Throughout Bristol Dragway's long history, which dates back to its
opening in 1965, the greatest names in drag racing history have made
their marks in Thunder Valley.

This year four remarkable men have been selected as the inaugural class
of inductees into the Legends of Thunder Valley. They are NHRA founder
Wally Parks, Larry Carrier, who built Bristol Dragway, "Big Daddy" Don
Garlits, named the best driver in the history of NHRA, and Rickie
Smith, who has more Bristol wins than any other driver.

"I honestly don't think we could have a finer group of men inducted as
Legends of Thunder Valley this first year," said Bristol Dragway
president Jeff Byrd. "All four of these gentlemen are legends in the
sport of drag racing and each of them has a special place in the
history of Bristol Dragway. We're extremely proud to be honoring them
in this way."

Hugh Scott gets out of shape during the ADRL Independence Drags at
Motor Mile Dragway. He emerged from this tangle with the retaining wall
uninjured. (Roger Richards Photo Sequence).

The NHRA POWERade series begins the traditional three-race Western Swing this
weekend starting with the 28th annual Mile-High Nationals at Bandimere Speedway
nestled in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. The GM Racing contingent of
quarter-mile competitors is in the middle of what has already been a grinding
string of consecutive weekend events that began in Englishtown, N.J., on June
22-24, and will reach its conclusion in Sonoma, Calif., on July 29.

A
pair of Chevy Cobalt competitors who seem to be getting stronger as the summer
heat intensifies are Jeg Coughlin Jr. and Dave Connolly. In the last six races,
beginning with the O'Reilly NHRA Nationals at St. Louis in May, at least one car
in the tandem that makes up the Cagnazzi Racing juggernaut has advanced to a Pro
Stock final round, and collectively, Coughlin and Connolly have rolled to four
national-event victories in seven final-round appearances.

Since the
beginning of May, the 37-year-old Coughlin has driven his Jegs.com Chevrolet to
the winner's circle twice, posting victories at Chicago and the just completed
O'Reilly NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals in Bristol, Tenn., to go along with
runners-up at St. Louis (to teammate Connolly), Englishtown, and an April
runner-up performance in Las Vegas. At the season's halfway mark, the two-time
NHRA Pro Stock champion has now moved within 86 points of first-place Greg
Anderson and virtually erased a points deficit with the Summit Racing Pontiac
driver that just a month ago, many thought was insurmountable.

Current NHRA Top Fuel points leader Rod Fuller
will pilot the yellow-and-black Wagner CAT dragster during the 28th
running of the Mopar Mile-High Nationals. David Powers Motorsports and Aurora,
Colo.-based Wagner CAT have partnered for the Mile-High Nationals, July 13-15,
at Bandimere Speedway near Denver, it was announced today. This is the
fourth time that David Powers Motorsports and a Caterpillar dealer group have
joined to back Fuller’s car.

The
relationship between David Powers Motorsports and the CAT dealer groups is
designed as a pilot program to increase technician recruiting. Caterpillar
dealers are experiencing a shortage of technicians and NHRA drag racing offers a
technician-rich recruiting environment to find qualified candidates with
experienced mechanical backgrounds. Wagner CAT needs to fill 70 technician
positions immediately. Wagner CAT is the authorized
Caterpillar dealer for Colorado, New Mexico and far west Texas. Wagner International also serves
Mongolia and southern
Siberia. David Powers Motorsports partnered
with Houston-based Mustang CAT during the Houston
race and Fabick CAT for the St. Louis and
Joliet, Ill. races.

For the fourth year in a row, Bristol Dragway will host the
National Hot Rod Association’s O’Reilly Auto Parts Junior Drag Racing League
Eastern Conference Finals.  The 2007 edition, which will take place July 11-14,
is expected to attract more than 700 racers from all states east of the
Mississippi River.  

The first Junior Dragster National Finals, held in 1994, was
a one-day event at Indianapolis Raceway Park.  The popularity of the Jr.
Dragster series led to the creation of two finals, the Eastern Conference Final
in Bristol and the Western Conference Final at Bandimere Speedway in Denver,
Colo.  The competitors in these two events will race for a combined $100,000
purse in savings bonds. 

Bristol Dragway officials have put together a number of 
special offers and activities for families visiting Thunder Valley for the
Eastern Conference Finals.

The always-popular movie night returns with “Night at the
Museum” on Thursday.  Dragway officials are working hard to create an all-new
kid’s area with a beach theme.  Participants will be able to cool off in the
swimming pool, play on the inflatables, test their video game skills at the
gaming trailer or play a game of basketball. 

You hear all the time about Aussie racers coming to the United
States to run professional categories, but one racer from Down Under
has his eyes on sportsman racing. 

Veteran Australian racer
Graeme Cooper will race at the World’s oldest and most prestigious drag
race, the 53rd Annual NHRA Mac Tools U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis in
September.

Cooper, 49, will contest Stock Eliminator, driving a 1968 Chevelle
Malibu Station Wagon owned by Canadian Norm Lapointe and powered by a
327ci V8 engine.

“Racing in America is every Australian drag racer’s dream, especially
at the U.S. Nationals – it is the ‘Big Go’. There’s nothing bigger or
more special,” Cooper said.

The streets of downtown Golden, Colo., will shine even brighter when the Mopar®
Big Block Party rolls into town this Thursday, July 12. Mopar Big Block party
attendees will witness the revealing of the striking gold “tribute” paint scheme
that Gary Scelzi will carry on his Mopar/Oakley Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car at
the 28th Annual Mopar Mile-High Nationals, scheduled for July 13-15 at Bandimere
Speedway in Morrison, Colo.

Scelzi is a four-time NHRA POWERade Drag
Racing champion, and has two NHRA Funny Car wins this year. He is currently
fifth in the NHRA Funny Car points standings. The special gold Mopar Mile-High
Nationals “tribute” paint scheme is a thank-you from the brand to the man who
brought the 2005 NHRA Funny Car championship to Team Mopar.

Two-time tour champion Larry Dixon has admittedly struggled since master
tuner Dick LaHaie retired and his assistant, Donnie Bender, took over. 
But, taking the realistic view, Dixon (and team owner Don Prudhomme)
realized that there’s going to be a transition period while Bender got a handle on
things.  Not on the tune-up, but rather on how to not only make the tuning
calls on his own, but to handle team personnel management at the same
time.

For Dixon things are definitely good.  After a couple of hard-earned
victories he acknowledges that what’s new is “Winning again.  The
team’s really coming together now.  We have half a new 
crew
since the beginning of the season, and Donnie’s coming into his own as a
tuner.  It’s cool to be a part of this.

“I don’t think this
is as much a situation of Donnie getting things the way he wanted them,
it’s just going into a new position.  I try to compare it to an offensive
coordinator going into the head coaching position.  He’s going to still be
walking the sidelines, but now he’s making the final play calls.  It just
took a little bit of time for him to get comfortable in the
position.

Torco Race Fuels General manager Brian Pfiefer officially became the
latest Torco Race Fuels Grandpa Club member at 6:35 PM on Monday.

Pfiefer's oldest daughter Janelle and her fiance Jason had a 7 lb 1 oz
baby boy. He is named Robert Jason Pritchard. Mother and baby are doing
well and as for Brian, he is trying to get used to being called
"Grandpa."

As a charter member of the Torco Race Fuels Grandpa Club he receives:
 
(a) Immediate joy and blessings in being called PAW PAW.
(b) A feeling of"Am I really old enough to be a grandpa?"
(c) A tube of Beaudreax's Butt Paste for those times he has to change a
diaper and there will be those times he will be trapped into it.
(d) The satisfaction of being able to hand back a crying baby to the mother
(e) The ability to laugh when his kids have to live with you curse of
"I hope you have a kid that is just like you and watching them wrestle
with it once those grandkids become teenagers."

A few days ago we posted a message wondering why Larry Nance’s Pro Stock
Cobalt was sporting the two different oil company logos you see here.