Antron Brown will again familiarize himself with the Matco Tools Top Fuel
dragster when the David Powers-owned Top Fuel team begins its off season testing
program at Gainesville (Fla.) Raceway on Dec. 17.

Brown and the Lee Beard-led team
will test at the historic Florida drag strip Dec. 17-19 as Brown
continues to acclimate himself to the Top Fuel dragster. The 16-time NHRA Pro
Stock Motorcycle winner competed in the popular two-wheel category the past 10
years before being named to drive the Matco-backed rail in November. Brown twice
was a championship runner-up in the bike class.

“I’m real anxious and can’t wait to
get started with our test session in Florida,” Brown said. “I’m excited to work
with our new crew at the race track. I feel we have an all star cast of crew
members led by Lee Beard. We’re having a great time at the shop, but we really
want to fire-up this Matco Tools dragster. Our goal is to get my Top Fuel
license and make some really consistent laps in the
dragster.”

Since making the moved to David
Powers Motorsports, Brown visits the team’s Brownsburg, Ind. race shop on a daily basis getting
acquainted with his new ride and crew members. He and Beard have quickly
developed a positive rapport that they believe will lead to immediate on-track
success.

if you've got a hankering to learn the ins and outs of driving an
A/Fuel Dragster, then Doug Foley is ready to teach you the ropes. There
has been much speculation on the Internet that Foley would offer the
injected-nitro curriculum at his increasingly popular drag racing
school, but today Foley confirmed he's headed in that direction through
a statement released to the media today.

"I've been wanting to add this to our course offerings for the last
couple years," Foley said. "With the increasing speeds of the A-Fuel
cars, safety is a priority and I have to feel comfortable that we put
the best possible program we could have together.

Four-time NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series world champion Gary Scelzi
tested this week for the upcoming 22nd Annual Dodge Chili Bowl
Nationals in Tulsa, Okla., scheduled for Jan. 12, 2008. We checked in
with him between driving stints at Cory Kruseman's Sprint Car and
Midget Driving School in Ventura, Calif.

In this question-and-answer session, the 2005 Funny Car champion,
driver of the Mopar/Oakley Dodge Charger R/T for Don Schumacher Racing,
and native of Fresno, Calif., discusses his plans for the so-called
"off-season," his future goals in NHRA, his status as a "soccer dad,"
safety issues and the recently-announced "blue boxes." He also does not
hesitate to reiterate his views on NHRA's Countdown to the Championship
format.

Every
Friday, Torco's CompetitionPlus.com brings you our Feedback letters.
Read what our readers have to say about our feature articles and you
can even offer your opinions.

FEEDBACK FRIDAY - DECEMBER 14

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.