Hernandez gunning for first place after long summer break

NORWALK, Ohio (August 22, 2007) - For many, summertime is full of vacations, relaxing and celebration, but for Josh Hernandez, driver of the Dr. Moon's Rage '57 Chevy Bel Air Pro Mod, rest was not on the agenda. Hernandez and his team took advantage of the almost two month hiatus in Flowmaster ADRL competition to improve on their already stellar tune up for the '57 Chevy. Their goal: take back the lead in ADRL Pro Extreme points chase this weekend at the Inaugural ADRL Chevy Drags in Norwalk, Ohio.

"It probably won't take long to knock the dust off of my driving boots when we get to the track," Hernandez said. "Since we didn't make the last ADRL race, we dropped to second place in the points chase, and we are anxious to get back on top."

Because of scheduling conflicts, Hernandez was forced to miss the Independence Drags in Radford, Virginia, July 6-7. Although he was in first place before the event, Bubba Stanton won the event and passed Hernandez, 1544 to 1229 points.

"It's a different position for us, really. We're not the ones with the target on our backs right now, and I can tell you, we're gunning for Bubba this weekend. I know you are really racing yourself when you get to the line and all that, but, lets face it, everyone wants to be No. 1, and we're going to give it our best to get back on top," Hernandez said.

The Inaugural Chevy Drags is the fifth of seven events on the ADRL's 2007 schedule and will be the second-to-last chance for Hernandez to earn points in the Battle for the Belts points standings, with only the Eastern Race Fuels Dragstock IV event remaining as a last resort for points-scoring. The top eight finishers in each of the ADRL's four professional classes automatically qualify for the AlphaTrade Battle for the Belts eliminators, Oct. 12 in Ennis, Texas.

The Chevy Drags also represents the first national event in the ADRL's four-year history to be held outside the southern U.S. or the Atlantic seaboard. Norwalk's Summit Motorsports Park will be, by far, the northern-most appearance for any ADRL national event.

The race will follow what has become the ADRL's template for national event competition: open testing for most of the day Friday, followed by one round of professional qualifying at 8 p.m. local time, with Saturday featuring two rounds of qualifying (noon and 2 p.m.) and the first round of eliminations for all classes at 4 p.m.