Drag racing has another
licensed female Top Fuel driver as Rome,
New York’s Jessie Harris
completed her licensing runs under the tutelage of potential future teammate
Clay Millican. Today in testing at Gainesville, Florida, the former jet car
driver recorded an impressive 4.66 elapsed time at 314 miles per hour.

Harris began working
towards her license back in October when she made a few 300-foot squirts in the
same Evan Knoll Top Fuel dragster Millican drives on the NHRA POWERade
Championship Drag Racing Series. A few weeks later, Harris advanced to
eighth-mile hits at The Strip in Las
Vegas.

On Wednesday, she made her
first full run – a 4.66 elapsed time at 305 miles per hour. Signing off on her
license was Millican, drag racing school instructor Frank Hawley and Bobby
Lagana.

“This has been very crazy
and exciting,” Harris said. “Now that we’ve got the licensing out of the way,
we can move forward.”

Dave Tomchek, 42, is an athletic trainer for the University of Nevada Las Vegas
(UNLV) men’s basketball program. The seasoned athletic trainer graduated from
the University of
Michigan with a degree in
Kinesiology. He earned his Master’s degree from UNLV in athletic administration
in 1990. Upon graduating, Tomchek was an athletic trainer for the Runnin’ Rebels
from 1990-92. He served as an athletic trainer and director of strength and
conditioning for the Atlanta Braves minor league system from 1992-97. He also
acted as the athletic trainer for the Michael Jordan Senior
Flight School in Las
Vegas the past 10 years and is the director of medical
services for the NBA Summer League. In this Q&A, Rod Fuller’s athletic
trainer provides insight about Fuller’s ACL injury and recovery process as the
Top Fuel star gears up for preseason testing at Las Vegas and Phoenix in January.

Not
too long ago, veteran NHRA POWERade team owner Don Schumacher was
fishing while on vacation at his Stuart, Florida home. Imagine his
surprise when he landed this shark. Schumacher admitted he had no plans
to eat the maneater and simply returned it to the sea. And, just to
think, you probably thought all the sharks were in the drag racing pits.

The rumble of IHRA drag racing will prevail along the
Ohio-Pennsylvania through the 2010 racing season. Quaker City Raceway,
a ¼ mile asphalt strip in Salem, Ohio, has signed a three-year contract
to remain under IHRA sanction.

Quaker City celebrated its 50th
anniversary last season with an O’Reilly Thunder Jam coupled with an
anniversary celebration bracket race. This year track owner Dan
Swindell is bringing back the Thunder Jam, this time in concert with a
Summit Racing Equipment Division 1 Pro-Am event Aug. 15-17.

All of the new concrete surface at Bandimere Speedway from the 660' mark
to past the finish line has been placed, and the new asphalt from the finish
to the sand traps are completed.  The first 400 foot of concrete was placed
on Monday, December 3rd, and the final pour was completed on Monday,
December 10th.

Roger Gustin, President
of AutoStar Productions, Inc., producers of the Super Chevy Show, announced
that O’Reilly Auto Parts has re-signed as a Selected Event Sponsor for the 2008
season.  Gustin stated, “We are pleased
to once again have O’Reilly Auto Parts back as a sponsor of the Super Chevy
Show.  O’Reilly Auto Parts is one of the
fastest growing auto parts companies in America.  They do an outstanding job of marketing
through racetracks and motor sporting events. 
We look forward to another great year of working with O’Reilly’s to
accomplish both of our respective goals of promoting the automobile through
classic show cars and drag racing.”

O’Reilly Auto Parts,
located in Springfield, MO, is the Selected Event Sponsor of 11 shows in 2008
at the following Super Chevy Show Tour locations: Baton Rouge, LA; Memphis, TN;
Montgomery, AL; Commerce, GA; Columbus, OH; Indianapolis, IN; Norwalk, OH;
Chicago, IL; Bristol, TN; Hampton, GA; and Tulsa, OK.  Spectators will be able to purchase discount
tickets for $3.00 off single day admission tickets at O’Reilly Auto Parts
retail locations within these markets 30-Days prior to each event.  At each event, O’Reilly Auto Parts will
display automotive aftermarket products for spectators and participants and
will also have various giveaways at each event.

Each day of physical therapy on his recently-repaired left knee gets Dave
Connolly closer to January and the beginning of testing for 2008 NHRA POWERade
Series competition.
 
A week removed from ligament surgery at Ohio State
University’s Sports Medicine Clinic in Columbus, the Pro Stock driver from
Elyria, Ohio, says “everything is going well.  The doctor said it was a big tear
and that the knee will be a lot better now.”
 
He’s already feeling the
difference.  “There is a little discomfort, but in a couple weeks it should be
in pretty good shape,” Connolly added.  “By the first of the year it will be
ready to go and be 100 percent recovered.”
 
Connolly and Evan Knoll’s
Torco Racing Chevy Cobalt crew at Victor Cagnazzi Racing are eager to resume
their search for the series championship.  They came so close this season during
a strong title run. Not capturing the biggest trophy was the only smudge on a
near-perfect campaign.

This evening, December 11, 2007 between 7:00 and 9:00 pm Scott Cannon
Jr. will be on RealRacinUSA.com with hosts Jack Smith and Rick Agnes.

POWERade Drag Racing Series Pro Stock champion Jeg Coughlin Jr. and his JEGS.com
Chevrolet Cobalt are featured prominently in a new print advertising campaign
from Chevrolet that will sweep the industry in the coming weeks. The Team Chevy
advertisement features many of the Chevy-backed racers that won series titles in
major motorsports sanctions in 2007 and includes photographs and mentions of
Coughlin, NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson, NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champ
Ron Hornaday, USAC winner Levi Jone, and many others.