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2/26/03

Hartman Motorsports happy with test session: Hartman Motorsports drivers Rhonda Hartman-Smith and John Smith conducted test laps at the Phoenix International Raceway following disappointing results at the Checker Schuck's Kragen Nationals.

"Due to unacceptable results at the first two NHRA race events, both the Fram and Prestone teams opted to stay in Phoenix for an additional day and test both dragsters," said Virgil Hartman, team owner/tuner of the dual-dragster team. "By the last test run on Monday, both cars ran identical incremental times – 3.94-seconds to the 1,000-foot mark. Rhonda completed her run to a 4.64-second elapsed time and John posted excellent numbers off the line in the Prestone dragster and shut off early per our test plan. We will continue to refine the tuning combination at the upcoming IHRA race in San Antonio, Texas, with a goal of running consistently quick at the Gatornationals next month."

Hartman-Smith (pictured) and her teammate and husband, John "Bodie" Smith, are the only married couple competing in the Top Fuel category this season. Both drivers posted excellent pre-season figures in Tucson, Ariz., and Las Vegas. The couple earned career-best top 10 finishes in 2002 and hold the NHRA record as the only husband and wife to simultaneously earn a top 10 finish in a professional category.

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2/23/03

Geoffrion okay after Round 1 accident: Pro Stock driver Scott Geoffrion emerged unscathed from a dramatic, high-speed accident in Sunday's opening session of the 19th annual Checker Schucks Kragen Nationals. Geoffrion was examined by track medical officials and transferred to Maricopa County Medical Center as a precaution.

Geoffrion had just completed a 6.880-second, 199.49-mph pass in a loss against V. Gaines when his parachutes apparently failed to deploy. As he tried to slow the car by the brakes, his Ford Mustang turned slightly sideways and to the left before it suddenly whipped back to the right and passed in front of a hard-braking Gaines, striking the right-side retaining wall nearly head-on. Gaines managed to stop before coming in contact with Geoffrion's wreckage, which slid for several hundred feet.

By chance, Geoffrion had announced this would be his last race in the Mustang as his Hurley Blakeney-owned team prepares to debut a Ford Escort ZX2 at the next stop on the POWERade tour in Gainesville, Fla.

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2/22/03

Hey, this stuff really works!: Funny Car ace John Force is widely known for his frantic top-end speeches where he runs through a laundry list of sponsors who back his three-car operation. Two weeks ago, his tirades rang true for one of his millions of fans.

"I was at a car club deal in Arcadia (Calif.) and this guy came up to me and said, 'Force, I should've listened to you but I didn't and it nearly killed me,' " Force said. "It turns out the guy had a custom truck and he was on a car club run when a fuel line came free and started squirting fuel onto the headers. Well, the fuel caught fire and his beautiful custom truck ended up burning to the ground. He was lucky to get out alive.

"Afterwards, when they figured out what happened, another guy in the club asked him if he had heat-treated his header pipes. He said, 'I always hear you talking about Jet-Hot and I know they heat treat the headers on your racecar but I never had it done to my truck. If I had, that fuel would have just run off onto the ground, no harm done.'

"The guy learned a lesson the hard way. That's how it is some times but when I talk about my sponsors I'm not just saying names. Every sponsor I have has a product or service I use and believe in. Jet-Hot, who is based right down the road in Tempe, does a great job heat treating all of our headers, and like this guy found out, it's a valuable service."

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2/20/03

New view: Gary Scelzi, the newest member of Schumacher Racing and driver of the Oakley Dodge Stratus R/T, says he's enjoying the new view. "It's different looking out of the new Dodge," he said. "It's like you sit further back because the dash area is further forward. But the visibility is good and the car is really stable on the top end. It doesn't want to drift around a lot. So, it's a whole new ballgame for me. I made a couple of runs in last year's car (in 2002) and then we came back and we have the Dodges now and it's a whole different feeling. I like the feeling; it's stable. It's a great sense of security. It's a great beginning."

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2/18/03

Party crasher: Del Worsham is the defending winner of the Checker Schuck's Kragen NHRA Nationals, a victory that ranks as one of the all-time best for the young pro. Worsham, who drives for the event's title sponsor, needed his last qualifying pass just to make the elimination field. Then he rode an increasingly quick racecar to his stunning upset win over 12-time champion John Force, denying the champ a landmark victory..

"Winning last year was one of the highlights of my career," Worsham said. "The only thing that could be better would be to do it again. Last year was amazing, starting with barely getting qualified for the race on the last lap. Then we got our act together and beat four great teams on Sunday, including John Force in the final round. We not only won our sponsor's race, in front of hundreds of CSK people, but we denied Force his 100th win doing it. They had to have all the hats and confetti ready for him in case he won, so it was great to make them put it all back away."

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2/13/03

W.J. to appear on NHRA2Day: Six-time NHRA Pro Stock Champion Warren Johnson will be a featured guest on this weekend's edition of NHRA2Day. Johnson is coming off a record-setting performance at the season-opening Winternationals in Pomona, Calif.

After qualifying second, Johnson's GM Performance Parts Pontiac Grand Am was the class of the field in eliminations, recording the low elapsed time of the event and resetting the NHRA national top speed record with his 204.91-mph effort in his first round win over Troy Coughlin. In the final, Johnson capped off his day by using a near perfect .003 reaction time and his fourth consecutive 6.7-second, 204-mph pass to defeat Allen Johnson and score his 89th career NHRA national event win.

NHRA2Day is ESPN's half-hour weekly magazine show chronicling the events of the world's fastest motorsport. Hosted by Bill Stephens, it brings viewers up-to-date on the latest NHRA news, either from the site of that weekend's national event, or from the show's Charlotte, N.C., studios. This weekend's show is scheduled to air at its normal time on Sunday morning from 11-11:30 a.m. (ET) on ESPN2.

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2/9/03

This place is fast: Pomona Raceway is better known as both the starting and ending point for each POWERade Drag Racing season. After this weekend's 43rd annual K&N Filters Winternationals, this famous stretch of concrete and asphalt will be remembered as one of the quickest and fastest racing surfaces on the 23-race circuit.

Of the 79 professional drivers competing in Top Fuel, Funny Car, and Pro Stock, nearly half will leave Southern California with new career-best numbers. Overall, 37 of 79 racers posted their quickest elapsed time, their fastest top speed, or both during this weekend's event.

The Pro Stock class was the busiest, with 23 of the 38 entrants improving their previous best marks. Top Fuel featured eight of 20 drivers moving up the charts, while Funny Car had six of 21 competitors rewriting their personal records.

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2/8/03

Capps pays debt to Scelzi: Funny Car driver Ron Capps paid off a bet he had with fellow flopper pilot Gary Scelzi Friday by running the three-time champ down Pomona Raceway in a rickshaw. With a big crowd of fans cheering him on, Capps made it to half-track before Scelzi got off the whip and declared the debt paid-in-full.

The bet originated before the two raced in a celebrity sprint car match during the off-season. As the only two drag racers competing, Capps bet Scelzi that he would beat his rival to the finish line of the 10-lap affair. Despite flipping over on the opening lap, Scelzi managed to catch and pass Capps just before the finish to win the bet. Capps car was crippled during Scelzi's accident when Scelzi's car bent Capps left-side headers into the frame of his car.

"I made him taste the whip just so he knows who's boss," Scelzi said. "He was a good sport. He did the talking before, then he lost the bet fair and square and paid it off just like he said he would. I already told him I won't give him a chance to get me back next year because I would have died before the 330-foot cone."

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2/8/03

Bazemore joins cycling team: Although he's accustomed to hitting speeds of more than 325 mph in his nitro-fueled Matco Tools Funny Car, Whit Bazemore also finds fast excitement on a bicycle. Bazemore uses cycling to keep fit for his job as a professional Funny Car driver, but also admits his hobby helps fuel his competitive spirit. As a reward for his passion, Bazemore has been added to the 2003 roster for the Kreitler-BP Tech Racing Team based in Columbus, Ohio.

"Being relatively new to the sport of competitive cycling it's a real honor for me to be asked to be on the team, especially one as competitive as the Kreitler-BP Tech team," Bazemore said. "Obviously, for me, it's a hobby. But at the same time, it's a hobby I take very seriously, and in that regard, being a member of the Kreitler-BP Tech Team means a great deal to me."

In addition to Bazemore, Kreitler-BP Tech also recruited his wife, Michelle, who is a Category 1 (USCF) for both road and track events. (Photo by Brian Bauer of The Bike Line, Indianapolis)

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2/5/03

John Force extends RaceStation hours for race fans: John Force's popular RaceStatio- Apparel & Collectible store will stay open until 8 p.m. this Friday night for fans attending qualifying of the K&N Filters Winternationals.

"We have received hundreds of calls from fans coming from out-of-state, and we wanted them to be able to visit our apparel and collectible store, and see the Elvis car hanging from the roof", said Force. The John Force RaceStation is located in Yorba Linda, just 30 minutes south of the Pomona Raceway.

Directions from the Pomona Raceway: Take Fairplex Drive south, to the 71 Expressway, to the 91 freeway west, exit Weir Canyon/Yorba Linda Blvd. north, right turn at Savi Ranch, right turn at Old Canal Road, left turn at East Park Drive, and left into driveway of RaceStation. For more information, call (714) 254-7775.

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2/4/03

Special Fender guitar to be raffled at Pomona: K&N Filters, Fender Guitars, and The Fender Museum of Music and the Arts have joined forces to give away a truly special, one-of-a-kind Fender Stratocaster guitar.

The awesome red Fender guitar is engraved with the K&N Filters Winternationals logo and is the only one currently in existence. In addition to having the logo for this prestigious NHRA event, the guitar will be autographed by a handful of NHRA's biggest names, including K&N Filters Winternationals Grand Marshall and Honorary Starter Jim Dunn and Frank Pedregon, driver for the K&N Filters/Jim Dunn Racing Funny Car team.

Raffle tickets will be sold Saturday and Sunday at the K&N Filters trailer on the manufacturer's midway at the K&N Filters Winternationals. Then, at 3 p.m. Sunday, one lucky winner will be drawn and given what is arguably the most unique K&N Filters Winternationals souvenir ever.

All proceeds will benefit the Fender Museum of Music and the Arts, located in nearby Corona, Calif.

"Cars and guitars, great music and roaring engines – they go together naturally. This is an awesome opportunity for K&N and Fender to team up and support the many great programs put on by the Fender Museum," commented Rodney Mall, K&N's President and CEO.

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2/4/03

More history on Force's horizon: Twelve-time Funny Car champion John Force, the driver of the Castrol GTX Ford Mustang, enters the 2003 POWERade Drag Racing Series having qualified for 300 straight events. The last time he failed to qualify was the 1987 NHRA Finals at Pomona Raceway. The NHRA record for longest career qualifying streaks is 303 by Pro Stock driver Warren Johnson. Matt Hines has the second longest active streak, 96 straight races, never posting a DNQ in his seven-year career.

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2/4/03

Big shoes to fill: Brandon Bernstein, replaces his legendary father Kenny in the cockpit of the Budweiser/Lucas Oil dragster at the K&N Filters Winternationals and also will compete in the Budweiser Shootout make-up as the No. 1 qualifier, a spot earned by his father performance prior to his retirement. Like dad, he realizes his biggest threat is the rival beer car driven by new champ Larry Dixon.

"We're absolutely thrilled to keep the challenge going," Brandon said. "I feel as strongly as Dad does about that blue car, (Dixon's Miller Lite dragster) and we'll be pumped up for the matches against Larry. But then we're pumped up to get the season started. (As for the Budweiser Shootout), Dad really earned this race. We're disappointed for him, it was going to be his last Shootout, but we'll be trying extra hard to win for him and for the team. It would be a big thrill to be able to win the Budweiser money."

After earning the Division 7 Top Alcohol Dragster crown in 2001, the younger Bernstein spent the entire 2002 season as a crewmember on his father's team, learning the intricacies of a nitromethane-powered dragster. All eyes will be on the 30-year-old as he tries to fill the legendary shadow left by his father.

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2/3/03

Geoffrion to be unEscorted in Pomona: Scott Geoffrion had hoped to take delivery of his new Ford Escort ZX2 Pro Stock racecar before the K&N Filters Winternationals, but builder Don Ness simply couldn't have it race-ready for another week.

"Ness just ran out of time," a somewhat dejected Geoffrion explained. "Building this one-of-a-kind car was a major task because we started from scratch. Body molds needed to be made and it just takes longer to complete the project.

"Is it disappointing? Yes, and no. We know our new car will be better and we knew it was going to come down to the wire, in terms of getting the car in time for Pomona," he continued. "It would've been great to debut the car at the Winternationals because it's in the Los Angeles area and we'd be getting maximum exposure for a potential sponsor."

Geoffrion's best competitive time in the Mustang is 6.957 seconds. It was good enough to put him 12th at The Strip at Las Vegas. Geoffrion tested at the same track Saturday and Sunday, registering the quickest times of the two days, 6.94 and 6.95 seconds.

The Escort ZX2 should ready to race at the Checker Schuck's Kragen Nationals at Phoenix, Feb. 21-23.

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2/3/03

Whisnants hire Pearman, Svensson: With only days until the start of the 2003 POWERade Drag Racing season, Mark Whisnant and Reid Whisnant announced major changes within their RW Performance Pro Stock team. Two days before leaving for testing in Houston, Texas, the Whisnants hired Markus Svensson and Gary Pearman as co-crew chiefs on their RW Performance Chevrolet Cavalier.

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2/3/03

Romine to appear at Carquest store: Prior to the 43rd annual K&N Filters NHRA Winternationals at Pomona Rcaeway, Carquest-sponsored Top Fuel racer Paul Romine will appear Thursday, Feb. 6, from 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. at the Carquest Auto Parts store at 16080 Arrow Highway in Irwindale, Calif.

Fans that stop by the store will have a chance to win tickets to Thursday's action at Pomona Raceway, the opening day of the 2003 POWERade Drag Racing Series.

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