:::::: News ::::::

COUGHLIN'S NEW APPROACH TO TOP SPORTSMAN

After winning the Top Sportsman title at the JEGS NHRA Northern SPORTSnationals
last season, Mike Coughlin probably didn’t need to make wholesale changes to his
JEGS.com Chevy Cobalt, this winter, but he just couldn’t help himself. Armed
with a new engine that he hopes will put the car deep into the six-second range,
Coughlin is hoping to be among the top qualifiers in the 32-car Dart Top
Sportsman class as he heads to O’Reilly Raceway Park in Indianapolis for this
week’s NHRA Division 3 Lucas Oil Series opener.
 
“Last year was my first year in Top Sportsman and we had a lot of fun and
we also learned a lot,” said Coughlin. “My car was certainly competitive, but we
really thought that we could become even more competitive by making the car
quicker so that’s why we decided on a new engine program. In this class, you
just can’t sit still. You have to keep moving forward so hopefully this move
will help move us to the head of the class.”

ONCE UPON A WHEEL

Don “The Snake” Prudhomme, Tom “The Mongoose”
McEwen and Wildlife Racing, Inc., offer a unique and rare look back at the sport
of drag racing with the DVD release of “Once Upon A Wheel” – featuring short
films, guest interviews, historical footage and classic TV commercials from the
glory days of the widely popular “Mongoose vs. Snake” match race
era.

 

Before reality shows became the norm and Corporate America realized the
value in motorsports sponsorship, Prudhomme and McEwen granted all-access to
camera crews as they barnstormed the country in search of trophies, prize money
and bragging rights on the match race circuit. 
The short film “Match Race” features unscripted, behind-the-scenes
footage from the early 1970s of both legendary drivers as they travel from
Indiana to Michigan, tune their cars in the pits and compete on the drag
strip.

PAULAUSKIS INKS NEW DEAL

2006 PSCA Pro Street Champion Steve Paulauskis, is pleased
to announce he has entered into an innovative marketing agreement with Tom and
Yvonne Nelson of Team Transit Mix Inc. of Bakersfield,
CA for the remainder of the 2007
racing season. The WFO Motorsport Cavalier will debut as the Team Transit Mix
Cavalier at the upcoming West Coast Hot Rod Association (WCHRA) Team Transit
Mix Inc. Spring Nationals at the Auto Club Famoso Raceway in Bakersfield on April 13-15. The Nelson’s
intend to use their association with Paulauskis to promote their new plant in Bakersfield and introduce
their employees and customers to the sport of drag racing and the ‘Team’ philosophy.

Tom
Nelson had this to say about Paulauskis “I have toyed with the idea of getting
involved with Steve for quite a while. He and his team are great
representatives of a team going out and being successful. Our whole business
philosophy is about being a ‘Team’ and the WFO crew is a great example of that.
With our new facility in Bakersfield
I needed an innovative way to showcase what we do, the WCHRA came along and I
had the solution to my two problems solved. I get to partner with Steve and I
get to showcase Team Transit Mix on the quickest Pro Street car on the West Coast. Steve
is the ideal guy for the job. The big plus for me is signing this deal with
Steve before the first WCHRA event at Bakersfield.
We are now going to use the event as a customer/employee Appreciation Day with
Steve and his team being the focus. We will have a hospitality area for our
guests and look forward to making their drag racing experience one to remember.
It will be great for my customers and employees to have their own car to cheer
for!”

FORCE TEAM TO RACE IN VEGAS

During today’s teleconference team owner John Force emphatically stated
that his entire team of three Funny Cars and two Super Comp dragsters
would compete in this coming weekend’s Summitracing.com Nationals at The
Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Prior to the opening of the gates on Thursday Force will have made a
series of untimed, 300-foot runs to determine whether or not the
substantial changes that have been made to all of his team’s cars have
rendered them undriveable.  This testing will take place tomorrow,
Wednesday, at LVMS.  Acknowledging that “testing” within a seven day
period at a national event site is prohibited, NHRA senior vice
president Graham Light explained that an exception is being made due to
not only the circumstances, but the unavailability of another suitable
testing site prior to this weekend’s race.

Among the changes that were made at Murf McKinney’s shop in Indiana are
a widening of the roll cages, the addition of significant amounts of
additional padding around the helmet area (Force suggested the padding
is close enough to his helmet to keep his head from moving side-to-side
under racing conditions) and new safety R-3-type seven point
harnesses.  Other changes include the permanent mounting of the safety
belts to the frame rails so that they can no longer potentially slide
along the tubing in the event of a crash.

DHL TO SPONSOR SCOTT KALITTA'S FUNNY CAR

Kalitta Motorsports, a professional drag racing team based in Ypsilanti, Mich., is pleased to announce that DHL will be a new sponsor of the Scott Kalitta-driven Nitro Funny Car currently competing in the 23-event, 2007 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series.

TODD TUTTEROW JOINS MATT HAGAN RACING

Matt Hagan Racing is proud to announce a multi-year position
for Todd Tutterow to crew chief for the Matt Hagan Racing Pro Modified
program. Mr. Tutterow accepted the position over the weekend and the team is
busy getting organized to welcome him aboard.

NHRA DRIVERS AUTOGRAPH SESSION

A free NHRA driver autograph session at the ESPN Zone will kick off the
April 12-15 SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas
Motor Speedway.

STEWART JOINS CARRIER BOYZ

In 15 full seasons of Top Fuel competition, Cory McClenathan has not paid much
attention to his position in NHRA POWERade Series points this early in the
season.  Until now.
 
NHRA’s implementation of its new Countdown to the
Championship formula hasn’t altered the number of points or how they are
awarded.  What it did was put a premium on points earned in the first 17 races,
a.k.a. Countdown to Eight.  The top eight have their title hopes extended
another four races.  Then four more exit to set the stage for the final four to
figure it out in the last two events.

PRO TOP OUTLAWS OPEN IN FARMINGTON

The Pro Top Outlaw Series is set to begin their
6th season of competition this weekend in Farmington, North Carolina
at the first ever Tar Heel Nationals.  The series, which is a step up from Top
Dragster and not quite Top Alcohol, is comprised of dragsters, altereds, and
funny cars, either blower or nitrous, all racing heads-up against one another. 
This event will mark the beginning of the 2007 points chase and last year’s
champion Phil Esz and runner-up Brandon Booher will both be in attendance to see
if they can rise to the occasion once again.

The 2007 inaugural event will be held on April 13th
and 14th beginning with the ever popular “Night of Fire”
qualifying at 7:30 PM on Friday.  The event is yet another milestone for the
series as they hit the quarter-mile for the first time ever at Farmington
Dragway.  The event will feature a 16 car field with The Pro Top Outlaws
(qualifiers 1 thru 8) and the Pro Top Bandits (qualifiers 9 thru 16) each racing
for their respective trophies during eliminations on
Saturday.

AUTOGRAPH SESSION IN VEGAS

A free NHRA driver
autograph session at the ESPN Zone will kick off the April 12-15
SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The
autograph session will be held at the ESPN Zone inside the New York New York
Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas on Thursday, April 12, from 7-8 p.m. Racers
planning to attend the event include: Jack Beckman, Jeff Arend, Del Worsham, Jon
Capps, Rod Fuller, Hillary Will, Jason Line, Greg Anderson, J.R. Todd, Cory
McClenathan, Clay Millican, Dave Connolly, Jeg Coughlin, Kenny Koretsky, Justin
Humphrey, Jerry Toliver, Bill Windham, and this list is still
growing.

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