CAPPS TO USE NEW CHASSIS IN BRISTOL

Ron Capps, tuner Ed "Ace" McCulloch and the NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car team recently tested a new Murf McKinney chassis following the race in St. Louis and will debut it at this weekend's NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway.

"We only got one run on that car basically in St. Louis, but, the car felt great on that run,” Capps said. “The conditions were tricky during that test, which I think will help us because those are the conditions we will be looking for in the next three races.

"There's been many times in the past where we've brought a new car out and while a lot of teams would have to make a check-out run we ran it right it down to the finish line and qualified well in a brand-new car. That’s just the trust you have with your team and your crew chief.” [5/13/2008]

THE TOP END IS SAFE NOW!

Carl Weisinger of Orlando Speed World sent the Agent a photo of an 80-lb. wild boar he shot in the scrub at the end of the drag strip. Weisinger got him with a Remington 870 pump action using 00 buckshot. Guess racers need to keep an eye out if they go off track Carl’s eyes aren’t as good as they once were! [5/13/2008]

WOODBURN WHEELSTAND

George Adams, one of the regular photographers at Woodburn Dragstrip sent us this shot of Steve Stuart from Estacada, Oregon. He launched his Chevelle into this monster wheelstand, which it never does, Adams tells us. “It was the talk of the day and although I’m in the wrong lane I was glad I got the shot.”  Nice one. [5/13/2008]

GLAMOROUS SHOW BIZ OR 24 HOURS WORK FOR A 15-SECOND COMMERCIAL

A veteran of commercial shoots as an instructor at Frank Hawley's Drag Racing School, Jack Beckman was prepared for the late-night staging during a Valvoline commercial shot at Rockingham Dragway.

"I filmed a lot of TV stuff at the drag racing school over the last 10 years," said Beckman, "so I had a pretty good idea of how it worked. They wanted all night-time stuff so we filmed from like 7:30 p.m. to just past midnight. But the crew got out there and started setting up in the rain at 11 a.m., and didn't get out of there until 2 in the morning and then they had to take everything back to the shop. So, they really had to do double duty there.

"They were shooting different camera angles. It was very interesting in that I had to launch the car into a smoke screen, which they generated with a big smoke-making machine. That is something that I've done in other film shoots with the Super Comp dragster with a radio talking to another instructor making sure everything was clear. I had never done that in a nitro Funny Car before.

"And then they had some floodlights on the car when I staged. So it was a little bit tough to see relative to what you would expect in one of those cars.”  (Scott Schniderman photo courtesy Don Schumacher Racing) [5/13/2008]