Pilcher Back on Top in Pro Nitrous; Baker, Hill, and Drake Score First Wins

It took more than two years, but Johnny Pilcher can finally say that he is back on top of the Pro Nitrous ranks.
 
In
a rematch of the first Pro Nitrous final round in Flowmaster American
Drag Racing history, Pilcher edged Rickie Smith, 4.029 to4.045,
Saturday night in the final of the Camp Motorsport ADRL Georgia Drags
to claim his first ADRL event title since he beat Smith in February of
2005 for the Pro Nitrous title in Hattiesburg, Miss. The Georgia Drags
win also vaulted Pilcher to the top spot of the AlphaTrade Battle for
the Belts points standings.

Victor
Terenzio Racing (Frank Schuster driver) crewmember Scotty MacIlvane succumbed
to injuries sustained in a return road accident during Friday qualifying at the
NHRA LODRS event at Richmond,
Virginia. Macllvane fell from the
team’s tow vehicle.

MacIlvane
is survived by a wife and three children.  Work is underway to start a
memorial fund for his family.

TRACK RECORDS FALL AFTER QUALIFYING RESUMES AT GATEWAY INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY

"Hot Rod" Fuller wants to break a perplexing streak Sunday when he
attempts to win his first elimination round out of the No. 1 qualifying
position, a slot he's earned four times in his brief career, including
this weekend's 11th annual O'Reilly NHRA Midwest Nationals presented by
Castrol at Gateway International Raceway near St. Louis.

With two of four professional time trials lost to rain, there was a
premium on Saturday's final two qualifying runs and Fuller, Funny Car
leader Mike Ashley, Pro Stock dominator Greg Anderson, and Pro Stock
Motorcycle hot shot Matt Smith all managed to rise to the occasion.

Sporting Fabick Caterpillar livery this weekend, Fuller is the No. 1
qualifier in Top Fuel for the second race in a row after zipping to a
4.596 at 313.37 mph. Fuller gains two points on No. 3 qualifier Brandon
Bernstein, who passed him in the rankings by 19 markers with his second
straight win in Atlanta last weekend.

“We've talked about getting past this deal where we qualify No. 1 and
then lose in Round 1,” Fuller said. “When you're No. 1 it means you
have lane choice and it means you're running
the guy that's had the hardest time getting down the track. Instead of
burying everyone, maybe we should just back it down enough to make sure
we get down the track.”

“This shouldn't be shock to anyone” - Andy
Carrier

Despite what’s been reported on another web site,
while the Carrier Brothers, Andy and Mark, have agreed in principle to sell
their Top Fuel team to Scott Griffin, the purchase is not final.

“Contrary to reports, this is not a done deal,”
Griffin told Torco’s Competitionplus.com this afternoon. “Those details are not
going to be resolved this week. We have agreed to the initial terms. Out of
respect for those involved, we aren’t going to rush with a formal announcement.
We will be communicating heavily (with those involved in the
purchase).”

Griffin purchased one-third of the Carrier Boys
operation earlier this season after making the decision to park his own Top Fuel
car, which was formerly driven by Andrew Cowin and had been slated for Scott
Weis to drive in 2007. Due to a number of problems the team never made it out
this season.

“I
approached Mark and Andy earlier in the week as to whether there would be any
interest on their behalf of selling the remaining shares,” Griffin said. “At
this time we have reached terms on an agreement, although there are some details
that still need to be determined.”

The IHRA World Nationals, scheduled for Sept. 21-23, will not be contested at
Mansfield Motorsports Park in 2007. Circumstances beyond the
control of facility owner Mike
Dzurilla have caused construction of the
drag strip to be temporarily suspended.

“We jumped the gun a little bit on
this,” IHRA president Aaron Polburn said. “Mike
Dzurilla and his team have worked hard to
put this facility together on a short timetable. There was some wiggle room on
the construction timetable and things were moving on schedule, then there were a
few rulings that threw the construction off schedule. It really is no one’s
fault, but this is a reality we have to deal with.

“We made incorrect assumptions that
the drag strip would be like the round track already in place there in terms of
local government permits and clearances. It wasn’t. I really think our best move
is to cancel the race this season and let our racers know about it now. This way
they have plenty of time to adjust their racing schedules and make alternative
plans.”

At the end of the first day of the 2007 Snap-on Nitro Championships, Phil Read, Aaron Lynch and Brett Stevens top-qualified in their respective championship brackets in a day of simply awesome racing.

In the lead up to the event, the nine-car Top Fuel had been the most talked about bracket. Of these, five ran in the four-second zone in qualifying.

Phil Read was ecstatic about his team's number one qualifying position for the event, saying, "To do so well in front of our hometown crowd means so much to me. We feel that we could have run better than what we did with the 4.66, but we couldn't g et a handle on the combination. Tomorrow is a new day and I'm sure things will pick up for us here."

Should the team be able to win the event tomorrow, they will have secured their second consecutive Australian Top Fuel Championship.

IHRA has announced Warren CAT Power Systems
will sponsor the Saturday “Night of Fire” during the Skull Shine Sooner
Nationals presented by Wolverine and Academy Sports + Outdoors held Memorial Day
weekend at Tulsa Raceway Park.

The Warren
CAT “Night of Fire,” which occurs Saturday,
May 26 at 6:30 p.m. during the event,
features the final round of professional qualifying – including two
flame-burning Nitro-fueled classes – and a ground-pounding jet-powered Super
Shockwave ’57 truck.

"Warren
CAT is excited to be a part of the inaugural
IHRA Sooner Nationals event in
Tulsa,” Warren
CAT Power Systems general manager Charley
Pollock said. “We look forward to being at the race and utilizing this event to
recruit new technical staff for our growing
Tulsa facilities and to display our
products and services."

Top Fuel racer Brady Kalivoda is sporting
one of the coolest helmets we've seen in a long time. The paint scheme, which
was designed by Mike at Razors Image out of Chicago, is a combination of old school and
new school helmets.

"My dad, Dick Kalivoda, used to race back in the 1960s
before I was born," said Kalivoda. "He raced a lot of classes up to
and including Top Fuel. He's most well known for driving 'The Joker' Top Fueler
in the late 60s. Even though he quit driving before I was born he has a trophy
room with all the old helmets and breather masks and things. I used to go
around wearing his helmet. I actually have photos of myself running around the
house wearing the thing. That's when men were men, wearing open face helmets
and breather masks. So I called my dad and said 'I need you to send me your
helmet.' And he's really protective of that,