U.S. Army Top Fuel driver Tony Schumacher will pay tribute to the U.S.
Army Reserve’s 100th anniversary during round six of the NHRA POWERade
Drag Racing Series this weekend in Commerce, Ga. His Top Fuel dragster
will carry special 100th anniversary decals which include the tag line
– Army Reserve, 100 Years Strong.

“This is a big weekend for us all around,” said Schumacher. “Aside from
reaching a career milestone, I’m looking forward to helping honor the
U.S. Army Reserve. Obviously, we want to win this race to for all of
those men and women who have sacrificed so much for our freedom.”

The history of the Army Reserve dates back to April of 1908 when
Congress established the Army’s first reserve force. Today, the Army
Reserve consists of 205,000 soldiers and is an operational,
expeditionary and domestic force that is an essential piece of the U.S.
Army.

This weekend’s NHRA Southern Nationals Pro Modified field in Commerce,
GA., will be absent of the defending event and world champion Josh
Hernandez. The Conroe, Texas-based driver was originally on the invite
list as a defending event champion but was forced to withdraw from
competition earlier in the season when the ADRL event scheduled for
Tulsa, Oklahoma overlapped Commerce.

Hernandez has made the ADRL his priority in observance of a new major sponsorship from the National Guard.

Wet grounds in Tulsa forced ADRL to postpone the event until June.

Hernandez reapplied for an invitation to compete in this weekend’s
event but was denied by officials from the NHRA Jegs ProMod Series
citing the NHRA’s firm stance on 20 maximum entries for this weekend’s
event.

Don Schumacher Racing issued the following statement regarding
the recent NHRA fine for having unapproved fuel in his pit area in Las
Vegas. 

This past week has been very trying for me, my family, my sponsors and my seven
Don Schumacher Racing NHRA drag-racing teams. Since I began to build my
operation to include a number of teams in 2001, I have strived to live up to my
personal standards, those of the sponsors who so wholeheartedly support my
efforts, the outstanding group of drivers and crew chiefs I have been fortunate
to have join my racing family, and the incredibly talented medley of team
employees.

It is my opinion and belief that the merits of the process
begun by the NHRA to fine DSR an unprecedented $100,000 for an alleged
infraction of our team possessing nitromethane in its pit area during a national
event should not be argued in the media. I believe that a series of errors
occurred at the SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals in Las Vegas, which led the NHRA
to impose the fine.

Suddenly the term “getting beat by a girl” isn’t such an embarrassing
proposition, at least that’s the stance taken by the IHRA Alcohol Funny
Car fraternity of drivers. They’ve really got no other choice.

Laurie Cannister has been on a tear in 2008 with three national event victories in four outings. (Roger Richards)

Laurie Cannister has led every round of qualifying thus far in 2008 and
has won every round. In fact, the driver of the Kalbones Grill’n Sauce
Funny Car has won three of the last four events she’s entered.

“That’s pretty much unheard of,” Cannister said of the team’s
accomplishments. “I don’t think anyone has done that well since Jimmy
Rector was racing. He dominated that last year I was in it. I just hope
we can stay up there. Once you get up there, it’s tough to stay there.
I know I have the crew and I know I have the backing with Kalbones.”

The thrill of claiming his first NHRA Pro Stock low qualifier award in 214 races
is still a sweet memory for Kenny Koretsky. 
 
It was just 10 days ago in
Las Vegas when Koretsky ended one of his career droughts with a 6.724-second
elapsed time that was one-thousandth of a second quicker than that of Jason
Line.
 
And it merely whetted his performance appetite.  He wants more –
like his first national-event victory. 
 
“Eddie (Guarnaccia) and I have
been racing together for 20 years and we want to get that first win,” Koretsky
said. “It felt great to qualify first, and we want to do it again.  We don’t
want to wait another 214 races.”

Driving a Top Fuel dragster shouldn’t be as easy as Spencer Massey is making the process look.

Spencer Massey has competed in two Top Fuel events and won both of them.

He earned his Top Fuel license just days before the IHRA season-opener
in San Antonio, Texas and drove his way to the winner’s circle during
that event. Three weeks later, he added a win at the IHRA Spring
Nationals in Rockingham, NC., to prove he’s no fluke.

“I’m having a ball,” Massey said. “We came all the way from Texas to
Rockingham and we keep getting the round wins. I’ve had my license for
three weeks and won two national events.”

Massey warns his success is nothing more than having the perfect combination of talent behind the Mitch King car.

Reigning series champion Jeg Coughlin Jr. has a fight on his hands in the
ultra-competitive Pro Stock class, and the 52-time national event winner
couldn't be happier. Coughlin will arrive at Atlanta Dragway in a tie for first
place in the factory hot rod class and he knows a strong performance at the race
he won in Y2K will put him all alone atop the POWERade standings. He also knows
his foes are waiting to pounce on any stumble he might make.

Coughlin excited about the Pro Stock championship battle being close. (Roger Richards Photos)

"It's the
nature of the beast this year," Coughlin said. "We've had four different winners
in the first five events and the guy that's won twice is third in the points. Go
figure. What you have is a very solid group of teams that have challenged every
weekend so we're all matched up pretty well. It's become a real driver's class
and that's exciting to me."

Frank Hawley wasn’t listed in the 1982 NHRA Winston Drag Racing Series media
guide.  He was, at the time, a rookie Funny Car driver from London, Ontario,
Canada.
 
A year later, however, the upstart from across the border had
guaranteed himself perpetual mentions in ensuing yearly updates.  How?  He
stunned the Funny Car field by winning the championship, ending the three-year
reign of Raymond Beadle and outlasting seasoned veterans Don Prudhomme, Billy
Meyer and Kenny Bernstein. 
 
For an encore, Hawley came back and
captured a second consecutive championship, winning four races and easily
outdistancing runner-up Mark Oswald, third-place Bernstein and a newcomer to the
Funny Car top 10, John Force.
 
Hawley’s ride was the fabled match-race
car the Chi-Town Hustler, owned by John Farkonas, Pat Minick and Austin Coil,
who also did the tuning.  Coil, as drag racing fans know, later went to work for
Force and earned 14 more – and counting – season titles.

The Drag Racing Association of Women will be holding their annual
auction at Route 66 Raceway in Joliet, IL, on Saturday, June 7, 2008. 
There will be the usual silent and live auctions.

DRAW needs items for the live and silent auctions they host during the
2008 racing season. Those auctions include: the large annual silent and
live auction held at the Joliet, IL, spring race and a live auction
held at the September race in Ennis, TX.   Small silent auctions are
held throughout the race season. 

The range of items popular at these auctions include racing
collectibles, vehicle parts, custom or handmade treasurers, t-shirts,
team shirts, memorabilia items, anything autographed – in other words a
little bit of everything and anything.  If you have something you no
longer want, remember the old saying, “one man’s junk is another man’s
treasure.”  Don’t throw it out.  Give it to DRAW for the auctions.

J.W. Performance Transmissions, a provider of high-performance
transmissions and drivetrain components for drag racing and street
applications, has joined Bristol Dragway as  the title sponsor of the
May 2-4 Thunder Valley Southern Shootouts.

Tracy Winters, Vice-President of Sales and Marketing for J.W.
Performance, says the bracket event in Thunder Valley gives her company
the perfect platform to reach the racers and performance enthusiasts
that depend on quality products to help their vehicles achieve their
best.

"With this event," she said, "we want to increase awareness about our
brand and what we have to offer.  We want to provide racers and
spectators with information about our products, so they can better
understand our dedication to creating top-of-the-line drivetrain
accessories."