NHRA Newsmakers: Feb. 12, 2007
NHRA Newsmakers Your inside glimpse at the world's fastest motorsport For the latest NHRA news, please visit NHRA Media Center Online: http://media.nhra.com NEWS NUGGETS * COUNTDOWN BEGINS: With the first event in the books, the drivers of the NHRA POWERade Series have begun placing themselves in the mix for the Countdown to the Championship. J.R. Todd, Gary Scelzi, and Greg Anderson are in the comfortable position of number one in points by winning the CARQUEST Auto Parts NHRA Winternationals. Todd driving his Skull Shine dragster has an 18-point lead over Brandon Bernstein. Gary Scelzi in his Mopar/Oakley Dodge Charger has a 21-point lead over Robert Hight in Funny Car as the two of them had a wild ending to the event when Hight crossed the centerline to hand the win to Scelzi. Greg Anderson gained a 26-point lead over Greg Stanfield as the two of them battled it out in the Pro Stock final, which Anderson won by more than a half-second. To see the full order of points visit www.nhra.com <http://www.nhra.com/> . * ASHLEY FORCE MAKES HER PRO DEBUT: The long-awaited debut of Ashley Force has finally been realized. Amid the hustle and bustle of race preparations, Ashley had to contend with the fans and media that were following her throughout the event. It was a successful weekend for the John Force Racing rookie when she qualified her Castrol GTX/Auto Club Ford Mustang in the 15th spot on her fourth and final qualifying pass with a time of 4.790 seconds at 312.42 mph. Ashley faced teammate and brother-in-law Robert Hight in the first round of eliminations. She lost when she ran into engine problems off the starting line and shut the car off. "I thought I felt a shake, and Dean (Antonelli - crew chief) said it was smoking the tires so hard it was shaking," Ashley said. "I pedaled it and got pretty sideways and lifted. There wasn't a good chance of catching up to him (Hight), but there was a really good chance of destroying the motor, so maybe I made the right decision. You ask Dad, he says, 'Blow up everything you need to to get down track.' But all of our teams are like, 'Don't listen to him, we don't want you to catch yourself on fire.'" * TEAMS MAKE ANNOUNCEMENTS: Several teams made announcements relating to sponsors and riders. Don Prudhomme Racing announced that SkyTel, a nationwide wireless service provider, will sponsor the dragster of two-time NHRA POWERade Series Top Fuel world champion Larry Dixon. The Screamin' Eagle/Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson team announced its new rider, Eddie Krawiec, 30. Krawiec, a former AMA Prostar racer, has been the dragstrip manager at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park since 2001 before being named teammate with Andrew Hines. Jerry Toliver announced he will be returning to Funny Car racing with the sponsorship of Rockstar Energy Drink. He will drive a Toyota Solara with the help of hall of fame tuner Dale Armstrong. * CELEBRITIES COME OUT TO SEE AND FEEL THE POWER: NHRA POWERade Drag Racing had some new fans come out to watch the racing on the strip. The ladies of "The Real Housewives of Orange County", which airs on Bravo, came out on Saturday to take in the sights and sounds of the event. They participated in a race of their own when they raced Pontiac G6s down the dragstrip. Also on Saturday, Robert Patrick, who stars in "The Unit" on CBS, came out to his first drag racing event. On Sunday, Louis Gossett, Jr. ("Stargate SG1") and nephew Robert Gossett ("The Closer") were able to feel the power of the cars when they watched from near the starting line. * NEW MEDIA WEB SITE LAUNCHED: The NHRA media Web site was updated last week with new features. The password-protected site offers driver stats and bios, event information, press releases, Countdown to the Championship news, and other information that will assist you in your coverage of the NHRA POWERade Series and the other series that make up NHRA. To get the login name and password visit nhra.media.com and follow the instructions. COMING ATTRACTIONS * CHECKER SCHUCK'S KRAGEN NHRA NATIONALS, PHOENIX, FIREBIRD INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY, FEB. 23-25: The second stop on the POWERade Series tour offers intense side-by-side racing. The sport's first 330 mph run was logged at this quarter-mile track in 1999 by Tony Schumacher. * ACDELCO NHRA GATORNATIONALS, GAINESVILLE, FLA., GAINESVILLE RACEWAY, MARCH 15-18: The third stop on the POWERade Series tour features the season debut for the Pro Stock Motorcycle category. An annual East Coast tradition, the ACDelco NHRA Gatornationals features one of the biggest spectator crowds of the season. * O'REILLY NHRA SPRING NATIONALS, HOUSTON, HOUSTON RACEWAY PARK, MARCH 30-APRIL 1: The fourth stop on the POWERade Series will bring the drivers and riders to the Lone Star state for their first of two stops. Melanie Troxel appeared in her fifth consecutive final round (dating back to the final event in 2005) setting an all-time NHRA POWERade Series record for consecutive final rounds by a woman in NHRA history. INSIDE THE NUMBERS * 393: That's the number of consecutive events John Force qualified for in the POWERade Series. Force reached this number in dramatic fashion Saturday on his final qualifying attempt. He had failed to qualify for the CARQUEST Auto Parts Winternationals through the first three rounds. As he staged for the fourth and final round of qualifying he had to bump his daughter, Ashley, for the last spot in order to qualify himself. He did that with a 4.709 second run which put him as the No. 4 qualifier. Ultimately, Ashley qualified in the No. 15 spot. DRIVERS TELL ALL * FOUR QUARTER-MILES EQUAL A MILE: CARQUEST Auto Parts NHRA Nationals Funny Car winner Gary Scelzi woke up on Sunday feeling a little under the weather. He knew that in order to win he needed to do something real simple. "I've been fighting the flu or something today (Sunday) and I woke up and just felt like crap all day. I kept saying, 'All I got to do is go a mile, just go a mile. All you have to be good for is 4.7 seconds and you're going to be fine. Just do that four times a day.' We were lucky. We did the mile. Yes we did." 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 -