Investing
in an exorcist might not be a bad idea of ADRL Pro Extreme Champion
Jason Scruggs but not for him - for the Dodge Stratus he's driving. For
the third time, the first man to 200 miles per hour in the eighth-mile
had his Mopar come out on the losing end of a calamity. As you'll
recall last year he debuted the car and crashed on the maiden voyage.

The
newly repaired ride returned and tested the day after the ADRL final
event and exploded the supercharger, taking out the windshield and
causing a fair amount of cosmetic damage.

Facility improvements are under way at
two of NHRA's most historic East Coast facilities, Old Bridge Township
Raceway Park in Englishtown and Maple Grove Raceway in Reading, both of
which host NHRA POWERade Series events.

Maple Grove Raceway, home of the annual Toyo Tires NHRA Nationals,
set for Aug. 14-17 this year, is undergoing a facelift for the 2008
racing season. Prior to the season-opening test-and-tune event March
22, several improvements will be in place. New LED Daktronics
scoreboards are first on the list of new items. The 20-foot-long boards
will feature red LED digits that will be much easier to see in daylight
and can be viewed from a wider range of angles so that spectators close
to the finish line will no longer find themselves straining to decipher
them. No longer having to frequently replace burnt-out incandescent
bulbs is another plus with the new LED scoreboards.

Fiber-optic wiring is second on the to-be-accomplished list. Bob
Brockmeyer from Compulink will soon install this latest technology in
track wiring. Maple Grove
will be the seventh national event facility to feature fiber-optic
cables the entire length of track. Utilizing fiber optics rather than
traditional copper wiring safeguards the entire track and all connected
components, such as the timing computer and Tree, against the
devastating damage that lightning strikes can cause. The electronic
damage that used to plague Maple Grove's computer after lightning storms will be one less thing to stand in the way of getting the show back on the road.

If
you’re one of the few that managed to gain a glimpse of Len Imbrogno
then chances are you did a double take. The reason for that is Imbrogno
is usually besieged by sportsman racers seeking to bend his ear with
complaints because of his NHRA Director of Sportsman Racing status.

Imbrogno resigned his position and accepted the role as General Manager
for Kenny Bernstein Racing. He said an ongoing discussion with
Bernstein eventual led to his leaving NHRA.

Brainerd, Minnesota (#5555) Super Gas racer John Bieringer Jr has
been diagnosed with bile duct cancer in his liver and is on his third
week of radiation and chemo treatments at the Mayo Clinc in Rochester, 

Bieringer will need a liver transplant, and his best hope is for a living donor transplant.

With an extra $65,000.00 bonus purse
on the line for Comp Eliminator racers in 2008 in NHRA’s Division 4, racers
from across the country are expected to begin rearranging their travel schedules
in hopes of taking advantage of the newly announced Comp Cash Reward program.

Racers this year will be in pursuit
of the Comp Cash Reward bonus at the
six Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series Division 4 events as well as the Jeg’s Cajun
SPORTSnationals. Comp Eliminator racers will compete for $40,000.00 in bonus
purse that features payouts of $1500.00 to win, $750.00 for R/U, $400.00 to the
semi-finalists, $200.00 to the quarter finalists and $100.00 to each first
round winner at the LODRS events with a double Comp Cash Reward purse for the Jeg’s SPORTSnationals that features
a $3000.00 winners bonus check. All Comp Cash Reward bonus checks will be
issued over and above the NHRA Lucas Oil Series payouts.

Four-time Top Fuel champion Shirley Muldowney pointed out last season
that she hoped to have a Top Fuel team for the 2008 season with Top
Alcohol Dragster driver Sheila Kopchick as the driver.

Muldowney’s vision of fielding a car under the Doug Herbert umbrella
didn’t pan out in time for the first race of the season, the NHRA
CARQUEST Winternationals in Pomona.

For
a man that made so many headlines as a Top Fuel dragster tuner, Mike
Kloeber appears to be settling into his new challenge of Funny Car crew
chief just fine.

“We started basically right around the first of November and we really
got to working in earnest right after Thanksgiving, but we're still not
done yet,” Kloeber said. “It's a lot of hard work and I couldn't be
happier to get the car down the race track.”

Not only did Kloeber and co-crew chief Chris Cunningham guide rookie
driver Bob Tasca III down the track, but also provided the impetus for
a first round victory. As different as the combinations are for a Funny
Car as opposed to a Top Fuel dragster, the tuning duo drew on Kloeber’s
Top Fuel experience.

Wally's Garage gets its first job! The special section, housed within the Wally
Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum, presented by the Automobile Club of Southern
California, is hosting a special Saturday seminar on Mar. 1, from 10 a.m. - 2
p.m., where the legendary Howard Cams Rattler will undergo a rebuild. Cost of
the event is $20 and includes admittance to Museum and refreshments.

"We
want to do more of these seminars in Wally's Garage," said Tony Thacker,
executive director of the Parks Museum. "These interactive events are what the
Museum's 'living history' philosophy is all about."

Former NHRA VP Steve
Gibbs, along with Dusty McWilliams, will work on the historic dragster while
Mike Kuhl (part of the famous Kuhl & Oslson team) will provide commentary
during the rebuild. The "Rebuilding the Rattler" seminar is sponsored by
A&EDesign.com, American Shine Products, Classic Industries, E3 Spark Plugs,
GoJaks (Zendex Tool Corp.), Grant Products and Injen
Technologies.

The sportsman national concept was developed to give sportsman
racers the chance to chase national championships in a way that is
easier on the wallet. Four racers were able to take full advantage at
IHRA’s season opening weekend at Immokalee Regional Raceway.

Drivers
had three chances to win at the weekend event, two Division 2 Summit
Pro-Am events were held Friday and Saturday before Sunday’s Sportsman
National. Peter Biondo, Tony Gray, Steve Corker and Scott Richardson
each visited the Winner’s Circle twice, Biondo in Stock, Gray in Super
Rod, Corker in Top Sportsman and Richardson in Top Dragster. Richardson
also won the Super Stock Ironman Sunday while Corker won the Quick Rod
class Friday.

“It was a bonus just doing anything good down
here,” NHRA heavy hitter Peter Biondo, a New Yorker who headed to
Immokalee to give IHRA shot, said of Immokalee. “Just to get out of
that cold weather up in New York was worth it. Needless to say I had a
blast racing with IHRA. It was a great atmosphere, the officials were
extremely nice and it was action-packed from Thursday morning to Sunday
night. After I beat Anthony Bertozzi in the third round they even
brought me some ice cream as a bonus for beating the World Champion.”

Some like him, some love him - many fear him. Brett Stevens is bringing a
serious commitment to the upcoming Summernationals at Western Sydney
International Dragway NEXT weekend (15th-16th February) with a racing outfit of
7 Group One vehicles!

Currently the Brett Stevens Racing 'super team'
amazingly leads 3 out of the 4 professional Drag Racing brackets they compete in
with Stevens himself heading Top Alcohol in his Kitten Car Care Products Funny
Car, Troy Mclean showing the way in Top Bike on his Jack Daniel's Racing Nitro
Harley, and Pete Cochrane on top of the Pro Stock Bike ladder with the S&S
Powered Buell.

With only the teams Top Doorslammers missing from the
leader board, a rigorous 3 day testing schedule for the cars was planned around
a busy calendar of exhibition events in the lead up to the
Summernationals.

However unusually wet weather has hampered the
preparations for the Queensland based team with their testing being reduced to
just one full day on the track.