THE BUSIEST WEEK IN DRAG RACING

If you're east of the Mississippi and you can't find somewhere to race on October 8-10, buddy, you're just not trying. With the addition of the rescheduled rained-out NHRA national event in Reading, PA, there now are five national class events to choose from: The Big Dog Shootout at Piedmont Dragway, Greensboro, NC; Dragstock at Carolina Dragway, Jackson, SC; the PRO Edelbrock race in Memphis; and the rescheduled IHRA World Nationals in Norwalk, OH. [9-20-2004]

TOP FUELERS SUBTRACTING SPONSORS

Two Top Fuel teams recently lost sponsors and withdrew from competition. Perhaps the most significant was the announcement by the Virgil Hartman Fram/Prestone two-car operation that they had decided to go with just one car after previously announcing that they couldn't come to an agreement with their sponsors for the 2005 season. Talk in the NHRA pits is that the original sponsorship with Fram/Prestone wasn't really strong enough to fund one competitive Top Fuel car much less two. Hartman allegedly was hoping that over a period of time Fram/Prestone and their parent company would see the value in sponsoring the cars and increase the funding to a level that would be acceptable. Evidently that wasn't the case and you will probably see those brands on the side of a current multi-car team in an associate sponsorship roll.

Another team that lost its deal was the Scott Palmer O'Reilly-sponsored team. According to the Agent's sources that program was never a fully funded program. Evidently O'Reilly's advertising arm didn't see the benefit to continue to sponsor that team above the original number of races they agreed to and they've ceased to support that program. (Ian Tocher file photo) [9-20-2004]

BAD DAY AT OZARK

Former Top Fuel driver Scott Palmer, who evidently closed down his Top Fuel operation after the U.S. Nationals, decided he wasn't through racing and put together a Pro Mod car. According to the Agent's sources Palmer bought Craig Matlock's '63 Vette, installed one of his blown alky motors with a screw blower on top and took it to Ozark International, an outlaw track in Rogersville, MO, and crashed the car during a quick eight race.

At the same event, AA/AT racer Jim Weins (shown) crashed his Camaro making a qualifying lap but, according to witnesses, the damage was mostly cosmetic. A couple of radial tire class racers were involved in a separate T-bone incident. Reportedly, one of them was a "numbers correct" 1967-69 Camaro. The Agent's question here is why would anyone race a "numbers correct" Camaro from those years? (Jeff Burk file photo) [9-20-2004]