Schumacher, Hight, Anderson and Hines Lead Pro Qualifying at the NHRA POWERade FRAM-Autolite Nationals

Greg Anderson ran the quickest pass in Pro Stock history and set the National ET record at 6.631. New track records were set in Top Fuel (ET & MPH), Funny Car (ET) and Pro Stock (ET and MPH).

The Pro Stock Bike field is the quickest in history ranging from leader Andrew Hines 6.974 to Mike Berry's 7.096. During qualifying, Antron Brown and Tom Bradford became the two newest (#3 and #4) Mickey Thompson 6-Second Pro Stock Bike Club members.

Bob Vandergriff is qualified #9 in Top Fuel (4.607 @ 321.12).
Whit Bazemore is qualified #11 in Funny Car (4.857 @ 322.73) .
WJ is qualified #3 in Pro Stock(6.644 @ 207.40).
Kurt Johnson is qualified #7 in Pro Stock (6.650 @ 207.72).
Chip Ellis is qualified #4 in Pro Stock Bike (6.998 @ 191.67).

NHRA Recap

Upcoming Southeastern Drag Racing Reunions and Events

Hayes Southeastern Mopar Meet at Atlanta Dragway September 8 & 9, 2006
Nostalgia Funny Cars!
2006 Event Flyer
More Info
Atlanta Dragway

2002 Photos
2003 Photos
2004 Photos
2005 Photos

Old Drag Racers Reunion - Sept 29 - October 1, 2006 - Panama City, Florida
2006 Event Flyer

For more information, contact:
Sol Stewart
PO Box 144
Jackson, AL 36525
251-246-5588
t_pet@bellsouth.net

2002 Article
2003 Article
2004 Article

2002 Photos
2003 Photos
2004 Photos
2005 Photos

FINAL MAIL OUT 2006 OLD DRAG RACERS REUNION
From Sol Stewart

THIS IS LONG...LOTS OF INFORMATION...PLEASE READ VERY CAREFULLY

FRIDAY Sept. 29th Legends Of Drag Racing Dinner/Ceremony
We only have 63 tickets left fot this Dinner-Ceremony. When they are all gone, we will be full....Sold out. Friday, Sept.15th is the date I have to meet with the caterer and turn in the money and the head count for the dinner. Any money received after Sept. 14th will be returned. NO TICKETS, if any are left, will be sold after that date and no tickets will be available at the door on Sept. 29th. A Panama City police officer will be taking up tickets at the door and only persons holding a ticket will be allowed in. The door opens at 7pm CST, a cash bar will be available thru out the evening...The buffet will be served at
7:45pm and the Ceremony will start shortly there after.
Special guests for the Dinner/Ceremony will be Don Garlits, Darrell Gwynn, Jerry Gwynn
and Buddy Martin...There is a fair chance Roy Hill and David Pearson will come with Buddy Martin. HOW TO GET TICKETS TO THIS??? CONTACT ME.....
____________________________________________________________________
A video production company from Nashville, Tenn. is coming to the ODRR to video interviews for a SPECIAL "The Early Days of Drag Racing". They were at the big NHRA Reunion in Bowling Green, Ky. several weeks back and heard about our Event and now they are coming to Panama City to see what we are about.
___________________________________________________________________
Do we have any members of the ODRR who use Royal Purple Oil Products? Bobby Likis has this company as one of his major sponsors. Bobby would like to interview at least 3 of you on his National Radio Show on Saturday morning Sept. 30th, direct from the Car Show. PLEASE get in touch with me if you use the Royal Purple products and would like to be interviewed on national radio...just might be something in it for you!
__________________________________________________________________
CHARLIE MORRIS from the famous 422 Racing Group in Penn. will be at the Reunion
doing interviews and gathering information and pictures for his new book, "Drag Racing
In the 60's".
___________________________________________________________________
HALL OF MEMORIES 8:30am CST Saturday morning, Sept. 30th Ball Room
Again we ask everyone to bring old drag racing pictures, memorabilia, and racing artifacts
and place them in the "Hall of Memories" for everyone to see, enjoy and reminisce over.
Share these old treasures with others, just as the car show people share their cars in the
Car Show.
____________________________________________________________________
CAR SHOW 8:30am CST Saturday morning, Sept. 30th Rear Park Lot Motel
PLEASE let me or ROB COLE know if you plan to enter your car in the CAR SHOW. It is FREE ENTRY and we are expecting a big turnout. PHIL BONNER is bringing his famous 1964 T-Bolt to the CAR SHOW. We understand a gent from central Fla. is bringing the "FireBall" Roberts 57 Ford round track car...300HP 312. Also there is a good chance Marvin Panch will bring his 62 Pontiac round track car, thanks to the help of his good friend and ODRR member Sonny Rollo. There is a good chance that we will have as many as 7 origional 1964 T-Bolts at the CAR SHOW. We hope Todd Werner will bring his 1968 RONNIE SOX BARRACUDA.
PLEASE let me know if you would like to enter the "CACKLE FEST" during the CAR SHOW. This will start at 11am. We will also have a limited number of cars for the "BURN OUT" contest(10) which starts a 11:30am. PLEASE let me know if you would like to enter your car in this. Trophies will be awarded in the Car Show, the CACKLE FEST
and the BURNOUTS.
___________________________________________________________________
DRAG RACING SATURDAY NIGHT
Any cars entered in our CAR SHOW will be able to run in a special Bracket Race at the local drag strip on Saturday night. Entry fee for car and driver will be $40.00 and there will be a 100% pay back...For Instance...if we have 20 cars from the CAR SHOW race, there will be an $800.00 payout. There will be a special race for ODRR members over 75 yrs. old. Already there has been one protest filed that claims GEORGE WARREN is not old enough to race in this event. He will be required to provide a birth certificate proving he is 75 or older. Also, ELLIS MILNER(WOW, 49 yrs. in drag racing) is bringing his beautiful 1957 Chevy PRO MOD car to the CAR SHOW and for his daughter LYNN MILNER to drive in a MATCH RACE Saturday night at the track. LYNN is an outstanding PRO MOD racer and consistantly turns the 1/8 mile in the 4.20's at better than 170 MPH.

Below is a partial list of Race Cars we hope will be ready to race after the CAR SHOW...
AUBREY PADGETT...."BIG IRON" CHEVY
ROBERT McLELLAND..."BIG CHIEF" PONTIAC
BILL TRIPOLI...SS/DA 67 FAIRLANE 427
RUSTY GILLIS...69 MUSTANG 428CJ
WILLARD O'BRIAN..."OLD RUSTY" CHEVY
JIMMY SPINKS..."COUNTRY BOY" CHEVY
R. D. HELMS...CHEVY
SPEEDY BALL...CHEVY POWERED FORD
JOE TEUTON...426 HEMI BARRACUDA
CHARLES COOK...WILLYS COUPE
MARCO DeCESARIS...DICK BRANNAN'S T-BOLT
TOM GOULD...28 TIMES NAT. RECORD CORVAIR
JEFF NELSON...71 MUSTANG
MIKE OSBURN... 1964 FORD 427
PLEASE advise me if you would like to race your car at the local drag strip on Saturday
night sept. 30th. The car must be in the CAR SHOW Saturday morning in order to get into our SPECIAL BRACKET RACE Saturday night.
__________________________________________________________________
HALL OF FAME CEREMONY SATURDAY 2pm MOTEL BALL ROOM
The WORD is out...there are two or three of the 2006 Hall Of Fame inductees who may
get "ROASTED" real good....LOOK OUT RANDY....There will be celebs galore for everyone to meet and talk to....
__________________________________________________________________
THE HOST MOTEL THE HOLIDAY INN SELECT PANAMA CITY, FLA.
The phone # for reservations is 850-769-0000. REMEMBER to tell them you are with the OLD DRAG RACERS REUNION to get the good room rate.

FOR ANYTHING ELSE.....CONTACT ME SOL STEWART
P. O. BOX 144
JACKSON, ALA. 36545
251-246-5588
EMAIL: T_P@Bellsouth.net



East Coast Drag Times Hall of Fame & Reunion - October 20-22, 2006 - Henderson, North Carolina
2006 Event Flyer
Official East Coast Drag Times Hall of Fame Site

2002 Article
2003 Article
2004 Article
2005 Article

2002 Photos
2003 Photos
2004 Photos
2004 Photos - Album 2
2004 Photos Album 3
2005 Photos

Southern Nostalgia Shootout at South Georgia Motorsports Park October 27-29, 2006

2006 Event Flyer
SGMP

Track information and a registration form can be found at SGMP.
Race questions - Mark Adams at 229-253-1025
Car show questions - David Dean at 229-460-2463

Update: Top Fuel Dragster and Blown Altered classes have been added to the program of the Southern Nostalgia Shootout, scheduled for October 27-29, 2006, in beautiful Cecil, Georgia. These highly popular classes are some of the fastest in nostalgia racing. Nitromethane or alcohol fuel is permitted in either class. Payout for each class is a nostalgic $1000 for the winner, $500 for the runner-up, and $250 for each semifinalist.

A few professional vending area, swap meet, and car corral spaces are still available. Sponsorships for a few of the ten racing classes are also still available. Additional information for the event can be found at SGMPracing.com or contact Mark Adams (229) 253-1025.

BAZEMORE WINS HIS FIRST FUNNY CAR TITLE OF SEASON IN SEATTLE

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
Contact: Judy Stropus

KENT, Wash. (July 23, 2006) - Whit Bazemore won his first NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series Funny Car national event of the season today at the Schuck's Auto Supply NHRA Nationals at Pacific Raceways, the 20th of his career, and ended the drought since his last win at Las Vegas 1 in 2005.

It was also the first victory for tuner Todd Okuhara as a crew chief.

Driving the Matco Tools Iron Eagle Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car, Bazemore faced off against his teammate and points leader Ron Capps in that round, scoring a solid victory with a 5.036-second elapsed time at 309.42 mph to Capps' 5.108/293.15.

Bazemore's goal was to "leave" on Capps, and he accomplished that by launching off the starting line with a .060 of-a-second reaction time (.000 is perfect) to Capps' .092.

The two-time U.S. Nationals champion and two-time Seattle winner defeated Phil Burkart Jr. in the opening round with a 4.994/310.20, Tony Bartone in the second round with a 5.033/306.60, then Tony Pedregon in the semis with a 5.029/307.30.

"It's a great day," he said. "Just to get back in the winner's circle feels so good. Especially for the team. It really is a team sport and to suffer like we have, to be less than perfect and for the team to basically rebuild itself over the past two or three months and to come out and run well and
still not get the results - which has been the case for the last four or five races - to finally get the result is a great feeling. And well deserved for the guys on the team.

"We obviously know what it takes to win and be successful out here and we have all that. The Matco Tools sponsorship is huge. Don Schumacher's team has lot of technology and talent. So, there are no excuses, and that's how we like to race.

"With Don Schumacher there are no excuses not to be successful. So, sooner or later the pressure starts to pile up on everybody. Matco Tools wants a winning car, Don wants a winning car, I certainly want a winning car, and all the guys want a winning car. So it's just a matter of persevering and focusing and making things happen.

"When you have a (losing) streak like we had, you just have to suck it up. You know what it takes, you know you can do it, you know you have everything, you know you have the people behind you. It's just a matter of trying to be perfect on race day in the car, controlling what you can control, and staying very positive, and that's what our team did.

"Everyone on the team controlled what they had to control perfectly. And when you do that you're in the winner's circle."

As for running against his teammate: "It is fun and it's a challenge. They're a great team. They're leading the points by quite a margin. I don't know if they're leading by quite a margin," Bazemore laughed, "but they're leading over us by quite a margin and that's what I look at. They've had a great, great season. Capps is on his game, he's a great driver.

"My goal was to leave on him and drive the car as perfectly as I could and let the rest take care of itself. And it did.

"We're very motivated. A lot of guys say you should never look at who's in the other lane. Well, I'm not that kind of person. I always know who I'm racing. You want to know their characteristics and sometimes it's easier to get motivated to race other people than it is some other people, which isn't good. I do better under pressure and when you're racing a guy like Capps, or any of our guys on the team, there's more pressure because we certainly want
to be the best guy on the team at the end of the day."

"It feels great," said crew chief Todd Okuhara of his first win as a crew chief. "The guys worked hard all weekend, and Whit got us into the winner's circle.

"We felt we had a car that was capable of winning a while ago, and we've finally put it all together. Yesterday (in qualifying) was a good day for us, and to finish it off today is great."

Don Schumacher Racing had a double-win today, with Tony Schumacher claiming his second Top Fuel title of the year. "Overall, the team did just phenomenal today," said team owner Don Schumacher. "All of the Funny Cars, both dragsters, Richie Stevens in the Pro Stock car (semis). It was a huge win for the Matco Tools team here and for the U.S. Army team. Both of them
are moving their way right back into contention in the points race and it's a big race for my teams overall, to say the least. I've been very fortunate this year with the amount of wins that I've had already this year (15 in all four classes) with all of the teams I have. it was great. This was a special day."

Next up is the Fram-Autolite NHRA Nationals at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif., July 28-30.

FUNNY CAR POINT STANDINGS:
1. Ron Capps, 1105
2. John Force, 1017
3. Robert Hight, 855
4. Tony Pedregon, 854
5. Eric Medlen, 811
6. Gary Scelzi, 810
7. Tommy Johnson Jr., 792
8. Whit Bazemore, 737 (winner today)
9. Cruz Pedregon, 609
10. Del Worsham, 599

GM Performance Parts Crew's Efforts are Rewarded with a Semi-final Finish in Seattle

Contact: Jon Knapp
TMG Sports Marketing, Inc.

After spending a long, hard week working on their race car, Warren Johnson and the GM Performance Parts GTO Racing team saw their hard work pay off as they advanced to the semi-finals of today's Schuck’s Auto Supply Nationals in Kent, WA.

Starting from the 10th position, Johnson was consistently among the best on race day, with his elapsed times among the best in each round. In the first round, The Professor combined a stellar .011 reaction time with a strong 6.757-second, 204.76 mph run to trailer the most recent Pro Stock winner on the POWERade tour, David Connolly.

After besting close friend and veteran racer Larry Morgan in the second round, the final obstacle between Johnson and the 150th final round appearance of his career was No. 3 qualifier Allen Johnson. Despite racing in the heat of the day without the luxury of lane choice, Johnson recorded his best elapsed time and top speed of eliminations at 6.753-seconds, 205.10 mph, which was also the best of the four Pro Stock cars in the round. Unfortunately, it came up eight thousandths of a second shy of overcoming his opponent's starting line advantage, who used a 6.765-second, 204.17 mph pass to gain the narrow victory.

Despite missing the chance to potentially add another win to his already impressive resume, Johnson was still pleased with his team's performance in the Pacific Northwest.

"The tremendous effort put forth by everyone on this GM Performance Parts team has finally started to pay off. The big thing is that not only did our GTO keep going down the racetrack, but we could make changes to it and predict the results those changes would produce based on the condition and temperature of the race track.

"For example, in the semifinals, we knew the track had gotten hotter and saw the Fuel cars going up in smoke ahead of us, so we made a few adjustments. It responded extremely well and ran low elapsed time of the round. Knowing what we do now, I could have probably made an additional few minor changes and picked it up even further to where we could have won the round.

"The bottom line is that we are starting to go in a direction that's going to bear some fruit. Therefore, we will continue to fine tune this GTO for the balance of the year, trying to capitalize on what we have learned. I believe that if we can keep on this game plan, we should hopefully end up in the middle of the Top 10 by the end of the year, which, considering the position we have put ourselves in over the last few races before today, would be a pretty monumental accomplishment. Overall, this was a very encouraging weekend, giving us something we can work with from here on out."

REVISED----HUBINETTE WOWS CROWD WITH DRIFTING DEMONSTRATION, GARCIA DOMINATES ON TRACK ACTION

EVENT: Tunerfest event at Atlanta Dragway in 2006
by Tim Glover

(Commerce, GA - July 22) Thousands of spectators attending the Tunerfest Shootout, presented by Importatlanta.com and held at Atlanta Dragway, enjoyed a multitude of activities throughout the event, including Dragging, Drifting, a Chassis Dyno, a Car Show and a manufacturer's midway.

In an amazing display of controlled chaos called drifting, the "Crazy Swede", Samuel Hubinette, who originates from Sweden and was the 2004 Formula D drifting champion, thrilled onlookers with his demonstration of precise driving while the rear tires were spinning furiously. Although his '03 Viper SRT appeared to be out of control, Hubinette placed the car precisely where he wanted it at any moment, shredding several sets of high performance BF Goodrich G-Force T/A 295/35 ZR18 Radials in the process. Hubinette was not the only drifter doing demonstrations of their driving ability. The team of Maxxis Batlground fielded several cars as well, keeping
the crowd entertained. The event announcers held several trivia contests, and winners were thrilled with receiving a "ride along" with Hubinette during some of his drifting exhibitions.

The drifting demonstration was not the only arena producing clouds of tire smoke. Some participants enjoyed making passes down the dragstrip to see what their modified machinery would do. Chris Anderson's Suwanee, GA based '95 Toyota Supra clinched the Quickest ET and Fastest MPH awards with a 9.448 second pass at 163.33mph. Juan Garcia from Norcross, GA, brought his '91 Honda CRX to the track to see how it would fare, and went home with the
closest to 10 second award, courtesy of a 10.595 second pass. Garcia's turbocharged, intercooled, lightened and sprayed machine almost danced down the track en route to the 10.595 second number at 143.51mph. Brittany McCullers ('92 Honda - Conyers, GA) and Benjamin Harrison ('06 Dodge RAM - Doraville, GA) tied for the Best Reaction Time award with a .502 second react. McCuller's recently modified Honda had just come off the Chassis Dyno
with a 219 rear wheel horsepower report, but it damaged a rod bearing during its racetrack excursion and had to be parked for the remainder of the day. She was thrilled to learn at the end of the day she had won the reaction time award. Benjamin Harris had never been to the racetrack before, and enjoyed winning something his first time out in his stock '06 Dodge RAM.
Tiffany Edwards from Gainesville, GA won the closest to 11 second award with her dragster, which ran 11.527 seconds. The closest to 12 second award went to Charles Wang ('03 Mitsubishi Evo - Kennesaw, GA - 12.097 seconds). Matthew Hodge ('03 Neon SRT-4 - Marietta, GA) earned the closest to 13 second prize with his 13.038 second pass. Brady Jansen came all the way from Detroit Lakes, Minnesota, and earned a bit of gas money for the trip home with his 14.045 second pass in a '90 Accord after receiving the closest to 14 second award.

The car show was popular with all participants, featuring numerous makes and models, both domestic and imported. Awards given included Best of Show and Best Mopar, along with trophies for the many different classes. Jeffrey Wright of Marietta, GA brought four of his Club Scinergy Scions to the show, including a bright yellow, supercharged Scion XB. Scott Parker showed his teameci.com '04 Nissan 350Z, which featured custom paint by Shane Rickert of
Cumming, GA, a Kinetix induction system, Nitrous Express nitrous oxide injection, and Alphasonik sound system components. Although North Georgia College senior Cam Farris' Douglasville, GA based '06 Corvette was mostly stock, the custom audio system which filled up much of the area behind his seats set the ROTC History major's machine apart from the crowd. Brent Richey's unusual looking wide stance '72 Karmann Ghia was not as highly detailed as others, but his car is driven daily to school.

Many aftermarket parts for imports were available on the manufacturer's midway, along with custom wheels and audio systems. The sound systems going all day ensured there would not be a quiet moment until the show was over.

The on-site chassis dyno proved to be extremely popular with event participants, and was booked solid less than 45 minutes after the gates opened for the event. Before injuring the engine in her recently modified '92 Honda, Brittany McCullers was thrilled to see the 219 rear wheel horsepower report after her dyno pull.

Sanctioned by the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA), Atlanta Dragway is located just off I-85 at Exit 149 in the Banks Crossing area of Commerce, Georgia. Information on all 2006 events may be obtained by calling the track office (706-335-2301) or logging on to www.atlantadragway.com .

------------------------------------------------
Quickest ET 9.448 Chris Anderson '95 Toyota Supra Suwanee, GA
Fastest MPH 163.33 Chris Anderson '95 Toyota Supra Suwanee, GA
Best Reaction Time .502 Brittany McCullers '92 Honda Conyers, GA
Best Reaction Time .502 Benjamin Harrison '06 Dodge RAM Doraville, GA

Closest to 10 ET 10.595 Juan Garcia '91 Honda CRX Norcross, GA
Closest to 11 ET 11.527 Tiffany Edwards dragster Gainesville, GA
Closest to 12 ET 12.097 Charles Wang '03 Mitsubishi Evo Kennesaw, GA
Closest to 13 ET 13.038 Matthew Hodge '03 Neon SRT-4 Marietta, GA
Closest to 14 ET 14.045 Brady Jansen '90 Accord Detroit Lakes, MN

Schumacher, Bazemore and Allen Johnson Win the NHRA POWERade Schuck's Auto Supply Nationals presented by Lucas Oil

NHRA Recap

BAZEMORE MISSES ONE ROUND, QUALIFIES NO. 12 IN SEATTLE

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
Contact: Judy Stropus

KENT, Wash. (July 22, 2006) - Whit Bazemore missed one round of qualifying today for the Schuck's Auto Supply NHRA Nationals at Pacific Raceways and had to settle for No. 12 position for Sunday's Funny Car eliminations.

Bazemore's first two attempts on Friday in unusually hot conditions for the Northwest, with temperatures soaring into the 90s, produced a 5.476-second elapsed time at 262.64 mph and a 4.953/309.13 - good for No. 8 at the time.

The Matco Tools Iron Eagle Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car then experienced an oil-pressure problem during the warm-up for the first session, resulting in an engine change which was not completed in time for a pass under cooler temperatures due to a welcome a cloud cover.

In the final session, under a hot sun, Bazemore lost traction at the hit and coasted to an 11.093/76.61 lap.

"Honestly, we struggled here a little bit, especially today," he said. "Yesterday we went down the track fine, but today we had a problem with the engine in the pit area this morning and couldn't make this morning's run. That really hurt us. That was the best session of the day.

"To kind of make up for that we pushed it pretty hard and aggressively in the final pass and the track just didn't hold what we were trying to do. Having said all that, we're still very, very confident about our potential for tomorrow. We've got a race car that we know we can win the race with; it's just a matter of my doing my job up there and everyone else on the team
doing their jobs perfectly. If we do that, we'll end up in the winner's circle, because that's what it takes."

Bazemore faces Phil Burkart Jr. in first round of Funny Car eliminations on Sunday.

Bernstein, Hight and Line Top Pro Qualifiers at the NHRA POWERade Schuck's Auto Supply Nationals presented by Lucas Oil

NHRA Recap