Backstretch Motorsports

BRISTOL, Tenn. – Mike Neff raced to the provisional top spot in Funny Car Friday as he looks to collect the first No. 1 qualifier of his career at the eighth annual O’Reilly NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals.

Neff drove his Old Spice Ford Mustang to a 4.783-second pass at 321.04 mph to become the provisional top qualifier at Bristol Dragway.

Tony Schumacher and Kurt Johnson (shown at left) were also No. 1 qualifiers in there respective categories at the eighth of 24 events on the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series.

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With Milestones and History in Tow, Force Heads to Thunder Valley

BRISTOL, Tenn. – In what is shaping up to be one of the most competitive Funny Car seasons in NHRA history, John Force and his daughter Ashley have teamed up to provide plenty of early season buzz with some memorable milestone performances.

First, at Las Vegas in early April, 25-year-old Ashley became the first female to lead the Funny Car point standings with a runner-up finish in her Castrol GTX Ford Mustang. John then arrived at Atlanta Dragway in late April and became only the second driver in NHRA history to attend 500 NHRA events, joining Pro Stock legend Warren Johnson on that short list.

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LAS VEGAS – Pro Stock’s Kenny Koretsky goes into race day at the top of the field today for the first time in 18 years of racing after earning his first career No. 1 qualifier at the Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

John Force, in the hunt for the 1,000th round win that will place him in the highest level of the history books, failed to qualify for the Funny Car starting line-up with his second consecutive DNQ at this event. It’s the first time in his prolific career that Force has failed to qualify at the same event two years in a row. Instead it was his teammate Robert Hight who had the luck, earning his 24th career No. 1 qualifier and the first of the season with a 4.849 at 321.27 in his last attempt in his Auto Club Ford Mustang.

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GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Defending NHRA POWERade Series Funny Car world champion Tony Pedregon raced to his first victory of the season and 37th of his career Sunday at the ACDelco NHRA Gatornationals.

Tony Schumacher, Jeg Coughlin and Matt Guidera also were winners at the NHRA POWERade Series race, the third of 24 in 2008.

Pedregon clocked a 4.921 at 315.27 in his Q-Horsepower Chevy Impala at the historic Gainesville Raceway quarter-mile dragstrip to edge veteran racer Gary Densham at the finish, whose Racebricks Impala trailed with a 4.924 at 309.13. In the first three elimination rounds Pedregon defeated Jerry Toliver, Ashley Force and Jim Head.

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