2009 NHRA VIRGINIA NATIONALS - EVENT NOTEBOOK
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SUNDAY NOTEBOOK - THREE STORYLINES OF DETERMINATION HEADLINE THE WINNER'S CIRCLE
THIS DREAM IS COMING TRUE – Break out the engraving tool and write the check, Mike Edwards 
has done everything a Pro Stock driver can do in what he rightly characterizes as close as he has ever been “to living our dream”. Waiting at the end of the rainbow is a mighty fine trophy and a check for $250,000.
Edwards looked straight ahead and said, “Can you believe it?
“It is a near perfect day. It's unbelievable what I did here today; what my team did here today.”
Forever humble, Edwards smiles when he hears the accomplishments read off, but when asked the questions his humble nature quickly takes over.
“I am the same old redneck I will always be. I am going to enjoy it while I can.”
Facing his toughest competition head on, Edwards grabbed every possible point available, 150, including 20 for setting a new national record, as he stormed to his fifth win of the season, this one the Virginia NHRA Nationals at Virginia Motorsports Park.
Greg Anderson is 128 points behind Edwards. Edwards earned 42 of those points in qualifying, collecting all but six of the possible maximum of 48 over four events. Edwards could clinch the title in Las Vegas in three weeks.
“I'm thinking it,” said Edwards when asked about the title, “but I don't have it yet. It's close. You still have to stay focused. I know those two Summit cars will be burning the midnight oil. I am not going to count my chickens before they hatch.”
His competition is clearly resigned to the inevitable. Jason Line predicated Edwards could have run a .49 in the second round and he nearly did.
“I should have,” agreed Edwards. “I just went a little bit left and missed it. I thought I could. I thought I could.”
That is the story of the year for Edwards. Finding the goals, meeting them and then moving to even higher goals. It is the culmination of a year of really hard work by both the driver and the team.
“It's pretty phenomenal,” Edwards finally admitted. “It's hard to describe how it feels. It's just a bunch of good old drag racers working really hard and getting a big payday, no a pay year. We've run good all year. We should have won more races. It just feel's so good to do this at the end of the season and hopefully in two more races I can close the deal.”
POP A TOP – Brandon Bernstein broke a two-year drought putting the Budweiser Top Fuel 
dragster in the winner's circle in the Virginia NHRA Nationals at Virginia Motorsports Park. Bernstein's last win came at Brainerd in 2007, 51 races ago.
“I can't say enough about our team,” said Bernstein. “With that long of a drought is would have been easy to get down on themselves and not really get out of that funk. We knew eventually we would knock down the door and get that win again. We were really fortunate to have a great car today.”
Bernstein made a solid 3.844 second, 307.09 mph pass to easily best a tire smoking Antron Brown in the Mike Ashley-owned Matco Tools dragster. Bernstein's day started off easy, as Steve Weis pushed back in the first round, Scott Palmer didn't show for the second round. A third round matchup with Cory McClenathan was a bit more challenging however Bernstein was never behind in the contest, beating Cory Mac off the line, .023 to .136.
“We weren't surprised with anything,” Brandon said of his four runs. “In the semifinals with Cory we knew that was going to be a tough run. That was going to be one of those races you had to run the number to beat him because that is a tough car. We were consistent. Rob (Flynn) was really consistent and we raced the race track.”
Following the win, Brandon took a call from his father which included congratulations to the entire team.
“He was just ecstatic,” said Brandon of his father. “He was just so proud. In his voice you could tell he was jumping up and down inside and obviously wanted to be here.”
After 30 years, you would think it would feel good to bring home a win two races prior to the ending of such a long relationship.
“The 30 years is great but we needed a win for our team and for our new sponsor next year, CoPart. It wasn't for Budweiser, it was for us,” exclaimed Bernstein.
FINALLY ANOTHER WIN – After winning back to back events, St. Louis and Bristol, Del Worsham 
and the Al-Anabi Toyota Funny Car had not been past the quarterfinals until this weekend. Worsham worked his way past Matt Hagan, Jeff Arend, Ron Capps and then Tim Wilkerson to take the win in the Virginia NHRA Nationals at Virginia Motorsports Park, the 25th of his career.
This is unreal,” said Worsham. “I had nothing but trust in these guys.”
These guys are the tandem of Dickie Venables and Kurt Elliott.
“What they brought is just enormous amounts of experience. Experience you can't buy. All the championships and all the runs and their dedication to the car and this team showed today.”
The biggest challenge, at least for Worsham was the semifinal run against Ron Capps.
“I'm not going to say I was surprised to win any of the rounds today, but Ron Capps he just whips me like a little boy. To get by him today was definitely a big moment for myself.”
While the win over Capps was huge, the first round win over Matt Hagan might never have happened. Sitting in the car, Worsham was going through his normal routine when he suddenly panicked.
“I had a pretty good feeling this morning. I'm in the car, it's right before first round and I am feeling the reverser and it just feels too loose and the reverser cable wasn't hooked up. Right before they are ready to start the car I am screaming for the clutch guy. When you find things like that, it's just your day.”
STILL IN IT TO WIN IT - Cory McClenathan chipped away at the Top Fuel points today when he 
landed in his fourth semifinal of the season at the NHRA Virginia Nationals.
With leaders Tony Schumacher and Larry Dixon exiting in the second round, McClenathan gained valuable points in the Countdown to 1 playoffs towards his first Top Fuel championship, as two national events remain before a champion is named. McClenathan hung on to third place, and is just 68 markers behind his Don Schumacher Racing teammate Schumacher on top.
McClenathan first disposed of Todd Simpson in the opening stanza with a 3.801/319.60, then dismissed Bobby Lagana Jr. in the quarterfinal with another strong 3.834/316.38.
His semifinal match-up against eventual event winner Brandon Bernstein saw his demise, as the FRAM Tough Guard Top Fuel dragster caught fire as it crossed the finish line .1643 of a second behind Bernstein. "Cory Mac" posted a losing 3.902/290.82 to Bernstein's winning 3.851/313.66.
"The guys did a great job all weekend," said McClenathan, who recorded career-best passes of 3.784 seconds and 319.37 mph this weekend. "We qualified well, were given a huge opportunity to capitalize on the leaders going out early, but we just couldn't go any further.
"The car may have gotten out of the groove in that pass and that may have hurt the engine and caused the fire. But, I don't know that, for sure. We'll have to go back and look at the computer and see what it shows.
"We hurt some parts this weekend, but any time you're trying to run in the 3.70s you have the opportunity to do that.
"We went to the semis again, that's a good thing, but it would have been a perfect race to win. That would have been a good deal. But we just didn't get it done," added McClenathan, who has won this event four times.
"Our chances of winning the championship are stronger than ever, now that we were able to gain some ground on Dixon and Schumacher. Man, this could really come down to Pomona (Calif.) to the final race and all three of us, at least, still having a shot at the championship.
"Once again, the Countdown has gone in favor of the fans and they're going to get a heck of a show come Pomona."
THE CLOCK IS TICKING – Jack Beckman is running out of time and the pressure is mounting if he 
intends to take home the champion's trophy after Pomona. Losing in the first round at Virginia Motorsports Park, was definitely not in the plan.
“Were running out of rounds,” admitted Beckman. “There's no excuses. We overpowered the lane, and we're down to eight rounds right now. It's not going to be over leaving here but now we have to go win two races. Which is doable, we've won back to back races and I do think we've got a car capable of - and we just proved it - running at the top of the heap and if we can get back that consistency that had been our trademark we can go win two races.
“We're gong to have to hope the other cars stumble right now, as that's going to be our only shot for the championship.”
Oddly enough, it was Beckman's choice to run in the first pair of the first round of eliminations. Most number one qualifiers pick a spot further back in the pairings.
“We like to run first for a couple of reasons. First round when the sun's out the track doesn't do anything but get warmer, and if you run right after the dragsters a lot of times the starting line, because they smooth it out with their longer wheelbase, is a little bit better. I don't think that that bit us.
“Our teammate Matt Hagan looks like they had the same problem several pairs later, so we can't second guess ourselves. All we can do is look at the data and figure out what we need to do better next race. But there really isn't any point in hitting our heads and getting frustrated about it, because they're not going to let us rerun it. We just have to look forward, we have to be smart about it and we have to go out and win two races.”
HIGHT BACK IN THE LEAD - In a John Force Racing versus John Force Racing first round 
match-up Robert Hight defeated team leader John Force. This was the second year in a row that Hight dispatched Force in the first round at Virginia Motorsports Park. The win gave Hight the points lead once Ashley Force Hood faltered in the first round. Unfortunately Hight was not able to extend his points lead when he fell in the second round to eventual finalist Tim Wilkerson.
“This track is very, very tricky. It is very good and it is so good you can’t get initial wheel slip. It is a fine line. You saw that last night with John’s Mustang blowing the tires off at the hit. My car almost did that now. We ran a 4.05 in the last session last night and the first round today we ran 4.10. It just got crazy upset in the second round. We have had the same trouble here over the years and we just haven’t figured it out like some of the other guys have,” said Hight who carries a thirteen point lead into Las Vegas.
“I am disappointed since we had a chance to distance ourselves and we let some guys back in here. If we would have just kept pace we would not have let them back in. We have had good success in Las Vegas and Pomona. The next two weeks will be very important for us to get everything prepared and do our jobs right so we give ourselves the best opportunity to win.”
In the race Force tried to get every advantage versus Hight considering Hight had a performance edge. As Force pulled his Castrol GTX High Mileage Ford Mustang into the staging beams he deep staged on his teammate, an aggressive move especially against your son-in-law. At the top end it was Hight’s 4.104 besting Force’s 4.353.
“I had Robert aggravated at me because I went deep on him. I went down the race track. I had him covered until half track. It dropped a cylinder I think I need to confirm that, but it also lost a blower belt. He went around me at the other end. I was trying to get a win. A lot of people are saying you want Robert to win or you want Ashley to win; what about me? I fought hard to get into this Countdown and I made it. I am still struggling but (co-crew chiefs) Austin Coil, Bernie (Fedderly) and I have been together for a long time. We’ll get John Medlen in here and try and straighten this thing out. If nothing else we’ll get a hot rod we can race next year,” said Force.
EXTRA BRAIN IN THE BRAINTRUST - Force made a crew chief switch leading up to Richmond in an effort to strength his team’s chances of moving up in the points. For the rest of the season Ford Drive One crew chief John Medlen will be working with Force’s crew chief brain trust Austin Coil and Bernie Fedderly. Mike Neff will once again take the reins of his Mustang as crew chief and driver. Earlier this year Neff raced to the final in Phoenix pulling double duty.
“We have struggled so bad over here Austin, Bernie and myself that I wanted to put the brain trust back together and let them evaluate what is going on. We brought John Medlen back which he was always part of the brain trust. We knew Neff would be fine on his own. We left him over there with his group and we tried to see if we could shake things around over here,” said Force.
“When we lost Guido (Dean Antonelli) he’d worked with Coil and Bernie for fifteen years. Obviously he’d evolved and was able to do a lot of things working with them and that gave us a rounded program. We won the title in 2006. When he left in 2007 even though Coil and Bernie were tuning it Guido was a big part of making the calls on the starting line letting them know how the parts were performing. Guido was in the trenches and very much hands-on. Coil and Bernie were on the computers,” explained Force. “Medlen has always been hands on. So when we lost Guido and he went to Ashley, her car took off and our car went down. We were looking for help. We have good car chiefs here but what I needed was beyond a car chief. John Medlen was the best move to make to try and bring me around. I am still trying to get a shot at this title. I don’t even know if I have a shot. I think I’d have to win the next two races and have everybody in front of me fall off. That is going to be tough but I am still going to try just like I tried today.”
Neff quickly got back into crew chief mode but it did take a few rounds to get comfortable.
“It is busy. It is stressful especially when you haven’t done it in a while and you are not really familiar with the moves that you are making. You don’t feel real sure of what you are doing sometimes. You start making some runs and seeing results which helps you with the changes. You sort of feel your way though. I was nervous before the first run I wanted to make sure we had everything covered,” said Neff. “You just don’t really know what to expect. This car has been running god for a while and John Medlen had it set up so this was the easiest deal to step into. Medlen was here all weekend helping me. It just added more responsibility. I was thinking about the car all the time. When Medlen was making the tuning calls I just bopped around here with no worries until I got strapped in before the run. It just seemed like the wheels were turning non-stop this weekend. Medlen has available all weekend. It was not like he was gone.”
Neff managed to tune and drive his way to the semi-finals and a match-up with Tim Wilkerson.
sorely disappointed in his first round loss to Del Worsham. “Were not happy with that, by any means,” Hagan said. “For this type of race car to go out there and run an .05 and be No. 3 qualifier, to go out first round and do that is very, very disappointing to me as a driver, to our team and to our crew chief.
“We were too aggressive out there. The track was a little hotter and we tried to run a really good number, tried to run a 4.06 or 4.07, and there's just no room for mistake when the guy runs a .10 beside you. There's no room for error. When you mess up you go home, and that's what we did today.”
After missing the Countdown to 1, Hagan, an Angus cattle rancher from Christianburg, Va., has been adamant about getting a win before the end of the year. His opportunities to achieve his goal are now down to two.
“My goal is to get a Wally before the year is up and that's kind of slipping away, so whatever we have to do, whether it's bite, kick, spit, grab, pinch, to get ourselves back up and running again on race days and quit smoking the tires, we have to do it. No ifs, ands or buts.
“We have two races left, we'll be out there on the West Coast. We did well in Vegas earlier this year (first final round, runner-up), so hopefully we'll roll back in there and do well again.”
first-round loss of the last four races to all but extinguish his hopes for a championship "three-peat" Sunday at Virginia Motorsports Park.
RACE DAY QUICK HITS - NEWS IN QUICK FASHION
TOP FUEL
HOT, HOT, HOT, OH COOL – Scott Palmer was literally in the hot seat for most of his first round run 
against Spencer Massey. Massey was first off the line, .074 to Palmer's .103, but quickly struck the tires as Palmer jumped into the lead. No sooner than Palmer took the lead serious flame erupted from his engine, which stayed on fire all the way through the 1000 foot mark and the win light. Massey simply couldn't pedal fast enough to catch Palmer.
THAT'S THE WAY THE BALL BOUNCES - Barely six days after winning his third national event victory of the season, Morgan Lucas accepted the fact that a first round loss to Bobby Lagana Jr. essentially ends his chances of a title in 2009. Teammate Shawn Langdon also lost in the first round too.
"The championships will be out of reach for both of us by the end of the day so we'll shift gears and try for the best finish possible," Lucas conceded. "We'll start working on stuff for next year. At this point in the Countdown, a first-round loss is too much to overcome. It's a bummer to come off the high of winning last weekend to this.
"We're going to set both cars on 'kill' and try to upset everyone else's plans in Las Vegas and Pomona (Calif.). We want to bring both trophies back to our camp and go into the off-season on a high note."
NOW THAT'S FAST – Cory McClenathan ran the second fastest speed, to 1000 feet, in NHRA history at 319.60 miles per hour. The 3.801 pass was also the quickest in the first round of eliminations. “We're just going with the program,” said McClenathan following the run.
The fastest speed, 319.75 mph, was set by Antron Brown in Bristol earlier this year.
TAKE NO ONE FOR GRANTED – Tony Schumacher knows it's easy to get beat in the first round of eliminations. To help remind him to take nothing for granted, the team put a note in the cockpit which said, “Dig down deep” in preparations for Schumacher's first round matchup with Terry Haddock. Haddock is the last driver to defeat Schumacher in first round.
FUNNY CAR
CONFESSIONS OF A SPOILER – John Smith, running his career first round of Funny Car 
eliminations dispatched the number one qualifier, Jack Beckman, when Beckman's Valvoline/Mail Terminal Services Funny Car over-powered the racetrack. Beckman needed the first round win to keep his hopes for a championship alive. Smith climbed from his family-owned Funny Car saying, “Is that cool or what?”
MAKING ONE'S LUCK – Haunted by bad luck for most of the season, Jeff Arend and the DHL Funny Car crew appear to have found a mountain of lucky charms. While Ashley Force Hood was occupied with keeping her Castrol Ford Shelby Mustang off the wall, Arend was pedaling his way to the first round win. Arend's 4.513 was the slowest of those advancing to the second round, but certainly good enough to beat Force Hood's catastrophic 5.169.
When asked at the top end about his change in fortune, Arend quickly replied, “We're creating our luck now”.
CLOSE CALL – Beating John Force wasn't Robert Hight's biggest challenge in a matchup of boss versus employee. Getting the engine fired to even have the chance to run had the crowd at Virginia Motorsports Park thinking Hight wasn't going to be able to answer the call to stage.
Force was already backing up after his burnout, when Jimmy Prock and crew finally got the AAA Auto Ford Mustang's engine to fire up. Hight did a quick burn out, ran flat out in reverse to prepare to stage and then watched as his boss deep staged.
“You saw John,” said Hight in amazement. “He put that top light out on me.”
TIRE SHAKE MAYBE, BUT LEG SHAKE? – Ron Capps watched his team mate Jack Beckman strike the tires and fall in a first round run against John Smith and didn't feel very comfortable.
“My leg was shaking,” admitted Capps, who's first round run was against Jerry Toliver. “You can't ever take Toliver lightly. My leg was shaking and that's the first time in a long time for that.”
SHOOT, NO CHUTE CHUTE! - Bob Tasca's first round pass, third quickest of the round at 4.099, gave the second year driver an easy round win over Jim Head and a heart stopping moment when his chutes didn't deploy.
“I hit the chutes and no chutes. Then my hand slipped off the wheel and the car went over into Jim's lane. I apologize to Jim.”
ASK AND YOU SHALL RECEIVE – Tim Wilkerson's first round run of 4.064 looked great from the stands. From Tim's perspective it was a different story. “I'm very fortunate to make it through that round. That's what I wanted, but I am very fortunate.
PRO STOCK
CAN YOU HEAR THE FAT LADY SINGING? - When Mike Edwards won the event on a holeshot 
over Greg Anderson, he collected a full 150 points on the weekend, which effectively slams the door on the championship.
Edwards is now six rounds ahead of Anderson with two races remaining.
Of the 150 points, 32 were made up of bonus qualifying points, 12, and a national record, 20.
HE DID LEAVE ONE BITE - Edwards didn't take home the whole enchilada from Virginia Motorsports Park. Greg Anderson, in the Summit Racing Pontiac, set a new National Speed record at 212.36 miles per hour. The previous record, held by Edwards was 212.03 miles per hour.
GETTING OUT OF DODGE? - Larry Morgan has the for sale sign out but he's not selling his team. Morgan will be switching to Ford in 2010 and the for sale sign is for all the Dodge parts and pieces he won't be needing when the Mustang replaces his Stratus.
OUT OF TIME - In many respects, Greg Anderson had an outstanding day during Sunday’s final eliminations. In each of the four rounds, he posted one of the quickest elapsed times in Pro Stock history, highlighted by his 6.517-second clocking in the opening round. In addition, he was the only car to post four top speeds above 212 mph, rese tting the Pro Stock national record at 212.36 mph. Finally, he advanced to his fifth final round of the 2009 season, and 87th of his stellar career.
Unfortunately, there were two missing elements that prevented this from being a perfect outing for the KB Racing crew. Anderson’s 6.522-second, 212.03 mph run fell four thousandths of a second shy of overcoming his opponent’s slight starting line advantage, as Mike Edwards used an equally impressive 6.526-second run to gain the extremely narrow victory. In addition, Edwards further padded his lead by resetting the national elapsed time record in the first round, building an advantage that Anderson admitted would be hard to overcome.
“Unfortunately we’re running out of races, and today we lost a tight battle with him that we had to have, which dealt a severe blow to our chances in the Countdown. I certainly don’t want to wish anything bad on Mike or anyone else, but unless his wheels fall off in Las Vegas, we’re probably fighting20for second, which is certainly a let down. But I’m proud to say we’re giving him a battle, and today he had to dig down, and he did a little better job than we did.
TALE OF TWO DAYS - On Saturday, Kurt Johnson went the quickest and fastest he'd ever been in a Pro Stock Car when he qualified his ACDelco Chevrolet in the No. 2 spot with a 6.546 e.t. at 210.64 mph. But on Sunday, a case of severe tire shake in Johnson's round-one matchup with John Nobile, sent the veteran competitor to an early exit.
"It shook and the tire got all distorted," Johnson said. "It grabbed the tire, spun it up, and it was looking good, but it must have gotten that right side too distorted because it started shaking. The left side was probably all right, but it drove me to the right and I couldn't see where I was going. I still had my foot in the throttle, and I knew I was on the center line, I lifted, was on the centerline, and I was almost in his lane. It was already out of control a half second into the run.
"The air got a little bit better and we compensated with gear, but that was the only change we made and that was because of the weather. We didn't change tires, we didn’t change clutch, we didn't change anything around.
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SATURDAY NOTEBOOK - THE DAY THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN RAINED OUT DELIVERS, BIG TIME!
MIND IF I WATCH – As weather conditions went from good to better to best, Jack Beckman and a 
gaggle of other drivers watched in amazement as the Pro Stock ranks ripped through the air to quicker and quicker times. When it came his turn, Beckman turned up the wick to claim the pole spot in the Virginia NHRA Nationals at Virginia Motorsports Park.
The bar was already high, thanks to Matt Hagan's third round neck choking 4.051 seconds, 309.49 mile per hour pass. Beckman answered the call with his own lung evacuating 4.044 second pass right after team mate Ron Capps went 4.046. When Tim Wilkerson couldn't deliver an 04 and Ashley Force Hood fell short with an 06, the top three spots were occupied by Beckman, Capps and Hagan – all three Schumacher Racing drivers.
"That’s just awesome," Beckman said of the DSR one-two-three. "I think that (Hagan's crew chief) Tommy DeLago can take a bow for helping us run that number because he showed us what the track was capable of (in the third session). It's interesting that a a lot of times the advantage of running later in the session is just to see what the race track is capable of.
"And when people go out there and run a 4.09, you think, OK, if we can hit a home run we can run a 4.08. Well, Matt goes out there and runs a 4.05 in the third session. So, I think Tommy D. showed us what the bar was set at. So, we knew the track was going to give low 4s if we could hit the tune-up right.
'We knew we could turn the screws up on our car and do that. We saw Capps run the 4.04 but it was in the other lane. We weren't sure that right lane was quite as good, and it was. (Crew chief) Johnny West, (DSR team manager) Lee Beard and (assistant crew chief) John Collins made absolutely the right call."
It was like a perfect storm of conditions, not just for the drivers but also for the fans. If he could have Beckman would have given up his seat in the race car just to watch the runs.
"Great conditions," said Beckman, from the top end. "I'm a little bit sad we're not coming back to Virginia next year (VMP is not on NHRA's 2010 schedule). "These conditions are unbelievable and this race track has rapidly turned into one of, if not the, fastest tracks on the tour.
"As a drag race fan when I was strapped in that Funny Car and we were towing up and I'm watching all these 4.0 (-second) runs in front of me, I said, Oh my God, I don't know if I've seen a session this good maybe since Pomona a couple of years ago.
"There was some great quality cars behind us, but that was a stout number. I knew that we didn't leave a whole lot on the table in that run, so it was going to be pretty good. They were going to have to be darn near perfect for them to get around us.
"It's always interesting watching the television monitor down there and watching all these cars, flames roof high, [going] right down the middle of the lane, charging. And, in your mind, [you see] that it looks like it's going to be pretty close to us. And a lot of them came close after we ran.”
Now that he has the pole, going rounds on Sunday is of paramount performance.
“We have to make the final round,” admitted Beckman. “Right now because of this new qualifying bonus point system we are no going to be four rounds behind Ashley (Force Hood) and Robert (Hight), just because of the way they have consistently picking away and taking those bonus points. So, we have to win five more rounds than them with 12 rounds left. The problem is, if we had eight races left we could bank our on track performance to overtake them. Now we have to bank on not only that but them faltering.
“Regardless of what either of them do we have to make a final round. They can outlast us by making semi's at the next three races.”
Despite the odds, Beckman is putting his game face on and not giving up.
EDWARDS ON TOP AGAIN - With each passing run the pacing got quicker, the tension stronger 
and the times quicker and quicker and quicker. The final round of Pro Stock qualifying for the Virginia NHRA Nationals at Virginia Motorsports Park was turning into a real nail-biter and Mike Edwards had the last set of fingernails in the session.
“What a scary qualifying session for Pro Stock when you pull up there and guys are making their career runs,” said Edwards, after proving for the 14th time this season that he has the car to beat. “It's the last session and it gets nerve wracking. We were low going into the round with a 58 and I bet that's not even the top half now.”
In fact, Edwards was right. A 58 would not have gotten you into the top half of the 16-car field as driver after driver set a career best elapsed time. Edwards run, the last of the session with Jason Line in the opposite lane, was a mind numbing 6.531 seconds, 211.26 miles per hour, best of the weekend in both categories. Line ran a disappointing 6.556, 211.10 mph.
Kurt Johnson climbed from the bottom of the ladder to the second rung with a 6.546, 210.64 to start the session.
Allen Johnson, surprisingly, did not make the 16-car field along with Steve Speiss, Bob Benza and John Gaydosh.
Come Sunday, Edwards will be looking to not only go rounds, but to also use the 6.531 as the back up to a national record. Edwards can claim the national record with a run of 6.527 or quicker. It could happen.
“Tomorrow the conditions could possibly be a little better,” explained Edwards. “If it dries up, these cars are aspirated and they really get spunky when the air gets good. They make a lot more power. Conditions tomorrow will be the key.”
Edwards collected all 12 bonus qualifying points, having led every session. Edwards now leads Greg Anderson by 86 points and Jason Line by 89, with the potential to gather a full 150 points for the entire weekend.
TO WEIGH OR NOT TO WEIGHT – Last weekend at Memphis Motorsports Park Tony Pedregon 
won his semifinal match despite the body on this Funny Car taking off like a rocket ship and then floating through the air like a UFO.
Pedregon, who lost in the final round to Jeff Arend, had a little luck on his side when it came to the rulebook. The NHRA rulebook states that a Funny Car must weigh 2550 pounds at the end of a run. Obviously, Pedregon's car would have come up short at the scales.
First off, prior to the start of the round, with rain still threatening and time getting short on a Monday afternoon, NHRA officials had already decided not to weigh the cars after their semi final runs. Secondly, had they weighed the cars, Pedregon's team, with the help of the Safety Safari, would have gathered up as much of the body as possible, piled in onto the chassis and before checking the numbers on the scales.
THE TUNER KNOWS BEST - Matt Hagan knew the conditions were good as the Shelor.com team lined up for the first of two qualifying sessions in the NHRA Virginia Nationals at Virginia Motorsports Park on Saturday afternoon.
“You know, I told (Tommy DeLago) we ought to try to run a 4.01, he said not yet,” Hagan said after making a stunning 4.051 second pass at 309.49 miles per hour. “He said I'd like to run a 4.06 and it went a 4.05, so he was pretty spot on, you know.”
Hagan was joking about the 01, but DeLago was serious.
A HOST OF PERSONAL BESTS – Bob Benza set a personal best with his 6.638 second run and went home, which might just cancel his scheduled trip to Las Vegas in three weeks. Benza had stated that if he made the field for the Virginia NHRA Nationals then he was planning in competing in Vegas.
Roger Brogdon did the same with his 6.577 second run and landed in the ninth spot. Greg Stanfield set a personal best, as did Dave Northrop and John Nobile.
No wonder Larry Morgan stepped from his ride after a 6.580 run and said, “This is ridiculously close to perfect conditions”.
ANOTHER DRIVER IN THE FORD CAMP – John Nobile proudly proclaimed his switch to Ford in 2010.
“I'll be running a Ford with Larry Morgan next year,” said Nobile after making a 6.613 pass, a personal best for the future driver of the Ford Shelby Mustang.
SAY IT ISN'T SO – Allen Johnson could not run fast enough to make the 16 car Pro Stock field. Johnson's 6.621 pass was five thousandths of a second too slow. V Gaines claimed the final spot in the field with a 6.616 at 207.59. Had Johnson run the identical time he would have claimed the spot with a higher speed – 208.01 mph. LOOK FOR NEW FORD ENGINE IN VEGAS - According to the team, the new Ford “Hemi” engine to be used in Pro Stock is currently slated to make its debut at the NHRA Las Vegas Nationals in three weeks.
Jim Cunningham and Erica Enders will pilot a pair of Ford Shelby Mustangs in the Pro Stock division. The team is reported to have two blocks and two sets of heads ready for assembly over the next two weeks. Larry Morgan also now has a block in his possession.
Cunningham has been instrumental in the development of the “Hemi” for Ford, largely financing the effort himself.
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FRIDAY NOTEBOOK - GETTING THE RUNS IN BEFORE THE RAIN?
VIRGINIA IS FOR LOVERS AND CORY MAC – There is something about Virginia Cory 
McClenathan loves and it would appear, something about Cory McClenathan which Virginia loves.
McClenathan drove the FRAM Top Fuel dragster to the provisional No. 1 position after two rounds of qualifying for the Virginia NHRA Nationals, earning three bonus points towards his quest for a first Top Fuel dragster championship. Point leader Tony Schumacher garnered a single point in two rounds of qualifying.
If McClenathan's time holds up through two more rounds of qualifying on Saturday, he will claim his second No. 1 of the season, 34th of his career. McClenathan was top qualifier at Bristol earlier this year.
McClenathan and the FRAM team took advantage of nearly ideal conditions in the cooler second session to post a 3.815-second pass at 318.24 mph for top speed of the day. His first attempt produced a 3.898/308.38, good for No. 7 at the time.
"We need those three points," said McClenathan, who is third in the Countdown to 1 playoffs standings. “That's nice to see, but we're also looking at cooler conditions tomorrow. Even if we don’t have any - I hate to say it - rain whatsoever, then there are still opportunities to run quicker and obviously my teammate (No. 1 in points) Tony (Schumacher) will try to do so.
"We come here and for some reason we just happen to do well and it's good mojo,” added the winningest Top Fuel driver at Virginia Motorsports Park, with four victories. “That's a good thing."
McClenathan admits his 81 was a bit of a surprised.
“Lanny Miglizzi said 'this is probably the best we have seen this track in a lot of years', and when it got about half track I thought this is on a very good run. I thought 82, 82, right along with Tony. So, when they said 81 I was a little bit surprised. I'd say that would hold for tomorrow, but then again, if it gets cooler we are going to try to run a little bit quicker.”
The solid run by McClenathan is a tribute to the effort put out by his team in the four days between qualifying day and the Monday outing at Memphis Motorsports Park. McClenathan went out in a blazing fire last week, which at the team he characterized as “the hottest I have ever been in a Top Fueler”.
“They had to replace everything from the foot box all the way back. It burned everything,” said McClenathan. “Seatbelts, helmet, you name it we had to change it out. Air lines, everything that works the clutch, just one thing after another. Every fuel line on the motor. It took everything out this time.
“We have since vented the driver's compartment different, once again. I can feel more air coming through the car on the run, so it's back to what it felt like with the old car. Yes, it is the same car. We had a couple glitches starting it. Just, little tiny things that were nothing.”
McClenathan made sure to mention that the job of putting the car back together was led by his car chief.
Scotty Okuhara, Todd's brother, does a great job. He is the car chief. Probably the best car chief I have ever worked with.”
LIVING THE DREAM - “This is a dream season,” said Edwards, whose provisional No. 1 in the 
Virginia NHRA Nationals at Virginia Motorsports Park, if it holds, would be his seventh consecutive and 14th of the season.
“I’m living a dream in a sport I have treasured and enjoyed doing for a long, long time. By the way, Cory is a young pup … I’m 56 and he’s 42. He’s got a lot of racing to go yet. We did achieve a goal and that was to pick up those valuable six [bonus] points. We feel good about that. We didn’t make the best of runs there on the last run, but it was good enough. I’m pleased.
“We definitely went hard left and if you look at the [qualifying] sheet, my travel number was down,” Edwards said of his second pass. “Anytime these cars go really crooked to the left [it’s not good], because you are getting all of your ET right off of the starting line. We had a real good 60-foot but the travel number was really bad. I had to jerk it back and get it back in the groove. I feel like we left a little bit out there.”
A check of the sheets revealed Edwards spot on assessment. His 60' time of 0.967 was clearly the best of the session. Dave Northrop posted an identical 60' time but his overall run of 6.665 was on 13th fasted of the day. Greg Anderson, second quickest of the day, fan a 0.983 60' time, .016 seconds slower than Edwards and nearly two thirds of the total difference overall between Edwards' 6.606 and Anderson's 6.627.
Issues with the timing lights during the first session, didn't rattle Edwards.
“The stage light would not come on. I knocked the top light off and rolled in and kept rolling. It never came on so I finally got timed out by the auto-start. They pushed the car back and did all kinds of stuff. They [NHRA officials] even walked out there and put their foot in the beam and it still wouldn’t come on.
“There was an adjustment off with the lights. One was a little too low but they [NHRA] fixed that.”
Edwards’ slowest start this season was 5th, and that was in Sonoma, the race before his qualifying streak began.
CAT AND MOUSE – Edwards sets a mark, the field catches the mark and Edwards comes back and sets a higher mark. Ironically, it always appears to be almost two hundredths of a second.
“We are trying to make the best run we can, whether it’s .02 or a .01. At Memphis, I wasn’t always the quickest car. Greg was, and we struggled, a couple of times. We’ve made a couple of fairly good runs here today. Maybe Greg didn’t make as good of a run here. I don’t know. I don’t know what the number is and we try to race the track and the conditions. Whatever it is, I always hope that it’s enough to pick up those valuable points.”
HAPPY HAMSTERS? - The Castrol GTX Ford Shelby Mustang driven by Ashley Force Hood was 
filled with happy hamsters through two rounds of qualifying for the Virginia NHRA Nationals at Virginia Motorsports Park on Friday.
With near perfect weather conditions, Force Hood's co-crew chiefs, Dean Antonelli and Ron Douglas, swung for the fences in both sessions to collect the maximum six bonus qualifying points. From her perspective Force Hood let's Antonelli and Douglas worry about the setup, she just worries about holding on tight and keeping the wheels pointed in the right direction.
“I don't know that much about all that stuff, but I know going up there that when Guido tells me right before he starts the car, 'make sure you get it real tight in your staging' I know he is going after something. And, he will also say, when their making last minute adjustments in the staging lanes, 'the hamsters happy' and I think that means everything is good and they are very confident.”
In the first session Force Hood opened up with a 4.140 and then improved to a 4.094 in the last session.
“Every little point here and there is going to help. It could be today’s few points that make or break a championship at the end of the season. We are trying to not give away any runs especially when the conditions are so nice and the track is nice. It is all there,” said the Funny Car points leader. “That can be the most frustrating thing when you don’t make it down the track when it could have been a stellar run. That we made both runs A to B really strong today means we are pumped up for the weekend. We have started off really strong but we have to keep going.”
Force Hood was paired with her teammate and brother-in-law both sessions today and in the pressroom she spoke of the friendly rivalry that is forming between the two Ford backed teams.
“Having Robert’s team doing so well definitely motivates us. We have had a strong season and they have struggled. It does put the pressure on when you come down to the countdown and you see that it can all turn around. We don’t want to let anything slip through our fingers. If we don’t win the championship we want one of our other three teammates to get the championship,” said Force Hood.
“You can tell there is that competition between us. They have been on this team for a lot of years and both groups of guys have that competition. It is exciting when I am going down the track and I can feel his Mustang and sometimes see the nose of his car in my peripheral vision. You know he is right beside us and that is a great feeling. If we are both on strong runs we are both probably going to get pretty god numbers. I knew he was somewhere right up there with me. I knew we both made good passes. We are both really happy going into tomorrow.”
ON A ROLL – Fresh off his first victory in 13 years, Jeff Arend powered his DHL Funny Car, owned by Connie Kalitta, to the second quickest pass of the afternoon, 4.106, 320.41 mph. Robert Hight was third quickest of the day with a 4.110 pass.
Tim Wilkerson, Ron Capps, John Smith, Dale Creasy and Jerry Toliver all struggled through the afternoon. Capps said a fuel pump shaft ruined his first run, forcing the team to put an entirely new engine in the car for the second pass.
HEY, REMEMBER ME? - Robert Hight and his Auto Club Ford Mustang team were second quickest in the first session and just a tick behind No. 2 runner Jeff Arend in the last session. They finished the day in the provisional number three position. Hight picked up three bonus qualifying points and he feels that his success on Friday puts his team in position to be very aggressive on Saturday.
“We end up number three and at least we are going down the track. The biggest deal is our engine is down on power a little but we will get her. We’ll have two shot tomorrow as long as it doesn’t rain to go for the throat and try and run some low ohs,” said the hottest driver of the Countdown.
SUNSHINE NEEDED - Terry Haddock should be out hunting a leprechaun. Right now, the
struggling owner/driver can't seem to to buy an ounce of good luck. Haddock sat out the first round of qualifying for the Virginia NHRA Nationals to save money and was going to sit out second round until a check of the weather map revealed the possibility of rain washing out Saturday's activities.All went well for Haddock until he did his burnout. Then his brakes failed. Unable to stop his dragster, Haddock coasted to the top end and received no time for his efforts. According to the rulebook, since Haddock did not stage the car, he would not be qualified for the event if both Saturday sessions are cancelled due to weather.
Without Haddock in the field, this will be the first national event this year without a full 16-car field of dragsters.
NOT WASTING A RUN – Todd Simpson and Scott Weis both skipped the second round of qualifying for the Top Fuel dragsters. Weis is qualified 12th and Simpson 13th with two sessions remaining. Scott Palmer made a 6.776 pass to claimed the 14th spot.
GOING IN THE WRONG DIRECTION - Tim Wilkerson ran a 4.164 on his first lap, then came back and improved with a 4.161 on the second, but in the process went from the No. 3 spot to outside the top 12. What happened, of course, was a massive move up the performance ladder by just about everyone in Q2, and while Wilk did technically "improve" on his second run, he was bypassed by scores of teams to slide down 10 spots on the sheet.
"It put a hole out just after two seconds, and then ran on seven for the whole second half of the lap," Wilkerson said. "It was right on a 4.10 until then, but you know how that goes. We don't get to record what the car was going to run; we have to take what it actually did run. I don't remember too many days where we made two full laps like that, and improved on the second one, but you'd have to call the first one 'great' and the second one 'lousy' because it looked like they were handing out 4.12s and 4.13s for free out there. I guess I missed the booth where they were giving those away, because we didn't get one."
HURRY, HURRY – Normally, the thrashing to get ready between rounds all occurs in the pits. On Friday afternoon, every Funny Car team in the staging lanes was working on something as the NHRA tried to get the event back on schedule.
WHATEVER YOU DO, I CAN DO BETTER - Greg Anderson stepped up to the plate in second round qualifying, posting an impressive 6.627, not quick enough to claim the top spot, but close. One pair later, Edwards showed just how strong his car is by posting a 6.606, almost two hundredths quicker than his previous run.EARLY POINTS - Antron Brown led the first round of qualifying posting a 3.856-second, 315.49 mph pass to steal away the top spot from Larry Dixon. Dixon ran a 3.859. Bobby Lagana, Jr., was 12th fastest with a tire smoking 7.038.
Ashley Force Hood led qualifying among the Funny Car drivers with a stout 4.140 to Robert Hight's 4.157. In all, 17 Funny Cars attempted to qualify. Jim Head, John Force, Dale Creasy, Jerry Toliver and Jack Beckman were outside the top 12.
Pro Stock qualifying was led by Mike Edwards. Edwards run of 6.620 was the best of the 19 cars to make a lap.
BONUS POINTS? WE DON'T NEED NO STINKING BONUS POINTS - Only 12 of the 16 Top Fuel dragsters on property for the Virginia NHRA Nationals made runs in first round qualifying.
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THURSDAY NOTEBOOK - THREE DOWN, THREE TO GO IN THE COUNTDOWN
STILL IN IT TO WIN IT - Winning a coveted world championship in NHRA’s pro classes – Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock 
and Pro Stock Motorcycle – is like winning a marathon.
Now, with the finish line approaching, several drivers in the Countdown to the Championship have emerged as championship contenders, while others are pretenders.
The Top Fuel, Funny Car and Pro Stock classes have three races left in their respective seasons. The NHRA Virginia Nationals Friday, Saturday and Sunday in Richmond, the NHRA Las Vegas Nationals (Oct. 29-Nov. 1) and the Auto Club NHRA Finals (Nov. 12-15) at Pomona, Calif. The Pro Stock Motorcycle competitors, meanwhile, only have two events left at Las Vegas and Pomona.
Mathematically , the top 10 drivers in Top Fuel, Funny Car and Pro Stock categories have not been eliminated because none of them are 451 points out of first-place. At each race, a driver can earn a maximum of 150 points, 100 for winning the event, 10 for just showing up, 20 by maxing out qualifying points and 20 for setting a national record.
Actually, the only driver in any of the Pro classes who has been eliminated from championship contention is Pro Stock motorcycle racer Matt Guidera. Guidera qualified for the Countdown as the No. 7 finisher in the points chase, but he was suspended by the NHRA at the US Nationals in September when he failed to comply with the NHRA’s drug testing policy within the required 24-hour time period.
The biggest change in this year’s six-race Countdown is the bonus points that are being awarded for each qualifying session, with the top qualifier getting three points, second two and third one.
The new format was announced by the NHRA at the US Nationals and implemented at the six Countdown races, beginning at the NHRA Carolinas Nationals. The possibility that drivers could gain as much 72 points during the Countdown qualify sessions has received mixed reviews.
“I think it sucks,” said Funny Car driver Jack Beckman, when asked what he thought about the bonus qualifying points. “I can’t make myself any more clear than that. I don’t know why the NHRA with the structure it has decided to a made such a dramatic change like this at midseason. If we would have been told in the offseason that the NHRA was going to add these bonus points beginning in the Countdown that would’ve been different. I know that part of the reason that the NHRA added these qualify bonus points is because teams said that they were testing things in qualifying and there was a lot of tire smoking. Now, though, I think you can see the same thing in qualifying because teams will go out there and try to hit a home run and miss and smoke the tires. I’m not whining about the Countdown, because it has had a positive effect for our team. I just think it’s unfair to the racers that the NHRA made this change in the middle of the year. To me, it would be like if the NBA announced that it was going to have a 4-point shot in the playoffs to make things more exciting.”
Beckman drives the Valvoline/Mail Terminal Services Dodge Charger for Don Schumacher Racing. Beckman is presently fourth in the points chase, 73 points behind leader Ashley Force Hood.
Actually in Funny Car, the drivers are bunched up in the standings. Force Hood has a three-point lead over her teammate Robert Hight and she is only 26 points ahead of Tony Pedregon. Beckman is next, followed by his DSR teammate Ron Capps (88 points behind). Bob Tasca III (102), John Force (124) and Tim Wilkerson (127) are also still in the hunt.
“We will know after Pomona what impact the bonus points had,” said Capps, who pilots the NAPA Auto Parts Dodge Charger. “I don’t know that the timing of adding the bonus points was real good, but it’s what it’s. I think I have a car that can go out there and get three points every qualifying session and that’s what we’re going to try and do. I definitely think these bonus points have caused teams in the Countdown to change their outlooks for qualifying. We’ve still got a chance to win the championship, but the fact is that we need to go out and win rounds and get points and hope that the guys in front of us go out early. Plus any of the drivers in the top five who say they’re not looking at the points are lying.”
In the Top Fuel class, Tony Schumacher, who has won the last five world titles in row, is atop the points with a 2,369 total. Larry Dixon of Alan Johnson Al-Anabi Racing, is second just 54 points behind. Cory McClenathan (93 points back), Antron Brown (120 points behind) and Morgan Lucas (133 points behind) also are clinging to title hopes.
As for the Top Fuel, Funny Car and Pro Stock classes, drivers realistically need to be within 120-130 points of the respective leaders in their classes to have a chance to be the season champ.
That’s the case since drivers get 20 points for winning rounds at races, so to get 120 points, a driver would have to win at least six rounds at the final three events and hope that the drivers in front of them gained no ground.
Mike Edwards is leading the Pro Stock standings with 2,374 points and Jason Line and Greg Anderson are 78 and 81 points back. Defending world champion Jeg Coughlin (114 points back) is going to have to rally to finish on top this season.
Hector “The Hammer” Arana (2,420) and defending world champ Eddie Krawiec (2,392) are realistically the only two Pro Stock Motorcycle riders who have the best chance to become the series champ with only two races remaining.
TICK-TOCK-TIC-TOCK - Two of drag racing's longest running streaks is in jeopardy with three 
races left on the 2009 NHRA Full Throttle Championship Drag Racing Series.
Fourteen-time Funny Car champion John Force has won 21 race rounds this season, but hasn't appeared in a final since June 1, 2008.
Force holds the mark for consecutive seasons with at least one final round appearance (24) and successive seasons with at least one tour victory (22). Even though he is the only Funny Car driver in the Countdown who has not appeared in at least one final this season, Force hasn't given up on extending his records -- or on winning the championship.
Force will begin this weekend's event in seventh place, 124 points behind his daughter, Ashley Force Hood. Ironically, his inspiration will come from a most unlikely source: arch rival Cruz Pedregon.
"I've seen him win from back of the pack even before there was a Countdown," Force said of the driver of the Advance Auto Parts Toyota. "We thought we had the championship won in 1992, but Cruz won five straight races and beat us. That was a lesson. Last year, (Tim) Wilkerson led the points all year, but (then) Cruz got hot at the end and won three straight.
"I know my race car isn't where it needs to be," Force continued, "(but) it's come around a long way. It was good enough to get me in the Countdown and if we can do something this weekend, anything's possible. It's all about destiny and timing."
Even though he was winless in 65 races to start his career, Force has never before more than 22 races without at least once racing for an event title. He's been to 10 semifinals since last racing in a final round last year at Topeka, Kan., a final in which he beat Wilkerson to earn his first victory since coming back from a 2007 crash.
"I know I can still drive," Force said, "and I know I can still win but, at the end of the day, the proof is in the pudding."
The 126-time tour winner has made it dramatically clear this year that he still has the fire. What has been lacking is the firepower.
"Me and Coil (Hall of Fame crew chief Austin Coil) have been through a lot of ups and downs in 25 years," Force said. "We'll get through this, too, along with Bernie (Fedderly). It's still about winning and it's still about being safe. We know how. We just have to do it."
past, it seemingly is one of the fastest Pro Stock tracks on the tour. He's hoping forecasted cool conditions will work in his favor."If the conditions are right, Virginia Motorsports Park will let the Pro Stock field light up the scoreboard with some big numbers," Edwards said of this weekend's NHRA Virginia Nationals. "Going in we know the entire field will be able to make good runs at any moment, so we have to make every time we let out the clutch count and try to be near the top."
Edwards has a solid record at the facility over his career, advancing past the first round five of the six visits, and reaching the final in 1996 and the semis in 2007.
"If we make good runs and I do my job on the starting line, we have a good chance of collecting another Wally and helping our cause," he said. "We just have to stay focused on the task at hand and if the good Lord is willing, we will have a great weekend."
VIRGINIA IS FOR LINE - When the NHRA returned to Virginia Motorsports Park three years ago,
Pro Stock driver Jason Line made the most of the opportunity, qualifying No. 1 and taking home the trophy, his fourth win of the season en route to the 2006 Pro Stock championship. Now, as VMP prepares to leave the Full Throttle circuit in 2010, Line comes into the weekend looking for the same results, namely to win the race and the championship. Sitting in second place and coming off his career-best fifth 2009 win five days ago in Memphis, Line knows his work is cut out for him.
“We certainly have a shot at this year’s championship,” said Line. “But with so few races left we will have to make every run count. Even with Greg and I winning the last two races (KB Racing teammate Anderson) Mike (points leader Edwards) is still in the catbird seat, so we have to continue to do a great job while hoping he slips a little.
“Fortunately, we have two Summit Racing Pontiacs in contention, which really helps. That way we have a better chance of racing the people we are battling in the points. At the very least, if I happen to have a bad weekend, Greg will have a good one and vice versa. There are a lot of things that can happen in these last few weeks, and having two cars capable of winning not only improves our chances of winning the championship, but also of finishing as high as we can in the points.”
PUTTING A FACE WITH THE NAME - Mike Neff will be celebrating his 2008 Rookie of the Year 
award with a specialty paint scheme this weekend. The Ford Drive One Mustang that Neff has campaigned all season has been redesigned as a surfer themed Woody style ride complete with a caricature of Neff “hanging ten” on the side. For a driver who keeps his emotions in check the new look has Neff pretty excited.
“I think it is pretty neat. It is something different. It is a little off the wall. I am sure I might catch a little flack about the caricature on the side but that is alright. They did a really good job of getting my abs just right like they are in real life so I am really pleased about that. My M.O. has always been to not get too excited one way or the other over much good or bad. I grew up in Huntington Beach and lived there for ten years through high school. We would go surfing on the weekends or every chance we got,” said Neff.
“I think the whole theme is cool. The way the wave comes off the rear part of the Mustang I think people will really talk about it. (John Force Racing graphic designer) Brandon Baker and our design team did a great job on the whole look. We did the whole thing in-house with the exception of the drawing of me which artist Chuck B did. The wood grain looks great. I can’t think of too many active drivers that have been on the side of their own cars. I know (John) Force has had a couple and (Gary) Scelzi raced a car with his face on it in Denver one year.”
THIRD TIME WAS A CHARM, FOURTH WOULD BE AWESOME - Just a few days removed from
this third victory of the 2009 season, Top Fuel driver and team owner Morgan Lucas says his two-car operation's recent string of successes has only motivated his group to reach for more."Our business is winning races; we don't do this to finish second," he said. "We'd like to have both our cars finish in the top five in the Countdown to 1, get Shawn (Langdon, teammate) the Auto Club Rookie of the Year award, and get him a win before we're done. But a lot of big moves have to be made and we have to be on our game. It all starts this weekend in Richmond."
With only a few days to celebrate Monday's win in Memphis, Tenn., Lucas and his GEICO Powersports/Lucas Oil dragster team head to at Virginia Motorsports Park for this weekend's fourth annual Virginia NHRA Nationals, which begins with two qualifying sessions at 2 and 4:30 p.m. Friday.
"We want to win Richmond as much as any of the rest of the races," said Lucas, who at 25 years old is the youngest driver in the nitro ranks. "We've won a couple of rounds in Richmond, nothing to brag about, but we're on a roll right now so maybe that will change. What I do know is that the track is awesome and can produce some huge numbers, so it should be a lot of fun."
Currently, Lucas is fifth in the Full Throttle points, 133 off series leader Tony Schumacher, whom he beat in the final round at Memphis. Lucas' teammate Shawn Langdon is close behind in sixth place.
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