FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PREVIEW OF RACING FORESHADOWS EXCITING WEEKEND TO COME

SEATTLE INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY, Seattle, Washington--Today’s
qualifying runs showed only a preview of the large estimate
of cars expected to attend the 1998 Federal-Mogul Drag Racing
series over this weekend at Seattle International Raceway.  

   There were close to two hundred cars at the track during
the first day of qualifying at this year’s event.  That might
seem like a small number at first but there were only two
categories of racers that actually qualified today.  Stock
and Super Stock are two of the largest categories at these
events in overall entries.  The qualifying runs of the two
sportsman classes were able to bring a lot of excitement and
cheers from those watching the races.

  Qualiying will begin for the Federal-Mogul Dragsters and
Funny Cars tommorrow at 6:30 p.m. and 8:00 p.m.  All other
categories of drag racers except Super Comp. will begin
qualifying tommorrow as well and continue on Saturday with
eliminations beginning at 2:00 p.m. for some categories.
Due to the fact that most of the other cars will begin their
qualifying sessions tommorrow there should be an enormous
boost in the total entries from today’s racing.  As one NHRA
official noted “The number of cars could possibly be as high
as five hundred by tommorrow.”

1998 NHRA FEDERAL-MOGUL DRAG RACING SERIES

First day qualifying positions at Seattle International
Raceway, Seattle, Washington, the fourth of six rounds in the
1998 NHRA Northwest Division Federal-Mogul Drag Racing Series,
listing driver’s last name, vehicle, elapsed time in seconds,
speed in miles per hour.

FEDERAL-MOGUL DRAGSTER
(Qualifying begins Friday)

FEDERAL-MOGUL FUNNY CAR
(Qualifying begins Friday)

COMPETITION
(Qualifying begins Friday)

SUPER STOCK
1. Sherrl, SS/AM, 8.632 (-.0918), 154.90
2. Lane, SS/BM, 8.989 (-0.711), 151.03
3. Setters, GT/EA, 10.248  (-0.702), 128.65
4. Wille, SS/D, 9.782 (-0.668), 138.42
5. Congdon, GT/CA, 10.032 (-.0668), 131.46
6. Polack, GT/FA, 10.439 (-0.661), 128.058
7. Kost, GT/BA, 10.006 (-0.544), 132.45
8. Stults, SS/MA, 11.633 (-.0517), 113.075

STOCK
1. Johnson, K/SA, 11.965 (-0.985), 109.24
2. Durham, B/SA, 10.578 (-.0972), 124.076
3. Little, A/SA, 10.339 (-.0961), 127.907
4. Elgin, N/SA, 12.404 (-.0896), 106.62
5. Hanby, M/SA, 12.277 (-.0873), 106.39
6. Heard, D/SA, 11.053 (-0.797), 120.226
7. Method M, C/SA, 10.907 (-.0793), 121.13
8. Method C, F/SA, 11.384 (-.0766), 115.94

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NEWLY PAVED TRACK BRINGS NEW RECORD
TO SEATTLE INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY

SEATTLE INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY, Seattle, Washington--The
second day of qualifying at the Federal-Mogul Drag Racing
series at Seattle International Raceway brought together
Federal-Mogul Funny Cars and Dragsters and a newly paved
track.  The end result was a track record breaking run by
Federal-Mogul Dragster driver Rick Henkelman.

  Henkelman’s run came during the first qualifying heat
of the Federal-Mogul Funny Cars and Dragsters.  The
question that was on everyone’s mind was whether or not
the new track surface would agree with the powerful Funny
Car and Dragster class.  Henkelman’s time of 5.46 seconds
elapsed time was a shining testament to how fast a car
could run down the track.  Henkelman said “For us to run a
5.46 is unbelievable.  We didn’t expect to get so close to
our original record of 5.37 seconds until we had modified
our engine.”

  Henkelman’s original record of 5.37 seconds is the current
National record for Federal-Mogul Dragster that was set in
Pomona, CA during the Winternationals at the Pomona Raceway.
Henkelman stated “I think once we make some minor
modifications to the engine then we have a great shot at
beating our current national record.”

  Qualifying continues tommorrow morning at 8:00 a.m.
Federal-Mogul Funny Car and Dragster categories qualify at
Noon and begin eliminations at 6:00 p.m.

1998 NHRA FEDERAL-MOGUL DRAG RACING SERIES

Second day qualifying positions at Seattle International
Raceway, Seattle, Washington, the fourth of six rounds in the
1998 NHRA Northwest Division Federal-Mogul Drag Racing Series,
listing driver, hometown, state, vehicle, elapsed time in
seconds, speed in miles per hour.

FEDERAL-MOGUL DRAGSTER
1. Rick Henkelman, San Jose, Calif., 5.467, 254.78
2. Dale Carlson, Olympia, Wash., 5.800, 198.46
3. John Shoemaker, Sacramento, Calif., 5.867, 207.65
4. Ed Verenka, Edmonton, Canada, 5.937, 240.95
5. Bernie Plourd, Covington, Wash., 6.272, 183.17
6. Brad Hansen, Bellevue, Wash., 6.592, 174.68
7. Bobby Taylor, Laguna Hills, Calif., 8.925, 93.84
8. Mark Hentges, Federal Way, Wash., 1000.00, 0.000 (Blown engine)

FEDERAL-MOGUL FUNNY CAR
1. Pat Austin, Tacoma, Wash., 5.801, 243.413
2. Steve Sommer, Nampa, Idaho, 5.844, 246.07
3. John Hyland, Springfield, Oreg., 5.887, 243.91
4. Russ Parker, Salem, Oreg., 6.007, 233.46
5. Randy Parker, Salem, Oreg., 6.051, 233.25
6. Mitch Myers, Hermiston, Oreg., 7.078, 160.06
7. Bucky Austin, Fife, Wash., 7.676, 122.68
8. Forrest LeBlanc, Kent, Wash., 8.222, 149.52

COMPETITION
1. Jim Kennedy, San Jose, Calif., F/A ‘97 Firebird, 8.616 (-0.524)
2. Rob Robinson, Portland, Oreg., E/A Olds, 8.458 (-0.402)
3. Jim Warter, Fox Island, Wash., B/SM Chevy, 9.018 (-0.362)
4. John Edwards, Murray, Idaho, C/EA Chrysler, 8.505 (-0.345)
5. Mike Pessemier, Graham, Wash., B/D Dragster, 7.173 (-0.327)
6. Danny Anderson, Des Moines, Wash., C/ED Dragster, 7.835 (-0.155)
7. Frank Nelson, Auburn, Wash., C/A Camaro, 8.105 (-0.145)
8. Mike Cherry, Hermiston, Oreg., E/A ‘77 Manza, 8.787 (-0.073)

SUPER STOCK
1. Terry Sherrill, Klamath Falls, Oreg., SS/AM ‘57 Corvette, 8.632 (-.0918)
2. Rick Pike, Langley,  Canada, SS/NA ‘56 Chevy, 11.533 (-0.917)
3. Diane Stewart, Marysville, Wash., SS/KA ‘74 Barracuda, 10.780 (-0.770)
4. Jeff Lane, North Bend, Wash., SS/BM ‘98 Grand Am, 8.965 (-0.735)
5. Don Thomas, Spruce Grove, Canada, GT/FA ‘89 Camaro, 10.397 (-0.703)
6. Byron Setters, Red Deer, Canada, GT/EA ‘96 Camaro, 10.248 (-0.702)
7. Art Congdon, Calgary, Canada, GT/CA ‘91 Calais, 10.407 (-0.693)
8. Peter Wille, Victoria, Canada, SS/D Chevy, 9.771 (-0.679)

STOCK
1. Kris Johnson, Eatonnillo, Wisc., K/SA ‘78 Olds., 11.887 (-1.063)
2. Ron Durham, Cameron Park, Calif., B/SA ‘71 Chevelle, 10.578 (-.0972)
3. Sean Cour, Vancouver, Wash., D/SA ‘67 Camaro, 10.884 (-0.966)
4. Don Little, Westley, Calif., A/SA ‘70 Barracuda, 10.339 (-0.961)
5. Bill Kost, Renton, Wash., M/SA ‘77 Olds, 12.216 (-0.934)
6. Don Elgin, Des Moines, Iowa, N/SA ‘74 Pontiac, 12.389 (-0.911)
7. Bill Bushmaker, Auburn, Wash., I/SA ‘76 Plymouth, 11.692 (-0.908)
8. Steve Hanby, Salem, Oreg., M/SA ‘85 Camaro, 12.277 (-0.873)

Sorry about the wait everyone,

Howard



FINAL RESULTS FROM SATURDAY JUNE 20 FOR PRESS RELEASE

1998 NHRA FEDERAL-MOGUL DRAG RACING SERIES
Seattle International Raceway, Seattle, Washington

GOOD TO THE LAST DROP

   SEATTLE INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY, Seattle, Washington --
The excitement of Saturday’s final eliminations didn’t let
up until it was time to close the track at 11:00 p.m. at
the Federal-Mogul Drag Racing Series at Seattle
International Raceway.

  The two big winners in the Federal-Mogul Funny Car and
Dragster categories were Randy Parker and Dale Carlson
respectively.

  The road to a win in the finals in Federal-Mogul Funny
Car and Dragster was extremely tough as seasoned Funny
Car drivers like John Hyland, Pat Austin, and Dragster
driver Rick Henkelman who set the new track record on
Friday looked to win yet another title at the newly
paved Seattle International Raceway.

  The excitement of taking first place for both Parker
and Carlson could be felt and heard through their crews
as each took the final win in their catagory.  The
crowd also took notice of the major victory for each
team by letting out heartfelt cheers and yells in
appreciation of the hard work that went into each
team’s car to acheive the win.

  By the end of the day Parker and Carlson were as happy
as they were exhausted.  During the winner’s circle
photographs the smiles and excitement continued for
these two big winners as they forgot the effects of the
long and strenuous day that had just finished.

SEATTLE RESULTS
DIVISION 6 INSTANT STATS
Seattle Int'l Raceway, Kent, Wash.

Federal-Mogul Dragster
 	W: Dale Carlson, Olympia, Wash., Dragster, 5.665, 244.59
	R/U: Rick Henkelman, San Jose, Calif., Dragster, 12.663, 56.88 (Lost traction)

Federal-Mogul Funny Car
 	W: Randy Parker, Salem, Oreg., Firebird, 5.993, 233.44
	R/U: Bucky Austin, Fife, Wash., Firebird, 12.590, 65.79 (Lost traction)

Competition
 	W: Rick Houser, Pasadena, Calif., ‘32 Roadster, 8.862, 145.61
	R/U: Jim Kennedy, San Jose, F/A ‘97 Firebird, 8.654, 156.47

Super Stock
 	W: Don Thomas, Spruce Grove, Canada, GT/FA Camaro, 10.397, 128.33
	R/U: Dwight Deausy, Maple Ridge, Canada, GT/FA ‘91 Olds., 10.457, 126.93

Stock
 	W: Brad Potter, Maple Ridge, Canada, L/SA Chevy, 12.616, 99.22
	R/U: Cal Method, Kanniwick, Wash., F/SA Chevy Camaro, 11.372, 115.96

Super Comp
 	W: Tory Lea, Portland, Oreg., Dragster, 9.024, 140.59
	R/U: Nick Drzavich, Auburn, Wash, Chevy Lumina, 8.847, 163.51 (Broke out)

Super Gas
 	W: Mike Henderson, Tacoma, Wash., ‘69 Camaro, 9.920, 153.09
	R/U: Wade Archer, Renton, Wash., Dodge, 9.886, 142.13 
 
Super Street
 	W: Steve Lowe, Langley, Canada, ‘68 Camaro, 10.893
	R/U: Jim Buell, Federal Way, Wash., ‘68 Camaro, 10.876, 127.57