BRISTOL, TN – CatSpot Organic Cat Litter Top Fuel dragster drivers Scott Palmer and Dom Lagana put on a great show in qualifying for the Fitzgerald USA NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway, with each car getting in the top of the field for the Father’s Day race.

Palmer posted his best qualifying effort of the season in the No. 4 spot (3.863 seconds at 319.82 mph), while part-time teammate Lagana slid into the No. 7 position during a hot two days of qualifying. Both are poised for a good race day.

“Obviously, Q1 was great,” said Palmer, who sat in the No. 1 spot after that session. “Got down the track No. 1 qualifier for that session. That was a good test for a hot track. Friday night Q2, we made a pretty stout run for anyone, so we ended up No. 4 for Friday.

“Today, since we ran 3.99 in Q1, we got to try some things for Sunday in the heat. First one didn’t work. Second one went further down the track. We are just trying to manipulate the bump in the track and track prep.

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BRISTOL, TN – Ricky House and the CatSpot Organic Cat Litter Top Fuel Harley team take the battle for the class championship to Bristol Dragway this weekend for the Fitzgerald USA NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals.

House currently sits fourth on the Mickey Thompson Top Fuel Harley Series standings, but he’s only one point behind third-place Jay Turner and only 53 out of the lead.

House, the winner of the Las Vegas race earlier this season, has a simple goal for Bristol: Win the race.

“My mission this weekend: I need to be in the finals and I need to win the race,” House said. “There are four of us in the hunt for the points lead, and it’s really close. Two out of those four aren’t going to the final, so I could leave here either first or second – or third or fourth. It’s hard to say. Fifth place is pretty far behind, but I can’t worry about that. I’ve got to worry about getting up front.”

House took the points lead with his Vegas win, slipped back to second a race later and then fell to fourth after a tough outing in Topeka. There, he qualified No. 3 but put a cylinder out in the first round of eliminations.

Qualifying in Bristol is a big first step, as 20 Top Fuel Harleys will be fighting for just eight qualifying spots.

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BRISTOL, TN – Being successful at the highest level of the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series is an arduous task, as established teams have spent years developing their winning ways.

The big multi-car teams have a built-in advantage, as they are able to gather and share more data than single-car teams. That helps them solve problems quicker, make improvements sooner and simply go faster.

This weekend, the CatSpot Organic Cat Litter Top Fuel dragster team takes another step as a multi-car team, as Dom Lagana will again join Scott Palmer in racing in the Fitzgerald USA NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway.

“We’ve got a really good thing going,” said Lagana, who is racing in his third event of the season. “Helping each other, sharing information, just trying to team up as much as we can against these multi-car teams. “We are getting there. Our cars are getting closer and closer where we can really share data. Anytime you are out here racing, it’s fun and I really enjoy it. Scott is family to us.”

Palmer and Lagana both have the goal of having fun while drag racing, but running fast and winning rounds makes drag racing more fun. And by teaming up and sharing information, they hope to get better quicker.

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NORTH DINWIDDIE, VA – The Virginia NHRA Nationals didn’t last nearly as long as CatSpot Organic Cat Litter Top Fuel drivers Scott Palmer and Dom Lagana wanted, but strides were still made at Virginia Motorsports Park.

Palmer and Lagana both made good runs during the first round of eliminations on Sunday, but both came up a little short.

Working together as teammates, though, Palmer and Lagana continued to gather information and data that should help them through the summer months of the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing
Series schedule.

Lagana joined Palmer as a CatSpot teammate for this race, doubling the amount of data gathered as they battle the best in NHRA.

Lagana made his best pass of the weekend in the final qualifying session and then made another good run in the first round of eliminations, 3.880 seconds at 322.27 mph. But Richie Crampton, who interestingly helped build the race car Lagana was driving, made a little bit better run, 3.879 seconds at 317.19 mph, to get the win light by about three feet.

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NORTH DINWIDDIE, VA – The CatSpot Organic Cat Litter Top Fuel dragsters of Scott Palmer and Dom Lagana saved the best for last, setting both drivers up well for final eliminations of the Virginia NHRA Nationals on Sunday at Virginia Motorsports Park.

Lagana made his best pass of the weekend in the final qualifying session Saturday, grabbing the No. 9 spot with a run of 3.869 seconds at 323.81 mph. Palmer had his best run in Q1, 3.891 at 309.06 mph, but his pass of 3.895 at 320.05 mph in the final session has him optimistic for Sunday.

“If you get by the first round, I do believe a 3.80-car is going to win this race tomorrow,” Palmer said. “If you get by the first round, 3.80s are going to win this race.”

Palmer faces No. 6 qualifier Steve Torrence, while Lagana – running a second CatSpot Organic Cat Litter dragster this weekend – faces No. 8 Richie Crampton.

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NORTH DINWIDDIE, VA – Veteran Top Fuel ace Dom Lagana will wheel a second CatSpot Organic Cat Litter Top Fuel dragster in NHRA’s return to Virginia Motorsports Park this weekend for the Virginia Nationals.

Lagana will serve as a teammate to CatSpot Organic Cat Litter driver Scott Palmer.

“It’s going to be real exciting,” Lagana said. “It’s only our second race out this year, and we’ve got the new car again. I’m excited. Any weekend you can come out and go racing is a good one, you know?”

Lagana debuted a new Morgan Lucas Racing-built chassis at Charlotte earlier this year, showing plenty of promise with the car. With more data available from Palmer and his new crew chief, Jason McCulloch, Lagana hopes to build on the Charlotte race and compete with the best in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series.

“It would be nice to lay a couple good low-.80 or high-.70 runs down if the track will take it,” Lagana said. “We made some good progress with the new car in Charlotte. We made one run that would’ve been in the high-.70s, so we’ll build off of that and see what the weather conditions do.

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NORTH DINWIDDIE, VA – Scott Palmer knows exactly how drag racing fans in the Old Dominion feel about the NHRA’s return to Virginia Motorsports Park, mainly because he has the exact same emotions.

“I’m a regular guy, a fan, just like everyone who comes through the gates and walks through the pits,” Palmer said. “I did that for years and if I wasn’t lucky enough to be driving this CatSpot Organic Cat Litter Top Fuel dragster, I’d be right there with them again. I absolutely love this sport.”

Through years of hard work and an outright refusal to give up on his dream, Palmer will be attending this weekend’s race as the driver of an 11,000-horsepower, nitro-burning dragster. And with backing from CatSpot owner Tommy Thompson and the continued help of championship crew chief Jason McCulloch, who joined the team last weekend in Chicago, Palmer arrives with a legitimate chance to win the Wally trophy.

“We learned a lot in Chicago about running in the heat and the forecast for this weekend looks pretty much the same as what we just experienced so we are going to go there and try to apply this new knowledge,” Palmer said. “I love that track and the fans there are awesome. The last time we raced Virginia we turned on the win light against my buddy Spencer Massey so, you know, I have good memories of that place.”

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JOLIET, IL – There was no shortage of drama during Sunday’s eliminations at the 21st annual JEGS Route 66 NHRA Nationals and Scott Palmer and the CatSpot Organic Cat Litter Top Fuel dragster team were right in the mix at Route 66 Raceway.

Palmer and crew posted a first-round upset against the higher-qualified car of T.J. Zizzo and then had all the FOX TV cameras on them one round later in a commotion-filled tilt between Palmer and his good friend Clay Millican.

“I don’t know if we’ve ever been in a race like that one but it sure was fun,” Palmer said. “The mad thrash at the starting line was exciting, the run itself was exciting, the race was super close, I mean other than being on the wrong end of the excitement as far as getting the win light, it was cool.

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JOLIET, IL – Top Fuel driver Scott Palmer drove his CatSpot Organic Cat Litter dragster to a steady 3.839-second pass at 326.24 mph to secure a mid-pack starting spot at the 21st annual JEGS Route 66 NHRA Nationals.

As he predicted, the Top Fuel race day grid is packed with great cars, with positions 3-13 separated by less than a tenth of a second.

“We added Jason (McCulloch, championship-winning tuner) to the team this weekend and because he’s new to our operation we are taking measured steps together,” Palmer said. “We’ve got to see some runs with Jason’s ideas mixed in there. It’ll take a little time but we knew that.

“Basically, there was one really good qualifying session here (on Friday night) and we couldn’t be as aggressive as we wanted because we haven’t been getting the 60-foot times we need to run the bigger numbers. They’re prepping the track differently lately and its thrown everyone a little bit of a curve ball.

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JOLIET, IL – Veteran drag racer Scott Palmer and his CatSpot Organic Litter Top Fuel team hope to benefit greatly from the tuning expertise of reigning Top Fuel champion crew chief Jason McCulloch at this weekend’s 21st annual JEGS Route 66 NHRA Nationals.

McCulloch, who together with tuner Brian Husen helped Brittany Force win the 2017 world title, joins Scott Palmer Racing through the team’s existing relationship with Torrence Racing and their crew chief Richard Hogan.

“I know most people don’t ever get the opportunity to run Top Fuel,” Palmer said. “Let alone run this class with a car that can legitimately win rounds and contend for race wins. It’s one thing to come out here and get a car down the track and have some fun. It’s another thing altogether to have a car that can consistently run in the 3.70s.

“Adding Jason to the mix shows we’re serious about what we’re doing. He knows how to go fast and since we basically run a slightly more conservative version of Steve (Torrence’s) tune-up, which Jason already knows from all his time with Richard and Alan Johnson over the years, we’re very hopeful this is going to enhance our program.”

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