Roy Johnson, engine builder and co-owner of J&J Racing, which
fields the Mopar-powered NHRA POWERade Pro Stock car driven by Roy's
son, Allen Johnson, was recently voted into the NHRA's Southeast
Division 2 Hall of Fame. [Roy] Johnson will be inducted along with
driver Billy Jacobs and veteran motorsports writer Norm Froscher in a
ceremony scheduled for Jan. 5 at Orlando's Florida Hotel and Conference
Center.

[Roy] Johnson bounced back from a heart attack suffered at a NHRA
POWERade event in February and returned at the very next race, tuning
the HEMI engines of his son Allen's Mopar J&J Racing Dodge Stratus
R/T throughout the 2007 campaign. He helped Allen qualify for the new
NHRA Countdown to 1 playoff and post a career best fourth-place finish
in the final NHRA Pro Stock standings. When Allen scored a win at the
Mopar Mile-High Nationals in July, [Roy] Johnson earned his fifth
career NHRA Pro Stock victory as a car owner.

With the final scheduled day of racing on Sunday, December 16,
Rockingham Dragway completed the 2007 season.  Starting the with the
Street Drags and Test and Tune this past January, the Dragway ran an
unprecedented 101 days of racing during this season

“We had a great year and were blessed with the best weather I have
encountered in the sixteen years that I have run The Rock”, said track
owner Steve Earwood.

“We continued with our test and tune program after Thanksgiving, a first for us, taking advantage of a very mild winter”.

Montgomery Motorsports Park promoter Jim Howard is coming out of the
gate strong for 2008 with a "Super Seven" series of races.  The series, set
to begin March 1-2, will feature points for both Pro and Footbrake. 
Howard says the exact purse structure and series sponsors will be announced
soon, but adds that one racer is guaranteed an entry into the 2008 Comp
Cams Million Dollar Race and another will win a free entry into the 3rd
Annual Footbrake Classic to be held at MMP on Thanksgiving weekend
2008.

IHRA and the Knoll Gas Nitro Jam have grown in popularity over the last few
years. Now the sanctioning body’s reach will be as broad as
ever.

From Northern Europe to the
Philippines…Algeria to Uzbekistan the Knoll Gas Nitro Jam is
receiving more worldwide exposure than ever before. IHRA’s television program,
which is broadcast on SPEED across North
America, will be seen on television in almost 50 countries all over
the world.

For the next three weeks, Torco’s CompetitionPlus.com will conduct its inaugural War Stories Showdown presented by Mach Series Accelerator. The veterans of yarn spinning are paired for what promises to be a series destined to produce the finest behind-the-scenes stories.

Veteran Top Fuel pilot will drive Evan Knoll’s Knoll’s Seelye Wright dragster in 2008

If there’s one thing that Evan Knoll and veteran independent Top Fuel
driver Bobby Lagana, Jr. have in common, it’s a passion for drag racing.

The Michigan-based Knoll has sponsored through his Knoll Gas and Torco
Race Fuels entities, a number of drag racing teams and drivers over the
years, many of these sponsorships keeping their racing dreams alive.

Lagana was one of those teams that raced with more passion than
operating funds. A few years ago, Knoll provided that much needed
influx of cash to maintain this popular underdog running strong.

Knoll made note of this dedication and when the position of driving his
personal Top Fuel dragster became available, it became a no-brainer
that Lagana would be a fitting candidate to replace the newly departed
Scotty Cannon.

The field is set for the Inaugural Torco's CompetitionPlus.com War
Stories Showdown. Now we have to qualify the competition for next
week's pairings. The highest vote getter will be the top qualifier for
the eliminations style competition.

Starting on Monday, December
17, 2007, we'll begin pairing them and you'll do the eliminating. We
encourage you to read the stories and vote based on the presentation,
not in terms of popularity. As for qualifying, give us your vote based
on who you think will be able to spin the best (and supposedly true)
story.

First major test for 2008 yields positive outlook

Clay Millican rarely lifts early on a good pass but for some reason, he
lifted early on his best run of testing over the past few days at
Gainesville Raceway in Gainesville, Florida.

Millican still managed a 4.59 elapsed time at 332 miles per hour. That was his best full run of the practice session.

‘I just thought I was at the finish line, that’s all,” Millican said.

The crew teased Millican for a bit and he took it all in stride.

“Well these things are built to run exactly 1320 feet and you do your
best to get it right to there and get out of it,” Millican added,
cracking a smile.

If you grew up in the Cleveland area you are all too familiar with
the radio commercials. The song “Fire on High” from the Electric Light Orchestra
probably saw more airtime on Cleveland’s progressive FM radio stations in
Thompson Drag Raceway radio spots than in regular rotation on the stations’ play
lists. With a young Aaron Polburn
handling track promotion, Thompson Drag Raceway was the place to be as the
Carter Administration wore down and “The Gipper” was poised to take the helm of
the nation.

Thompson was one of the first drag
strips in the country, built in 1958. It has been through three different
ownership groups in its history but one thing has remained a constant…from the
days of muscle cars in the late 50’s through the ‘60’s, through the heyday of
drag racing on a national level in the 1970’s until today cars have been going
down the track at Thompson.

In 2004 the track was renamed
Thompson
Raceway Park, but a new name did not detract from
the tradition of excellence at the facility. The track has undergone extensive
renovations over the last 18 years and is in the best shape in its history.
Thompson has always had a strong commitment to its local racers and, for this
reason, has decided to come back to the sanctioning body under which it thrived
throughout much of its history…the International Hot Rod Association. Track
owner Ken Edgar Jr. signed a three-year agreement Thursday, Dec. 13 to rejoin
IHRA’s family of member tracks, leaving behind the NHRA after four years under
its sanction.