BEECH BEND TRACK OWNER JAILED BRIEFLY

After three days in jail, Beech Bend Raceway Park owner Dallas Jones was released Friday, May 7 on a $10,000 bond. On Tuesday Jones was ordered jailed by Logan Circuit Court Judge Tyler Gill to serve thirty days on a contempt of court charge. This is the latest in a long running dispute over property lines and road rights between the Bowling Green, Kentucky track owner and his neighbor, former state Court of Appeals Judge Matt Baker.

The contempt of court charge comes after Jones paved a portion of the road in contention after an injunction was issued which prohibits altering the property. Frankly, the Agent is getting a headache trying to sort it all out, but if you want more details, we suggest Jim Gaines' coverage in the Bowling Green Daily News at www.bgdailynews.com/articles/ stories/public/200405/08/0dod_news.html [5-10-2004]

ESPN2 MOVES PRO MOD RACE COVERAGE

The AMS Pro Mod event coverage from Houston, which was scheduled to be televised on May 9 has been moved to Sunday, May 23 at 11:00 a.m. ET. Be prepared to turn up the volume for a segment called "Sixty Seconds of Thunder," a minute of Pro Modified highlights featuring music by the band SLUR. Now these guys know how to do a drag racing show! [5-10-2004]

PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT

Word comes to the Agent from the Fields family, owners of Brown County (Indiana) Dragway, of a perfect pass. Racer Joe Davis had a .500 light and ran 7.240 on a 7.24 dial in the quarter-finals -- with no electronics. Then in the final, Davis had another .500 light and ran 7.234 on a 7.23 dial. Impressive! [5-10-2004]

SHORT FIELD AT INDY'S HEMI SHOOTOUT

Agent 1320 has learned that because of NHRA's grade point system requirements for participating at the 50th Annual U.S. Nationals, this September at Indy the number of participants for the Mopar-backed SS/AA shootout has been drastically reduced.

Evidently, if you had enough grade points you could pre-enter for the Nats and as a result the Super Stock field quickly filled up. Only 21 SS/AA cars got an entry which is

ADVERTISEMENT

considerably fewer than last year. According to our source, both the 2003 Shootout winner, Jerry Jenkins, and the current national record holder, Harry Holton, were denied entries.

The Agent has a suggestion. Since many of the SS/AA racers have told the Agent that they only go to Indy for the shootout and not to run eliminations, couldn't the NHRA find a way to let these racers pay the standard entry fee just to participate in the "Shootout" on Thursday? They wouldn't be officially in the Super Stock field and would have to leave the track immediately after the Shootout was concluded. We know that rules are rules, but maybe this would be fair to the racers and the fans. Just a thought. [5-7-2004]

NITROUS BANNED IN AUSTRALIA PRO MOD!?

We don't make this stuff up, we just report it. A source called to tell the Agent that over in Australia the politics in their Pro Mod class between the blower cars and the nitrous cars got so intense that the blown cars, which are in the majority in that country, got together and got the use of nitrous banned in Pro Modified. If this is true, the Agent says, Shame on those racers! Just what drag racing needs -- a policy of "If you can't beat 'em or don't like 'em, ban 'em." What's next, Pro Mod bracket racing? [5-7-2004]