NHRA NEWS: Newsmakers, Sept. 26, 2006
NHRA Newsmakers Your inside glimpse at the world's fastest motorsport NEWS NUGGETS * BERNSTEIN FLIES OUT FROM UNDER THE RADAR: Brandon Bernstein, the son of six-time POWERade Series world champion Kenny Bernstein, is making a turn for home that the great Seabiscuit would be proud of. With Melanie Troxel stealing all the headlines in the first half of the season and three-time champ Tony Schumacher garnering most of the attention in the second half with his big late-summer move, Brandon found himself operating in a bit of a vacuum. That's not likely to be the case any more. With a Top Fuel best seven final rounds - three in the last four events - and coming off of his win at the O'Reilly Fall Nationals, Bernstein has suddenly been thrust into the Top Fuel points race, seven points behind Schumacher and 40 behind leader Doug Kalitta. "I know no one in the media has asked me about (competing for the POWERade Series championship) ... now I think everyone knows what we already knew: We have the race car that can win the (NHRA POWERade Series) championship." * NEW TV TIMES FOR READING REPEAT: When the NHRA POWERade Series returns to Reading this weekend (Sept. 29-Oct. 1), ESPN2 will be there as well. The ESPN2/ESPN2 HD crew will be on site and broadcasting both qualifying and final eliminations. The qualifying sessions will air from 4-6 p.m. ET on Saturday, Sept. 30 and final eliminations will air from 7-10 p.m. ET on Sunday, Oct. 1. * THE NEW MONSTER IN TOWN HAS A NEW CAR: Kenny Bernstein announced that he will be powering a Dodge Charger body by Mopar in his return to the NHRA POWERade Series in 2007. The six-time POWERade Series world champion will be driving for Monster Energy Drinks. * ENDERS ANNOUNCES NEW SPONSOR: Food, nutrition and beverage company Revive-USA, based in Dallas, Texas, will grace the hood of Erica Enders' Dodge Stratus R/T for the remainder of this season. Revive CEO Bruce Badgett said: "In our opinion, NHRA (POWERade Series) drag racing is on a very impressive upward trend, and we just don't see it slowing down anytime soon." * POWERADE 'COUNTDOWN TO THE CHAMPIONSHIP': NHRA announced at the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals a new points format beginning in 2007 that will add enormous value to the end of the NHRA POWERade Series season. Historically, points leaders after Indy have gone on to win championships 83 percent of the time (94 of 114 points leaders after Indy have gone on to win POWERade Series championships). Under the new format, championships will be anything but guaranteed entering the final quarter of the season as the new format essentially levels the playing field for the top 8 drivers heading to Indy and the top 4 drivers going into Las Vegas 2. Click here <http://www.nhra.com/content/news.asp?articleid=15469&zoneid=8> for complete details on the Countdown to the Championship. * SEVENTH-GRADER IS FAN NATIONALS WINNER: Colton Chapman of Texarkana, Ark., claimed the 19th stage of the POWERade Fan Nationals series when he won the Fan Nationals title at the O'Reilly NHRA Fall Nationals. The Junior dragster competitor defeated hundreds of area fans to claim the victory by driving realistic Funny Car simulators. With the win, Chapman will race for the ultimate title of 2006 POWERade Fan Nationals Series champion in November at the 42nd annual Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA Finals. COMING ATTRACTIONS * TOYO TIRES NHRA NATIONALS, READING, PA., SEPT. 29- OCT. 1: Top Fuel driver Tony Schumacher looks to continue his winning ways at scenic Maple Grove Raceway as the POWERade series returns for the rain-delayed event. Schumacher has driven his U.S. Army dragster to the last three Top Fuel victories at the Pennsylvania track. * NHRA SPORT COMPACT FALLNATIONALS, ENGLISHTOWN, N.J., SEPT. 30-Oct. 1: The world's quickest and fastest sport compact cars battle for the prestigious NHRA Xplod Sport Compact Racing Series world championship titles at historic Old Bridge Township Raceway Park. * TORCO RACING FUELS NHRA NATIONALS, RICHMOND, VA., OCT. 6-9: The NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series returns to Virginia Motorsports Park for the first time since the 2000 season. At stake: NHRA POWERade Series world championship titles. NHRA Funny Car dominator John Force is looking forward to returning to the Mid-Atlantic quarter-mile track where he has won four of the six previous races held there. INSIDE THE NUMBERS * 39: That is the average spread between first and second place in the four NHRA POWERade Series categories with four events remaining, from a low of eight in Pro Stock Motorcycle (Andrew Hines over Antron Brown) to a high of 78 in Pro Stock (Jason Line over Greg Anderson). In the nitro classes, it's Doug Kalitta by 33 points over Tony Schumacher (Top Fuel) and Ron Capps over John Force by 37 points (Funny Car). WHO'S HOT! * ROBERT HIGHT, driver of the AAA Ford Mustang, who won his second straight race Sunday - the O'Reilly Fall Nationals at Texas Motorplex - to move legitimately into contention for the Funny Car championship. The second-year racer and son-in-law of John Force is now just 56 points back of Force and 93 behind pacesetter Ron Capps with four events to go. DRIVERS TELL ALL * MUM'S THE WORD: It had been more than five years since Pro Stocker Richie Stevens last won an NHRA POWERade Series event - Englishtown, 2001 - so you can excuse him if he was a bit tongue-tied after his O'Reilly Fall Nationals win Sunday at the Texas Motorplex: "I can barely talk. It's been a long time since I've won. I forgot what I'm supposed to do." For more information, contact NHRA Media Relations at (626) 914-4761 or visit the NHRA MEDIA CENTER online at http://media.nhra.com <http://media.nhra.com/> . - 30 -