Team Mopar's USAC National Midget Car Series contingent headed back to Indiana for the USAC Indiana Midget Week Series last week. Kicking the event off at Gas City I-69 Speedway on August 18, Tony Stewart Racing Enterprises' Josh Wise and Levi Jones, along with Wilke-PAK Motorsports' Jerry Coons Jr., turned in solid performances. Coons Jr., won the first heat race event en route to a second-place finish in the feature. Privateer Brad Kuhn also earned a top-five finish, driving the No. 74 machine to a fourth-place finish in the feature event.

Wise and Jones experienced ignition issues early on in the night, sidelining the No. 20 and No. 21 machines. Hopping into cars offered up by other competitors, Wise drove to a sixth-place finish in the feature, while Jones capped off the night with a ninth-place finish. The duo and teams regrouped for Sunday's event finale at Kokomo Speedway, with Jones driving the No. 21 machine to a sixth-place finish in the feature. Wise ran near the front of the field for much of the event, before a late race spin relegated him to 15th-place. Coons Jr., drove the No. 11 machine to an 11th-place feature event finish to wrap up his weekend.

Coons Jr., continues to lead the USAC National Midget Car Series point standings, with Wise ranked fifth and Jones in sixth. Kuhn is currently ranked eighth. The series resumes action on August 26 at Angell Park Speedway. For more information regarding the USAC National Midget Car Series, log on to usacracing.com.

The outlook wasn't rosy for Team Mopar's Samuel Hubinette and his NuFormz Racing crew on the eve of the Round Five 2006 Formula D Drift Series event, held before a packed crowd at Evergreen Speedway in Monroe, Wash., near Seattle. After testing Hubinette's Mopar Dodge Viper SRT10 last Thursday, the team determined they needed to replace the engine, which had been used in competition for nearly three years, a remarkable feat in itself. With practice rounds set for Friday, it looked as if Hubinette's championship hopes would be dashed. But then Team Mopar went to work.

The call went out to Mopar, and it ensured the new engine would be sent post haste to Seattle for the effort. Next, NuFormz Racing, led by owner Shaun Carlson, and local Viper shop Maltby Motorsports, owned by Cam and Janet McCracken, got their hands dirty, completing the engine swap in record time-less than ten hours.

The result? A No. 7 qualifying spot and Great Eight finish for Hubinette, preserving the "Crazy Swede's" championship run, as he now trails Rhys Millen by just 11 points.

"It's just amazing that NuFormz Racing and Maltby Motorsports pulled this off, and that Mopar could get the parts out here so quick," said Hubinette, who defeated Hiro Sumida before losing to event winner and BFGoodrich teammate Yukinobu Okubo in the Great Eight round. "The fact that I qualified No. 7 and made it as far as I did is a great achievement. It was definitely a team effort.

"I'm stoked to move on to Irwindale Speedway (in California, on August 31) and compete in the Mopar D1 All-Star Duel, in a drifting exhibition with Kasey Kahne and the other NASCAR guys. That's going to be a good practice day for me, with a little more seat time in the drift car. Then we'll head to New Jersey for Round Six [at Wall Speedway on September 9]. I'm definitely hungry to get a better result there then I did last year [when he had a first-round exit]."

The Tony Stewart Racing Enterprises duo of Josh Wise and Levi Jones returned to action in the USAC National Silver Crown Series over the weekend, competing in the Tony Bettenhausen 100 event at the Illinois State Fairgrounds on Saturday. Wise qualified the No. 10 machine in fifth-place, with Jones timing in 10th quick on the day.

The duo ran strong in the 100 lap/100 mile event, as Wise drove to a third-place finish in the feature. Jones was credited with a 24th-place finish after the No. 22 machine lost a header during the race. Wise's finish saw him maintain his sixth place standing in the USAC National Silver Crown Series points championship.

Wise and Jones will return to action in the USAC National Silver Crown Series on September 3 at the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds in Illinois. For more information regarding USAC Racing, log on to usacracing.com.

Paul McMahan and Joey Saldana put the 2006 Knoxville Nationals behind them and returned to National Sprint Tour Series and World of Outlaws Sprint Series action last week. McMahan and the No. 20 Tony Stewart Motorsports team hit the road to Junction Motor Speedway on August 14, where McMahan drove to a dash event win. A tangle with a lapped car ended the No. 20 team's night prematurely in the A-Main, and McMahan was credited with 24th place. The team regrouped and headed to Billings Motorsports Park on August 18 and 19, where McMahan wrapped up the week with a sixth-place finish in Friday night's preliminary A-main and a tenth-place finish in Saturday's A-main finale. McMahan is currently sixth in the National Sprint Tour Series point standings.

Saldana and the No. 9 Kasey Kahne Racing team continued their torrid pace in the World of Outlaws Sprint Series, as Saldana qualified second quick en route to sixth-place at Black Hills Speedway on August 17. Moving to Nodak Speedway on August 19, Saldana set quick time and drove to a third-place finish to wrap up the weekend. With seven wins, 21 Top-five finishes and 37 Top-10 finishes on the season, Saldana is currently second in the World of Outlaws Sprint Series points chase. He is only 265 points behind the current series leader, Donny Schatz.

McMahan and the National Sprint Tour Series will resume action on August 25-26 at Grays Harbor Raceway, the home track of the series' late promoter, Fred Brownfield. Saldana and the World of Outlaws Sprint Series will resume action on August 25-26 at Skagit Speedway. For more information on the National Sprint Tour Series or the World of Outlaws Sprint Series, log on to nationalsprinttour.com or theworldofoutlaws.com.

Steve Francis and the No. 15 Steve Francis Racing team found their front-running groove once again in World of Outlaws Late Model Series action last week, as "The Kentucky Colenel" picked up two heat race wins, a dash race win and a pair of third-place A-main finishes. Francis and company kicked off the week by winning the third heat race and the dash event en route to a podium finish at Farmer City Raceway on Monday, August 14. Rain had washed the event out twice earlier in the season, but the series made the third time the charm for the Farmer City 50.

Moving on to Lake Ozark Speedway on August 15, Francis and the No. 15 team continued their forward momentum, winning the first heat race event of the night. Francis drove a steady race to again bring the No. 15 machine across the line in third. The solid performances saw Francis move into fourth place in the World of Outlaws Late Model Series points chase, only 26 points out of first.

Francis and the World of Outlaws Late Model Series will resume action on August 26 at Columbus Speedway. For more information regarding the World of Outlaws Late Model Series, log on to woolms.com.