AND yes, many motor racing teams and events are taking a serious beating because of major sponsorship losses and tight money. Currently, we’ve lost two SBIP/APBA superboat Florida races because the sponsoring cities say they cannot afford the infrastructure support costs to host them. And, the third race - our Florida National Championships – host Panama City will not commit until they see how much revenue they bring in from Spring Break. I haven't spent any time looking at it but I understand a large number of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams are having serious sponsor pullout problems for the '09 season. Great to hear from everyone. Be well. . . . . FlA
Here ya go - Over 100 photos from NHRA teams Day 1 testing/time trials at Firebird yesterday | More photos at Competition Plus
NHRA TOP FUEL DRIVER CARNAGE
- - There have been plenty of times in the past – including 2008 – when Top Fuel hasn’t been fully subscribed at 16 cars. However, it doesn’t bode well for the sport to have so many dropouts since the finale at Pomona in November of 2008.
CURRENT TOP FUEL DRIVERS SIDELINED THAT DROVE LAST YEAR (Top Guns Only)
Doug Kalitta(1) - Connie’s nephew
Hillary Will (2)
Dave Grubnic(2)
Bob Vandergriff(3)
Doug Herbert(4)
Rod Fuller(5)
JR Todd (6)
Cory McClenathan (7) No news yet
(1) Will run part-time, race-by-race, as former primary sponsor Mac Tools has scaled back to associate status. The team will continue to look for primary sponsorship.
(2) 01.07.09: KALITTA MOTORSPORTS RESTRUCTURES FOR 2009 SEASON
- - Connie Kalitta will celebrate his 50th year of drag racing in 2009 but drops from three nitro cars to one. Top Fuel drivers Hillary Will and Dave Grubnic sidelined
<> Faced with the tough economy, Kalitta Motorsports has decided it will compete in the 2009 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series with one only full-time entry, the DHL Toyota Solara Funny Car driven by Jeff Arend (in memory of two time NHRA world top fuel champion Scott Kalitta who was killed last season in a massive top end explosion and crash. - FlA) The decision has temporarily put Top Fuel dragster, Hillary Will -- a Fortuna native -- on the shelf until primary sponsorship is acquired. Also sidelined until a primary sponsor can be found is fellow dragster Dave Grubnic. ”We run our race team just like a business, and in these economically difficult times, our business has to make some tough decisions,” Jim Oberhofer, Kalitta Motorsports general manager, said. “Connie's business, Kalitta Air, has been no exception to fiscal challenges either, so we have made the changes to our race team that we feel will give us the best financial stability possible as well as the best opportunity to compete at the highest level. We certainly hope that opportunities will arise for us to bring our other dragsters back into competition, but until those happen, we will carry on the best we can.” Hillary Will most recently claimed the inaugural Scott Kalitta Memorial Trophy by winning the Shannons U.S.A. versus Australia Top Fuel Showdown at Western Sydney International Dragway in Australia on Dec. 28.
(3) Bob Vandergriff Jr. finished 13th on the season and it was evident his program was fairly unstable, as UPS decided to part ways with the driver.
(4) Snap-On Tools did the same with Doug Herbert after 2008 was done, even though they’d been together a long time and Herbert did make the Countdown to the Championship for the second consecutive year, albeit fading from sixth to eighth from Las Vegas to Pomona.
(5) Shortly after the mid-November finale on the Auto Club Raceway dragstrip in Pomona, it was revealed that 3B Racing would acquire the Matco Tools rail driven with such finesse to fifth in points by Top Fuel newcomer Antron Brown, leaving David Powers owning only the brother car of “Hot” Rod Fuller. In late December, Powers parked the Arkansas native, who was runner-up to Tony Schumacher in 2007, as the Caterpillar sponsorship dropped their sponsorship. This occurred even after Fuller spent days upon days doing promotional work for Cat, and right after he moved into a new Las Vegas home.
(6) At the Performance Racing Industry show in Orlando mid-December, Morgan Lucas announced sponsorship from Geico Insurance, which continues with Karen Stoffer (Pro Stock Bike - FlA). His teammate, J.R. Todd was severed from the Lucas group, despite completing the 2008 campaign 11th and ending a win streak by Tony Schumacher.
(7) Cory McClenathan’s plans for the coming year have not been announced yet – pending notification of participation from his longtime sponsor Fram.
Angelle through the trap at 192+ mph. Note rear tire distortion 
