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In Pro Stock, the spoils of battle on the quarter-mile have been spread rather evenly in a category where it appears the championship will once again go down to the final race in November. Pontiac's Greg Anderson has driven the new GXP to a pair of victories at Pomona (Calif.) and Houston while defending champion Jeg Coughlin Jr. parked his Jeg's Mail Order Chevy Cobalt in the winner's circle at Gainesville (Fla.) and was runner-up to Anderson at the Winternationals. Anderson leads the POWERade standings while Coughlin trails in second place by three points.
WATCH VIDEO; 2008 Pontiac Pro Stock Showdown/LVMS Post-Race with Jeg Coughlin - YouTube - Pontiac Pro Stock Showdown/Raceday/Finals/Feb 2
"We actually struggled at Houston, but so did a lot of teams," Anderson said. "It just came down to timing. We never knocked one out of the park, but I guess it was enough to win. Sometime you deserve to win and you don't, and other times you don't deserve to win and you do. Houston was one of those events where things kind of evened out for us."
Anderson's Summit Racing Pontiac teammate Jason Line has a pair of runners-up (Phoenix, Gainesville) and is seeded third in the points, while ACDelco Chevy Cobalt driver Kurt Johnson advanced to the finals at Houston and is fourth in the standings.
GM Performance Parts Pontiac GXP driver Warren Johnson was No. 1 qualifier at the ACDelco Gatornationals in Gainesville and has set top speed of the meet at the last two contests. In fact, the Professor's new Pontiac was a full mile-an-hour faster than his closest challenger at Houston (discounting his teammate and son Kurt Johnson who posted the second-fastest speed of the event) where his Pontiac and Kurt's Chevy Cobalt were the only two cars to run above the 208 mph barrier. WJ's No. 1 qualifying effort at Gainesville was his first race-day pole in nearly 30 months and he is currently seventh in the points standings.
"Early on in the season we were making good power," explained the six-time NHRA champion. "I believe we had the fastest GTO at the first two races so that was kind of an indication that we had at least adequate power to qualify in the upper half of the field. This car seems to be a little quicker in the backhalf so that's where the mph is coming from. We ran 211-flat at Valdosta (Ga.) in testing prior to the Gatornationals. The scales weren't working at the time so we guessed the weight at the shop and we were 25 pounds too heavy. We thought, 'this could be pretty exciting, here!.'
"You take a new car and you get it figured out. The new GXP is a little bit different - we've never built two identical cars in our life. Kurt's Cobalt, we made some changes from the old Cobalt and GTO that worked really well. We basically had the same chassis but a little different envelope to work from, and that's allowed the two teams to work back and forth a lot closer."
WATCH VIDEO; Warren Johnson post-qualifying/ACDelco Gatornationals - YouTube - Warren Johnson/Post Qualifying/2008 ACDelco Gatornationals
Kurt Johnson was No. 1 qualifier in Houston and his ACDelco Chevrolet has qualified in the top four at all four of this season's races. Warren Johnson has been almost as good, qualifying in the top four in three of the year's first four events (including No. 1 at Gainesville). The performance increase of the two Johnson team cars will only tighten the Pro Stock field even further.
"We can probably call this ACDelco Chevrolet our Velcro car because everything we throw at it sticks," quipped Johnson. "We're really pleased with its performance right now, but our goal is to win races on Sunday. It's good to be No. 1 on Saturday, but our goal is to have our ACDelco Cobalt be No.1 on raceday."
In addition to the aforementioned GM Pro Stock drivers, there are a total of eight competitors in GM-branded cars riding in the top 10 including Mike Edwards (Pontiac GXP), Justin Humphreys (Pontiac GXP) and Greg Stanfield (Pontiac GXP).
Edwards, who drives the Young Life GXP, has advanced to the semifinals at two of the first four contests and has qualified in the top half of the field three times. Edwards needs to win just one round at The Strip this weekend to earn his 200th career round win.
"We're happy with our consistency and the progress we're making," Edwards said. "We have a whole new combination with our engine program, we're just trying to learn it a little better. We're getting some breaks, but hey, you need those every now and then. Just trying to improve at each race is our primary goal, and getting better is the main thing we're hoping to accomplish for Young Life, Penhall, GM and all the people that support us. The engine program is coming along just as we expected - I'm excited with where it is. We've been working on it, we're going to go back and work on it some more and I'm pretty pleased with it. There's still a long way to go but I'm happy with it."
In Funny Car, Chevrolet is off to one if its best NHRA POWERade starts in recent memory. Chevy Impala SS competitors have captured two national-event victories, advanced to four final rounds and earned all four No. 1 qualifying awards.
Del Worsham is Chevrolet's most recent national-event winner in Funny Car. The driver of the Checker Schuck's Kragen Chevy Impala SS ended a two-year victory drought at the recently completed O'Reilly Spring Nationals in Houston on March 30, and by doing so, leapfrogged his way from 18th place in the POWERade standings all the way to ninth place.
"As well as we ran in Houston, there have been times when we'd do just exactly the same thing and somehow get tripped up before the final, or maybe in the final," Worsham said. "When it happens once, you're disappointed. When it happens multiple times, you start to wonder if you'll ever win again. Sunday in Houston proved to us that hard work and doing it the right way will pay off. It was a huge win for us, and we just want to keep rolling right now."
WATCH VIDEO; Del Worsham NHRA Houston post-race YouTube - CSK Chevy Impala/Del Worsham/NHRA Houston Post-Race
Defending POWERade champion Tony Pedregon joins Del Worsham on the list of Chevy Impala SS drivers who have won a national event in 2008. Pedregon's victory came at Gainesville on March 30 from the No. 1 starting position, and after a pair of season-opening first-round losses at Pomona and Phoenix, the Q Horsepower Chevrolet competitor now finds himself in third place in the points standings and back in the thick of the POWERade championship hunt. Pedregon will unveil a Palms Casino Resorts design on his Chevy Impala SS Funny Car this weekend in Las Vegas.
"Our team has evolved from the earliest stages with the Maloof family (owners of the Palms and the Sacramento Kings) right by our side," Pedregon said. "They've done so much for us, and the car is something I wanted to do for them as a way of expressing our thanks. They're great partners, and more importantly, they're lifelong friends."
WATCH VIDEO; Tony Pedregon NHRA Gainesville post-race YouTube - Team Chevy's Tony Pedregon/Post-Race/ACDelco Gatornationals
In the Sportsman categories, Chevy Cobalt drivers are once again kicking up the points total on behalf of the red bowtie in the quest for the 2008 NHRA Manufacturer's Cup. Chevrolet leads the Cup chase with 940 points and NHRA Super Stock and Stock competitors led by Jimmy DeFrank (200), Ryan McClanahan (140), and Jeff Lane (80) have contributed to over half of Chevrolet's points total.
"It feels good to get off to a good start like we have," said DeFrank who won Super Stock in a Chevy Cobalt at the CSK Nationals in Phoenix and the Divisional race at Tucson. "There are a lot of good racers, and the season is so long that even if you have a good start, I've learned that your racing prospects go up and down as the year moves along. Regardless of how good of a start someone has, it's always, without question, very close at the end."
9th annual SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals GM RACING STATS AND FACTS
* Greg Anderson's most recent win at the O'Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals at Houston was his 53rd career victory and broke a tie with former Top Fuel great Joe Amato for fifth all time for career wins.
* Of Pontiac's 182 all-time wins in NHRA Pro Stock competition, Anderson has the most Pontiac wins with 51, Warren Johnson is next on the list with 42 wins in a Pontiac and Jim Yates is third with 25.
* Jason Line qualified for his 100th consecutive national event at Houston, second only to teammate Anderson among active Pro Stock drivers (120).
* Jeg Coughlin's most recent victory at the Gatornationals last month was his first of the young season and his 39th career Pro Stock win placing him fourth on the all-time list for career Pro Stock wins behind Pontiac driver Warren Johnson (96), Pro Stock legend Bob Glidden (85), and Pontiac driver Greg Anderson (52).
* Coughlin's Gatornationals win in his JEGS.com Chevy Cobalt was Chevrolet's 147th all-time victory in the NHRA Pro Stock division.
* Greg Anderson leads all professional drivers in career wins at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway with six, ironically sweeping the spring and fall races here in back-to-back years in 2003 and 2004, and again in 2007.
* Last year's two Pro Stock final rounds at Las Vegas were carbon copies of each other with Anderson and Coughlin meeting in both the spring and fall final rounds and Anderson prevailing both times.
* Jeg Coughlin leads the way for Team Chevy at The Strip with three wins, two in this event in 2000 and 2001, and a win in the fall event in 2002. Kurt Johnson in the ACDelco Chevy Cobalt won his sponsor's race here in the fall of 2005 and then this race the following year in 2006. Ron Krisher in the Valvoline Chevy Cobalt also won this race in 2002.
* The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway Pro Stock track record of 6.705 seconds is held by Jason Line in a Pontiac at the fall race in October 2006. Dave Connolly drove a Chevrolet to a track-record speed of 205.57 mph in last year's fall event in October 2007.
* After four of 24 races, four drivers in GM-branded cars occupy a spot in the top 5 and eight of the top 10 of the NHRA POWERade Pro Stock standings. Three-time Pro Stock champ Greg Anderson is in first place with 343 points, Jeg Coughlin (Chevy Cobalt) is second with 340 points, Jason Line (Pontiac GXP) is third with 275 points, Kurt Johnson (Chevy Cobalt) is fourth with 266 points, Warren Johnson (Pontiac GXP) is seventh with 221 points, Mike Edwards (Pontiac) is eighth with 212 points, Justin Humphreys (Pontiac GXP) is ninth with 168 points, and Greg Stanfield (Pontiac GXP) is 10th with 151 points.
* Defending NHRA POWERade Funny Car champ Tony Pedregon in the Q Horsepower Chevy Impala SS leads all Funny Car drivers in career wins at The Strip with three, a sweep of both races in 2003 and a win in the fall race last year in 2007. Pedregon's brother Cruz won this race in 2006 and Gary Densham won it in 2002.
* Team Chevy drivers have set the pace so far in Funny Car qualifying by claiming the first four No. 1 qualifiers of the season. Tim Wilkerson earned his 11th and 12th career poles at Pomona and Phoenix to start the season, Gainesville winner Tony Pedregon was also No. 1 qualifier there, and brother Cruz claimed his 34th career No. 1 qualifier at Houston.
* After four of 24 races, five Chevy drivers occupy a spot in the top 10 of the NHRA POWERade Funny Car standings including points leader Cruz Pedregon. Pedregon is first in points in the Advance Auto Chevy Impala SS with 260 points, his brother Tony is third with 233 points, Gary Densham in the Racebricks Chevy Impala SS is seventh with 208 points, Tim Wilkerson in the Levi, Ray & Shoup Chevy Impala SS is eighth with 204 points, and Del Worsham in the CSK Chevy Impala SS is ninth with 187 points.
* Team Chevy's Larry Dixon in the U.S. Smokeless dragster leads all drivers in Top Fuel career wins at Las Vegas with four, sweeping both events in 2002 and wins in this event in 2003 and 2005. He has advanced to at least the semifinals in all four races this season and sits second in Top Fuel points.
Two hours of qualifying coverage of the SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals will be telecast on ESPN2 on Saturday, April 12, beginning at 8:00 p.m. Eastern. NHRA Race Day will kick off eliminator coverage on Sunday, April 13, starting at 11 a.m. Eastern on ESPN2, and then three hours of final eliminations coverage will be broadcast beginning at 8:00 p.m. Eastern.
General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM), the world's largest automaker, has been the annual global industry sales leader for 77 years. Founded in 1908, GM today employs about 266,000 people around the world. With global headquarters in Detroit, GM manufactures its cars and trucks in 35 countries. In 2007, nearly 9.37 million GM cars and trucks were sold globally under the following brands: Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, GM Daewoo, Holden, HUMMER, Opel, Pontiac, Saab, Saturn, Vauxhall and Wuling. GM's OnStar subsidiary is the industry leader in vehicle safety, security and information services. More information on GM can be found at General Motors | Corporate Website | GM.
GM Racing's Quarter-Mile Contingent Set to Converge on The Strip at LVMS
LAS VEGAS, April 8, 2008 - The 9th annual SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway is the next stop for GM's drag racing contingent on the 24-event POWERade tour, and with just four races completed in the young season, drivers competing in Chevys and Pontiacs are off to a terrific start. In Pro Stock, the spoils of battle on the quarter-mile have been spread rather evenly in a category where it appears the championship will once again go down to the final race in November. Pontiac's Greg Anderson has driven the new GXP to a pair of victories at Pomona (Calif.) and Houston while defending champion Jeg Coughlin Jr. parked his Jeg's Mail Order Chevy Cobalt in the winner's circle at Gainesville (Fla.) and was runner-up to Anderson at the Winternationals. Anderson leads the POWERade standings while Coughlin trails in second place by three points.
WATCH VIDEO; 2008 Pontiac Pro Stock Showdown/LVMS Post-Race with Jeg Coughlin - YouTube - Pontiac Pro Stock Showdown/Raceday/Finals/Feb 2
"We actually struggled at Houston, but so did a lot of teams," Anderson said. "It just came down to timing. We never knocked one out of the park, but I guess it was enough to win. Sometime you deserve to win and you don't, and other times you don't deserve to win and you do. Houston was one of those events where things kind of evened out for us."
Anderson's Summit Racing Pontiac teammate Jason Line has a pair of runners-up (Phoenix, Gainesville) and is seeded third in the points, while ACDelco Chevy Cobalt driver Kurt Johnson advanced to the finals at Houston and is fourth in the standings.
GM Performance Parts Pontiac GXP driver Warren Johnson was No. 1 qualifier at the ACDelco Gatornationals in Gainesville and has set top speed of the meet at the last two contests. In fact, the Professor's new Pontiac was a full mile-an-hour faster than his closest challenger at Houston (discounting his teammate and son Kurt Johnson who posted the second-fastest speed of the event) where his Pontiac and Kurt's Chevy Cobalt were the only two cars to run above the 208 mph barrier. WJ's No. 1 qualifying effort at Gainesville was his first race-day pole in nearly 30 months and he is currently seventh in the points standings.
"Early on in the season we were making good power," explained the six-time NHRA champion. "I believe we had the fastest GTO at the first two races so that was kind of an indication that we had at least adequate power to qualify in the upper half of the field. This car seems to be a little quicker in the backhalf so that's where the mph is coming from. We ran 211-flat at Valdosta (Ga.) in testing prior to the Gatornationals. The scales weren't working at the time so we guessed the weight at the shop and we were 25 pounds too heavy. We thought, 'this could be pretty exciting, here!.'
"You take a new car and you get it figured out. The new GXP is a little bit different - we've never built two identical cars in our life. Kurt's Cobalt, we made some changes from the old Cobalt and GTO that worked really well. We basically had the same chassis but a little different envelope to work from, and that's allowed the two teams to work back and forth a lot closer."
WATCH VIDEO; Warren Johnson post-qualifying/ACDelco Gatornationals - YouTube - Warren Johnson/Post Qualifying/2008 ACDelco Gatornationals
Kurt Johnson was No. 1 qualifier in Houston and his ACDelco Chevrolet has qualified in the top four at all four of this season's races. Warren Johnson has been almost as good, qualifying in the top four in three of the year's first four events (including No. 1 at Gainesville). The performance increase of the two Johnson team cars will only tighten the Pro Stock field even further.
"We can probably call this ACDelco Chevrolet our Velcro car because everything we throw at it sticks," quipped Johnson. "We're really pleased with its performance right now, but our goal is to win races on Sunday. It's good to be No. 1 on Saturday, but our goal is to have our ACDelco Cobalt be No.1 on raceday."
In addition to the aforementioned GM Pro Stock drivers, there are a total of eight competitors in GM-branded cars riding in the top 10 including Mike Edwards (Pontiac GXP), Justin Humphreys (Pontiac GXP) and Greg Stanfield (Pontiac GXP).
Edwards, who drives the Young Life GXP, has advanced to the semifinals at two of the first four contests and has qualified in the top half of the field three times. Edwards needs to win just one round at The Strip this weekend to earn his 200th career round win.
"We're happy with our consistency and the progress we're making," Edwards said. "We have a whole new combination with our engine program, we're just trying to learn it a little better. We're getting some breaks, but hey, you need those every now and then. Just trying to improve at each race is our primary goal, and getting better is the main thing we're hoping to accomplish for Young Life, Penhall, GM and all the people that support us. The engine program is coming along just as we expected - I'm excited with where it is. We've been working on it, we're going to go back and work on it some more and I'm pretty pleased with it. There's still a long way to go but I'm happy with it."
In Funny Car, Chevrolet is off to one if its best NHRA POWERade starts in recent memory. Chevy Impala SS competitors have captured two national-event victories, advanced to four final rounds and earned all four No. 1 qualifying awards.
Del Worsham is Chevrolet's most recent national-event winner in Funny Car. The driver of the Checker Schuck's Kragen Chevy Impala SS ended a two-year victory drought at the recently completed O'Reilly Spring Nationals in Houston on March 30, and by doing so, leapfrogged his way from 18th place in the POWERade standings all the way to ninth place.
"As well as we ran in Houston, there have been times when we'd do just exactly the same thing and somehow get tripped up before the final, or maybe in the final," Worsham said. "When it happens once, you're disappointed. When it happens multiple times, you start to wonder if you'll ever win again. Sunday in Houston proved to us that hard work and doing it the right way will pay off. It was a huge win for us, and we just want to keep rolling right now."
WATCH VIDEO; Del Worsham NHRA Houston post-race YouTube - CSK Chevy Impala/Del Worsham/NHRA Houston Post-Race
Defending POWERade champion Tony Pedregon joins Del Worsham on the list of Chevy Impala SS drivers who have won a national event in 2008. Pedregon's victory came at Gainesville on March 30 from the No. 1 starting position, and after a pair of season-opening first-round losses at Pomona and Phoenix, the Q Horsepower Chevrolet competitor now finds himself in third place in the points standings and back in the thick of the POWERade championship hunt. Pedregon will unveil a Palms Casino Resorts design on his Chevy Impala SS Funny Car this weekend in Las Vegas.
"Our team has evolved from the earliest stages with the Maloof family (owners of the Palms and the Sacramento Kings) right by our side," Pedregon said. "They've done so much for us, and the car is something I wanted to do for them as a way of expressing our thanks. They're great partners, and more importantly, they're lifelong friends."
WATCH VIDEO; Tony Pedregon NHRA Gainesville post-race YouTube - Team Chevy's Tony Pedregon/Post-Race/ACDelco Gatornationals
In the Sportsman categories, Chevy Cobalt drivers are once again kicking up the points total on behalf of the red bowtie in the quest for the 2008 NHRA Manufacturer's Cup. Chevrolet leads the Cup chase with 940 points and NHRA Super Stock and Stock competitors led by Jimmy DeFrank (200), Ryan McClanahan (140), and Jeff Lane (80) have contributed to over half of Chevrolet's points total.
"It feels good to get off to a good start like we have," said DeFrank who won Super Stock in a Chevy Cobalt at the CSK Nationals in Phoenix and the Divisional race at Tucson. "There are a lot of good racers, and the season is so long that even if you have a good start, I've learned that your racing prospects go up and down as the year moves along. Regardless of how good of a start someone has, it's always, without question, very close at the end."
9th annual SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals GM RACING STATS AND FACTS
* Greg Anderson's most recent win at the O'Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals at Houston was his 53rd career victory and broke a tie with former Top Fuel great Joe Amato for fifth all time for career wins.
* Of Pontiac's 182 all-time wins in NHRA Pro Stock competition, Anderson has the most Pontiac wins with 51, Warren Johnson is next on the list with 42 wins in a Pontiac and Jim Yates is third with 25.
* Jason Line qualified for his 100th consecutive national event at Houston, second only to teammate Anderson among active Pro Stock drivers (120).
* Jeg Coughlin's most recent victory at the Gatornationals last month was his first of the young season and his 39th career Pro Stock win placing him fourth on the all-time list for career Pro Stock wins behind Pontiac driver Warren Johnson (96), Pro Stock legend Bob Glidden (85), and Pontiac driver Greg Anderson (52).
* Coughlin's Gatornationals win in his JEGS.com Chevy Cobalt was Chevrolet's 147th all-time victory in the NHRA Pro Stock division.
* Greg Anderson leads all professional drivers in career wins at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway with six, ironically sweeping the spring and fall races here in back-to-back years in 2003 and 2004, and again in 2007.
* Last year's two Pro Stock final rounds at Las Vegas were carbon copies of each other with Anderson and Coughlin meeting in both the spring and fall final rounds and Anderson prevailing both times.
* Jeg Coughlin leads the way for Team Chevy at The Strip with three wins, two in this event in 2000 and 2001, and a win in the fall event in 2002. Kurt Johnson in the ACDelco Chevy Cobalt won his sponsor's race here in the fall of 2005 and then this race the following year in 2006. Ron Krisher in the Valvoline Chevy Cobalt also won this race in 2002.
* The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway Pro Stock track record of 6.705 seconds is held by Jason Line in a Pontiac at the fall race in October 2006. Dave Connolly drove a Chevrolet to a track-record speed of 205.57 mph in last year's fall event in October 2007.
* After four of 24 races, four drivers in GM-branded cars occupy a spot in the top 5 and eight of the top 10 of the NHRA POWERade Pro Stock standings. Three-time Pro Stock champ Greg Anderson is in first place with 343 points, Jeg Coughlin (Chevy Cobalt) is second with 340 points, Jason Line (Pontiac GXP) is third with 275 points, Kurt Johnson (Chevy Cobalt) is fourth with 266 points, Warren Johnson (Pontiac GXP) is seventh with 221 points, Mike Edwards (Pontiac) is eighth with 212 points, Justin Humphreys (Pontiac GXP) is ninth with 168 points, and Greg Stanfield (Pontiac GXP) is 10th with 151 points.
* Defending NHRA POWERade Funny Car champ Tony Pedregon in the Q Horsepower Chevy Impala SS leads all Funny Car drivers in career wins at The Strip with three, a sweep of both races in 2003 and a win in the fall race last year in 2007. Pedregon's brother Cruz won this race in 2006 and Gary Densham won it in 2002.
* Team Chevy drivers have set the pace so far in Funny Car qualifying by claiming the first four No. 1 qualifiers of the season. Tim Wilkerson earned his 11th and 12th career poles at Pomona and Phoenix to start the season, Gainesville winner Tony Pedregon was also No. 1 qualifier there, and brother Cruz claimed his 34th career No. 1 qualifier at Houston.
* After four of 24 races, five Chevy drivers occupy a spot in the top 10 of the NHRA POWERade Funny Car standings including points leader Cruz Pedregon. Pedregon is first in points in the Advance Auto Chevy Impala SS with 260 points, his brother Tony is third with 233 points, Gary Densham in the Racebricks Chevy Impala SS is seventh with 208 points, Tim Wilkerson in the Levi, Ray & Shoup Chevy Impala SS is eighth with 204 points, and Del Worsham in the CSK Chevy Impala SS is ninth with 187 points.
* Team Chevy's Larry Dixon in the U.S. Smokeless dragster leads all drivers in Top Fuel career wins at Las Vegas with four, sweeping both events in 2002 and wins in this event in 2003 and 2005. He has advanced to at least the semifinals in all four races this season and sits second in Top Fuel points.
Two hours of qualifying coverage of the SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals will be telecast on ESPN2 on Saturday, April 12, beginning at 8:00 p.m. Eastern. NHRA Race Day will kick off eliminator coverage on Sunday, April 13, starting at 11 a.m. Eastern on ESPN2, and then three hours of final eliminations coverage will be broadcast beginning at 8:00 p.m. Eastern.
General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM), the world's largest automaker, has been the annual global industry sales leader for 77 years. Founded in 1908, GM today employs about 266,000 people around the world. With global headquarters in Detroit, GM manufactures its cars and trucks in 35 countries. In 2007, nearly 9.37 million GM cars and trucks were sold globally under the following brands: Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, GM Daewoo, Holden, HUMMER, Opel, Pontiac, Saab, Saturn, Vauxhall and Wuling. GM's OnStar subsidiary is the industry leader in vehicle safety, security and information services. More information on GM can be found at General Motors | Corporate Website | GM.
