BELL TO DRIVE ROY HILL'S PRO MOD; NEW HOMES FOR SCHOOL

Mike Bell, primary instructor at Roy Hill's Drag Racing School, will drive one of Hill's Pro Mods at the Houston AMS/TLR event this coming weekend. Hill will sit this one out as his '66 Mustang is being rebuilt at Jerry Haas' Fenton, MO shop.

Hill's school soon will have two new homes at South Georgia Motorsports Park near Valdosta, GA and at Cecil County Raceway in Rising Sun, MD.

"Both facilities are first class," said Hill. "I feel we've found places we want to call home, places our sponsors will be proud of." [4-5-2005]

SHELLY AND BRIAN HOWARD KILLED IN ACCIDENT

Two-time drag racing regional champion Shelly Howard and her son Brian were killed in an accident at Tulsa International Raceway on Saturday, April 2. According to reports, Howard's dragster caught air while going over 200 mph. Her car then spun 180 degrees and crashed into her team's support vehicle, which held her son Brian. The staff at DRO sends its sincere condolences to the Howard family.

The memorial service will be held at New Spring Assembly of God Church in Jenks, OK, at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, April 6. [4-4-2005]

REBA HOWARD PASSES

The Agent was saddened to learn that Reba Howard passed away March 31, after a long and courageous battle against cancer. Reba was married to dragstrip owner and promoter George Howard and was the mother of Mashone and Brandy Howard. Everyone at DRO sends heartfelt condolences to the Howard family. [4-4-2005]

JOE KID

Over the weekend the Agent saw the premiere of "Joe Kid on a Stingray: The History of BMX". The critically acclaimed feature documentary film is Executive Produced & Narrated by Jesse James of West Coast Choppers and the party screening brought out many of the film's stars, such as DRO Columnist Jeff Utterback who was a player in the early days of BMX racing and was a recent inductee into the BMX Hall of Fame.

Utterback was seen trying to convince Jesse James to come out to watch the Nostalgia nitro Funny Cars at the Goodguys Pomona event later this summer. Look for the film to open in selected theaters. http://joekidonastingray.com (Darr Hawthorne photo) [4-4-2005]

BRUTON STILL WANTS NHRA

In spite of NHRA corporate protestations, O. Bruton Smith once again stated his interest in buying the sanctioning body.

In Sunday's Bristol Herald Courier, Smith, president and chief executive officer of Speedway Motorsports said, "This is something I'm very interested in. I¹ve gotten a lot of phone calls from racers who said they would appreciate it if we did that, and I think it fits with what we do."

NHRA still denies any negotiations have taken place. Stay tuned. [4-4-2005]

 

SONY SPORT COMPACTS?

At this weekend's third annual NHRA Southeast Sport Compact Nationals held at Moroso Motorsports Park, one of the Agent's operatives overheard a couple of discussions about NHRA landing a new series sponsor. It¹s still a rumor, but it looks like SONY Xplod, who has been presenting the NHRA Stylefest may assume series headliner of the sport compact series later this season. [4-4-2005]