NHRA Newsmakers

[draglist]

NHRA Newsmakers

Your inside glimpse at the world’s fastest motorsport

WHO’S HOT!

· CAPPS EXTENDS POWERADE SERIES LEAD: Ron Capps raced to his second consecutive victory and posted his third final round appearance of the season at Houston and in the process extended his POWERade Series points lead to 68 over John Force. Capps, who drove his Brut Dodge to a second-place series finish in 2005, is enjoying the moment. “I'm still kind of in shock when I hear that,” Capps said in the media center after being announced as the points leader and winner of the last two events. “We all saw (teammate Gary) Scelzi DNQ at this race and it reminds you that you're only as good as your last pass, not even your last race. I mean, if the defending series champ can DNQ, anything can happen to any of us. We just took what the track gave us all day. That's pretty much what we've done all year. The car was perfect until the final when I hurt the motor on the burnout. I told the guys we were in trouble when I was backing up but I still ran it down through there to try and get the win. I guess Bob (Gilberston, runner-up) had trouble, so we got a break there. This is going to be a long year. I know that, so I'm just trying to enjoy every minute of it right now.”

· WOMEN ON THE DRAG STRIP: For the second consecutive POWERade Series event multiple females advanced to the final round in their respective categories. Angelle Sampey earned her second consecutive victory in Pro Stock Motorcycle and increased her series lead. Sampey, a three-time world champion in the two-wheel category, moved to 10th on the NHRA’s all-time wins list for professional drivers and her 39 career victories is the most for a female in NHRA history and second all-time among Pro Stock Motorcycle competitors. In Top Fuel, points leader Melanie Troxel advanced to her fifth straight final round appearance (dating back to the ’05 Auto Club NHRA Finals) and increased her series lead to 128 over Larry Dixon with the runner-up finish. Troxel’s five straight finals is a record for women in NHRA professional category racing. In Pro Stock, Erica Enders just missed her third shot at a final round appearance, as the Houston native lost a close one in the semis to two-time world champ Jim Yates. Meanwhile, at the NHRA Xplōd Sport Compact Racing Series season-opener at Moroso Motorsports Park in South Florida, Stephanie Eggum earned the victory in Hot Rod. Eggum joined sport compact racing pioneer Lisa Kubo as the only women to win an NHRA Sport Compact Series event in the Hot Rod category.

NEWS NUGGETS

NHRA FEATURED IN FHM MAGAZINE: FHM Magazine invites its readers to “Enter the gut-quivering world of pro drag racing” in its May 2006 issue, which is currently available on newsstands. The five-page spread, with words by veteran auto racing journalist Rob Edelstein and photos by Patrick Giardino, showcases NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series’ Top Fuel, Funny Car and Pro Stock categories. In one segment, on the page highlighting Top Fuel, U.S. Army crew chief Alan Johnson reveals the power of nitromethane: “It’s nasty stuff,” he tells Edelstein. “You can put a drop on the counter and put a match to it and it won’t light. But if you hit it with a hammer, it’ll blow a hole in the counter. You could say it’s somewhat volatile.” The article features excellent photography, cool graphics, and interviews with Johnson, John Force, Gary Scelzi, and team owner Don Schumacher.

· GET YOUR AUTOGRAPHS AT LAS VEGAS ESPN ZONE: Many top NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series stars, including David Grubnic, three-time NHRA Top Fuel champion Tony Schumacher, Top Fuel rookie Hillary Will, three-time Pro Stock world champion Greg Anderson, Jason Line, David Baca, Del Worsham, Phil Burkart, Mike Ashley, Doug Herbert, Las Vegas resident Rod Fuller, Mark Pawuk, Cory McClenathan, Jim Yates, and Mike Thomas, will be available to meet with fans and sign autographs on Thursday, April 6 from 7-8 p.m. at the ESPN Zone at the New York, New York Hotel & Casino. KKLZ-FM will broadcast live from the event and will interview drivers. Tickets for the seventh annual NHRA SummitRacing.com Nationals, April 6-9 at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, may be purchased by calling the LVMS ticket office at 702-644-4444 or at www.lvms.com.

· NHRA FOUNDER PARKS TO BE HONORED: NHRA founder Wally Parks and ZZ Top guitarist and car collector extraordinaire Billy F. Gibbons will be the honored celebrated guests of California Car Cover during the 11th annual National Street Rod Association Appreciation Day. The respected single-day celebration is scheduled for Sunday, May 7, at California Car Cover Co. headquarters, 9525 DeSoto Ave., Chatsworth, Calif., from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Parks, a legend in the hot rodding community and the man who is known as the father of the National Hot Rod Association, guided NHRA through its formative years and created an outlet for drag racing enthusiasts that features safe, spirited, and wildly entertaining competition, from its grassroots levels to its professional ranks. Gibbons, renowned both as a musician and an avid car collector, has supported the hot rodding and collector car hobbies for countless years. His sleek and seductive CadZZilla custom, based on a vintage 1940s Cadillac, with its long, low, streamlined silhouette, is one of the most famous and coveted vehicles in the world. With approximately 500 custom and rodding vehicles of every color and style expected, hobbyists and auto enthusiasts will also be treated to a day of extraordinary automotive design and innovation, food, music, and behind-the-scenes tours of the California Car Cover Co. facilities and showroom.

· NITTO TIRE NAMED OFFICIAL SPONSOR OF NHRA XPLOD SPORT COMPACT SERIES: NHRA officials announced recently that Nitto Tire has been named the official tire of the NHRA Xplōd Sport Compact Racing Series, and event title sponsor of NHRA Xplōd Sport Compact Series events at Moroso Motorsports Park and Auto Club Raceway at Pomona . In addition, Nitto Tire will present the Nitto Diamond Tree Rings to each of the NHRA Xplōd Sport Compact World Champions (Pro RWD, Pro FWD, Modified, Hot Rod, and Honda Tuning All Motor) at the NHRA Sport Compact Series awards ceremony. The awards ceremony will be held at the conclusion of the season on Oct. 22 at the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum in Pomona. The sponsorship increases Nitto’s commitment to NHRA Sport Compact Racing Series. The company will maintain its current sponsorship of the Nitto NHRA Sport Compact Springnationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in Englishtown, N.J., May 6-7. “Nitto is excited to increase our involvement with the NHRA Xplōd Sport Compact Series,” said Jonathan Ozeretny, marketing and event coordinator for Nitto Tire North America, Inc. “After being involved with the NHRA Xplōd Series for five years, Nitto has found the series to be a great platform to promote the Nitto line of high performance radials and slicks.”

· POWERADE FAN NATIONALS WINNER AT HOUSTON: Sulphur, La., resident Nicholas Truett, 11, beat out hundreds of participants at the 19th annual O’Reilly Spring Nationals to become the POWERade Fan Nationals Event Champion. Truett will now travel to Auto Club Raceway at Pomona at the end of the season to compete for the national championship. Truett, an NHRA Jr. Drag Racing League competitor, will ultimately be one of 23 event champions from dragstrips across the country to compete to become the series champion. He and one guest will travel to the 42nd Annual Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA Finals in Southern California the weekend of Nov. 9-12, 2006. There, Truett will compete in a series of qualifying rounds for the chance to claim the title of POWERade Fan Nationals Series Champion. “The POWERade Fan Nationals are just awesome,” Truett said. “I’ve driven a Jr. Dragster since I was 8 and have been coming to the drag races for most of my life, so this is really neat to win here at our home track.” The second season for the POWERade Fan Nationals Series, the competition is a dream come true for NHRA fans like Truett who have longed to race behind the wheel of an NHRA Funny Car. The competition lets fans power a simulated Funny Car to feel what it’s like to roar down the track. Each simulator is equipped with a high-performance, hydraulic racing simulator system that creates a realistic experience for fans. Similar to NHRA drag racing rules, contestants tear down a virtual quarter mile drag strip to compete for the best time. Drivers are eliminated in a series of qualifying rounds throughout the race weekend until one ultimate POWERade Fan Nationals Event Champion is crowned. At the end of the NHRA season, each of the Event Champions, along with two “Wildcard Winners,” will meet in Pomona to face off in a series of side-by-side races until one driver emerges victorious and becomes the POWERade Fan Nationals Series Champion. “The Fan Nationals event lets NHRA fans like Nicholas take the wheel in our specially-designed POWERade Funny Cars and feel what it’s like to roar down the track at 300 mph,” said Ben Reiling, senior manager, sports marketing, Coca-Cola North America. “Nicholas raced hard and we’re excited to crown him as our Houston champ. He is in for an incredible experience at the Auto Club Raceway at Pomona, and we wish him the best of luck competing for the overall POWERade Fan Nationals Championship title.”

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

DIXON GOES FOR “FIVE OF A KIND” AT VEGAS: Miller Lite dragster pilot Larry Dixon has advanced to the last four Top Fuel final rounds at the NHRA SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, winning the race three times during that stretch, including last season. “We’ve tested twice at (Las) Vegas before the season and we’ve run well there in the past, so I’m confident that we can go in there and run well,” Dixon said. “I’ve got a great team, a great car, everything it takes to be able to win.”

HE SAID, SHE SAID

· SCELZI DNQ ‘WORRIES’ FORCE: John Force, 13-time NHRA POWERade Series world champion who has qualified for an NHRA record 373 consecutive races got an uneasy feeling after defending Funny Car champ Gary Scelzi failed to qualify for eliminations last weekend at Houston. Scelzi is the first defending Funny Car world champion to post a DNQ during a title defense season in 21 years (Mark Oswald, 1985 at Indianapolis). “I'm sick about Scelzi not qualifying,” Force said. “I'm sure he's hurting but all it does is scare me because now they're gonna come back that much madder.”

DRIVERS TELL ALL

· TIMING IS EVERYTHING FOR BERNSTEIN: After starting the season with three consecutive first round losses, Brandon Bernstein put the Budweiser/Lucas Oil dragster back in the POWERade Series winner’s circle with a victory in Houston. The native Texan said that the victory was extra-special, considering that his legendary drag racing father Kenny will be inducted into the Texas Motorsports Hall of Fame on Wednesday evening at the Texas Motor Speedway. “This has turned into an amazing weekend,” Brandon said. “Being a Texas boy, to come home and do well for this team is great. Dad's going into the Texas Motorsports Hall of Fame Wednesday and now we can go in there with a trophy in hand. That's my present to him right there. These guys never gave up. We just stayed positive even through these stupid little mechanical failures we had earlier this year. Dad told us that he had many stretches where stuff like this happened to him and there was nothing to get down about. We know what kind of team this is and what we're capable of. We just had to be patient. Tim (Richards, crew chief) tuned us to a 4.51 in the first round and I knew he had a handle on this racetrack. Once he gets like that he's very tough to beat. It was like I had a bracket car.”