NHRA Newsmakers: June 19, 2006

NHRA Newsmakers Your inside glimpse at the world’s fastest motorsport

NEWS NUGGETS

* HONEYWELL EXTENDS NHRA SPONSORSHIP: Honeywell Consumer Products Group has extended its partnership with NHRA, renewing two official sponsorships and continuing its title sponsorship of a popular event in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series. As part of the multitiered contract, FRAM automotive filters has extended its partnership as the official filter of NHRA, and sister brand Prestone will continue its status as the official antifreeze/coolant of NHRA. As NHRA official sponsors, the FRAM and Prestone brands will receive visibility at all NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series events. As part of the agreement, FRAM will maintain primary sponsorship of Cory McClenathan’s FRAM Boost Top Fuel dragster. FRAM also will continue its title sponsorship of the FRAM Autolite NHRA Nationals, July 28-30, 2006, an NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series event at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif.

* NHRA SPORT COMPACT DRAG RACING AND DRIFTING TOGETHER IN LAS VEGAS: The Las Vegas NHRA Sport Compact Nationals and D1 Grand Prix, July 15-16 at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, will offer two of the hottest motorsports attractions in a single weekend of racing. The NHRA Xplod Sport Compact Racing Series will offer the quickest and fastest side-by-side sport compact drag racing in the world and the D1 Grand Prix will feature more than 25 of the best professional drifting teams from the United States and Japan. In addition, the event will feature the NHRA Tuner Car Show, which offers the best sport compact show cars, Q Power NHRA Dyno Challenge, NHRA Sound Challenge presented by Sony Xplôd, the Modified Magazine Bikini Xhibition presented by Pioneer Pro DJ, DJ Battle and live entertainment. Tickets for the Las Vegas NHRA Sport Compact Nationals and D1 Grand Prix may be purchased in advance by calling (702) 644-4444, online at www.LVMS.com <http://www.lvms.com/> , or at the gate the day of the event.

* SKOAL RACING’S JOHNSON FEATURED ON MODERN MARVELS: Funny Car driver Tommy Johnson Jr. will be featured on the popular History Channel series Modern Marvels during an upcoming 60-minute episode dedicated to horsepower. The hour-long program will air on Wednesday, June 21 at 10 p.m. (ET). The Modern Marvels production team attended the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series event at Houston Raceway Park in late March to gather b-roll footage of Johnson’s Skoal Racing team in action and conduct interviews for the Modern Marvels: Horsepower piece. Johnson’s wife, Top Fuel points leader Melanie Troxel, and team owner, Don “The Snake” Prudhomme, also are featured in the episode.

* POWERADE FAN NATIONALS CHAMP FROM ENGLISHTOWN: Kevin Bibeau, 14, of Somerset, Mass., beat out hundreds of participants to become the local POWERade Fan Nationals champ recently at the K&N Filters SuperNationals presented by Strauss Auto at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in Englishtown, N.J. Bibeau, an eighth-grade student at North Attleboro Middle School, will ultimately be one of 23 event champions from drag strips across the country to compete to become the series champion. He and one guest will travel to the 42nd annual Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA Finals in Pomona, Calif., Nov. 9-12. There, Bibeau will compete in a series of qualifying rounds for the chance to claim the title of POWERade Fan Nationals series champion.

* O’REILLY AUTO ACQUIRES NAMING RIGHTS TO IRP: Historic Indianapolis Raceway Park has been renamed O’Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis. The O’Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis name and logo were unveiled during a press conference June 14 at the multipurpose motorsports complex. O’Reilly Auto Parts is one of the nation’s largest specialty retailers of automotive aftermarket parts. The track entitlement agreement gives O’Reilly Auto Parts naming rights to the famed multiuse motorsports attraction, host of the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals, the world’s oldest and most prestigious drag race, and the Kroger SpeedFest, which includes the Kroger 200 NASCAR Busch Series race. Selected as one of the world’s Top 12 Shrines to Speed in 2004 by RACER magazine, O’Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis is just west of downtown Indianapolis in Clermont, Ind. Owned and operated by NHRA, the facility thrives as one of the busiest multipurpose auto racing venues in the United States and features a quarter-mile dragstrip, .686-mile asphalt oval, and 2.5-mile road course.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

* 12: The 2006 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series has officially reached its mid-point as NHRA teams prepare for this weekend’s O’Reilly NHRA Midwest Nationals at Gateway International Raceway near St. Louis. Only 12 races remain on the schedule for teams who are in contention for NHRA POWERade Series world championship titles. Close points battles are brewing in each category. In Top Fuel, Melanie Troxel leads Doug Kalitta by 48 points, while Ron Capps holds a 106 point lead over John Force in Funny Car. Greg Anderson’s lead over teammate Jason Line is only 37 in Pro Stock, while the top three riders in Pro Stock Motorcycle – Angelle Sampey, Andrew Hines and Antron Brown respectively – are separated by only 51 points.

COMING ATTRACTIONS

* O’REILLY NHRA MIDWEST NATIONALS PRESENTED BY CASTROL, ST. LOUIS, JUNE 23-25: NHRA teams will compete under the lights in three spectacular nights of racing at Gateway International Raceway.

* MOPAR MILE-HIGH NHRA NATIONALS, DENVER, JULY 14-16: NHRA teams will race at high altitude at scenic Bandimere Speedway and kick-off the grueling Western Swing.

* LAS VEGAS NHRA SPORT COMPACT NATIONALS AND D1 GRAND PRIX, LAS VEGAS, JULY 15-16: The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway will host the NHRA Xplod Sport Compact Series which includes the 220 mph Scion of Pro RWD racer Brad Personett and the world’s best drifting cars in the D1 Grand Prix.

* SCHUCK’S AUTO SUPPLY NHRA NATIONALS PRESENTED BY LUCAS OIL, KENT, WASH., JULY 21-23: The Western Swing rolls into the beautiful Northwest as NHRA teams will battle for the POWERade Series race victory at Pacific Raceways.

* FRAM-AUTOLITE NHRA NATIONALS, SONOMA, CALIF., JULY 28-30: Infineon Raceway hosts the final stop of the Western Swing, where POWERade Series world championship contenders often reveal themselves and brace for the season’s final eight events.

HE SAID, SHE SAID

* “HOT ROD” THE SPOILER ENDS DIXON’S FATHER’S DAY STREAK: Top Fuel driver “Hot Rod” Fuller raced to his second victory of the season last Sunday at the K&N Filters SuperNationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in Englishtown, N.J., and in the process denied final round opponent Larry Dixon a sixth-consecutive victory on Father’s Day. "It seems like for some reason in my career I'm kind of a spoiler," Fuller said. "When I won at Phoenix, everyone was talking about Tommy Johnson Jr. and Melanie Troxel winning together (in Funny Car and Top Fuel), and that would be the first time a husband and wife won (at the same event). But I spoiled that deal and today I ended Larry's streak here."

WHO’S HOT!

* CAPPS STILL ROLLING IN FUNNY CAR: With his victory Sunday at the K&N Filters SuperNationals, Brut Dodge Charger driver Ron Capps claimed his series-leading fifth win of the season and increased his POWERade Series Funny Car points lead to 106 points over John Force with 12 races remaining. “It's not many times you can be ahead of Force by over 100 points leaving Englishtown,” Capps said. “It’s an old race, it's historic, (it's on the) East Coast, everything about it is big. It's a dream come true.”

DRIVERS TELL ALL

* ANDERSON SAYS CAR AND DRIVER NEED FINE-TUNING: Three-time NHRA POWERade Series Pro Stock world champion Greg Anderson, who has one victory in three finals this season and is holding onto a slim lead in the series standings, says in order to finalize his fourth consecutive title, he needs to dust the rust off the car and the driver. “There are definitely some things we need to work on,” he said. “We're lacking a little bit of consistency, without a doubt, and the car's not making any spectacular runs, and it's not making two runs in a row, to be honest. The bottom line, I'm not getting it done on the starting line. I don't know how many races in a row I've gotten beat running quicker than the guy in the other lane. That can't happen. I can't point the blame at anybody. I haven't been driving as good as I need to drive, and the car hasn't been bailing me out like it has in the past. I’m the first screw up, but we have to fix them both if we want to win again.”