WHAT'S NEW in the world of drag racing June 23, 2005 Thursday photo page from the Rocky Mountain Nationals Arriving in BudPark on Thursday morning in the official SpeedZone Magazine staff car, courtesy of the fine folks at Avis. Hope they think the same of us when we return it on Monday... or Tuesday. Also, we can only hope they've never seen the "Jackass" movie after some of the stunts we've pulled (like off-roading) in the Impala already this weekend. Steering his bodyless car into their pit area, the appropriately garbed Nathan Sitko is well prepared to deal with the elements on what could be charitably called a "blustery" summer day at Edmonton's Bud Park. Throwing caution to the winds, Dean Murdoch and I showed up in typical West Coast slacker gear, t-shirts and shorts. And blue skin. Helping Nathan to put the flopper away in the tent for the afternoon. his father, Ken Sitko, helps guide the car into it's lair and out of the wicked weather. Two views of George Sitko helping his son Ken, and grandson Nathan, to put away the race car before the cold Arctic winds blow it all the way to Spokane. Lounging momentarily in the comfort of the Sitko Family Racing motorhome, SpeedZone Magazine major domo (with a D) Dean Murdoch, discusses the world of drag racing with Ken Sitko. Centrepiece for the pre-race media conference at Budweiser Park is the Sitko Family funny car, sponsored, appropriately enough, by the event sponsors: Western RV. Muroch is relentless at selling and promoting the SpeedZone name, and no place or person is off-limits for his pitches. Here he schmoozes IHRA Top Fuel contender Bruce Litton prior to the media conference. Okay, okay, it's a very bad pun, but here goes: Nathan Sitko pops up everywhere, including inside his Funny Car body in the media tent at the press conference. More schmoozing, with (left to right) Ken Sitko (Sitko Family Racing), Craig Anstadt (owner of Western RV) and Dean Murdoch (SpeedZone magazine) discussing the prospects for the 3rd annual Rocky Mountain Nationals. IHRA President Aaron Polburn addresses the media assembled for the pre-race conference, extolling the virtues of IHRA racing in general, and the Rocky Mountain Nationals in particular. His flair for entertaining speech is a carryover from his days as an announcer and color commentator on the IHRA TV broadcasts. An added feature of his presentation was an awful pair of legs poking out of his shorts, highlighted by goose bumps the sixe of Canada Geese. Covering the event for Edmonton's Channel Seven is a very attractive young woman who received a quick introduction to the sport of drag racing. She really got into as you'll see below. The majority owner of Bud Park, Rob Reeves took to centre stage for a brief rundown of the improvements visited upon the facility in the past month. $750,000 worth of asphalt, including an all new track surface right to the last turnout were the highlights of his presentation. On behalf of the Top Fuel racers and his sponsors (Lucas Oil and Torco Raxcing Fuels), Bruce Litton gave a short, quiet speech to the media throng. His gentle huimble shone through as always. We finish our Thursday photo page with a couple of shots of the very attractive and very brave young woman reporting for local television channel 7. She accepted an invite from the Doug Foley Drag Racing School to take a test drive in one of the four school SuperComp dragsters that were on site for the school on the Monday and Tuesday following the race. Unfortunately, the lack of an ambulance (an oversight off some formerly employed person) and the high winds prevailing for the entire day prevented her from doing any more than sitting in the car with the engine running and getting familiar with the controls. Too bad. Also, the media race (with four more or less identical Chevy Envoys or some such econobox) was called off after the ambulance was discovered to be missing. Too bad, as this writer wanted a rematch with Dean Murdoch, after holeshotting him in a time trial but losing the race by a fender on the top end. Go back to the What's New page to access any of the other day's photo pages.