For the first time in more than 18 years, local Gainesville resident, business
owner, and drag racing legend Frank Hawley will be among those to compete this
weekend at Gainesville Raceway Park in the ACDelco NHRA Gatornationals. Hawley,
a two-time NHRA Funny Car champion, is the proprietor of the Frank Hawley NHRA
Drag Racing School which is headquartered at the Raceway, and this year will be
piloting a nitro Funny Car for Mike Ashley and Roger Burgess' Gotham City
Racing.
 
"A lot has changed since I drove last in 1991," Hawley said.
"Funny Cars go a lot faster, there's so much more technology available to help
tune the cars, and the safety features have gotten so much better.

 
"With the school, I've obviously stayed really keyed in to what's been
happening in this world, and actually, after listening to so many crew chiefs
over the years, I think I know how to communicate with Aaron [Brooks] and Rod
[Centorbi, co-crew chiefs] about what's happening in the car so they can make
their tuning decisions."

The JEGS ProMod Challenge has aligned itself with the team of award-winning
photographers from Auto Imagery Inc. to capture the 2008 series. Auto Imagery
professionals will be on hand at each of the 10 national events of the JEGS
ProMod Challenge and will be posting a stunning assortment of riveting images to
www.JegsProMod.com on a daily
basis.

"Richard Shute, Dave Kommel, and Bob Hesser have provided the
photography for Team JEGS and we have always found them to be professional,
reliable, and their service is second-to-none," said Scott Woodruff, Director of
Motorsports and Marketing for JEGS. "It's great that they'll be capturing all of
the exciting action from the racetrack this year.

This weekend promises to be a different kind of race for Morgan Lucas.

The driver of the Forrest Lucas-owned Lucas Oil Top Fuel dragster will
be returning to the ACDelco Gatornationals, the site of the Gainesville
Raceway, where it was the last time the 24-year old Lucas saw his great
friend, Eric Medlen before his untimely death in a testing accident
last year. 

“Words just can’t describe how I feel about going back,” said Lucas,
reminiscing of his fellow Brat Pack member, Medlen.  “It’s hard to
believe it’s been a year since he’s been gone.  His spirit dwells in us
all and we’re all better off for it.  He’s left such a powerful legacy
for us to follow and it’s up to us to continue his good work.  We all
miss him and it’s such a terrible loss that we’ve all been grieving for
a year now.  I know J.R., Brandon and I are going to hoist a glass to
his honor Wednesday night.”

Second-generation Pro Stock driver ready to carry on the family name in driving

Rickie Jones has developed into a teenager wise beyond his years. The
19-year old son of RJ Race Cars owner and former Pro Stock driver Rick
Jones showed the same maturity this weekend as a freshman driver.

Jones completed his licensing requirements during the CSR Eastern
Spring Test Nationals presented by Torco’s CompetitionPlus.com in
Valdosta, Ga. He not only fulfilled the required incremental and full
run obligations, but also established the second quickest elapsed time
amongst the 500-inch entrants at SGMP.

“This is an experience I’ll never forget,” said an elated Jones after
the run. “I want to say thanks to my dad for making this all happen.
He’s a large driving force behind what I’ve been able to accomplish.”

Humphreys, Glidden Ride
Excellent New-car Test Results into
Gatornationals

Bob Glidden sounded like a very happy man.

“I am,” the 10-time NHRA Pro Stock champion and 85-race winner said
Wednesday evening.  “We got finished
early and I’m already in my hotel room (in Gainesville, Fla.).”

What he and the crew of Justin Humphreys’ RaceRedi Motorsports Pro Stock
team finished was testing their new Pontiac GXP following a busy three days at
Bradenton, Fla. The car’s performance elicited an
“outstanding” description from the veteran crew chief, enabling the team to head
up I-75 to Gainesville in time for dinner.

Bob Tasca III simply refused to sit idle after missing the Funny Car
field in Phoenix. In fact, the two weeks since have proven productive
ones filled with testing and preparation for this weekend's NHRA
Gatornationals in Gainesville, Florida. The Motorcraft/Quick
Lane Shelby-sponsored team have participated in two different testing
sessions to put together a package to get them into the top half of the
field for qualifying this weekend.

“We were really disappointed about not making the race in Phoenix last
month. For all of the hard work that this team has put in, to not
qualify for a race is as low as you can get in this sport,” said Tasca.

Longtime Kalitta  Motorsports associate sponsor Technicoat Companies, an
industry-leading flooring and waterproofing company based in Las Vegas, will
assume the role as primary sponsor on the 8,000-horsepower, Dave Grubnic-driven,
Connie Kalitta-tuned Top Fuel dragster at this weekend’s, March 13-16, annual
running of the famed ACDelco NHRA Gatornationals at Gainesville Raceway in
Gainesville, Fla.

Technicoat Companies, led by Team Kalitta fixtures “the Cowboys”, Bob
Coffman, President, and Glen Williams, C.O.O, and their trademark cowboy hats
are not only quarter-mile partners with Kalitta Motorsports, but they are also
business associates with team owner and drag racing legend Connie Kalitta and
his air cargo company, Kalitta Air. Technicoat Companies recently completed an
85,000-sqare-foot flooring project for a new aircraft hangar at Kalitta Air’s
maintenance facility in Oscoda, Mich.

“It’s great to have ‘the Cowboys’ be involved with us at this level for the
Gators,” Grubnic, a 45-year old resident of Ennis, Mont., said. “They are always
a blast to have around, and they’ve done so much for our entire Kalitta
Motorsports team over the years. I can’t think of anything better than to repay
their devotion to us than to put the Technicoat Companies Top Fuel dragster in
the winner’s circle in Gainesville.”

NHRA Top Alcohol Dragster driver Brandon “the Kid” Lewis and the
TigerFlow/Morrison Construction team are looking forward to returning to
‘normal’ racing conditions at this weekend’s AC Delco Gatornationals at the
famed Gainesville Raceway in Gainesville, Fla. 
After finding a solid level of consistency at the season-opener in
Pomona, Calif., the team encountered ‘mineshaft’ conditions coupled with a
tricky track at their last outing in Belle Rose, La.  With mid seventies forecasted all weekend and
a track known for fast numbers, the team is looking forward to picking up where
they left off in Pomona.

Lewis, 22, who is a
surgical tech in Broken Arrow, Okla., when not racing, cites the team won’t let
their struggles in Belle Rose deter them, as they are unlikely to see weather
conditions that cool the rest of the year. 
Despite not running up to the form that netted the team two national
event final round appearances last year, the team still netted a semifinal
finish out of the weekend.

Several years ago, the National Football League mandated to their professional teams that each franchise had to, on one weekend, wear the same jerseys and uniforms from an era in their past history. Several teams adopted the helmet emblems, jerseys and colors of their teams dating back to the 1930s through the 1970s. Let's suppose for a moment that same edict was passed down to the Funny Car teams in NHRA POWERade drag racing tour.

CompetitionPlus.com joined forces with up-and-coming graphic designer Greg Russell to create a few fantasy scenarios.

Top
Fuel driver Jack 'the Sheriff' Harris returned to the seat of his Utah
Posse dragster during the 50th annual Bakersfield March Meet and went on to record the quickest elapsed time for the
class with a 5.568 at 263 MPH during a second round single.  Jaws
dropped and most had to take a double-take at the scoreboard, including
Harris' own crew, when the number came up.

"All we wanted to do was stop hurting parts", said team partner Billy
Robbins.  "We were going through pistons and a lot of parts on every
pass, and just softened the combination to reduce the carnage."