Last year the great divide between the racers and the NHRA was the timing
system. This season’s hot topic (literally) is track prep. During Saturday’s
qualifying the NHRA applied traction compound from the starting line for several
hundred feet out and ceased. They resumed from the finish line and several
hundred feet toward the starting line and ceased. The mid-range of the track was
left as is.

Many fuel teams smoked the tires at that point and a few made
it to the finish line. Those who didn’t make a full pull outweighed those who
did. The second-guessing ran rampant in the fuel pits as the teams wondered
where the consistency they had enjoyed in years prior had gone.

Dan Olson
of the NHRA had an explanation why the sanctioning body did what they did on
Saturday. Olson said the track temperatures climbed as high as 136.

“We
did that because it wasn’t so much over-sprayed as it had gotten soft out
there,” Olson said. “If we had sprayed it any more there would have been a track
problem. There was a little section that we didn’t spray on purpose because it
was coming apart and coming up. The rubber was tearing loose the
asphalt.”

Squelch the rumor mill. Cease the speculation. Oakley
has plans to be in the sport for at least two more years.

But even that
confidence couldn’t stop team owner Don Schumacher from having a Maalox moment.
For the second time this season, Schumacher has had a major sponsor sold.

Earlier this week, Luxottica agreed to buy Oakley for $2.03 billion in
order to add sports sunglasses to the Italian company’s Ray-Ban and Ralph Lauren
brands. This news comes just weeks after Daimler divorced Chrysler, selling 80%
of the group to private investors.

“You learn in a hurry that you just
deal with it,” said Schumacher. “I don’t think anything will change in the
Oakley program. They are still going to deliver a high quality product. I look
forward to continuing with Oakley.

“Time will tell. Everything changes
down the road. At this point, you just deal with it. Everything is in place for
the long term.”

Here’s the scenario for points leader
Ron Capps. You get in the field on Friday and test on Saturday and if things go right, you win on Sunday.

After
qualifying the Brut "Test Drive" Dodge Charger solidly in the field in No. 5
spot on Friday, Capps and crew chief Ed "Ace" McCulloch held a mini-test session
in the final qualifying pass during the heat of the day.

Capps quickest
qualifying pass of the weekend, a 4.775/319.90, came Friday night. His other
passes produced a 4.971/300.46, a 4.932/305.22, and a tire-smoking 9.757/86.56
in the aforesaid "testing" round.

"We all had a talk," said Capps, who
entered this event with a 140-point lead in the standings. "Ace was real
conscious about wanting to try to see what the track would hold. One great thing
about being in the field is having the chance to do what we did this
afternoon.

SNAKE RACING DOUBLES UP WITH DIXON AND JOHNSON JR.
Anderson and Treble round out winner's circle at ProCare Rx NHRA

Nationals
 
Drag racing legend Don "Snake" Prudhomme celebrated a double-win Sunday
as his two drivers -- Larry Dixon in Top Fuel and Tommy Johnson Jr. in
Funny Car -- pulled off a pair of wins at the 38th annual ProCare Rx
NHRA SuperNationals presented by R2B2.

Final round-by-round results from the 38th annual ProCare Rx NHRA SuperNationals
presented by R2B2 Motors at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park, the tenth of 23
events in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series:

TOP FUEL:

ROUND ONE -- Doug Herbert, 5.030, 279.96 def. Melanie Troxel, 7.576, 104.45;
Hillary Will, 4.865, 281.54 def. Bob Vandergriff, 4.918, 299.40; Larry Dixon,
4.947, 280.66 def. Whit Bazemore, 4.997, 272.78; J.R. Todd, 4.625, 321.42 def.
Brandon Bernstein, 4.620, 318.39; David Grubnic, 4.686, 318.54 def. Tony
Schumacher, 5.383, 174.87; Rod Fuller, 4.624, 323.81 def. Rit Pustari, 4.873,
253.42; Doug Kalitta, 4.655, 325.37 def. Clay Millican, 5.066, 254.09; Doug
Foley, 4.580, 328.30 def. Cory McClenathan, 10.089, 78.19;

QUARTERFINALS --
Herbert, 4.699, 310.27 def. Grubnic, 4.770, 307.93; Dixon, 4.669, 313.80 def.
Kalitta, 5.227, 217.25; Will, 4.679, 319.60 def. Fuller, 4.748, 318.77; Todd,
5.435, 265.90 def. Foley, 9.840, 89.38;

SEMIFINALS -- Herbert, 4.674, 317.94
def. Todd, 4.780, 307.30; Dixon, 4.662, 315.42 def. Will, 6.619, 128.10;

FINAL
-- Dixon, 4.625, 321.73 def. Herbert, 4.675, 316.30.

Point standings (top 10) for NHRA professional categories following the 38th
annual ProCare Rx NHRA SuperNationals presented by R2B2 Motors at Old Bridge
Township Raceway Park, the tenth of 23 events in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing
Series -

Veteran jet truck driver Bob Motz was airlifted to the Cabell
Hospital's burn unit after his jet Kenworth caught fire during an
exhibition at Kanahwa Dragway in West Virginia.

WSAG TV reported that Motz suffered second and third degree burns. He is currently in critical condition.

A track worker also suffered minor burns.

AN
ALTERNATE TO THE WINNER’S CIRCLE

Kevin
Jones, the fourth alternate after final qualifying, completes storybook weekend
with Top Fuel Ironman victory at Tulsa Raceway Park

Kevin Jones, a barber from Berea, Ky., will probably be sending Doug Foley a
gift card good for a lifetime of free haircuts. When Foley decided to pull out
of the Skull Shine Sooner Nationals presented by Wolverine and Academy Sports +
Outdoors to compete in the NHRA race in Englishtown, Jones and Sipple Family
Racing were contacted by IHRA to see if they were interested in filling out the
Knoll-Gas Torco Racing Fuels Pro NitroTop Fuel field by competing at the Nitro
Jam event in Tulsa.

They had three days to get ready and head to
Oklahoma, but
the trip was more than worthwhile.

Jones drove past Bruce Litton, Indianapolis, to claim the
first career Ironman for Sipple Family Racing. He carded a 5.138 at 260.71 mph
to defeat Litton, who lost traction at half-track and lifted out of the run.
Jones and crew chief Mike Sipple were thrilled with the victory, but they wish
John “Doc” Sipple, the patriarch of Sipple Family Racing, could have been there
to enjoy it with them.

“Doc” recently had a stint put in his heart and was
back home in Kentucky recovering, unable to make the trip to
Tulsa.

“This was the first time a Top Fuel team has ever
pulled out of Berea without him in the rig,” Jones said. “It
was kind of an emotional thing, but we knew we had to do what we had to do. If
the Lord lays the way out for you, doggone it, that’s just the way it has to be.
We may not understand it or like it, but if the grass is green the grass is
green. You just have to follow that path.”

Sunday's final results from the Inaugural Skull Shine Sooner Nationals presented by Wolverine and Academy Sports +
Outdoors at Tulsa Race Way Park.  The  race is the third of 11 in the
$19.5 million 2007 Knoll - Gas Nitro Jam Drag Racing Series:

Final round-by-round results from the Inaugural Skull Shine Sooner Nationals presented by Wolverine and Academy
Sports + Outdoors at Tulsa Race Way Park, the third of 11 events in the
$19.5 million 2007 Knoll - Gas Nitro Jam Drag Racing Series: