CONNIE KALITTA

Anyone who has been spectating in this sport knows that, at times, racers like Tom Hoover, Gene Snow, and Connie Kalitta, were capable of amazing arbitrariness. In other words, the car is running well, and then all of a sudden, let's try something new, with the end result being at times disastrous. Kalitta was included in this crowd. I don't know how he did it, but right now the drag racing all-time great is dialed in and easily has the quickest and fastest Top Fuel dragster in the world. Consistent 4.4s at over 330 mph on decent tracks. While I still think Larry Dixon, Jr. is the guy to beat, my heart is pulling for the under-control Ypsilanti airplane guy.

INDY 500

Man, the ole girl has put on weight. Helio Castroneves, winner Gilles DeFerrin, a few-years-ago winner Juan Montoya, and a number of Third World drivers are amazingly skilled, but the race has fallen way behind the Daytona 500. When guys like Paul Page, and the sports sections of established hitters like the Timeses New York and L.A., lament this fact, it's time to take notice. Let the Indy 500 be a real world competition; sell it that way. Maybe, it'll help. Also, get Michael Schumacher in there.

WHIT BAZEMORE

For the momment, he gets the Chronciler's "It's About Time Award." Admittedly Funny Car speed crushers T. Pedregon and Gary Densham are running well, but Lee Beard's 326-mph Matco Muscle Car was way overdue.

ALAN JOHNSON

Man, what a difference a crew change makes. I don't keep mental stats on things like this, but Johnson's superior job with the Top Fuel-winning Tony Schumacher/Army car was first rate work. Even though Dick LaHaie is currently considered THE guy when it comes wrenching a Top Fueler, the fact is that Johnson has wrenched his way to three NHRA titles in the last half dozen years. Throw in his advice to the Jim Head and the Funny Car teams, and he still rates real close to the top. Off of what I saw at Chicago, he might make things interesting for the Miller Lite crew before the year is up.

REGGIE SHOWERS

I really don't sit and watch all of the ESPN shows. I come in, maybe watch a round of Top Fuel and Funny Car, ignore the two other Pro classes and return in fits and starts to the rest of the show. A drag race is a thing best enjoyed by actual attendance. But on the subject of television, "A Star Was Born" in Chicago. Reggie Showers is the best pro-race interviewee in the sport, save for maybe one (and you know who that is). Showers came across as bright, articulate, and genuine, and better than anyone I've heard at getting in his sponsor's name without pouring it all over the audience, as the rest do.

After winning one of the rounds, Showers, aware that people were pulling for him due to in a large part to a pair of prosthetic feet, beamed (to paraphrase), "I want to dedicate this to any kids watching out there who might have some problems like me. You can do anything you want, if you put your mind to it." Sure, that's a tad cliched, but it came in a style not seen in awhile. He was fresh every time at the mike, and if he isn't sponsored to any meaningful degree, someone is missing the boat with this guy. He's got a future.

AND FINALLY: I was watching local (L.A.) television, and I heard an ad that grabbed my ear. This weekend (and I think the announcer said "at the L.A. County Fairgrounds") they were going to have an all-Dachshund dog show and they were going to call it the "Weiner-Nationals." I can see under special circumstances, such as a runaway Acid bummer, where this could be an amazingly untoward experience, but then again, these are the years of the bottom-line Bush Administration. Where are NHRA's legal pitbulls when you need them?

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