Ashley Force’s Mustang Funny Car reaches semifinal at NHRA race

Ashley Force, driver of the Castrol GTX Mustang, made it to the third round of the NHRA race in Joliet, Ill., before losing to Tony Pedregon. She remains second in the standings, now just 57 points behind leader Tim Wilkerson. Read the press release below.

DEARBORN, Mich., June 8, 2008 – Ashley Force’s Mustang Funny Car may have been the best dragster going into Sunday’s NHRA race in Joliet, Ill., but a broken belt in the semifinal round ended her day early, highlighting a busy Ford Racing weekend.

Force qualified third and had defeated her teammate Robert Hight in the first round and Gary Scelzi in the second round on her way to the semifinal against Tony Pedregon. In the semifinal run, Force jumped out to an early lead before her car suffered a dropped cylinder and broken supercharger drive belt, causing her to lose enough power to end her day earlier than she hoped.

“This weekend I definitely felt like we were going to go a lot of rounds because my car was so good,” Force said. “The conditions were so difficult, but we still ran well. Getting our car down both lanes really gave us some confidence. We had a really good feeling going into this race. It’s tough on the team when you have to sit around in the rain. We were ready every round, and I am so proud of my guys. There were no mistakes. Bad luck just bit us, (but) we gave them a run for their money.”

Force remains second in the standings, now just 57 points behind leader Tim Wilkerson.

The NASCAR Sprint Cup series was at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pa., where Matt Kenseth finished as the top Ford driver in the race in the No. 17 Fusion. Kenseth crossed the finish line in seventh place and moved up one spot to 15th in the standings as he continues his charge toward championship contention.

Carl Edwards led late in the race for a few laps before heading into pit road. On his way out, Edwards’ car had a flat left-rear tire and he needed to pit yet again, dropping him to 33rd. Edwards would fight back the rest of the race and still ended with a top-10 finish, taking ninth place. He remains fourth in the standings.

“It was not too bad,” said Edwards of his finish considering his flat tire. “We have just got to a better job on pit road. But, we went from 34th to ninth. I’m not real good at math, but that’s a lot of cars. This was fun. I mean, I had a good time on that last run. I just wish (I had) 10 more laps or something to work on people, you know?”

David Ragan led all Ford drivers across the finish line in the NASCAR Nationwide Series race in Nashville, Tenn., finishing fifth in the No. 6 Fusion. Ragan has landed a top-10 finish eight times through 15 Nationwide Series races this season.

The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series drivers competed in Fort Worth, Texas, this weekend. Bobby East, who was behind the wheel No. 09 F-150 for the second time this season, spent the entire day running in the top 10 before eventually finishing eighth. The finish marked East’s first top-10 result in a NASCAR event. East has run in a total of 37 NASCAR events; 26 Truck Series races and 11 Nationwide Series races.

“The Zaxby’s Ford F-150 was great,” said East. “We unloaded good, and Chad Norris and the crew did a great job. Our performance was because of him, Mike Beam and Matt Puccia. I want to thank everybody. I want to thank Jack Roush for this opportunity.”

East will also be driving the No. 09 F-F150 again next weekend at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Mich.

Four Fords finished in the top 10 spots of the Grand-Am Rolex Series race at Watkins Glen, N.Y. Team Owner Michael Shank’s No. 60 Ford-Riley Daytona Prototype, driven by Oswaldo Negri Jr. and Mark Patterson, took fourth place, while his No. 6 Ford-Riley Daytona Prototype, driven by Ian James and John Pew, were sixth.

“All of our drivers really pulled their weight for all six hours out there,” said Shank. “Oz [Negri Jr.] and Ian did over three hours each and didn’t put a wheel wrong. It was a very good weekend all around for us. We were in the fight all day, and Mark put in I think his absolute best stint ever, bringing the car into the pits in second place deep into the race. Just fantastic.”

Memo Gidley and Brad Jaeger finished fifth in the No. 77 Ford-Dallara Daytona Prototype and Brian Frisselle and Mark Wilkins took seventh in the No. 61 Ford-Riley Daytona Prototype.

Next weekend, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series will compete at Michigan International Speedway, while the NASCAR Nationwide Series will be in Sparta, Ky. Also competing will be the Grand-Am KONI Challenge and the Ford Racing Mustang Challenge at Mosport International Raceway in Bowmanville, Ont.

Carl Edwards wins Auto Club 500 NASCAR Race at Auto Club Speedway

The Auto Club 500 NASCAR Race was delayed by rain, but once it got under way again at the Auto Club Speedway it took 21 hours from the start of the race until we knew who the winner would be. That winner was Read more

South Carolina Primary: Barack Obama more votes than total of others

Following on from our post the other day that informed you of the South Carolina Democratic Primary results live as they came in, those results showed that Barack Obama won by more votes than what all the other Candidates had together.

This is a major victory for Barack Obama on his quest for the US Democratic presidential nomination Read more

South Carolina Democratic Primary Live Results

Following on from the Nevada Caucuses and Republican results a week ago, we now have the South Carolina Democratic Primary results which see Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and John Edwards as the main runners.

With the state having a large African-America population, many in the politics world expect this to affect the outcome Read more

South Carolina poll: Barack Obama leads rival Hillary Clinton, thanks to black voters

Democrat Barack Obama managed to gain a lead against rival Hilary Clinton by gaining 43 percent of the votes at the latest South Carolina poll. Reuters say that the reason for this huge margin is because Read more

Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama debate: attacks get personal

Democratic candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama were caught in a huge debate on Monday, and at some stages in this U.S. presidential campaign debate it got a little personal. It seems as if Read more

Hillary Clinton has 5-point lead on Barack Obama: Republicans vote this Saturday

Well last night we saw that Democrat Hillary Clinton managed to gain a 5-point lead over her rival Barack Obama, Clinton had 42 percent of the votes, while Obama had 37 percent, and John Edwards had just 12 percent of the Read more

Barack Obama endorsed by Senator John Kerry to become President

According to the New York Sun fellow Senator John Kerry has said that he will endorse Barack Obama in his bid to become President of the United States. It was back in 2004 when Kerry was running for Read more

Fears Senator Barack Obama will be assassinated

The New York Times is reporting news about the fear that Senator Barack Obama could be assassinated, it all started because a former John Edwards supporter commented “Some people compare one of the other candidates to John F. Kennedy. But he was assassinated” Read more

New Hampshire (NH) primary live results: Republican & Democratic

We got information on the New Hampshire (NH) primary results of both the Republican and Democratic candidates.

For live listings click the link below the list for each of the Primaries Read more

New Hampshire Primary Starts with Barack Obama & John McCain leading

The day has only just started with the New Hampshire Primary so it’s really early to tell anything, but so far Barack Obama and John McCain are leading.

State law let towns with under 100 people vote at midnight, but it’s still anyone’s game with the presidential hopefuls out yesterday trying to sway independent voters Read more

Barack Obama: new era in American history: unity and not division

As an agent of Change, Obama has already had a positive effect and change on our political landscape as evidenced by the “nicer tones” of the current campaign commercials and political discourse prevalent today among the candidates, which heretofore has been down right dirty and ugly. This is due to Obama’s position not too take the low road, continuing to walk the high road in spite of earlier low poll numbers –,continuing to stay positive and above the fray, continuing to focus on the important issues facing us today, and continuing to speak about his message of hope and change. — And then they followed.

The change Barack is inspiring us to make is in establishing and building a “People Coalition”, which in turn will be the catalyst for the emerging of a new era in American history, an era of unity and not division Read more

Barack Obama leading polls: Rival Hillary Clinton still trailing

Following on from his success Barack Obama is now leading the polls by jumping into a healthy lead, and rival Hilary Clinton has been left trailing. This is a bit of a surprise as it seemed as if Democrat Read more

Where is Ron Paul in the news as Obama & Huckabee win Iowa

Following Peters news about Mike Huckabee and Barack Obama winning the Iowa vote; it makes me wonder “Where is Ron Paul in the news”.

When I ask friends and family “Have you heard of Ron Paul”, most have not or do not see him anywhere as big as other US Presidential Candidates like Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton Read more

Barack Obama and Mike Huckabee Win Iowa Vote: Hillary Clinton & John Edwards beaten

Republican Mike Huckabee and Democrat Barack Obama have both one the Iowa vote, this means that Obama and Huckabee are now one step closer to becoming the President of the U.S., they managed to beat off Read more

Presidential candidate John Edwards wants Americans to give up their SUVs

If you live in the US and you drive a Sports Utility Vehicle then there could be some bad news coming your way, as Presidential candidate John Edwards want all Americans to give up their SUVs. He wants them to sacrifice their Read more

Clinton Wins First 2008 Union Endorsement

Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton picked up the first national labor endorsement of the 2008 White House race on, winning the support of the 125,000-member United Transportation Union.
Read more

Chilmark Police Department arrest Michael Duga marijuana possession

Michael Duga, a 31 year old man from Florida was arrested over the weekend for impersonating an aide to John Edwards, the Democratic presidential Read more

Who Does The Internet Want To See As President?

We all have our opinion on who we want to see as the next US President, but who is the candidate that the internet is picking to be President?

It looks like Obama is topping the Read more

Steve Coogan set to play Eddie The Eagle in new biopic

British funny man Steve Coogan has signed on to play sporting legend Eddie “The Eagle” Edwards, England’s ski-jump Olympic disaster area and national legend, in a biopic called, yep you guessed it, Eddie the Eagle, which is out next year. Read more

Next Page »