Jerry Haas Race Cars to Sponsor NHRA Div. 5 Top Sportsman

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (Feb. 5, 2007) -Jerry Haas Race Cars, drag racing's most honored chassis builder with an unprecedented 13 Car Craft Magazine All-Star Drag Racing Team Pro Stock Chassis Builders Awards, has signed a multi-year agreement with NHRA to become the title sponsor of a new Top Sportsman Series in NHRA's West Central Division.

The eight-race 2007 Jerry Haas Race Cars Top Sportsman Series will debut at SRCA Dragstrip in Great Bend, Kan., April 27-29 in conjunction with the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series event. It will conclude with the NHRA National Open event at Kansas City (Mo.) Int'l Raceway, Oct. 5-7.

Other 2007 series races will be included with selected NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series events at Brainerd (Minn.) Int'l Raceway, May 25-27; Denver's Bandimere Speedway, June 15-17; Cordova (Ill.) Raceway Park, August 3-4; Heartland Park Topeka (Kan.), August 24-25; Tri-State Raceway in Earlville, Iowa, Sept. 7-9.

The season champion will receive a $1,500 year-end purse, a coveted Wally trophy, a champion's jacket, and an NHRA Gold Card at the annual "High and Mighty" Awards Ceremony. The runner-up will earn $750 and the third-place finisher will receive $500. Each driver's best five finishes of the first eight NHRA Top Sportsman races attended will count toward the division title. A maximum of two out-of-division races may be counted.

A special Jerry Haas Race Cars Top Sportsman Shoot-Out will be contested during Saturday's qualifying rounds at the series final held in conjunction with the NHRA National Open at Kansas City Int'l Raceway. The field of this invitational event will be made up of the top qualifiers from the previous seven Jerry Haas Race Cars Top Sportsman Series events.

"We are excited to have the support of Jerry Haas Race Cars for the inaugural campaign of the Top Sportsman racing program," said NHRA's West Central Division Director Rob Park. "The Haas name and reputation speak for themselves and we couldn't think of a better partner to team up with for the Top Sportsman class in the West Central Division."

"We, at Jerry Haas Race Cars, couldn't be happier that NHRA is making this exciting, spectator-appealing Top Sportsman class available to the racers of the West Central Division," added Haas. "Not only does this class give us a venue to sell new custom-built Jerry Haas Race Cars but also gives us an opportunity to sell some quality one- and two-year-old pro stock vehicles retiring from the NHRA Pro Stock circuit. It will also be very interesting to see how it will serve as a proving ground for up-and-coming Pro Stock drivers."