Internal Revenue Service agents in conjunction with local Van Buren County Sheriff deputies raided the corporate offices of Torco Race Fuels on Thursday.

The Kalamazoo Gazette reported in a copyrighted story that Steven Moore, a spokesman for the criminal investigations division of the IRS, said the federal agents executed a search warrant at Knoll’s business office in downtown Decatur, Michigan.

Van Buren County Undersheriff Paul Edwards was contacted by the IRS, according to the Kalamazoo Gazette, in order to provide what the Kalamazoo Gazette reported as a “uniformed presence”.

Lawrence Wilson, an attorney in Ada, Michigan, confirmed with CompetitionPlus.com that he’s the attorney for Evan Knoll.

Wilson characterized today’s incident as a visit by the IRS and not a raid. The Kalamazoo Gazette reported that as many as 20 uniformed deputies from the Van Buren County Sheriff’s Department accompanied the IRS on the visit. Read the rest of this entry »

Take a look at the pictures from last nights open comp and diesel race. Click here to go to the pictures.

Written by Bobby Bennett/Competition Plus

Steve Johnson team manager Tim Kulungian’s youngest daughter is ailing from a rare disease.

Tim Kulungian is in the midst of crisis he feels no parent should ever experience. The General Manager for Steve Johnson’s Pro Stock Motorcycle has a sick child suffering from a rare disease called Osteopetrosis.

Kulungian and his wife Christal are fighting as hard as parents can for their youngest child’s life. However, in this battle the odds stacked against them.

“The disease attacks your bone marrow and requires a bone marrow transplant to fix,”  Kulungian said. “Luckily we have a match, our four year old daughter, we have five children in all, but our four year old is a match for the four month old baby. The disease, in short, doesn’t allow your bones to shed and closes up the canal where your bone marrow lives. So once the bone marrow is gone your body can no longer make the red or white blood cells and then you die.”

Lilly was diagnosed with the disease a month and a half ago.

“It’s a hard diagnosis to make,” Kulungian said. “We live in Birmingham and the children’s hospital there was terrified to diagnose her with it because of the politics that come behind it so there was a lot of lag time. Christal has been proactive in her efforts, sending her daughter’s entire chart up to Dr. Orchard in Minnesota. Dr. Orchard viewed it and saw it as a textbook case of Osteopetrosis and we got her up there as quick as possible.”

Kulungian explained Dr. Orchard writes the protocol for this disease.

“We are very fortunate to be under his care,“ Kulungian said. “Lilly has a 30% chance of making it through chemotherapy and then if she makes it through chemo and the bone marrow and graphs, which means it starts making the right cells then your body starts acting like it should, she has a good chance of living. She’ll probably be blind and maybe be deaf but alive is what sounds promising to us right now.”

If your heart is touched by this story, the Kulungians could use the help of the racing community.

“We’ve had to close down my wife’s business, she owns a daycare center and she’s moved up to Minneapolis,” Kulungian admitted. “Our family is very separated and apart right now. But in short it’s pretty expensive to put a child through bone marrow transplant and we went from a dual income to a single income family; any little bit of help is appreciated.”

Kulungian pointed out that whatever funds are left over from the medical bills will be donated to Osteopetrosis research.

“It’s an extremely rare bone disease. Dr. Orchard has been doing this for 30 years and this is his 22nd case in 30 years and he’s the leading doctor for Osteopetrosis in the world,” said Kulungian.

Race fans that wish to make a donation can go to CaringBridge.com and type in Lilly Kulungian. Once you’re there, a page will come up with a video about her. There’s also a blog providing updates on her condition.

A secondary webpage is also available at LillyKulungian.GooglePages.com . This page provides information for those interested in making donations. You can make checks out to the Lilly Kulungian Fund; all of those funds go directly to Lilly and her care.

Gary Densham is quick to point out the line defining the “haves” and the “have nots” is becoming clearer with each race and

“It scares me that this entire sport may end up being owned by three or four people.”

each increase in operating costs.

“Obviously guys like John Force will put big wads of money in their wallets because they can’t burn it in testing,” said Densham, speaking on how the latest increase in nitro pricing will affect the teams. “They’re going to forego 150 testing runs a year, that’s more than going to offset the cost of diesel. It’s not just myself complaining. There are plenty of teams out here last year who thought that they had a pretty good budget for 2008. They calculated the cost of what it would be to make their runs in 23 races and now you add one more race and the diesel increase and you’re looking at a quarter million dollar increase for these people to do more than they had to do last year.

“The NHRA didn’t give anyone a heads up on adding a race; it just would’ve been nice to know about it for those people who were setting budgets up last year. Could anybody visualize the increase in diesel fuel? Probably not. But when they can still buy 53 gallons of 100% nitromethane at an IHRA race for 1,000 dollars, I’m trying to figure out how we’re paying 2,000 dollars for 42 gallons of 90%.” [Editor’s note: A drum of 53-gallons of nitromethane lists for $1,300].

Densham doesn’t believe there’s a thing the racers can do to stop the continual increases in the cost of nitro other than just to park their cars. He’s afraid of the future if the sport continues to progress in the current direction..

“It scares me that this entire sport may end up being owned by three or four people,” Densham said. “It’s been going that way for the last couple of years with the multi-car teams. It scares me because the quality of the sport and the loyalty of the spectator. It also scares me for the integrity of the sport. What would happen if Force, Lucas, Don Schumacher and Kallita’s jets all collided in mid air? What would happen with the NHRA series?  (Story by Competition Plus)

With the king of the track wally on the line for the winner, Dave Young wasted no time letting his competitors know he wasn’t playing around.  Young, won his class (pro bike) when he took out Rodger Cloer in the final round in pro bike.  At the end of the night it was bike against bike, as Young went up against Roy Johnson who was the winner in the street bike class.   Johnson took off first as it looked like Young had some issues with the way the tree was started.  Johnson won the race but broke out.  It appeared  Johnson didn’t realize Young was still sitting at the starting line and ran all out, running faster then what he dialed in.  Young had a crew member come over and start his bike and what seemed like forever took the win and was crowned the king of the track.  In other action that night, it was Melissa Hutson winning over Mark Horton in the electronics class.  Melissa also took home the win in combo with a win over Darren Stutts.  Melissa broke something in the transmission in her last run that would have advanced her to run for the king of the track title.  Darren Stutts won in foot brake taking out Carlos Otero Jr.  In true street, Bart Pangilinan beat out Monica Roberts.  Roy Johnson won true street bike with a win over Tom Guzan .  Dial n for dollars winner was Mark Horton.  A big thanks goes out to all of the track workers who always makes sure the track is safe for all of the racers run after run.

NHRA has released the 2009 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series schedule featuring a full slate of 24 national events. In addition, the sanctioning body announced a purse increase in excess of $1.3 million.

Beginning in 2009, national event winners in both Top Fuel and Funny Car will receive $50,000 each, an increase of 25 percent. Pro Stock national event winners will receive $25,000, while Pro Stock Motorcycle winners will receive $10,000. At the most prestigious drag racing event in the world, the the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals, winners in the top two nitro classes will receive $100,000, while Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle winners will earn $50,000 and $20,000, respectively.

Increases at national events also were announced for runners-up, semi-finalists and quarterfinal finishers. At the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals, increases were announced for semi-finalists and quarterfinal finishers in Top Fuel, Funny Car, and Pro Stock categories, while Pro Stock Motorcycles received increases for runner-up and quarterfinal finishers. In all, the total increase in event purses in the four professional classes is $1,353,700.

The 2009 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series returns to the same venues as 2008, with only slight changes to the dates due to the change of holiday weekends. The series, however, will celebrate several landmark anniversaries at some of its long-standing and fan-favorite facilities. Celebrating its 40th anniversary, and serving as the East Coast kick-off to the season, will be the ACDelco NHRA Gatornationals in Gainesville, Fla. (March 12-15). The NHRA SuperNationals in Englishtown, N.J. (June 11-14), also will feature a 40th anniversary theme. Also celebrating significant special anniversaries will be the 30th annual Mopar Mile-High NHRA Nationals in Denver (July 10-12), the 25th annual Checker Schuck’s Kragen NHRA Nationals in Phoenix (Feb. 20-22), the 25th annual Toyo Tires NHRA Nationals in Reading, Pa. (Aug. 20-23), and the 10th annual SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals in Las Vegas (April 2-5).

The season will begin at historic Auto Club Raceway at Pomona in Southern California, with the 49th annual NHRA Winternationals, Feb. 5-8. Scheduled for its traditional Labor Day weekend date will be the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals, Sept. 2-7, at O’Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis. The world’s largest drag racing event will represent the final race in the NHRA Countdown to the Championship regular season and serve as the last opportunity for racers in all four professional categories to lock down a spot in the Top 10 and a chance, over the last six events of the season (five events for Pro Stock Motorcycle) to win the inaugural NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series world championship.

The six-race Countdown to 1 will feature a challenging four-week stretch of back-to-back races beginning with the NHRA Nationals in Concord, N.C. (Sept. 17-20); O’Reilly Super Start Batteries NHRA Fall Nationals in Dallas (Sept. 24-27); O’Reilly NHRA Mid-South Nationals in Memphis, Tenn. (Oct. 2-4); and the Virginia NHRA Nationals in Richmond, Va. (Oct. 9-11). From there the series heads to Nevada for the ACDelco Las Vegas NHRA Nationals, Oct. 29-Nov. 1, and concludes two weeks later at the 45th annual Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA Finals at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona (Calif.), Nov. 12-15.

Rounding out the schedule includes: the O’Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals (March 27-29) in Houston; the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals (April 16-19) at Atlanta Dragway; the O’Reilly NHRA Midwest Nationals (May 1-3) outside St. Louis; the O’Reilly NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals (May 15-17) at Bristol (Tenn.) Dragway; O’Reilly NHRA Summer Nationals in Topeka, Kan. (May 29-31); and the NHRA Route 66 Nationals in Chicago (June 4-7). The summer months will once again include a stop in Norwalk, Ohio for the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals (June 25-28) and the historic Western Swing, starting in Denver and continuing with the Schuck’s Auto Supply NHRA Nationals in Seattle (July 17-19) and the FRAM-Autolite NHRA Nationals in Sonoma, Calif. (July 24-26). The 28th annual Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals in Brainerd, Minn. will take place Aug. 13-16.

A public memorial service to celebrate the life of Scott Kalitta will be held this Thursday, June 26th at 7:00 p.m. at:

Ernsthausen Performing Arts Center
350 Shady Lane Drive
Norwalk, OH  44857

The Kalitta family appreciates your desire to send flowers to express your sympathy and asks that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to these charities close to Scott’s heart:

The school his sons attend-

Saint Stephen’s Episcopal School
Attn:  Development Office
315 41st Street West
Bradenton, FL  34209

B.R.A.K.E.S. (Be Responsible and Keep Everyone Safe)
c/o Doug Herbert Performance Parts
1443 E. Gaston St.
Lincolnton, NC 28092

*All donations to BRAKES will be used for the expressed purpose of saving lives and keeping our children safe. Website – www.putonthebrakes.com

A private funeral service for family members will be held at a later date.

Cards for Scott’s family or Connie can be sent to:

Kalitta Air
818 Willow Run Airport
Ypsilanti, MI 48198

Email condolences can be sent to:
champion@kalittaracing.comThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Kalitta, a two-time former NHRA Top Fuel champion and one of just 14 drivers to have won in both of NHRA’s nitro categories, died June 21, 2008, as the result of multiple injuries suffered in a qualifying accident at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in Englishtown, N.J., during the running of the Lucas Oil NHRA SuperNationals. He was 46.

Kalitta was the son of legendary Top Fuel and Funny Car racer and Kalitta Motorsports team owner Connie Kalitta. Scott is survived by his wife, Kathy; sons Corey, 14, and Colin, 8; and his father, Connie.

Scott Kalitta was fatally injured in a high-speed crash during the NHRA Lucas Oil Supernationals in Englishtown, N.J. The former Top Fuel world champion was competing in the Funny Car division when his Toyota exploded an engine, resulting in a parachute malfunction.

The remnants of the race car then sped towards the sandtrap and cleared the catch net.

Kalitta was 46 and resided in Palmetto, Fla.

Kalitta’s first professional start came ironically in 1982 at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park. His best finish at the track came in 1995 when he finished runner-up in 1995.

Ironically Kalitta was in the opposite lane when Top Fuel drivers Blaine Johnson [1995] and Darrell Russell [2004] encountered fatal accidents.

Kalitta is survived by wife Kathy, sons Cory (14) and Colin (9). He was the son of drag racing legend Connie Kalitta and cousin to current Top Fuel racer Doug Kalitta.

His death represents the second Funny Car fatality in as many years. Eric Medlen died in April 2007, the result of injuries sustained in a testing accident.(Thanks to competitionplus.com)

Jimmie Van Zant

When you hear or think of the name Van Zant, you automatically think of Lynyrd Skynyrd and the late Ronnie Van Zant.  Last Friday night another Van Zant showed why he belongs doing what his cousins do best. Jimmie Van Zant a cousin of Ronnie, Johnny and Donnie showed up at the 3rd annual bike fest in Starke, FL to rock southern style.  Van Zant and his band rocked the roof off the stage.  All types came out to see this southern rocker, such as bikers, young and old and the usual Van Zant followers.  They played songs from their debut CD “Southern Comfort” which was released in 2000 to the new CD called “My name is Jimmie, which is due out later this year.  It has songs such as 100 proof, Saving Grace and one I am sure you will hear on the radio, Redneck Revolution.  Jimmie was born in Jacksonville, FL and now spends most of his time, when not on the road, in Fernandina Beach, FL.,  with his beautiful wife Zee, who is one of his backup singers.  They have been married for seven years and  he says she is his backbone and that they are more then husband and wife, they are friends.  He says it’s nice to have someone who will always have your back.  Jimmie says he never thought he would be in the music business, but after seeing Ronnie play so many times it grew on him.  He says he remembers Ronnie having to come over to his house to practice because no matter where they tried to play some one always called the cops on them. Jimmie’s mother let Ronnie play at their house and that was when everything started to take shape.  Jimmie says when he would get up in the morning to go to school he would find all of Ronnie’s and his bands instruments all over the floor, and when he got home from school he would watch Ronnie and his band play. He would wait until they would take a break and leave to go get a soda pop and that is when Jimmie says he would play around with the guitars and drums.  He says he broke a few strings and put a couple drum sticks through the drum heads and would get his butt whipped a few times for doing so.  Jimmie says he took guitar and piano lessons and says he just couldn’t grasp it.  He says that while Lynyrd Skynyrd was out touring he never realized the magnitude of what Skynyrd was going to become.  Because he wasn’t quite ready to follow in his cousins footsteps, he kept busy with his cars and fixing them up.  After figuring that he wasn’t any good with instruments he thought he would try to see if he could sing.  So he went out and got a tape recorder and started singing into it and when he heard it back he thought it sounded terrible.  Nevertheless he wanted to start a band so he went to his dad and to his uncle Lacey and Donnie.  Donnie helped him with a demo tape for Atlantic Records. The rest as they say is history.  Jimmie says there must be some kind of gene inside the Van Zant family to play music.  He says all he has tried to do is uphold his families name, but also have his own identity, try to do the right thing and play music and enjoy it.  He says the stage is where he wants to be.  It was in 1982 in Savannah, Ga. that he was an opening act for the first time and that was for Foghat.  He has been going strong ever since.  Asked if he gets nervous before going out on stage he told us that he doesn’t.  Instead he worries more about if things are going to be right, like is the sound going to sound good, are the lights going to be right and a multitude of other things.  As far as the crowd it’s like getting that first cup of coffee in the morning, music is energy.  “I have always believed that music can change people’s lives and if I can do something to make someone’s life a little more enjoyable, then I feel I have done my job well. That’s why I am here and that is also the reason why there is Southern Rock.”   Van Zant made his first trip to a drag racing event this year when his wife Zee and Tony, his agent, were guests of top fuel driver Doug Herbert at the Gatornationals in Gainesville, FL.  Jimmie was there to help promote the B.R.A.K.E.S. (Be responsible and keep everyone safe) organization, that was sparked out of a tragedy, but aimed at safety. On January 26th, 2008, Doug Herbert’s two sons, Jon and James Herbert, lost their lives in a car accident in Cornelius, North Carolina.  Jimmie and his wife say they have total respect for the drivers that go down the track.  He said Doug and all of the crew where so great to all of them and made them feel like family.  For more information on Jimmie Van Zant, please visit their web site at  www.jimmievanzantmusic.net.

Jimmie Van Zant Band:

Tim Rossi- Guitar

Mike (Sgt. Narly) Latessa- Guitar

Dave Daniels- Guitar

Jeremy Robinson- Drums

Zee Van Zant- Backup singer

Lauralin (Lolo) Sanders - Backup singer

The track was cooking at 122 degrees when the racing got underway at Gainesville Raceway Saturday night. With a nice showing of cars and half way decent weather it was time to Git-R-Done. Jr.Dragster saw a first , when sisters Allison and Katie McLean raced their way into the finals for the first time ever since they started racing. The McLean’s told Top Fuel Photos that they had never raced each other in the finals before this race. Allison raced her Bar’s Leak sponsored dragster to a win over her sister Katie who drives a Rislone sponsored dragster. Kyle Hutto won for the second race in a row. Hutto is becoming way to familiar with the winners circle, took home the winners trophy in True Street when he beat out David Smith. Dana Smith won Street Motorcycle. Smith won for the first time in two years and was all smiles after beating out Duane Schmidt. In Pro Motorcycle, Mike Lakoskey took his Suzuki past Mark Browning, who was also on a Suzuki,it was the battle of the Suzuki’s. Jimmy Hodges took home trophies in two classes as he took the winners spot in Foot Brake and runner up honors in Combo. Hodges was running hard all night in his vette. JR Hamelink got the runner up spot in Foot Brake. Mark Horton also took home two wins in his dragster, Horton won Combo and Electronics. Dan Rella brought home runner up in Electronics in his mustang.