By NHRA Media
Robert Hight, left, and teammate Mike Neff are joined in the Countdown to 1 playoffs by fellow John Force Racing drivers John Force and Ashley Force Hood.
In the sport of NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing, every racer knows that in less than the blink of an eye, a racer can go from being a hero to a zero and vice versa.

Nobody knows that better than Robert Hight.

Highly touted as a preseason favorite to win the Funny Car championship, many expected to see Hight visit every winner’s circle on the circuit. However, he and his Auto Club Ford Mustang team encountered one of the worst slumps in recent memory and had a horrible regular-season performance. They barely squeaked into the Countdown to 1 playoffs in dramatic fashion at the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals presented by Lucas Oil in Indianapolis.

At the time, he said he believed that if his team got in the Countdown, they could win it. Now he’s proving it.

After winning the first two playoff events, in Charlotte and Dallas, the team has regained its swagger and is focusing on finishing the deal. They have moved from ninth to first in the standings and hold a 13-point lead over second-place Ashley Force Hood.

By: Kevin Ramsell
BURLINGTON, WI (Friday, October 02, 2009) – He remembers watching him as a child and always looked up to him as a great short track racer. At the 40th Annual Oktoberfest Race Weekend, Dan Fredrickson hopes to join an exclusive club who has won the Midwest popular race event three times in a row, a club that currently has one member, the late Joe Shear.

Fredrickson will be competing in the American Speed Association Kwik Trip Midwest Tour presented by ECHO Outdoor Power Equipment event on Sunday, October 11, the final day of the four-day race weekend. “I have always looked up to Joe and thought he was an awesome short track racer when I watched him as a kid,” the 2007 & 2008 Oktoberfest Race Weekend Champion recently said. “To be in a class of people like him would be awesome. Even the two in a row class is not a bad class to be in, but if I can be in a class with Joe by myself that would be pretty awesome.”

FORT ATKINSON, Wis. (October 1, 2009) – The stakes couldn’t be higher with only two races remaining in the Mid-American Stock Car Series’ 17th season. Heading into this Sunday’s running of the National Short Track Championships 75-lap feature event at Rockford Speedway only 30 points separate first-place Paul Neisius from second-place Bill Prietzel.

The degree of separation concerning experience at Rockford Speedway, however, is much greater. Prietzel has turned many laps at the historic venue while Paul Neisius has extremely limited experience.

Neisius’ first experience of Rockford came in April when he and his cousin Justin practiced for the Spring Opener, which was rained out the following day, and again a week later. Prietzel has attended the venue at least once in each of the past 15 years and has set fast time several times in the past four seasons. He also has a win in a modified at Rockford in 2009.

Breaking News
The MIS Banquet will be January 23, 2010 at The Heights in Verona, Wisconsin. Please check our website or future E-News editions for more details.
If you have any questions during the off season please contact Dave Grueneberg at 608.513.2278.

Fall Classic Falls to the Elements

For the fans, the race teams, and MIS management it certainly wasn't the way anyone wanted to see the 2009 racing season end at Madison International Speedway. But after nearly a month without any significant rain, Mother Nature decided to return to southern Wisconsin this week and force the cancellation of the third annual Fall Classic.

The precipitation began on Tuesday when the speedway received over three inches of rain. "We have places at the track where it doesn't seem to dry very quickly," said MIS General Manager Dave Grueneberg. "I had the pump out again in turn three taking care of the ponding on the low side of the track, but the outer pits were a problem." An on-going issue in turn one once again created a challenge for Grueneberg. "Water gets under the track when it has rained hard. It seeps up through the track and makes racing conditions dangerous."

Dan Lewis Photo - danlewisphoto.netBy Mary Horneck
Friday & Saturday, September 25-26, 2009 – Chilton, Wisconsin Scheduled as a two-day race program, the 10th Annual Chilton Fall Invitational hit the track fast on Friday night with the first four of nine divisions completing their qualifying heat races before the rain front down poured on the Chilton track. When the work to put the track back in running order was not successful, the remaining heat races were rescheduled for Saturday. The new schedule for the Saturday program then included 16 additional heat races before the B-Mains.

by Phil Burgess, National DRAGSTER Editor
Tony Schumacher, Robert Hight, Greg Anderson, and Hector Arana scored huge playoffs victories at the 24th annual O'Reilly Super Start Batteries NHRA Fall Nationals presented by Castrol Syntec at Texas Motorplex, wins with huge points implications for all.

Schumacher and Hight used their wins at Texas Motorplex in Top Fuel and Funny Car, respectively, to springboard into the Full Throttle Drag Racing Series points lead as the Countdown to 1 playoffs hit the one-third mark with race two of six. Arana's win in Pro Stock Motorcycle kept him ahead of the two-wheeled pack, while former world champ Anderson moved from sixth up to third with his victory in Pro Stock.

The Top Fuel final was a continuation of the ongoing power struggle between the decade's only two world champs and a rematch of their Mac Tools U.S. Nationals final. The result turned out the same, with Schumacher leading Larry Dixon across the stripe, which was most unexpected here as no Top Fuel driver before Schumacher had won in the right lane all day. Schumacher got the win, the 60th of his career, 3.944, 312.86 to 4.23, 225.18.

By Ed Reichert
Menomonie WI, Sept. 26 – A. J. Diemel, continuing his domination of area Late Model racing that started last week at the WISSOTA 100, powered past early leader Nick Anvelink and ran away with the thirteenth edition of the Punky Manor Challenge of Champions Saturday night at the Red Cedar Speedway. Other winners included Dave Cain, Shawn Huse and Shane Halopka.

After rain washed out the preliminaries on Friday night, the entire program was run on Saturday, with the qualifying events contested on Saturday afternoon and the feature races run in the evening.

Anvelink won the dash which gave him the pole position for the fourty lap Late Modle headliner with Ashley Anderson to his outside. Anvelink took the early lead but Diemel was quickly on the move after starting in the second row. He drove past Brent Larson and then Anderson and closed on leader Anvelink. While the majority of the field were riding the low line, Diemel was able to move up to the middle groove and he powered past Anvelink through turn two to take over the lead.

9/26 Plymouth, WI Mike Kertscher stole the win from Tommy Sexton with a last corner pass to claim the 13th annual Frank Filskov Memorial Fall Classic at Sheboygan County Fair Park. The race sanctioned by the Bumper to Bumper IRA Outlaw Sprint Series is tradionally the final event of the IRA point season. Kertscher put down an absolute perfect lap rim-riding his way around Sexton and winning the drag race to checkerd. Kertscher piloted the Jim Bell / Chris Hartnell Captain Jim's Yacht Sales Kistler/JEI to the $2700 win. It was Kertcher's second IRA wi of the season, and also his second Filskov Memorial victory. Bill Balog was crowned IRA series champion for the second consecutive season. Donny Goeden led the early going, however fifth starting Sexton powered his way to past Billy Hafemann, Kertscher, and Mike Reinke before taking command as the first 14 laps went green. Veteran Joe Symoens stopped the action with a high altitude back-chute tumble. Sexton would lead Goeden, Kertscher, Scotty Neitzel, Bill Balog, Hafemann, and Reinke on the restart.

By Tim Tuttle
LAS VEGAS -- Johnny Sauter drove to his first victory Saturday in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and ThorSport Racing teammate Matt Crafton was second in the Las Vegas 350 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Sauter, a rookie in the trucks who has three wins in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, passed Crafton for the lead on the outside exiting Turn 2 on the 130th of 146-laps on the 1.5-mile track and steadily pulled away to win by 2.47 seconds.

"It's unbelievable, man," Sauter said. "This is a big deal for me. Last year at this time, all I was doing was start-and-parks in the Nationwide Series. We've had speed all year, but we haven't been able to close the deal. Our truck has been phenomenal for the last two months."

Sauter, driving a Chevrolet, became the first rookie to win in the truck series since Scott Speed on May 30, 2008, at Dover International Speedway.

Carlson and Wimmer close in on Haseleu for the Championship

By: Kevin Ramsell
ELKO, MN (Saturday, September 26, 2009) - It was a night of great racing and many story lines at Elko Speedway. Dan Fredrickson finally returns to victory lane in the American Speed Association Kwik Trip Midwest Tour presented by ECHO Outdoor Power Equipment, Steve Holzhausen wins the Race for the Gold Championship and there will be a battle for the championship at the season finale.

Dan Fredrickson started on the outside of the front row for the 125-lap main event and he quickly got the lead over current ASAMT point leader Nathan Haseleu, who started on the pole.

Haseleu, who had a top-ten in every event so far this season, would see his streak end on lap 37. As he was battling with Chris Wimmer and Jason Schneider for second place coming down the frontstretch, Haseleu had something happen in his transmission causing him to spin going into turn one. The point leader’s night ended as it went off on the hook and he would finish 26th.