Story Ideas for NHRA Season Opener in Pomona

Below please find a number of story ideas, both local and national in
scope, in advance of the upcoming CARQUEST Auto Parts Winternationals,
Feb. 8-11, which is the first race of the 2007 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing
Series season. The series visits Infineon Raceway, July 27-29, for the
FRAM Autolite NHRA Nationals. 

 

Contacts for the pitches are included, and you can always use the
Infineon Raceway media relations department as a resource:

 

1. Northern California Drivers Look to Make Mark: Northern California
will be represented by more than five drivers in the professional NHRA
divisions when the season kicks off in Pomona.  In Top Fuel, Fortuna's
Hillary Will returns for the second consecutive year behind the wheel of
her KB Racing dragster.  Will finished 10th in Top Fuel Championship
points and earned a runner-up finish at Memphis in 2006.  Oakdale's Eric
Medlen finished fourth in 2006 Funny Car points with two victories,
including his first win at Infineon Raceway.  He will return behind the
wheel of the John Force Racing Castrol Syntec Ford this year.  Northern
California drivers Ben Watson (Concord) and Bob Panella, Jr. (Stockton)
will both compete in the Pro Stock class in Pomona.  Watson and Panella
competed in a limited number of NHRA events in 2006.

 

Contact: Anthony Vestal, NHRA PR, (626) 914-4761, avestal@nhra.com 

 

2. Ashley Force to Drive Funny Car in 2007: Ashley Force, the oldest
daughter of 14-time NHRA Funny Car world champion John Force, will make
her professional racing debut in Pomona behind the wheel of a fourth
Ford Mustang Funny Car for John Force Racing Inc.  Ashley is just the
10th woman in NHRA history licensed to drive a Funny Car, and she will
try to become the seventh woman to qualify for an NHRA national event,
the first to reach a final round, and, eventually, the first to win a
race.  She clocked a career-best pass of 4.729 seconds during testing at
The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in January.  

 

Ashley scored her first national event victory in 2004 during her rookie
season in Top Alcohol Dragster at the 50th annual Mac Tools U.S.
Nationals in Indianapolis. She also won that year in Dallas and Pomona,
where she shared the winner's circle at the season-ending Auto Club NHRA
Finals with her father as the only father-and-daughter winners in NHRA
history.  In three seasons in Top Alcohol Dragster, the former high
school cheerleader went to nine final rounds and won five times.

 

Contact: Dave Densmore, 817-636-2060, denswood@aol.com 

 

3.  NHRA to Unveil "The Countdown" in 2007 The NHRA will unveil an
entirely new system for determining its four POWERade Series world
champions during the 2007 season.  The CARQUEST Auto Parts NHRA
Winternationals will mark the first of 17 regular-season events in the
23-event schedule. The top eight drivers from each class after the
17-event regular season will advance to the playoffs and remain in
contention for the 2007 POWERade Series world championship. The next
four races will serve as first-round playoff events, with the top four
drivers in each class advancing to the championship round.  The next two
races will be championship round events, with the top driver in each
class earning the title of 2007 POWERade Series world champion.

 

Contact: Anthony Vestal, NHRA PR, (626) 914-4761, avestal@nhra.com 

 

4. NHRA's First Female African-American Pro Competitor Returns in 2007:
Peggy Llewellyn, who rose to prominence as NHRA's first female
African-American Pro competitor during the 2001 season, will return to
the Pro Stock Motorcycle class this year.  Llewellyn will compete as
part of a new team fielded by Texas-based Ford dealer Karl Klement and
his wife, Kim.  The team has enlisted the help of six-time NHRA champion
crew chief George Bryce.  Llewelyn will join fellow female competitors,
Angelle Sampey, Karen Stoffer and Connie Cohen, in the Pro Stock
Motorcycle class.

 

Contact: Shane Maloney, (920) 246.3114 or (940) 627.6362,
smmaloney699@msn.com  

Media Web-sites:

For additional media information, you can visit media.nhra.com or
media.infineonraceway.com.  These pages both provide access to press
releases, pictures and logos.  

 

---------------------------

John Cardinale

VP of Media/Community Relations

Infineon Raceway

Highways 37 &121, Sonoma, CA 95476

wk: 707-933-3907

cell: 707-334-9805