RACING ADDED TO OCEAN CITY CRUISE

Drag racing will be held in conjunction with one of the East Coast's largest rod and muscle car events, Cruisin' Ocean City May 19-22 in Ocean City, Maryland. "Outlaw Pro Street Madness!" will be May 20 beginning at 7:00 p.m. at U.S. 13 Dragway in nearby Delmar, Delaware.

Cars scheduled to appear include 2004 PRO Edelbrock Series champion Tim O'Hare's blown '69 Camaro, Steve King's blown Dodge "Viper," John Stanley (son of veteran racer Camp Stanley), and Pat Bennett's mountain motored, nitrous-aided '66 Chevy II (shown). The race will have no minimum weight or blower overdrive rules restrictions. There will also be an eighth-mile Quick 32 for all street-driven vehicles. For more information go to www.us13dragway.com. [4-13-2005]

TWICE AS MUCH 'FUN' FOR SCELZI

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Gary Scelzi will not only drive his usual Mopar/Oakley Dodge Status R/T Funny Car in the NHRA POWERade series at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway this coming weekend, but he will also drive an Alcohol Funny Car in the Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series.

The TAFC that Scelzi will drive for this one race is actually a Fuel Funny that he and Alan Johnson had build by Brad Hadman in 2002. It was bought by Ron Meer and changed over to alcohol. Meer's crew chief is Bob DeVour, who was Scelzi's crew chief back in 1984, so, Scelzi said, "it will be kind of a neat reunion and he wanted to see if I could still do it.

"I'm not sure if I know how to drive this thing and actually shift it," Scelzi laughed. "These cars are a lot of fun to drive. They shake very violently. You have to shift them twice and you have to shift them at the right rpm. You leave at 6,000 rpm and you shift twice between 9500 and 10,000 rpm, and shift points are really critical." [4-13-2005]

SEMDRA AND AMA/PROSTAR MAKE RULE CHANGE

Due to some recent safety concerns surrounding unusual practices during ET eliminations at both SEMDRA and AMA/Prostar events, both organizations will institute the follow rule effective immediately:

In Pro ET and Street ET, a racer cannot change their dial-in by more than one second, higher or lower, than the previous round. Example: If you dial 10.00 seconds on your first run, you cannot dial lower than 9.00 seconds or higher than 11.00 seconds on your next run. Click here for a complete list of rules and the latest revisions. [4-13-2005]

GO NORTH FOR 'INDY ALTERNATIVE'

You Stock and Super Stock racers who don't want to wade through the fields at the U.S. Nationals may want to consider heading to Canada for the Labor (or Labour) Day weekend. The well-known Sanair track near Montreal will hold the Stock/Super Stock Challenge sponsored by TorqueandRPM.com and McCollum Racing Enterprises on Sept. 4. A $40 entry fee ($50 Canadian) could get you $560 to win ($700 Canadian) and $240 runner-up ($300 Canadian). Michel Cote of Magnum Autosports is key organizer of the event. For more information see www.sanairracing.com. [4-13-2005]

ELLIOTT, SIPPLE PART WAYS

Due to difficulties in finding a primary sponsor, the partnership between Sipple Motorsports and Bob Elliott's Northern Force Racing has been dissolved. Doc and Mike Sipple of Berea, KY will continue their Top Fuel operation. Bob Elliott plans to try to secure enough funding to run his own team. Unfortunately, lack of funding is a common theme in drag racing. [4-13-2005]