There’s nothing like winning to erase a bad memory. For Long Island,
New York’s Vinny Budano, a three-time champion on the NMCA, his
shortcomings at the season-opener were replaced with a Pro Street
victory at the 7th annual NMCA Muscle Car Nationals, held at Bowling
Green, KY's Beech Bend Raceway.  
 
"I had to come home and pick myself up by my boot straps and march on",
said Budano, as he described his method of recovery from a round one
red light in Bradenton, FL over a month ago. The recovery came full
circle over the weekend in Bowling Green, as Budano and the entire
Scott Shafiroff-lead team, found a sensational tune-up for the company
car, a Tim McAmis-built 68 Camaro.
 
Budano’s victory was sweetened by a raceday rebound from a dismal qualifying effort.

"I was honestly bummed out on Sunday morning because the car was simply not right, and I knew it,” said Budano.

Even though he qualified in the top half of the 16 car field, Budano was wrestling with choices.

To say it has been an up and down season for Pro Mod Racer, Mike
Knowles, would be more than a bit lopsided. To tell the truth it's
almost been all down, but things are beginning to look up for Veteran
Racer,  Mike Knowles.

After missing the first race of the Jegs Pro Mod Challenge season
because his new McAmis Corvette was crashed in early testing by a
substitute driver; Knowles rebounded quickly with a back-up car but
success has been hard to come by. Following two DNQ's Knowles and his
team took some time for pre-race testing before the recently completed
NHRA St. Louis event. The testing paid off with Knowles making his
first appearance in eliminations this season only to go down in the
first round.

These photos are from our Baghdad correspondent and drag racing fan Lee McKinney serving in Iraq. McKinney is kind enough every so often to share with out readers the happenings around the Baghdad Embassy.

Danny Rowe turned a bad situation into a good one in St. Louis. (Roger Richards)

Any realistic chance Danny Rowe had of winning the 2008 JEGS ProMod
Challenge title could have been lost Friday night in St. Louis when his
Hottinger Group Camaro got away from him and impacted both of Gateway
International Raceway's retaining walls. But instead of giving up, Rowe
and crew chief Jimmy Rector scrambled to find a solution.

By Saturday afternoon's final qualifying session, an exhaustive
all-night effort yielded a fourth-best 5.987 at 241.02 mph in a car
they had borrowed from fellow competitor Mike Ashley. By the end of the
race, Rowe had racked up another semifinal finish and 75 championship
points, lifting him to fourth in the rankings and just 74 markers back
of the lead.

"I feel very, very lucky," Rowe said. "First, that I didn't get hurt. I
mean, I was going 190 mph when I hit the wall and I hit hard. Second,
that my family, who was there, supported my decision to race the next
day because they were all pretty wigged out at first. And finally, that
I have such a talented team that we were able to pull it off."

Yogi
Berra's famous quote, "It's like déjà vu all over again," would suit
reigning series champion Jeg Coughlin Jr. just fine as the 52-time
national event winner returns to Bristol Dragway May 16-18 for the
eighth annual O'Reilly Thunder Valley NHRA Nationals.

Coughlin had a banner weekend last year in eastern Tennessee,
qualifying No. 1 with low elapsed time of the meet and plowing through
the field for the victory. It was a memorable day for Coughlin as it
made him a winner at every track on the NHRA tour, aside from the newly
added events in Norwalk, Ohio, and Charlotte.

A month ago Mike Neff blew up his Old Spice Ford Mustang during the first session of qualifying of the Summit Racing

Mike Neff' wants more than a first round win in Bristol - he wants to win the event. (Roger Richards Photos)

Equipment in Atlanta and two weeks later in St. Louis he launched
himself into his first final round. On May 16th, as the NHRA Thunder
Valley Nationals rolls into Bristol, Tenn., Neff along with crew chief
John Medlen will attempt to get all the way to the winner’s circle. It
has been quite a month for the former crew chief and rookie driver.
In Bristol, instead of their first round win, Neff and Medlen are
looking for their first final round win. Two weeks ago Neff ended an
0-8 first round losing streak with a win over Melanie Troxel to start
the O’Reilly Midwest Nationals in St. Louis. Neff then outran Mike
Ashley and teammate Robert Hight to land in his first final round as a
driver.

Neff was edged out at the finish line by red hot Tim
Wilkerson for the win. Rather than get bogged down in patting himself
on the back the even keeled Neff is already focused on Bristol.

JDM Engineering, a leading tuner in the late-model Ford
segment, has stepped up to sponsor a new NMRA class called "Super Stang" that
will run at four select events in 2008 - Detroit, Michigan (June 13-15), Atco,
New Jersey (August 8-10), Columbus, Ohio (August 29-31) and Bowling Green,
Kentucky (October 2-5). JDM Super Stang will be a declared index-style
eliminator open to '05 and later Mustangs (S197). Super Stang will be a part of
the NMRA's all-cash contingency program and will have a points chase with the
world champion crowned at NMRA's awards ceremony at the PRI show in December
'08.

NHRA
Pro Stock driver and Greeneville, Tenn. native Allen Johnson seeks a
win as he heads to his home track of Bristol Dragway [Tenn.] on May
16–18 for the O’Reilly NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals.

Johnson’s best finish at his home event came last year with a
quarterfinals appearance. He’ll attempt to kill two birds with one
stone and notch both his first win of the 2008 season and his first
victory at the Bristol NHRA stop.

“Bristol has always had a stranglehold on us. Our best finish there
since it became a national event has been the quarterfinals,” said
Johnson. “I think a win anywhere right now would mean a lot, but a win
at Bristol would be special, right up there with qualifying No. 1 and
winning at Denver [which Johnson did last year at the Mopar Mile-High
Nationals]. It would mean a lot to family and friends, and I know we
would get a lot of coverage from the local media.”

Ron Capps, driver of the NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car
for Don Schumacher Racing in the 2008 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series,
will visit Pole Day at the Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor
Speedway on Saturday, May 10.

Capps, in town from Carlsbad, Calif., for the wedding of Ronnie
Thompson, the assistant crew chief on the NAPA Funny Car team, is eager
to see how the drivers in the IndyCar Series qualify for the historic
and prestigious Indy 500.

Though it is an off-weekend on the NHRA tour, Mike Edwards and his Penhall/Young Life team will be out carrying the Pontiac banner to many of the brands faithful followers when he is scheduled to make exhibition runs in his Pontiac GXP during the Indian Nations Pontiac Club event this Mother’s day weekend in Tulsa, Okla.

The event will not only feature Edwards, but will include a car show, drag racing, and on Friday night a tech session with guest speaker Jim Wagners, who was the head of marketing for Pontiac that launched the GTO craze.

"Mike is a great ambassador for the area when it comes to drag racing and to those who just love cars," said Indian Nations Pontiac Club president Larry Crider. "It is a great benefit to us here locally to have such a great ambassador to the Pontiac brand and who is willing to bring his professional operation to the track and make exhibition runs.