TARGET AND SEAGRAMS COMING TO
NHRA IN 2007?
Rumors have been rampant in the NHRA pits since Miller Brewing announced that they were dropping their sponsorship of Don Prudhomme’s Top Fuel team that Prudhomme and the Target company were in negotiations for possible sponsorship. That same rumor mill had Prudhomme’s camp going after the Seagram Company’s Crown Royal brand (as it so happens, the Agent’s whisky of choice).
Inquiries as to whether there was any truth to the rumors to Prudhomme’s PR reps delivered no info one way or the other. The Target rumor surfaced immediately after the Miller announcement basically as a result of Chip Gannasi and Prudhomme’s presence on the NHRA TV show from Chicago. The Agent at first discounted the Target rumor, figuring that all of that company’s funds were allocated to Gannasi’s NASCAR and IRL teams. The Crown Royal rumor did make some sense as the parent company, Seagram, has an increasing presence in motorsports in the past few years.
Yesterday Agent 1320 got a call from a credible source from outside the Prudhomme organization who told us that Prudhomme has deals with both Target and Seagram. According to the Agent’s operative, the Target deal is for $5,000,000 for a single Funny Car and the Seagram/Crown Royal deal is for the Top Fuel operation for about $3,000,000. The source says that Prudhomme is trying to get Seagram interested in a fuel coupe also so that he would end up with three fuel coupes and a top fueler.
If this rumor is fact, this would be a great boost to NHRA drag racing and the sport in general. At this point this is all just RUMOR, but this source is usually reliable. Phone calls to Prudhomme representatives have not been returned. [7-7-2006]
GLIDDEN, MARTINO CONFIRMED ON MASKIN TEAM
Today comes the official word, as we reported yesterday, that Tom Martino will be the driver on Richard Maskin’s Dart Pro Stock team and Bob Glidden will be engine builder and crew chief.
"We'd like to run Denver, but we're waiting for some new parts to arrive," Glidden said. "If the equipment isn't ready, then we'll aim for Seattle. Wherever there's a race, that's where we want to be." [7-7-2006]
MO PARSONS PASSES AWAY
Drag bike legend LeMoyne “Mo” Parsons passed away July 5, 2006, at the age of 61. Parsons was the mechanical mind behind the team of Parsons & Kizer, which raced in the IDBA, Dragbike USA, NHRA and NMRA series. Parsons was a multi-time Pro Mechanic of the Year during the days of such bike racers as Byron Hines, Elmer Trett, Jack O’Malley and Bill Hahn, Sr. He was a former Prostar Tech Director.
The funeral will be at 10:30 a.m. on July 8 at Forest Park Lawndale Funeral Home, 6900 Lawndale, Houston, Texas. Parsons is survived by his wife, Mary Ann, who has asked that in lieu of flowers a donation be made to the Greg Guarinello Fund, PO Box 18039, Huntsville, AL 35804. Guarinello was a motorcycle racing photojournalist who passed away May 26, 2006. [7-7-2006]
SHAKIN’ THINGS UP
Here’s a photo from Albuquerque National Dragway of the new paint job on Sean and Gary Dale's "Shakey Situation" '69 Dodge Charger nitro Funny Car. The paint was designed by legend Kenny Youngblood on the body molded off of the original Chi-Town Hustler flopper, and El Monte Auto Paint applied the deep PPG color. Driver Sean Dale ran a best 6.87 e.t. in the 8,000-foot corrected altitude on Saturday (July 2) night. (Joe Sherwood photo) [7-7-2006]
CALLING ALL TECHIES
DRO is gearing up for the debut of our new hands-on tech column. We have about a dozen qualified candidates for our Real Driveway Tech and we are negotiating with manufacturers as we speak and will announce the first victim in the next two weeks. It will feature real racers installing parts under real-world conditions. If you can write coherently and take some pictures of the installation, you might be picked to be a Real Driveway Techie and get a FREE part for your racecar. We are especially looking for Mopar racers to participate in the contest of which a version of will also appear in our new sister publication, MoparMax.com, which makes its debut on August 1. To submit your application, *******click here.******** [7-7-2006]
