Pro Stock Motorcycle icon George Bryce had a little more cut in his
strut walking through the pits at SGMP during the recent CSR Eastern
Spring Test Nationals presented by Torco's CompetitionPlus.com in
Valdosta, Georgia. With his baseball cap turned
backwards, Bryce was walking a bit quicker than usual although he
sported a substantial knee brace.

Bryce had off-season surgery to repair some knee damage.

“I had to get me some new parts put in,” Bryce said. “I got me some new
ligaments and tendons installed.  Since I'm getting old I had broke one
a long time ago and my leg was getting kind of wobbly.  Ken Johnson got
mad at me for whining about how bad my knee hurt and he don't even have
a knee.  I told him that I've been sympathizing with him over his knee
for 2 years and I love how he handles it and I think he's the man.  My
knee was hurting so I went and got it fixed.  They put me some new
parts in and I know one thing, they wouldn't use any of my parts
because I'm too old so they got me some new parts.

“They asked me what I wanted and I said some 22-year old, somebody who
can run fast and jump high a basketball player or somebody like that.”

Almost a year after teammate and protege Eric Medlen lost his life in a
testing accident at Gainesville Raceway and six months after suffering
serious injuries in a crash of his own, drag racing icon John Force
returns for this week's 39th annual ACDelco Gatornationals a changed
man.
 
"Sponsors like Castrol, Ford and the Auto Club pay us to win," said the
sport's biggest star.  "That's still our goal but, bottom line, Vince
Lombardi was wrong   winning isn't everything.  There are more
important things. 
 
"I've won 14 championships and more than 100 races (125), but I'd
rather be remembered for helping make Eric's life count for something,"
said the 58-year-old owner/driver.  "Thanks to John Medlen (Eric's
dad), Ford, Murf McKinney and the NHRA, we're bringing a better car to
Gainesville (for this year's race), but the work doesn't stop there. 
There's lots more to do."
 
Back in his Castrol GTX® High Mileage™ Ford Mustang for just the third
time since last Sept. 23rd when he suffered a compound fracture of the
left ankle and other major injuries in a crash in Dallas, Texas, Force
has acknowledged that he was naive in believing that a Funny Car design
that had survived, largely unchanged, for almost a quarter century
still would protect a driver in every circumstance.

Top Fuel driver Tony Schumacher has been to victory lane 42 times in
his career, but he’s quick to note that only a handful of those wins
carry special meaning.

“There’s no question that my two wins at the ACDelco Gatornationals (in
2004 and 2007) are among a small group that stands out from all the
rest,” said the defending NHRA POWERade world champion. “We have some
prestigious races that dot the schedule every year, but clearly the
Gatornationals is one of those big-time events that you want to capture
at some point or another.”

When Schumacher takes to Gainesville Raceway this weekend for round
three of the 2008 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, he will be
attempting to become only the fourth Top Fuel pilot to claim three
victories in the Sunshine State. Joe Amato pocketed four Gatornationals
trophies between 1984 and 1997.

“History aside, we just want to go down to Gainesville and run well,”
added the Chicago native. “We’re off to a nice start this season, so
we’d like to keep moving in the right direction.”

Following a rain delay of the season opener at
Las Vegas in late January,
anticipation is at the red line for this weekend’s PSCA Spring Break Nationals
presented by Orme Brothers Inc.   Racers from all over the western
United States
and even Canada
are fueled with adrenalin and ready to rock at the Auto Club Dragway in
Fontana,
California.  
A full 16 car field is expected in Hughes
Performance Pro Street even with the absence of
several top runners not quite ready for the event.    Team Accufab (Ed Thornton and
John Mihovitz) will be front and center ready
to defend their 1-2 finish in the 2007 series. 
There will be a host of others attempting to steal the crown from these
twin turbo terrors.   Expectations are
high with a prediction of cloud cover and tight track conditions. 

Funny Car racer Bob Gilbertson announced that he's filed an entry for
the O'Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals in Houston March 28-30 and will
drive his new Trick Tank Monte Carlo to do battle with the best drivers
out there for his first NHRA start of the year.
 
Gilbertson, who has been testing recently to prepare for his 2008 debut, is anxiously waiting to get back on track.
 
"Testing is one thing but racing against somebody else is why I do
this," Gilbertson said.  "It's no secret that we don't yet have a
marketing partner to help us pay the bills and we're actively looking
for support, but if you're not out there to show what you can do it's
tough to get anybody to notice you."

Best runs, listed in order of elapsed time, in Top Fuel at the 9th
annual, CSR Eastern Spring Test Nationals presented by Torco's
CompetitionPlus.com:

Psn---Num-Driver, Home Town, Car Type-----------------TT-ET----TT-Spd-Top Spd

  1  255 Clay Millican, Drummonds TN, Hadman-BAE         4.585  323.50  326.40
  2  345 Bruce Litton, Indianapolis IN, Hadman-TFX       4.977  213.03  213.03
  3    3 Brandon Bernstein, Lake Forest CA, McKinney-TFX 4.987  207.98  207.98
  4  141 Bobby Lagana Jr., Scarsdale NY, Hadman-BAE      5.184  217.88  217.88
  5  373 Kevin Jones, Berea KY, Agan-BAE                12.595   71.93   71.93

Robbie Carrico, one of 12 AMERICAN IDOL male finalists, will be singing
the national anthem Sunday, March 16 prior to the 39th running of the
ACDelco NHRA Gatornationals.

Carrico emerged as a favorite of NHRA POWERade Series fans when he
responded to Idol’s “America would be surprised to know that … ”
segment with the fact that he loves to drag race.

“It’s quite a rush getting in that thing, it’s amazing,” he said in the
one minute clip that aired on AMERICAN IDOL on Tuesday, Feb. 26, his
final appearance before being eliminated.

Marvin Smith Photos

John Russo admits he’s had an
affection for the South Georgia Motorsports Park for quite some time.
Today SGMP showed him the love.

Russo debuted a new Pontiac Firebird and on his fourth pass of testing
thundering to a 5.895 elapsed time at over 246 miles per hour.

Russo was astonished by the numbers he earned.

Gary Scelzi arrived at South Georgia Motorsports Park on Saturday
during the CSR Eastern Spring Test Nationals presented by Torco’s
CompetitionPlus.com to find a blast of high winds and frigid
temperatures forced the cancellation of the second day of testing. The
three-time NHRA world champion knew he and the Mopar Oakley team had a
tall order of objectives and parts to test in preparation for
Gainesville. Did we mention he was testing two cars back-to-back?

This setback didn’t set the agenda well.

Then he inspected the all concrete racing surface and while the
facility impressed him greatly, he couldn’t help but notice a yellow
film covering the rubber-topped concrete.

“And what is that?” Scelzi asked a crew member who then  explained the substance which happened to be pollen.

Scelzi knew then he was in store for a unique experience.

Marvin Smith Photo

Jerry Toliver will be behind the wheel of a new race car at this weekend's NHRA
Gatornationals in Gainesville, Fla. The driver of the Rockstar Energy Drink Dodge
Charger R/T Funny Car tested two days this week with a new chassis during the CSR Eastern Spring Test Nationals at South
Georgia Motorsports Park in Valdosta, Ga., in advance of the event.
 
The 2000 Gatornationals Funny Car winner made several shakedown
runs down Valdosta's quarter-mile in the new Murf McKinney chassis on Sunday and
Monday. The Rockstar Energy Drink team then packed up and headed to
Gainesville.