The champions list of the Winternationals features
a who's who of drag racing. But of the countless numbers of winners at the
season-opening event, only two competitors before today had ever scored
victories in both Top Fuel and Funny Car.

You can make that three. Gary Scelzi joined the exclusive club, surviving a trek into the sand pit in the semifinals to score victory at the 47th CARQUEST Winternationals
at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona.

In a sport where time is measured in thousandths of a second, making
snap, and sometimes tough, decisions is the name of the game.

It was announced today that recently named crew chief, Rick Cassel, has
split from the Foley & Lewis, Torco-sponsored Top Fuel team.

Doug Foley said, “We went through two weeks of testing in Las Vegas and
Phoenix, and after this weekend’s race in Pomona, we all sat down and
agreed that we weren’t happy with the direction we were going in. It
was an amicable split and I’m sorry it didn’t work out, but
nevertheless, it was one of those snap decisions we had to make.”

JR Todd's a little lighter in the wallet today.
But the second-year Top Fuel driver doesn't seem to mind, not after scoring the
fourth win of his young career with a victory in the 47th CARQUEST Winternationals
at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona. "I had a deal with (crew chief Jimmy Walsh) that
every time we ran a 4.50, I would pay him a
dollar," Todd said. "I told him, if it runs a .40,
I pay him a 100 bucks. It was expensive today."

Larry Dixon is man enough to admit that “I was a little nervous about us not
having a deal about Indy time, but Snake told me not to worry, that he’d get it
handled, and he did.”

Point standings (top 10) for NHRA professional categories following the
47th annual CARQUEST Auto Parts Winternationals at Auto Club Raceway at
Pomona, the first of 23 events in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series -

Final round-by-round results from the 47th annual CARQUEST Auto
Parts Winternationals at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona, the first of 23
events in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series:

Sunday's final results from the 47th annual CARQUEST Auto Parts Winternationals at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona.
The race is the first of 23 in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series:

Doug Kalitta is one of a few Top Fuel drivers who, when warming the engines in
the cars, peer backwards with small “rearview mirrors.”  Kalitta says he does it
to make sure that when he lets the clutch out the tires are turning properly.

Four-time
series champion Gary Scelzi quickly erased memories of a disappointing
2006 season by winning Sunday's CARQUEST Auto Parts Winternationals
after final-round opponent Robert Hight crossed the centerline.

Reigning Rookie of the Year J.R. Todd also found Pomona's winner's
circle, while three-time Pro Stock champ Greg Anderson
successfullydefended this race title from one year ago.

This is a letter received from Lee McKinney, who is based in Iraq
guarding the U.S. Embassy. McKinney is a huge fan of NHRA Funny Car
driver Mike Ashley. Ashley forwarded this letter to us and we thought
it was neat.