Chicago Pneumatic Prepares to Start NHRA Season in Championship Style
January 18, 2008 For Immediate Release _________________________________________________________________________ Chicago Pneumatic Prepares to Start NHRA Season in Championship Style Tony Pedregon Readies for Testing, Pomona _________________________________________________________________________ In 19 days the stars of the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series will be back in competition in Southern California at the Auto Club Raceway at Pomona to kick-off the 2008 series campaign, including Chicago Pneumatic supporter and reigning Funny Car champion, Tony Pedregon. It has only been two months since Pedregon was crowned the 2007 Funny Car champion at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel in downtown Los Angeles, but since the team’s return to their shop in Brownsburg, Ind, the Dickie Venables led team has been hard at work preparing new Chevrolet bodies and motors for a repeat championship run. Consistency played an essential part in Pedregon’s 2007 championship season. While he only made two semifinal round appearances in addition to his five final round appearances, he qualified consistently enough throughout the year to make him a major contender in the last four races of the season. The latter part of the season was actually Pedregon’s strongest, during which he picked up three of his four wins in the last seven races of the season (Reading, Dallas and Vegas 2). While it was Pedregon’s second career championship, it was his first as a car owner and the first championship for Venables as a crew chief. During Pedregon’s first career championship season at John Force Racing in 2003, Venables was an assistant crew chief to John Medlen. Pre-season testing begins this weekend with the Nitro Blastoff Test Session at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, January 18-20. A second test with the National Time Trials at Firebird International Raceway in Chandler, Ariz., occurs a week later, January 25-27. Both tests are optional opportunities for the teams to prepare for the first race. Pedregon’s team has chosen to take advantage of the Phoenix test to prepare for the season. Be sure to follow Pedregon this 2008 season, along with other CP racers, including former Pro Stock champions Greg Anderson, Jason Line and Warren Johnson, when the NHRA season kicks-off with the CARQUEST Auto Parts NHRA Winternationals, February 7-10 in Pomona. Chicago Pneumatic is a global leader in the design, manufacture and distribution of innovative aftermarket tools, accessories and compressors. Founded in 1901, the company serves automotive, truck and heavy equipment repair and tire and body shops with industry leading pneumatic impact wrenches, ratchets, drills, grinders, hammers and sanders. To learn more about Chicago Pneumatic’ s dedication to quality and innovation, please visit _www.cp.com_ (http://www.cp.com/) . Contact: Mindy Stephens John Mader Polished Marketing Group Wray Ward 317-858-9581 704-926-1316 _pmgindypr@aol.com_ (mailto:pmgindypr@aol.com) _jmader@wrayward.com_ (mailto:jmader@wrayward.com) # # # Mindy Stephens Polished Marketing Group Media Relations 475 Northpoint Court Suite 300 Brownsburg, Ind. 46112 p: 317.858.9581 f: 317.858.9560 e: pmgindypr@aol.com **************Start the year off right. Easy ways to stay in shape. http://body.aol.com/fitness/winter-exercise?NCID=aolcmp00300000002489