Dale Creasy Jr. and Jack Wyatt are battling to see who will end up on
top of the Knoll Gas-Torco Racing Fuels Pro Nitro Funny Car
championship points standings. Friday night Creasy gained the early
upper hand.

Creasy, a Beecher, Ill. resident, entered the season-ending Universal
Technical Institute World Finals in Rockingham, N.C., boasting a slim
20-point lead over Wyatt in the points race. His 4.952 run at 294.88
mph put him at the top of the qualifying sheet while Wyatt, with a
5.045/253.85 pass, finished right on his heels in the #2 position.

 Andrew Cowin (Wilmington, N.C.) grabbed the provisional #1
qualifier spot in the Knoll Gas-Torco Racing Fuels Pro Nitro Top Fuel
class by leading a stellar evening Top Fuel qualifying session with a
4.574 pass at 317.34 mph. Clay Millican (Drummonds, Tenn.), who
clinched his sixth consecutive Top Fuel World Championship at the
President’s Cup Nationals two weeks ago, was second on the list with a
4.591 run at 314.83 mph while Rick Cooper (Boise, Idaho), battling it
out for second overall in the world, was third after Friday’s session.

Troy Critchley (Wylie, Texas) pulled the biggest surprise of Friday’s
racing when he moved to the top of the Torco’s CompetitionPlus.com Pro
Modified qualifying sheet. He posted a 6.061 pass at a Rockingham
Dragway track record 236.17 mph. Critchley, who went off the end of the
track the last time he raced in IHRA competition at the Torco Northern
Nationals at US 131 Motorsports Park earlier this summer, ripped
straight down the groove at Rockingham Dragway to claim the provisional
pole.

“Mark “Cowboy” Pawuk announced today that his Pro Stock Pontiac team
will forego the year’s two remaining races on the NHRA POWERade Series
schedule in order to regroup.

“I want to emphasize,” he said from his offices at Empaco Equipment
Corporation, “that this is not a retirement announcement. I can’t say
that thought hasn’t crossed my mind, but this is strictly a financial
and not emotional decision.

The history of American Racing Equipment (ARE), one of the most
dominant wheel companies in the automotive aftermarket, will be
presented in a special exhibit at Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum,
presented by the Automobile Club of Southern

California. "50 Years of American Racing Wheels" is set to run at the
motorsports center at the Fairplex in Pomona, Calif., from Oct. 20,
2006 through Jan. 28, 2007.

"We're proud of our 50-year history, and the role we've played in
American car culture and motorsports," said Eric Carr, vice president
of Marketing and Product Development at American Racing. "Having the
exhibit at the Parks Museum is a real honor." Eric added that the
exhibits will feature race cars, hot rods and other vehicles, along
with company memorabilia and artifacts.

Six-time NHRA World champion Kenny Bernstein is proud to announce that
Lucas Oil will expand its involvement with Kenny Bernstein Racing and
has been named a major associate sponsor on Bernstein’s Monster Energy
Funny Car which will debut in 2007. Lucas Oil has been a major
associate on Bernstein’s Budweiser Top Fuel dragster since 2002.

Bernstein retired at the end of 2002, and turned driving
responsibilities of the Budweiser/Lucas Oil dragster over to his son
Brandon. Kenny returned to the cockpit of the Budweiser/Lucas Oil
dragster to finish the 2003 season when Brandon suffered season-ending
back injuries in a racing accident in Englishtown, N.J.

Seeing America's best Top Fuel pilots taking on the Aussies come Boxing Day at
Western Sydney International Dragway is exciting enough, however the excitement
will reac h all-new levels with the inclusion of Top Doorslammer in a whole new
exciting way. Imagine the world's fastest sedan-based vehicles running down the
quarter mile with no weight limit and no blower overdrive
restrictions!

It's a mouth watering prospect that has one biting their
nails in anticipation already!

Throughout their six-year involvement
with the NHRA’s fall race at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway,
automotive replacement parts leader ACDelco has strived to appoint a
Grand Marshal who embodies both the spirit of the Las Vegas Strip and a
Real Car Guy’s passion for anything automotive. It can be argued that
for the 2006 edition, they may have found the one person who best fits
this description – legendary ZZ Top singer/guitarist Billy F. Gibbons,
the Grand Marshal of the Sixth Annual ACDelco Las Vegas Nationals,
which will be held on October 26 - 29.

“We are thrilled to welcome Billy Gibbons as the Grand Marshal of the
ACDelco Las Vegas Nationals,” said Duane Miller, Executive Director for
General Motors Service and Parts Operations’ Field Operations. “Billy’s
reputation as a rock and roll legend is matched only by his status as a
top car collector, with his stable featuring some of the world’s best
hot rods. Having a Real Car Guy of his stature as our Grand Marshal
will only add to the event’s excitement, and serve as the culmination
of what will be a great week for ACDelco in the entertainment capital
of the world.”

The real question is not whether this is an Evan Knoll-sponsored Top
Fueler but which team will the car run out of of and who will the
driver be? Could it be someone outside of the usual suspects? That's
what Knoll is hinting.

Excerpts from the NHRA teleconference Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2006 with
the POWERade Series championship contenders in Top Fuel and Pro Stock
Motorcycle, and they are:

Torco Racing Fuels Top Fuel competitor Bruce Litton has announced he will return
to competition this weekend, October 20 – 22, at Rockingham Dragway for the
Universal Technical Institute World Finals. Litton missed the last two races
while recovering from injuries sustained during the IHRA race in Epping, N.H,
the first races he’s missed in nearly fifteen years.

“We’ve missed the last two races, and those are
the first national events I’ve missed since 1993,” said Litton. “The Rock has
been as good to me as any track, so it’s comforting to make my return to racing
at that facility.”

Erica Enders was quite a bit excited when her Dodge Stratus recorded
a 6.56 at 210 mph during a practice run in Virginia on Monday. Terry
Adams was driving the car.

"You never put too much into testing numbers," Enders said
cautiously. "But any time your car goes that quick and that fast it's hard not
to get pumped up a little bit. "The crew stayed after the Virginia race
and wanted to try a new clutch combination they'd been working on. The car
absolutely matched up perfectly with what they did and it just flew down the
track. Sure it's testing, but we were legal weight and the track was pretty much
identical to the day before so it's a legit run. Now we need to come to The
Strip and duplicate it."