Celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports
Museum presented by the Automobile Club of Southern California, kicks off the
year with dinner hosted by two legends of drag racing, an open discussion with
current driving stars and a racing collectible show. Combined they make an
event-filled week at the Parks Museum.

Thurs., Feb. 7, 6:30 - 9:30 p.m.
"A Night with Snake and Mongoose" is the title for a special dinner open to the
public and held at the Parks Museum.  Don "The Snake" Prudhomme and Tom "The
Mongoose" McEwen are co-hosts for the event, which will include highlights from
the recently released DVD Once Upon a Wheel: Match Race. Reservations are
required and can be made by calling the Museum at 909/622-2133. Tickets are $125
each or $1,100 for a table of 10.  All proceeds from the event, which includes a
memorabilia auction, will directly benefit the Parks Museum.

David Allio Photos

Kurt
Johnson posted the low elapsed time and top speed of the day, driving
his ACDelco Cobalt to the provisional pole with a 6.687 e.t. at 206.16
mph.

Qualifying for the third annual Pontiac Pro Stock Showdown got underway today at
The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway with three rounds of time trials. One
round of qualifying still remains to be completed on Saturday before the field
is set for the 16-car eliminator.

Team Chevy's Kurt Johnson posted the
low elapsed time and top speed of the day, driving his ACDelco Cobalt to the
provisional pole with a 6.687 e.t. at 206.16 mph.  Parked in the No. 2 position
is Jeg Coughlin Jr. who drove his Chevy Cobalt to a 6.701 second run at 205.44
mph, and Ron Krisher is No. 3 in the Valvoline Chevy Cobalt with a 6.711 e.t. at
204.23 mph.

Team officials for Gotham City Racing confirmed the Funny Car driven by Melanie Troxel suffered a non-catastrophic chassis failure during the NHRA Time Trials in Phoenix, Arizona. The chassis, driven by Mike Ashley in the latter part of 2007 and updated to the 2008 SFI chassis spec, cracked underneath the seat after tire shake was experienced on a Friday run.

The 2008 SFI spec allows for the use of normalized or heat-treated
tubing. This car utilized a chassis fabricated from heat-treated tubing
with normalized tubing welded into the section that failed.

Bob Tasca III and the Tasca Racing team completed the final step needed
for entrance into the NHRA Nitro Funny Car class with a 4.96 second,
317 mph run during testing at Firebird International Raceway on Jan.
31. The run qualified Tasca’s NHRA license to be upgraded from Top
Alcohol to Nitro Funny Car status.

“It has been a long test session,” said Tasca, driver of the
Motorcraft/Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center Shelby Mustang. “A new
car, new team and a tough track to deal with, but we did it. It was a
big difference in acceleration compared to my Top Alcohol car. To run
over 317 mph in under five seconds – it was incredible. We made great
progress on our tune-up and the guys got up to speed on servicing the
car. Pomona, here we come.”

NHRA has announced that limited tickets are available for the new
Quarter Mile Club, an innovative new luxury suite package available to
fans attending the CARQUEST Auto Parts NHRA Winternationals, Feb. 7-10,
at the historic Auto Club Raceway at Pomona.

NHRA fans who purchase tickets to the NHRA Quarter Mile Club will
receive many VIP amenities to enhance their NHRA POWERade Drag Racing
experience, including:

The following are the pre-entries received for the 8th annual CSR Eastern Spring Test Nationals presented by Torco's CompetitionPlus.com hosted by South Georgia Motorsports Park in Valdosta, Ga. 

Kenny Koretsky rolled out of bed Thursday and
pronounced himself fit for the beginning of the new 24-race NHRA POWERade Drag
Racing Series season that gets underway Feb. 7-10, at Pomona, Calif. 

 
It’s a good thing, too, because he was scheduled to begin testing
at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway Thursday.
 
Koretsky, of
Richboro, Pa., was bedridden for 11 days with flu-like symptoms.

 
“I feel a lot better now,” said the popular driver who also
answers to the nickname Captain Chaos.  “I couldn’t do anything, and that
was difficult for me because I’m always on the go. But I did lose 11 pounds, and
that made Eddie happy.  (Eddie Guarnaccia is the longtime crew chief on his
Nitro Fish/Indicom Electric Chevy Cobalt.)  He’s always after me to lose
weight. That’s not the way I wanted to do it, but we’ll take advantage of it.”
(Koretsky graciously refused to reveal his current weight.)
 
“We
were excited to get out of Pennsylvania and to Las Vegas for testing and the Pro
Stock Shootout Saturday. In my book there’s no better place for Captain Chaos to
start than in viva Las Vegas.”

Two of drag racing’s greatest rivals, partners and friends – Don “the
Snake” Prudhomme and Tom “the Mongoose” McEwen – have been named Grand
Marshals for the upcoming March Meet (Mar. 7-9) at Auto Club Famoso
Raceway, outside of Bakersfield, Calif.

 It’s no surprise that the March Meet, nostalgia drag racing’s premier
event – and celebrating its 50th year of racing – is honoring Prudhomme
and McEwen. “Both are former March Meet winners and part our rich
racing lore and drag racing history,” said Blake Bowser, vice president
and general manager of the Kern County Racing Association, operators of
Auto Club Famoso and producers of the March Meet. “It’s an unbelievable
honor to have them here as Grand Marshals. What a treat for the fans.”

“The March Meet really means a lot to me,” said Prudhomme, who was
named the No. 3 driver on the NHRA’s top 50 drivers list. “The 1962
Smokers March Meet was my first race driving a fuel car for Kent Fuller
and Dave Zueschel. It was THE race to win back then and I still have my
March Meet trophy, which is one of my most prized possessions. Winning
that race really kick-started my driving career, so to go from an
unknown racer back then to being named a Grand Marshal this year along
with Tom McEwen is something that I never thought would happen. But
then again, Grand Marshals are usually old, so I guess it makes sense!”

For the seventh consecutive year, NHRA has announced that TSN, the
all-sports TV network in Canada, will televise all 24 events in the
2008 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, dedicating nearly 60 hours of
programming to NHRA, the fastest and most exciting motorsport in the
world.

Highlighting TSN’s 24-event, 2008 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series telecast schedule will be coverage of the final round of eliminations.

The season begins with the 48th annual CARQUEST Auto Parts NHRA Winternationals from the fabled Auto Club Raceway at Pomona in Southern California and stretches the entire season, concluding with the 44th annual Auto Club NHRA Finals, also at the historic quarter-mile track in Pomona, Calif.  The coverage also includes programming from the world’s largest and most prestigious drag racing event, the 54th annual Mac Tools U.S. Nationals from O’Reilly Raceway Park in Indianapolis.