Looking to gain a little extra data for his race team, veteran Top Fuel
racer and drag racing school owner Doug Foley headed west from Houston
after last weekend's NHRA event to compete in the Amalie Oil Texas
Nationals near San Antonio. The eighth-mile race is being held under
IHRA sanction from April 4-6.

"Our crew chief Doug Kuch and the guys had some things they wanted to
try out so we made the trip over," said Foley, who hails from Sewell,
N.J., near Philadelphia. "Rather than rent a track somewhere and test,
we thought we'd come here and have some fun under real racing
conditions.

Pro Stock driver Shane Tucker will field a JEGS.com-sponsored Holden Monaro at
the upcoming Tin Top ANDRA Nationals, April 18-19, at Willowbank Raceway in
Queensland, Australia.

Tucker, who has been patiently waiting for his
chance to pilot a third Pro Stocker for Victor Cagnazzi Racing on the POWERade
Drag Racing Series, jumped at the chance to return to his native Australia for
the long-running Tin Top Nationals. He'll race alongside his father Rob Tucker
with the duo trying their best to put two racecars in the first 16-car Pro Stock
field in event history.

"I can't wait to drop the clutch," said Tucker,
the 2005-2006 Australian National Drag Racing Association Rookie of the Year.
"I've recently scuffed some tires for the boys over here [in the U.S.] but I
haven't made a full pass since last June. I'm more than ready to give it a
go."

IHRA makes their first stop on the Nitro Jam Tour at San Antonio Raceway in San
Antonio, Texas. Despite morning rain, the first day's qualifying sessions were
completed on schedule and the first "Last Man Standing" Champions of 2008 were
crowned Friday night.

Frank Gugliotta claimed the
rights to "Last Man Standing" in the Pro Stock Category, securing five bonus
points and a plaque and check from Quarter-Max Chassis and Racing Components –
sponsor of the "Last Man Standing" through the Quarter-Max Pro Stock
Challenge.  Gugliotta ran an elapsed time
of 4.117 to gain the title over Pete Berner's 4.119. With a new car and team
together, he was surprised, but very pleased with the results:

In the past year 21 year-old Brittany Force has seen her share of
personal tragedy at the race track. She has not let that diminish her
drive, rather it has emboldened her to continue to overcome her own
fears.

She lost teammate and close friend Eric Medlen in a tragic testing
accident last March. In July she witnessed her older sister Ashley
Force’s survive a harrowing crash in Seattle. Most recently last
October her father, 14-time Funny Car World Champion John Force,
survived the most serious accident of his 30 year career – one that
left him with a broken left ankle, broken wrist, and multiple
abrasions. Still the junior who is majoring in English, with a possible
minor in Business Administration, at Cal State Fullerton continued to
stay focused on moving her racing career forward.

With a tremendous amount of support from her family and a solid crew
behind her Brittany is looking forward to making her first competitive
passes in the Brand Source Top Alcohol Dragster class at the 9th annual
Summitracing.com NHRA Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor
Speedway, April 10-13.

Litton Heads Top Fuel Qualifying at Texas Nationals

Bob Gilbertson
(Nitro Funny Car), Scott Cannon (Pro Modified), Laurie Cannister (Alcohol Funny
Car) and Frank Gugliotta (Pro Stock) also claim provisional #1 qualifier slots
at San Antonio Raceway

Bruce Litton
picked up where he left in 2007, by qualifying on top in 2008.

Bruce
Litton picked up right where he left off. The 2007 Knoll Gas – Torco Racing
Fuels Pro Nitro Top Fuel World Champion, who clinched his first career title by
winning the World Finals in Rockingham last season, made an early statement in
the new season. He finished at the top of the qualifying sheet Friday and
claimed the five Last Man Standing bonus points at the eighth-mile Amalie Oil
Texas Nationals…the first event on the 2008 Knoll Gas Nitro Jam
schedule.

Responding to concerns
over photos posted on the internet, The NHRA today posted a news piece on their
website, NHRA.com, stating the upcoming Ford Fun Weekend had been postponed to
allow the new surface to fully cure.

The entire track surface –
concrete and asphalt -- was replaced over the winter, in preparation for the
NHRA Southern Nationals later this month.

Leroy Chadderton, a well-known Southern California-based driver of fuel
altereds and Funny Cars in the 1970s, died April 3 after a long battle
with cancer and heart problems.

Jim Yates used Ron Krisher horsepower to earn a spot in last weekend's
final eliminations during the NHRA O'Reilly Springnationals in Houston,
Texas.

“We seem to be running pretty good and I don't see anything changing in
that aspect for a while,” Yates explained. “We seem to have pretty good
power. The motors are running pretty good and picking up quite a bit.
I'm really happy with what I've seen so far.”

Where Yates is getting his horsepower has been the topic of much
discussion early in the 2008 season. He’s looked around, and even
though Frank Iaconio is building an engine, he’s content leasing the
Krisher horsepower.

COULD THERE BE TROUBLE AHEAD FOR PRUDHOMME’S SPONSOR?

Congress is
in the midst of pushing a bill forward that would turn tobacco regulation
over to the Food & Drug Administration, 
potentially resulting in “…the
most draconian ad curbs ever imposed on a consumer product by the U.S.
government,” according to the April 2nd issue of the respected publication
“Advertising Age.”  The Senate already approved similar legislation, which
would move the government’s oversight of tobacco from the Federal Trade
Commission to the FDA.  The legislation further directs the FDA to impose
the tobacco ad curbs that were first proposed in 1996, which are considerably more stringent than those currently being
enforced.