I am writing with the hope that you
will be able to help.  As you may know
the NHRA has announced that they will implement a “playoff” system for their
points this year.  There is a large and
growing group of fans that is strongly against such a system.  An online petition has been started at
http://www.petitiononline.com/nhra/petition.html

The goal is to gather enough
signatures which will then be delivered to NHRA as well as to Powerade.  We hope that this will impress upon them the
passion of the fans and our dislike of the playoff.  We hope that they will listen and reverse
this unwise decision.

Scott Kalitta used a string of consistent runs to win the second running of the
Australia VS. USA Top Fuel Showdown. Throughout the day Scott used a 4.67, a
4.56 and a 4.58 to take the win for the second year running.

"What a way
to end an awesome two days of racing. It was great to come down here last year
and even better to come back again this year", said Scott.

Scott's run to
the final is as follows:

On January 1st each year some people take the "polar bear plunge" while

others sit home and watch college football bowl games, but in West Salem,

Ohio racers are able to participate in the country's longest running New

Year's Day drag racing event, Dragway 42's Eighth Annual Hangover
Nationals.

This kickoff to the 50th Anniversary Season at Dragway 42 will
feature
heads-up racing on a 20.07 index for any street legal vehicle. In
addition,
if time and weather conditions allow, a 100% payback Gamblers Race
will
also be held as part of Monday's action.

DRM readers, get ready to receive a
surprise when Issue 1 for 2007 arrives in your mailbox. DRM is
currently undergoing a radical face-lift that will enable IHRA to better serve
its readers and advertisers with a stronger, more colorful DRM. The new
look will be more streamlined, more colorful and the size of a regular
magazine.

“We sit down
every year to tear apart the magazine, trying to figure out what changes we can
make to better serve our readers,” DRM editorial director Mike
Perry said. “One of the complaints we have
always heard about the magazine is the lack of color pictures. We decided to
reduce the size of the magazine to regular size and take the money we will save
on printing, materials and shipping and plow it back into providing more color
throughout the magazine. This is a drastic change, but we are very excited about
the new direction of DRM. I know our readers will love
it.”

Motorsports and automotive
enthusiasts will be able to continue their celebration of the New Year during
the first weekend of January with three new television programs that will
premiere on ESPN2.

All part of the new
ESPN2 Garage block of programming, Truck Stop, Chopper
Nation and Autotrader.com DRIVE in HD will debut on ESPN2,
while Michael Waltrip Racing: A New Era will continue its run,
giving viewers the opportunity to catch up on episodes they may have missed
since the show’s early-December debut.

For the decades of Top Fuel competition in Australia, the Jim Read Racing team
are used to setting new marks and breaking new frontiers. After the first day of
USA Versus Australia Top Fuel Drag Racing action at Western Sydney International
Dragway last night, Phil Read smashed through one of the great marks in the
sport by becoming the first competitor in Australia to produce a Quarter Mile
pass in the magical 4.5 second zone- and it all continues from 5pm
TODAY!

It had the big WSID crowd on its feet as the Auto One/Snap-on
Tools/Fuchs Lubricants 'black mamba' Dragster flew through the speed traps and
registered over 329 miles per hour as well.

"

High Speed Motorsports has selected Troy Green as the new driver of it's Nostalgia Top Fuel Dragster
for the 2007 racing season.

"Everyone at HighSpeed Motorsports, including our
corporate sponsors, SilverThin Bearings and Mastercam Software are very excited
to have Troy at the wheel entering the 2007 season" said HSMS CEO Dale Singh.
"His reputation in the pits is unmatched. He is highly regarded by all who know
him."

Due to a number of family and business commitments, Mike Coughlin raced a
limited schedule of events in 2006 yet he made the most of those opportunities.
The former Division 3 champ made a major change in 2006 as he parked his JEGS
Mail Order Super Comp dragster for most of the season and entered the exciting
new Top Sportsman class with a Jerry Bickel-built ’06 Chevy Cobalt. It didn't
take long for Coughlin to become comfortable in his new surroundings as he drove
the low 7-second, 192-mph Chevy to a victory at the second annual JEGS NHRA
Northern SPORTSnationals in late July. He also advanced to the late rounds of
the Lucas Oil Series divisional events in Beech Bend, Ky., and the team’s home
track in Columbus and finished seventh in the North Central Division Top
Sportsman standings.
           
“I'd had a lot of success in Super Comp
but I was really ready for a change so that’s why I decided to try Top
Sportsman,” said Coughlin. “Now, the only regret I have is that I didn't build
this car sooner because it’s so much fun to drive. Thankfully, I got some
experience in a fast door car when we were racing in the Pro Stock Truck class
in the late 1990's so my learning curve for this car was pretty short. Jerry
Bickel builds a great car and within a few races, our crew here at JEGS had it
dialed in. After the first few races, I pretty much just had to get in and
drive.”

Dick Butler wanted to remind our readers that TOP/SS and
TOP/STK running at the Div 3 national open events in 07. A sponsor is needed to
donate $500 to the purse for each of the 3 planned events for TOP/STK.