will be trying to figure out how to go in circles instead of just heading
straight down the drag strip when they come to Tri-City Speedway and race U.M.P.
DIRTcar Pro Late Models around the 3/8 mile dirt oval. Scheduled for Thursday,
May 1st, this event features twelve NHRA stars.
Gary Scelzi, who won the
tightest Funny Car world championship race in NHRA history in 2005 and joined
Kenny Bernstein as the only two drivers in NHRA history to win championships in
Funny Car and Top Fuel.
Ron Capps, with 24 career NHRA Funny Car
victories and 1 NHRA Top Fuel victory. Ron Capps also finished fourth in the
2007 NHRA Funny Car point standings.
Cruz Pedregon, who has 61 career
NHRA victories including 56 in NHRA Funny Cars. Cruz Pedregon won the 1992 NHRA
Funny Car Championship, the only driver besides John Force to win a NHRA Funny
Car Championship in the 1990s.
Doug Kalitta, with 30 career NHRA Top Fuel
victories. Doug Kalitta is also one of the few drag racers with experience in
cars going in circles. He was the 1994 USAC National Sprint Car
Champion.
Dave Grubnic, born in Australia, he has two career NHRA Top
Fuel victories including the Gator Nationals in 2006.
Ken Koretsky, NHRA
Pro Stock driver that carries the familiar Nitro Fish sponsorship. Although
Koretsky has yet to pick up an NHRA victories, he does have two final round
appearances. in 1989, he became first driver to qualify a Top Fuel Dragster and
a Pro Stock car at the same NHRA national event in Phoenix.
Allen
Johnson, driver of the Team Mopar Dodge in the NHRA Pro Stock division, he has
five career NHRA Pro Stock victories.
Antron Brown, pilots the Matco
Tools Top Fuel Dragster and has two NHRA Top Fuel victories and has a career
best E.T. of 4.495 seconds. Brown has race NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycles most of
his career and has 16 career NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle victories.
Allen
Bradshaw, drives the Tuttle Motorsports Top Fuel Dragster and has four career
NHRA Top Alcohol Dragster victories in his career. He also won the 2002 Division
5 Top Alcohol Dragster championship. In 2003, he won the Top Alcohol Dragster
world championship in the Lucas Oil Series and was named Sportsman driver of the
year in Division 5.
Tim Wilkerson, a native of Springfield, IL, Wilkerson
has seven career NHRA victories including six in a NHRA Funny Car.
Morgan Lucas, drives the Lucas Oil Top Fuel dragster and has a career
best E.T. of 4.474 seconds. He has ten career NHRA Top Alcohol Dragster
victories.
J.R. Todd, driver of the Torco/Lucas Oil Top Fuel Dragster,
he has five career NHRA Top Fuel victories. In 2006, he earned first career
victory at Denver; With win at Denver, became first African-American to win an
NHRA Top Fuel race; Also earned victories at Sonoma and Reading and posted a
runner-up finish at Las Vegas.
There will be an autograph session with
the NHRA drivers from 5:30-6:00pm. There will be a drivers meeting at 6:15pm
with practice sessions (hotlaps) at 6:30pm. Racing will start at 7:00pm. The
NHRA drivers will run two qualifying heat races with six drivers in each heat
race. Their feature event is expected to start at approximately 8:30pm and they
will race 20 laps around the 3/8 mile oval.
Tri-City Speedway is located
in Pontoon Beach, Illinois. The track is located across the Mississippi River
from St. Louis, MO. Take exit 4 off of I-270 and then go a 1/2 mile south on SR
203. For tickets or more information, you can call the track office at
636-448-9111, 618-931-7836 or 800-617-9077 or visit their website at www.tricityspeedway.net.