A race is never over until it’s over, which is what Jeg Coughlin Jr. learned the hard way at Houston Raceway Park.

Coughlin
nailed final round opponent Ron Krisher in the ugliest of starting line
reaction time battles, .025 to .116, and appeared to have a lock on his
43rd career victory at the NHRA O'Reilly Springnationals. Then the mechanical gremlins struck and Krisher
raced by a coasting Coughlin.

Wasn't there supposed to be a learning curve for Matt Smith this season?

The former Pro Stock Motorcycle rider who made a name for himself the
past three seasons aboard a Buell decided in 2009 that he would take up
an offer from Don Schumacher to return to Suzuki. Changing bike
manufacturers typical involves a period of adjustment for the driver. 

Smith brought seven testing runs into Gainesville and qualified No. 1.

An ESPN2 television angle showed the race wasn't really that close, but from the starting line one couldn't tell the difference in the second round race between eventual winner Tony Schumacher and Morgan Lucas.

If anyone thought Craig Treble was finished
last season following his release as a rider for Don Schumacher Racing,
they were wrong.

Treble, a 13-time winner on the NHRA tour and even more successful
challenger of the odds, simply shook off the rejection and soldiered
forward.

It doesn’t matter what he’s got underneath him, the resilient Treble will find a way to win.

“That’s ten year old pipe I was riding,” Treble said of his chassis, which was also ridden by Matt Hines to a championship.

Ashley Force Hood had fun on her final run. She wasn’t going to but looking over at Jack Beckman reminded her of a lesson he taught her when she first started driving.

“Jack taught me when I first learned to drive a race car, it was a
Super Comp dragster, when I was 16,” Force Hood remembered. “It’s just
amazing that ten years later he and I are still driving, Nitro Funny
Cars. I always love running him because you see how much fun he’s
having and I tend to get nervous. It’s a serious thing, you’re going
into the final. You want to do well.

“I pull up there and he’s having fun with his guys and that reminded
our team we need to have some fun; we’re in the final round at Houston.
It changed my nerves for the better.”

There are a few things a Pro Stock racer traditionally cannot get away with.

When the guy in the opposite lane pulls out the fastest run in Pro
Stock racing history, you’re usually not able to pull out a two-inch
margin of victory when you have only a .003 hole shot in your favor.

Traditionally, the law of averages suggests when defending world
champion Jeg Coughlin Jr., straps a tenth on you out of the gate, you 
must accept a loss.

At the NHRA O’Reilly Springnationals, Krisher fought the law – and this time the law didn’t win.

Defending Top Fuel champion Tony Schumacher collected his first win of the 2009 season with a hole shot victory over team mate Cory McClenathan.

 Schumacher's .059 reaction time versus Cory Mac's .098, led to a 3.881 second, 314.75 mph win.

Schumacher dispatched Del Cox, Jr., in the first round, Morgan Lucas in
the second and in a very popular win, Larry Dixon in the semi-finals.

Schumacher extended his dominance over McClenathan, 4-2, including two
wins over Cory Mac at Houston. The first Houston meeting came in 2005.
As team mates, Schumacher is now 3-0 over McClenathan.

Drag racing champion Mike Ashley’s ’07 Custom Nitro Funny Car will
be sold during Barrett-Jackson Palm Beach Collector Car Auction to
benefit the Darrell Gwynn Foundation, a Florida-based nonprofit and an
official charity of Barrett-Jackson.

The Torco Racing Fuels Dodge Charger that Ashley drove to victory in
the 2007 Mac Tools U.S. Nationals will be auctioned off April 10 during
the “World’s Greatest Collector Car Event” in West Palm Beach. Proceeds
will support the Foundation’s paralysis prevention, care and advocacy
work.

Danny Rowe made his first visit to the Winner's circle since 2004 by defeating Rick Stivers in the final
round of the Get Screened America Pro Mod Challenge presented by
ProCare Rx at the O'Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals in Baytown, Texas.
 
After a frustrating first day marred by rain and cancelled sessions and
a second day that witnessed the quickest run ever in Pro Mod history,
Sunday's performance kept the standing-room only fans on their tip-toes
and the edges of their seats in anticipation of the next run. The
Houston Raceway Park quarter-mile improved throughout the entire event,
setting up a stellar final that was ultimately decided by a margin of
less than 20 inches.

Krisher, Treble round out winners at the 22nd annual O'Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals

Ashley Force Hood raced to her second career victory on a
record-setting day at the 22nd annual O’Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals
Sunday at Houston Raceway Park.

The 26-year old Force Hood defeated her former drag racing instructor,
Jack Beckman, to earn the win that vaulted her up from 10th to third
place in the Funny Car standings. The other winners at the fourth of 24
races in the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series were Tony Schumacher
(Top Fuel), Ron Krisher (Pro Stock) and Craig Treble (Pro Stock
Motorcycle).