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

GUGLIOTTA TO DRIVE FOR JONES 2-CAR TEAM

Chassis builder/IHRA Pro
Stock driver Rick Jones plans on having a two-car team in 2007, neither of
which he will drive. Jones will use the competition

tandem of Frank Gugliotta
and Mike Corvo, Jr.


Jones said this move is
intended to free up his complex schedule to allow more time for customer
service

 

“I’m not giving up driving permanently. I just want to
do a good job of taking care of my customers,” Jones said. “I feel that we
build the best race car, and we have the best customers. I want to make sure that
it stays that way. I am very excited about next year to say the least. Bonnie, Rickie and I have always wanted to
run two cars. We are putting sponsorship in place for the second car, and that
sponsor will be announced in the near future.”

Gugliotta drove for Charlie
Taylor last year and placed third in championship points standings.

CAPPS IN ALL-STAR KART RACE AT PRI SHOW

NHRA drag-racing star Ron Capps, famous for
his willingness and desire to
drive just about anything on wheels if given
the chance, will compete in the
invitational Stars of Karting presented by
the IRL All-Star Kart Race in
Orlando, Fla., Dec. 14 against a star-studded
list of professional kart
racers and other celebrity racing pros.

Capps, of Carlsbad, Calif., who
drives the Brut Revolution Dodge Charger R/T
Funny Car in the NHRA POWERade
Drag Racing Series for Don Schumacher Racing,
will compete against
established kart racers as well as celebrity guest
drivers such as Indy 500
winner Buddy Rice, Indy 500 runner-up Marco
Andretti, IndyCar standouts Tomas
Scheckter and Bryan Herta, Champ Car's
Alex Tagliani, fellow NHRA Top Fuel
star Larry Dixon, and sports-car aces
Patrick Long, Wayne Taylor and Memo
Gidley, among others to be announced.

SPOKANE TO RUN AS SCHEDULED

In wake of legal battles and the impending sale of Spokane Raceway
Park, auto racing will continue next spring at the embattled
motorsports complex.

So believes Troy Moe, who heads one of the local group of investors interested in buying the facility.

The park remained open this past season under interim general manager
Jim Tice. The 600-acre facility, which is in need of remodeling,
supports a quarter-mile drag strip, 2.5-mile road course and half-mile
asphalt oval.

SRP is prepared to reopen in April. Tentative race dates are being taken for the 2007 schedule.

Rice assumed GM duties after Orville Moe, the legendary force behind
SRP for three decades, was fired June 1 by a judge who concluded the
69-year-old millionaire had disobeyed a court-appointed receiver
overseeing financial operations.

PRO STOCK CHAMPIONS FOR CHARITY

Three-time POWERade Pro Stock champion Greg Anderson and newly crowned 2006
POWERade Pro Stock champion Jason Line will take time off from preparing for the
2007 season-opening NHRA Winternationals for a good cause – the 2006 “Stocks for
Tots,” being held Tuesday, December 12, at the Charles Mack Citizens Center in
downtown Mooresville, N.C.  The annual holiday fundraiser begins at 6 p.m. and
closes at 10 p.m.

“There is a large group of racing teams housed in the
Mooresville area and KB Racing is proud to be part of that group.  Stocks for
Tots allows us to forget about our work and come together, for one night, to
benefit the community.  It’s a great time of year and we’re glad that we can be
a part of this year’s fundraising,” said Anderson.

NHRA STARS VISIT GERMANY

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A group of goodwill ambassadors from the NHRA is back in the United States
after a three-day USO-sponsored tour of U.S. Military installations, including
the Kaiserslautern Military Community and Spangdahlem Air Base. It was the
second consecutive post-season visit for the drivers, and as in 2005, the time
spent with the American troops and their families stationed in Germany was a
brief but memorable chapter in their careers they'll be talking about for a long
time.

Six-time NHRA Pro Stock champion Warren Johnson, two-time NHRA Pro
Stock champion Jim Yates, Funny Car driver Tommy Johnson Jr., and Top Fuel
drivers Cory McClenathan and Melanie Troxel (who joined the group for the first
time this year) represented the sport of drag racing during the 72-hour
troop-morale mission to Germany. The Army Special Forces Association, Randall
Shughart Chapter 64, based in Carlisle, Pa. once again served as the vanguard
for this year's visit and the 435th Services Squadron at Ramstein AB hosted the
group during its stay in Germany. The drivers distributed over 1,500 goody bags
that included racing caps, tee-shirts, racing decals and other items, signed an
even greater number of autographs and brought good cheer to everyone they
met.

DUCE STALEY/JIM YATES RACING STILL ON

Two-time Pro Stock
champion Jim Yates has informed  Torco’s CompetitionPlus.com that while he
“just heard about” Staley  being cut by the Pittsburgh Steelers NFL team, he
is confident 
they’ll continue to go forward with their planned two-car
team.  

MANAGEMENT CONTRACT FOR CEDAR FALLS RACEWAY SIGNED

Cedar Falls Raceway, Cedar Falls, IA will be open for business for years to
come, as a long term management contract and ownership option has been signed
between track owners Scott Braun and John Deery and Cordova Dragway Park’s Scott
Gardner according to broker Track Planning Associates Ron Colson.
 
“I have always had a soft spot in my heart for CFR” said Gardner, a former
native of the Cedarloo area. “Growing up while working and racing at CFR in the
1980’s, it’s always been a dream to operate the facility” he stated. Gardner,
born and raised in Waterloo, IA graduated from the University of Northern Iowa
in Cedar Falls before leaving the area to eventually own and operate Cordova
Dragway Park in Cordova, Illinois as well as co-own Eddyville Raceway Park in
Oskaloosa, Iowa.

OHIO CRANKSHAFT TO PRESENT NHRA PRO MODIFIED BONUS AWARD

Ohio Crankshaft will be awarding $1000 to the low qualifier at all events in 2007. 

SCHUMACHER, FORCE NAMED TO 2006 AARWBA AUTO RACING ALL-AMERICA FIRST TEAM

NHRA POWERade Series world champions Tony Schumacher and John Force
were named to the American Auto Racing Writers and Broadcasters
Association (AARWBA) Auto Racing All-America First Team.

Top Fuel runner-up Doug Kalitta and Pro Stock world champion Jason Line were named to the Second Team.

Two selections were made by the members of the motorsports press
association from each of seven categories – Drag Racing, Open Wheel,
Stock Car, Road Racing, Short Track, Touring Series and At-Large – to
complete the first team. The highest remaining vote-getters were
eligible for the AARWBA second team and honorable mention team.

Top Alcohol Funny Car national champion Frank Manzo, who had 10 event
wins – six national and four divisional – en route to his 10th Lucas
Oil national championship, was an At-Large selection on the Second Team.

NOTHING LIKE THE FIRST WIN FOR SEWARD

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Bryan Seward found it very difficult to fight back the tears on Sunday
as he won his first career Pro Modified event during the recently
completed Snow Bird Outlaw Nationals in Bradenton, Florida.

The longtime sportsman racer, who is in his fourth year of running Pro
Modified, finally raised his first trophy high into the air. The tears
began to flow freely.

“It was a sight for a 42-year old to be crying like a baby, but I just could not hold them back,” said Seward.

The dew point during final round caused the track to be very difficult
to negotiate and Seward covered “about half a mile to get the quarter
mile win.” Posting a 6.27 in his supercharged Mustang, Seward bested
the 6.36 of the nitrous assisted Camaro of Dan Bandish in the final
round and secured his first career win.

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