Veteran NHRA Top Alcohol Dragster driver Jeff Bohr will once again fly
the Bar's Leaks colors in 2008 as he kicks off the season during this
weekend's Division 3 opener at O'Reilly Raceway Park in Indianapolis. 
After spending much of last season testing experimental parts, Bohr has
shifted his focus to 'racing' in 2008.
 
Bohr, from Plymouth, Mich., with his brother Gary, who serves as Crew
Chief, became one of the few Blown Alcohol Dragsters to eclipse the 270
mph mark last season.  With Bar's Leaks and associate sponsor Magnaflux
back on board, Bohr plans to make a run on the Division 3 title and a
strong national finish.

Dream House for Medically Fragile Children, Inc. will host a
special visit
from NHRA Driver Melanie Troxel and her hot rod, the Dream House Funny
Car,
Tuesday, April 22, 2008 from 3 to 5:30 p.m. Troxel will spend time with
some of the medically
fragile children Dream House serves, along with their
families. This pre-race visit will take
place at the Dream House corporate
office in Snellville at 2092 Scenic Highway. Film crews
will be on site to
document the visit for an upcoming ESPN segment.
 
Frank Hawley, Troxel's
Gotham City Racing teammate and driver of the ProCare Rx Dodge Charger Funny
Car, will be joining Troxel on this special visit.

Dream House will be
the beneficiary of a special fund-raising event featuring National Hot
Rod
Association race car drivers, planned for Saturday, April 26 at Chateau Élan
Winery &
Resort in Braselton, Ga. Ticket information is available online
at
http://www.registereasy.org/burgess or by calling
1-678-248-3186.

The event organizers are Roger Burgess and Mike Ashley,
co-owners of Gotham City Racing
LLC, drivers and successful businessmen who
recognize the impact Dream House has in
providing for medically fragile
children.

Richard Freeman wondered what he was getting himself into when
he decided to go IHRA mountain motor Pro Stock racing. When he pulled
fifth gear for the first time with the 818-inch Jon Kaase engine, he
found out.

“It sets you back and you better have a hold,” Freeman explained. “I mean that's all there is to it, you better be holding on.”

Freeman is no novice to drag racing having raced in the NHRA
Competition eliminator ranks for almost 15 years. He made the decision
to go Pro Stock racing last year.

Knowing the state of NHRA POWERade Pro Stock and the investment required he found the IHRA as the perfect alternative.

Following is a statement from U.S. Army Top Fuel team crew chief, Alan
Johnson, as connected to the recent fining of team owner, Don
Schumacher, by the NHRA:

“During ESPN’s race day broadcast of the recent SummitRacing.com
Nationals from Las Vegas, it was revealed that Don Schumacher Racing
was heavily fined for allegedly violating NHRA’s fuel policy.

“During said broadcast, an interview was conducted with NHRA’s Vice
President of Competition, Graham Light, to explain the fine. While this
interview took place, footage of the U.S. Army Top Fuel Dragster was
shown making a run in slow motion. This unfortunate airing has produced
and fueled implications that the U.S. Army team is doing something
illegal.

“Given the lack of explanation by the NHRA, I feel responsible to set
the record straight, while defending my U.S. Army team, our sponsors
and their collective accomplishments over the last four years.

Tragedy hits close to home for IHRA Nitro Funny Car racer …

Matt
Hagan was laboring away in his Radford, Virginia shop, getting his
nitro Funny Car ready for this weekend’s IHRA Spring Nationals in
Rockingham, North Carolina. The freshman driver was meticulous in his
preparation for the weekend of drag racing and even more so knowing
this is only his second event behind the wheel of a nitro-burner. He is
more focused than usual for those simple reasons.

Details mean the difference between winning and losing.

Then his concentration was broken by the radio. Instead of yelling for
one of his co-workers to turn the volume down, he paused and listened.

Determined Ford Pro Stock player signs major sponsorship

One simply cannot miss Jim Cunningham because the quiet man from
Maryland marches to the beat of a different drum. He’s running a Ford
Pro Stocker in the GM and Dodge dominated world of NHRA Pro Stock.

Now they’ll have even more of a reason to remember him. Cunningham has
signed CNC Software Inc. of Tolland, Ct. as a major manufacturing
partner. The team will promote CNC Software’s signature program
Mastercam as part of the agreement.

“CNC Software and Mastercam CAD/CAM software have been instrumental in
our recent gains with our engine program,” explained Cunningham.  “When
we started our in-house engine program, our first priority was to
establish an engine shop that was capable of generating a competitive
Pro Stock engine.  We realized that we needed to get ahead of the curve
when it came to machining capabilities and in doing so; one of our
first purchases was a 5-axis CNC machine.

Those still playing Pac-Man on Atari, trying to solve the
Rubik’s Cube or watching reruns of Miami
Vice will want to head to Bristol Dragway’s Street Fights on Thursday, April
17 for Sonic 80’s Night.

Special promotions highlight the
night, including $1 off admission to anyone dressed in 80’s gear.  Prices at the concession stand will roll back
to the 80’s too with hot dogs and Pepsi products priced at only $1.

Bristol Dragway staff members also
will search the pits and grandstands looking to reward the person whose outfit
best personifies the 80’s. 

Comp
eliminator racers and fans were treated to some spectacular racing at the Texas
Motorplex, just outside Dallas this past weekend. A freshly scraped and groomed
race track met the racers as the second stop of the Lucas Oil drag racing series
for NHRA’s division 4 rolled into town. Mother Nature got in on the act with
dry, crystal blue skies and temperatures in the upper sixties, conditions very
conducive to making horsepower. With over $4700.00 in Comp Cash Reward bonus money up for
grabs for the event, it promised to be an exciting weekend for the full field of
racers,

As qualifying
got under way for the weekends racing action, the track started to come into its
own very quickly, and the usually narrow grove of the “Tex Plex” became wider
than normal and very aggressive for those that wanted to apply their power.  With 36 cars on hand and a .402 under bump
spot once qualifying was completed, competitors knew that this race weekend
wasn’t going to be an easy one.  Recent
Jegs Cajun SportsNationals champ Glenn Self battled with Scott Benham for the
number one qualifying spot, finally unleashing a .702 under lap in the final
Saturday afternoon qualifying session to claim the Hughes performance low
qualifier bonus, as well as taking home the divisions Comp Cash Reward $100.00 check as
well.

Two weeks after scoring the first national event win of his career, Randy Eakins
continued to climb the Top Alcohol Dragster championship points standings with a
strong semifinal finish at the 9th annual SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals in Las
Vegas. Eakins, 39, drove the Canidae All Natural Pet Foods/Red line Oil A/Fuel
dragster to six consecutive NHRA round-wins before being halted in the
semifinals.

The Edgecombe Racing team worked hard to battle through
electrical issues that plagued their nitromethane-burning dragster throughout
the weekend, and they managed to qualify in the top half of the 16-car field and
go rounds in eliminations. Eakins posted a 5.63 elapsed time in the first round
to defeat a tire-smoking Johnny Ahten. His round two matchup paralleled the one
from his Houston win in which he defeated 2007 Top Alcohol Dragster world
champion Bill Reichert on a holeshot. This time he raced 2007 Super Comp world
champ Shawn Langdon, who qualified No. 1 behind the wheel of Morgan Lucas’
dragster, and again it was decided on the starting line as Eakins cut a superb
.011 reaction time and won with a 5.73 over Langdon’s superior 5.69.
Back-to-back wins were not in the cards, however, as Eakins’ engine dropped
cylinders in the semifinals and he lost to Jeff Isbell, who ran a solid 5.47 and
became another first-time winner after defeating Jim Whiteley in the final
round.