Doug Foley recently announced the hiring of veteran Rick Cassel as
crew chief and an integral part of the Foley and Lewis Torco Mach Series
Accelerator-sponsored Top Fuel team.

“Now that I’m all healed up from our accident in September,” Foley
said, “we have a brand new Attac Race Cars chassis being readied for next
year’s competition. And now with the addition of Rick Cassel as our tuner,
we’re really excited to get back on track.”

Steve Earwood was the public relations director for the National Hot Rod
Association during its biggest growth period.  He subsequently ran the PR and
publicity operation at the Texas Motorplex and was vice-president and general
manager at Atlanta Dragway.

 He thought he had
seen it all.   He was wrong.

 “I’ve never been
through six weeks like the ones we just had,” said the man who, since 1992, has
owned and operated Rockingham Dragway.  “It was an amazing run and it tells me
that while other motor sports may be struggling, drag racing is as healthy as
I’ve ever seen it.”

Torco's CompetitionPlus.com has learned that IHRA Torco's
CompetitionPlus.com Pro Stock driver Tony Gillig will not return for
the 2007 season. He recently finished runner-up for the 2006
championship to Pete Berner.

“(Huston and I) had decided before the (2006) season had started that
at the end of the year, win, lose or draw, we were going to split the
race team up, and we did it because we both agreed upon it,” said
Gillig. “Tim had been racing for a long time before I ever came onboard
and I think he’s a little burned out. He kind of wants to take a little
breather and regroup. Maybe he’ll race again, maybe he won’t. I think
if he did we’d probably get together and do it again as a team. And I
could use some time to spend at our family business,” a pizzeria his
father and crewchief Bob Gillig founded in Lake Bluff 31 years ago.
“I’ve been working there since I was 14.”

Last week team owner Evan Knoll announced that his Pro Stock operation
would return in 2007 with Dave Connolly as the driver and Victor
Cagnazzi providing the horsepower. We have just received this sneak
peek of his new look for Pomona. Note the associate sponsorship from
Slammers Ultimate Milk.

Tony Schumacher has been named Fourth Quarter Driver of the Year for
2006, it was announced today by Barry Schmoyer, president of the Driver
of the Year Foundation.

Schumacher, who earlier this month completed the greatest comeback in
NHRA history to win his third consecutive and fourth overall NHRA
POWERade Series Top Fuel world championship, joins former teammate
Melanie Troxel as 2006 Driver of the Year quarterly winners. Troxel
became the first female to win a quarterly award when she was named the
First Quarter winner in April.

Six-time National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) world champion Kenny Bernstein, well-known for his business savvy, today announced that he has formed a multi-year major associate sponsorship partnership with AlphaTrade.com, (OTC.BB: APTD), a global provider of customized real-time financial information for professional, institutional and individual investors.

The AlphaTrade name will appear on both cars driven by the Bernstein family: Kenny’s Monster Energy/Lucas Oil Dodge Charger Funny Car that he will debut on the NHRA circuit in February 2007, as well as Brandon Bernstein’s Budweiser/Lucas Oil dragster.

AlphaTrade.com is a world leader in providing real-time stock market data, global news and high-quality financial information. Launched in 1999, AlphaTrade offers financial data that is both modular and multi-lingual to millions of investors throughout the world. 

Vinny Arcadi has
been diagnosed with cancer. After receiving several rounds of radiation at
Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo,
N.Y., he is at home continuing treatment to
battle tumors found in his lungs, back and brain.

Fox 13 News in Tampa, Florida has reported that parts of the legendary
"Green Mamba" jet dragster have been found in a Tampa auto body shop.

Jet Cars can end up in the wildest places, even in the Middle East.
Jeddah is the second largest city in Saudi Arabia and is located along
the coast of the Red Sea.

A month ago, the atmosphere of this city was exposed to the tunder of jet-powered dragsters.

The first jet-powered dragsters ever to visit the Kingdom scorched
their way up the newly-opened Jeddah Raceway recently. Driven by
American Chuck Haynes — the cars’ owner — and Australian Gary
Miosevich, the jet cars left the large contingent of spectators shocked.

Tissot, the Swiss watch-making brand, recently honored U.S. Army Suzuki rider,
Antron Brown, for his outstanding performance during the 2006 NHRA POWERade Drag
Racing Series season. Brown was awarded a commemorative MotoGP Watch which was
packaged in a unique motorcycle helmet case.