TROPICANA PLACES A BET ON SMITH
The
Tropicana Resort & Casinos in Las Vegas will be an
associate sponsor on the Hartman Motorsports Top Fuel
dragster driven by John Smith this coming weekend at the
ACDelco NHRA Nationals.
"Tropicana is one of the most well-known hotels
and casinos on the strip in Las Vegas and we are very
excited about having them on board with us at this race.
Our team hopes to put on a good show for them and we appreciate
their support," said Smith. "It would be even
better if we had the chance to race in the Budweiser Shootout
for the $100,000 and finish the year out with a bang."
Smith qualified with 1875 points this season to be one
of the lucky eight drivers to draw in the lottery for
the 21st Annual Budweiser Shootout. (Jeff
Burk photo) [10-20-2005]
RIGLER CLINCHES OFAA CHAMPIONSHIP
Brad
Rigler and Travis Bouchey were separated by less than
five points going into the final event of the 2005 Outlaw
Fuel Altered Association season at Pine Valley Raceway
in Lufkin, TX. In what can only be called an amazing happenstance,
the numbers two, three, and fours cars in points (Bouchey,
Gary Wheeler, and Bobby Marriott) did not qualify for
this event, making the championship outcome a foregone
conclusion. Rigler (photo left) was the champ.
What
remained to be settled was who would win the race. The
final round pairing was between Mitch King and Tim Hay.
King had a .680 reaction time, but made up for lost ground
with a 3.91/185 run against Hay's 4.36/167. King ended
the season on a high note as low qualifier and set top
speed as well as getting the event win. It is the fifth
year in a row in which King won at least one event. There
were eight different winners in the ten OFAA races this
year. (Chris Graves photos)
[10-20-2005]
2006 JR. DRAGSTER FINALS DATES
ANNOUNCED
NHRA officials have announced the dates and locations
for the 2006 NHRA O'Reilly Auto Parts Jr. Drag Racing
League
Conference Finals events.
Bristol Dragway in Bristol, TN, will host the Eastern
Conference Finals July 13-15 and the Western Conference
Finals will be held July 27-29 at Bandimere Speedway in
Denver. Bandimere Speedway has played host to the Western
Conference Finals since 2000 when the Eastern and Western
conference format was created. Bristol Dragway held the
event for the first time in 2004.
More than 1,000 youngsters compete for individual and
team honors at the Eastern and Western Conference Finals,
and nearly $100,000 in savings bonds are given away at
each event. The NHRA O'Reilly Auto Parts Jr. Drag Racing
League allows boys and girls between the ages of 8 and
17 to experience the thrill of motorsports competition
in a controlled environment at tracks in all seven of
NHRA's geographic divisions. NHRA member tracks from across
the country offer weekly programs to Jr. drag racers that
culminate in a track championship for each age group.
The points leaders in each class are then chosen to represent
the track at either the Eastern or Western Conference
Finals, depending on the location of the local track.
[10-20-2005]
