NHRA CHAMPIONS CROWNED
SCHUMACHER, PEDREGON, COUGHLIN AND SMITH CROWNED NHRA POWERADE SERIES
WORLD
CHAMPIONS
Tony Schumacher, who became the first Top Fuel driver in NHRA history to win four consecutive POWERade Series world championship crowns by racing to victory at Sunday's season finale in Pomona, Calif., headlined the four world-championship winning drivers crowned Monday evening during the 2007 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series awards ceremony at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel in downtown Los Angeles.
Three other NHRA POWERade Series world champions - Tony Pedregon, Jeg Coughlin and Matt Smith -- also were presented checks and trophies for their achievements during the 2007 POWERade Countdown to the
Championship, NHRA's first championship playoffs.
SCHUMACHER, PEDREGON, COUGHLIN AND SMITH CROWNED NHRA POWERADE SERIES
WORLD
CHAMPIONS
Ashley Force named Auto Club Road to the Future winner during
NHRA Awards Ceremony in Los Angeles
Tony
Schumacher, who became the first Top Fuel driver in NHRA history to win four
consecutive POWERade Series world championship crowns by racing to victory at
Sunday's season finale in Pomona, Calif., headlined the four
world-championship winning drivers crowned Monday evening during the 2007
NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series awards ceremony at the Westin Bonaventure
Hotel in downtown Los Angeles.
Three other NHRA POWERade Series world
champions - Tony Pedregon, Jeg Coughlin and Matt Smith -- also were presented
checks and trophies for their achievements during the 2007 POWERade Countdown
to the
Championship, NHRA's first championship playoffs.
The evening
featured two very moving tributes. The first to NHRA founder Wally Parks, who
died Sept. 28 at age 94, after a lifetime dedicated to growing and nurturing
NHRA to position it as a worldwide leader in
motorsports; and the other to
Funny Car driver Eric Medlen, who died March 23 from injuries received in a
testing crash at Gainesville Raceway four days earlier. Medlen, 33, a team
driver for John Force Racing, was one of the bright young stars in the NHRA
POWERade Series.
Schumacher received a check for $500,000 from NHRA and
POWERade, which also included a $100,000 Countdown bonus. It was Schumacher's
fourth consecutive crown and his fifth overall, tying him with Joe Amato
for most in the category. Schumacher drove his Alan Johnson-tuned U.S.
Army dragster to six victories during the season, including a
dramatic must-win performance at the Auto Club NHRA Finals, to steal the
title away from "Hot Rod" Fuller at the last moment.
Pedregon earned
his second series crown and first as a team owner by outlasting Robert Hight,
Gary Scelzi and Ron Capps in the Countdown to 1. Pedregon raced to a victory
in Las Vegas and then held on to win the
championship despite losing in the
first round at Pomona. Pedregon, who drove his Q Horsepower Chevy Impala SS
to four victories in five final rounds during the season and set the national
elapsed time record at
Phoenix, earned $500,000 from NHRA and POWERade for
the title, which included a $100,000 Countdown bonus.
Coughlin took
his third Pro Stock world championship with a come-from-behind effort,
driving his Jegs.com Chevy Cobalt to the win at the season finale and posting
a runner-up effort at Las Vegas for a 7-1
eliminations record during the
two-race Countdown to 1. The Delaware, Ohio driver was presented a $250,000
check from NHRA and POWERade, which included a $50,000 Countdown bonus.
Coughlin won four times in eight final round appearances during the
season.
Smith earned his first NHRA POWERade Series world championship in
Pro Stock Motorcycle by winning the Auto Club Finals in a
winner-take-all final round against Chip Ellis, who finished second in the
series
standings, six points back. Smith rode his Torco Race Fuels Buell
to four victories during the season in nine final round appearances to
take home the $75,000 payday from NHRA and POWERade, which includes a
$25,000 Countdown bonus.
Funny Car driver Ashley Force won the $20,000
Automobile Club of Southern California Road to the Future Award, which
recognizes NHRA's rookie of the year. A distinguished panel of auto racing
journalists
selected Force, who two weeks ago in Las Vegas became the first
female driver in NHRA history to advance to a final round in Funny Car.
The 24-year-old second generation racer is only the 10th woman to compete
in the 7,000 horsepower category. Other nominees included Justin
Humphreys, Craig Hankinson and Matt Scranton in Pro Stock and Barry Henson in
Pro Stock Motorcycle.
NHRA Full Throttle Pit Crew Challenge season
awards, recognizing the most consistently quick teams during qualifying
throughout the year, were presented to Schumacher's U.S. Army Top Fuel team
($25,000) led by
crew chief Johnson; Jack Beckman's Mail Terminal Services
Funny Car team ($25,000) led by Phil Shuler; Greg Anderson's Summit Racing
Pro Stock team ($15,000) led by Rob Downing; and Ellis' Drag Specialties
S&S Buell Pro Stock Motorcycle team ($5,000) led by Ken Johnson and
George Bryce.
Chevrolet won the NHRA Manufacturers Cup for the 16th time,
an NHRA record. NHRA Pro Owner's Cups were presented to Don Schumacher
(Top Fuel); Tony Pedregon (Funny Car); and Victor Cagnazzi (Pro Stock).
The future stars of the sport, drivers in seven categories in the
NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series, also were recognized as 2007
world champions: Bill Reichert (Top Alcohol Dragster); Frank Manzo
(Top
Alcohol Funny Car); Frank Aragona Jr. (Competition Eliminator);
Darren Smith (Super Stock); Michael Iacono (Stock Eliminator); Shawn
Langdon (Super Comp) and Sherman Adcock Jr. (Super Gas).