Sunday’s eliminations
at the NHRA Auto Club Finals in Pomona,
Ca., marked the last time that Melanie Troxel will strap into a Top Fuel dragster,
at least for now. She’s departing the Top Fuel category to drive Evan Knoll’s
forthcoming Vietnam Veterans/POW-MIA Dodge Charger Funny Car under the Gotham
City Racing umbrella. 

 
Last Monday, during a
post-race Las Vegas
test session, Troxel completed the cross-over licensing requirements to make
the move.

“We had planned on going
out and doing some testing most of the year and just the way that the season
has gone we haven’t had a lot of opportunities to do that,” Troxel said. “I was
really happy and getting my license was important.  Just making a couple of passes to the finish
line was important to me as a driver and I know what to expect for next year
and at the same time I was having a lot of fun.”

Troxel expected a bit of
the learning curve considering the differences in the two breeds of race
vehicle.

After years of learning the ropes and soaking up everything possible as crew
chief of his father’s Pro Modified operation, Mike Carpenter is finally getting
a chance to experience what it’s like behind the wheel.

Following an incredible season on the NHRA POWERade tour that included Jeg
Coughlin's third NHRA Pro Stock championship (2002, 2000) and class wins at
numerous Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series events across the United States, Chevrolet
has won the 2007 NHRA Manufacturers Cup, one of the longest and most enduring
standards of racing excellence. This year marked the 16th time that Chevrolet
has won this illustrious award (the most ever by any automobile manufacturer)
which is a genuine measurement of Chevy's ongoing commitment to the sport of
drag racing.

You’ve
never heard of Peter Russo from Melbourne,
Australia.  Oh, sure, you may have seen his name on the
list of Funny Car hopefuls at both Las
Vegas and the Finals, but his name was so far down the
list that you probably ignored it.  He
doesn’t mind.  He’s not after an NHRA
POWERade championship or even a victory at Pomona
(or Las Vegas,
for that matter).  He has far more modest
goals.  A four second time slip with a
300 mph speed attached to it would be more than enough for this modest man and
his team of mates.  No Funny Car drivers
from Down Under have yet recorded such numbers, and to accomplish that goal
might not make a ripple in American waters, but in Australia it would create a tsunami
of talk.

Assisted by American Funny
Car owner John Lindsay, Russo worked out of a small trailer at the far end of
the fuel pits in Pomona, largely ignored by a crowd more used to 4.80s than,
well, sometimes troubled eight second efforts.

Robert Hight knew winning
the championship was going to be a tough proposition. He had to not only win
the event, but establish a world record back up in the heat of the day.

Even Hight knew that was
an unlikely scenario. He ran a 4.87 when he knew a 4.705 was what it would take
to at least keep him in the running. The driver for John Force racing led the
Funny Car division with round wins at 34 and that netted him with the highest
winning percentage.

‘We needed to win and even
if we had won the championship, that wouldn’t have made 2007 a great year,”
Hight said. “Winning this race didn’t make it a great year either. We lost a
teammate this year. There’s not much that would have made this a great year –
nothing. We’ll never have Eric back and he was in the final round a few years
ago.

Three Board members up
for reelection were unanimously returned to office, including Connie
Kalitta, Doug Herbert and Don Schumacher.  There had been some talk
that Kenny Bernstein would step down as president, but he’s apparently
been convinced to stay on board.  His leadership will be needed, as
numerous issues are facing the group prior to the start of the 2008
season.  For example, NHRA has already informed the competitors that
hospitality space in the pits will increase in cost by a considerable
amount.  There will also be an increase in costs for racer souvenir
trailer space from $1,500 to $2,500 per race, but Bernstein vows “to
push back on these and other issues.”  Among those other issues are an
increase in both the costs of food for catered hospitality areas as
well as for trash removal.

In the face of these increases the competitors were less than pleased
to be told that there would be no purse increase for 2008.  It has been
several years since the last purse increase, and while the costs of
competing continue to skyrocket, racer income levels haven’t come close
to keeping pace.

Former Carolina Coalition champion Chris Plott just missed out on a sweep of the
Footbrake titles and teammates Allen Britt, E.J. Womack and Nick Womack won
everything else during the annual Fall Bracket Nationals at Steve Earwood’s
Rockingham Dragway.

 Britt beat Joe Gary
of Greenwood, S.C., in an all-dragster final to claim Saturday’s $10,000
prize in the Top Eliminator class and Womack matched that with a Sunday win over
Todd Whited of Richlands,
Va., and his 1995 Oldsmobile. 

Four-time Top Fuel champion
Shirley Muldowney, who was hospitalized in Las Vegas
suffering from gastroenteritis, has returned to her home in Michigan.

U.S.
Army Pro Stock Motorcycle riders
Angelle Sampey and Antron Brown finished the 2007 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing
Series season strong Sunday at the Auto Club Finals at Pomona, by posting semifinal
round advancements.

Sampey closed the campaign holding
fifth-place in the points, with Brown finished in 10th. The Auto Club
Finals marked the close of Sampey’s and Brown’s four-year run with the Army.

“We are very proud of the passion
and dedication that Angelle and Antron have shown over the past several years,
both on- and off-track,” said Colonel David Lee, director, marketing and
strategic communications for the U.S. Army. “Throughout their career with the
U.S. Army, they have exemplified Army values, showing true mental, emotional and
physical strength through their racing success and their participation in the
U.S. Army’s educational programs, visits with soldiers, multicultural programs,
and numerous other national events.”