At a recent national event in the Midwest a spectator got hit in the pits by a tow vehicle hurrying to get a race car back to the pits after a first round win. It was something that was bound to happen with the emphasis now being placed on speeding up the shows in both NHRA and IHRA.

The situation may be getting a little out of hand as you can see in this photo of Paul Athey's crash at Cordova. If you look closely, you can see that even though Athey is still on the track, the starting line officials have already got the next pair doing their burnouts.

DRO has been told that IHRA prez Bill Bader has already offered Pro teams more time between rounds if they need it. We think another 45 minutes or hour added to the current shows wouldn't be a bad thing. All together now, take a deep breath and just relax.

DRO'S 'PROJECT 4-LINK' DRAGSTER WINS

It didn't take Jok Nicholson and the DRO's "Project Four-Link" dragster very long to win a big race. Nicholson, with the help of wife Barb and their two sons, put the dragster into the Quick Rod (8.90 index) winners circle at the IHRA Holley Sportsman event staged the newly re-opened Cedar Falls (Iowa) Raceway.

In his first time racing against a Pro tree the former NHRA Stock Eliminator National Event winner and part time columnist for DRO cut the tree down with lights that ranged from a worst of .450 to a best of .419.

In the final, Nicholson had a .435 light and ran a 8.904/152.23 against his opponent, Jerry Mosher of Lake Mills, Wisconsin's .474 light and 8.877/159.16 to get the win.