Bill Kuhlman gets out of shape during the ADRL season opener in Houston, Texas, during Friday's qualifying. he was uninjured. (Sequence by Roger Richards)

EVENT PHOTO GALLERY  

Todd Tutterow and Doug Riesterer fired the first shots
of the 2007 Flowmaster American Drag Racing League season Friday night,
finishing on top of their respective classes after one round of
qualifying at the RacingJunk.com Dragpalooza III event.

Tutterow
threw down an early gauntlet to the rest of the Pro Extreme class with
a spectacular 3.89-second pass to easily grab the top spot. Entering
Saturday's final two rounds of qualifying, he is three-hundredths in
front of Bobby Booth, who led a group of four other drivers to reach
the 3-second zone. Included in that group is No. 5 Steve Engel, who
posted the top speed of the session at 187.97 mph.

The IHRA World Nationals, set to debut at the
brand new Mansfield Motorsports Park, has been rescheduled for September 21-23,
2007. While the track is still
planning to open in June, IHRA and Mansfield Motorsports Park officials made the decision to move the event to the
fall to ensure that every detail of the project met the standards that the
racers and fans expect.

Governmental issues prevented construction from taking
place in the unseasonably warm fall and early winter months
Ohio experienced. The project was still well ahead of
schedule until the February snow and cold halted progress.

“The plan was to get a jump on construction and stay
ahead of the timeline,” Mansfield Motorsports Park owner Mike Dzurilla said. “Delays have put us in a
situation where everything would have to go perfectly from now on for us to be
ready for the race. Quite honestly I don’t want to welcome anyone to our first
IHRA national event without having everything perfect. I know a lot of racers
and fans are counting on me to build a facility every one can be proud of and I
don’t plan on disappointing them.”

We received this spy shot with the simple comment, "Coming soon."

This year Motor Mile Dragway is expanding the Extreme Class into a
seperate
division that will consist of two main events with two associated
testing
sessions!

The Extreme Class will use ADRL Rules, Pro Extreme
and Pro Nitrous.

Dates: July 14th, August 18th

Times: Gates open
at Noon
Time trials: 2:00 PM 3:00 PM 4:00 PM
1st Round: 7:00 PM
Semis:
8:00 PM
Final Round: 9:00 PM

The Automotive Group and Eaton Hydraulics recently announced that
Eaton will be returning as the title sponsor of two-time International Hot Rod
Association (IHRA) Pro Modified World Champion Mike Janis for the 2007 season.
Janis will unveil his car and new paint scheme at the Eaton display at the 55th
Annual Murray’s Autorama held in Detroit, March 9-11 at Cobo Hall.

“Competitive drag racing is a great venue to highlight our
performance-related product portfolio,” said Tom Nellenbach, marketing manager
for Eaton Performance Products. “Eaton’s Aeroquip® hoses, connectors, fittings,
Detroit Locker® differentials and racing engine valves and lifters have been
helping champions like Mike Janis find the winner’s circle for decades. Mike is
a great ambassador for our company and products.”

NHRA Top Fuel team owner Dexter Tuttle is enlisting the help of drag
racing veterans Jim Head and Johnny West to assist driver J.R. Todd and the
SKULL Shine crew.

Stunned by the defection of Jimmy Walsh and Danny DeGennaro two days ago,
Tuttle said Thursday

Head will serve as an interim consultant until a
permanent crew chief replacement is secured while West has been hired to oversee
daily race-car preparations at Tuttle Motorsports. 

Head is a longtime driver/owner currently campaigning in Funny Car.
“Dexter and I have been friends for many years and I am willing to help him
through this transition period,” said Head, who is currently 10th in
Funny Car points.

IHRA announced Thursday, March 1, that Alcohol Funny Car would remain on the
2007 Nitro Jam™ schedule as a professional class. Alcohol Funny Car will run at
all 12 events and include a world championship points
chase.

“A lot of people
worked very long, hard hours to make this happen,” IHRA President Aaron Polburn
said. “Now that this is a reality, everyone can go about their business of
getting ready for San
Antonio.”

Just call him tough as nails. Less than a week ago, Roy Johnson was
fighting for his life in a Phoenix, Arizona hospital. Yesterday, he was
back at work. It was light duty. This serves as a major miracle from
God.