Unable to purchase NHRA, Bruton Smith, Chairman and CEO of
Speedway Motorsports, will own the four top facilties on the circuit with the
announcement of the construction of his fourth dragstrip, a facility already
being heralded as the “Crown Jewel” of the NHRA circuit just across the street
from Lowe's Motor Speedway. Smith estimates construction cost will run upwards
of $60 million dollars. With four facilities, Smith will now play host to five
NHRA events, or 20 percent of the schedule.

Appropriately, the NHRA has awarded Smith a premier date to
debut the as yet unnamed facility. The NHRA Carolinas Nationals to be held on
September 11 – 14 will mark the first event in the newly formated NHRA POWERade
Countdown to the Championship; a six race run among the top ten drivers in each
of the pro categories.

The PSCA Mickey Thompson Tires Winternationals
event scheduled for this weekend (Jan. 25-27) at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor
Speedway has been cancelled due to difficult travel conditions throughout the
region.  The early cancellation was made so that racers would be spared
unnecessary risk and expense of travel in winter weather conditions.  Severe
storms in California also are affecting weather conditions in Las
Vegas.

"If the PSCA event was strictly for local racers
we would probably go ahead as scheduled and make every effort to complete the
event between rain showers," said Chris Blair, LVMS’ vice president of racing
operations.  "However, more than 80% of the participants at a typical PSCA event
live more than 300 miles from Las Vegas.  We have a lot of racers from Northern
California, Texas, New Mexico, Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Colorado who are
facing nearly-impossible travel situations with a pick-up truck or RV towing a
race car trailer."

Our staff has just arrived at Firebird Raceway in Chandler, Arizona
for the NHRA Time Trials test session. We'll be adding photos to our
gallery as the event progresses.

PHOTO GALLERY 

David Poole, a highly
respected motorsports journalist from the Charlotte Observer, recently quoted a visitor’s information packet
regarding the new drag strip that’s being built by Bruton Smith next to Lowe’s
Motor Speedway.  You know, the one that
will host NHRA’s 24^th race in September. (A formal press conference
will announce the already obvious on Thursday.) 
According to the information packet, “This groundbreaking new facility
will be the only 4-lane drag strip in the United
States…”

The New York Giants and Washington Redskins may be fierce rivals in the
NFL’s NFC East Division, but it won’t prevent Redell Harris from proudly
displaying the numbers of a prominent player from each team on his new Buell Pro
Stock Motorcycle during the 2008 NHRA POWERade Series.

Harris, a veteran two-wheel competitor, proudly announced
the formation of his new team, one that features his cousin, Corey Webster, who
happens to play cornerback for the Giants, and good friend LaRon Landry, the
Redskins’ free safety sensation and first team-team NFL All-Rookie Defense. 

“We bought two new Buells and we are definitely looking forward to this
season,” said Harris, of Baton Rouge, La. “I have been an independent rider for
10 years, but this is, financially, the best support I’ve ever had.  We also have Master P, The No Limit Records
and Lil’ Romeo, All-Pro Sports, P Miller clothing and P Miller sportswear,
Bazooka Speakers, Peterbuilt of Baton Rouge and Acura and Infinity of Baton
Rouge working with our team.

Cordova Dragway
Park and the NHRA have announced that
a Hot Rod Heritage Series event will be held at historic Cordova Dragway Park
on Friday and Saturday, June 20-21, 2008. The event will be known as the AC
Delco NostalgiaFest of Drag Racing presented by RM Distributing and will
feature Nostalgia Top Fuel and Funny Cars as well as other nostalgia and
bracket classes.

Initial construction has begun at Texas Raceway in a multi-faceted improvement
package highlighted by an all new 1/8 mile concrete racing surface. The new
track is complemented by a fully integrated concrete guard wall barrier that
extends to 1000 ft in both lanes, along with a new burnout box. Race fan amenity
improvements include permanent rest room remodeling. Rounding out the package
are additional pit and return road paving with increased lighting for the pits
and the track.

Billy Glidden’s spare time
will be valuable in 2008 thanks to his Mickey Thompson Tires “big tire” development
assignments. Between the rigors of testing and keeping the test machine
maintained, Glidden and his wife Shannon will have little time for any other
drag racing.

At this point in the game,
Glidden can not make any promises outside of the test program whether he'll race any Outlaw 10.5.

“At the time I don’t really have any plans,” Glidden said in a recent phone
conversation. He’d just wrapped up a long stretch of road time where he was at
the Dart Machinery headquarters in Troy, Michigan assembling engines for the
tire test car as well some for the Justin Humphrey team to test. 

Being a member of the
Glidden family carries a pre-requisite of long hours in the shop and successful
results on the track. The son of Pro Stock legend Bob Glidden is truly a chip
off the old block.

Antron Brown will return to the seat of his David Powers-owned Matco Tools
dragster as NHRA preseason testing continues at Firebird International Raceway
near Phoenix, Jan. 25-30, at the National Time Trials. Brown and the Matco Tools
team last tested at Gainesville (Fla.) Raceway in
mid-December.

The immediate goal of the Lee
Beard-led team is to earn Brown’s crossover Top Fuel license. The Matco Tools
team completed Brown’s required incremental passes during a three-day test at
the storied Florida quarter mile. Brown needs only to make
two full runs to earn his Top Fuel certification required to compete during the
2008 NHRA season, which begins Feb. 7-10 at Pomona, Calif.