Drag Racing News Daily

SCHUMACHER, PEDREGON, COUGHLIN LEAD DRAG RACING NOMINEES FOR 2007 AARWBA AUTO RACING ALL-AMERICA TEAM

 

GLENDORA, Calif. (Nov. 26, 2007) - NHRA POWERade Series world champions Tony Schumacher, Tony Pedregon and Jeg Coughlin headline the Drag Racing nominees for the 2007 American Auto Racing Writers and Broadcasters Association (AARWBA) Auto Racing All-America Team.

 

Two drivers from each of seven categories - Drag Racing, Open Wheel, Stock Car, Road Racing, Short Track, Touring Series and At Large - will be selected to the first team by the members of the motorsports press association. Two second team drivers from each category also will be named.  The remaining drivers in each category receiving five percent of the vote will receive honorable mention status.

 

In addition to Schumacher, Pedregon and Coughlin, Pro Stock runner-up Greg Anderson also was nominated in the Drag Racing category and Top Alcohol Funny Car world champion Frank Manzo was nominated in the At Large category.

 

The driver receiving the most votes overall will be presented the prestigious Jerry Titus Award, recognizing AARWBA’s Driver of the Year. Schumacher won the coveted award last year, while 14-time NHRA Funny Car world champ John Force is a four-time winner (1996, 1999, 2000 and 2002). Shirley Muldowney (1982) and Don Prudhomme (1976) are the only other drag racers to ever win the Titus Award.

 

Schumacher won the final round of the final race of the season in his U.S. Army dragster to claim his fifth Top Fuel world championship and an NHRA-record fourth consecutively. Among Schumacher’s six victories on the season, he won the prestigious Mac Tools U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis for the fifth time.

 

Pedregon claimed his second Funny Car world championship behind the wheel of his Q Horsepower Chevy Impala SS. Pedregon set a national record elapsed time in Phoenix and earned four victories in five final rounds. An emotional victory at Las Vegas in October during the Countdown to 1 positioned Pedregon to clinch his first POWERade championship as a team owner.

 

Coughlin earned his third Pro Stock title in his JEGS.com Chevy Cobalt with four victories in eight finals, including an NHRA-best 7-1 eliminations record in the Countdown to 1.

 

Anderson drove his Summit Racing Pontiac GTO to a second place finish in Pro Stock with eight victories in 12 final round appearances and a national record elapsed time performance at the famed ACDelco Gatornationals in Florida. 

 

Manzo received a nomination in the At Large category for securing his 11th NHRA Top Alcohol Funny Car world championship in the NHRA Lucas Oil Series. He raced to four national event wins and six divisional event wins to take the crown.

 

IRL champion and Indy 500 winner Dario Franchitti and CART champion Sebastien Bourdais lead the Open Wheel category, while NASCAR’s Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon pace the Stock Car category.

 

AARWBA members have selected an All-America Auto Racing Team since 1970.  Drivers selected to the first team will be honored at the 38th annual All-America Auto Racing Team banquet, held Jan. 12 at the Hyatt Regency in Indianapolis. For tickets and other information about the AARWBA All-America banquet, call (818) 842-7005 or write to AARWBA, 922 North Pass Ave., Burbank, CA, 91505.