NHRA
CARQUEST Winternationals
Pomona, California By Susan Wade, Bobby Bennett & Mike Aiello; Photos by Roger Richards
& Marty Reger
SUNDAY FINAL - TROXEL
BECOMES SIXTH WOMAN TO WIN IN NHRA TOP FUEL; Hight and Anderson also win
CARQUEST Winternationals
(2-12-2006) - Melanie Troxel became just the sixth woman
in NHRA history to win a Top Fuel event Sunday by racing to victory at
the season-opening CARQUEST Auto Parts NHRA Winternationals.
Funny Car sophomore Robert Hight and three-time and reigning Pro Stock
champion Greg Anderson also scored big wins at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona,
assuming the POWERade Series points lead in their respective
categories. The $2 million race is the first of 23 in the 2006 POWERade
Drag Racing Series.
Eighteen years after her world champion father Mike Troxel won this event
in his family-owned Top Alcohol dragster, Melanie returned to Pomona's
famed winner's circle in her Don Schumacher-owned dragster and became
just the eighth female to win in a professional category.
"It
gets media attention to say I'm the 'Xth' number female to win a race,
but those of us in the NHRA know that it's no big deal because we've had
lots of female winners, especially when you compare us to all the other
motor sports," Troxel said. "I'm thrilled there were women before
me to pave the way but really we just want to be the best team out here,
regardless of me being female."
The final round was her easiest of the day as she streaked away from David
Baca, whose Mach 1 dragster lost traction, to clinch the trophy with a
4.582-second run at 321.65 mph. She proved herself worthy of the win as
the day progressed, beating Clay Millican in the first round,
three-time NHRA POWERade world champion Tony Schumacher, and red-hot Morgan
Lucas.
Hight's third career win was a struggle from the start in his Auto Club
Ford Mustang. He didn't make the elimination field until the final qualifying
session. Then he had to overcome a huge second-round engine explosion
that ruined his primary body and an accidental discharge of his fire bottles
just to make it through the day and reach the finals, which ended with
a photo finish final round victory over Ron Capps.
"We
did have a few bad luck things happen today but my team came through like
professionals," Hight said. "It was lucky for us that John (Force)
and Eric (Medlen, teammates) lost early because their crew guys came over
and helped us. If they hadn't we wouldn't have made it up there for the
semifinals. Everyone jumped in there. It was awesome to see."
After running the quickest time for a Funny Car in NHRA history during
qualifying, a stellar 4.664-second blast, 13-time Funny Car champion Force
failed to back up the mark up during eliminations to make it an official
national record. Per NHRA rule, any potential national record run must
be certified by another run within 1 percent.
Both Force and reigning champ Gary Scelzi lost in the quarterfinals.
Three-time and reigning Pro Stock world champ Anderson raced to his 40th
career victory -- and 36th win of the last 70 national events -- in convincing
fashion. In the final he posted a track record performance of 6.665 at
207.75 mph in his Summit Racing Pontiac GTO to dismiss final round challenger
Mike Edwards, who finished in 6.726 at 206.48 in his Young Life GTO.
"It's
not as easy as it looks, I swear," Anderson said. "I'm sorry
if I'm boring you guys (the media), but we've just been on such a roll
over the last few years. It's still a struggle and I lose sleep every
night worrying about what everyone else is doing, but we've managed to
stay ahead. We have a long way to go this year but we're off to a great
start."
The NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series tour continues with the 22nd annual
Checker Schuck's Kragen NHRA Nationals, Feb. 24-26, at Firebird International
Raceway near Phoenix.
Final finish order (1-16) for professional categories at the 46th annual
CARQUEST Auto Parts Winternationals at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona. The
$2 million race is the first of 23 events in the $50 million NHRA POWERade
Drag Racing Series.
TOP FUEL:
1. Melanie Troxel; 2. David Baca; 3. Morgan Lucas; 4. Doug Herbert; 5.
Tony Schumacher; 6. Rod Fuller; 7. Larry Dixon; 8. Doug Kalitta; 9. Brandon
Bernstein; 10. David Grubnic; 11. Cory McClenathan; 12. Bruce Litton;
13. Clay Millican; 14. Doug Foley; 15. Hillary Will; 16. J.R. Todd.
FUNNY CAR:
1. Robert Hight, Ford Mustang; 2. Ron Capps, Dodge Stratus; 3. Phil Burkart,
Chevy Monte Carlo; 4. Bob Gilbertson, Stratus; 5. Del Worsham, Monte Carlo;
6. John Force, Mustang; 7. Gary Scelzi, Stratus; 8. Jim Head, Stratus;
9. Tony Bartone, Monte Carlo; 10. Whit Bazemore, Stratus; 11. Tommy Johnson
Jr., Monte Carlo; 12. Tony
Pedregon, Monte Carlo; 13. Tim Wilkerson, Monte Carlo; 14. Eric Medlen,
Mustang; 15. Cruz Pedregon, Monte Carlo; 16. Gary Densham, Monte Carlo.
PRO STOCK:
1. Greg Anderson, Pontiac GTO; 2. Mike Edwards, GTO; 3. Larry Morgan,
Dodge Stratus; 4. Mark Pawuk, GTO; 5. Jason Line, GTO; 6. Warren Johnson,
GTO; 7. Rickie Smith, Chevy Cobalt; 8. Erica Enders, Cobalt; 9. Kurt Johnson,
Cobalt; 10. Ron Krisher, Cobalt; 11. Richie Stevens, Stratus; 12. Bob
Panella, Cobalt; 13. Allen Johnson, Stratus; 14. Jim Yates, GTO; 15. Dave
Connolly, Cobalt; 16. Greg Stanfield, GTO.
Sunday's final results from the 46th annual CARQUEST Auto Parts Winternationals
at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona. The $2 million race is the first of 23
in the $50 million NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series:
Top Fuel -- Melanie Troxel, 4.582 seconds, 321.65 mph def. David Baca,
8.677 seconds, 91.43 mph.
Funny Car -- Robert Hight, Ford Mustang, 4.763, 317.94 def. Ron Capps,
Dodge Stratus, 4.775, 323.50.
Pro Stock -- Greg Anderson, Pontiac GTO, 6.665, 207.75 def. Mike Edwards,
GTO, 6.726, 206.48.
Stock Eliminator -- Keith Lynch, Chevy Camaro, 10.464, 114.50 def. David
Rampy, Camaro, foul.
Super Comp -- Anthony Castillo, Dragster, 8.884, 170.54 def. Keith Downing,
Dragster, 8.868, 165.07.
Super Gas -- Val Torres, Pontiac Firebird, 9.902, 149.90 def. Bill Ohmer,
Chevy Nova, 9.903, 146.30.
Final round-by-round results from the 46th annual CARQUEST Auto Parts
Winternationals at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona, the first of 23 events
in the $50 million NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series:
TOP FUEL:
ROUND ONE -- Melanie Troxel, 5.318, 225.22 def. Clay
Millican, 9.369, 75.24; David Baca, 4.819, 302.75 def. Brandon Bernstein,
4.945, 238.64; Larry Dixon, 5.142, 286.38
def. Cory McClenathan, 5.850, 223.76; Doug
Herbert, 4.648, 310.84 def. J.R. Todd, 24.660, 33.15; Tony Schumacher,
4.517, 323.12 def. Bruce Litton, 8.170, 96.62; Doug Kalitta, 4.589, 279.09
def. David Grubnic, 5.716, 167.47; Morgan Lucas, 4.567, 324.75 def. Hillary
Will, 14.204, 43.04; Rod Fuller, 4.579, 328.14 def. Doug
Foley, foul;
ROUND ONE -- Robert Hight, Ford Mustang, 4.733, 322.19
def. Eric Medlen, Mustang, 5.582, 173.99; Del Worsham, Chevy Monte Carlo,
4.894, 319.29 def. Tony Pedregon, Monte Carlo, 5.147, 237.38; John Force,
Mustang,
4.774, 313.00 def. Cruz Pedregon, Monte Carlo, 6.432, 156.90; Jim Head,
Dodge Stratus, 4.881, 294.43 def. Tommy Johnson Jr., Monte Carlo, 4.946,
311.56; Gary Scelzi, Stratus, 4.775, 324.05 def. Tony Bartone, Monte
Carlo, 4.914, 293.79; Bob Gilbertson, Stratus, 4.813, 316.38 def. Whit
Bazemore, Stratus, 4.943, 311.70; Ron Capps, Stratus, 4.790, 322.19 def.
Tim Wilkerson, Monte Carlo, 5.150, 243.77; Phil Burkart, Monte Carlo,
4.881, 316.30 def. Gary Densham, Monte Carlo, 8.107, 98.90;
FINAL -- Anderson,
6.665, 207.75 def. Edwards, 6.726, 206.48.
Point standings (top 10) for NHRA professional categories following
the 46th annual CARQUEST Auto Parts Winternationals at Auto Club Raceway
at Pomona, the first of 23 events in the $50 million NHRA POWERade Drag
Racing Series.
Top Fuel
1. Melanie Troxel, 112; 2. David Baca, 92; 3. (tie) Doug Herbert, 71;
Morgan Lucas, 71; 5. Tony Schumacher, 58; 6. Doug Kalitta, 57; 7. (tie)
Larry Dixon, 54; Rod Fuller, 54; 9. J.R. Todd, 36; 10. Hillary Will, 35.
Funny Car
1. Robert Hight, 112; 2. Ron Capps, 92; 3. (tie) Phil Burkart, 72; Bob
Gilbertson, 72; 5. John Force, 58; 6. Gary Scelzi, 56; 7. (tie) Jim Head,
51; Del Worsham, 51; 9. Tommy Johnson Jr., 37; 10. Tony Pedregon, 35.
Pro Stock
1. Greg Anderson, 118; 2. Mike Edwards, 94; 3. Larry Morgan, 75; 4. Mark
Pawuk, 72; 5. Erica Enders, 57; 6. Warren Johnson, 56; 7. Jason Line,
54; 8. Rickie Smith, 53; 9. Richie Stevens, 33; 10. (tie) Kurt Johnson;
32, Ron Krisher, 32; Greg Stanfield, 32; Dave Connolly, 32.
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Sunday Notes - Troxel one for two in Pomona finals;
"Wishful thinking" says Wally; Hight survives wild weekend;
Scelzi "one better"
Champion-killer -- Melanie Troxel beat
not only one but two Top Fuel series champions to put her Richard Hogan-tuned
Skull Gear/Torco Race Fuels Dragster the final round.
She advanced
to the quarterfinals by eliminating five-time and defending International
Hot Rod Association champion Clay Millican.
Then she knocked off teammate Tony Schumacher, the three-time and current
NHRA champion, with a 4.524-second pass at 325.77 mph to the U.S. Army
Dragster's 4.530/321.96.
It returned her to the final round, where she lost to Schumacher last
November. This time she faced David Baca.
Although Schumacher extended his string of elimination-round victories
to 21 with his opening-round performance against Bruce Litton, the No.
1 qualifier saw two streaks end: consecutive final rounds (at seven) and
consecutive victories (at five). "Nobody cares about last year,"
Schumacher said.
"It was a great race," Schumacher said. "I guess if you're
going to get a streak stopped, it might as well be by your teammate."
He didn't win, but he said he is going to Disneyland -- with his wife
Cara, and three children.
"I'm sure they're going to get their fair share of wins," she
said of Schumacher, crew chief Alan Johnson, and the U.S. Army team.
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Think Pink -- Bryan Shipman doesn't care if pink is
thought of in the macho drag-racing world as a sissy color. He's was wearing
it all weekend, and no one is calling his team sissies after it won the
Winternationals Top Fuel crown.
Shipman, known as "Speedy," is assistant crew chief to Richard
Hogan on Melanie Troxel's Skull Gear/Torco Race Fuels Dragster that Don
Schumacher owns, and Shipman took to sporting a pink "Melanie Troxel"
hat.
"I guess we're all wearing pink now," Schumacher Racing Vice-President
Mike Lewis said in the winners circle.
Patient husband -- Last February, Tommy Johnson Jr. and
team owner Don Prudhomme were celebrating the Skoal Chevy Camaro's Winternationals
Funny Car victory. And Johnson's wife, Melanie Troxel, was on the sidelines,
under contract to Prudhomme at the time but without a ride -- and waiting
for Johnson to do his post-race interviews.
It was Johnson's
turn Sunday to wait on his wife as she celebrated in the Top Fuel winners
circle with her Don Schumacher Racing/Skull Gear-Torco team. He was No.
2 qualifier but lost to Jim Head in a first-round upset.
"We've got bookend sets," he said, referring to the "Wally"
trophies each has earned here. "Now we need to get the ones in the
center. Last year it was me. This year it's her. We'll have to get both
of us together in the winners circle next year."
He said all in all, "it was a great weekend."
Watching Troxel progress through the rounds, he said, was hard on him.
"She's the one who had to sit around and wait on me," Johnson
said. The reverse, he said, was nerve-wracking: "Now it's my turn,
but I hate it. I was more nervous than I ever was driving a race car."
Troxel smoked the tires on her dragster in the opening round but won
as Clay Millican had even more trouble with his Werner Enterprises/OCC/Koretsky
Dragster. Johnson said that Troxel's Sunday almost mirrored his winning
Sunday a year ago.
"It was kind of like me last year," he said. "In the first
round, I got a break when Frank [Pedregon] crossed the center line. Then
I went on to win."
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'Wishful thinking' -- Wally Parks, drag racing's 93-year-old
founder, helped the Auto Club Raceway at Pomona crowd pay tribute to his
wife, Barbara, who passed away recently.
Later in the afternoon, Parks was musing about the rumors that Bruton
Smith, who owns tracks which host four NHRA national events, is on the
verge of purchasing the sanctioning body. He said it has created quite
a stir and called it "wishful thinking" for Smith, who owns
The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Bristol Dragway, and Infineon Raceway.
Parks said he is proud of how far his organization has come with a car
count of 449 professional and sportsman cars at this season-opener. "I
feel sorry for NASCAR, trying to find places to park 43 cars," he
said with a wink.
Different year, different results -- Mike Edwards had
a much better experience at the Winternationals this time than he did
at the 2005 version.
He and his
Young Life Pontiac GTO advanced to the final round against three-time
series champion and top qualifier Greg Anderson but lost by .061 seconds
(6.665 elapsed time to 6.726).
A post race teardown last season showed that Edwards' Frank Iaconio-built
engine contained wrist pins that were two grams too light, or 1/14 of
an ounce. Consequently, the Coweta, Oklahoma, "consensus good-guy"
lost the points he earned at the race -- points that would have counted
toward both the POWERade championship and King Demon Crown specialty race.
In addition, he had to undergo pre-race teardowns for six months while
he was on probation.
The controversy grew to questions regarding the certification of the sanctioning
body's scales and its discovery that another Pro Stock car had illegally
modified rear wheel wells yet that driver was allowed to compete and received
no punishment.
Edwards qualified fifth this weekend and on Sunday beat Kurt Johnson,
Warren Johnson, and Mark Pawuk.
Series of scares -- Robert Hight and his crew hustled
to get the Auto Club of Southern California Ford Mustang to the starting
line for his semifinal run against Phil Burkart. After the distasteful
task of eliminating teammate Eric Medlen, Hight broken valve "blew
everything up" after the second round.
He and his
crew had to go to the Top Eliminator Club and swipe the body that sat
on his sponsor's show car on display. The last time that body ran was
last May at Atlanta in the final round as Force beat Hight.
He said he "can't wait till we get to Phoenix and get that '06 Mustang
body on there."
He said after the second round, "Everything you had to replace or
could replace, we did. "A fire bottle discharged in the pit and cost
him more precious time before the semifinal. Opponent Burkart was in the
water box by the time Hight's crew hustled the car to the line.
It was a dramatic turnaround for Hight, who nearly didn't make the field.
He entered Saturday's final two qualifying chances outside the 16-car
order. The crew had to shut down his Mustang because of an oil leak as
he rolled up to the line for Saturday morning's run. That left him with
only one shot at making the field for the first race of his sophomore
season. He jumped to the top five on the list.
Auto Club President Tom Kernan told Hight, "Win or lose, you're
still winners, and you represent us well," Hight said. "He took
a lot of pressure off."
So it's no wonder Hight playfully tossed his glove into the air with
delight and relief at the news he had made the final round.
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Comparatively better -- No. 3 qualifier Scelzi, whose
track-record of 332.51 mph was his 20th top speed since entering the Funny
Car class in 2002, lost to Bob Gilbertson in the second round (4.880/283.19
to 6.908/131.88). But the reigning champion took it in stride.
"We're
one better than we were the year before," Scelzi said. He will enter
the Checker Schuck's Kragen Nationals at Chandler, Arizona, in sixth place
in the standing. He was 12th when he left Pomona last season.
"We're just kind of a little dumbfounded as to what happened,"
Scelzi said. "Everything looked exactly the same as first round.
It was safe and, all of a sudden, it's like the clutch grabbed themotor
and it shook the tire right off.
"We're a little confused right now, as to what really happened.
It's a good start, and it's great that my teammate Ron Capps went to the
final round."
He said being in the top 10 in points is a decent start. "We weren't
last year, so we got a lot of positives to look forward to," he said.
"We just need to keep doing better than we did last year at the same
places, and hopefully it will work out to another championship."
Live by Force, die by Force -- After beating a tire-smoking Gary
Densham, Checker Schuck's Kragen Chevy Monte Carlo driver Phil Burkart
drew 13-time series champion John Force.
Most drivers
would worry about that. It's not that Burkart doesn't respect Force, but
he has fared better against Force than most. This time was no different.
He got the jump on the Mustang and pulled away for a trip to the semifinals.
It appeared that he was going to knock off another Force driver, Robert
Hight, whose team was in a thrash to get to the starting line.
With Hight almost missing the call, co-Crew Chiefs Marc Denner and Chris
Cunningham moved Burkart's Chevy to the favored right lane. But Hight,
who had lane choice, arrived and the CSK team had to go back to the left
side.
Once again, Burkart was off the line first and led at half-track. But
Hight won by a mere 37-thousandths of a second. Combined with his victory
over longtime pal Del Worsham, Burkart's teammate, in Round 2, Hight had
managed to beat both CSK cars by a grand total of 87-thousandths of a
second.
"We weren't the quickest or the flashiest team in qualifying, but
grabbing the ninth spot here was quite an accomplishment," Burkart
said. "Even with that, though, we knew we had our work in front of
us to come out of here feeling like we'd done some good. Getting that
first
win over Gary was huge, because that first win light of the season seems
so elusive, and you hate to move on to the second race at 0-1. You just
want that first notch in the win column so bad.
"After that it was Force," Burkart said, "and I can't
explain what it is but we just race the guy so well we all feel confident
when we go up there against him. That was a pretty emotional win for our
guys, coming off a 2005 season that left us all disappointed and frustrated.
"Robert got us, but a semifinal finish here is a good way to start.
I think we earned every bit of it. It feels like a good start, and the
guys are smiling."
Early Notes:
Up in smoke -- Four of the first five Top
Fuel winners -- Melanie Troxel, David Baca, Larry Dixon, and Doug Herbert
-- smoked their tires.
Missed making history -- By losing traction and falling
to No. 14 qualifier Doug Herbert in the opening round, No. 3 J.R. Todd
missed the chance to become the first rookie Top Fuel driver since Darrell
Russell to earn his first victory.
So did Hillary Will, who immediately smoked the tires of her dragster.
Russell beat Mike Dunn in the 2001 final. Gary Scelzi also won the Winternationals
in his rookie year (1997), defeating Joe Amato.
Hero to zero -- This turned out not to be the greatest
weekend for defending event champions.
Tommy Johnson Jr., the No. 2 qualifier, was one of six Round 1 upset victims
in the Funny Car class. He and his Don Prudhomme-owned Skoal Chevy Monte
Carlo lost to No. 15 starter Jim Head.
After Scott Kalitta won this event in the Top Fuel class last year, he
switched to the Funny Car division. However, he failed to qualify his
Kalitta Air Chevy Monte Carlo. He was 19th among 23 competitors.
Dave Connolly lost traction, as Erica Enders advanced in Pro Stock.
Scary Moment for Tony Schumacher in early qualifying
(2-12-2005) – Somehow or another a five foot piece
of blower belt managed to get past the track inspectors during qualifying
and it cost defending NHRA Top Fuel champion Tony Schumacher in a bad
way. He didn’t crash but it led to other mechanical failures that
could have been potentially catastrophic.
The debris, according to team owner Don Schumacher, went into the fuel
injector subsequently ruining it as well as the blower case.
“More than the broken parts, it is a dangerous thing to have parts
on the track like that because of the speeds these cars are reaching,”
Schumacher said.
Schumacher admitted that it was tough to say whether he reacted to the
incident as a father or team owner.
“I just can’t separate the two,” Schumacher said. “That
is my son and my team as well. Incidents like that should not be able
to happen. I know that there’s going to be little parts and pieces
out there every once in a while. Something that size, even though it is
black, should not be left on the track.”
Schumacher has in the past communicated concerns over track preparation
and debris that has managed to make its way onto the racing surface.
“I have discussed several issues,” Schumacher said. “They
[NHRA] do a good job of taking care of the issues but we must communicate.
We are all human and there was a human error. It shouldn’t have
happened but we all make mistakes.”
Schumacher speculated the incident could have been a lot worse.
“It could have stuck in the injector and kept it full wide open,”
Schumacher added. “He could have ended up in the sand or in the
catch net or beyond. It could have been catastrophic to Tony’s life
and the whole team. We all have to understand this is the human element
of the sport and we all make mistakes.”
The NHRA had a meeting with the track crews afterward to discuss the
potential dangers of the situation. – Bobby Bennett
Kaboom!
(2-12-2006) - Bobe Bode pops the blower
during Pomona qualifying. (Motel 6 Vision)
SATURDAY - FORCE
CLOCKS QUICKEST FUNNY CAR RUN IN NHRA HISTORY; Schumacher and Anderson
also are No. 1 qualifiers at CARQUEST Winternationals
(2-11-2006) - John Force posted
the quickest Funny Car pass in NHRA history Saturday to close qualifying
for the 46th annual CARQUEST Auto Parts NHRA Winternationals.
Fellow NHRA POWERade Series world champions Tony Schumacher and Greg Anderson
also ended the day as No. 1 qualifiers in Top Fuel and Pro Stock, respectively.
The $2 million race is the first of 23 in the $50 million NHRA POWERade
Drag Racing Series.
It was Force's 126th No. 1 qualifying effort, but one of his most memorable,
especially if he manages to collect the 20 extra bonus points a national
elapsed time record is worth. By rule, Force will need to clock another
run of at least 4.710 seconds to certify the run as an NHRA national record.
Force's run of 4.664 seconds at 329.91 mph in his Castrol GTX Ford Mustang
also tops the quickest Funny Car field ever.
"I've got a good old hot rod here," Force said. "I'm almost
embarrassed. We used to look at Houston as the place to set world records.
Now we're doing it here. Quickest don't win you championships and it don't
win you races. But it sure makes you feel good. I'll sleep real good tonight."
Force benefited by an extended final session that allowed him to run after
the sun had set over the west side grandstands and both the air and track
temperature had cooled.
"No doubt about it," he said. "The further back you are
in the field the later it gets, it cools off and these old racecars grow
muscles. My car is making great power, especially in the middle of the
track, and the new Ford Mustang body is working great."
Schumacher
and his U.S. Army Top Fuel crew tuned for a world-record run of their
own after realizing what the track would hold. In hindsight, they were
a little too aggressive and his final pass was lost in a cloud of smoke.
His performance of 4.490 at 317.34 mph from earlier in the day earned
him the No. 1 position.
"A 4.49 should not be what earns No. 1 in these conditions,"
said Schumacher of his 23rd career top qualifying effort. "I'm sure
Alan (Johnson, crew chief) saw what Force did and tried to run a 4.45.
It sounds good to try that and it looks ood on paper, but it doesn't always
work when you just try to rev it up in the staging lanes."
With a victory tomorrow, Schumacher can extend some Top Fuel records.
He finished the 2005 season with five consecutive victories, seven consecutive
final round appearances and 20 straight round wins.
"If we don't see an outstanding drag race tomorrow I'll be stunned,"
Schumacher said. "All these new sponsors we see out here are proof
this sport is right where it needs to be. People are realizing how exciting
it is and it's awesome to be a part of it."
Top Fuel rookies J.R. Todd and Hillary Will ended up third and fourth
on the ladder. Todd's best pass was a 4.508 in his Menards dragster, while
Will posted a 4.515 in her KB Racing dragster.
Anderson's
track-record 6.665 in his Summit Racing Pontiac GTO earned him his 41st
career low qualifier award.
"This race is going to be all about lane choice," said Anderson,
who was quickest once again Saturday with a best of 6.677 seconds. "It
puts a lot of pressure on you because even in the first round you have
to go for a big number so that you can maintain lane choice in the second
round. I wish it wasn't like that, but it is."
Final eliminations begin at 11 a.m.
First-round pairings for Sunday's professional eliminations at the
46th annual CARQUEST Auto Parts Winternationals at Auto Club Raceway at
Pomona, the first of 23 events in the $50 million NHRA POWERade Drag Racing
Series. Pairings based on results in qualifying, which ended Saturday.
Top Fuel -- 1. Tony Schumacher, 4.490 seconds, 317.34
mph vs. 16. Bruce Litton, 4.657, 297.48; 2. Doug Kalitta, 4.500, 326.95
vs. 15. David Grubnic, 4.637, 308.99; 3. J.R. Todd, 4.508, 321.65 vs.
14. Doug Herbert, 4.582, 323.19; 4. Hillary Will, 4.515, 327.66 vs. 13.
Morgan Lucas, 4.579, 323.66; 5. Rod Fuller, 4.518, 327.90 vs. 12. Doug
Foley, 4.571, 324.28; 6. Larry Dixon, 4.521, 324.20 vs. 11. Cory McClenathan,
4.567, 323.35; 7. Brandon Bernstein, 4.526, 329.83 vs. 10. David Baca,
4.558, 329.26; 8. Clay Millican, 4.528, 320.58 vs. 9. Melanie Troxel,
4.547, 327.19.
Funny Car -- 1. John Force, Ford Mustang, 4.664, 329.91
vs. 16. Cruz Pedregon, Chevy Monte Carlo, 4.807, 313.00; 2. Tommy Johnson
Jr., Monte Carlo, 4.710, 328.30 vs. 15. Jim Head, Dodge Stratus, 4.803,
318.24; 3. Gary Scelzi, Stratus, 4.713, 332.51 vs. 14. Tony Bartone, Monte
Carlo, 4.802, 318.17; 4. Tony Pedregon, Monte Carlo, 4.713, 327.19 vs.
13. Del Worsham, Monte Carlo, 4.802, 322.88; 5. Eric Medlen, Mustang,
4.752, 320.74 vs. 12. Robert Hight, Mustang, 4.793, 323.35; 6. Whit Bazemore,
Stratus, 4.763, 325.92 vs. 11. Bob Gilbertson, Stratus, 4.792, 317.64;
7. Tim Wilkerson, Monte Carlo, 4.770, 323.58 vs. 10. Ron Capps, Stratus,
4.776, 319.60; 8. Gary Densham, Monte Carlo, 4.774, 316.67 vs. 9. Phil
Burkart, Monte Carlo, 4.776, 326.00.
Pro Stock -- 1. Greg Anderson, Pontiac GTO, 6.665, 207.43
vs. 16. Bob Panella, Chevy Cobalt, 6.724, 205.32; 2. Erica Enders, Cobalt,
6.678, 206.80 vs. 15. Dave Connolly, Cobalt, 6.721, 206.80; 3. Warren
Johnson, GTO, 6.680, 207.43 vs. 14. Allen Johnson, Dodge Stratus, 6.721,
206.13; 4. Larry Morgan, Stratus, 6.680, 206.92 vs. 13. Jim Yates, GTO,
6.714, 205.79; 5. Jason Line, GTO, 6.689, 206.95 vs. 12. Greg Stanfield,
GTO, 6.710, 206.29; 6. Mike Edwards, GTO, 6.692, 206.92 vs. 11. Kurt Johnson,
Cobalt, 6.707, 207.50; 7. Richie Stevens, Stratus, 6.692, 206.76 vs. 10.
Mark Pawuk, GTO, 6.706, 206.10; 8. Rickie Smith, Cobalt, 6.696, 206.51
vs. 9. Ron Krisher, Cobalt, 6.697,
206.16.
SATURDAY NOTES - Funny
Car records fall, All Johnsons all the time; Schumacher soldiers up; Will
finds the sandbox
Scelzi
fastest -- Reigning Funny Car champion Gary Scelzi might not
have been able to stop John Force from capturing the No. 1 qualifying
spot, as the 13-time champ clocked a 4.664-second pass that was the quickest
in Funny Car history.
But Scelzi set a track-record speed of 332.51 mph in the the Mopar/Oakley
Dodge Stratus R/T and qualified No. 3 in the quickest Funny Car field
in history.
The driver of Funny Car recorded that speed in the third round of qualifying,
combined with a 4.775-second elapsed time, then he bettered that E.T.
in the final session by posting a 4.713-second pass, at the same time
backing up his first 330-mph run with a 330.23-mph performance.
"Boy, did we put that sharp stick in that cage, I guess," Scelzi
said of Force's run. "We ran well. We changed things up a little
bit, and ran a .71 at 330. I might have shut it off just a taste early,
and that may be why the speed is down to only 330.
"We're going to be fine. We have a real raceable car," he said.
"We only didn't make it once, so three for four is not bad, and we'll
load 'er up and go after it tomorrow."
He'll start against Tony Bartone.
First
was best -- Clay Millican's 40th birthday qualifying run of 4.528
seconds Thursday turned out to be his best in four tries, and it barely
kept him in the top half of the field.
Millican, who just might have the longest name for his Top Fuel car --
the Werner Enterprises/Nitro Fish/Orange County Choppers/Motel 6 Dragster
-- will face Melanie Troxel in the first round Sunday.
Saved the best for last -- Warren Johnson entered the
last day of qualifying 18th and seven-thousandths of a second off son
Kurt's bump spot. But he used a 6.680 seconds with a top speed of 207.43
mph in his GM Performance Parts GTO Saturday to make the grid for his
479th career race.
He'll start
third in the order and will face another Johnson -- Mopar Dodge driver
Allen Johnson.
Not only did the six-time series champion qualify but he ran the quickest
elapsed time of the session.
"We had a good day today, coming through when we needed to,"
he said. "We went back to the same type of set-up that we had used
here in the past, and our GM Performance Parts GTO responded beautifully.
I don't think there was a lot left in this morning's run, maybe a hundredth
or so at best."
The run enabled him to experiment with the afternoon run. "We felt
there wouldn't be any improvement, taking advantage of running in the
right lane. It tends to go to heck in the afternoon, so we wanted to get
some data on it in case we accidentally get stuck there tomorrow."
He said his engine "will need some maintenance after this race,
but it's given us good feedback so far this weekend, especially considering
it had never been down the track before Thursday. We're certainly pleased
with its performance and expect to extract even more tomorrow."
Off
the bump -- Kurt Johnson, meanwhile, improved from the bump spot
Saturday. With a 6.707-second, 207.50-mph pass -- which was the class'
fastest so far this weekend -- he put the ACDelco Cobalt in the No. 11
slot.
"We started well on Thursday but seemed to be chasing the race track
from that point on," Johnson said. "Although we never made what
I would consider a good run, we kept working on it and got it to the point
that we qualified, which is all that mattered until tomorrow. We're within
a couple hundredths. But with the speed our ACDelco Cobalt is running,
we feel we can be on top.
He said his dilemma was simple. "We know where we want to go and
not what to do," he said. "We hadn't raced under these conditions
yet this year, so we simply have to adapt. Fortunately, we start with
a clean slate tomorrow, and it's up to us to take full advantage of the
opportunity."
Return visit -- It took Tony Schumacher a
couple of days to put the U.S. Army Dragster back in familiar territory:
first place.
He rebounded from 15th in the order Friday to his 23rd career top-qualifier
position and his third in three consecutive appearances at this historic
race track with a run of 4.490 seconds at 317.34 mph in the heat of the
day.
"That was a great effort by this U.S. Army team," Schumacher
said. "Frankly, I wasn't real concerned about things after our previous
two runs. We knew what we had to do to settle into the show comfortably."
He'll race Bruce Litton in Round 1. "This is going to be a tough
race," Schumacher said. "From top to bottom, this is an outstanding
field of cars. Every round is going to be brutal."
Schumacher said he's not thinking about the streaks he has going from
the end of last year. But he has a string of five consecutive victories,
20 consecutive round-wins, and seven straight final rounds.
Scrubbing
the new off -- Tim Wilkerson said he used Saturday's two qualifying
sessions to break in new parts for his Levi, Ray & Shoup Chevy Monte
Carlo Funny Car.
He smoked the tires before half-track on his first Saturday pass. In
his final run, the burst panel in the supercharger split. He closed the
day in seventh place.
"We were trying new clutch stuff today," Wilkerson said, "so
I'm not upset with how things went. We needed to run both clutches today
because they're both brand new. And we like to get them broken in and
bent the way they like to be bent."
He described his runs. "On the first run, it was touchy and almost
made it. Then on the second run, I had it fixed, it was truckin' down
through there, and the burst panel just gave out. It was a defective burst
panel and I'm glad we were able to trace that down already. So, we won't
have one of those in the car tomorrow, that's for sure," he said.
Wilkerson will meet No. 10 Ron Capps in the opening round, and he said
he thinks he'll "have something for Capps tomorrow. A few of our
parts are acting a little queer, but I think we can get past that, and
do a good job. We'll just have to wait until tomorrow to see how it goes."
Dissatisfied -- Some drivers might be elated
just to be part of the quickest field in Funny Car history, but Ron Capps
said being No. 10 is not acceptable for him and the Brut Dodge team.
The 2005
series runner-up clocked four nearly identical passes of 4.788 seconds
at 319.60 mph, 4.787/314.75, 4.776/318.92, and 4.778/318.92.
But he said he still is having trouble forgetting about losing the title
to teammate Gary Scelzi by eight points in his last trip here, in November.
"You have to put it all behind you, and I'm having a hard time doing
that," he said. "It's like playing golf and having a bad hole,
and I'm trying to forget about it."
He said he had hoped to come out and star this year on a stronger note.
"We really wanted to concentrate on qualifying better this season,
and we felt like that would be good enough to put us up in the top half,"
Capps said. "Tenth is not where we want to be. A lot of teams would
be happy with 10th, but we're not. But, I always feel good on Sunday morning,
so I could be 16th, for what it's worth.
"Everybody here always feel like we have a shot at winning. We're
not satisfied with 10th over here. The bummer part is we're not in the
top half, so it doesn't give us lane choice tomorrow. If something happens
with the Top Fuel dragsters going first, like an oildown, it's crucial
to have lane choice.
"But then," he said, "look at last year here at the Finals.
We fought down to the last race for the championship and didn't have lane
choice here first round. And, with all the pressure, we still won in the
other lane."
He said he's considering Sunday as "a whole new day," adding,
"If you make it to Sunday and you've got the Brut crew guys I've
got, and (crew chief) Ed McCulloch, we can win it from anywhere. We have
the confidence. It's just that we wanted to move up in the Skoal Showdown
points a little bit more. We'll just work on it."
Bearing left -- Greg Anderson, Pro Stock's No. 1 qualifier,
said his big goal for Sunday is "to stay out of the right lane. It's
throwing the crew chiefs fits. It's going to be the same thing tomorrow.
Its going to be one those 'crew-chiefs races.' That line will not hold
onto the rubber. They've tried to fix it, and it came back the same way."
Get
out the vacuum cleaner -- Hillary Will had an impressive professional
debut, never falling out of the Top 5 in the Top Fuel class with the unsponsored
KB Racing LLC-owned, Kalitta Motorsports-managed dragster.
But it was her last qualifying pass that likely made the biggest impression
on her.
The 25-year-old rookie who graduated from the Top Alcohol Dragster class
had a pair of 4.515 qualifying runs. And on that last one, she ended in
the sand pit at the top end of the Auto Club Raceway of Pomona quarter-mile.
Said Will, "I flat didn't get the chutes out in time. It was that
simple."
Crew chief Jim Oberhofer said the car is just dirty. He said it isn't
structurally damaged and will be ready when she meets No. 13 Morgan Lucas,
who qualified with a pass of 4.579 seconds at 323.66 mph.
"We know that Hillary Will is going to be tough tomorrow,"
Lucas said. "We have made four runs down the track, and that information
is invaluable for our setup. We are hoping to step it up for Sunday and
come out with a first-round win. From there, we'll just have to wait and
see. After waiting all winter to get back in a race car, testing was great,
but it's the thrill of competition that drives me."
Will conceded Friday that she quickly has become accustomed to excellence
from her crew. "I expected this from this team. It's a championship-caliber
team, so I have to be a championship-caliber driver. But let's not get
carried away, it’s only Friday and we still have two qualifying
sessions left." (Photo - Motel 6 Vision)
FRIDAY - TODD, FORCE AND ANDERSON ARE FRIDAY
QUALIFYING LEADERS AT CARQUEST AUTO PARTS WINTERNATIONALS
(2-10-2006) - Top Fuel rookie J.R. Todd's professional
debut couldn't be going better as the 24-year-old outran all the veterans
Friday at the 46th annual CARQUEST Auto Parts NHRA Winternationals at
Auto Club Raceway at Pomona.
John Force and Greg Anderson also were leaders in their respective categories
at the $2 million dollar race, the first of 23 in the $50 million NHRA
POWERade Drag Racing Series.
Force was the only leader to remain on top of his class, while Anderson
quickly overcame a forgettable start with a track-record performance in
Pro Stock.
Todd
powered his Dexter Tuttle-owned Menards dragster to a quick time of 4.508
seconds at 321.65 mph to lead the 16-car Top Fuel order.
"I just wanted to come and here and qualify," Todd said. "We
weren't thinking about running low e.t. but we'll take it. If I do my
job and don't screw up we might have some fun on race day.
"This is what I've always wanted to do. I don't let the pressure
of running against guys like Tony Schumacher and Larry Dixon get to me.
I try not to even think about it. But it is very cool."
With a partisan crowd cheering him down the strip, Force edged former
teammate Tony Pedregon by one-thousandth of a second in the last professional
pairing of the day to maintain the Funny Car lead. Force drove his Castrol
GTX Ford Mustang to a performance of 4.712 at 327.35 mph. Pedregon had
to settle for second with a 4.713 at 327.19 mph in his Q-Racing Chevy
Monte Carlo.
"Pedregon
set the pace," Force said. "We had it set up soft but after
we saw what Tony and those guys did ahead of us [crew chief Austin] Coil
got in the box and made it a little more aggressive.
"Qualifying good is great for the ego and if you qualify No. 1 it
puts the slowest car in the pack against you in Round 1. But the problem
these days is the slowest car isn't that slow and that guy can beat you
as easy as anyone else. That's just the way it is so you have to be up
for it."
Mike Ashley had a wild ride after completing a 4.839-second, 308.43-mph
pass when his parachutes malfunctioned and his car ended up in the top-end
sand trap. Ashley was uninjured.
There were six other racers in the 4.7-second zone but they were all more
than four-hundredths of a second behind the two leaders. Series champ
and chief Force rival Gary Scelzi was the last of the 4.7-second runners
with his eighth-best 4.798.
Defending event champion Tommy Johnson Jr. is not qualified.
Anderson
didn't make it two feet off the starting line Thursday before his Summit
Racing Pontiac GTO overpowered the racetrack. Friday he went all 1,320
feet in 6.665 seconds to set an Auto Club Raceway record. His 207.43 mph
top speed also was impressive.
"It was a long trip down the quarter-mile yesterday at about 30 mph,"
Anderson said. "I was tempted to just keep on driving right out of
the back door to go hide. It was embarrassing. But my guys turned all
the right screws and it went straight down there today.
"We were lucky to be in the left lane and we took advantage of it.
Tomorrow morning's round should be the best as far as conditions go so
we'll have to figure out what to do on the right side."
Erica Enders improved dramatically in her Slammers Ultimate Milk Chevrolet
Cobalt, running a 6.678 at 206.80 mph to move from 14th place to second.
Six-time champion Warren Johnson, the most prolific driver in the history
of the class with 95 victories, failed to get down the track Friday and
was bumped out of the field.
Saturday's final two professional qualifying sessions are schedule to
begin at 11:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m.
Results Friday after qualifying for the 46th annual CARQUEST Auto Parts
Winternationals at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona, first of 23 events in
the $50 million NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series. Qualifying will continue
Saturday for Sunday's final eliminations.
Funny Car -- 1. John Force, Ford Mustang, 4.712, 327.35;
2. Tony Pedregon, Chevy Monte Carlo, 4.713, 327.19; 3. Eric Medlen, Mustang,
4.752, 320.74; 4. Tim Wilkerson, Monte Carlo, 4.770, 323.58; 5. Whit Bazemore,
Dodge Stratus, 4.786, 323.35; 6. Ron Capps, Stratus, 4.787,
319.60; 7. Bob Gilbertson, Stratus, 4.792, 317.64; 8. Gary Scelzi, Stratus,
4.798, 322.73; 9. Del Worsham, Monte Carlo, 4.802, 322.88; 10. Tony Bartone,
Monte Carlo, 4.802, 318.17; 11. Cruz Pedregon, Monte Carlo, 4.807, 313.00;
12. Mike Ashley, Monte Carlo, 4.839, 316.15; 13.
Phil Burkart, Monte Carlo, 4.847, 317.12; 14. Gary Densham, Monte Carlo,
4.861, 295.40; 15. Scott Kalitta, Monte Carlo, 4.941, 307.30; 16. Jack
Wyatt, Pontiac Firebird, 5.002, 259.41.
Pro Stock -- 1. Greg Anderson, Pontiac GTO, 6.665, 207.43;
2. Erica Enders, Chevy Cobalt, 6.678, 206.80; 3. Mike Edwards, GTO, 6.692,
206.64; 4. Richie Stevens, Dodge Stratus, 6.692, 206.20; 5. Rickie Smith,
Cobalt, 6.696, 206.13; 6. Jason Line, GTO, 6.700, 206.70; 7. Jim
Yates, GTO, 6.720, 205.72; 8. Dave Connolly, Cobalt, 6.721, 206.07; 9.
Ron Krisher, Cobalt, 6.726, 205.98; 10. Allen Johnson, Stratus, 6.726,
205.85; 11. Mark Pawuk, GTO, 6.730, 205.98; 12. Greg Stanfield, GTO, 6.735,
206.07; 13. V. Gaines, Stratus, 6.735, 205.22; 14. Bob Panella, Cobalt,
6.749, 204.98; 15. Max Naylor, Stratus, 6.752, 204.54; 16. Kurt Johnson,
Cobalt, 6.760, 205.60.
FRIDAY NOTES - Freshmen set Top Fuel pace;
Force still charging hard; Anderson regains form; Just call him Sandy
Rookies rule -- Clay Millican's 40th birthday is over,
and so is his hold on Top Fuel's No. 1 qualifier honor. A pair of twentysomethings
relegated Millican to third Saturday afternoon.
Immediately after Hillary Will, 25, took the temporary No. 1 spot with
a 4.518-second elapsed time at 323.19 mph in the Ken Black-owned/ Kalitta
Motorsports-managed dragster, J.R. Todd, 24, went one-hundredths of a
second quicker to improve from his No. 3 position Thursday.
Todd had said after finishing Thursday in third place behind Millican
and Doug Kalitta that he though the Menard's Dragster had some more power.
He and the Jimmy Walsh-directed crew found it Friday as the Lawrenceburg,
Indiana, native blasted to a 4.508-second E.T. at 321.65 mph.
"We definitely found it," he said, adding that it was in spite
of a dropped cylinder late into the run, just like the previous afternoon.
Todd, an NHRA rookie who several years ago finished fifth in IHRA competition
in a limited schedule, said he never expected to jump to the top of the
heap so quickly. "I never thought I'd do this good this quick,"
he said. "I was just coming out here, hoping to qualify."
He said the Dexter Tuttle-owned team plans to compete at 14 NHRA events
this season but said that number could change. He said the organization
has the money to run a full schedule, "but we're not going to run
it on a shoestring."
Todd said he made his quick runs this weekend on the older 1430-model
tires from Goodyear.
Barreling
down the track -- Retired drag-racing legend Shirley Muldowney
remains active in the sport as sponsor relations representative for the
StriVectin-SD Dragster that Dave Grubnic drives for alitta Motorsports.
And her husband, Rahn Tobler, is crew chief for the Mac Tools Dragster
that Doug Kalitta drives for the same organization.
She said she feels "like I'm right there on the line with him [Tobler]
every time Doug pulls up to the line. Of course, with my new position
on the StriVectin team and with Grubnic, I want that pink car to win,
but my heart will always be with whatever car Rahn is running."
Muldowney can feel even closer to Tobler this season. The barrel valve
that sits atop the engine on the injector of the Mac Tools Dragster is
the very same part that rode with Muldowney on her "Last Pass"
dragster throughout her retirement year in 2003.
"A barrel valve is kind of personal to a crew chief," Tobler
said. "It's something that you want to be very consistent, and I
maintain it personally. When I first joined Kalitta Motorsports, they
were using one on Doug's car that was almost identical to the one I had
been using on Shirley's car, but it was a newer generation model. It just
didn't repeat like I wanted it to, though, so I switched. I had to go
back and ig through some of my old parts, but I eventually found it, and
it has been on our Mac Tools car ever since."
While the part might not be glamorous, Muldowney nevertheless appreciated
the gesture, for it makes her feel that much closer to the man who was
her crew chief for 26 years and guided her to 18 event victories and three
NHRA championships. "To have him running our old barrel valve just
makes it a little more special," she said.
A barrel valve on a nitro-powered race car is the main metering device
between the fuel pump and the engine. Its urpose is to ensure the engine
receives fuel at the same time that the "butterflies" on the
car's injector are opened. When this happens, the supercharger, or blower,
is forcing an incredible amount of air into the engine. The barrel valve
allows the correct fuel volume for the most efficient combustion -- and
therefore the best amount of power -- to propel the race car to more than
330 mph in less than 4.5 seconds.
Not embarrassed now -- Greg Anderson said his first qualifying
attempt of the season "was kind of embarrassing. I felt like crawling
under a rock and hiding."
The Pro Stock dominator started his pursuit of a fourth consecutive championship
with what he called "a long trip down the quarter-mile."
He decided to try to drive through tire spin just off the starting line,
but he encountered tire shake and immediately shut off his KB Racing/Summit
Racing Equipment Pontiac GTO. That left him 23rd and dead last in the
order Thursday.
But he stormed back with a track-record 6.665-second pass at 207.43 mph.
His elapsed time erased the 6.677 that teammate Jason Line set last November
and was just 22-hundredths of a second slower than his career-best E.T.
of 6.633.
Anderson said his crew, led by Rob Downing and Jeff Perley, "knew
what to do and what screws to turn, and I made a beautiful run."
He said he's "not going to say we're going to beat everybody, but
at least we're not behind the eight-ball like we were last year. I'm not
saying we'll go out and beat everybody, but I can wipe a little bit of
sweat off my brow."
Anderson said his ill-fated first pass was far too reminiscent of last
year's poor start. "We were too aggressive," he said. "It's
not the race tracks fault. It does the same thing every year. We just
made a mistake.
"This is exactly how we started last year. We kept making mistakes
and kept aborting runs. I know we're better prepared. We can't keep doing
that," he said. "We try to be thorough and not be nonchalant."
He knocked Line from the No. 1 spot. Line improved the 6.743-second E.T.
that was quickest Thursday but dropped to sixth place. His Saturday time
was 6.700 seconds at 206.70 mph in his KB Racing LLC/Summit Racing Equipment
Pontiac GTO.
Into
the sand -- Mike Ashley has been learning the idiosyncrasies
of the Auto Club at Pomona Raceway in his first-ever weekend of competition
here. He found out Friday what fellow drivers mean when they talk about
the short shut-down area at the storied quarter-mile.
He improved one spot in the order to12th place with a 4.839-second run
at 308.43 mph -- but he ended up in the sand pit.
"I guess there are easier ways to get publicity," Ashley said.
"We had a very good run going, and it was just a basic parts malfunction
that put it in the sand. But that shouldn't diminish the fact that [crew
chief] Mark Oswald put together a very efficient tune-up that helped us
to step up. We're not looking to knock it out of the park on each run,
but we are intent on improvement. It’s a refining process."
Had a message for sponsor Evan Knoll of Torco Race Fuels and Skull Gear:
You got a little scratch on your hot rod."
When he found out his elapsed time, Ashley said, "All right - we'll
get it fixed and we'll be back."
Ashley said that the goal Thursday for his Skull Gear/Torco Race Fuels
Funny Car was "to make it to the finish line under full power."
His goal for Friday was to go quicker.
"Two days of success set the stage for a good final day of qualifying,"
he said. "Besides, our goal isn't to be No. 1 one in every session.
We just want to be consistent."
He said he thinks the car has the potential to run a mid- to high-4.70.
John Force retained his low-qualifier position with a 4.712-second E.T.
that edged Tony Pedregon's 4.713. (Photo - Motel 6 Vision)
Dixon
back in game -- Larry Dixon has won the Top Fuel finals at the
Winternationals three times. So being on the outside of the field looking
in after Thursday's opening day of qualifying wasn't a comfortable or
familiar place.
His Miller Lite Dragster had an ignition malfunction during Thursday's
opening qualifying session, and the car was rolled from the starting line.
But Dixon bounced back in a big way Friday, using a 4.533-second pass
at 322.88 mph -- the third-quickest one of the day -- to claim the No.
4 spot with two more chances left for the field of 22.
"It was nice to get down the track," Dixon said, adding that
the improved performance took some pressure off new crew chief Donnie
Bender. "The car ran great today. I wish we could have gotten yesterday's
pass in, because that would have allowed us to improve today. The main
thing was to get qualified, and we're qualified."
Weather's
nice, but . . . -- Del Worsham knocked 57-hundredths of a second
off his 4.859-second elapsed time Thursday with a 4.802 Friday at 322.88
mph. That boosted him from 11th to ninth heading into Saturdays two final
qualifying sessions.
"We'll see what the weather and the track give us tomorrow,"
Worsham said. "This sunny and warm weather is great for the fans,
and it's wonderful to be out in, but tomorrow we run during the heart
of the day instead of the late afternoon. So I'm not sure our cars are
going to feel like they're on vacation.
"We left a little on the table there," the Checker Schuck's
Kragen Chevy Monte Carlo driver said, "and we saw some guys run low
4.7s, so there's more out there, even if the sun is beating down. With
all the rain and cold days we deal with each year, you don't want to criticize
blue skies and warm temperatures. You just take what the track will give
you and try to do your best. For us, our best is yet to come."
Conspicuous absences -- Each pro class has a handful
of notables who are unqualified heading into Saturdays final session.
They include defending Winternationals Funny Car champion Tommy Johnson
Jr. and 2005 Rookie of the Year Robert Hight; recent Pontiac Pro Stock
Showdown winner Larry Morgan, who was sixth Thursday; and seven-time Pro
Stock champion Warren Johnson. Heralded rookie Shaun Carlson who just
got the job last Saturday as the second Pro Stock driver in Don Schumacher
Racing's camp, was edged from the field after ending Thursday on the bump
spot.
Top Fuel's Alan Bradshaw, Bob Vandergriff Jr., Scott Weis, Mike Strasburg,
and Andrew Cowin need to take advantage of the final two chances Saturday.
So do Funny Car's Frankie Pedregon, Jeff Diehl, Jim Head, Bob Bode, and
David Benjamin. In the Pro Stock class, Mike Thomas, Tony Rizzo, Ben Watson,
and Jim Cunningham are unqualified.
New Block is the hot tip for Mopar Pro Stock
(2-10-2006) – There’s a new NHRA Pro Stock
block in town, just in time for the first of 23 POWERade contests during
the 2006 season. Mopar’s brand new Pro Stock block made its
debut this weekend during the CARQUEST Auto Parts Winternationals on the
Pomona drag strip.
Weighing
between 15 and 20 pounds less than the prior donor, which really wasn’t
designed for drag racing duty, the new Mopar mill made its debut in Richie
Stevens Jr. 2006 Dodge Stratus last week in Las Vegas.
“There are minor changes to the block,” said veteran tuner
Bob Glidden in the Pomona pits. “It’s a suitable application
for drag racing and the lightness allows us to move our ballast around
a bit differently. The engineers at Dodge and Mopar are really stepping
up to help us here in the Pro Stock category,” he declared.
Stevens’ Don Schumacher Racing crew needed between two and three
hours to effect the changes and took “about seven runs” in
Sin City last week. Stevens was quickest in qualifying last weekend,
went to the semis but red-lighted against Larry Morgan.
In Friday qualifying, Stevens was quickest of the Mopar runners, fourth
with his 6.678-second blast to champ Greg Anderson’s low E.T. of
6.665.
“We ran the blue car [for Stevens] last week and put the engine
in the red car, for rookie Shaun Carlson last night so he could try it
out in qualifying today.
“The [lower] weight is the most significant part of this package,”
Glidden defined. “We can juggle it around in the car.”
Larry Morgan, too, was an initial beneficiary of the new power mill,
which according to Glidden is available right now to all Dodge Mopar competitors.
“It’s the neatest thing since sliced bread,” Morgan
laughed. “Anything we wanted in a block we got with this thing.”
Morgan, not wanting to stretch his capabilities 40 hours from his Newark,
OH shop declined to use the new block at Las Vegas in testing. It
made its debut in his ’06 Stratus yesterday and racked up sixth
place in initial qualifying. Morgan had a rough ride to 17th on
Friday.
“This engine is purpose built. The bore stays stable, the
mains stay stable and the cylinder heads are stronger,” Morgan said.
“It’s easier to tune, too.” Morgan intends to
keep the prime part of his ballast at the front of the car, he advised.
“I think this engine will make our competition even closer in 2006.
It’ll probably be the best it’s been in ten years, thanks
to this upgrade,” Larry declared. “I wish I’d
installed it for Vegas but I wasn’t sure I wanted to wear it out
because you lose too much time trying to fix it. Hats off to the
guys at Dodge; they made it right!”
Allen Johnson is pretty pleased with the progress Dodge and Mopar
have made, as well. Roy Johnson, Allen’s father and crew chief,
put the new block into the 2006 Stratus in Las Vegas and made three passes
there. In Friday qualifying he clocked in 10th at 6.726; Johnson
was seventh with his Thursday pass.
Roy noted the team has had their new block since Saturday a week ago.
“We shipped it overnight to Vegas, got it Tuesday noon and put it
in the car that afternoon,” he said. “We ran it at about
3PM and all I can say is ‘wow’!”
Johnson’s had “very, very little time with it so far but
I’m happy. We had to make some changes to the cradle, doing
some sawing, whittling and massaging” over three hours for fitment.
“It’s just a little bit different, like a new pair of shoes.”
– Annie Proffit
THURSDAY - FORCE FRONTS FIRST DAY OF SEASON-OPENING
CARQUEST NHRA WINTERNATIONALS; MILLICAN, LINE ALSO LEAD
(2-9-2006) - John Force wasted little time showing the
rest of the Funny Car class he has every intention of regaining the POWERade
championship this season with an opening qualifying performance of 4.742
seconds at 326.63 mph in his Castrol GTX Ford Mustang. The run was nearly
three hundredths of a second quicker than any of his rivals.
Joining Force on top of the qualifying sheets at the 46th annual CARQUEST
Auto Parts NHRA Winternationals was Clay Millican and Jason Line. Millican
guided team owner Ken Koretsky's Werner Enterprises dragster through a
steady 4.528 at 312.86 mph, while Line fronted Pro Stock with a 6.743
at 205.10 mph in his Summit Racing Pontiac GTO.
Although he struggled with his new Mustang bodies throughout the off-season,
Force looked fine Thursday, powering through a solid pass on a hot and
green racetrack. It was just the second complete run for Force under the
updated Mustang design.
"We want to win championships," the 13-time titliest said. "That's
what we do. We got whupped last year and none of my guys liked it. They
all came back early from vacation because they wanted to get after it.
We're getting focused on what we have to do.
"I think that run showed the potential of these new Mustang bodies.
It went A-to-B just like in testing. She was soft, but she made a run,
and it's just a good feeling to get that out of the way. The body collapsed
a few times in testing so we took it back to Metalcrafters to strengthen
it. Mine was fine but Robert (Hight's) needs some work."
Auto Club Road to the Future winner Hight, one of Force's teammates, had
trouble with his new Auto Club Mustang body during his opening pass and
took out the top-end timing cones, which negated his and Tommy Johnson
Jr.'s initial runs.
Millican
celebrated his 40th birthday by grabbing the provisional top slot in Top
Fuel. The run was a welcome relief for the Drummonds, Tenn., racer, who
has dominated the IHRA tour but has yet to win a race at the top level
of drag racing.
"It was a thrill just getting to pull the 'chutes," Millican
said. "We struggled so much in testing. We made 20 passes and all
we did was frustrate ourselves. It was really unusual for us. We may not
be the quickest car but we're always very consistent. I have so much faith
in [crew chief] Mike Kloeber and I knew he'd figure it out."
Tony Schumacher, the back-to-back Top Fuel champ, is a distant 10th after
the motor in his U.S. Army dragster dropped several cylinders down track.
New
father Line, who welcomed son Jack into the world Jan. 24th, looked very
sharp despite his extremely abbreviated off-season testing schedule. The
36-year-old from Terrell, N.C., guided his Summit Racing Pontiac GTO to
the top qualifying position in Pro Stock with a quick 6.743 at 205.10
mph, even though his testing ledger showed just 12 runs logged earlier
this week in Las Vegas.
"I wasn't so worried about the car because Greg (Anderson, teammate)
had been making runs in both our cars while I was off," Line said.
"You do wonder how sharp your driving is going to be. I was a little
worried about that but I felt a lot better after making those runs earlier
this week. I've had a great start to the year so this just continues it."
Three-time and defending series champion Anderson had big problems at
the starting line and shut his Summit Racing Pontiac GTO off just after
the launch. He has three more chances to make the field.
Thursday's qualifying results for the 46th annual CARQUEST Auto
Parts NHRA Winternationals at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona. The $2 million
race is the first of 23 events in the $50 million NHRA POWERade Drag Racing
Series. Qualifying resumes Friday with one professional session at 2:30
p.m.
Top Fuel -- 1. Clay Millican, 4.528 seconds, 312.86 mph;
2. Doug Kalitta, 4.538, 326.16; 3. JR Todd, 4.578, 294.88; 4. Doug Herbert,
4.582, 323.19; 5. Hillary Will, 4.613, 317.57; 6. Brandon Bernstein, 4.617,
283.73; 7. Doug Foley, 4.622, 317.05; 8. Melanie Troxel, 4.632, 307.51;
9. David Grubnic, 4.637, 308.99; 10. Tony Schumacher, 4.637, 294.50; 11.
Rod Fuller, 4.677, 314.83; 12. Morgan Lucas, 4.679, 299.93; 13. Alan Bradshaw,
4.691, 295.79; 14. Cory
McClenathan, 5.166, 303.78; 15. Bob Vandergriff, 6.718, 125.44; 16. Bruce
Litton, 7.280, 101.79.
Funny Car -- 1. John Force, Ford Mustang, 4.742, 326.63;
2. Tim Wilkerson, Chevy Monte Carlo, 4.770, 323.58; 3. Tony Pedregon,
Monte Carlo, 4.787, 325.45; 4. Ron Capps, Dodge Stratus, 4.788, 319.60;
5. Eric Medlen, Mustang, 4.794, 320.74; 6. Gary Scelzi, Stratus, 4.798,
322.73; 7. Tony Bartone, Monte Carlo, 4.802, 318.17; 8. Cruz Pedregon,
Monte Carlo, 4.807, 313.00; 9.Bob Gilbertson, Monte Carlo, 4.825, 317.64;
10. Whit Bazemore, Stratus, 4.851, 323.35; 11. Del Worsham, Monte Carlo,
4.859, 315.27; 12. Gary Densham, Monte Carlo, 4.861, 295.40; 13. Mike
Ashley, Monte Carlo, 4.880, 316.15; 14. Phil Burkart, Monte Carlo, 4.900,
308.64; 15. Frank Pedregon, Stratus, 5.562, 191.00; 16. Jeff Diehl, Chevy
Camaro, 5.632, 218.02.
Pro Stock -- 1. Jason Line, Pontiac GTO, 6.743, 205.10;
2. Richie Stevens, Dodge Stratus, 6.756, 204.88; 3. Kurt Johnson, Chevy
Cobalt, 6.760, 205.60; 4. Rickie Smith, Cobalt, 6.760, 205.22; 5. Mark
Pawuk, GTO, 6.761, 204.23; 6. Larry Morgan, Stratus, 6.766, 204.66; 7.
Allen
Johnson, Stratus, 6.766, 204.45; 8. Warren Johnson, GTO, 6.767, 204.88;
9. Dave Connolly,Cobalt, 6.769, 204.54; 10. Mike Edwards, GTO, 6.770,
204.85; 11. V. Gaines, Stratus, 6.773,203.58; 12. Ron Krisher, Cobalt,
6.775, 204.14; 13. Max Naylor, Stratus, 6.783, 202.91; 14.Erica Enders,
Cobalt, 6.790, 203.98; 15. Greg Stanfield, GTO, 6.791, 204.01; 16. Shaun
Carlson, Dodge Stratus R/T, 6.796, 205.01.
THURSDAY NOTES - Birthday boy No. 1; Force dominates
early; Line sharp depite not testing; Top Fuel rookies impressive
Happy Birthday To Me! -- Clay Millican made up Thursday
for not being able to get his Werner Enterprises/Kenny Koretsky Dragster
down the race track one time in 20 preseason test runs-- and gave himself
a birthday present in the process.
The
Drummonds, Tennessee, native ran a 4.528-second pass at 312.86 mph to
claim the Top Fuel class' provisional No. 1 qualifier spot during the
first day of action at the season-opening Winternationals.
"We were just battling, for whatever reason. We just said, 'Uncle'
or 'Calf rope' or whatever it is when you give up," Millican said
of his testing futility. "We said, 'All right. Enough. We're going
to Pomona. [Crew chief] Mike Kloeber always runs good here, and the facility
here is always top-notch I love this place."
Millican said Kloeber quickly figured out what the problem was. "It
was just like a light bulb went off."
The five-time International Hot Rod Association champion said the biggest
problem for him was squinting because the sun was in his eyes.
He said, "It may be very possible that I had those 'chutes out and
the throttle shut before I reached the finish line, because I wanted to
make sure to stop. I know this is Pomona, and I've seen a lot of guys
on their heads down there in the sand."
He said he car "will go quicker yet, but I know the other guys will,
too."
Millican seems to be able to qualify well under pressure. Several years
ago, just days after his mother (who survived and is perfectly healthy)
was shot at the family's grocery store, Millican took the Day 1 low-qualifier
honors at Dallas.
Force in charge -- After what he called a "painful"
offseason, John Force decided it was time to inflict some of that on the
rest of the Funny Car field -- again.
He had run three 4.6-second clockings in preseason testing but downplayed
them, saying what counted was his race-day performance. Thursday wasn't
race day, but his 4.742-second run at 326.63 mph in the Castrol GTX Ford
Mustang came when it counted. And he used that to take the early lead
on the Funny Car grid.
He bested No. 2 Tim Wilkserson, the gutsy independent owner/driver who
was the top qualifier here in 2003, by three-hundredths of a second (4.770/323.58).
Don't
need trainer -- Somebody asked John Force if he, like current
Funny Car champion Gary Scelzi (the man who knocked him off the top perch
last November), had hired a personal trainer to help him get into shape
physically for the 2006 season.
Referring to the side-by-side race against Tony Pedregon at Pomona last
November in which he lost in the second round on a holeshot and allowed
Scelzi to clinch the series title, Force quipped, "I haven't eaten
since that tree came down with Pedregon. But I've drunk a lot."
The 13-time champion has said that this season he needs to concentrate
on himself and his own championship chances rather than worrying about
getting his so-called Next Generation (Eric Medlen, Robert Hight, and
daughters Ashley, Brittany, and Courtney) squared away.
"I'm trying to save myself," Force said. "I told 'em,
'You're on your own.' " He said Ashley Force replied, "I never
listened to you anyway." Added Force, "All I can do is aggravate
'em."
He said he must be staying on task, for after his performance, crew chief
Austin Coil told him, "You almost acted like you're driving a race
car today."
One of the newest members of his crew, an offseason hire, might have
had the most telling comment, though. Force said he started to ask a question
by saying, "If we win . . ." Force said he though the young
mechanic was going to say, "If we win will each one of us get a trophy?"
But, Force said with a laugh, the kid asked, 'If we win, do we get to
sleep?' "
Force said the younger, newer members of the crew thought they were going
to have a large time in Las Vegas. This one said he "never saw the
lights of Las Vegas," because he was asleep in the team van just
after it pulled away from the track, headed back to the hotel.
That is the same mindset and reputation Force and Coil had when they
were winning 10 straight Funny Car championships among their 13 together.
John Force, who's going for his 120th career victory, has a better-than-ever
chance, he said he thinks, with his new Castrol GTX Ford Mustang body.
He called
it "sleek and sexy," and by Thursday evening, the 19 other Funny
Car entrants were calling it quick. Teammate Eric Medlen was fifth in
his version of the new car with a 4.794-second effort at 320.74, in his
first pass in the new Castrol SYNTEC Mustang.
The first time Force drove his new Castrol GTX Mustang down a dragstrip
-- at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway -- he posted a 4.698-second
elapsed time, .033 off his own national record. His speed was 299.66 mph.
"It looks like a Ford Mustang, but it runs like a Top Fuel dragster,"
Force said of the car that has replaced the 2003 Mustang his team has
run the last three seasons. That '03 model was the one in which he set
the current NHRA records of 4.665 seconds, 333.58 mph.
"The thing I really, really like about it is that it looks like
a Mustang," Force said of the new car. "My personal car is a
white 2005 Mustang GT, and there's no mistaking that it was the model
for the race car. The grill, the tail lights and the contours along the
side are all straight from the stock design," he said.
"It gives us a car to match the Dodges," he said, referring
to the rides of reigning Funny Car champion Gary Scelzi and teammates
Ron Capps and Whit Bazemore.
The new Mustang body took 18 months to develop, and it was aerodynamics
expert Tim Gibson's final development project in his six-year contract
for John Force Racing. Force and his crew had expected to take delivery
on the car early last year, but design changes -- which required going
back to Square One with NHRA's strict certification process -- delayed
that several times.
Metal Crafters, Inc. got the first of the 2006 Mustangs to Force's shop
in Yorba Linda, Calif., in early January. From there, the cars went to
Caliber Collision Co. for paint and then to Victory Race Cars, Inc., for
bracing and additional infrastructure.
Although the team transported three new Mustangs to Las Vegas, including
one each for third-year driver Eric Medlen and 2005 Rookie of the Year
Robert Hight, only Force's GTX entry made a pass.
Medlen's
Castrol SYNTEC Mustang and Hight's Auto Club of Southern California Ford
made their first competitive laps during Thursday's initial qualifying
session. Medlen enters Friday's qualifying in fifth place. Hight hit the
foam blocks, knocking out the timers for both himself and Tommy Johnson
Jr. in the other lane.
The Force Racing trio finished 3-4-5 in POWERade points last season,
although Force won two more races than anyone else in the class. He won
five times, but he also had 10 first-round losses, which were the most
in his storied career and contributed to the reason he finished in third
place, 32 points behind Scelzi.
Not
testing helped? -- Because he wanted to stay home in Terrell,
North Carolina, with wife Cindy and their son, Jack Vincent, who was born
January 24, Jason Line bypassed most of the NHRA test sessions. He skipped
the first one at Las Vegas and the next one at Phoenix. He even took a
rain check on the Pontiac Pro Stock Showdown but came out to The Strip
at Las Vegas Motor Speedway for testing this past Monday and Tuesday in
the KB Racing /Summit Racing Equipment Pontiac GTO.
"It probably was a good idea. I wasn't as messed up as everybody
else," he said with a laugh.
He probably is right. He ended up quickest in the Pro Stock class Thursday
with a 6.743-second run at 205.10 mph, although No. 3 Kurt Johnson had
the fastest speed at 205.60 mph.
Line had done some testing at the eighth-mile track in Mooresville, North
Carolina, that teammate Greg Anderson owns, so he was fibbing only a little
bit about not testing too much.
"I can honestly say that testing in my book took a back seat to my
wife enjoying being first time parents," Line said.
The former dyno operator for Joe Gibbs Racing who finished second and
third in the standings in the past two seasons said Anderson "has
been testing a good deal over the off-season and spent a couple more days
on the track in Vegas than I did. Since both cars are set up nearly identical,
what he learned in my absence can be applied to my car, so we're not as
behind as it may seem. I did miss some seat time, but that's about it."
He said of the always-tough class, "This new season looks tighter
than ever and you can't single out one individual who is going to run
away with things. There are too many good cars. I'm cautiously optimistic
about Pomona. We've had the most productive off-season that we've ever
had."
Truth
in advertising -- Oh, that wacky Johnny West . . .
Scott Kalitta struggled a lot in preseason testing after making a switch
from the Top Fuel class back to Funny Car. He hit the wall during the
first Las Vegas test session, then the next Sunday at Phoenix he veered
from the right lane into the left wall at about 280 mph and made contact
twice as he lost steering. Kalitta forged ahead after his crew lasered
the chassis together again and finished his license renewal process the
following weekend during the return to Las Vegas.
Crew chief Johnny West put a sticker near the "taillight" section
on the back of the Kalitta Air Funny Car that his driver didn't know about
when he made his pass in Thursday's opening day of qualifying for the
Winternationals. It reads: "Caution: This vehicle makes abrupt lane
changes."
Smart
move -- J.R. Todd is one Top Fuel driver who parlayed his testing
experience into a top spot in the field.
And especially for a rookie, he's one sharp cookie.
Todd had damaged an engine during testing at Las Vegas because he stayed
on the throttle too long. He was determined not to make the same mistake
Thursday.
He said he lifted at 4.2 seconds into his 4.578-second pass, when he realized
he had dropped a cylinder. The move gave him the tentative No. 3 spot
and saved an engine for Dexter Tuttle's Menard's crew.
Class of 2006 impresses -- Top Fuel's Class of 2006 ran in succession
Thursday. Rookies Hillary Will, J.R. Todd, and Alan Bradshaw all made
the field. Todd (at 4.578 seconds and 294.88 mph) and Will (at 4.613/317.57)
ended up in the top five (third and fifth, respectively) at the end of
the day.
Bradshaw used a 4.691/295.79 to take the 13th spot so far.
Following
the rookie runs were two Top Fuel veterans who were returning after layoffs:
Bob Vandergriff and Andrew Cowin. Vandergriff, making debut with his long-rumored
and finally announced UPS sponsorship deal, was 15th. Cowin, at 17th,
still has to make the field.
Last season at the spring Las Vegas race, Jack Beckman made his first
competitive runs in the Menard's Dragster, and Ben Marshall, the Kalitta
Motorsports team manager who was test driver and hospitality guru at the
time, debuted the StriVectin-SD entry.
Miracle of the weekend -- Wayne Dupuy, crew chief for
Doug Herbert's Snap-On Tools Dragster, was back in action after a devastating
auto accident last November.
"It
gets media attention to say I'm the 'Xth' number female to win a race,
but those of us in the NHRA know that it's no big deal because we've had
lots of female winners, especially when you compare us to all the other
motor sports," Troxel said. "I'm thrilled there were women before
me to pave the way but really we just want to be the best team out here,
regardless of me being female."
"We
did have a few bad luck things happen today but my team came through like
professionals," Hight said. "It was lucky for us that John (Force)
and Eric (Medlen, teammates) lost early because their crew guys came over
and helped us. If they hadn't we wouldn't have made it up there for the
semifinals. Everyone jumped in there. It was awesome to see."
"It's
not as easy as it looks, I swear," Anderson said. "I'm sorry
if I'm boring you guys (the media), but we've just been on such a roll
over the last few years. It's still a struggle and I lose sleep every
night worrying about what everyone else is doing, but we've managed to
stay ahead. We have a long way to go this year but we're off to a great
start."
She advanced
to the quarterfinals by eliminating five-time and defending International
Hot Rod Association champion Clay Millican. 
It was Johnson's
turn Sunday to wait on his wife as she celebrated in the Top Fuel winners
circle with her Don Schumacher Racing/Skull Gear-Torco team. He was No.
2 qualifier but lost to Jim Head in a first-round upset. 
He and his
Young Life Pontiac GTO advanced to the final round against three-time
series champion and top qualifier Greg Anderson but lost by .061 seconds
(6.665 elapsed time to 6.726). 
He and his
crew had to go to the Top Eliminator Club and swipe the body that sat
on his sponsor's show car on display. The last time that body ran was
last May at Atlanta in the final round as Force beat Hight. 
"We're
one better than we were the year before," Scelzi said. He will enter
the Checker Schuck's Kragen Nationals at Chandler, Arizona, in sixth place
in the standing. He was 12th when he left Pomona last season. 
Most drivers
would worry about that. It's not that Burkart doesn't respect Force, but
he has fared better against Force than most. This time was no different.
He got the jump on the Mustang and pulled away for a trip to the semifinals.
Schumacher
and his U.S. Army Top Fuel crew tuned for a world-record run of their
own after realizing what the track would hold. In hindsight, they were
a little too aggressive and his final pass was lost in a cloud of smoke.
His performance of 4.490 at 317.34 mph from earlier in the day earned
him the No. 1 position.
Anderson's
track-record 6.665 in his Summit Racing Pontiac GTO earned him his 41st
career low qualifier award.
Scelzi
fastest -- Reigning Funny Car champion Gary Scelzi might not
have been able to stop John Force from capturing the No. 1 qualifying
spot, as the 13-time champ clocked a 4.664-second pass that was the quickest
in Funny Car history. 
First
was best -- Clay Millican's 40th birthday qualifying run of 4.528
seconds Thursday turned out to be his best in four tries, and it barely
kept him in the top half of the field.
He'll start
third in the order and will face another Johnson -- Mopar Dodge driver
Allen Johnson. 
Off
the bump -- Kurt Johnson, meanwhile, improved from the bump spot
Saturday. With a 6.707-second, 207.50-mph pass -- which was the class'
fastest so far this weekend -- he put the ACDelco Cobalt in the No. 11
slot.
Scrubbing
the new off -- Tim Wilkerson said he used Saturday's two qualifying
sessions to break in new parts for his Levi, Ray & Shoup Chevy Monte
Carlo Funny Car. 
The 2005
series runner-up clocked four nearly identical passes of 4.788 seconds
at 319.60 mph, 4.787/314.75, 4.776/318.92, and 4.778/318.92. 
Get
out the vacuum cleaner -- Hillary Will had an impressive professional
debut, never falling out of the Top 5 in the Top Fuel class with the unsponsored
KB Racing LLC-owned, Kalitta Motorsports-managed dragster. 
Todd
powered his Dexter Tuttle-owned Menards dragster to a quick time of 4.508
seconds at 321.65 mph to lead the 16-car Top Fuel order.
"Pedregon
set the pace," Force said. "We had it set up soft but after
we saw what Tony and those guys did ahead of us [crew chief Austin] Coil
got in the box and made it a little more aggressive.
Anderson
didn't make it two feet off the starting line Thursday before his Summit
Racing Pontiac GTO overpowered the racetrack. Friday he went all 1,320
feet in 6.665 seconds to set an Auto Club Raceway record. His 207.43 mph
top speed also was impressive.
Barreling
down the track -- Retired drag-racing legend Shirley Muldowney
remains active in the sport as sponsor relations representative for the
StriVectin-SD Dragster that Dave Grubnic drives for alitta Motorsports.
And her husband, Rahn Tobler, is crew chief for the Mac Tools Dragster
that Doug Kalitta drives for the same organization. 
Into
the sand -- Mike Ashley has been learning the idiosyncrasies
of the Auto Club at Pomona Raceway in his first-ever weekend of competition
here. He found out Friday what fellow drivers mean when they talk about
the short shut-down area at the storied quarter-mile. 
Dixon
back in game -- Larry Dixon has won the Top Fuel finals at the
Winternationals three times. So being on the outside of the field looking
in after Thursday's opening day of qualifying wasn't a comfortable or
familiar place. 
Weather's
nice, but . . . -- Del Worsham knocked 57-hundredths of a second
off his 4.859-second elapsed time Thursday with a 4.802 Friday at 322.88
mph. That boosted him from 11th to ninth heading into Saturdays two final
qualifying sessions.
Weighing
between 15 and 20 pounds less than the prior donor, which really wasn’t
designed for drag racing duty, the new Mopar mill made its debut in Richie
Stevens Jr. 2006 Dodge Stratus last week in Las Vegas.
Millican
celebrated his 40th birthday by grabbing the provisional top slot in Top
Fuel. The run was a welcome relief for the Drummonds, Tenn., racer, who
has dominated the IHRA tour but has yet to win a race at the top level
of drag racing.
New
father Line, who welcomed son Jack into the world Jan. 24th, looked very
sharp despite his extremely abbreviated off-season testing schedule. The
36-year-old from Terrell, N.C., guided his Summit Racing Pontiac GTO to
the top qualifying position in Pro Stock with a quick 6.743 at 205.10
mph, even though his testing ledger showed just 12 runs logged earlier
this week in Las Vegas.
The
Drummonds, Tennessee, native ran a 4.528-second pass at 312.86 mph to
claim the Top Fuel class' provisional No. 1 qualifier spot during the
first day of action at the season-opening Winternationals. 
Don't
need trainer -- Somebody asked John Force if he, like current
Funny Car champion Gary Scelzi (the man who knocked him off the top perch
last November), had hired a personal trainer to help him get into shape
physically for the 2006 season.
He called
it "sleek and sexy," and by Thursday evening, the 19 other Funny
Car entrants were calling it quick. Teammate Eric Medlen was fifth in
his version of the new car with a 4.794-second effort at 320.74, in his
first pass in the new Castrol SYNTEC Mustang. 
Medlen's
Castrol SYNTEC Mustang and Hight's Auto Club of Southern California Ford
made their first competitive laps during Thursday's initial qualifying
session. Medlen enters Friday's qualifying in fifth place. Hight hit the
foam blocks, knocking out the timers for both himself and Tommy Johnson
Jr. in the other lane. 
Not
testing helped? -- Because he wanted to stay home in Terrell,
North Carolina, with wife Cindy and their son, Jack Vincent, who was born
January 24, Jason Line bypassed most of the NHRA test sessions. He skipped
the first one at Las Vegas and the next one at Phoenix. He even took a
rain check on the Pontiac Pro Stock Showdown but came out to The Strip
at Las Vegas Motor Speedway for testing this past Monday and Tuesday in
the KB Racing /Summit Racing Equipment Pontiac GTO. 
Truth
in advertising -- Oh, that wacky Johnny West . . . 
Smart
move -- J.R. Todd is one Top Fuel driver who parlayed his testing
experience into a top spot in the field.
Following
the rookie runs were two Top Fuel veterans who were returning after layoffs:
Bob Vandergriff and Andrew Cowin. Vandergriff, making debut with his long-rumored
and finally announced UPS sponsorship deal, was 15th. Cowin, at 17th,
still has to make the field.
