Finding sponsorship dollars in racing is like pulling teeth, unless your sponsor happens to be a dentist. A month after seeing his alcohol funny car go up in flames, Paul Noakes of London will be back on the quarter-mile for the Thunder by the Beach weekend at Grand Bend Motorplex.

His sponsor, Brock Rondeau, a dentist at Northland Dental Centre, talked his partner Adam Burton into chipping in -- no pun intended -- so Noakes can race twice more this season.

He'll be at Grand Bend, then at an NHRA division event in Columbus, Ohio, next month to qualify for the NHRA Gator Nationals next March in Gainesville, Fla.

Noakes also plans to do as many IHRA Hooters Drag Racing Series events next year as his budget allows.

It was at the IHRA ACDelco Canadian Nationals at Toronto Motorsports Park where an oil line pulled apart, causing his engine to break, which in turn led to a fire.

Noakes, without a major sponsor, said at the time that blown engine puts him back another year.

But then the two dentists came forward with some cash and Noakes "had to dig deep myself," but he had the $6,500 US he needed for a new engine and parts.

He is looking forward to the Labour Day weekend event at Grand Bend, an event he has won seven times.

The stiffest competition will be Londoner Rob Atchison, who is leading the IHRA funny car points championship.

Atchison, 27, had set six straight track elapsed time records heading into the Sunoco World Nationals last weekend in Norwalk, Ohio.

Atchison actually broke that track record on the Saturday before, breaking his transmission in Round 2, ending his weekend.

His string of track records also ended when Jim Sickles of Caledonia, N.Y., reset it in Sunday's eliminations.

"I think we could have given Jim a run for for the money if we could have raced," said Atchison, who, in his Erickson Manufacturing Pontiac Firebird, has a 114-point lead over five-time IHRA champion Mark Thomas of Louisville, Ohio.

Atchison has won four of seven events this year, with one runner-up position.

The next Hooters Series event is the Amalie Oil North American Nationals Sept. 5-7 in Epping, N.H.

Atchison's first track record came at Grand Bend, then continued at Richmond, Va., Edmonton, Milan, Mich., Toronto Motorsports Park near Cayuga and Martin, Mich.

The funny car class should be very competitive this weekend at Grand Bend.

"There's going to be a lot of American cars and only three Canadians. But between Rob and me, we're looking to keep the trophy in Canada," Noakes said.

Tomorrow's Night of Nitro will feature six nitro cars, including two top fuel dragsters from the IHRA Hooters Series -- Todd Paton of Paris and Louie Allison of Denver, Colo.

Paton, a rookie in a top fueler, sits third in the Hooters Series points chase.

Allison gave the Grand Bend crowd its scariest moment in the 2001 Canadian Nationals when his car tore apart, then flipped over during his quarter-final.

Allison was approaching 300 miles an hour when his top fueler became airborne. He wasn't hurt.

"This is the largest Labour Day drag race in Canadian history," Paul Spriet, chief operating officer at Grand Bend, said of the two-day Thunder by the Beach event.

"It's our largest independent event ever. The only one larger is the IHRA national event."

2004 Canadian Nationals

June 11-13 is the tentative date for next year's fifth- annual IHRA Mopar Canadian Nationals at Grand Bend Motorplex.

This year's event, which ran May 30 through June 1 and was hampered by cold weather, attracted 28,500 spectators.

Last year the Canadian Nationals drew a track record 38,200 spectators.