CLERMONT, Ind. — The National Hot Rod Ass’n announced that it will add an event to the 2008 POWERade Drag Racing Series schedule.
Amid speculation the Sept. 11-14, 2008 race will be at Charlotte, N.C., Graham Light, NHRA’s senior vice-president/racing operations, said the sanctioning body is considering several markets for expansion.
Light didn’t discount the possibility that the schedule will add a fourth event in the Southeast. The drag racers are scheduled to return there three times next spring — March 13-16 at Gainesville, Fla.; April 24-27 at Commerce, Ga.; and May 16-18 at Bristol, Tenn. — and twice in the fall (Sept. 26-28 at Memphis and Oct. 10-12 at Richmond, Va.).

BLANK NO MORE:  Rod Fuller has acquired Caterpillar Inc. and its dealers as sponsors for a full 2008 season. (Russ LaBounty Photo)

“Charlotte is a possibility. We have had contact from them. Charlotte would be a good market,” Light said Saturday, as NHRA announced the full lineup.
“The New England/Boston area is a void we’d like to fill. We have to decide where the best markets are to take our sponsors. New England is an untouched market for us,” he said. “We’re interested in some areas in Canada and Mexico — Toronto, where we could draw from Buffalo, New York…there’s a huge concentration of people…and Monterrey, Mexico. We’ve got to pursue these markets. Not all will materialize.”
But late Saturday, word from Australia’s Western Sydney Int’l Dragway suggested that it could be the site of that 24th race.
“We have been in negotiations with the NHRA organization for some time now,” WSID Chairman Jim Read said. “I have had many ongoing discussions with Graham Light, and we are excited that very real progress has been made in relation to us securing a round of the 2008 POWERade Drag Racing series.”

NAILED IT: Max Naylor was the No. 1 Pro Stock qualifier, but lost to ninth-place qualifier Greg Anderson in the second round on Monday. (NHRA Photo)

ESPN announcer Mike Dunn said on the “NHRA Today” program that the Sydney facility is in the running for a date between the 2008 U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis and the Dallas event.
Tony Beuk, general manager at WSID, said, “The Countdown to Eight makes it logistically attractive to stage a round of the series in Sydney by only needing to bring out the top eight teams, rather than the full complement in pursuit of the NHRA POWERade Championship. We must reiterate, however, that some further negotiations are required from here before the round is secured for 2008.”
The Pro Stock Motorcycle class has been penciled in for such an appearance.
NHRA officials said they would reveal the location of the newest event “in the near future.” It will include the Pro Stock Motorcycles, bringing that class’s total of appearances to 17.
This marks the first time since 2000 that NHRA has added a race. The only time in NHRA’s history it hosted 24 national events was in 2001 as part of its 50th anniversary celebration.

The schedule:
Feb. 7-10, Pomona Raceway, Pomona, Calif.
Feb. 22.24, Firebird Int’l Raceway, Chandler, Ariz.
March 13-16, Gainesville Raceway, Gainesville, Fla.
March 28-30, Houston Raceway Park, Baytown, Texas
April 10-13, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Las Vegas, Nev.
April 24-27, Atlanta Dragway, Commerce, Ga.
May 2-4, Gateway Int’l Raceway, Madison, Ill.
May 16-18, Bristol Dragway, Bristol, Tenn.
May 30-June 1, Heartland Park Topeka, Topeka, Kan.
June 5-8, Route 66 Raceway, Joliet, Ill.
June 19-22, Old Bridge Township Raceway Park, Englishtown, N.J.
June 26-29, Norwalk Raceway Park, Norwalk, Ohio
July 11-13, Bandimere Speedway, Denver, Colo.
July 18-20, Pacific Raceways, Seattle, Wash.
July 25-27, Infineon Raceway, Sonoma, Calif.
Aug. 7-10, Brainerd Int’l Raceway, Brainerd, Minn.
Aug. 14-17, Maple Grove Raceway, Reading, Pa.
Aug. 29-Sept. 1, O’Reilly Raceway Park, Clermont, Ind.
Sept. 11-14, TBA, TBA
Sept. 18-21, Texas Motorplex, Ennis, Texas
Sept. 26-28, Memphis Motorsports Park, Millington, Tenn.
Oct. 10-12, Virginia Motorsports Park, Dinwiddie, Va.
Oct. 30-Nov. 2, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Las Vegas, Nev.
Nov. 6-9, Pomona Raceway, Pomona, Calif.

DNQ: J.R. Todd was among those who failed to make the show for the U.S. Nationals. (Russ LaBounty Photo)

• John Force, building momentum with victories at three of the previous five races after this most miserable start of his distinguished career, failed to qualify. He was eying a fifth Indianapolis victory and seventh in the Skoal Showdown bonus race.  
“Our old hot rod…just off our game,” Force said in explanation. He credited Jon Capps, who took the 16th and final spot by qualifying three-hundredths of a second quicker than Force. “He’s got big potential. He did a good job. I want to remind everybody I still have two Ford Mustangs in the show, one with my son-in-law Robert Hight and one with my daughter Ashley. So the Force name will go on.”

By failing to earn his fifth straight top-qualifier award at Indianapolis, Force put in jeopardy his streak of years with at least one No. 1 start. It could end at 21. This year, not only has he not earned a No. 1 award, but he has qualified ninth or worse seven times, eight counting his jaw-dropping DNQ in April at Las Vegas that halted his record streak of 395 consecutive starts dating back to 1988.

Force was hoping to erase the memory of his red-light disqualification in last year’s first round. “That was painful,” he said.

PROF IS OFF: Warren Johnson missed the Funny Car line up for the 53rd U.S. Nationals. (Russ LaBounty Photo)

It was advantageous for Jack Beckman, who said, “John Force not qualifying…Let’s face it, that’s big for us. He was 20 points ahead and we picked up six for [our position in] qualifying and 20 more for qualifying, so we tied him and went six points ahead of him. This is big.”

Force, who missed NHRA’s marquee event for the first time since 1984, had some distinguished company in the DNQ section. In his own class, also missing the cut were Bob Gilbertson, Tommy Johnson, Jr., Tony Bartone and two-time race winner Cruz Pedregon.
The Top Fuel class was missing Doug Kalitta, whose sponsor is event sponsor Mac Tools; Countdown to the Championship contenders J.R. Todd and Whit Bazemore; and independent drivers Scotty Cannon, Luigi Novelli, Bobby Lagana and Topeka No. 1 qualifier Joe Hartley.
Stunning the Pro Stock crowd was Warren Johnson’s failure to make the field for the first time in 32 years. He missed out by one-thousandth of a second. Among the 17 non-qualifiers were regulars V Gaines, Ron Krisher, Rickie Smith, Bob Panella, and Tom Hammonds. The class had 33 entrants, enough to fill and Indianapolis 500 field, but the starting lineup handles just 16.
It was Warren Johnson’s first time in 32 career trips to Indianapolis that he wasn’t quick enough. Force and Johnson had not DNQd at the same race since the 1980 season-opening Winternationals.

THE KING: Brandon Bernstein sports an Elvis-themed paint scheme for the U.S. Nationals. (Russ LaBounty Photo)

• John Force made it official last Thursday. His Castrol-sponsored, Ford-equipped team will be back to full four-car strength in 2008 with Mike Neff in the cockpit of the fourth Mustang. Neff, crew chief to veteran Gary Scelzi when he beat Force for the 2005 NHRA POWERade championship, already has begun his driver orientation with John Medlen as his crew chief. Neff is just the latest rookie to get a shot in one of the sport’s premier race cars, following in the footsteps of the late Eric Medlen, Robert Hight and this year’s Rookie of the Year candidate Ashley Force.

• Rod Fuller, excelling this season despite intermittent sponsorship, has acquired Caterpillar Inc. and its dealers as sponsors for a full 2008 season.

• David Powers Motorsports is accepting donations for fallen crew member Adam Hiller, who was injured seriously in a freakish pit accident Thursday during tech inspections.
The 29 year old from Lincoln, Neb., who’s the supercharger specialist for Whit Bazemore’s Matco Tools Dragster, was released Saturday from Methodist Hospital after being treated for a broken nose, broken jaw, and orbital bone and eye injuries. He faces more surgery.
The first-year crew member was hurt when the car was being towed. The rear end of the car locked up and somehow the tow strap broke loose, and the pin that holds it together struck Hiller in the forehead and right eye.
“It’s going to take more than facial reconstruction surgery to keep me away from drag racing,” Hiller joked from the hospital.
 Matco Tools started the fund with a $1,000 donation. For every dollar raised, team owner David Powers has committed to match the amount.