Hey Bob! Saw the news on Horsepower Heaven and thought I would wish you all the best. Take care....

Here's the latest news about the Western Sydney Motorplex situation, as forwarded by Robin Judd (Western Australian Top Doorslammer racer). The writer of the piece is presumably David Cook, publisher of DRAGSTER Australia and a principal in RPS Promotions and the Western Sydney Motorplex.

I find this very interesting and thought U.S. politics was screwed up. I am guessing that this is the situation you described, since Sydney lies on the east coast. Will probably try to write something about it in my column for next week. Maybe if they find out it is being heard as far away as here,. they'll be a little stunned. Any more bits would be appreciated.

How many strips are there in Australia? Do they have a sanctioning body or do they go by another country's rules? (ie., I believe some were using NHRA rules). Thanks much for what you have given me so far.

Hi Bob. Here is the latest batch of daily stories and pictures and weekly movies from draglist.com.

We have updated the DRL Lists with 20 megabytes of fresh updates. They will be uploaded throughout the day. There are many we still have to enter, but this brings us up to date with all the updates Danny White sent two weeks ago. Since then, Ky Michaelson has sent us tons of Rocket updates and Phil Elliott is going through the Funny Car list and Dennis Doubleday is going through everything. With all this activity, we will have much to fix very soon.

I also updated the navigation of the site a little in order to maintain a more uniform appearance and to keep both banners on the left hand side visible. Instead of a long list of links to each page, we use a NEXT and BACK format. Hopefully, this will help you to navigate more easily through draglist.com. Drop me a line with your comments on our new navigation.

July 31 -- Drag Racing Story of the Day: Philosophy of Building a Fuel Motor. Jim Burke tells how to build one, step by step. Drag Racing Picture of the Day: PT Cruiser in Drag Trim. Yet another photo/art fantasy from the mind of Gonzo. Drag Racing Movie of the Week: Aussies out for some fun. Another Carl Witt clip, this one featuring wild, wheelstanding doorslammer action.

July 30 -- Drag Racing Story of the Day: The Stories of The Drags. More poem than story, Laurie Watts tells a touching tribute to her dragster and others like it. Earl Watts provides a beautiful photo. Drag Racing Picture of the Day: John Bradley, "Mr. Flathead". Pete Garramone offers two shots of the legendary drag racer, still doing it after 50 years. Drag Racing Movie of the Week: Pass A Fire! Carl Witt captures American jet car racer Leland Blee on a blast down the Willowbank (Australia) quarter-mile.

July 29 -- Drag Racing Story of the Day: Kuhlmann Backs Up 230.88 mph Run. The first man over 200 mph in a doorslammer is the latest man over 230 mph. Story by John Lindsey with photos by Scott Meier. Drag Racing Picture of the Day: Rainy Day at the 'Pod. Newcomer Anne Valder with some nice still shots during a rain delay at the recent Cannonball race at Santa Pod, England. Husband Bobby supplies the words.

July 28 -- Drag Racing Story of the Day: Farewell to the Hippie. Flyin' Phil Elliott with fond rememberances of Mike Mitchell. Drag Racing Picture of the Day: Garlits & Larson Warm up SR-32. Art Cimilluca with a nice pit shot of the two great drag racers.

July 27 -- Drag Racing Story of the Day: Adam's Weekend - My First Race in a Funny Car. Adam Sorokin describes his first weekend at the wheel of his new funny car ride. Mike Boersma provides the photos. Drag Racing Picture of the Day: Ford on the 'Flats! Pete Garramone with a gorgeous shot of the Kenz and Leslie salt roadster.

July 26 -- Drag Racing Story of the Day: Drag Racing to Return to Irwindale. History will be made on August 12 and motorsport.com captures the facts. Drag Racing Picture of the Day: The Most Awesome Vehicle in Drag Racing. James Morgan captures Bob Motz's jet powered Kenworth in its full glory.

July 25 -- Drag Racing Story of the Day: Were the Early Funny Car shows fixed? Flyin' Phil Elliott and funny car pioneer Tommy McNeely talk about the category's formative years. Drag Racing Picture of the Day: How I Spent my Summer Vacation. Ralph "Gonzo" Crosby takes us back to the classroom and an acitivity I know many of us undertook.

July 24 -- Drag Racing Story of the Day: The Globe of Death. Fred Vosk recalls one of drag racing's most innovative, exciting and dangerous "circus acts." Drag Racing Picture of the Day: The High Roller. James Morgan grabs a shot of Jon Oswell's High Roller wheelstander with the front end WAY up!

July 23 -- Drag Racing Story of the Day: Running Home to the Drags. David Ross with a story of wasted youth saved by drag racing. I think a lot of us will see ourselves in David's story. Drag Racing Picture of the Day: Gary Clapshaw's Fuelish Pleasure. Ron Dilley's shot of perhaps the most beautiful funny car of all time. Drag Racing Movie of the Week: Steve Read Rocks! Carl Witt shows Aussie fuelers at night.

July 22 -- Drag Racing Story of the Day: Son of Surfers Hits the Strip. Adam Sorokin gets his Advanced ET license and gets ready to tackle CIFCA funny car racing. Drag Racing Picture of the Day: Butch Salter's A/D. A gorgeous shot by the newest member of our photo team, Pete Garramone.

July 21 -- Drag Racing Story of the Day: Pro Mod Pro Bod Shootout at Kennedale. Danny White spills the facts. Drag Racing Picture of the Day: Four OH Nine. Ernie Broughton with a nice photo of a 409 powered Junior Fueler.

Bob, I do not usually forward messages but this is from my good friend Pearlas Sanborn and she really is an attorney; if she says this will work - then it will work. After all, what have you got to lose?

I'm an attorney, and I know the law. This thing is for real. Rest assured AOL and Intel will follow through with their promises for fear of facing a multimillion dollar class action suit similar to the one filed by Pepsico against General Electric not long ago.

We're not going to help them out with their e-mail beta test without getting a little something for our time. My brother's girlfriend got in on this a few months ago. When I went to visit him recently, she showed me her check. It was for the sum of $4324.44 and was stamped "Paid In Full". Like I said before, I know the law, and this is for real. If you don't believe me, you can email her. She's eager to answer any questions you guys might have.

Intel and AOL are now discussing a merger which would make them the largest internet company and in an effort to make sure that AOL remains the most widely used program, Intel and AOL are running an e-mail beta test.

When you forward this e-mail to friends, Intel can and will track it (if you are a Microsoft Windows user) for a two week time period. For every person that you forward this e-mail to, Microsoft will pay you $203.15. For every person that you sent it to that forwards it on, Microsoft will pay you $156.29 and for every third person that receives it, you will be paid $17.65.

Within two weeks, Intel will contact you for your address and then send you a check. I thought this was a scam myself, but a friend of my good friend's Aunt Patricia, who works at Intel, actually got a check for $4543.23 by forwarding this e-mail.

Try it, what you have got to lose?

Larry Pfister sent me a copy of your note. Sorry! I didn't even think I was doing all that good a job of finding out anything interesting. Seems like the only time people talk to me is when I'm with Jerry Ruth!

You do a heckuva job of reporting with your site. I've been a big fan for sometime now.

Hows it going? Just wondering if you could tell me anything on supercharger tuning on a smallblock Chev? I have a 355 with a bug-catcher on methanol and it's running #7 cylinder too lean. What would single out only one cylinder? Front of the engine is richer than the rear also.

We're running a 6-71 GMC blower without teflon strips, has eight nozzles in the hat, all .048's. Any thoughts or help appreciated, Bob. Good luck in the future.

I'm after some info on the injector Glen May uses on his ute and how it performs. Can you put me in contact with him or does he have an e-mail address or can you help me with the info? Thanks.

There are a couple of ways to create downforce with a front-engine Top Fuel dragster. One is to consult an aerodynamicist; another is to add weight to particular locations in the car itself.

Until now Frank "Root Beer" Hedge and his Mastercam AA/Fuel Dragster team have relied on the first approach as their main shoe, "Techno Tim" Gibson is an aerodynamicist by trade. During their partnership this year Gibson and Hedge have riffed on ways to create more traction by planting the 12" M&H slicks on the pavement with more pressure. Their experiments would have to be subtle as the nostalgia drag racing sanctioning bodies frown on some (but not all) aerodynamic accouterments that obscure the aesthetics of the traditional appearance of a "slingshot" dragster.

When Gibson signed on, however, it was with the caveat that he had prior commitments during the season and the team would have to find a pinch hitter for a race or two; this weekend is just such an occasion as "Techno Tim" will be at the NHRA Northwest Nationals in Seattle, competing in Top Fuel with the Bill Miller Engineering dragster as well as consulting with John Force Racing about various aero algorithms as applied to the Y2K "Bat-stang" that Gibson designed for Force.

So this frees up the Mastercam braintrust to try another approach to planting the stern of the 220" long racecar this weekend at the Goodguys 5th Hot Rod Happening in Pomona; that is to add ballast. How so? Well, temporary replacement driver Mike Boyd is built like a real badass, with a taut and muscular physique that would wow 'em ringside or in the World Wide Wrestling Federation.

Boyd currently drives the infamous "Marcellus & Borsch Winged Express" AA/Fuel Altered in exhibition matches across the country, the racecar with a massive inverted airfoil over the cockpit that creates as much downforce as Boyd himself. He has also campaigned the "Nitro Warrior" AA/FD during the last decade or so and is notoriously quick off the starting line.

To compensate for the mass that Boyd will provide, Hedge has taken to the Karen Carpenter approach with other elements, such as removing the aluminum nosepiece (good for 15.5 lbs. he notes) and converting the oil system from a 24 quart dry sump to an Al Barnes wet sump with a 12 quart capacity that will gather in a pan designed by Billet Fabrication.

Between the removal of body work and the various hardware with the oil system, Hedge says he will trim 65 lbs. off of the fighting weight of the Mastercam entry, a number more or less compensated by Boyd's girth. And if his rearrangement of mass proves advantageous, who knows? Maybe when Gibson returns to the Mastercam cockpit for the Boise Nightfire Nationals in August, he will be sitting on a copy of the massive 693 page tome "Theory of Wing Sections." You know.... for downforce.

Mastercam notes for the 5th West Coast Hot Rod Happenin', July 29 & 30, Pomona, California:
Saturday; gates open: 8:00 AM. Pro qualifying: 11:00 AM and 2:00 PM.
Sunday; gates open: 8:00 AM. Eliminations: 12:00 noon.

Just a few more examples of why oxygen and stupidity are the two most common elements in the universe. Hope you enjoy them.

IDIOTS AT WORK

I was signing the receipt for my credit card purchase when the clerk noticed that I had never signed my name on the back of the credit card. She informed me that she could not complete the transaction unless the card was signed. When I asked why, she explained that it was necessary to compare the signature on the credit card with the signature I just signed on the receipt. So I signed the credit card in front of her. She carefully compared that signature to the one I signed on the receipt. As luck would have it, they matched.

IDIOTS IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD

I live in a semi-rural area. We recently had a new neighbor call the local township administrative office to request the removal of the Deer Crossing sign on our road. The reason: many deer were being hit by cars and he no longer wanted them to cross there.

IDIOTS IN FOOD SERVICE

My daughter went to a local Taco Bell and ordered a taco. She asked the individual behind the counter for "minimal lettuce." He said he was sorry, but they only had iceberg lettuce.

IDIOT SIGHTINGS

Sighting #1    I was at the airport, checking in at the gate, when the airport employee asked, "Has anyone put anything in your luggage without your knowledge?" I said "If it was done without my knowledge, how would I know?" He smiled and nodded knowingly, "That's why we ask."

Sighting #2    The stoplight on the corner buzzes when it's safe to cross the street. I was crossing with an intellectually challenged co-worker of mine, when she asked if I knew what the buzzer was for. I explained that it signals to blind people when the light is red. She responded, appalled, "What on earth are blind people doing driving?"

Sighting #3    At a good-bye lunch for an old and dear co-worker who is leaving the company due to "downsizing," our manager spoke up and said, "This is fun. We should have lunch like this more often." Not another word was spoken. We just looked at each other like deer staring into the headlights of an approaching truck.

Sighting #4    I worked with an individual who plugged her power strip back into itself, and for the life of her, could not understand why her system would not turn on.

Sighting #4    When my husband and I arrived at an automobile dealership to pick up our car, we were told that the keys had been accidentally locked in it. We went to the service department and found a mechanic working feverishly to unlock the driver's side door. As I watched from the passenger side, I instinctively tried the door handle and discovered it was open. "Hey," I announed to the technician, "It's open!" "I know," answered the young man. "I already got that side."

Love your coverage of the Mission event, great pics. Great home page too, especially the lightning (didn't realize it was that popular). Check out our website to see what I mean.

We may run at the Calgary national open, if there is no Top Comp. We, as a group (International Blown Alcohol Association), decided not to run Top Comp as we get booked-in deals now and paying to run Top Comp would undermine that deal.

Keeping you updated on my gardening project. Does the place look any different? (See photos below). To date, we've had 1200 truck loads of dirt for the base and today I got 200 truckloads of top soil to make it all pretty with. I have stacked up the top soil for later use.

I have found a guy who specializes in making golf courses to do the final cut before I lay the top soil. Concrete is still coming in and the hole is getting smaller. This place (Gold Coast) is crazy; they will knock down a five storey building and put up a ten, then they will knock down a ten and put up a twenty.... go figure. Good for me though.

As you may know, we have done the blower spacer and I've started on the headers. The 426 wedge has a problem like a small-block Chevy, so I'm making some billet aluminum adapters so we can bolt the pipes on with multiple bolts, just a little further away from the pipe than normal. I have the dimensions now and have drawn the parts up and just started programming them. Very cool!

I saw on the website that it's 200 days before you come down. Do you have a date yet and what are your plans? Send us some engine bearings, OK?

Due to a steady drizzling rain, the 22nd annual Mountain Motor Nationals Pro Stock race at Maryland International Raceway has been postponed for two weeks. The new event date is Wednesday night, August 9th. Full event results will be posted as the Drag Racing List Story of the Day at draglist.com on August 10th.

This year's event will be dedicated to the late Raymond "Ray Ray" English, who, as MIR track manager, named the inaugural event twenty-two years ago.

Hi Bob. Do you have the reaction times for the eliminations in Federal-Mogul Dragster and Funny Car for the Mopac National Open? If so, can you send them by e-mail or fax it to me. Thanks.

In answer to your question about the meeting last week, we are desperate for some positive news. Haven't heard anything yet, but the meeting got a great anti-government reaction from the media. I just don't know what action the government has taken since, but it looks like they're continuing to ignore the situation. I just can't believe the lengths they are going to to prevent the motorplex from happening.

In answer to your question about public protests, we hopefully can get Alan Jones for the protest. He spoke for 45 minutes at the meeting; it's great to see his solid support. Hopefully, there's some behind the scenes advancements to the matter, as this is all we can hope for at the moment until the protest.

Thanks for the info about Stan Tindal visiting you at Mission Raceway. The latest issue of Dragster Australia has the annual Top Alcohol "Planners and Schemers" review and they said Stan was "missing in action" overseas. He stated he won't be back without a track in Sydney. No, there was no mention of you in the article. Suggest you fire off a complaint to Cookie.

Canadian fuel racers had a more than respectable showing in Spokane. Terry Capp was the Top Fuel winner in Craig Smith and Ron Hodgson's "Royal Canadian." There were 12 top fuel cars, including two front motored ones, trying to make the 8-car show. Gordie Bonin didn't qualify.

Jason DuChene of Sherwood Park, Alberta, qualified #2 in his Castrol "Trial 'n' Error" nitro funny car and took a close first round win over Don Sosenka's "Mr. Magoo" fuel coupe, but was unable to return for a semi-final match with Australian Peter Russo, due to engine problems.

Russo defeated #6 qualifier, Regina's Charlie McIntosh in the first round and #1 qualifier Wyatt Radke in the final. Eleven fuel funny cars were on hand, including Cruz Pedregon, Cory Lee and Gary Densham.

The ET's weren't spectacular but it was kind of like a flashback to the fuel shows of the 70's, with 23 nitro burners and all cars running the two night qualifying sessions. Tow vehicles follow the cars down the track and there were more low dollar teams than not. While it doesn't quite rival NHRA's big show, it was definitely great entertainment.

From the "not so good news" department: Serge Dion and Kenny Sitko lost their trailer on the way to Spokane. I don't know the details, but he did win the alcohol dragster class. When I talked to him after the race it sounded like they were on their way to Seattle.

Saskatoon's Glen Whitehead won the alcohol funny car class over Geoff Goodwin and Rob Chaput's "Renegade" flopper, with Ken Kraus driving. Also heard a rumour that there was a Canadian car in the Pro Mod final.

Your Mission Raceway coverage was great. I gave you a link at our website, hope you don't object. I'll be in Seattle Thursday night for the race. I'll be in the Press Room or on the starting line taking pictures. I should get 700 or so. Do you want some? Look for the guy in the straw hat. Please come over and say hello.

P.S. Damn, Seattle's a long way from Tampa....

You're totally off the mark. This (the editorial) has nothing to do with Bader, it's just life in general. As for a waste of space? Well, the beauty lies in the eye of the beholder.

I just decided to add a little bit of humour from an always so serious industry. Plus, I threw in a couple of added details for those in the beginning that preached for our demise.

Bader runs that sanctioning body as best he sees fit, and quite frankly, while he may not be perfect, he is trying to grow the sanctioning body. I don't always see eye to eye with him on his decisions.

You shouldn't be disappointed and you shouldn't always draw conclusions. I know sometimes we write in cryptic circles, but not always. As always, thanks for your readership and you are certainly entitled to your opinion.

Remember, as I said in my editorial, we all can't be perfect. I certainly can't always be "up on the tires". Heck dude, you're up on the tires enough for the both of us.

Yo, what's up at Mission this weekend? There is no link from the What's New page.... ????

Hi Bob, just got back from holidays, so my reply is a little late. First off, thanx for doing up our "Prospector" pix so well. I am really hoping these shirts sell well. 100% of the profits from the sale of the shirts goes to the Northern Alberta Childrens Variety Club, a non-profit childrens charity that raises funds for handicapped kids.

We sold a ton at the Fox Hunt night race here in Edmonton on July 12. The shirt sales went well, but the track conditions sucked! You gotta know you're in trouble when the track manager comes up as they're strapping you in, and says: "take it easy out there..."

I will get you as much info as I can about the Loafers deal some time this week. Until then....

Thanks for the link under Nostalgia for the Nostalgia Funny Car Reunion. I really appreciate it since I get links from your site all the time. I was wondering if it was possible to also list it under the grouping "Associations" because that is exactly what it is. If it would not be a problem, thank you.

All this talk of a new track and IHRA event might be a little premature. Yeterday's paper (The Standard), reported that all is not well in wonderland. It said that the builders have not yet applied for any permits to start building, and because the area is zoned rural there's a process to adhere to.

The process involves a series of studies on the impact of having over 100,000 people (their figure, not mine) at a race. Traffic, sanitation, noise and the dreaded environmental impact are a few of the categories. This process, according to the paper, takes up to a year to complete; six months at the earliest. Then the process is open for public notice.

So if this is in fact the case, they can't start building until late fall and winter isn't the time to be constructing a dragstrip in Canada. For the record: I'm all for this track to take off; it might be the dream track they speak of. Cayuga will survive, although it might be an import only and road course deal.

Here are the latest stories, photos, video clips and notes from Draglist. Photos and video clips? Yes, we have added a Picture of the Day and a Movie of the Week to our growing list of features. Enjoy them, Bob.

We have also updated our local lists with a fresh batch of updates from Danny White. Also, Phil Elliott got on the phone with us Sunday to fill in some of the blanks in our lists. Thanks, Phil. I will try to get the website updated with the new information this week.

July 20 -- Fighting the Bracket Battle: "Stickshifter55" relates the true meaning of drag racing competition.
Drag Racing Picture of the Day: Night Raiders. James Morgan with a great shot of early '80s funny car match racing.
Drag Racing Movie of the Week: Steve Read rocks. Header flames as high as the wing. Carl Witt's Aussie Top Fuel movie clip.

July 19 -- Night of Thrills is Night of first ever performances: Billy Anderson and James Morgan team up to bring us the results of Epping's Night of Thrills.
Drag Racing Picture of the Day: Mr. Rocca at Moroso. Gonzo shows us a nice photo-art collage of the Ironhorse.

July 18 -- Richard Tharp, Road Warrior: Steve Gibbs tells of his wild adventures while driving with Richard Tharp.
Drag Racing Picture of the Day: Whoooossssh! Art Cimilluca captures Dennis Roslanksy's Jet Dragster, full flame on.

July 17 -- Mopar Mile High Nationals Results 2000 and Litton Takes Top Fuel title at IHRA Carquest Empire Nationals: We cover both big races from this weekend.
Drag Racing Picture of the Day: A nice piece of photo artwork by Ron Dilley.

July 16 -- Q & A, Chicago Style Drags and Match Races: Bill answers the question: "Just what IS a Chicago Style drag race?

July 15 -- Early Ramchargers Fueler Notes: Bob Snayko takes us through the formation of the early years of this dominating fuel dragster team.

July 14 -- TV Tommy in the Movies: TV Tommy Ivo talks about making those cool old Beach & Drag movies.

July 13 -- King & Marshall's Famous Top Fuel Caster: Don Roberts answers the age old question; why was a caster welded to the top of the roll cage on the King & Marshall fueler?

Just letting you know that Team Mission (Summit Racing Series) now has an official website. We have our own domain name, courtesy of and sponsored by J. Glenn Miller and SuperWebHost.com.

Make sure you give Glenn a big thanks for making Team Mission (points chasers), the first Team to have their own website. If you have any ideas or stories to tell, please let Glenn or myself know by email. If you have photos from past ET Finals or of any points racer in the NHRA Summit Racing Series at Mission Raceway, please forward them to Glenn.

We appreciate any input and hope you enjoy. Don't forget to tell your friends and family of our address. Have a great weekend. I know I will.

This email is being sent to alert fossil-fuel and monopropellant-damaged gearheads like yourself about a new feature running on the Nitronic Research website. Because we have been shovelling fresh fuel into our engine room of a homepage "at least" once a week for over six months now, we haven't been sending out regular messages about new features. And you don't need me jamming your mailbox to remind you of that.

However, because of the profundity and magnitude of this week's contribution, I feel I must sound the virtual clarion call and use this message to let you know that the notorious E.J. Potter is in the house. That's right: The original "Michigan Madman", E.J. Potter has signed on to deliver his philosophy of the world in a serial we are calling "Machinations of a Michigan Madman."

Cybernauts can access E.J.'s prose by either clicking on the Nitronic Research homepage, or by going directly to the Madman page.

Originally we asked E.J. if we could excerpt passages out of his book, MICHIGAN MADMAN, and create a link to his e-commerce site in return. He agreed, but instead he has been sending us fresh content out of his ever-excited cranium, screeds whose politics and worldview are the literary equivalent to the way E.J. would light up the drag strip in either his V-8 powered Harley or jet-powered trike. In other words, it is completely over-the-top, gonzo and maybe a little absurd, but there is just something very "right" about it.

Dear Northern Thunder Racing Team:

I am a drag racing fan and an autograph collector. Can you please send me an autographed picture of your racing car? If you have any buddies who have photos of their racing cars please feel free to have them send their autographed pictures for my collection too. I hope to hear from you soon.

Hi Bob, my name is Mark and I'm the webmaster for the brand new website for IHRA Funny Car racer Paul Zgoda. I just put up a link to your site from our links page and was hoping you could do the same and list us on your links page.

Just in case you haven't heard and in the hope you may update your list, the Proforce Team, with their revamped 1992 Meyer chassis, 463cid TFX, ran Australia's first sub-5.70 ET on the weekend. While competing in Top Comp (testing), the team ran a 5.651 at 247.39 mph in legal Top Alcohol trim.

Haven't heard much from you lately. How are you looking for a trip downunder? Hope you are still coming to race.

We've quietly put Igor back to his original configuration. "He" will be back at Mission Raceway this weekend. The long lost 8.00's will be expected this weekend or "Igor" will be on an extended vacation. As our buddy Larry Pfister described the car as the "ghostly Igor", our reflection on that comment was the incredible accuracy.

In 29 years of racing in Comp eliminator we have never had so many healthy parts that didn't make any power. We are the ghost of the original Igor. Even perserverance doesn't fix it. Do not go to Mission this weekend to see "Igor" .... the ghost of Igor may still be there and he may scare you.

Hi Bob, did you get my last e-mail? I'm having problems getting access to the NHRA Online website. This started about three weeks or so ago. Before this time, I could access the site without problems. My computer checks out OK. Can you help?

Thanks for "promoting" me Bob. No, I didn't ask Len about his short tenure with the IHRA. I think that would have been in bad taste. Let's start fresh, okay? I don't care what he's done in the past. I want to know what he plans to do in the future.

As for having him do more... yes, I will get him to do more, so please stay away from my stuff. If you get a scoop I'm not going to ride your coat-tails and I would appreciate you not doing it to me. Let me get one more session from him before you start in on the Federal-Mogul Dragster stuff. (I agree you would be the best to do that stuff, but I get him first).

I'm looking for information on Shirley Muldowney or her son. Her nickname is "Cha Cha." If you know where I could write her, could you please e-mail me or give me her e-mail. Thank you.

Just a note to let y'all know that the worker bees and the drones at Nitronic Research have been working diligently to produce a whopping dollop of drag strip pollen to slather on your Top Eliminator toast.

First off, NR would like to take this opportunity to unveil the musings of its resident Queen Bee, Pammy Neptune, who has graced the website with the first installment of her "Chciks 'n' Slicks" serial. Be sure to check out "A Girls' Guide to the Digs... or... Who Wrote the Book of Love (and Who Tore All the Juicy Pages Out of my Copy?)," which can be accessed by opening your browser to: Chicks 'n' Slicks.

Not be upstaged by the uber-fraulein of fuel, Chris Laskey and Bud De Boer have proffered a generous helping of doing's in their latest "Midwest Outlook" column. This version is quite a tome and is rather deep; in fact, beyond their usual juicy tidbits of what's happening in the Heartland's Hot Rod scene, Laskey and De Boer have unearthed remembrances and documentation of the first female fueler dragster driver, Patty Hutson, who shoed a C/Fueler in 1963! Check it out at: Midwest Outlook.

And if all of this is too nice-nice for your palette, turn your attention to the thoughts of NR's resident curmudgeon, Wrenchski, as he serves up two spoonfuls of drag strip prose, the first of which lambastes the stodgy state of drag racing and status quo's inability to embrace the import crowd ("Youth Gets Served"), followed by "Sins & Speed", a look back on the folly of driving while blind. His works can be found at: The Wrenchski Files.

And if all of this is too esoteric, be sure and peruse the nuts and bolts drag strip journalism of Keith Burgan as he lets all in on the behind the scenes Drag City news at the NHRA race in Denver this weekend. It can be found at: Drag City News.

Search and enjoy. Coming soon: More of E.J. Potter's "Machinations of a Madman".

Weney nails the competition all the way to Empire finals

Never let it be said that rejuvenated points leader Scott Weney doesn't get a bang out of drag racing -- literally. Even a supercharger explosion, which in turn caused his fibreglass body to set a remarkable New York International Raceway Park altitude record during the final round of the IHRA Carquest Empire Nationals in Leicester, New York. He ended the day as a runner-up.

Weney has battled all season with the number one in points and IHRA Funny Car World Champion Von Smith. These two made it known that it was an amiable battle, but one in which there would be no holds barred to take the win. The IHRA Carquest Empire Nationals produced an interesting chapter to this story; one which would take Weney all the way to the final round. He also secured the points lead in the process.

Weney took the number seven spot in Friday's qualifying on a 6.074 - 232.97 run. Regarding the possibility of only one more run on Saturday due to weather, Weney came out hard and strong on the last Alcohol Funny Car qualifying run. With a 5.908 - 237.65 run, Weney took the number two spot and was set to face the Champ in round one of eliminations on Sunday.

Weney lost the advantage on the start to Smith, but overpowered the points leader with a 5.943 - 235.54 for the win in round one. Weney came back against Dale Brand for round number two. Weney must have tuned to the right combination for Sunday's competition, as he overcame a starting line deficit with horsepower and took the win on a 5.935 - 236.28 run.

Coming into round three, Weney faced Terry Munroe and showed no signs of wavering. This time, Weney took the start first, and held off Munroe to the end, with a 5.969 - 235.84 win. This put Weney in the final round again this season, but this time against Jimmy Rector.

Weney looked like the round winner again, with a .412 reaction time and a fabulous run. However, just before the finish line, the blower turned loose and took the funny car body up and off the chassis. The body landed at the finish line, the chassis and driver in the traps, and the win light by .084 seconds in the other lane.

Weney and his IHRA.com Pro Funny Car contingent will meet again for the Carquest Northern Nationals, August 4-6 at the Mid-Michigan Motorplex. More information is available on the internet's best drag racing e-zine: Competition Plus.

Mauney begins his "Hell Freezes Over" tour;
Loses in the first round

Chassis builder Tommy Mauney opted for a supercharger this weekend, replacing his nitrous-powered setup to compete in the IHRA Carquest Empire Nationals at New York International Raceway Park. The event is the fifth in the IHRA Summit Drag Racing Series.

Mauney joined the always controversial and always out-numbered, blower fraternity with little success -- qualifying on the "bubble" (number 16 in a 16-car field), hanging on to the position after rain cancelled the fourth and final qualifying session.

The converted nitrous supporter faced top seed Quain Stott of Greenville, South Carolina, in the first round, losing decisively to Stott. Mauney clocked a 6.627 second elapsed time at 220.10 mph against Stott's 6.385 - 221.23 run. The true margin of victory was .185 seconds, which in drag racing equates to an eternity.

In spite of his finish, the two-time IHRA champion will not be giving up on the blower setup any time soon. "I love this engine," Mauney explained. "It didn't eat up a lot of parts and gets down the race track."

Mauney, a staunch supporter of nitrous systems, said he would race a blower car "when hell freezes over" but said the IHRA event in Rockingham earlier this year changed his opinion.

"We felt like we were at the end of the rope in terms of our performance gains. I've been doing this since 1987 and the Parsons Brothers (Mauney's sponsor) have done it since 1991. The big performance gains are not there (in nitrous cars). What really sealed the decision to switch was the event in Rockingham. I saw three blower cars run a 6.25 or a 6.26. I don't think a year from now that I could run that in a nitrous car. I'd venture to say in two years that I couldn't do that."

That was his thoughts before the new rule changes, which nailed him in the middle of his testing. His car now must run a 3-speed transmission, 4.57 gear and a weight addition of 50 pounds.

"This is not Pro Modified racing," explained Mauney. "This is restrictor plate racing for the supercharged entries. We went out there in the first round and took our caning like a good boy. I just hope that when we return the favor on down the road that we won't be penalized for it."

Tommy Mauney will head to Michigan August 4-6 for the IHRA Carquest Northern Nationals at Mid-Michigan Motorplex.

Dale Brinsfield bows out early at the Carquest Empire Nationals

Dale Brinsfield doesn't want to win every race, he just wants to feel competitive. Brinsfield, an import auto mechanic from Greensboro, North Carolina, was hoping the recent rule revision in Pro Modified could benefit his nitrous assisted black '67 Camaro. With the new rules being set to slow down the supercharged teams, Brinsfield's nitrous team felt they had a fighting chance.

"We may not have won, but that's okay," explained Brinsfield. "I was happy that we had the opportunity to be a key player in the final eliminations. Pro Modified is a tough class to police, but it's also an exciting class for the fans to watch. It's also plenty exciting for us in the cars."

During the first qualifying session held on Friday, Brinsfield was able to run a 6.467 - 217.23, placing him temporarily in the seventh spot. For the second session Brinsfield stepped up, running a 6.44 - 217.60, putting him in the ninth spot. The third qualifying session was cancelled when rain set in.

In round one of eliminations, Brinsfield faced off against fellow nitrous assisted driver Brian Gahm. Brinsfield cut a better light (.486 to a .508), but Gahm was able to outrun the black Camaro by the slightest of margins. Gahm took the win with a 6.464 - 214.89 to Brinsfield's 6.518 - 216.45.

"The Man In Black" Brinsfield will try for another shot at Pro Mod supremacy at the upcoming Carquest Northern Nationals at the Mid-Michigan Motorplex on August 4-6.

The Iceman Reaches the Semi-Finals at the Carquest Empire Nationals

Shannon Jenkins has had his fingers crossed for a little bit of his old magic. At the IHRA Carquest Empire Nationals in Leicester, New York, he almost got his wish. With the new rules being set to slow down the supercharged teams, Jenkins' nitrous team feel they now have a fighting chance to defend their Pro Mod title that he claimed with an iron fist of dominance.

During the first qualifying session held on Friday, Jenkins was able to run a 6.460 - 219.35, placing him temporarily in the seventh spot. For the second session, Jenkins and his Viper were able to pick it up quite a bit, running a 6.425 - 219.72, putting the "Ice Man" keeping him in the seventh spot. The third qualifying session was cancelled when rain set in.

For the first round of eliminations, Jenkins and his '00 Viper lined up against Mike Castellana's Western Beef '57 Chev Bel Air. Castellana launched and then there was a bang from the engine and Jenkins drove by for the win with a 6.453 - 219.35.

In the quarter-finals, the defending World Champion took on Pat Moore, at the wheel of Ed Steffy's beautiful new '57 Bel Air. Jenkins proved why he's a world champion driver, running a slower 6.464 - 218.65 to Moore's quicker 6.443 - 219.40. Jenkins' reaction time won this one for him at the starting line, giving him the win margin by .005 seconds.

Jenkins took his innovative Viper into the semis for a match against Ausssie Troy Critchley. Critchley, at the wheel of a supercharged car, which had been under scrutiny all day, but had what it required to stop Jenkins. Critchley deep-staged, giving him the starting line advantage, which is what it took to defeat the reigning world champ. Jenkins outran Critchley with a 6.474 - 219.88 to Critchley's slower 6.483 - 218.87, but still lost by .010 seconds.

Shannon "The Ice Man" Jenkins will continue to defend his Pro Mod title at the upcoming Carquest Northern Nationals at the Mid-Michigan Motorplex on August 4-6.

Mother Nature once again hinders Zgoda from qualifying

IHRA Pro Funny Car driver/owner Paul Zgoda was very disappointed Saturday night when qualifying was cancelled due to rain. "This is the third time this has happened to me this year. I'm just disgusted," Zgoda said.

For the first round of qualifying held on Friday, Zgoda was able to make a solid pass of 6.199 - 226.07 to place him temporarily in the number 15 position. When the second round of qualifying was delayed due to rain, Zgoda and his team were unsure how much the weather would affect their setup. Zgoda knew he had to step up to solidify a spot in the tough field, so he leaned on the engine a bit and set her for kill.

"The trouble with changing weather conditions is that a tuneup you set may not be good after a weather front pulls in," Zgoda said. It turned out that he was right as his Blinker Fluid, Great Northern entry produced too much power, causing him to drive through the clutch. This mishap caused him to slow to a 6.266 - 224.94, putting him in the number 23 spot with his previous 6.199. As rain once again set in Zgoda hoped it would pass so he would be afforded his third attempt to make the field. As luck would have it, the day's events were cancelled and Zgoda was left out of the field.

"I don't know what it is. Does Mother Nature hate me or something? I feel so bad for my crew, my family, and especially for my sponsors, Great Northern and BlinkerFluid. We had high hopes for this event at our home track. We had lots of friends and family that came to see us run and we let them down," said Zgoda.

Zgoda will hit the next event on the IHRA trail after he takes some time for his team to recover from this setback. Look for more information soon on Zgoda's website. The site is up at the moment but still under construction. Look for an official unveiling soon.

Janis continues Winning Ways at IHRA Empire Nationals

Fresh off a win earlier in the week at the Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) Top Gun Showdown, Mike Janis and his Jan-Cen powered Weber's Mustard team continued their winning ways at the IHRA Carquest Empire Nationals.

Forced to run Top Sportsman because of a recent rule change in the Pro Mod ranks, Janis took his '63 Corvette into the Empire Nationals with all intentions of running a combination as close to Pro Mod rules as possible. Janis kept his blower overdrive at 29%, the legal limit in Pro Mod. By keeping it at 29%, he was at somewhat of a disadvantage to the other supercharged entries in Top Sportsman.

In the first qualifying session, Janis claimed the number one qualifying position with a 6.502 - 215.10. The second session of qualifying was canceled on Friday night due to rain. In his third attempt, Janis' team was forced to guess on the setup because of the constantly chaning weather conditions. Janis slowed on his second pass to a 6.59. After qualifying was finalized, Janis found himself in the second position in the Omega Top Sportsman Shootout, facing Harry Rockwell and his supercharged '92 Probe.

Janis held nearly a two-tenths advantage on paper, and this caused Rockwell to try and take a shot at the christmas tree. Rockwell left early, turning on the red light, giving the win to Janis and his Weber's Mustard machine.

For the second round of eliminations, Janis was forced to take on Mike Swinarski's Oddy's Automotive powered entry. Swinarski was unable to make the call for the round due to an engine problem, giving Janis a bye into the finals.

Janis faced Jim Gleason and his '99 Monte Carlo in the finals. Gleason took the starting line advantage, but was no match for Janis. Mike took the win with a 6.509 - 215.51 to Gleason's slower 6.899 - 197.75.

Mike Janis would like to thank all of his sponsors: Wever's Mustard, Jan-Cen Automotive, Nology Inc., Royal Purple, Zweigle's Inc., Pautler Oil, and the Drag Racing Connection. For more information on Mike Janis and his Weber's Mustard team, go to their website, and for information on all of drag racing, check out Competition Plus.

Parts failure leads to second round loss for Howard

Federal-Mogul Dragster pilot Shelly Howard lost a close one in the second round of the Mopar Parts Mile High Nationals at Bandimere Speedway near Denver, Colorado. Howard won this event in 1998.

The Tulsa, Oklahoma driver qualified number five with a 5.866 - 241.50 and set Low ET of the first round en route to a victory over the A/Fueler of Bruce Bowler, with a 5.832 - 241.45.

In the second round, parts failure closed the door for Howard in what might have been a pretty close race against current Division Five leader Billy Bybee. Howard slowed to a 5.850 - 238.09 when a wrist pin broke three seconds into the run. Bybee went on to win with a 5.761 - 248.43.

Howard said, "We were right there together when a wrist pin gave out three seconds into the run. It kicked one rod out, but everything is repairable. We were having a real good weekend up to this round. The car was running good, and the crew performed flawlessly all weekend."

"We are just going to have to wait until we get back home and look over everything to see where we will go next. If nothing else, our next definite race will be the Hallsville, Texas rainout date.

Howard is qualified #2 for that race, and will face #7 qualifier Bill Ancona in the first round. Eliminations will be run on Saturday, August 19th. For more news on the Howard team, visit their website. Visit Shelly's associate sponsor RacerPage internet services for all of your racing internet needs.

Hoover continues New York frustration with first round loss

Ed Hoover fell victim to Paul Bartunek and thus became a first round casualty during the Carquest Empire Nationals at New York International Raceway Park. The event is the fifth one on the IHRA Summit Drag Racing Series.

Hoover qualified fourth in the sixteen-car Pro Modified field, running consistent 6.40's through the two sessions. The third and final round of qualifying was cancelled Saturday night due to rain.

Hoover faced number thirteen qualifier John Bartunek of Pearl River, New York, in round one of eliminations. Bartunek left the starting line first, putting Hoover at a .128 second deficit. The Gilbert, South Carolina driver for Paul Russell's '63 Corvette made every effort to outrun Bartunek.

Hoover fell short of the mark, crossing the finish line in 6.442 seconds to Bartunek's 6.554 second time. The margin of victory was .016 seconds.

Look for Ed Hoover during the IHRA Carquest Northern Nationals at Mid-Michigan Motorplex on August 4-6.

Litton Wins third National Event title of the season,
Still trails Romine in points

If there's one driver that knows that a war is won by winning many battles, it is Bruce Litton. The veteran driver of the Wix Filters presented by the Top Dragster Driving Experience Top Fueler, added to his learning experience as he won the IHRA Empire Nationals Top Fuel title in a rain-delayed final against Paul Romine. Held at New York International Raceway Park, the event is the fifth in the IHRA Summit Drag Racing Series.

Litton, an Indianapolis, Indiana-based enclosed trailer dealer, said this is actually turning into a battle of the filter cars. "There is a battle among the filter cars," smiled Litton. "I wanted this one as bad for Wix as Paul did for Carquest. When you race someone like Paul, you know he is always going to be there and give you a tough run."

He continued, "Paul told me that I was fortunate to leave on Clay in the semis. He told me that he hoped I used all of it up. He red-lighted this time, but trust me, he'll be in a lot more final rounds this season."

This is Litton's third win in four final round appearances this season and the second of three final round wins against fellow Indianapolis resident Romine.

Litton beat Bobby Lagana Sr., and Clay Millican in the first and second round of competition, respectively, before facing Romine. The race was over before Litton hit the throttle. Romine left the starting line before the green light was activated, resulting in a foul, automatically giving Litton the win. Litton stayed on the throttle to the thousand foot mark before shutting off and coasting to a 4.842 elapsed time at 257.80 mph. Romine obviously saw the red foul light and shut the engine off immediately.

The win by Litton still leaves Romine with the points lead by a mere six points. Romine and Litton began their race for the IHRA Summit Championship crown at the season opening Winter Nationals in Darlington, South Carolina. Romine won that matchup, claiming the points lead. Litton defeated Romine in their second final round pairing at the Summer Nationals in Cordova, Illinois.

Litton would have taken the points lead by three ahead of Romine, but was penalized thirty points under the new IHRA Black Flag rule. The rule costs the competitor $500 and 15 championship points per violation during eliminations.

The next event in the IHRA Summit Drag Racing Series is the Carquest Northern Nationals at Mid-Michigan Motorplex, August 4-6. The IHRA series will be televised on TNN begining on Sunday, August 6th.

Ironhorse battles new supercharger restrictions to secure Runner-Up

Sometimes the best way to wrestle a bull is to grab it by the horns. That's exactly the motto that veteran Pro Modified car owner Johnny Rocca was adhering to when he took his 1949 Mercury into the IHRA Carquest Empire Nationals in Leicester, New York.

With IHRA's recent rules restrictions levied on the supercharged cars in Pro Mod to attempt to level the playing field, Rocca and his driver Troy Critchley have been struglling to find a competitive combination. Coming into the IHRA Carquest Empire Nationals, they were still unsure of their setup.

During the first qualifying session, held on Friday, Critchley laid down the best pass for a supercharged entry, a 6.497 - 201.74, placing him in the 11th qualifying position. For Crictchley's second attempt, the Rocca-tuned machine was able to pick it up quite a bit, running a 6.447 - 205.19, keeping him in the 11th spot. The third qualifying session was cancelled when rain set in.

For the first round of eliminations, Critchley lined up against Steve Cossis and his '53 Corvette. Cossis redlighted, giving Critchley the win, Critchley ran a 6.621 - 214.23 for the win. In the quarter finals, Critchley was the benefactor of yet another redlight. This time Fred Hahn at the helm of Jim Oddy's, Tom Anderson-tuned, Summit-sponsored entry.

Critchley tehn took the ageless '49 Merc into the semis for a match against defending world champ Shannon Jenkins. Critchley deep staged, giving him the starting line advantage, which is what it took to defeat the reigning world champ. Jenkins outran Critchley with a 6.474 - 219.88 to Critchley's slower 6.483 - 218.87, but still lost by .010 seconds, giving the "Iron Horse" a berth in the finals.

In the finals, Critchley, who was the number one blown car at this event, took on the number one qualifying nitrous car of Quain Stott. Stott took the win over Critchley when the "Iron Horse" stumbled, hurting the engine around the 1000 foot mark.

Critchley will be at the upcoming Carquest Northern Nationals at the Mid-Michigan Motorplex on August 4-6. Rocca's team can be found on the internet at: USA Racing.

J.R. Todd still seeking first round win;
Drops tough match opposite Millican

J.R. Todd knows that paying dues is a part of drag racing. However, dropping a first round match at the IHRA Carquest Empire Nationals, hosted by New York International Raceway Park in Leicester, New York, only makes his next outing an eagerly awaited event. The freshman Top Fuel driver from Lawrencesburg, Indiana, fell short against Clay Millican in the opening stanza.

Todd, an 18-year old, who holds the honor of being the quickest and fastest African-American in drag racing, thinks that running Top Fuel is the greatest thing since sliced bread. "This is a tremendous adrenalin rush," smiled Todd, who graduated from the junior dragster ranks. "The winning will come in time. I'm a patient person and I've always been taught that good things come to those who wait."

Todd entered eliminations as the fifth seeded entry and was paired opposite Millican, who drives the stealthsponsor.com entry. Millican won the battle of starting line reactions and that provided him with enough of an advantage to reach the finish line first with a 4.945 - 296.63. Todd never gave up and recorded a respectable 4.968 - 295.27.

"It was a tight one against Clay," explained Todd. "He got me on the line and that's my fault. Sometimes you're the quicker one and sometimes you're not. I don't go out there to race and expect to win. I'm like any other driver out there. I'm at the mercy of fate."

For the latest in J.R. Todd news, visit his website at: Bruce Litton Racing.

Redlight claims Wells in second round

Defending Division Five Federal-Mogul Dragster champion David Wells lost a tough race in the second round of the Mopar Parts Mile High Nationals at Bandimere Speedway, near Denver, Colorado.

The Lemars, Iowa, driver qualified his Blue Bunny Ice Cream "Plain Vanilla" dragster #2 with a 5.756 - 246.35 and defeated Larry Traugott in the first round with a 5.939 - 241.11 to move into round two.

Unfortunately for Wells, he redlighted by .006 second (.394 redlight) in round two, giving the automatic win to his opponent, Bob Perkins. Wells would have won the round, running a 6.102 - 205.29 that easily covered Perkins' problem plauged 6.987 - 207.98.

Wells said, "I don't know what caused the car to redlight. I staged shallow just so it would not do that. The only thing I can figure out is that it didn't spin the tires any on that run, like it normally does, and that made it react quicker. Then, on top of that, it exploded the burst panel just past half track, so that's why it slowed down so much."

"We looked at the computer graph from the run, and it looked identical to that 5.75 we ran in qualifying. We were learning more, and I think we could have made it to the finals, and who knows what would have happened then."

The next stop for the Blue Bunny Ice Cream "Plain Vanilla" team will be the Federal-Mogul Drag Racing Series race in Scribner, Nebraska, August 11-13. Wells will be looking to stop current Division Five points leader Billy Bybee and make a move towards first place.

Wells closed by saying, "Scribner is a tricky track; we'll have to go back to our normal setup and try to stop Bybee."

Smith has Rough Outing at IHRA Carquest Empire Nationals

The weekend rains didn't start early enough and stopped too soon for Von Smith as his two-race IHRA win streak against Scott Weney went down the drain yesterday during the first round of Pro Funny Car eliminations at the Carquest Empire Nationals, hosted by New York International Raceway in Leicester, New York.

The loss by the Tennessean also opened the door for Weney to recapture the points lead. Smith, who wrestled the points lead from Weney a month ago with his victory during the Amalie Oil Summer Nationals in Cordova, Illinois, nailed his arch rival to the christmas tree with a reaction time of .465 seconds to .549 in his Atomic City Tool - Nitro Fish Trans Am.

Weney, however, had too much power for the two-time defending Funny Car champion as he went by on the top end to win by .029 seconds, or about ten feet. Weney covered the New York International Raceway Park quarter-mile in an elapsed time of 5.943 seconds at 235.54 mph to Smith's 6.056 - 236.96.

Smith's problems surfaced during qualifying. On Friday, his car battled tire shake, drifted towards the centerline and eventually clipped a foam timing block. The run was disqualified for crossing the centerline.

With the threat of rain on Saturday, Smith used a conservative run to qualify on his next attempt, albeit in the 15th spot, with a pass of 6.108 - 231.47.

Smith will resume his battle with Weney for the king of the funny car drivers during the Carquest Northern Nationals on August 4-6 at the Mid-Michigan Motorplex in Stanton, Michigan.

Pop Not Pleasant Sound for Castellana

Pop went Mike Castellana's weekend, the sound emanating from under the hood of his '57 Western Beef Chevrolet. For the second straight race, the Westbury, New York, resident turned in a strong Pro Mod qualifying performance, only to bow out in the first round of eliminations. The latest heartbreak came Sunday during the IHRA Carquest Empire Nationals. Castellana launched off the starting line with a reaction of .468 seconds, when suddenly that loud pop brought his weekend to a halt.

All Castellana could do was coast to a stop on New York International Raceway Park's quarter-mile with no registered time, and Shannon Jenkins added to that helpless feeling by sailing past with a third run of 219 mph for the weekend. He also turned in an elapsed time of 6.425 seconds.

Castellana, who struggled earlier in the season with qualifying, continued to make progress in that facet of his racing. Mike's Drive-In was hopping with his Friday qualifying pass of 6.513 seconds at 193.75 mph, good for 13th. He picked it up during Saturday trials, claiming the 10th spot with his 6.446 at 213.92 mph.

The previous race, the IHRA's Amalie Oil Summer Nationals, a month ago in Cordova, Illinois, saw him turn in a career-best qualifying run with a 6.36 - 218.34. The first round proved to be his undoing again.

Now that Castellana has a handle on his qualifying, he will be focusing on moving up the Pro Mod elimination ladder when the IHRA makes it next stop at the Carquest Northern Nationals on August 4-6 at the Mid-Michigan Motorplex in Stanton, Michigan.

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Carol and Bill (Evans): Don't know that I need to copy all your mailing list, but I thought I'd throw in my two cents worth in support of the NHRA's hiring of Lenny (Imbrogno).

We go back a ways, and all I can say about this man is "first class" and "he gets the job done," whatever the task. A real welcome addition to the NHRA, and sportsman racing nationwide.

Thanks for keeping me in the Grapevine loop, especially since Prolong is relocating me back to the Pacific Northwest as we speak. See ya at Seattle.

Bob, George Swann was a no-show. Dunno why? More chickenpoop items? Babes: there were lots. I hope the pics I took turn out, as I risked "cement shoes" to take them.

Ron Houneit ran 6.86 - 200.53, then 6.84 - 199.91, then a 6.83 - 200.71 to lay waste to the field. Another Harley had a catastrophic failure on the burnout; sent pushrods and aluminum chunks flyin' skyward. After they pushed it back, I took a close look. The frame was broken from the impact of the whole cylinder case against it. A piston was cocked sideways in the crankcase; the barrel blown off it, intake knocked off, frame dragging on the ground. The power of nitro!

At the Willowbank track championships last night, Mark Brew's Top Alcohol dragster, racing in Top Comp, produced an unbelievable 5.651 at 247.39 mph to become Australia's first Top Alcohol racer into the '60s. Also racing in Top Comp, Debbie Reed ran a fantastic 6.07 at 223.39 in her small iron block Chev dragster. (Watch out Wayne Jones).

Just to top it all off, the nitro Funny Car of the Bailey Brothers ran their first five second run with a straight and clean 5.89 at 238.47. Also present were Vic Baker in the new D&D Riley Top Fuel car, as well as the Atholwood & Smith fueller. Plus three Top Doorslammers and three Pro Stocks, as well as Victor Bray's burnout car. In all, a good event.

I'll put more details and photos up on the Bellowing Burnouts website tomorrow night.

Bob, this is a picture of Burkholder's altered. It's not a good shot... somebody got in the way.... AGAIN!

After suffering what some would consider a crippling setback, the Mike Janis Weber's Mustard team did what they had to do. A recent rule revision in Pro Modified forced the Weber's Mustard team out of the Pro Mod ranks and into the Top Sportsman field.

At the start of the season, the IHRA rulebook read "NO HEMI BILLET HEADS ALLOWED." This did not apply to the Weber's team; they do not run a hemi (hemispherical combustion chambered head). So when Janis set the team budget, he opted for a billet cylinder head produced by Alan Johnson. The heads hold no horsepower advantage over their cast counterparts, but are more than $1500 cheaper, easier to repair and are far superior in strength. Several of the top Pro Mod teams have destroyed their cast heads and have been running billet heads when needed.

When the rule revision came about, it was a tough blow to take, but Janis took it in stride and tried to purchase a set of cast heads from Alan Johnson. The 481X Alan Johnson designed motor can only use Alan Johnson heads; they are a matched pair; no other manufacturer produces heads for this combination.

When Janis contacted Alan Johnson, he was told that the last set of cast heads he had were recently sold, and to further add to the situation, no more cast heads are to be produced in the near future unless 40 or more are ordered. Now not only does this leave Janis out of Pro Mod, but this will eventually force other teams with this engine out, when or if they hurt their cast heads.

Now Janis being a die-hard racer, decided to run the next class he could at the Empire Nationals, Top Sportsman. Janis is running the Top Sportsman class with as close to a legal Pro Mod setup as possible. Keeping the supercharger at 29% overdrive puts him at a disadvantage to other supercharged Top Sportsman teams who are allowed to run up to 40% overdrive.

For the first round of qualifying in Top Sportsman, Janis and his Jan-Cen powered Corvette ran a 6.502 - 215.15. Janis' run was good enough for the number one spot in Top Sportsman and would have placed him in the number 13 position in Pro Modified.

Janis' second qualifying attempt was canceled when the event was halted due to rain. Janis will be afforded another qualifying attempt on Saturday morning, with the Omega Top Sportsman shootout set for Saturday night's "NIGHT OF FIRE."

For more info on Mike Janis and his Weber's Mustard team, check out the Weber's Mustard Racing website. For all your drag racing info, look to Competition Plus.

IHRA Funny Car veteran Paul "the Z-man" Zgoda is looking for a good showing at this weekend's Empire Nationals. With the addition of www.blinkerfluid.com as a new sponsor and Great Northern renewing for another year all in the same week, Zgoda wants to do well at his home track.

During the first qualifying session, held Friday afternoon, Zgoda was able to lay down a respectable 6.199 - 226.70 pass. The ET placed Zgoda in the field in the 15th position. Two more qualifying attempts are scheduled for Saturday with eliminations to be held on Sunday.

Zgoda was quoted after the run as saying, "I wasn't sure about the tuneup before the run. Watching some of the other pro cars not make it down the track caused me to second guess myself. I fattened the fuel system up too much. The car has a ton more in her and we plan to step up the ladder in the next session."

For more info on Paul Zgoda and his team, check out his recently designed website at Zgoda Racing. This site is designed and maintained by the same people that bring you BlinkerFluid.

Just a quick note to let you know that my "Year in Review" page is up and running (with a few small mistakes) on our 1320 Racing website. You, of all people, should be able to relate to my "nostalgic" retelling of all our dramas and all the excitement.

Hi Bob. Finally got around to updating the link to your site from our website. How goes your racing campaign?

Glad to see that you've got your website sorted out (again). In answer to your question, our car is a 1970 Valiant R/T Charger (Chrysler) running a 511 cubic inch Arias block with Indy wedge heads and PSI supercharger. Keep up the good work, and here's another, less distorted, image. Our website is still in the construction phase...

On Monday, July 17th at 5:00 PM PST we will be bringing down your mail server for approximately four hours. During this time we will be performing a full system backup and upgrade of the mail server software. You will not be able to send or receive email during this outtage period.

On July 22nd, we plan on moving your server to our primary mail server. The upgrade will give you enhanced functionality and management. If you have any questions, concerns or really bad jokes, please feel free to drop me a note.

I'm an attorney in northeastern Pennsylvania and I'm selling a 1995 Corvette that I purchased as a reposession. The car appears to be a nearly completed, heavily-modified drag race car. All parts look brand new. The curbside exterior and interior appearance is completely OEM, and the car is immaculate in and out (torch red with red leather). The mileage is only 11,500. I have two sets of owner's manuals and the original keys and remote. The drivetrain and suspension, however, are not stock. Do you know anybody who may be interested. I'm willing to pay a finder's fee.

Following is a list of some of the specifications, as best I know, of the car:

Every part on the car appears to be in perfect condition. There is not a smudge of grease or dirt on the engine. Below is a photo of the car. I have a videotape of the car that I will send to those who are seriously interested. I can also email other pictures of the car and engine compartment.

I want to sell this car as a package as is, as soon as possible. I am asking $35,000 (U.S.) I will accept any reasonable offer. I will also definitely consider a trade for a high-end vehicle (especially a C5 Corvette).

The car is located in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania. My phone number is (570) 420-9000.

Budweiser Park (Edmonton) revived the old Fox Hunt from days gone by, last night. The only good things I can say about last night are that the crowd was good, we got to make a couple of runs and we got paid.

It started out as a beautiful day, with only one cloud on the horizon. Of course, that cloud got bigger and blacker, and moved right over top of the race track. About half an hour before we were supposed to run, it rained enough to wet the track surface. No problem: the track had been at more than 100 degrees, so when the rain stopped, the track dried in half an hour. We pulled up to the starting line, and were just about suited up when it rained again. We got it good this time, with steady rain for an hour. It finally stopped, but the track was thoroughly soaked and cold by now.

The first round of Funny Cars finally fired up just after 9:00. The "Eat More" car (Kevin Therres), shook violently at the hit of the throttle, pedaled a few times, and give up. John Evanchuk in the "Red Wolf" car made it a little further, but got sideways at half track, and clicked it early with a 6.90. That was the quick run of the session. Serge (Dion) and Steve's (Sitko) Top Alcohol Dragsters both left okay, but Serge spun the tires right away and went toward the wall; pedaled it and got closer to the wall, and shut it off. Steve got to half track pretty well, then violently spun the tires and crossed the center line.

The second run was not much better, but a few of us made it a little further. Bruce Oliver (7.50 funny car) got sideways at half track and took out the timing equipment. Jay Mageau ('57 Chevy funny car) went squirelly right from the start, and tried to pedal three or four times, but it was going nowhere. The Red Wolf launched really nice, but got loose again and ran another 6.90. We made a pretty decent pass to half track (after taking out timing, blower, tire pressure, blanking the high speed, and adding a gallon of fuel), but when Serge hit high gear, the car just went sideways again, so he clicked it off to a 6.98 at 161 mph.

At least the crowd was happy. The saw all of us trying real hard to navigate the race track, and of course they're always pumped about the jet cars. And a few beers (during the downtime) didn't hurt either.

Veteran Funny Car pilot Paul Zgoda at the wheel of his "Z-man Racing" funny car is looking for big things at the upcoming Empire Nationals, to be held at New York International Raceway in Leicester, New York. Empire is what Zgoda considers his home track. "I have been racing there for 30 years or more. Liecester was my Saturday night racing spot for years. It's less than one hour from home and it's a great surface to race on. With the addition of my new sponsor and also resigning with one of my other sponsors the week prior to Empire, I am looking for good things to continue."

Zgoda would like to announce a new associate sponsor for the Empire Nationals. Zgoda recently inked an agreement with www.blinkerfluid.com. Mark Jenkins, owner of blinkerfluid.com was pleased with the deal saying "Paul is a real good guy, I am just glad to be able to help him out. Drag racing is an exciting sport and blinkerfluid.com is excited to be involved with Paul and his Z man racing team."

Zgoda was also pleased with signing with blinkerfluid.com saying, "The sport of drag racing is expensive and all sponsors are important, but when you meet a guy like Mark you feel good about advertising his product for him. Meeting Mark and getting to speak with him for a while made me proud to put his logo on my car."

Zgoda would also like to announce that he has signed a sponsorship extension with Great Northern. Great Northern is a Carpet and flooring warehouse distributor in the Buffalo, NY area. This is the second consecutive year that Great Northern has signed with Zgoda.

It was a family affair at Lancaster Motorsports park Wednesday, July 12th, with Mike Janis and his Weber's Mustard 63 Corvette with Jan-Cen power taking the win in Pro Mod and his brothers Rick and Joe Janis aboard Jan-Cen prepared machines facing each other in the snowmobile finals.

The ECW Top Gun Showdown was held at Lancaster Motorsports Park on Wednesday July 12th. LMP is a 1/8-mile track located near Buffalo, NY.

Mike Janis and his Weber's Mustard 63 Corvette proved to be the class of the field at the ECW Pro Mod Top Gun Showdown. Janis not only won the event but was also the low qualifier and set the low ET and top speed marks for the event.

In the final qualifying session the Weber's team staked their claim to the number one spot with a 4.35/166, nearly a full tenth over the closest competitor. Janis continued to show his dominance in eliminations. In round one Janis defeated Kevin O'dell with a 4.31/166 to O'dell's slower 4.67/153. In round two the Weber's machine faced off against a fellow western New York team, that of Mike Stawicki and Jim Salemi's G-Force race cars. Stawicki left first but Janis took the win with a 4.32/166 to Stawicki's losing 4.55/136. For the finals Janis faced veteran racer Jack Grainy.

Grainy in his supercharged Beretta had the advantage at the start but was no match for Janis. Janis took the win and set the low ET and top speed marks for the event with a 4.26/167. After the event Janis said, "This was a great win for not only me but my sponsors Weber's Mustard, Jan-Cen Automotive and for my team. To win an event at your home track in front of everyone you know, and racing against the caliber of cars that was here tonight? What could be better?" Janis also would like to thank Richard Hartman, former Nitro Funny Car driver and current crew chief for Bruce Litton's Top Fuel team, for his assistance at this event.

The Weber's Mustard Team would also like to announce the addition of Zweigle's inc. as an associate sponsor for the up coming Empire Nationals. Zweigle's produces a wide variety of sausage and meat products that have been a tradition in Rochester area homes and restaurants since 1880.

The Weber's Mustard Team has high hopes for this weekend's IHRA Empire nationals. The Empire Nationals are held in Leicester, New York, approximately one hour from Buffalo, New York. For more info On the Weber's team go to Weber's Mustard Racing.

Okay gang, this is the pitch:

Here's the important part. 100% of the profits from the sale of these shirts is going to the Northern Alberta Childrens Variety Club, a non-profit organization that raises money for handicapped kids' special equipment purchases. A very good cause.

Sizes available are small through XXXL. Price is only $15.00 each (CDN), plus freight. I don't have e-commerce skills, so we will have to do this the old fashioned way. We are trying to sell 700 of these shirts to raise a ton of dough for the kids. Anyone want to help out? Email me, or call Jay at (780) 489-4252 and we will figure out how to get the shirts to you. That's the end of the pitch. Thanx.

Car Craft magazine has announced the preliminary results of balloting among its 400,000-plus readers to determine the makeup of the 33rd Annual All-Star Drag Racing Team. Along with the publication's readers, as well as the readers of NHRA's "National Dragster" and IHRA's "Drag Review", a special Selectors Panel, made up of deserving racers, members of the media and industry experts were asked to vote for the drivers, mechanics, builders and sponsors they felt had done the best job in 30 different categories over the last year.

In addition to the reader-selected honorees, the staff of Car Craft magazine will name a Person of the Year and an Ollie Award winner, with the complete Team to be introduced to the public during an awards ceremoney scheduled to be held at the Westin Hotel in Indianapolis on Saturday evening, September 2nd. The Person of the Year honors that individual who has had the greatest positive impact on drag racing during the previous year, while the Ollie Award is emblematic of one's career-long contributions to the sport. Past winners include such luminaries as NHRA Founder Wally Parks, and legendary competitors like "Big Daddy" Don Garlits, Shirley Muldowney and Don "The Snake" Prudhomme.

Car Craft Publisher Jim Adolph said that balloting for this year's team was heavier than in some previous years, but with electronic voting being handled by the magazine's web site, the tabulations took considerably less time and effort to complete.

Here's the (abridged) list of the finalists in the 30 reader-selected categories. To find out the winners, join us at The Westin in Indianapolis during the NHRA U.S. Nationals, the year's largest race.

Hi Bob.... Don't forget to drop by our Team Mission (barbecued with fried onions) hot-dog stand, I'll buy you one. I will be racing the car in Super Pro, even though it's a non points weekend for us, but since WJ (some guy from down south named Johnson) will be there I want to race on the same surface as him! (Lots of laughter). In between rounds, I'll help out with the dog thing. See you at the races.

Here is our latest list of Drag Racing Stories of the Day and other notes from draglist.com.

July 12 -- Winston Showdown: Complete results thanks to motorsport.com

If you haven't read our Superchargers Showdown race report from MIR on Saturday night, check it out. Tim (Pratt) and I took about 14 straight hours to write the story and process more than 50 photos. Hope you like it.

We are working to get Danny's (White) latest updates (fresh on July 9) into the lists and onto the website by this coming weekend. The Draglist.com Parts Store to open on August 1st.

July 11 -- Our Incredible Weekend at the Winston Showdown: Our pals Bruce and Pattie Mullins were runners up at the NHRA Winston Showdown in Bristol, Tennessee. Yeah, there were only four (alcohol funny) cars there, but all ya can do is run who they line ya up against. Bruce "The TV Star" Mullins provides us his notes on the amazing weekend. Congratulations gang.

July 10 -- Out of Mothballs and onto the Rear Wheels: Racer Lyn Smith pulls out his '70s era A/SR and has a ball. Lyn is trying to start a nostalgia organization in Ohio. If you are interested, check him out.

We finally got all of the Superchargers Showdown story written and the photos updated for yesterday. What I figured to be a three hour job turned out to be about a 12 hour job with two guys working. Tim and I wrote our biggest story ever, including about 50 photos (please count them for me - I don't have the energy!) It took our entire Sunday (making for a very late Story of the Day). Oh well, I think you'll like the results. That's the last time we do something like that, though. I couldn't do anything else.

Danny White sent me all new list updates Sunday, but I was in the middle of writing and entering 50 photos into a story. Thanks to my brother Tim for taking the photos and then for getting them all captioned and ready to go into the article when it was ready. I will try to get this new information up onto the web this week. See ya.

July 9 -- MIR's Wacky Superchargers Showdown: Tim and I covered this outrageous event last night, and it had a little bit of everything. I have put one photo and two paragraphs up. As I am pushing my third 24-hour (awake) day this week, I find I can't go any further... I will get a few hours sleep, then return and write the entire story by noon.

July 8 -- London's Burning!: The new Fireforce 2 Jet Funny Car. DRL associate editor Andy Marrs brings us up to speed on Europe's newest jet, with photos by Tog and Sharkman!

July 7 -- Blazing 'Liner: Don Ewald with a great photo and memory of one of the most unique Top Fuel cars in history.

BONUS: Check out Billy Anderson's Lebanon Valley Raceway Division One story again. It now features a great photo of Jeannie Booz by James Morgan.

WAIT, WAIT -- THERE'S MORE: Billy Anderson also wrote to let us know that his great New England Dragway -- Best of the '90s story got cut in half when he sent it to us. That's right. That huge story you read on July 2nd was only half the story. Read the entire story again.

July 6 -- Mr. Flathead's Memories: Drag racing legend John Bradley provides a few memories of neat innovations and races over the years.

July 5 -- The Legend of the Pea Soup Special: Robby Andersen tells how he used his sponsor's product to barter for flathead speed parts.

July 4 -- Booz, Manzo, Kinash repeat at Lebanon Valley Dragway: Billy Anderson with a report on the NHRA Division One race at Lebanon Valley, New York.

Happy Independence Day, my U.S. brothers and sisters. Have a safe and happy one. I watched it come in last night by updating each of the 425 pages on the site by hand. I streamlined the way some of the banners are shown. This should make them load a lot quicker. It took some tedious work to do it, though.

Bob, sounds good to me! Let's throw a few more blown Top Comp cars into the mix, like Ken Kennedy's K2 racing entry. Kenny had a great weekend at Woodburn, grabbing runner-up status in Top Comp. The Iseli, Barling & Harden slingshot had a decent outing as well, running five of six passes in the 7.5 range (the other lap was a 7.66). Unfortunately, our weekend ended in the second round. It was a great roadtrip, both cars ran flawlessly, and as usual, we had a blast.

Excellent turnout of floppers: 15 cars tried to get in; a very close final round, with Pat Austin just nipping a very game Russ Parker. Thinner field of digers: just 8 showed, and we lost Paul Jones (Edgecombe's B-1) and Kim Parker (back injury) during qualifying. Shields and Carlson both ran well, but Brendan Henkelman was the class of the bunch, thundering to 5.50's several times, and going as fast as 256 mph. We caught the final from trackside on the return road at about 800 feet, and you could literally smell the nitro as the car blew past.

Looking forward to the Open next weekend; this time we WILL have our car at Mission. See you out there.

I just looked on your website and the event I'm seeking information on is called the NHRA Division Six Bracket Nationals. We'd just like to know all the expenses to expect for a snowmobile and a bike entry. I would really appreciate that. I really like your site, by the way. It's one of the best track sites I've seen.

Bob, I don't see you much on the NHRA newsgroup anymore. I read your page from time to time and have changed the way I look at some of the costliness of competition due to your writings. On your current page, your pointing out the dangers of the "one-man show" and the old "absolute power" gig are right on target. I have great respect for Bader, but no one is exempt.

Bill Pratt recently printed an editorial of mine, titled What Are The Main Issues (in drag racing). You have a unique perspective on things, both personally and from a Top Alcohol Dragster owner's point of view and I would appreciate any feedback you could give me on my editorial.

Have a good day and good luck in your racing program this summer.

Just checked the site (Northern Thunder) again. It plainly states that the last update as January 1. Further states that "bombs or bouquets" (Backfire!) was last updated December 28.

Contrary to your suggestion, you should not have to hit a reload (or refresh) button the first time a site opens. It should be the latest stuff when it opens for the first time during each visit. I tried the reload thing and it stayed the same.

Let me know what's happening with your site, please.

Serge and I run a 510 cubic inch motor, with BAE -4 Fat Heads and a 14-71 SSI blower. I haven't weighed it yet, but I'm pretty sure it will be close to the required NHRA minimum (2065 lbs). It should work, right? I'm looking forward to trying it at sea level.

My name is Rick Bryant and I work on the start line crew for the CMDRA (Canadian Motorcycle Drag Racing Association). I was talking with George Swann last night and, barring any last minute snags, he will take the dragster out for a burnout and launch a couple of times on Sunday, July 16, at Mission Raceway. Hope to see you there; should be a real blast. George is really looking forward to it. My fingers are crossed that it will all work out. PS: Post this if you wish.

Hi and thanks for taking the time to read my mail and receive two free invitations to appear as a guest on the show. All you have to do to receive your allocated invitations and be the envy of all your friends is read the "Topic" of our October show below and take part, by following the instructions at the end.

We have two live shows in October; one from the U.S. and the other live from the U.K. This invitation to participate will NOT be sent to you again. Please use it wisely. Take care of yourself and each other. Bye for now.

I note the last update for your site was back in January. Are you calling it a day? 'Cause if you aren't, just seeing the last update on there will keep people from cruising the site. Either eliminate that notice, or update things. Hope all is well.

Been reading your site and know how it is to try and keep up the site while putting in long days. I'm back in Canada to try to salvage my business interests that have been sadly neglected for the past eight months. Yipes! The young fellow who runs the 1320 Racing website now has all the "year end" stuff I could come up with. It should be up and running soon (complete, I hope, with a little video clip). Drop me a line when you have time.

Hi Bob. My Dad and I want to come up for the BC Bracket Nationals. We are racing a bike and a snowmobile. Could you please tell me:

We would like to plan our trip out so we can make sure we can afford it. We don't want any surprises, as you know drag racing is expensive. Thank you for your time, Bob.

Hi Uncle Bob, it's me, Jennifer! Thank you for the money in my birthday card; I've put most of it in the bank, and with rest, I'm going to put it to good use: clothes, candy, the usual. I finished the school year with straight A's (on every single report card). And for the first week of July, I have a Jazz workshop for the trumpet, so I can learn how to improvise. I'm really excited! Anyway, I have to go, but thank you again. Hope to hear from you soon!

There will be a short delay in sending you the Cannonball timing data. As some of you are aware, the future Mrs. Marrs took a dive off a ladder on Sunday afternoon, breaking her arm and banging her head, resulting in not only a lot of pain for her, but meaning I left the track before the end of the meeting in rather a hurry to get to her. She should be OK in a few weeks and I should be able to extract the data in the next few days. Cheers.

Thanks (for the words of support), Bob. I couldn't believe the editor of the Province called me within hours of emailing the newspaper. He also said they were deluged with emails and phone calls about the "Drag Racing" headline. They have got the message now though!

Yes, I am so looking forward to the (MOPAC Canadian National) Open, as my idol, WJ, will be in attendance. I hope the BCCCA got the sponsor they were looking for. No matter what though, we racers will be there anyway! See ya at the races.

Hope all is well up North. I was at Sears Point over the weekend with Gary Ormsby, Jr. We were in the announcing tower for all the FM/D and FM/FC rounds; we even announced the finals on our own....

Santos is just awesome; they never miss a beat. Edgecombe (Paul Jones) ran well; Qualified #7 with an .81 and ran three .80's and even a .79 in the first round, but were shaking fairly good (bad?) on each pass.

Bob, I've been looking forward to your rants and views but I don't see any. Are you on holidays? I hope you've just been busy and not found time and that you'll soon post your opinions again, but in the meantime, I'll keep checking in. Later.

We're still waiting to complete a race here in Edmonton; yes, it's still Budweiser Park (for a couple of years yet, I think). We're slated to make a couple of passes on July 12 (Wednesday night) at their Fox Hunt, but we're still getting rained on an average of every three or four days here. Are you guys getting that much?

Seattle (Northwest Nationals) is still on the schedule; I just hope we can hit it hard a couple of times before then to get the driver some seat time and myself comfortable with the tuneup. The aborted run we made a few weeks ago was promising; when Serge shut off he was still a few feet ahead of my brother, who ran a 6.12 on the pass. I know he would have come by us at midtrack with the Whipple, but we would have run a high teen anyway on a very soft tuneup. I think this big motor Rootes thing can run consistent fives and stay safe.

Mike Janis, at the wheel of his Weber's Mustard backed '63 Pro Mod Corvette, started the weekend off at St. Thomas Dragway near London, Ontario, Canada with some uncertainty. Janis recently switched from a nitrous assisted powerplant to a supercharged alky burning Jan-Cen motor.

With no full quarter mile passes on the new combination, the Weber's team was uncertain what the WWF Can-Am Nationals held for the team. After two qualifying sessions the only uncertainty left was how much more could the track handle. The first two passes saw the Weber's machine run near the top of the field. On the final qualifying attempt, crew chief Jerry Highway tuned her up just a bit. Janis proceeded to run a personal best of 6.462 - 216.37, which gave him the number one qualifying position.

In round one the Jan-Cen powered machine defeated Canadian Larry Sinke's blown '38 Olds with a 6.51 -214 to Sinke's losing 6.62. That put Janis up against IHRA regular Al Billes. Janis once again took the win with a 6.51 over Billes' 6.57. The win over Billes put Janis in the final round against the IHRA's Pro Mod points leader and world record holder Fred Hahn.

For the finals the Weber's team knew they needed to step up the power of their Jan-Cen prepared powerplant. "They have a good team over there, and Freddy is a great driver, so we knew we needed to run a good number against them," Janis said. Janis did just that; he outran the Summit backed machine with a 6.45 to Hahn's 6.46. Unfortunately, Hahn had a better reaction time and took the win by a mere .023 of a second.

After the race Janis was quoted as saying, "I couldn't be happier. To qualify number one and to make it to the finals against the IHRA points leader when these were the first full runs on the car. Just awesome! The car went straight all weekend, like it was on a string. I know there's more in her, but we need to take it slow and go one step at a time. Step one complete!"

For more information on the Weber's Mustard team, look to their website at www.webersmustardracing.8m.com. You can also check out www.jancen.com for information on Jan-Cen Automotive.

Here is a list of our recent Drag Racing Stories of the Day and other notes from draglist.com. The draglist.com parts store is to open on August 1st. We are delaying the opening of our parts store until then as our partner has decided that their current shopping cart system was inadequate for the huge amount of inventory we are going to carry, so we have put it aside for another software package.

The software is undergoing coding now and will be tested and ready in mid July. We then will take two weeks to ensure everything integrates smoothly with draglist.com, then we will open the doors. Thanks for your patience. I don't want to open this thing half-ready. I want to be READY TO ROCK when the doors open. See you on August 1st.

July 3 -- TV Tommy, Big Daddy, and the Secret of Running 200: Tommy Ivo with a funny tale of Don Garlits "confiding" to him the secret of running 200 mph in a Top Fuel dragster.

July 2 -- New England Dragway - Best of the 90's: Billy Anderson provides a terrific list of top racers and runs from the great northeast track.

July 1 -- What Are The Main Issues?: Doug Dornbos with an incredibly thought-provoking dissertation on the issues affecting drag racing today. This is an excellent opinion editorial and I'm proud to run it. Be sure to send us some feedback on Doug's thoughts. Tell us if you feel he is right on or off the mark.

June 30 -- Memories of Lions: Mark Lilley with some fond memories of the great drag strip.

June 29 -- Nostalgia Day at New England Dragway: Photographer Ernie Broughton takes his ol' Buick out to the drags and has a grand time.

June 28 -- Star Spangled Funny Cars: James Morgan with a look at the floppers at Indy '76. Can you name them all?

June 27 -- Cast Iron Chronicles: The Supercar Showdown 2000 Nostalgia Nationals by Bill Ott.

June 26 -- NHRA St. Louis: Wins to Scelzi, Toliver, Krisher. Motorsport.com provides the details.

June 25 -- Funny Car Gang Invades Nation's Capitol: I called my own number today and did the story of the day. My brother Tim and I took in the Funny Car match race at Capitol Raceway last night. I worte; he shot pics. Enjoy!

June 24 -- The Legend of Saildog and Hot Dog: Steve Gibbs with a funny, sad and touching story of man's best friend at the drags.

June 23 -- Road Testing Fuelers: Glynn White tells about the time he got pulled over on the street in a motorless fueler.

June 22 -- New England Dodge Dealers Funny Cars Under The Stars: This is a real treat for me. Not just because it's a neat story from one of the Northeast's last great match race tracks, but because it reunites us with Billy Anderson. Billy was a fresh, young teenager when he started submitting match race stories and stats to the old Drag Racing List booklet more than ten years ago. He's still at NED, saving memories for his fellow drag fans and we are thrilled to have him back. James Morgan contributes his usual outstanding photos to round out the story.

Lots of new links. In fact, we found 400 new links last week and we are working hard to approve them all and get them up there. We've uploaded over 200 of them. Also, we have changed one of our categories. Section 29 is no longer Web Based Services. That title never really took off.

Instead, we have renamed that section "Machinists, Mechanics, and Services." We have moved all the links that fall under those categories from their previous locations (as Engine Builders or Speed Shops or Auto Parts) to the new location. In most cases, the original link remained in the former section, too. Whether you consider yourself a grease monkey or an artisan, you now have your own section on DRL Links.

If you haven't checked out the all-new Drag Racing Lists, do it now. We have totally updated them. We also have added a new list. Read all about it in the June 8th Drag Racing Story of the Day.

I think you stole one of my pics. The one of Natalie (Peck). Am I right?

Hello from Germany. My two brothers and I have been, for a long time, very great fans of car-racing especially of this series, where your team competes. We do pursue every race on German TV. Please send us three handsigned autographs of your drivers. In advance, many, many thanks and all our best wishes for the future.

Bruce Mullins Racing has reached agreement with Engine Works of Kingsport, Tennessee, on a one-race sponsorship for the Winston Showdown at Bristol Motor Speedway. Engine Works produces aftermarket components for just about anything from wild 200-mph race motors to mild rebuilds for your everyday driver. The Fredericksburg, Virginia, team is excited about the sponsorship and is especially looking forward to returning to NHRA competition.

The WAR HORSE team hopes to improve on its last national event outing where they qualified number 10 and advanced to the second round at the moto1.net Virginia Nationals. With the addition of Engine Works to their list of sponsors, and the potential the car is showing with its new Mert Littlefield blower and MSD 44-amp ignition, new career best performances are not far out of reach.

Bob, how are you doing on the story?