Nitro Dogs Racing

Strong finish to ‘08 campaign has ‘Hot Rod’ all revved up about next season

“Hot Rod” Fuller recently completed his first season as driver of the David Powers-owned Caterpillar dragster with consecutive final-round appearances in Las Vegas and

Pomona. The fan favorite posted a win at the St. Louis race and earned the pole in

Norwalk in June. It was a strong finish to the season for the seven-time NHRA Top Fuel winner, who has 20 career NHRA national event wins to his credit in Top Fuel, Super Comp and Super Gas.

In this Q&A, the popular

Las Vegas racer chats about this 2008 season, his off season plans, 1,000-foot racing, and even makes some sports predictions.  

Q: What have you been doing since the season ended?
Fuller: I took some time off and went to

Southern California for a few days after the banquet and just didn’t want to talk about racing. I spent some time with my family and didn’t want to talk racing at all. It was the one-year anniversary of my knee surgery on Nov. 23 and it made me feel good. When I had the surgery, they said it takes a year and the pain and rehab took some time to overcome. Where I’m at today, the doctors are very happy. After running the bases in the charity softball game, you would never know I had major knee surgery. I feel great.

Q: Do you have any fun plans this off season?
Fuller: I’m moving into a new house in

Las Vegas and that’s quite an undertaking. I’m real neat, so it’s hard to imagine being unorganized for a few weeks. The home I’m in now, I’ve been in for four years. It was always a dream of mine to have a house with a pool and now that will be a reality soon. I’m not taking any vacations. I’ll go home to

Arkansas over Christmas break and then get ready for the season and testing in January. It seems the older I get, the less I like to travel. I’d rather be home than at a ski lodge or at some exotic place. I’m also going to train hard and attain my goal weight. I’d like to get down to 155 pounds instead of 170.

Q: Talk about the 2008 NHRA season for you.
Fuller: I’ve been racing full time since 1994, so that’s like 15 years, and I can honestly say this was the hardest season of my career. Coming off of last season and nearly winning the championship, it seemed like it came so easy. To come out and struggle was tough to deal with. I’m real competitive and I want to go out and win and we had a streak where we didn’t make it passed the second round for like eight or nine races. We developed the rivalry with Tony (Schumacher) and we didn’t produce. We didn’t walk the walk. I also felt like we weren’t the sixth best car in the country; we were better than that. We didn’t have a lot of luck. We ran into the Army car at 11 of 24 races and managed to beat them three times. Considering the season they had, that’s not bad. I think we beat them more than any other team.

Q: Were you excited about the strong finish to the season with consecutive final-round appearances?
Fuller: Yes, and it couldn’t have happened at a better time. We were really struggling. After sweeping the (Las) Vegas race last year, it was a great place to rebound for us being my home track. We gave Tony (Schumacher) a great race and didn’t smoke the tires. We came up just short, but hadn’t been to the semis since

Seattle in July. That was a long dry spell. I knew we were going to do well there and we did. We seem to do well at Vegas. At

Pomona, I hate to put so much focus on Tony, but beating them might have been the biggest win of my career. That was huge to stop their run. They were trying to re-write the record books and to stop that freight train was a great moment-builder for me and our race team.

Q: Can the team build on that momentum for ‘09?
Fuller: I’m a firm believer that adversity builds character. I thickened my armor this year, that’s for sure. With Tony and Alan (Johnson) splitting and a lot of uncertainty with sponsors, we have Caterpillar back, our teammates are back with Antron (Brown) and Lee (Beard), and we have all that data. Whoever is our crew chief is going to come into a great situation. We have a really strong race car. My driving was good at the last two races and I have my confidence back. I’m really excited. I think the Top Fuel class is wide open.

Q: Is there any reason why you and Antron can’t finish one-two in 2009?
Fuller: No. I really think Antron is the favorite for next season with his team being intact and with Lee Beard as his crew chief. He is one of the best in the sport and with Alan focusing on two cars and a Funny Car, I don’t see why we can’t win races. We have two great teams here and two great drivers and we’ll be there all season long. I’m really excited.

Q: When will you announce your crew chief?
Fuller: I would say after the first of the year.

Q: At the Auto Club Finals, the NHRA announced that it will begin the 2009 season with 1,000-foot nitro racing. How do you feel about that?
Fuller: I’m still a little bummed. I understand they’re trying to make every effort to go back to quarter-mile racing and that’s good. I volunteered our team to do testing for NHRA to help slow these cars down. We’re still going really fast. We went over 318 mph at Vegas. If they can figure out how to do it and not compromise safety and not cost the teams a lot of money, I think we’ll go back.

Q: Who is your favorite driver to compete against?
Fuller: Tony Schumacher. He’s a champion and I’m feisty when it comes to him. They have what we want and that’s to be the best and a champion. When you get to race him, I really get up for it. He tries to deny that we’re rivals, but I know I get under his skin and it’s kinda cool to know that. Doug Kalitta is another great driver. When I race him, I think back to my first final and losing to him on a hole shot at Bristol (

Tenn.). I get up for him too. Any time you can beat him it’s an accomplishment. Hillary (Will), (Larry)

Dixon, Antron (Brown), there are a lot of great drivers out there that are tough to beat. From top to bottom, Top Fuel is really tough. There’s no margin for error.

Q: You’re a big sports fan, who’s going to win the Super Bowl and BCS championship?
Fuller: I’m an SEC guy and supporter having graduated from

Arkansas. I’m going with Alabama or

Florida. Whoever wins the SEC title game will win the BCS. USC is a great team, but they don’t have the competition in the Pac 10. I think the Big 12 is overrated. I think Oklahoma and Texas are great, but Texas Tech was a joke against

Oklahoma. The SEC has a great track record.

My favorite NFL team is the Bears, but it doesn’t look good for them. They my be a Wild Card team. I like the Jets. I think (Brett) Favre is a great story at 39-years-old. We’re close in age and I tell my friends that 40 is the new 20 and Brett is proving that. He’s so fun to watch. I want to race like him with the enthusiasm and excitement. He’s out there jumping around and having fun and we can all learn from that.

Q: How are things going with Caterpillar? How did the first year of dealer recruiting go with the NHRA program?
Fuller: I really think it was a great year. With the economy and for us to excel with the dealers is great. We worked with a lot of repeat and new dealers and the dealers hired some great personnel and we found out that Caterpillar customers and employees are NHRA drag racing fans. The NHRA program also helped sell a lot of equipment for the dealers and the CAT Undercarriage group had an awesome sales event at the fall

Las Vegas race.

 I think we’ll see more CAT groups involved and that says a lot about NHRA racing and its future.

Tim Wilkerson may not have won the POWERade world championship, but if there were a people’s champ, he’d surely wear the crown.

Tim Wilkerson came into the 2008 NHRA season with five victories and left the season with 11. He entered the campaign having just come off a 15th-place finish in 2007 but finished the 2008 season in second place after a storybook run. To all who were witnessing this remarkable “arrival,” the Levi, Ray & Shoup driver seemed fully capable of turning everything around, including the startling ability to erase the memory of seven DNQs from the year before by recording absolutely none in 2008. He also improved his round record from a pedestrian 14-16 in 2007 to an astounding 42-18 this year, a mark no other Funny Car driver could match. In the end, though, it was the final day and the ever-so-close but narrowly missed chance at a championship that far too many people remember.

Having spent most of the season leading the Funny Car points chase, Wilkerson entered the Countdown to the Championship knowing full well what the rules were and how they worked. By virtue of his first-place standing after the regular season, he began the Countdown at the top, but his lead was cut to 30 POWERade points, and the nine other drivers on his tail had once again picked up the scent. It was not going to be easy, especially for a driver who had never finished higher than seventh in the standings and had no experience with the breathtaking pressure of a real championship run, but as Wilkerson saw it, nothing is ever easy in one of the world’s most challenging sports, and there’s no reason to look back with any regrets.

“It’s all hard, every day against every team,” Wilkerson said. “You don’t get any free passes, and no one takes it easy on you. We’ve seen the hardest of the hard times, just trying to qualify, or sometimes even trying to break a streak of multiple DNQs, but we came into the year thinking we were better. It turns out, we were better, and we had a great year. I’m not going to waste a minute of my time wishing anything different. It would’ve been a dream come true to win it, but we didn’t, so now the dream is still there.

“But like I said, it’s a dogfight out there every week. If you want to know how tough it is, just look at our first two races this year, where we had a fast car and qualified at the top in both Pomona and

Phoenix, but we lost in the first round at each race. It almost didn’t matter where you qualified this year because all 16 cars in the field could win.”

Wilkerson and his team won six times in 2008, captured four No. 1 qualifying spots, and led the points battle for 15 races.

Wilkerson headed to

Gainesville, the third race on the trail, with every possible qualifying point in the bank, thanks to the pair of No. 1 spots, but his 0-2 record left him far down the overall list. A semifinal finish in Gainesville got him on a roll, and his first win of the year soon followed in

Las Vegas. Two races later, in front of a throng of Levi, Ray & Shoup supporters in

Madison, he won again. By the season’s final race, six new Wally trophies were on the mantel, but Wilkerson had slipped one round behind the red-hot Cruz Pedregon, and the 10-month battle was coming to a head. No one was more disappointed, and certainly no one felt more reponsible than Wilkerson after his first-round foul knocked him out of contention. Through 24 races and 10 long months, it had all come down to the last day, and this time the underdog missed the bone.”Was it the lowest point in the year? I guess you have to say that Sunday in

Pomona was the lowest point, but only because we had been so high for so long,” the LRS driver said. “We were living in rare air all season, breaking new ground just about every week, so losing in the first round, and losing like that, felt pretty awful. Looking back over my career, a first-round loss has always been disappointing, at anytime and especially with a red-light, but it was just the circumstances that made it worse this time. But let’s face it, you have to have done an awful lot of things right for a long time to even be a part of a lap that means as much as that one did. Whatever sport you’re talking about, you can’t lose in the final game of the playoffs without playing great to get there, and you can’t forget that you played great to be in that spot.

“I’m just taking the time to remember why it was so important, not how it ended up. It was that important because so many people pitched in and made it the season it was. From the crew guys to my family, from Dick Levi to all the people at Levi, Ray & Shoup, who followed us and supported us all year, this was a group effort. As a group, we had a heck of a year, and I bet a lot of other teams would trade places with us if they could. You can’t dwell on that one last lap; you have to remember it all, and it was a great experience. It didn’t end up like we wanted, but it sure gave us all a taste for it, and we want to try it again.”

In today’s Funny Car landscape, it’s hard to imagine that any driver will ever again embark on the sort of dominating juggernaut that John Force put on display throughout the 1990s, when he won nine of the 10 possible crowns. Today’s class is far more evenly competitive, and the weekly challenge of simply getting qualified often seems as daunting as round-wins did a few years ago. That high-performance parity makes the points chase a huge undertaking, but confidence nearly always has to be a part of the tune-up.

“We had all kinds of reasons to not be confident after 2007, when we finished 15th and missed seven shows,” Wilkerson said. “But we knew we were finally getting a handle on it at the end of the year when we went to three semifinals in the last stretch of the season. We weren’t stumbling around like we had been earlier, so that gave us some confidence. We carried a lot of that over to this year, but losing in the first round at those first two races tested us again. You have to get that first round in the bank before you can ever win a race, and it’s not easy. Once you get through that and start knowing that you have a fast car and can do some damage, the confidence goes up.

“We all talk about how these cars can’t feel anything and shouldn’t react to things like confidence, but man, they sure act like they know what’s going on. Once you get on a little bit of a roll and start throwing some good numbers on the board, you get more willing to press it a little, and the car seems to cooperate while at the same time the guys in the other lane know you’ve been running well, and maybe they lean on it a little too hard. For whole stretches of the season, that can build up, and the rounds just start piling up. It’s pretty interesting how that works. It’s like winning is contagious, and we know from experience that losing is too. You just have to believe in what you’re doing.”

That belief was the foundation for Wilkerson’s success all season. As the owner, driver, and tuner for the LRS car, he bore an extremely large percentage of the weight, knowing his responsibilities were enormous while some other drivers simply signed autographs, packed the parachutes, and waited for the next lap. When you’re multitasking at Wilkerson’s level, you have to believe in your judgment and the people around you.

“You have to surround yourself with competent and trustworthy people, and you have to rely on them to put things together right and make sure things aren’t falling off the car,” Wilkerson said. “We have a really good team right now, and they not only have great chemistry, they do the work right too. If you look back over just about any team’s season, you’ll see rounds handed away by mechanical stuff that shouldn’t happen. We’ve all lived through it, and we’ve seen it happen to the very best. This team kept that sort of thing to the bare minimum, though, so when we lost, we usually just flat got beat. We rarely beat ourselves.”

In retrospect, it was a season of incredible highs, sustained performance, and terrific accomplishment, but the period on the end of the sentence left the story incomplete. Wilkerson and his team earned multiple stripes and sincere accolades for months on end and put themselves through the process of learning how to compete and win at the highest level with the most on the line. It didn’t end as they wished, but they are far better off for having been to the summit, and Wilkerson is sure the lessons learned are important.

“I guess I have an even greater appreciation for the guys who have won the championship because the demands and the changes that happen to you are real, and it’s hard to deal with it all,” he said. “As it gets down to the wire, the tension changes your sleep patterns, and you have to really work at being sharp. When you’re in the hunt, more people want more of your time, and that’s understandable because you’re part of the big story, but my time has always been pretty hard to come by anyway, so that was something I had to learn to deal with. I guess you can tell people ‘It’s just another race and we’re going about it the same way’ all you want, but I learned that the truth is it’s really different, and you have to adjust. I think we’ll all be better making the adjustments next time, if we’re lucky enough to have a next time. At least we’ve been down this path once now.

“We didn’t win the championship, and that not only hurts inside all of us, it really hurts in the bank account too, but we’re going to come out firing again in 2009, and I think we’ll be a better team because of all of this. Don’t get me wrong, there are about 16 other Funny Car teams that all think, and really believe, that they’ll come out strong and can win the championship next year. I think they’re right to think that way, too, because look at what we did. I don’t have a clue who will win this thing next year, or any year after that, but I know we’ll be doing our best to win every round we enter. If we’re as good as we can be, we’ll be right there. That’s kind of the beauty of it, really, because you just have to go out there and do it. At least now we’ve been right in it and gotten close, so I think we’ll have that in our pocket next time.”

It’s true that you have to go out there and do it, but the LRS team knows that the final missed step was only there because hundreds of others had been successfully negotiated. It is truly a long climb to the mountaintop, but Wilkerson has now blazed one trail and is already busy preparing to make another ascent.

Well as you may already know the race season for the NHRA is over until next year.  This will slow down a few post of the pro racers and races but I will continue to post on the sportsman and any items of intrest that happen from now until Feb.

Any article ideas or suggestions please send them to us and we will investigate.

The off seasom will have us getting two new cars ready for the new season so we may do a running article on our progress.

Have a great holliday season and we will see you soon.

Vern- Nitro Dog

Pedregon adds win to championship; Dixon, Anderson, Rivas also score

Cruz Pedregon probably has never experienced a day quite like he did on Sunday at the 44th annual Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA Finals, the 2008 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series season finale at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona where he not only clinched his second career NHRA POWERade Funny Car world championship but did so in convincing fashion by winning the event, his third straight to end the season.

A trio of drivers who finished in second place in their classes – Larry Dixon (Top Fuel), Greg Anderson (Pro Stock), and Chris Rivas (Pro Stock Motorcycle) — enjoyed some retribution for falling just short by punching home wins at the season finale. Rivas earned second place by defeating newly crowned champ Eddie Krawiec in the final round while Dixon downed Rod Fuller and

Anderson beat red-lighting Kurt Johnson.

Larry Dixon

Surprisingly, the Top Fuel final-round matchup between Dixon and Fuller was just their second of the season; the first came at this track nine months earlier, when

Dixon beat Fuller in the second round of the Winternationals. The result was the same nine months later as

Dixon took the win, 3.833 to 3.839, and punctuated the win with a massive engine explosion and fire.

Dixon was unhurt and strode off to claim his first career NHRA Finals victory.

“The car nosed over really, really, really badly on the other end and I gave me the feeling it was going to blow up, but I wasn’t at the finish line yet,” recounted

Dixon. Then I saw the win light come on and it blew up, but I saw the win light come on, and that was all that mattered. We hopped it up for the final and certainly needed it. ‘Hot Rod’ had been cutting good lights all day and their car had been running good. You can tell by the way we blew up that we left everything on the track.

“I hate finishing second [in points], but as far as the bonus money that gets passed around to the guys on the team, the difference between fifth place, where we came into this race, and second, where we finished , is monumental. We were racing to finish second, so I’m really happy for them.”

Dixon, winner earlier this in Phoenix and runner-up in Houston, Bristol, Topeka, and

Reading, reached his fifth final of the season with a steady string of passes from Don Prudhomme’s Don Bender- and Todd Smith-tuned U.S. Smokeless dragster. Dixon zipped to back-to-back 3.86s to trailer Clay Millican and Doug Herbert and a 3.85 to beat Cory McClenathan in what was a battle for second place in the standings.

Dixon got the nod over McClenathan’s 3.87 to earn his third career second-place finish to go with his season championships in 2002 and 2003.

Fuller had the chance to pass David Powers Racing teammate Antron Brown for fifth place in the standings by winning the event., but his day probably was already made when he upset heavily favored Tony Schumacher, the low qualifier, in the second round. Schumacher was gunning to win a record 77th round and 16th event title this season lost on a holeshot to season-long foil Fuller’s Rob Flynn-tuned caterpillar rig. Fuller’s .043 light and 3.862 defeated Schumacher’s .062-launched 3.853 by better than a hundredth of a second. Sandwiched around that morale-boosting win were a 3.83 to 3.93 first-round conquest of Steve Torrence and a semifinal victory over European ace Urs Erbacher, 3.85 to 3.99.

Cruz Pedregon

Pedregon’s heavy lifting was done by the end of round one when losses by his closest title contenders, Tim Wilkerson and Robert Hight, secured Pedregon’s second career championship, but the driver of the Rahn Tobler-tuned Advance Auto Parts Solara wasn’t done yet. He followed with a second-round victory in a classic race with mentor and rival John Force and Force’s hired gun, low qualifier Mike Neff, then beat Ron Capps on a holeshot in the final. 4.087 to 4.078.

“I’m emotionless, I’m worn out; I’m beyond happy, beyond excited,” said Pedregon after the event. “I was so relieved and for a minute couldn’t even believe it when Tony [Pedregon] beat Hight. What a day. No way did I think the championship would be clinched in the first round. Wilkerson has been so tough all year; I don’t think anyone knew he had that in him. All of those guys deserve credit because this was a hard-fought deal to the end.

“I honestly can’t say we expected t win the race. Neff’s been running so good  – he was the No. 1 qualifier and it looked like his day – I just figured I’d go up there and leave on time and at about halftrack I’d see that red fender out there; Capps, too. Those guys are good and are overdue. I just wanted to be in the [finish line] photo shot, but we kept turning on win lights.”

Pedregon was appearing in his third straight final round after winning back-to-back in Richmond and

Las Vegas to assume the points lead.

Despite the runner-up, his Finals effort had to be a bit of a salve to Capps, a three-time championship runner-up who experienced one of the toughest seasons of his great career. The driver of Don Schumacher’s NAPA Auto Parts Dodge had won at least three races in each of the previous three campaigns, but  reached the final round just once this year, in

Seattle, where he lost to Tony Bartone.

Greg Anderson

Although the Pro Stock championship had been decided in Jeg Coughlin’s favor in qualifying, the battle for second place went all the way to the final where Anderson defeated Kurt Johnson. K.J. red-lighted with a -.004 reaction, but

Anderson would have been tough anyway as he ran low e.t. and top speed of 6.615, 209.20.

“It was kind of a neat, neat deal coming down to the final round Kurt and I for second place,” said Anderson. “It is second place, but it was first place today. That’s the best either of us could have done. It was the highest position available, and it felt like we were going for the championship there. I love racing Kurt. We always have great battles. I wish that would have been for the championship, but second ain’t so bad. Right now, we’re going to have to be happy with that, and next year, we’ll have to try and rectify that. Maybe next year it will be Kurt and I going for the championship on the last run here.”

“I’m very proud of my guys. They stuck with me. I’ve certainly had some hiccups along the way during this Countdown, and I have nobody to blame for losing it but myself. My hat’s off to Jeg Coughlin; he did a better job during the Countdown, and he deserved to win the championship this year. I just got to try harder next year, and maybe that’s what I did wrong this year: I probably tried a little too hard and thought too much about it and put too much pressure on myself and just kind of stopped having fun racing. Today, the pressure was off, and I just came out and had fun, and, poof, the car performed great and the driver performed fine and we won a race again.”

Anderson, like Capps, had experienced a less successful season than normal, but the former three-time world champ finished the season on a high note by reaching the winner’s circle for the sixth time this season. Anderson hadn’t reached the final since July, when he won his fifth event of the season in

Denver.

Anderson’s Summit Pontiac GXP was the car to beat once the race got rolling, qualifying him No. 1 for the seventh time this season and carrying him to runs of 6.64 and a pair of 6.62s to defeat Richie Stevens Jr., Greg Stanfield, and Mike Edwards. His semifinal conquest of Edwards was by just .003-second as his 6.629 ran down Edwards’ holeshot-aided 6.650.

Johnson was gunning for his fourth win of the season with his ACDelco Cobalt, racing to his sixth final round of the season from the No. 3 position. He defeated Vinnie Deceglie, Rickie Jones, and Anderson’s teammate, Jason Line, to reach the money round. The victory over Line was won by a razor-thin margin of .007, 6.638 to 6.650 after Line gained a narrow .011 to .016 advantage at the green.

Chris Rivas

After having clinched his first NHRA POWERade world championship a round earlier, Krawiec’s next goal was not to become just the second driver in NHRA history to win a championship without winning a national event (Rob Bruins won the 1979 Top Fuel crown in just such a fashion), but Rivas had other ideas, bashing out low e.t. of the meet at 6.929 to defeat Krawiec’s 7.00 and earn his fourth win of the season aboard the Drag Specialties Buell. The victory lifted Rivas into second place in the points, just five markers behind Krawiec.

“We’re still not really sure where that 6.92 came from. I knew that we had left together and by the time I plugged third gear he had completely dropped back; I thought he had broken,” said Rivas, who won three of the five Pro Stock Motorcycle events in the Countdown playoffs. “We hit the rev limited at the finish line so I knew it either had been a really good run or that it had broken the transmission. We owe a great gratitude to Valerie Thompson, who let us take her fuel injection system and wiring harness off of her Buell and l t us use her laptop to tune it.

“I have no animosity about how anything turned out. I did what I was supposed to do as a rider; I took out the reigning world champ and kept him from having the number-two spot, and I feel fantastic about that.”

Krawiec had qualified the Vance & Hines Screamin’ Eagle Harley-Davidson No. 2 behind Matt Smith and needed only to go one round further than the reigning season champ to take his crown, a task that got considerably easier when Smith’s NitroFish Buell broke in round two against Rivas. Krawiec had already defeated Peggy Llewellyn in round one, then pulled even in points with Smith by beating Chip Ellis in round two. He did that handily, and clinched the championship in the semifinals when Rivas beat Craig Treble but was unable to secure a run good enough for a potential national event backup he needed to pass Krawiec.

Krawiec did his part as well by beating teammate Andrew Hines in the other half of the semifinals. In addition to beating Smith in round two and Treble in the semi’s, Rivas had trailered Junior Pippin in round one.

Lucas Oil Sportsman event titles were won by Dave Fletcher and Lee Zane, who crowned their season championships in Comp and Stock with season-ending wins. Other titles were won by Jim Whitely (Top Alcohol Dragster), Mick Snyder (Top Alcohol Funny Car),  Byron Worner (Super Stock), Anthony Castillo (Super Comp), and David Coapstick (Super Gas).

Summit Racing Series national championships were won by Division 4’s Bart Nelson (Super Pro), Division 6’s Steve Kelly (Pro), Division 1’s Michael VanDenHeuvel (Sportsman), and Division 5’s Tom Klemme (Super Pro Bike).

Line, Troxel move into top positions; Todd, Krawiec maintain their No. 1s

Despite Friday’s hotter weather conditions, many teams were able to fine-tune their machines and improve on their Thursday qualifying efforts on day two of qualifying for the 44th annual Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA Finals in Pomona, Calif.  Jason Line nudged to the top of the Pro Stock pack and Melanie Troxel to the front in Funny Car.

Championship contender Eddie Krawiec improved and held onto his crucial spot at the front of the Pro Stock Motorcycle field, while J.R. Todd remained atop the Top Fuel class with his Thursday effort. Two qualifying sessions remain Saturday at Auto Club Raceway at

Pomona for teams to improve or make the field. Among those not currently qualifier are Top Fuel and Funny Car points leaders Tony Schumacher and Cruz Pedregon.

J.R. Todd

Although he was not able to better his Thursday pole run, Todd remained at the front of the Top Fuel field with a 3.851 pass just ahead of teammate Morgan Lucas, but the

Dallas event winner isn’t courting the low qualifier bonus money yet.”I think tomorrow is the day when someone can improve on that .85, especially because the Top Fuelers run second tomorrow,” said Todd. ”We broke the rocker arm, either on the burnout or when I stepped on the gas, and it shook the tires pretty hard, but I’m glad that happened now instead of in eliminations.

“We’re No. 1 for another day and Morgan is No. 2, and hopefully we can finish that way on Sunday, too. That would put a smile of Forrest Lucas’ face because he’s not had a lot to smile about this season, especially on Morgan’s side. That’s always what you plan for when you have a two-car team, so hopefully we can meet in the final.”

Hillary Will also held onto her spot with a third-best effort of 3.860, though her 3.868 pass was the best of the session. She’s followed on the sheets by Brandon Bernstein and Steve Torrence, who jumped from sixth to fifth with a 3.87. Doug Hebert is in the sixth spot, one place ahead of Larry Dixon, who went from 13th to seventh with a 3.88. Doug Kalitta, whose 10-year streak of scoring at least one win per season is in jeopardy, is qualified eighth with a 3.88.

Tom Boychuk ended up on the 12th and final transfer spot heading into Saturday’s final two passes with a 3.925.

World champ Tony Schumacher, who has won this race in each of the last four years, is not among the fast 12 after smoking the tires on both passes so far. He’s netted a best of just 5.13 and sits in 20th place. Also needing to run well Saturday to make the field are top points runners Antron Brown and Rod Fuller and last year’s event runner-up, Bob Vandergriff Jr.

Melanie Troxel

The Funny Cars were the last Pros to hit the track and the slightly cooler conditions were evident as a number of teams made their best runs of the event, including Troxel, who steered Roger Burgess’ R2B2 Dodge into the No. 1 spot with a 4.105, 304.25 and John Force, who ran 4.108 for the third spot. Troxel’s superior speed trumped Neff’s 299.13 from Thursday, meaning his identical 4.105 has to settle for the No. 2 spot.”Our car’s been running very well for a while now – we’ve had some problems with our consistency – so we knew it was just a matter of time before we got it in the right place and go more rounds than we’ve been going,” said Troxel, who was the low qualifier earlier this year in Chicago. “Brian Corradi and Mark Oswald are doing a great job of tuning the car and we’re a little disappointed that the season’s coming to an end because we’re hitting our stride, but the hope is we can carry that momentum into next season.

“I’d be lying if I didn’t say I expected us to do better this season,” she added. “It’s not quite what I had hoped for, but it’s still been a good season. I like to aim high and I knew the team was capable of being a championship contender, and I knew there would be a transition for me, but I didn’t expect us to struggle as much as we did early in the year. We had other issues with the car that we went through, but I certainly would have expected us to make the top 10 and maybe have another event win. We’ve still got a shot at that this weekend.”

Ron Capps, hoping to put a good ending to a bad season, has the NAPA Auto Parts Dodge qualified in the fourth spot with a 4.118 registered today. Gary Scelzi, who started the day second, dropped all the way to fifth after not making it down the right lane.

Ashley Force is sitting in the 12th and final provisional spot in the field with her Thursday run of 4.20 in her special-edition pink rookie of the year Ford.

Adding a little extra drama into an already white-knuckle race for the Funny Car championship, points leader Cruz Pedregon is not among the event’s quick 12 qualifiers heading into Saturday’s final two sessions, and he’s joined on the provisional sidelines by fifth-place Jack Beckman. Pedregon’s best is a 4.47 registered Thursday, but he slowed to a 6.98 today while Beckman fell from a 5.45 to a 6.09.

Jason Line

Line defied traditional Pro Stock logic and leapfrogged past Thursday low qualifier Dave Connolly with a 6.65 to take over the No. 1 spot with the KB Racing/Summit Pontiac GXP. Line has two previous low qualifiers this season, in St. Louis and

Norwalk.”That run didn’t feel that great, but we had a good place to start from yesterday, so we kind of tweaked on it,” said Line. “Our team always struggles with the right lane here, so I was very surprised we ran that good over there.

“These are the conditions we’re going to be racing in [Sunday], so we’re happy with that run, but we’d like to be No. 1 tomorrow, too. I don’t think that run will hold up through tomorrow morning’s session, but the good news we’re in the left lane tomorrow, and hopefully we can hold onto the No. 1 spot. We’ve had such a tough year it would be good to go out here with the No. 1 spot and a win.”

Connolly slowed a hundredth from his 6.660 pace of Thursday but still held onto the No. 2 spot with the Lucas/Charter Chevy, just ahead of the 6.664 registered by Mike Edwards, who jumped from seventh to third with the Young Life Pontiac. Ron Krisher also improved on his Friday run, chalking up a 6.668 to remain fourth. Jeg Coughlin, who needs only to qualify at the event to win his second straight Pro Stock world championship, is in the field in the ninth spot.

V. Gaines moved off of Thursday’s 12th-position bump spot with an improved 6.676, which slid Johnny Gray down to the final transfer spot with his Thursday pass of 6.704.

Among those needing to bump into the field tomorrow are Dallas winner Greg Stanfield, former world champ Warren Johnson, former event champ Richie Stevens Jr., and rookie of the year contender Rickie Jones.

Eddie Krawiec

Krawiec not only stayed atop the Pro Stock Motorcycle field but improved on his Thursday performance by a couple of thousandths of a second to widen the performance gap between he and points leader Matt Smith, the No. 2 qualifier. Krawiec’s 7.013 bettered his 7.017 while Smith slipped to a 7.04 after posting a 7.02 yesterday. By staying ahead of Smith on the sheets, Krawiec keeps his points deficit at less than a round of racing.”We’re just taking it one lap at a time and trying to maintain that No. 1 spot,” said Krawiec. “The Screamin’ Eagle/Vance & Hines V-Rod ran great; Matt [Hines] is doing an awesome job making tuning calls. We went out there in a situation where I think it’s one- or two-hundredths slower and actually pick up a couple of thousandths, which gives us a lot of confidence.

“We ran really well here last year and had a bracket bike, so we’re hoping to repeat that performance. Having the best run of every round is important to for momentum to know that you’re making the right calls and going in the right direction.”

Angelle Sampey held onto the third spot despite having to abort her run early, but it was fellow female rider Karen Stoffer who made one of the round’s biggest jumps, moving from sixth to fourth with a 7.033, seven-hundredths better than her Friday effort aboard the GEICO Suzuki. Despite an improved 7.042 (over a Thursday 7.058), Andrew Hines slipped one spot to fifth, just ahead of Junior Pippin, who went from 12th to sixth after a solid 7.05 blast.

Pippin was the only driver to jump into the quick 12 and stay there. Championship hopeful Chris Rivas had pushed him down one spot with a 7.136 early in the session, but Pippin bashed back into the field to push Rivas back out and put Michael Phillips’ Thursday 7.135 on the provisional bump spot.

Tim Wilkerson Levi, Ray & Shoup Chevy Impala SS

With strong support behind him, Wilkerson ready to bring it home

Pomona, pre-race: It’s down to the wire for championship contender Tim Wilkerson.  The NHRA POWERade Funny Car Championship will be decided at the final race of the season, the upcoming Automobile Club of Southern California Finals at Auto Club Raceway at

Pomona.  And Wilkerson plans to give it all he’s got and take the title home to

Springfield, Ill.

Wilkerson’s Levi, Ray & Shoup Chevrolet Impala SS has been the dominant Funny Car this season.  With four No. 1 qualifying spots and six event wins, he held the coveted point lead for 15 out of the 23 contested races.  But last week in Las Vegas Wilkerson stumbled slightly in the first-round of eliminations and watched his lead slip through his fingers.  He will be going into this weekend’s race in second place, a mere 12 points behind.

But Wilkerson hasn’t given up.  He has faith in his hot rod, his tuning ability and his hard working team.  He knows they all have a lot more to give and are all committed to fight for what they so badly want.

“We’re ready for

Pomona,” said Wilkerson.  “We know we’ve got to do our best because it’s going to be a battle.  We’re looking to do about the same thing we did in Vegas, but obviously with a better outcome.  I think the track got away from us there in the first-round.  I don’t think it was as good as I thought it was.  It got better second round, but that was too late for us.

We’re hoping for better luck this weekend and maybe some of our competitors will have worse.  We think we can turn things around and come home with the championship.  That’s all we can ask for now.”

The likeable Wilkerson has become a fan favorite and will have strong support for this challenge.  As a single car, independent team he has amassed huge numbers of fans and well wishers around the country.  And he has always been a favorite in his hometown, where Wilkerson fever is strong.  This weekend, half the town will be making the trip to

Pomona while the other half will stay home with their fingers crossed.  So, by the sheer strength of his support, Wilkerson will emerge from this fight as a winner.

Qualifying in Pomona may hold key to Funny Car, Pro Stock Motorcycle titles

Points earned for qualifying positions
1st	8
2nd	7
3rd	6
4th	5
5th & 6th	4
7th & 8th	3
9th through 12th	2
13th through 16th	1

A lot of attention is often focused on final eliminations at NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series events, and rightly so — that’s where the real points are earned — but savvy race fans who choose to take in three qualifying days at the Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA Finals will see another pitched battle Thursday through Saturday. World championship contenders such as Robert Hight in Funny Car and points leader Matt Smith in Pro Stock Motorcycle will fight for what seems to be an almost inconsequential number of points.

A maximum of just eight points is available in qualifying, but the single-digit points that racers accumulate may well decide the season’s champions in those two classes. Points are awarded on a sliding scale (see sidebar), with eight points going to the low qualifier and one to qualifiers 13 through 16.

With 20 points awarded for each round-win, Funny Car points leader Cruz Pedregon’s 12-point edge on Tim Wilkerson is a simple matter of survival; Wilkerson can pass “the Cruzer” by going one round further than the tour’s recent two-time winner, but it gets a little more complicated beyond that.

Las Vegas runner-up Hight, who sits in third place, is 39 points (or just less than two rounds worth of points) behind Pedregon and would love to stay there through qualifying. If Automobile Club of Southern California Ford driver Hight can match or outqualify Pedregon’s Advance Auto Parts Toyota, he’ll need only to win two more rounds than the 1992 world champ to pass him. But if Pedregon outpaces Hight in qualifying, Hight will need to go three rounds further to claim the crown, no small feat considering the way that Pedregon’s Rahn Tobler-tuned Toyota has been running.

Funny Car qualifying at the Auto Club NHRA Finals will pit  Cruz Pedregon crew chief Rahn Tobler, left, against the likes of Dickie Venables, who tunes for Tony Pedregon, in a mini battle that may help decide the title.

The sledding is even tougher for Pedregon’s younger brother, Tony, who is 62 points behind, and for Jack Beckman, who is 64 back. At that range, both need to go four rounds further than Cruz, meaning that a first-round win by Cruz would lock them out of the title; even if Cruz loses in the first round, one of them will need to win the event to get to the top spot, so those two drivers will try desperately to get their deficits under the 60-point mark to give them at least a bit of breathing room.Pro Stock Motorcycle points leader Smith, who has been in first place since mid-August, nearly relinquished his lead in

Las Vegas after losing a pivotal semifinal battle with hard-charging Harley-Davidson rider Eddie Krawiec. Only Krawiec’s bobble in the final round against Chris Rivas kept Smith’s lead intact, although it has been reduced to just 19 points over Krawiec and 39 points over Rivas.

As in Funny Car, Krawiec and Rivas would love to outqualify Smith to cut their respective workloads by a round. Krawiec would just need to go one round further than Smith and Rivas just two rounds. Conversely, if Smith outqualifies them by enough spots, he can push them a full round further behind.

With the points this close, the specter of a tie always exists. If, for example, Smith outqualifies Krawiec by one position and gains back a point to make the difference an even 20 points heading into eliminations, the chances for a tie are very real.

The NHRA world championship tiebreaker is a three-step process. The first tiebreaker is number of rounds won in the season. The second is the head-to-head season record of the tied racers. The final tiebreaker is the average qualifying e.t. of the racer’s 10 best qualifying efforts of the season.

Preparing for end of an era, Worsham looks back fondly on family race team

The Worsham team began its 12-year association with Checker Schuck’s Kragen with the debut of the sponsorship at the 1997 Winternationals.

Del Worsham did, of course, have a life and a racing career prior to the arrival of CSK Auto as a sponsor in 1997. He won the NHRA Rookie of the Year award in 1991, claiming two stunning Funny Car victories in his first season driving a race car of any sort, after having made the move from crewmember to driver in one large step. He spent a couple of early seasons dabbling with both a Funny Car and a Top Fuel dragster, piloting his Worsham Racing flopper and Roger Primm’s casino-backed Top Fueler from 1993 to 1995. And, unfortunately, he spent a great deal of his 1994 summer convalescing in a

New Jersey hospital after suffering serious burns in a massive fire in Englishtown. Through all of those early independent years, though, one thing was missing in Worsham’s career, and he wanted it badly. That one thing was a primary sponsor for his family-owned team.During the short off-season after the 1996 campaign, a year in which Worsham rebounded to finish seventh in points as the only unsponsored driver in the top 10, a small deal was put together with auto-parts retailer CSK Auto, and Worsham was on his way to what he knew would be a more rewarding future, even if the initial improvements were of the baby-steps variety.

“The guys at CSK had an interest in the sport, but they hadn’t blocked out the large sort of budget you need to come in with all your guns blazing,” Worsham recalled. “To be honest, I think we landed the deal because we were going to run unsponsored again anyway, and the money was too small for other teams to consider. It really wasn’t much, but it was more than we had, and it got us in the door. Once we painted the car and bought some uniforms, a lot of it was gone, but it was still an honor to be out there with a company’s name on the car rather than my own.

Del Worsham, wife Connie, and daughters Kate and Madelyn in the winner’s circle in Denver at the 2002 Mopar Mile-High NHRA Nationals.

“That first year, and maybe even the first two or three, was really a time where we were learning how to be successfully sponsored, and they were figuring out how to make the deal work for them in a business sense. We cut every corner, watched every penny, and spent a lot of time on relationships and trust. I think they knew we didn’t have the resources to come in and dominate John Force, but we showed them how much we cared and how dedicated we were. We did an awful lot of car displays and autograph sessions back then and did our best to make a small deal look like a big one.”Appearances are one thing, but the real goal at Worsham Racing in those early CSK days was to turn a small deal into a big one. The best way to do that was to continue to invest every penny into new technology, new parts, and new crewmembers. By 1999, the funding had increased a bit, but the leverage of having a parts retailer as the primary sponsor was paying additional dividends.

“If we would’ve had a restaurant chain or a beer company as our first sponsor, I guess our deal would’ve consisted of some money and some free stuff,” Worsham said. “I’m all for free food and free beer, but neither one of those things would’ve helped the car. With CSK, those early checks weren’t very big, but guys like Joe Spica and Ron Chisler immediately went to work with the CSK buyers, getting us help from a long list of manufacturers who sold parts in their Checker, Schuck’s, or Kragen stores. When you can start getting free product or deep discounts from the guys you had been spending a lot of money with, that goes right to the bottom line. All of a sudden, spark plugs, filters, drums of oil, and even new tow vehicles were showing up. It all helped a lot.

An emotional win at the 1999 event in Seattle boosted not just the team’s spirits but also its profile with its marketing partner.

“Along the way, as we got smarter and kept growing those associate-sponsor deals, the car started to run better, and we could invest more back into it. At that point, the snowball was starting to roll downhill, and things started to get better, and get bigger, in a hurry.”An emotional victory in

Seattle, during the 1999 season, was a huge boost to the team and to CSK, and that win was enough to convince the executives at the top of the CSK organizational chart to take a serious look at moving the marketing partnership to a new level. Exactly two months after the

Seattle win, a top-of-the-page story in USA Today announced the expansion of the Worsham/CSK Funny Car team for 2000. With Frankie Pedregon joining the operation to drive the new blue car, Worsham’s world had doubled.

The hits just kept on coming for Team CSK as the red and blue teams combined to earn 23 victories and two Skoal Showdown wins between 2001 and 2005. Worsham took home 19 of the precious Wally trophies and one of the Skoal briefcases, Pedregon grabbed one of each, and Phil Burkart Jr. added three more race wins. The times were good, the sponsorship was strong, and the sky seemed the limit.

2006 was a year of enormous frustration for Team CSK, however, as race after race seemed to be decided by the narrowest of margins. Whatever magic had allowed Worsham and his various teammates to grab upset wins by a fender length had seemingly vanished, and the results were now going the other way. By 2007, the flood of race wins in the middle of the decade seemed like ancient history, but even worse was the situation in the auto-parts world.

“Just as we went from winning everything to losing all those ridiculously close races, CSK was starting to go through some challenging times right along with us,” Worsham said. “People we had worked with, and who really had been the backbone of our program over there, were leaving the company, and the holes never really got filled from our perspective. Joe Spica and Jim Schoenberger, who had returned to the company and really understood how the program benefited their business, were working hard for us, but things were changing, and it didn’t look good.

“We knew they were a takeover target, but as ‘07 wound down, we weren’t sure yet how it would all go down. They did a really honorable and classy thing, though, by extending our contract through 2008 to give us and any new buyer a chance to take a look and sort things out. They could only re-up one car, but they didn’t have to even do that. I’ll always appreciate what they did at the end of ‘07. They gave us a chance.”

(Above) The Worshams scored early in 2008 with a win in Houston, and with Pomona still looming, they hope that victory isn’t their last together. (Below) Del scored his first win in Atlanta in 1991.
The Worshams have won the Finals before, in 2001, where they got to celebrate with Grandma Worsham.

Once the 2008 season kicked off, the CSK suitor was identified, and in terms of a race car sponsorship, the signs weren’t positive. Though O’Reilly Auto Parts has been an important backer and key proponent of NHRA Drag Racing, it had always followed a business approach that placed the majority of its weight behind event and venue sponsorships, and it had never fully funded a Professional team. By late summer, the word came down, and Worsham knew the era was about to end.“They evaluated our deal pretty hard, I think, and they were very professional and engaged, but in the end, they decided to stick with what has always worked for them, and you can’t hold that against them. We were disappointed, of course, but we understood where they were coming from. From that point forward, we knew the end was pretty near, and we were working hard to find a solution.”

Working around the clock to secure new sponsorship, the Worsham Racing marketing team was making headway despite the very difficult economic landscape, but when Alan Johnson offered Worsham a spot as the driver of his new Funny Car, timelines shifted, and decisions had to be made. Worsham could risk it all and hold out hope that his team could land a new marketing partner, or he could take the bird in the hand, which just happened to be a rare bird indeed. After conferring with his closest associates, his father, and his family, he made the call to make the move, and the die was cast. Although Worsham Racing as a company will continue to exist, the group’s last dance as a race team will happen next weekend, at the Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA Finals in

Pomona.

“Just losing CSK was pretty hard on all of us, and I don’t mean just us over here on the race team,” Worsham said. “We didn’t just lose a sponsor deal, we lost the company, too. So many people, who we have worked with on a daily basis for 12 years, have had to move on. Relationships you build for a decade are all of a sudden gone. We’ve been through a lot with so many people there; it’s tough for everyone to see it end.

“Then Alan made me the offer to drive his car, and it was just too perfect to pass up. I’ve been the guy in charge of this business for a long time, and it can really get overwhelming when you’re trying to lead people, pay the bills, keep your sponsor happy, and then during the weekend, you have to tune the car and drive it. The chance to just be the driver of a very good car with some of the best talent in the world working on it has me very excited, and I know my family feels the same way. I’ll be able to spend a lot more time with my girls and my wife, and that’s really important to me. It’s just going to be very different.”

Looking back on the 12 years with CSK and his 18 years as the driver of the Worsham Racing Funny Car with his father, Chuck, always by his side, Worsham can’t help but feel the deep emotions that come with long-standing relationships even while he looks forward to a new and exciting chapter in his life. The memories are too vivid and the accomplishments too great for him to simply walk away without giving it all a lot of thought.

“Going back to 1991, so much of it seems like yesterday while it also feels like a million years ago,” he said. “We worked so hard to get a sponsor and then got a small one we built into one of the top programs in the sport. We educated whole groups of CSK people, getting them involved and invested in what we were doing. We grew the program from nothing, really, and made our mark in the sport with them. We went from working out of my dad’s garage, literally, to this huge shop we now own, and we went from T-shirts and blue jeans to looking like all the other top teams out here. It was a lot of hard work, and I’ll never forget any of it.

“In

Pomona, we’ll do what we always do. We’ll focus on each lap, and we’ll give it everything we have, hoping we can end this year with a good weekend. I think most of us have done a really good job of just staying in the moment rather than looking too much at our history or too far ahead. Maybe on Sunday night in

Pomona it will all sink in, but right now, I’m just getting ready for the next race.”

It is, in reality, just the next race for Worsham and his team. But there’s no denying it is the last dance and the last chance for his crew, his sponsors, and Worsham himself to talk in the present tense about that Checker Schuck’s Kragen Impala. Once the lights go out on Sunday night, it will all be nothing more than memories.

Schumacher signs Hagan to drive Funny Car in 2009

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11/6/2008

Matt Hagan

Funny Car racer Matt Hagan, who made his NHRA debut this season, will drive a Dodge Charger Funny Car sponsored by BrakeSafe Rear-End Collision Avoidance System for Don Schumacher Racing in the 2009 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series.
 
BrakeSafe Rear-End Collision Avoidance System will be a primary sponsor, with a co-primary sponsor to be named later. The associate sponsors include NAPA Auto Parts, Mail Terminal Services, Matco Tools,

Valvoline, U.S. Army, and Fram. Tommy DeLago will move from DSR’s Valvoline/Mail Terminal Services Funny Car team to take on the crew-chief duties.
 
Hagan, 26, drove a Funny Car in four NHRA POWERade events in 2008 and competed in the AMS NHRA Pro Mod Challenge in 2006 and 2007; he was the 2006 AMS Pro Modified rookie of the year. He scored a class-best three IHRA national event wins in 2008, ending the season third in the points standings. He will vie for rookie of the year honors in the 2009 NHRA Full Throttle Series.
 
“We are thrilled to add Matt Hagan to our team for the 2009 Full Throttle Series,” said Schumacher. “He brings with him a youthful approach, and, despite his youth, he has demonstrated an untapped talent driving a Funny Car in IHRA as well as competing in the Pro Mod class. We believe and expect he will be a solid force in this highly competitive category and will represent himself, Don Schumacher Racing, and his sponsors extremely well. We look forward to a successful season in 2009 as we support Hagan in his bid for rookie of the year honors.
 
“We are also proud to introduce BrakeSafe Rear-End Collision Avoidance System to our DSR family,” added Schumacher. “This is a unique and important consumer safety product which we are pleased to help promote to the NHRA fan base.”

Hagan was born in Salem, Va., and lives with wife Rachel and 2-year-old son Colby Matthew in

Christiansburg, Va., where he manages the family 500-acre Angus cattle farm.
 
“I’m really excited,” said Hagan. “Being involved with a team such as DSR, which has so much knowledge, experience, and great equipment, is going to be very rewarding. It’s one of those opportunities that doesn’t come around but once in a lifetime.
 
“I think that as a rookie driver next year and sharing information with teams of the caliber that DSR has will help me improve my driving. Being able to use that equipment and having all the resources that DSR brings to the table will be great for my career.
 
“And I’m very excited to have BrakeSafe support this team in the NHRA Funny Car category. It’s a terrific product, and I’m looking forward to helping promote it.”
 
Rich Battaglini, BrakeSafe national sales manager, said, “This is an incredible scenario full of opportunity. Matt has to be one of the greatest people I’ve ever met and has proven that he has what it takes to be successful in drag racing. Combined with all the support and excellence from DSR, we’ve got ourselves a definite winning team. I am very excited about this relationship introducing NHRA fans to our product - something that can make a difference in their lives.”
 
BrakeSafe Rear-End Collision Avoidance System is a personal occupant and vehicle safety product manufactured in the

United States.

Matt Hagan

Funny Car racer Matt Hagan, who made his NHRA debut this season, will drive a Dodge Charger Funny Car sponsored by BrakeSafe Rear-End Collision Avoidance System for Don Schumacher Racing in the 2009 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series.
 
BrakeSafe Rear-End Collision Avoidance System will be a primary sponsor, with a co-primary sponsor to be named later. The associate sponsors include NAPA Auto Parts, Mail Terminal Services, Matco Tools,

Valvoline, U.S. Army, and Fram. Tommy DeLago will move from DSR’s Valvoline/Mail Terminal Services Funny Car team to take on the crew-chief duties.
 
Hagan, 26, drove a Funny Car in four NHRA POWERade events in 2008 and competed in the AMS NHRA Pro Mod Challenge in 2006 and 2007; he was the 2006 AMS Pro Modified rookie of the year. He scored a class-best three IHRA national event wins in 2008, ending the season third in the points standings. He will vie for rookie of the year honors in the 2009 NHRA Full Throttle Series.
 
“We are thrilled to add Matt Hagan to our team for the 2009 Full Throttle Series,” said Schumacher. “He brings with him a youthful approach, and, despite his youth, he has demonstrated an untapped talent driving a Funny Car in IHRA as well as competing in the Pro Mod class. We believe and expect he will be a solid force in this highly competitive category and will represent himself, Don Schumacher Racing, and his sponsors extremely well. We look forward to a successful season in 2009 as we support Hagan in his bid for rookie of the year honors.
 
“We are also proud to introduce BrakeSafe Rear-End Collision Avoidance System to our DSR family,” added Schumacher. “This is a unique and important consumer safety product which we are pleased to help promote to the NHRA fan base.”

Hagan was born in Salem, Va., and lives with wife Rachel and 2-year-old son Colby Matthew in

Christiansburg, Va., where he manages the family 500-acre Angus cattle farm.
 
“I’m really excited,” said Hagan. “Being involved with a team such as DSR, which has so much knowledge, experience, and great equipment, is going to be very rewarding. It’s one of those opportunities that doesn’t come around but once in a lifetime.
 
“I think that as a rookie driver next year and sharing information with teams of the caliber that DSR has will help me improve my driving. Being able to use that equipment and having all the resources that DSR brings to the table will be great for my career.
 
“And I’m very excited to have BrakeSafe support this team in the NHRA Funny Car category. It’s a terrific product, and I’m looking forward to helping promote it.”
 
Rich Battaglini, BrakeSafe national sales manager, said, “This is an incredible scenario full of opportunity. Matt has to be one of the greatest people I’ve ever met and has proven that he has what it takes to be successful in drag racing. Combined with all the support and excellence from DSR, we’ve got ourselves a definite winning team. I am very excited about this relationship introducing NHRA fans to our product - something that can make a difference in their lives.”
 
BrakeSafe Rear-End Collision Avoidance System is a personal occupant and vehicle safety product manufactured in the

United States.

NHRA Technical Services previews rule changes for 2009 racing season

NHRA Technical Services today announced certain rule changes that will be included in the 2009 NHRA Rulebook. “We have worked to minimize cost impact to the teams from 2009 changes, given the current economic situation,” said

Don Taylor, NHRA senior director-national technical operations.Select changes are listed below. See the 2009 Rulebook for the final and complete wording of the rules. The Rulebook will be available in December and sent to NHRA members with Issue 48 of National DRAGSTER.

As always, also periodically check for any rules amendments on NHRA.com.

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NHRA

SUMMIT RACING SERIES
Super Pro, Pro, Sportsman (7.50 & slower)
Designations:

Pro: 9.00 to 13.99
Helmet: K98 no longer permitted.Advanced E.T. (6.00 to 7.49)
Upholstery: For all front-engine open-bodied vehicles supercharged or turbocharged (gasoline- or methanol-burning), a flame-retardant-material-covered seat is mandatory.

Fire Extinguisher System: Mandatory on all cars. Minimum five-pound NHRA-accepted system. System must be divided with one nozzle on driver’s side and one nozzle on engine. Supercharged, alcohol (full-bodied or Funny Car), minimum: 20-pound NHRA-accepted system.

Helmet: Helmet with shield mandatory. K98 helmet no longer permitted.

Front-engine, open-bodied car equipped with nitrous oxide or alcohol, and full-bodied car equipped with nitrous oxide without a full .024-inch steel firewall: Jacket and pants or suit meeting SFI 3.2A15 , gloves and boots or shoes meeting SFI Spec 3.3/5.

Protective Clothing: Note: Beginning Jan. 1, 2010, all drivers in this class will be required to wear a jacket and pants or suit meeting SFI Spec 3.2A/15, except drivers of front-engine, supercharged or turbocharged open-bodied cars, who will continue to be required to wear a jacket and pants or suit meeting SFI Spec 3.2A/20.

Top Sportsman and Top Dragster
2009 rules for these classes will be included in the 2009 NHRA Rulebook

E.T. Motorcycle, Snowmobile, All-Terrain Vehicle, and Electric-Powered Vehicle
Helmet: Helmet with shield mandatory. K98 helmet no longer permitted.

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NHRA LUCAS OIL DRAG RACING SERIES
Super Street
Data Recorder: Any drivetrain sensors permitted.
Helmet: K98 helmet no longer permitted.

Super Gas
Belly Pan: If used, must extend forward of the harmonic balancer and rearward to rear-engine plate.
Helmet: K98 helmet no longer permitted.

Stock
Reserved for 1960 and newer model-year factory-production automobiles and some sports cars.

Class Weight Breaks: The power-to-weight factor (as found in the Official NHRA Stock Car Classification Guide) determines the natural class of all cars. The power-to-weight factor is the shipping weight of the vehicle divided by advertised, or when applicable, the factored horsepower for the OEM-assembly-line cylinder heads (not aftermarket cylinder heads). NHRA-accepted aftermarket cylinder heads carry a horsepower penalty that is calculated to the weight of the vehicle and does not change the class of the vehicle.

Pushrod guide plates permitted. Cylinder head may be clearanced for larger diameter pushrods.

Cylinder Heads: Any aftermarket steel valve permitted, must retain stock head and stem diameters (but not stock seat angle). Any valve job permitted.

Pistons: Assembly weight of piston, pin, rings, and connecting rod must be equal to or greater than the minimum assembly weight as found on the then-current Stock Replacement Piston Acceptance List.

Transmission, Automatic: Electronic rpm controls for the electric (internal or external to the transmission) shifting of automatic transmissions permitted in computer-controlled electronic-fuel-injected vehicles only. Otherwise, any gear change must occur as a result of an internal function of the transmission or from direct action by the driver. Pneumatic, hydraulic, electric, etc. controls and shifters in all noncomputer-controlled electronic-fuel-injected vehicles prohibited.

Windows: Factory back glass on a truck may be replaced with Plexiglas, Lexan, or other shatterproof material, minimum 1/8-inch thick, to permit the use of back brace bars on a roll bar or roll cage.

Delay Boxes/Devices: Two-step permitted. Two-step must be foot-activated through brake pedal, clutch pedal, or pressure switch. Hand release prohibited.

Helmet: K98 helmet no longer permitted.

Jacket and pants meeting SFI Spec 3.2A1 mandatory in AA/S through M/S, AA/SA through M/SA, and in any vehicle running 11.49 or quicker.

Super Stock
Oil Pump: Accumulator permitted. Additional external plumbing (except for accumulator and remote oil filter in Super Stock GT) prohibited.

Transmission, Automatic: Transbrake buttons must be NHRA-accepted. Devices must be mechanical-spring actuated and not exceed 3 inches in length from base of (button) switch to top of plunger. Adjustability is permitted and may be made by a thread stop or stop rings. Modifying the switch by the addition of hydraulics, pneumatics, electric, or other means is prohibited.

Transmission, Manual: If any engine/manual transmission combination is listed in the class blueprint specification as being available with only a three-speed manual transmission, it may be replaced with any four-speed manual transmission.

Roll Cage: Roll cage meeting SFI Spec 25.4 or 25.5 is mandatory for all Super Stock cars running 8.49 or quicker.

Helmet: K98 helmet no longer permitted.

Neck Collar: Neck collar meeting SFI Spec 3.3 mandatory in all cars running 9.99 (*6.39) or quicker or cars exceeding 135 mph. A head and neck restraint device/system may be used in lieu of a neck collar.

Jacket and pants meeting SFI Spec 3.2A/5 mandatory in SS/A through SS/I and SS/AH through SS/IA, AA/SA or any vehicle running 9.99 or quicker. Jacket and pants meeting SFI Spec3.2A/1 mandatory in SS/J through SS/P and SS/JA through SS/PA or any vehicle running 10.00 to 11.49.

Note for classes below: Pants meeting the same SFI Spec level as the required jacket mandatory in most classes of Super Stock GT, GT/Truck, Modified Stock, Super Modified Truck, Modified, and Super Stock/MX.

Super Stock GT
Minimum shipping weight requirement of 2,500 pounds: dropped.
For FWD conversion cars, a driveshaft tunnel may be fabricated of the same-as-OEM material and must be fully welded to the as-built OEM floor.

GT/Truck
Roll Cage: Roll cage meeting SFI 25.4 or 25.5 is mandatory for all Super Stock trucks running 8.49 or quicker.

Modified Stock
Carburetor: Class A, one NHRA-accepted 4-barrel, maximum 850cfm, standard OEM configuration. Class B, C, and D, one NHRA-accepted 4-barrel, maximum 750cfm, standard OEM configuration. Class A through D, throttle bore restricted to manufacturer’s dimension, measured at the largest point, venturi restricted to manufacturer’s dimension plus .025-inch measured at the largest point.
Cylinder Heads: V-8 splayed valve permitted in AS, canted or inline in BS, inline only in CS, and any valve configuration in DS. All heads must be NHRA-accepted, two valves per cylinder, except in classes DS, ES, FS, and GS, four valves per cylinder permitted.
Roll Cage: Roll cage meeting SFI 25.4 or 25.5 is mandatory for all Super Stock cars running 8.49 or quicker.
Wheelbase: Minimum wheelbase 93 inches.
Floor: For FWD conversion cars, a driveshaft tunnel may be fabricated of same-as-OEM floor material and must be fully welded to the as-built OEM floor.

Modified Truck
Carburetor: Class TA, one NHRA-accepted 4-barrel, maximum 850cfm, standard OEM configuration. Classes TB, TC, and TD, one NHRA-accepted 4-barrel, maximum 750cfm, standard OEM configuration. Classes A through D, throttle bore restricted to manufacturer’s dimension, measured at the largest point, venturi restricted to manufacturer’s dimension plus.025-inch, measured at the largest point.

Modified
Roll Cage: Roll cage meeting SFI 25.4 or 25.5 is mandatory for all Super Stock vehicles running 8.49 or quicker.
Floor: For FWD conversion cars, a driveshaft tunnel may be fabricated of same-as-OEM floor material and must be fully welded to the as-built OEM floor. See General Regulations 7:5.

Super Stock/MX
An EX class will be added to accommodate All Motor cars from the NHRA Sport Compact Series: EX – 11.50 or more pounds per cubic inch, naturally aspirated, methanol only, front-wheel drive only, full-bodied.

Comp
Transmission, Automatic: Transbrake buttons must be NHRA-accepted (see NHRA.com for accepted list). Devices must be mechanical-spring actuated and not exceed 3 inches in length from base of (button) switch to top of plunger. Adjustability is permitted and may be made by a thread stop or stop rings. Modifying the switch by the addition of hydraulics, pneumatics, electric, or other means is prohibited.
Helmet: Helmet with shield mandatory for all open-bodied cars and any closed car running 7.49 seconds or quicker.
Protective Clothing: Note - Beginning Jan. 1, 2010, all drivers in this class running 7.49 seconds or quicker will be required to wear a jacket and pants or suit meeting SFI Spec 3.2A/15.

Gas Dragster, Econo Dragster
Helmet: K98 helmet no longer permitted.

Nostalgia Dragster
Injectors: A/ND, round injector maximum diameter is 3.150 inches (as measured across the butterfly shaft); rotary injector (i.e., with no butterflies) permitted, oval, rectangular, and siamesed (two cylinders/ports maximum) injectors also permitted; area may not exceed that of a 3.150-inch diameter per port. B/ND, round injector with butterflies required; 2.875-inch diameter maximum as measured across the butterfly shaft.
Transmission, Automatic: Automated, electric, or pneumatic shifter prohibited.
Upholstery: For supercharged or turbocharged open-bodied cars (gasoline- or methanol-burning), a flame-retardant-material-covered seat is mandatory.
Protective Clothing: Jacket and pants meeting SFI Spec 3.2A/15, gloves SFI 3.3/5, and boots/shoes 3.3/5 mandatory. Drivers of all cars required to have an SFI 3.3 head sock or an SFI 3.3 skirted helmet.

Altered and Street Roadster
Engine: OEM aftermarket small-block Chevrolet (SBC) engines with bore centers greater than 4.420 inches are not permitted.
Oil Systems: Dry-sump oil systems permitted in Altered classes, prohibited in Street Roadster. Any oil-pump configuration permitted in Altered classes, may be combined with other pump functions. Street Roadster classes, single stage external pump only permitted.
Suspension: Four-link rear-suspension car may use a single spring and shock absorber.
Helmet: Helmet with shield mandatory. K98 helmet no longer permitted.

For supercharged or turbocharged open-bodied cars (gasoline- or methanol-burning) and closed-bodied methanol-burning cars, a suit meeting SFI Spec 3.2A/15, SFI 3.3/15 gloves and SFI 3.3/15 shoes/boots mandatory.

Altered Truck
Helmet: Helmet with shield mandatory in vehicles 7.49 and quicker. K98 helmet no longer permitted.

Econo Altered
Four-link rear-suspension car may use a single spring and shock absorber.
Helmet: Helmet with shield mandatory in vehicles 7.49 and quicker. K98 helmet no longer permitted.

Super Modified
OEM aftermarket small-block Chevrolet (SBC) engines with bore centers greater than 4.420 inches are not permitted.

Roll Cage: Mandatory. All new chassis or at scheduled recertification must meet the following SFI Spec: A/SM through E/SM, A/SMA through E/SMA must meet SFI 25.1E, 25.2, 25.4, or 25.5 as applicable for e.t. and weight. Must conform to specs for body style used. Chassis must be recertified every three years and have serialized sticker affixed to roll cage before participation. Roll-cage padding meeting SFI Spec 45.1 mandatory anywhere driver’s helmet may come in contact with roll-cage components.
Hood Scoop: Maximum of 11-inch scoop opening height from adjacent hood surface will apply to all cars in this class.
Helmet: Helmet with shield mandatory in vehicles 7.49 and quicker. K98 helmet no longer permitted.

Pro Modified
AA/PM – Supercharged, methanol. Maximum 527 cubic-inch displacement or turbocharged, gasoline or methanol, maximum 650 cubic-inch displacement; 2,725-pound minimum weight.
Must be a coupe or sedan body style. Nitrous entries, 2,425 pounds. Supercharged or turbocharged entries, 2,725 pounds. Accepted nostalgia body styles (example: 1953 Studebaker, 1955-1957 Chevy and Buick) may deduct 25 pounds from minimum weight; 1938 Chevy and 1941 Willys may deduct 50 pounds from minimum weight. All 1996 and earlier Corvettes run at posted class weights. All 2001 and later bodies (i.e., Chevrolet Cobalt, Cavalier, Corvette [1997 and later], Pontiac GTO, GXP, Grand Am, Dodge Stratus, Vipers [all years], Ford Z-X2 Mustang, Mercury Cougar, Toyota Solara, etc.) add 25 pounds to the minimum weight. Turbocharged cars will be treated as supercharged cars in all other applicable sections.
Nitrous-oxide-assisted entries are limited to 820 cubic inches with a maximum bore center of 5.300. Turbocharged entries are limited to 650 cubic inches with a maximum bore center of 5.000.
Induction: Any induction system permitted on nitrous and turbocharged cars.

Automatic transmissions permitted. Transmission shield meeting SFI Spec 4.1 mandatory. Automatic-transmission flexplate meeting SFI Spec 29.1 and flexplate shield meeting SFI Spec 30.1 mandatory.

Front overhang not to exceed 45 inches forward of the front spindle. If front overhang of selected body is less than the maximum of 45 inches, an NHRA-accepted extension may be added to reach the maximum length.

Top Alcohol Dragster
Oil Lines: Must be tested and tagged, within two years, to indicate that they have been tested.
Flywheel: Maximum depth of flywheel shield: 9.4 inches (inside).
Steering: Commercially available quick-disconnect steering wheel meeting SFI Spec 42.1 or removable (via quick-release pins) steering box crossmember mandatory.
Seats: Must be foamed with energy-absorbing material and formed to the driver’s body.
Protective Clothing: Drivers of supercharged front-engine cars must use suit meeting SFI Spec 3.2A/20, gloves 3.2A/20 3.3/20, boots 3.3/20 3.3/15, and head sock 3.3 mandatory.

Top Alcohol Funny Car
Brakes: Aluminum front brake rotors prohibited.
Helmet Shroud: Unless the shroud is mounted with fasteners that have 1/2-inch hex-style heads (as required in TF and TAD), a clearance slot minimum 3/4-inch high by 2 inches wide is required on each side of each roll-cage tube where it meets the shoulder hoop.
Tow-Strap Hoop: All cars must have tow-strap hoops on the lower front of the chassis. Hoops must be capable of accepting a 2-inch tow hook without lifting the body and not stressing the body when the car is being towed. Hoops must line up with the centerline of the car below the body-release rod and clearly marked on the body with an arrow pointing down.
Seats: Must be foamed with energy-absorbing material and formed to the driver’s body.
Body Rear-Release Mechanism: Must be the pin and cable type with capability to remove body without pulling pin. Release handle must be colored red and of a T-handle design with a minimum measurement of 3 inches in length.
Underbody Coating: Underside of body, including any roof area and all the composite components such as timer boxes, etc. must be covered with SFI Spec 54.1 flame-retardant covering or coating.

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NHRA FULL THROTTLE DRAG RACING SERIES
Pro Stock Motorcycle
Fuel Lines: All pressurized fuel systems must use lines that are metallic, steel braided, or NHRA-accepted woven or woven-pushlock.
Induction: EFI electronic fuel injection permitted. All electronic-fuel-injection systems must be NHRA-accepted. All inputs/outputs, sensors, transducers, and wiring related to the fuel-injection system and ignition system must be NHRA-accepted and used in an unaltered manner. Contact the NHRA Technical Department for an approved list of sensors, inputs/outputs, and wiring. A current list of NHRA-accepted electronic-fuel-injection systems is available on NHRA.com.
Wheels: Carbon/composite wheels prohibited.

Pro Stock
Engine Setback: Maximum 81.5 inches; minimum setback 84.5 inches.
Oil-Retention Device: Pan must be constructed of an NHRA-accepted composite material only.
Steering: Maximum 2 buttons allowed on steering wheel.
Suspension: All shock systems must be NHRA-accepted.
Parachute: No more than 3.5 inches of any portion of the parachute pack can be located under the rear of the spoiler. This will be measured from the parachute pack backing plate to the rear tip of the spoiler.

Window Net: Must be either ribbon or mesh type. No solid material type.
Windshield: With the exception of the driver’s name, car number, car builder’s name, and class designation, side windows, including quarter windows, must remain clear of decals, paint scheme, etc.
Helmet: Helmet with shield mandatory.
Protective Clothing: Note - Beginning Jan. 1, 2010, all drivers in this class will be required to wear a jacket and pants or suit meeting SFI Spec 3.2A/15.

Funny Car
Fuel Injector Hat: Maximum 65 square inches will be measured at butterfly or throttle bodies.
Valve Covers: Must be fabricated steel, titanium, or aluminum (no cast or composite permitted) and NHRA-accepted. Must be installed using 5/16-inch steel studs and nuts. Titanium valve covers must be SFI Spec 14.4, aluminum or steel valve covers must have SFI Spec 14.4 blanket.
Brakes: Aluminum front brake rotors prohibited.
Ballast: Must be secured with minimum of two 1/2-inch or four 3/8-inch Grade 8 fasteners per 100 pounds and be NHRA accepted.
Helmet Shroud: Unless the shroud is mounted with fasteners that have 1/2-inch hex-style heads (as required in TF and TAD), a clearance slot minimum 3/4-inch high by 2 inches wide is required on each side of each roll-cage tube where it meets the shoulder hoop.
Roll Cage: Chassis must meet SFI Spec 10.5. A current list of NHRA-accepted lateral head supports is available on NHRA.com.
Tow-Strap Hoops: All cars must have tow-strap hoops on the lower front of the chassis. Hoops must capable of accepting a 2-inch tow hook without lifting the body and not stressing the body when the car is being towed. Hoops must line up with the centerline of the car, below the body-release rod and clearly marked on the body with an arrow pointing down.
Tires: Minimum tire pressure at start of run 6psi.
Seats: Must be foamed with energy-absorbing material and formed to the driver’s body.
Body: Modification to the lower, rear corner of the front wheel opening(s) may be allowed, IF required to meet the clearance for starting-line timing lights. In side view, the body should present clearance, all the way across the car, 3 inches from the ground, extending for a length of 12 inches + 1/4-inch max, rearward from the front spindle centerline. Any exposed edges or openings as a result of trimming the wheel opening corner should be patched and refinished. Such modifications must be authorized in advance by the NHRA Technical Services Department and accepted upon completion.
Rear-Release Mechanism: Must be the pin-and-cable type with capability to remove body without pulling pin.
Underbody Coating: Underside of body, including any roof area and all the composite components such as timer boxes, etc. must be covered with SFI Spec 54.1 flame-retardant covering or coating.
Doghouse: Doghouse fire shielding in driver compartment mandatory; if carbon fiber, must be covered with SFI Spec 54.1 flame-retardant covering or coating.
Rear Bumpers: Maximum measurement from trailing edge of rear bumper to ground 29 inches at rear tire pressure of 6.0psi.
Ignition Systems: Removable or pin-type timing pointers prohibited.

Top Fuel
Fuel Injector Hat: Maximum fuel injector air inlet opening: 65 square inches measured at butterfly or throttle bodies, excluding cross shaft in fully open position.
Valve Covers: Must be fabricated steel, titanium, or aluminum (no cast or composite permitted) and NHRA-accepted. Must be installed with 5/16-inch steel studs and nuts. Titanium valve covers must be SFI Spec 14.4, aluminum or steel valve covers must have SFI Spec 14.4 blanket.
Vent Tube Breathers: Minimum catch can(s) capacity is 6.75 gallons.
Ballast: Must be secured with minimum of two 1/2-inch or four 3/8-inch Grade 8 fasteners per 100 pounds and be NHRA-accepted.
Helmet Shroud: Bolt heads must be 1/2-inch hex-style head; no clearance slots allowed.
Roll Cage: A current list of NHRA-accepted lateral head supports is available on NHRA.com.
Tires: Minimum tire pressure at start of run 6 ½psi.
Seats: Must be foamed with energy-absorbing material and formed to the driver’s body.
Wings and Supports: All Top Fuel rear wing main elements must be positioned with a zero to positive 2-degree angle relative to the racing surface. Must be unaltered from manufacturer’s specs.
Ignition Systems: Removable or pin-type timing pointers prohibited.

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GENERAL REGULATIONS

Roll Cage: Open-bodied cars running 9.99 and quicker and/or faster than 135 mph must meet applicable SFI Specification for e.t. (see Class Requirements). Full-bodied cars running 8.49 and quicker and/or exceeding 180 mph must meet applicable SFI Specification for e.t. and weight (see Class Requirements). SFI Specifications may be purchased from the SFI Foundation (sfifoundation.com, (858) 451-8868); SFI Specifications are not available from NHRA Technical Services.

“D” bar installation for full-bodied cars: For front-wheel-drive cars, with complete OEM floor (from the firewall to the rear of the trunk) and rocker/sill boxes, the 1 1/4-inch x .058-inch CM (.118-inch MS) “D” bars (when required; i.e., when the main hoop is not welded to the frame) may be welded to a 1 5/8-inch x .083-inch CM (.118-inch MS) crossmember welded to the rocker/sill box via conventional 6-inch x 6-inch x 1/8-inch-thick plates. For rear-wheel-drive cars, with neither a frame nor subframe connectors, but with complete OEM floor (from the firewall to the rear of the trunk; exception: the rear inner wheelwells may be tubbed with steel or aluminum) and rocker/sill boxes, the 1 1/4-inch x .058-inch CM (.118-inch MS) “D” bars may be welded to conventional 6-inch x 6-inch x 1/8-inch plates attached to the driveshaft tunnel.

Steel-bodied pickup trucks (7.50 seconds and slower), roll cages are permitted with no back braces if the roll cage satisfies SFI 25.1E, 25.2, 25.4, or the roll cage consists of a four-point (door car) cage with a complete SFI 2.4B, 2.5B, 2.6, 2.7A dragster, SFI 10.2, 10.3 altered, or SFI 10.4 street roadster roll cage/driver’s compartment incorporated into and attached to the four-point roll cage. An upper windshield bar is mandatory.

Non-steel-bodied pickup trucks (7.50 seconds and slower), roll cages are permitted with no back braces if the roll cage satisfies SFI 25.1E, 25.2, 25.4, or the roll cage satisfies the requirements for SFI 2.4B, 2.5B, 2.6, 2.7A dragster, SFI 10.2, 10.3 altered, or SFI 10.4 street roadster roll cage/driver’s compartment. No four-point (door car) cage is required and no upper windshield bar is required.

All joints indicated as tube-to-tube joints/intersections must be fabricated by properly notching the components to fit with minimum clearance unless otherwise noted. Crushing the end of a tube to oval in lieu of properly notching/fitting the tube is not acceptable. Welding a plate to the side of one tube and butt welding the other tube to the plate surface in lieu of properly notching/fitting the tube is not acceptable.

For Sportsman full-bodied cars that require a roll cage (7.50 seconds and slower, including cars inspected to SFI 25.4 or 25.5): If the windshield/roof bars are interrupted by the dash bar, then either the entire dash bar must be minimum 1 1/2-inch x .058-inch CM (.118-inch MS) or the entire dash bar must be minimum 1 1/4  inches x .058-inch CM (.118-inch MS) and must be braced with gussets to both the upper and lower sections of each windshield/roof bar. The gussets may be either 1.75 inches x 1.75  inches x .110-inch (with one 1/2-inch-diameter and two 5/16-inch-diameter holes maximum) 4130 CM or MS plate (triangle shaped) or 3/4-inch x .049-inch CM (.118-inch MS) tubing at least 4 inches long. An interrupted windshield/roof bar is defined as one that has been completely severed into upper and lower sections/pieces and then the sections/pieces are welded to the dash bar.

Windshield, Windows: Shielding not to exceed 4 inches x 8 inches is permitted at this time provided that (a) it has a permanent attachment to the vehicle, such that it requires tools for removal, and (b) that the shielding is deemed safe by the driver in the driver’s judgment and so long as the driver can demonstrate to technical inspectors that the purpose of the modification is to reduce distraction in the driver’s field of vision. By using such a shield, the driver acknowledges and agrees that the driver deems such modification safe in the driver’s judgment consistent with the driver’s obligations in Section 1, Participant Agreements and Administrative and Procedural Rules, set forth above, and that the shield does not impair or interfere with the safe operation of the driver’s vehicle.

Ignition: All removable or pin-type timing devices are prohibited.

Electronic Fuel Injection: In classes where allowed, must be closed, OEM-type system; i.e., may monitor only engine functions. Monitoring of vehicle performance criteria, wheel speed, driveshaft speed, vehicle acceleration, etc. by fuel-injection system prohibited. All aftermarket OEM-type electronic fuel injection must be NHRA-accepted. A current list of NHRA-accepted electronic-fuel-injection systems is available on NHRA.com.

Head Sock or Skirted Helmet: Required on all supercharged cars and all cars with an automatic transmission and/or converter in the driver’s compartment. Head sock or skirted helmet also required on all open-bodied cars where a neck collar is not used; i.e., where a head and neck restraint only is used.

Helmet: Structural modifications to helmet/shield are prohibited. Cutting of helmet or helmet shield prohibited. Helmet must remain as manufactured, except for paint scheme/graphics and permitted non-structural driver modifications to helmet shield as set forth below. Taping or similar modifications to the helmet shield made by the driver that reduce the driver’s field of vision, and are deemed safe by driver in the driver’s judgment, are permitted at this time so long as the driver can demonstrate to technical inspectors that the purpose of the modification is to reduce distraction in the driver’s field of vision. By using such a modification to the helmet shield, the driver acknowledges and agrees that the driver deems such modification safe in the driver’s judgment consistent with the driver’s obligations in Section 1, Participant Agreements and Administrative and Procedural Rules, set forth above, and that the modification does not impair or interfere with the safe operation of the driver’s vehicle.

Helmet shield mandatory for vehicles 7.49 or quicker.

Neck Collar/Head and Neck Restraint: Neck collar meeting SFI Spec 3.3 mandatory in all cars running 9.99 (*6.39) or quicker or cars exceeding 135 mph. A head and neck restraint device/system may be used in lieu of a neck collar.

An SFI-approved head and neck restraint device/system is mandatory for any vehicle running 200 mph or faster and in all of the following classes: Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock, Top Alcohol Dragster, Top Alcohol Funny Car, and the following classes in Comp: A/D, A/DA, B/D, B/DA, H/D, A/ED, AA/A, AA/AM, AA/AT, BB/AT, CC/AT, A/PM, AA/PM, A/AP, A/A, A/AA, B/A, B/AA, and in Alternative Sanctioning Organization vehicles running 200 mph or faster.

Protective Clothing: “Protective Clothing” includes suit (one-piece suit or jacket and pants); head sock; gloves; and boots or shoes. Driver must meet all Protective Clothing requirements stated under General Regulations.

Protective Clothing requirements stated are minimum requirements; drivers are free to upgrade Protective Clothing. Each item of Protective Clothing must meet applicable specifications. Each item must be properly labeled and in good condition. All jackets/pants or suits for SFI Spec 3.2A/15 or 3.2A/20 must be recertified on a five-year interval. All gloves must have a full layer of flame-retardant material inside the glove. Leather palm gloves without a full layer of flame-retardant material separating leather from driver’s hand prohibited.

If no specific Protective Clothing requirements are stated for a particular class, then the minimum requirements are as follows: full-length pants; short- or long-sleeved shirt; closed shoes; and socks. No shorts. No bare legs. No bare torsos. No tank tops. No open-toe or open-heel shoes or sandals. Synthetic clothing not recommended.

NOTICE
Under no circumstances may any certified product be modified, altered, or in any way vary from the “as manufactured” condition. Such a practice is in violation of the SFI, Snell, DOT, etc. program, voids such certification, and therefore will not be accepted by NHRA.

It is the responsibility of the participant to ensure that all safety equipment is approved and is correctly installed, worn, maintained and used.

* = eighth-mile