FRIDAY QUALIFYING - ONE ROUND OF
QUALIFYING COMPLETED AT RAIN-SLOWED TORCO RACING FUELS NHRA
NATIONALS

Brandon Bernstein, Tommy
Johnson Jr. and Dave Connolly hold provisional No. 1 qualifying
positions

Fourth-place Brandon Bernstein's fight to hold onto one of the four spots in the
inaugural Countdown to 1 got off to a great start Friday night as the
second-generation Top Fuel pro earned the provisional low qualifier position at
the second annual Torco Racing Fuels NHRA Nationals.

The son of legend Kenny Bernstein blistered Virginia
Motorsports Park with a 4.549 at 321.58 mph to outrun the four drivers looking
to replace him in the final leg of the first
round of the NHRA Playoffs.
Tommy Johnson Jr. leads Funny Car with a solid 4.790 at 312.06, while scorching-hot Pro Stock points leader
Dave Connolly showed the way in the factory hot rod class with a steady 6.649 at
207.24 mph.

"That was big," Bernstein said. "To qualify in the
top half and get those extra points gives us a little bit of a cushion. But it's
still going to come down to a round-by-round deal on Sunday. We just have to go
rounds on Sunday and hope we go more than [Bob Vandergriff] goes and even Whit
[Bazemore] and the others. They're all right back there."

Earlier this week, the city of Concord, NC., voted to rezone the
property owned by Bruton Smith and Lowe's Motor Speedway. This
effectively killed the plans to build a drag strip on the property.

An online petition has been created to show support of a drag strip.

You can sign the petition by logging onto CHARLOTTE DRAG STRIP PETITION .

The year was 1957 and Chevrolet was
introducing to the world what would become the most sought-after car ever to be
built, the ‘57 Chevy. In a small town in South Carolina another legend was being
born as well.  L.B. “Junior” Steed had a dream to open a drag racing track for
the world to see. He started clearing land and laid out his facility…little did
he know some of the biggest names in motor sports history would soon be visiting
him every month. Richard Petty, Junior Johnson, Bill "Grumpy" Jenkins and Ronnie
Sox would frequent the track, lining up next to the local racers and each other.
The years went by and Jackson came to be a household name in the racing
industry. Many tracks in the area came and went but Jackson withstood them all.

Being one of only two 1/4 mile tracks in South Carolina, Carolina
Dragway (originally named Jackson Dragstrip) was certainly destined for
greatness. At 25 acres Jackson was a large track in the 50's and 60's, but as
time passed the size of the facility grew out of necessity. Steed bought up as
much surrounding land as possible and kept expanding on his dream. Then, in
1985, it was time for a change.

Mike Perry, who has been with IHRA
and Live Nation-Motorsports for three years, has been named IHRA’s new Media
Relations Director.

Perry, a Kent State
University graduate, will be
responsible for facilitating all IHRA’s local and national media coverage as
well as the development and execution of new marketing plans for IHRA’s Knoll
Gas Nitro Jam.

Perry came to IHRA with a background
in print media, having spent 18 years in the daily newspaper business as a
sportswriter. IHRA brought him on board to take on duties as Editorial Director
for Drag Review Magazine. He will now be asked to draw on his experience working
with print and broadcast media to increase the status and perception of IHRA
Drag Racing and the Knoll Gas Nitro Jam.

Here are a few photos of the Murf McKinney chassis fix. These photos are of Tony Pedregon's chassis.

Clay Millican hasn’t
won as many races this year as he’d like, in fact he hasn’t won a national event
on the NHRA POWERade Championship Drag Racing tour during the 2007
season.

None of that mattered
last Sunday. He came home and his room was just the way he left it – full of
trophies – plus one.

Millican left Maryland
International Raceway with one more trophy, scoring his 51st
career IHRA national event victory behind the wheel of Evan Knoll's
RATT Back for More dragster, winning the Torco Race Fuels President’s
Cup Nationals.

Millican just wanted to
make his Papa – eh … team owner proud.

“It was
just such a great weekend,” Millican said. “Evan wanted us to come here and
support Torco Race Fuels and all the great people.  He does so much for drag racing. I don’t know
if people even realize what he means to this
sport.”

Millican
understands what Knoll means to the sport. Likewise Knoll knows what Millican
means to the sport. The ever-reaching sponsor has said on several occasions that
he purchased the Top Fuel team Millican drove for “because it didn’t matter how
many teams I put out there to beat him, he beat them
all.”

Home of the Eastern Spring Test Nationals presented by Torco's CompetitionPlus.com sold

Just as in the Olympics with the torch being passed for each runner to continue
its progression, the time has come to pass along South Georgia Motorsports Park
(SGMP).  On Monday Oct 1, 2007, Larry Dean passed the torch of his dream to
Rowland and Kim Wood who will continue to expand the nationally known racing
facility.

Very well known and respected in the drag racing community and
owner of CSR Performance Products, Rowland Wood responded, “I have always wanted
to own a race track.  There is not a single facility anywhere with this much
potential.  And I have been to all of them” 

In 2002, Larry Dean had a
vision for a racing facility in South Georgia.  He did not just want a race
track, but a first class race complex that would bring quality race programs
from all over the country.  There were many obstacles along the way the first
being a proper location.  Cook County stepped to the plate approving a location
just north of Cecil for the facility of what would be South Georgia Motorsports
Park and what a remarkable facility that dream would become.

Shortly
after only a few events Dean’s son Shad found himself managing the track.  With
limited knowledge of the racing business, Shad brought in numerous events that
exposed the world to South Georgia.  Being modest, Shad gives the credit to
Richard Hall, Thomas Dickerson, Kelly Dasher and many more dedicated folks plus
all the racers who have competed there.

The NHRA POWERade Countdown to One fields in Top Fuel, Funny Car and
Pro Stock will be set during this weekend's Torco Racing Fuels NHRA
Nationals at scenic Virginia Motorsports Park near Richmond, Va. There
are several close battles to keep an eye on. Following the race, only
the top four competitors in each pro category will be eligible to win
world championships during a two-race shootout in Las Vegas and Pomona,
Calif.

In Top Fuel, Bob Vandergriff Jr. is 21 points behind Brandon Bernstein,
who currently holds down the No. 4 cutoff position. In Funny Car, with
fourth-place driver John Force on the sidelines recovering from
injuries suffered in a high-speed crash at the last event, Jack
Beckman, Ron Capps, Gary Scelzi and Mike Ashley are all battling for
the final two spots in the top four. In Pro Stock, Allen Johnson and
Jeg Coughlin hold the third and fourth place spots, but Jason Line and
Kurt Johnson are looking to crash the party.

Fans will remember the last race of the regular season, the Toyo Tires
NHRA Nationals in Reading, Pa., for the amazing Cinderella run turned
in by Top Fueler Doug Herbert, who leapfrogged three drivers -- Cory
McClenathan, Melanie Troxel, and Dave Grubnic -- to clinch the eighth
and final Top Fuel playoff berth with his first win in more than two
years.

Also at that last regular season race, Craig Treble survived as the
last man in the Pro Stock Motorcycle field when Matt Guidera and the
Mohegan Sun team ended the playoff bid of Chris Rivas one round short
of bumping Treble. But Treble didn't survive a second bout with fate
when his playoff life was again out of his hands at the final Countdown
to Four race for the bikes in Dallas. There, he could only watch
helplessly as upstart Peggy Llewellyn beat No. 1 qualifier Chip Ellis
in the semis and three-time defending champ Andrew Hines in the finals
en route to her first career win to earn the fourth and final Countdown
to One berth.