Brut Revolution Funny Car driver Ron Capps enjoyed a somewhat nerve racking time
last weekend. Capps' younger brother, Jon, qualified No. 1 and reached the final
round at the IHRA event in North Carolina in just his third race in a fuel Funny
Car. His older brother was on pins and needles all weekend as he kept track of
his brother on the Internet and by cell phone.

"I was a nervous wreck at home," said Capps, "my mom and dad
were visiting and we were surfing all the drag racing websites trying to get as
many quick updates as we could. I was waiting for his phone call but I had
people text messaging me from the track. I tried to stay back and not be a
distraction. I was going to go to his first race in San Antonio and I said 'you
know I need to stay back and let him do his deal.' I've had to stay home and
it's not been fun. I really look forward to going to another race. He's
qualified No. 1 and been to a final. So now I can go hang out and be Jon's
brother."

Tony Pedregon's No. 3 qualifying effort of 4.876 at 298.21 mph had a dramatic
ending. Pedregon experienced a wild ride at the top end which virtually made his
new Q Power-sponsored Chevy Impala body unusable.

"It was our first run with the new Impala body," said
Pedregon, who is currently third in the POWERade point chase. "Visually I was
very comfortable and it went straight as an arrow. The problem occurred with the
mounting of the body. We didn't really have the conditions to test it anywhere.
We had planned on running it a couple of races ago but just didn't have the
right circumstances. So we felt that we would be able to put it on here and it
wouldn't be a big issue. But what happened was the body collapsed in the front
end," explained Pedregon.

Lucas Oil Funny Car driver Tony Bartone is one of many drivers who is making
changes inside his driver compartment following Eric Medlen's incident last
month.

"We've beefed up the head support padding with the Butler
System," said Bartone, "and we're working on a new style of Crow Enterprises
seat belts to try and give the driver some more stability in the seat. We're
also in the process of adding the shield to the rear of the roll cage to protect
the driver's head. The changes have not impaired me or made me uncomfortable in
any manner, shape or form."

Rod Fuller raced to the qualifying lead in Top Fuel Friday
at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway.

Mike Ashley, Greg Anderson, and Matt Smith all posted track records to lead
their respective categories at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series event.

Fuller has been impressive this season, leading the series standings since
his victory in Phoenix. About the only thing he hasn't done is lead a qualifying
field, which could change this weekend following his category best effort of
4.506 seconds at 326.71 mph in his David Powers Motorsports dragster.

Jim Yates confirmed today that he will extend his 2007 season until at least through Bristol. Yates confirmed that a few pending deals will keep him in the game for at least two more races. We'll have more details as they become available.

In front of full stands at Atlanta Dragway,  Jay Payne, driver of the Valvoline
2005 Stratus Pro Mod, made a quick jump to the top in the lone AMS Staff Leasing
Pro Mod Challenge presented by Tindle Enterprises qualifying session at the
Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals. The qualifying schedule was
modified due to time constraints and will allow for two additional qualifying
passes on Saturday, and full eliminations on Sunday.
 
Breathing a sigh of
relief, Payne's field-leading 6.044/235.10 assured him a solid position in
Sunday's show and the possibility to move up in the BAE Championship Cup points
chase. Also solidly in the field are Canadian Raymond Commisso in his '67 Camaro
and Tim Tindle in his Chuck Ford-tuned '67 Mustang, delivering 6.059 and 6.057
passes respectively.

It’s often been said that drag racing is a bug, and once you
get it in your system, it’s extremely difficult if not impossible to get out.

That theory definitely applies to Jeff Perley, former
co-crew chief for multi-time NHRA Pro Stock World Champion Greg Anderson and
last year’s champ Jason Line. After a much-publicized exit from the dominant
Pro Stock operation to take ownership of a Goodyear service center in Charlotte, NC,
Perley was back at the track for the first time in months.

There is a big difference this time around, however. Perley
was at Rockingham making his debut as crew chief for the Wilson Manifolds
machine driven by Rob Mansfield.

Though he is dealing with a lot more horsepower with the
IHRA mountain motor Pro Stocker, Perley has found the transition to be
virtually seamless.

Debut scheduled for this weekend's NHRA Summit Southern
Nationals

At
the beginning of the year, Team YNOT had very high hopes for the 2007 season.
Norm Grimes had been hired to be the crew chief and a new team had been put together.
Grimes had put a great deal of time into getting the Chip Nielsen dragster up to
speed with his combination. Preseason testing had gone well, and expectations
were high as the team went to
Pomona. Going into the final
qualifying session at the season opening Carquest Auto Parts NHRA
Winternationals, things were going according to plan; the car was qualified very
solidly in the field and conditions, though somewhat cool, showed the potential
for a very strong pass and moving back to the top half of the field.

Ed Hoover’s experience in
Pro Modified has been full circle since the category was officially launched in
1990. The class has changed a lot, but not Hoover. He’s still the hard-hitting gunner
who captured the first-ever IHRA Pro Modified national event title in 1990.

Hoover became the fifth
winningest driver in Pro Mod history with his recent triumph in San Antonio.
He’s won twice behind the wheel of a supercharged car, and ironically both
victories came at that Texas facility.

A dyed-in-the-wool nitrous
racer, Hoover made the switch to a supercharged entry prior to the 2003 season.
He took baby steps at first, running his new supercharged entry in the Top
Sportsman division during the spring race in Rockingham.