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MUSI, MCMANAMA, SUMMER DANTONI GO ON TOUR

The Agent saw it on Inside Drag Racing! Pat Musi, Cody McManama and Mark Dantoni are the newest multi-car Pro Mod team. According to Musi, the three veteran racers will compete at seven IHRA races in 2004. All three will have Pat Musi fuel injected nitrous oxide engines for power and Musi promises, " We'll have plenty of power!"

Musi also let it be known that he had hired veteran Pro Street racer Tony Christian to campaign his '69 Camaro "Popeye" at Pro Street events and match races. Let's see -- Musi, Mark, Cody Mac and Tony Christian. Sounds more like the card at a WWE Battle Royal than drag racing's version of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young! One thing the Agent knows for sure is this will be a fun group to watch race. Please send the Agent the schedule.

P.S. Somehow the Agent kept hearing the words Annette come out of Musi's mouth when he was actually saying Dantoni. [1-21-2004]

RACERS FORCE TRACK IMPROVEMENTS

As the Agent would have said during his old hippie days in the '60s, "Power to the people!"

Professional Racers Organization (PRO) members voted unanimously in a private meeting in Indianapolis last September that they would not return to the drag strip at Pacific Raceways in Kent, Washington for the 2004 CARQUEST Auto Parts NHRA Nationals unless the track surface was changed to their satisfaction.

"We did what we had to do because that surface was absolutely inadequate," said PRO president Kenny Bernstein.

The track will mark the beginning of their re-paving project with a ceremony on January 17 at 10 a.m. Northwest drag racing legends Bucky Austin and Dick Kalivoda will man the machinery, ripping up the first 700 feet of track to prepare it for a new concrete launch pad that will give drivers more traction.

Jason Fiorito, Pacific Raceways president, confirmed that the $300,000 renovation is a "stop-gap measure," not to be confused with an overall revamping he projected will be completed by the 2007 or 2008 racing season. That makeover calls for the track to be lowered for noise abatement with the start and finish lines reversed, a new tower, a newly paved pit area and a 40-plus-acre conservation easement.

Fiorito agreed with the drivers' assessment of the track surface. He said the left lane contained a trio of two-inch-high bumps within the first 100 feet and that the right lane had a pair of two-inch bumps in the first 400 feet.

"If I were in their shoes, I probably would have acted similarly," Fiorito said. "There's no ill will there at all. We want to provide competitive racing and safety." [1-15-2004]