NASCAR
fans often refer to their favorites by their numbers rather than by
name or sponsors.  That’s never been the case in drag racing, where the
car numbers are almost downplayed. But, when Mike Ashley and Melanie
Troxel’s cars came to the starting line yesterday one couldn’t help but
notice the massive car numbers that were on display on the back of
everyone’s uniforms as well as on the leading edge of the two Dodge’s
roofs.  We caught up with Ashley to ask him about it.

“I’ve never been like a follow-the-leader guy.  I’ve always been like
the leader and then hoped people would follow me.  I like to do things
the way I see them.  I think our sport fell into these paradigms, these
habits that that’s the way it is.  You get these uniforms, and you go
up (to the starting line) with skulls or whatever’s on them and that’s
it.  I kind of felt like this is a sport and it takes a team to win or
lose these things.  If you look at other sports you see jerseys in
those sports, and I felt like I wanted to unite or people into a real
team.

BROWN ENTERS FIRST TOP FUEL RACE IN NO. 1 SPOT; WILKERSON, ANDERSON ALSO NO.1 AT CARQUEST AUTO PARTS WINTERNATIONALS

Antron Brown finished the day with a solid pass of 4.526 at 331.61 mph, resetting a career-best speed for the Indiana resident.

Former Pro Stock Motorcycle rider Antron Brown raced to his first No. 1
qualifying position Saturday at the CARQUEST Auto Parts NHRA
Winternationals at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona.

Tim Wilkerson and Greg Anderson also were the No. 1 qualifiers in their
respective categories at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series event,
the first of 24 events in the 2008 season.

Brown, who earned 11 No. 1 qualifying awards in nearly a decade of
racing on two wheels, was able to stay at the top of the field after a
competitive day of qualifying. His run of 4.495 at 330.07 from Friday
in his Matco Tools dragster was good enough to lead the 16 car field.

Top Fuel driver Clay Millican’s car is not in action at the
Winternationals, but the colorful Tennessee driver is on hand offering
succinct commentary alongside stellar announcer Bob Frey.  Millican’s
car is owned by Evan Knoll who, as everyone knows, has taken a leave of
absence from his drag racing endeavors because of health reasons. 
Since there are a lot of rumors circulating about the status of Knoll’s
teams, we sought out Millican for clarification of the situation.

“All of the guys who have been with me for years and years are still
with me.  The whole team is still intact.  Lance (Larsen) and Johnny
(West) are still working.  Our team is continuing to move forward. 
We’re putting new race cars together literally every day.  We just
signed the lease on a new shop that Even wanted us to move into, so
we’ve kinda spent the last few days as construction workers.  It’s
really going to be a cool shop. It’s got a paved Go Kart track behind
it.  My shins are sore because we’ve been out there crashin’ into each
other!

“The team’s fine.  I don’t know when we’re going to go racing, but
nobody’s frustrated yet.  The majority of those guys have been with me
for years and years, and that’s home for everybody.  We all live there,
and we’ve been as busy as normal.  Now, I don’t know what’ll happen a
few months from now.

Gary Densham could ill-afford a trip into the Pomona sand-trap he took on Friday during the NHRA Winternationals in Pomona, Ca.

“The levers were against the roof and we had both out of align,”
Densham said. “Obviously they didn’t open. Hey I screwed up, and this
may be our last race anyway, so if you’re going to screw it up I guess
this is the time to do it.”

BROWN LEADS TOP FUEL FIELD AFTER SECOND DAY OF QUALIFYING AT
WINTERNATIONALS; KALITTA AND ANDERSON STAY ON TOP AFTER TWO SESSIONS

Antron
Brown, who earned 16 victories in nearly a decade of racing on two
wheels, powered his Matco Tools dragster to a 4.495 seconds at 330.07
mph.

After months of preparation and weeks of testing runs
former Pro Stock motorcycle rider Antron Brown made his Top Fuel debut
with a huge smile on his face, and raced to the qualifying lead Friday
at the CARQUEST Auto Parts NHRA Winternationals at Auto Club Raceway at
Pomona.

Scott Kalitta and Greg Anderson remained the qualifying leaders in
their respective categories at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series
event, the first of 24 events in the 2008 season.

Brown, who earned 16 victories in nearly a decade of racing on two
wheels, powered his Matco Tools dragster to the best run of his early
Top Fuel career, posting a performance of 4.495 seconds at 330.07 mph.

NITRO PRICE INCREASE – AND THAT’S JUST THE BEGINNING

On Thursday morning there was a meeting between team owners, NHRA,
representatives of VP Racing Fuels, various and sundry attorneys
representing different parties, and individuals from the federal
government.
 
The stated purpose of the meeting was to discuss the dangers inherent
to the use and transportation of nitromethane, but our sources report
that the discussion ultimately covered numerous subjects, some of them
not directly related to nitro and drag racing.
 
New federal standards call for a maximum amount of nitro allowed in a
racer’s pit area at any given time to be limited to 398 lbs. total. 
That means that while 55 gallon drums continue to be used, they only
contain approximately 40 gallons when delivered by VP (the number of
gallons may vary slightly due to the percentage of nitro in the drum).
 
In order to transport nitro special licensing and documentation is now
required.  Two of the attorneys present, Mike Young and Donna Diamond
of Western & Benshost, showed the audience a large binder,
reportedly claiming that its extensive paperwork would have to be
filled out and approved before an individual would be allowed to
transport and store nitromethane.  However, one competitor reports that
he was able to quickly and easily fill out the same paperwork online,
and is anticipating receiving approval in short order.

Doug
Herbert said he’s a drag racer and that’s what he does when asked by a
member of the media why he didn’t just skip the NHRA Winternationals in Pomona, Ca., following the
death of his teenage sons, Jon, 17, and James, 12, two weekends ago.

Herbert said racing every race is conducive to winning a championship
and capturing the title is something he really wants to do in their
memory. Besides, he said, they loved racing too.

Herbert is on a mission outside of racing for the championship. He
wants to ensure the message of safe driving gets across to the teenage
driving community.

Defending
event champion J.R. Todd’s first outing driving his Morgan Lucas Racing
Torco/Lucas Oil Top Fuel dragster proved to be a bit bumpy.

Todd struck the retaining wall of the Auto Club Raceway at Pomona
during his qualifying attempt just past the finish line on Thursday.

“Yeah, I’m fine, just upset,” said a disappointed Todd.  “It was either
the A-Arm or the wing collapsed and it just took off to the right.  I
could tell after the finish line something broke, now watching the
video something did collapse.  It’s just unfortunate; it was a good car
and we’ll just have to pull the backup car out and see what we can do
from here.”

Hoosier Thunder Motorsports announced today that the Amalie Oil / Torco Nitro
Top Fuel dragster, driven by team owner Terry McMillen, will be outfitted with
Mahle Clevite bearings and Perfect Circle piston rings for the 2008 racing
season. Clevite and Perfect Circle will be major associate product
sponsors.

"Talk about lucky stars lining up," McMillen smiled. "In early
December I received a phone call from IHRA's "Texas Tornado" - Tommy Dupree. 
When Tommy told me that Jack Wyatt (Nitro Funny Car driver) and I had won the
MAHLE Clevite / Perfect Circle Nitro Club program sponsorship, I was stunned!
MAHLE Clevite and Perfect Circle provide phenomenal parts for the racing
industry."

Funny Car provisional quickest qualifier Scott Kalitta wasn’t as
impressed with the fact he was atop the qualifying list as much as
merely having his car get to the finish line under power. That might
not have been a blessing as he trashed a Toyota Solara body by going
into the sandtrap.

“I was just exciting the thing went down,” said Kalitta. “After all the
changes that everyone has gone through in this class, to have it go
down was refreshing.”

Forget the off-season changes. Kalitta had problems of his own before the car even fired.