Clay Millican will race in 2008 as part of an operation funded by
Memphis, Tenn.-based businessman and Top Sportsman racer Mark Pickens,
owner and operator of Motorvation, a leading manufacturer of
performance products.

Pickens procured Millican's contract from the Knoll Gas Motorsports operation through Evan Knoll.

The team anticipates racing anywhere from five to eight races in 2008.
The debut race for the team will take place at the NHRA U.S. Nationals
in Indianapolis.

Timing is everything and with summer on the horizon Joe Hartley has
picked an opportune moment to return to competition on the NHRA circuit.

With just 15 competitors on the entry list for the upcoming O'Reilly
NHRA Summernationals at Heartland Park, Hartley has a better than even
chance of making the field when you consider how well he performed lat
year at what he considers his home track.

“This race is one we’ve typically done poorly at,” joked Hartley. “It’s
going to be tough to live up to what we did last year. The only thing
we can do is go some rounds, which is probably better then qualifying
No. 1 like we did. Without the night session last year, it was a little
easier for us to hold down the No. 1 spot.”

Torque
converters on Pro Modifieds, who’d have thought?

A torque converter in a full-fledged national Pro Modified race may
have been a far-fetched idea in the early stages of the class, but
after the IHRA Motor City Nationals in Milan, Michigan, the
performances of two teams has a cast of other supercharged teams
pondering replacing their clutches with a torque converter for their
Lenco transmissions.

Jason Hamstra (6.053) and Carl Spiering (6.054) qualified fourth and
fifth to mark the first time two cars have qualified in the top half of
the Pro Modified field with torque converters.

The Lenco drive combination was legalized in 2004 and for the most
part, Hamstra has been the poster boy for perfecting the combination.
Milan marked the first time out with the combination for Spiering.

Twenty-five year old Spencer Massey has experienced the Midas Touch in 2008. He'll be looking for the same success during the Jegs All-Star event. (Roger Richards)

Current NHRA Top Alcohol Dragster and IHRA Top Fuel points leader Spencer Massey will be among the favorites to capture
the Top Alcohol Dragster title when the 24th annual JEGS Sportsman Allstars
takes center stage during the Torco Race Fuels Route 66 Nationals at Route 66
Raceway in Joliet, Ill., June 7. Massey, of Ft. Worth, Texas, returns to the
JEGS Allstars race as a blocker after defeating Marty Thacker in one of the most
memorable final rounds of 2007. After an even start, Massey edged Thacker at the
finish line by nine-thousandths of a second.

The JEGS Allstars is a special
event for competitors in the Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series. Each year, the best
racers in eight categories from each of NHRA’s seven geographic regions meet in
Joliet to compete for individual and team honors and a share of more than
$100,000 in posted awards.

Thus far in 2008, Massey has
reached the final round four times in six starts, including a win at the recent
NHRA national event at Atlanta Dragway. Massey has also logged some runs in a
Top Fuel dragster, collecting two wins at IHRA events.

Caterpillar, the primary sponsor on Rod Fuller’s Top Fuel dragster and
an official NHRA partner, and David Powers Motorsports (DPM) have
entered into a partnership to pilot an Engineering Rotational
Development Program (ERD) at the team’s Brownsburg, Ind. race shop.

The objectives of the ERD program are to gain unique engineering
experience and to focus on areas of development for engine performance.
The engineer also will gain exposure to unique manufacturing analysis
processes, development of Caterpillar network, cross-functional
marketing experience, and dealer/customer facing. DPM crew chiefs Lee
Beard and Rob Flynn will assign projects to be completed by the ERD.
DPM will provide the ERD a work area, network connection, performance
reviews, and challenging projects. The ERD rotation is scheduled to
being on June 2, 2008.

This weekend’s NHRA race in Topeka marks the halfway point until The Countdown
for the NHRA POWERade championship begins, and the first visit for rookie Bob
Tasca III to the Heartland Park quarter-mile track.

“We’re
excited about going to Topeka,” said Tasca. “We found an issue with the cam gear
after the Bristol race which affected the car’s performance. While it was
disappointing to go out that first round, we
were pleased with how the car ran before we had that problem on Saturday and Sunday. We feel like we’ve got
it fixed and ready to go headed into this
weekend.

“I’ve
never even been to Topeka, not even as a spectator, so I’m looking to make it a
memorable first visit,” said Tasca. “I think it will be an interesting race
compared to the last couple that we’re coming off of, primarily because of the heat. The conditions show that
it’s going to be real hot out there, which is really a big equalizer for all of
the teams. From a traction standpoint, it’s more a finesses than it is a power
deal.”

Brett Stevens

Australia’s leading Drag Racing teams are on a final
Championship charge as they gear up for the pinnacle event on their calendar,
the Winternationals at Queensland’s Willowbank Raceway this weekend
(5th-8th June).

The Brett Stevens Racing team is entering the largest
Drag Racing event in the southern hemisphere, which also doubles as the season
finale for ANDRA Championship series, in the unprecedented position of leading
three professional categories out of the four that it competes in, and is second
in the other one.

What better gift is there, to give dad on Father's Day, than a car? And
you can give him one by being one of the first 1,000 people through the
spectator's gate on Father's Day, Sun., Jun. 15, at the 6th Holley NHRA
National Hot Rod Reunion.  The 3-day Reunion, which runs from Jun.
13-15, will be held at legendary Beech Bend Park in Bowling Green, Ky.

"We're giving the first 1,000 spectators through the gate a Mattel Hot
Wheels collectible die-cast car to help celebrate Father's Day," said
Tony Thacker, executive director of the nonprofit Wally Parks NHRA
Motorsports Museum, presented by the Automobile Club of Southern
California, which produces and benefits from the event.  "Usually, it's
the kids asking dad to give them a car, but by getting dad up early,
the kids will be able to give dad a car - and get one for themselves,
too."

The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company's racing division has announced the introduction of the next-generation rear drive tire for the NHRA's Top Fuel and Funny Car categories.

The D2550 will be offered for optional use during the June 19-22 Lucas Oil NHRA SuperNationals at Englishtown, New Jersey and the June 26-29 Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals in Norwalk, Ohio.  It will be the only offering for those applications beginning at the Mopar Mile-High NHRA Nationals at Bandimere Speedway in Denver, July 11-13.

Goodyear's current tire, D2420, will also be available for use at Englishtown and Norwalk.

Leading NHRA drivers worked with Goodyear engineers during the
development procedure. Carolyn Ashbee, Goodyear's sales account manager
for drag racing, said driver input was an important part of the process.