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

THURSDAY POMONA QUALIFYING

WORSHAM RACES TO FUNNY CAR QUALIFYING LEAD AT AUTO CLUB NHRA FINALS; Schumacher, Anderson and Hines also quick at Pomona 

 

PHOTO GALLERY 

worshamDSD_9171.jpg

Funny Car racer Del Worsham is on pace to close a sub-par year with a big finish
by racing to the qualifying lead Thursday at the Auto Club NHRA Finals.

Currently in danger of finishing outside the top-10 for the first time
in a decade, Worsham produced 4.712-second pass in his Checker Schuck's Kragen
Chevy Monte Carlo, the quickest of his career, to take the early lead. Tony
Schumacher (Top Fuel), Greg Anderson (Pro Stock), and Andrew Hines (Pro Stock
Motorcycle) also are qualifying leaders at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona. The $1.8
million race is the final of 23 events in the $50 million NHRA POWERade Drag
Racing Series.

ATHEY AND IANNOTTI JOIN FORCES

dsc03222.jpgPaul Athey and the Mohegan Sun Racing team are proud to announce the formation
of a partnership with the New England based West Coast Choppers Pro Mod team of
Iannotti Racing. This joining of forces will no doubt pay big dividends for both
teams in their 2007 campaign and bolster the Pro Mod scene on the East Coast.


"Ron and I had talked a little bit back in the Spring about working together
and getting their team back out to the track," Athey explained. "Ron really
wanted to go racing but needed to secure additional funding."

This is a duo that has long been familiar to Pro Mod fans in the eastern half
of the country. Iannotti, known as one of the bad boys of the class, a
competitor at the first ever ADRL Dragstock event, and flying the banner of
Jesse James's West Coast Choppers will retain the tuning services of Brian
Winkler. Data sharing with the additional car will be invaluable for both teams.

MORE TROUBLES FOR ORVILLE MOE

The deposed general manager at Spokane Raceway Park recently was indicted by a federal grand jury on several counts of public corruption.

The charges stem from the fact Moe and the former Airway Heights (Wash.) Mayor Dale R. Perry were financially involved. The indictment alleges Moe loaned the mayor money with the expectation that Perry would cast favorable votes when issues regarded SRP came before the Airway Heights City Council.

Moe was fired June 1 as the GM of SRP, a 600-acre drag-racing and motorsports complex in Airway Heights, just west of Spokane.

CLANCY JOINS NHRA MARKETING

Kelly Clancy has been named director of corporate marketing for the National Hot Rod Association, NHRA Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing Gary Darcy announced today.

Clancy joins NHRA with more than 20 years of experience in the marketing field – including 10 years with California Speedway, where she managed all media, advertising, sponsor programs, and pre- and post-race ceremonies as director of advertising and promotions.

“I’m very excited to join the NHRA team and to have the tremendous opportunity to work with our sponsors, teams, and fans to continue to grow the ever-expanding popularity of the sport of NHRA Drag Racing,” Clancy said.

SAFETY SAFARI'S "LEFTY" GRICE RETIRES

dsb_5504.jpgThe scariest moments are the ones you can never prepare for -- seeing a dragster go out of control and diving into the flames in a split-second moment when quick reaction outweighs thought.

The men and women who are tested and can handle the pressure – like 31-year veteran Jere “Lefty” Grice -- are invaluable to NHRA. But after more than 10 years traveling the POWERade Series fulltime with the NHRA Safety Safari presented by AAA, Grice, who turned 65 at the Seattle race, will retire after the 42nd annual Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA Finals at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona.
Grice’s involvement with NHRA drag racing began like many others’ – when he raced the first car he ever owned, a 1948 Plymouth with a ’54 Dodge V8 engine, near his home in Louisiana in 1956.

“I never won nothing, but I had fun,” Grice said. “Back then you could have fun for cheap.”

IHRA SCHEDULE REVISION

IHRA has announced a change to the 2007 eMax Nitro Jam™ Drag Racing Series
schedule. The MOPAR Canadian Nationals at Grand Bend
(Ontario) Motorplex will be held July 20 –
22 and the Amalie Oil North American Nationals at New England (Epping, N.H.) Dragway moves to August 10 –
12.

 

The North American Nationals,
previously held in September and originally scheduled next year in July, has
been moved to August to accommodate an unforeseen conflict for one of the event
sponsors.

 

“After releasing the 2007 schedule
in October, there became an event conflict with one of our major partners for
the North American Nationals,” said IHRA vice president of race operations
Skooter Peaco. “The new weekend in August allows us to avoid conflicts with any
other event in the area.  It gives the
event the full attention in the market, which will be good for everyone.”

 

          

WJ ELECTED TO HALL OF FAME

Throughout his illustrious 36-year
Pro Stock career, Warren Johnson has become the standard by which all
competitors are measured.   With a record of success spanning four decades, the
man whose tireless and studious approach to racing earned him the moniker of
“The Professor of Pro Stock” has systematically rewritten the record books,
helping to mold the category into the highly popular and competitive division it
is today. 

On Wednesday, Johnson’s
accomplishments were recognized by the prestigious International Motorsports
Hall of Fame in Talladega, AL, who announced that the Minnesota native was one of six inductees
elected to their Class of 2007.  The formal induction ceremony will be held on
April 26, 2007, where Johnson will be joined by classmates Junie Donleavy, Jack
Ingram, Bruton Smith, Wayne Rainey and Ray
Hendrick.

Although Johnson, 63, is still
competing on a full-time basis as the owner and driver of the GM Performance
Parts Pontiac GTO in the NHRA’s POWERade Drag Racing Series, he was eligible for
induction under the unique “Over 62” rule, which waives the five-year waiting
period for anyone still competing after the age of
62.

MOTORVATION JOINS MILLICAN IN POMONA

Clay Millican and Kenny Koretsky’s Top Fuel team will have a different look for
a second 2006 NHRA event in the Auto Club Finals this weekend at Pomona
Raceway. 
 
Motorvation Automotive Performance Products will be featured,
along with Werner Enterprises, Nitro Fish, Torco Racing Fuels, OCC and Motel 6
in the season-ending event.
 
Mark Pickens, owner of Motorvation
Automotive Performance Products of Memphis, also sponsored the team at
Indianapolis in September. 
 

BEN BRAY INJURED

ben_bray.jpgYoung drag racing star Ben Bray and a crewmember of Team Bray,
Australia's best known Top Doorslammer team, have been seriously injured in a
freak accident while loading a car into a transporter at the team's workshop
yesterday. Another crewmember luckily escaped with minor injuries.

Ben was in the car and Mark 'Choc' Richmond and Anthony Vloedmans were on the
transporter's tailgate, which had just reached its full extension some three
metres off the ground when the tailgate lifting mechanism failed, sending the
tailgate and the vehicle crashing to the ground.

FATHER AND SON COMPETE FOR POMONA TITLES

68.jpgThe Ashley family has plenty to cheer about headed into this weekend’s AAA Auto
Club Finals in Pomona, Ca. The two-fold elation can be traced to patriarch Mike
Ashley completing his first full season behind the wheel of the Knoll Gas –
Torco Race Fuels nitro Funny Car and young Justin Ashley gunning for the NHRA
POWERade Fan Nationals championship.
 
The weekend is one that everyone in the
family from grandparents to distant relatives to friends have been eagerly
awaiting.
 

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