A source close to the
situation has told CompetitionPlus.com that Justin Humphreys will race this
weekend at the NHRA Summernationals in Topeka,
Kansas.

CompetitionPlus.com has
learned the former Sport Compact standout will do battle in the Dodge Stratus formerly
driven by Richie Stevens. He will utilize power from Allen and Roy Johnson this
weekend.

After 44 victories and five world championships over a 13-year
professional career, one would think that Top Fuel driver Tony
Schumacher has conquered every race track he’s come across.

“That would definitely be a wrong assumption,” said the Chicago-area
resident. “Excluding the new Charlotte venue, I haven’t won at four
tracks that are currently on the schedule. And, one of those tracks is
coming up this weekend.”

This weekend’s tour stop is Heartland Park, where the 19th annual
O’Reilly Summer Nationals will be contested. Schumacher has yet to
qualify number one or advance to a final round in the Sunflower State.

“For some reason, it’s been a really tough track for us over the
years,” he said. “It appeared like we made some progress last year by
qualifying second and getting to the semifinals. Perhaps, we’ll break
down the door this year and win the race.”

Five years ago, the IHRA Pro Stock division relied on two major engine
builders to service as many as twenty to thirty Pro Stock teams. If you
ran a Ford, you had Jon Kaase horsepower. A Chevrolet or GM meant you
relied on Sonny Leonard for your engines.

Today’s IHRA Pro Stock division stands prepared to reach for the next level with in-house engine programs.

As many as four prominent teams have embarked on exclusive engine
programs. The IHRA’s Pro Stock division has always been considered a
less expensive alternative to the highly-complex 500-inch NHRA
programs. 

Pete Berner, 2006 IHRA Pro Stock world champion, became the latest to
announce such a program. He will partner with former Pro Stock racer
Jerry Janota.

Mike Neff really likes his
boss and who could blame him?

“There’s never a dull
moment, that’s for sure,” Neff said, moments after making a pair of smoking
burnouts at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Charlotte, N.C., during the Coca-Cola 600
NASCAR event. “He’s a great team owner, a great boss and great for the
sport.  He’s just a lot of fun to be
around.   He’s funny and just makes me
laugh.  Every time I talk to him it seems
I end up laughing about something, so it is a lot of fun.”

Ask Neff about his
conversation with the 14-time world champion just before the Funny Car final
round in Bristol and he quickly acquiesce that the story is better told by Force.

Nobody tells a story like
Force.

If you walked through the offices of Valvoline on any given Friday lately,
chances are pretty good you would be walking in a virtual winner's circle of
denims.
 
It's a novel twist on the "casual Friday" phenomenon where
employees of Ashland/Vavoline at its Lexington, Ky. campus can wear blue jeans
the Friday following a Team Valvoline victory on either the NASCAR or NHRA
circuit.
 
To date there have been 15 professional wins by Valvoline
drivers and the NASCAR and NHRA seasons have yet to reach the halfway mark.

Smith selling Mountain Motor Pro Stocker; Blown Pro Mod car coming for Indy 

The phone call sounded like it came from next door, but former JEGS ProMod
Challenge champion "Tricky Rickie" Smith was actually on the other side of the
world in the tiny Middle Eastern island Kingdom of Bahrain.

As a guest of
King Hamad ibn Isa Al Khalifah's second son, Smith had a simple request of the
organizers of the JEGS ProMod Challenge -- if the Sheik had a new car built in
time for the Mac Tool U.S. Nationals, could Smith compete on his former
champion's exemption. The answer was yes.

"Those Sheiks were about as
happy as you could be," Smith said in his deep, southern drawl. "I told them
that Indy was the biggest drag race in the world and they said, 'Then we must
race there.' That's when I made the call. I'm just glad Troy Coughlin and his
guys let me into the race. From what I hear, you generally don't want to say no
to the Sheik very often."

NHRA  drivers Antron Brown, Hilary Will, Alan
Bradshaw, Jim Yates, Dave Connolly and Allen Johnson will be among
those meeting fans at Jeremiah Bullfrogs Live Thursday, May 29 for
an autograph session to provide fans the opportunity to meet their
favorite drivers in an intimate situation the day before the O'Reilly
NHRA Summer Nationals at Heartland Park Topeka.

The autograph session will take place from 6-8 p.m. Jeremiah
Bullfrogs Live is located at 4115 SW Huntoon St, right on the corner of
Huntoon and Gage.

For Scott Richardson of Greenbrier, Tenn. winning the World Footbrake
Challenge is becoming a habit.  For the second year in a row,
Richardson piloted his 1984 Chevy S-10 to a $50,000 payday and a visit
to the winner’s circle at Bristol Dragway last weekend.

Richardson used a .024 reaction time, coupled with a 6.865 elapsed time
(6.82 dial-in) at 92.03 mph to defeat Jacob Rutledge of Hoschton, Ga. 
Rutledge left the line with a .050 R.T. and completed his run with a
6.612 E.T. at 95.89 mph. 

Richardson drove the same truck to the win during Saturday’s action at last year’s World Footbrake Challenge.

The World Footbrake Challenge is a 1/8-mile event that forces racers to
depend heavily on their extensive skills to take home the top prize. 
In footbrake competition, drivers are not allowed to use electronic
equipment to help them achieve a perfect start.  “The World’s Greatest
Footbrake Race,” as it also is known, has been hosted by Bristol
Dragway during both years of its existence.

Dave
Connolly has been to the finals in two of the three races since returning to competition. 

But this is just the beginning.  Ten races remain before the top 10 contenders square off in a six-race title showdown.

The first, the O’Reilly Summer Nationals at Heartland Park Topeka,
unfolds May 30-June 1.  Connolly has been to three consecutive final
rounds in his past three visits to the Kansas Capital city.  He won in
2006 and was runner-up in 2007 and 2005.

“Topeka has been a pretty good track for us,” said Connolly, driver of
the Charter Communications/LifeLock Chevy Cobalt for Victor Cagnazzi
Racing.  “Hopefully we’ll pick up four more round wins there.  That’s
what we have in mind right now.  We are coming off a high with a
runner-up and a win in our second and third races back.  We hope to
have a little faster race car at Topeka so we can put pressure on all
the guys ahead of us.  We’re still taking things one race at a time to
see how everything pans out.”

The popular A&E reality show Driving Force focusing on the private
lives of John Force, his wife Laurie and daughters Ashley, Brittney and
Courtney will return once the icon patriarch feels comfortable with the
progress they’ve made with safety and other issues since the
unfortunate testing accident which claimed the life of team driver Eric
Medlen.

“I still owe them [A&E] some shows, so I told them I needed to get
my race teams back together and get us the safety aspect up and
running,” Force said in a recent press conference in Charlotte, N.C. 
“I can’t focus on a TV show.”