SCHUMACHER, HIGHT AND ANDERSON EARN TOP QUALIFYING SPOTS AT O'REILLY FALL NATIONALS

ENNIS, Texas -- Three-time Top Fuel champion Tony Schumacher raced to
his 10th No. 1 qualifying position of the season Saturday at the
O'Reilly Fall Nationals presented by Castrol Syntec at the Texas
Motorplex.

A cooling afternoon rain shower made Saturday's two qualifying sessions
much better than Friday's pair, with most teams improving, most
noticeably in the final session. Aside from Schumacher's No. 1 effort of
4.520 seconds at 321.12 mph in his U.S. Army dragster, Robert Hight
posted a Funny Car-leading 4.742 in his Auto Club Ford Mustang and Greg
Anderson recorded a 6.696 in his Summit Racing Pontiac GTO to set the
pace in Pro Stock.

CREASY LEADS NITRO FUNNY CAR
QUALIFYING IN TORONTO; Foley, Pontieri, Patrick and Thomas
Also No. 1
Qualifiers

Dale Creasy Jr. raced to the top of
the Knoll Gas – Torco Racing Fuels Pro Nitro Funny Car qualifying Saturday with
a 4.946-second run during the IHRA Canadian Nationals at Toronto Motorsports
Park. Other No. 1 qualifiers include Doug Foley (Top Fuel), Tony Pontieri (Pro
Modified), Robert Patrick (Pro Stock) and Mark Thomas (Alcohol Funny
Car).

Creasy Jr. came into this event leading the points in a very tight
chase with Jack Wyatt and Bob Gilbertson. Based on qualifying, he’s gained a
point over Wyatt, who is qualified second, and six points on Gilbertson, in the
7th spot. In addition, the No. 1 spot will grant Creasy Jr. the first round bye,
as the field is set with only seven cars.

For the second night in a row,
Knoll Gas – Torco Racing Fuels Pro Nitro Top Fuel qualifying was cut short. With
four cars yet to go down the track, rain began to fall, showing no signs of
stopping in time for proper drying. The night was called and the portion of Top
Fuel qualifying that was completed was thrown out.

 Therefore, the fields are set based
on round one of qualifying. Foley, the current points leader, who has never lost
a round of competition at Toronto Motorsports Park, is No. 1 with a
4.791/318.99. Clay Millican is second with a 4.795, followed by Rick Cooper and
Bobby Lagana Jr.

CLARENCE, New York – Last weekend’s PMRA Challenge presented by G-Force
Race Cars event at Lancaster Raceway Park in Clarence, NY has been
rescheduled for Saturday, October 14.

The Travel USA Central presents Pro Mod Shoot Out is the rescheduled
September 15 race was rained out at the Western New York state track.
This event will be a day show, rather than in the evening.

Joining the PMRA Pro Modifieds will be the CAN-AM Stock/Super Stock
Series. This popular grass-roots drag series that features competitors
from Ontario, New York and Michigan, was formed in 1996, and continues
to grow each season. The participants, known for their awesome
wheelies, are fan favorites wherever they appear.

With the three top Pro Modified Racing Association teams within 10
points of each other going into Lancaster Raceway Park for the final
event of the season, this final round of Pro Modified action will
determine the 2006 PMRA champion.

The Mid-Michigan
Motorplex Hosts the 5th Annual Toys for Tots

Benefit Drag
Race

COLUMBUS, Ohio – JEGS Mail Order driver Mike Coughlin drove to a
semifinal finish in the Top Sportsman class during the final rounds of
yesterdays Division 3 Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series event at National
Trail Raceway. Racing at his home track, Coughlin took his JEGS.com
Cobalt to round four of eliminations, before losing a close race
against reigning Division 3 Top Sportsman champ Don Peden. Coughlin
posted a 7.29-second elapsed time on his pre-race dial-in of 7.24 while
Peden ran a 7.17 on his 7.15 dial for the victory.

IHRA Canadian Nationals Under Rain-Delay

Saturday qualifying for the IHRA Canadian Nationals at Toronto
Motorsports Park is under delay due to inclement weather. Racing will
resume today when the rain stops. Eliminations are scheduled for Sunday
with first round at 11 a.m. and final round at 4:15 p.m.

ASHLEY, KALITTA AND ANDERSON LEAD QUALIFYING AT O'REILLY NHRA
FALLNATIONALS

New Yorker Mike Ashley raced to the
qualifying lead in Funny Car Friday at the O'Reilly NHRA Fall Nationals
presented by Castrol Syntec.

Ashley posted a 4.799 at 314.53 mph in his
Torco Racing Fuels Dodge Stratus at the all-concrete Texas Motorplex to lead his
category and join Top Fuel points leader Doug Kalitta and reigning Pro Stock
champion Greg Anderson as leaders after the first day of qualifying.

A
heavily-accented mortgage broker from Long Island, Ashley posted a
4.799 at
314.53 mph in his Dodge Stratus to overshadow the championship
battle between
Ron Capps and John Force. Capps' Dodge has him fifth
after a 4.865, while
Force's Ford carried him to 11th with a 4.983. It
is the first time Ashley
has led the 7,000 horsepower category since
moving from Pro Modified to Funny
Car last year at the U.S. Nationals.

"I think we've been underrated the
last four races," Ashley said. "I'm a
former champion. This is not the first
time I've been No. 1 qualifier. This shouldn't be a surprise. We've got all the
pieces here; a great sponsor in Torco Fuels, the resources of Don Schumacher
Racing, and a proven crew chief in Brian Corradi. The weak link has been me, but
this is my one-year anniversary driving these cars and I've learned a lot."

Keep up with this weekend's event on our EVENT PAGE

Rodger Brogdon and the RoofTec Racing team have thrown down
the gauntlet to raise assistance for one of drag racings best, Lynn Nickerson.
NHRA’s division 4 and national event announcer is once again dealing with
cancer and Rodger Brogdon has issued a challenge to all of the racing community
to answer the call. Brogdon’s RoofTec Racing team has anted up a $5000.00
initial contribution and challenges each and every one of the NHRA POWERade
teams to meet or beat the team’s challenge.

Back when there were just a handful of races each NHRA national event

season, Billy Meyer battled other Funny Car drivers for each and every

round win. He drove in 112 NHRA events and earned 12 victories in 22

final round appearances. Do the math – he was in the finals 20 percent

of the time. Not bad for a guy who was also racing in IHRA events,
doing
match races as well as running any number of businesses Meyer has
started
and owned throughout his lifetime. Want the short list of some
of his
accomplishments? He finished in the top 10 each year that he
raced behind
the wheel of a Funny Car, including turning in
second-place finishes in the
final point standings three times; he was
the youngest person ever licensed
to drive a Funny Car (16 years old);
he earned an IHRA Winston world
championship (1980); was partner to Hal
Needham in the Budweiser Rocket Car
– the car that set the land speed
record at the Bonneville Salt Flats,
becoming the first land vehicle to
break the sound barrier; he helped create
Racers for Christ; he's the
author for the Boy Scouts of America badge
requirements for Automotive
Mechanics; he owned IHRA in 1988; he also owned
and published Drag
Racing Today. On top of all that, Meyer has dabbled in
areas outside
the racing industry too. He has started and owned businesses
in
publishing, corporate jets, real estate and website design, to name a

few. Oh yeah, he also owns the Texas Motorplex, the site of this

weekend's 21st annual O'Reilly Fall NHRA Nationals. In this Q&A session

Meyer talks about what his dad contributed to his life, what his

weakness is as a track owner and what he considers to be his best
racing
statistic.