. It’s Dixon’s first No. 1 qualifier of the season, 28th of his
career, and third at Heartland Park Topeka.

Veteran NHRA Pro Stock driver Kenny Koretsky walked away from a violent
qualifying accident Saturday at Heartland Park Topeka when his car hit
the left guard wall and then slid across the track on its top before
banging into the right wall.

“I hit the wall really hard,” said Koretsky. “My lower back and left
leg hurt right now, but I feel okay. I am upset that our new Pontiac
GXP wrecked like this.  It was just a freak thing. I got out towards
the centerline and tried to push the clutch in and before I knew it the
thing just went haywire.

Frank Hawley was a last minute substitution for Mike Ashley and drove impressively in his pinch-hit outing. (Roger Richards)

Never underestimate the power of Frank Hawley. 

In a last-minute driver substitution for Mike Ashley, Hawley landed in a provisional top-five position during the
first day of qualifying for the O'Reilly NHRA Summer Nationals at Heartland Park
Topeka.
 
Less than 30 minutes before he was supposed to make his first
qualifying attempt of the day, Gotham City Racing co-owner and driver Ashley received an
urgent telephone call from his office at Lend America in Melville, New York
alerting him of a business-critical meeting which required his participation.
Ashley was forced to remove himself from competition and substitute former World
Champion and veteran drag racer Frank Hawley in his place and leave Topeka
headed back to Long Island.
 
"Unfortunately, business has to come first,
and I've been working on some pretty big things for Lend America, and literally
at the last minute an opportunity came together that I had to attend to
personally," a disappointed Ashley explained.

The first session of Top Fuel qualifying during the NHRA Summernationals in Topeka, Kansas, taught Hot Rod Fuller a
valuable lesson. One cannot be lighter in the cockpit without
compensating somewhere else on the race car.

The wait is all but over for the 2008 season-opening event of the
Northeast Outlaw Pro Mod Association. Rising Sun, Maryland's Cecil
County Dragway is now the relocated site of the season-opener, after
rain washed out the previously scheduled launch at Numedia Dragway 2
weeks ago.
 
Cecil County Dragway, owned by Pro Mod superstar Jim Halsey, is
recognized as the home track of the Northeast Outlaw Pro Mod
Association, a series founded by John Mazzoranna in 1992. Cecil County
will host the action-packed "Extreme" race opener on Saturday, May 31.
 
"Extreme" is a worthy description of this special event, as fans will
be treated to a very diverse drag racing experience. Four distinct
performance combinations will square off in two separate 8-car fields.
Nitrous assisted doorslammers will battle normally aspirated mountain
motor entries, while blower cars will race turbos. "If I'm short on
anything I think it will be blower cars, and I want to send a message
loud and clear that all competitors who drive IHRA-legal blower cars as
well as turbo entires has a place to race with the Northeast Outlaws,"
says John Mazzoranna.