It's been nine months since GM Racing's contingent of NHRA racers began their
quest for the 2007 POWERade championship at the CarQuest Auto Parts
Winternationals at Auto Club Raceway. After 22 events and an exciting season in
which new national performance standards were established, the season has come
full circle and will come to a close this weekend at the 43rd annual Auto Club
of Southern California NHRA Finals at Auto Club Raceway. Still to be determined
in the Pro Stock category is who will leave the racetrack Sunday night as the
new champion, and three GM drivers, Team Chevy's Dave Connolly and Jeg Coughlin,
and Pontiac's Greg Anderson, will be pulling out all the stops in their quest to
win the 2007 title.

Greg Anderson is looking to join Bob Glidden (10),
Warren Johnson (6) and Lee Shepherd (4) as the only Pro Stock drivers to win
four or more NHRA Pro Stock titles. The 46-year-old driver of the Summit Racing
Pontiac has had another outstanding year behind the wheel of his DRCE3-powered
GTO capturing eight wins (Pomona, Gainesville, Las Vegas, Atlanta, Topeka,
Englishtown, Sonoma and Las Vegas 2), advancing to 12 final rounds, earning 11
No. 1 qualifying awards, setting low e.t. of the meet 10 times and top speed 15
times. At Sonoma (Calif.) he became the second quickest driver in the history of
the NHRA (behind Bob Glidden) to reach 50 career national-event victories. At
Gainesville (Fla.), Anderson's 6.536 second run set a national record for the
Pro Stock category, and ran his streak to five consecutive seasons in which the
Pontiac driver has established a new national e.t. mark.

Anderson's most
recent win at Las Vegas on Oct. 28, was the 180th all time in NHRA Pro Stock for
Pontiac, and the Summit Racing GTO driver has the most victories behind the
wheel of a Pontiac with 49. Anderson has six career victories at Auto Club
Raceway including three at the NHRA Winternationals (2004, 2006-07) and three at
the NHRA Finals (2003-04, 2006). Anderson has won the last three times the
series has competed at Pomona. He'll head to California in first place in the
standings with a 34 point lead over second-place Coughlin, and a 48 point lead
over third-place Connolly.

Tony Pontieri recorded his first win of the season in a wild weekend of
excitement and upsets as the AMS Pro Mod Challenge presented by Tindle
Enterprises, Inc. ran the last race in its ten race season at the ACDelco Las
Vegas NHRA Nationals.
 
The final between two stalwarts in the series,
Pontieri and Steve Engel,  was decided by less than seven inches -- .0017
seconds - with Pontieri's '57 Chevy Bel Air edging Engle's '63 Corvette for the
win and the AMS Eagle.
 
"I've gotten close so many times, just to be
denied, most of the time it seemed by Josh Hernandez," Pontieri said. "When he
went out first round, I said to myself 'I've got a chance!' - and sure enough,
we did it!

The signs are already plentiful that next season there may be more
drivers than ever before sidelined without rides.  With more quality
drivers available and fewer cars in which they can compete it’s a
buyer’s market for team owners seeking to save salaries on high-priced
handlers.

WILEY X EYEWEAR® has
announced that they will be the primary sponsor on Jim Yates' Pro Stock Pontiac
for the 2008 NHRA POWERade season. The full 24-event sponsorship package
continues a successful race-marketing partnership between Wiley X Eyewear and
Jim Yates Racing.  

"This is an exciting time for Wiley X Eyewear as
we're not only celebrating 20 years as a family-owned business, but we are also
coming off our biggest growth year in the commercial market," said Myles
Freeman, vice president of sales and co-owner of   Wiley X Eyewear. "In
addition, Jim Yates has the Wiley X Sunglass Machine Team moving in a positive
direction, so this commitment should only further help develop Wiley X branding
for the thousands of Wiley X customers around the country."

Wiley X has
more than 20 years of innovation in providing advanced eyewear solutions to the
military - Army Rangers, Navy SEALS and US Special Forces - as well as many
other commercial markets.

This was spotted in the stands at Las Vegas during the NHRA ACDelco Las Vegas Nationals. (Jon Asher photo)

New Mexico resident Johnny Gray was in Las Vegas walking the pits, but
decidedly not “working the pits,” i.e., he wasn’t actively seeking a
ride.  Gray last competed in a Chuck and Del Worsham-owned CSK-backed
machine, but he would not return to action in a similar arrangement
with anyone.

Tim Marshall captured Cory McClenathan's first-round fire opposite of
the returning David Baca. McClenathan was uninjured in the incident.

Relive the glory days of funny cars in the Bar’s Products booth at
AAPEX, where the legendary Chi-Town Hustler will be on display.

The Chi-Town Hustler funny car was made famous on the Midwest
match-racing circuit in the 1970s by Chicago-area racers John Farkonas,
Austin Coil (now John Force’s crew chief) and Pat Minick. The car has
been restored as a tribute to these three men and the spirit of the
years when funny cars ruled the drag strips. It is built on the
original Romeo Palamides chassis, with restored Mini-Charger and
Mustang bodies. It carries a 426-cubic-inch Nitro-burning Hemi engine
built with the outlines of yesterday, but the safety guidelines of
today. The current Chi-Town Hustler is owned and driven by Troy Martin.

J.R. Todd’s being rather circumspect about his plans for the upcoming
season, although he did tell Torco’s CompetitionPlus.com, “I will be at
the race track driving a Top Fuel dragster with Evan Knoll’s name on
the side of it.  I do know that.”

Torco's CompetitionPlus.com has confirmed with Tommy Johnson, Jr. that he's been relieved of his duties as driver for Don Prudhomme Racing. We have confirmed with multiple sources that the sponsorship with Skoal will move over to the dragster for the 2008 season. Torco's CompetitionPlus.com has yet to confirm the sponsorship transferral with DPR at this time.

We'll have more on this developing story as details become available.

UPDATE: Johnson has confirmed that he will drive at the final event of the season next weekend in Pomona.