Mike Ashley retired a two-time NHRA Pro Modified championship-winning
driver in order to pursue a career as an NHRA POWERade Funny Car
competitor. Somehow, one just couldn’t believe he’d stay away from the
class that made him a superstar.

Ashley proclaimed his return to the popular fast doorslammer division
with a top qualifying 5.945 elapsed time at 239.61 miles per hour. So
much for the competition thinking the mortgage banker had lost his
momentum by focusing his attention on the nitro divisions for the last
two seasons.

“I don't think I lost any momentum,” Ashley said. “The bottom line is
that driving a Funny Car helped me to become a better driver all around
because you've got to be really aware with those cars. The truth of the
matter is that racing is racing. Going four seconds or going six
seconds is still fast.

With the pressure on and with only two chances on Saturday to make it
into Sunday’s Gatornationals, Bob Tasca III qualified his
Motorcraft/Quick Lane Shelby Mustang in the 12th position, and will
make his second NHRA POWERade Fuel Funny Car start of the season at
Gainesville Raceway.

“This was a high-pressure day,” said Tasca, referring to having only
two qualifying runs after Friday’s sessions were canceled because of
rain. “Whenever you only get two runs to qualify, it’s really a
crapshoot because these cars are designed to get four runs under your
belt. To go out and run the fifth quickest pass in the first session in
the heat, which is what I think the conditions will be tomorrow, is
really encouraging. “

Tasca’s two qualifying runs came under much different track conditions,
with the first and quickest run coming in the high heat, and the second
happening under heavy cloud coverage.

Four-time NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series champion Gary Scelzi failed to
qualify for the NHRA Gatornationals at Gainesville Raceway today, after Friday's
two rounds of qualifying were washed out due to rain.

Scelzi's
Mopar/Oakley Dodge Charge R/T Funny Car suffered a mechanical problem in the
final of only two laps available to qualify. He had posted a tire-smoking
7.936-second lap at 108.77 mph in the first session, which placed him outside of
the field. With one last chance to make it in, Scelzi looked like he was on a
strong run, but the 5.014/307.37 run that popped up on the scoreboard was
clearly not stout enough to earn him a spot in the top 16.

Troy Coughlin was surprisingly upbeat after missing the 16-car
elimination field of the 39th annual ACDelco NHRA Gatornationals. The
driver of the JEGS.com Pontiac GTO was forced to shut-off very early in
both of his qualifying attempts, surrendering his chance at big numbers
when his racecar made wild moves to the left as soon as he let out the
clutch in both sessions.

"We're not sure why it did that," Coughlin said. "Fortunately, our car
builder, Jerry Haas, is here at this event and he's going over the car
from front to back to see if it's a chassis issue. We've already made
arrangements to stay and test Monday and Tuesday so we'll figure this
thing out and get back after it in Houston.

PEDREGON, BRADSHAW, JOHNSON AND GUIDERA EARN NO. 1 QUALIFYING POSITIONS AT
ACDELCO NHRA GATORNATIONALS

More than a month after suffering one of the most spectacular Funny Car explosions in NHRA history, Tony Pedregon raced

Former Top Alcohol Dragster champion Alan Bradshaw claimed his first top qualifier in Top Fuel.

to the No. 1 qualifying position Saturday at the ACDelco NHRA Gatornationals.

Alan Bradshaw, Warren Johnson and Matt Guidera also were No. 1
qualifiers and will lead their respective categories into Sunday’s 11
a.m. eliminations at the third of 24 NHRA POWERade Series events in
2008.

Former champ Ashley shines in return to JEGS ProMod
Challenge
 

Mike Ashley may have spent the last two years in a nitro Funny Car since winning
back-to-back Pro Mod titles in 2004-2005,

A two year layoff had no ill-affects on two-time world champion Mike Ashley as he drove to the top spot in Pro Modified.

but he certainly hasn't forgotten how
to drive the 2,500-horsepower hot rods.

Ashley opened the 10-race 2008
JEGS ProMod Challenge with a stellar 5.945 at 239.61 mph in his ProCare Rx
Chevrolet Camaro Saturday evening to lead the field into Sunday's elimination
action at the 39th annual ACDelco NHRA Gatornationals. It was the only
five-second run of the weekend and places him a full seven-hundredths of a
second ahead of the chase pack.

Some team owners carry the hope of qualifying for an NHRA POWERade
proffesional event. Then there's John Force who qualified all four
drivers for the NHRA Gatornationals in Gainesville. John Force Racing
drivers Robert Hight, John Force, Ashley Force and Mike Neff all made
the show.

Hight drove the Auto Club Ford Mustang to the top of the field
in the first session and that early success was key considering in the
second round he dropped a cylinder two seconds into the run and was
able to lift knowing that he was solidly in the field.

“We are still just a hair off. For whatever reason the engine is
putting cylinders out and it is just not happy,” said the current Funny
Car points leader. “We have to keep working on it but luckily we were
qualified because that would have been really ugly if I’d have driven
it to the finish line on the second run to try and get in the show.”

(Marvin Smith photo)

Angelle is a changed lady aside from her conversion from a Suzuki to running a Buell V-twin motorcycle.

Let the record reflect, the three-time NHRA world champion has no
problem letting the world know her gender. She’ll quickly testify her
preference was to be known as a good motorcycle racer who just happened
to be a female.

“That’s the way it was in the beginning of my career because I didn’t
want anyone looking at me differently,” Sampey said. “I just wanted to
be one of the guys because I didn't want any special favoritism.  I
didn't want the comments or the things that were happening like, ‘Oh
the girl, the girl- I just wanted to be one of the guys.” 

Today's classic You Tube video moment features the legendary 1984 NHRA
Cajun Nationals crash between Funny Car drivers Ed "Ace" McCulloch and
John Collins. The safety procedures weren't as advanced as today but
even we're wondering about the horse rider coming to the rescue.

Ashley
Force, Jeg Coughlin, Chef Nicky Morse, Larry Dixon, Cruz Pedregon, and
Alan Bradshaw will be guests tonight on Joe Castello’s Power Shift
program on XM Satellite Radio, channel 144, from 8-10 p.m. Eastern.
NHRA announcer Alan Reinhart will be the co-host on the popular
motorsports-theme show.