EVENT NEWS EVENT NOTEBOOK POINTS AFTER EVENT ROUND-BY-ROUND RESULTS FINAL ROUND RESULTS			EVENT GALLERY

 

SUNDAY NOTEBOOK - A FAST PACED DAY DELIVERS IN DALLAS

SCHUMACHER TAKES TEXAS-SIZED STEP TOWARD TITLE - Deep in the heart of Texas was a racetrack this past weekend that threw blistering heat, then cooler temperatures, then rain and San Francisco-like fog, and finally some normal conditions at NHRA racers during the O'Reilly Super Start Batteries Fall Nationals.
 
But deep in the heart of Top Fuel champion Tony Schumacher was a conviction that he was capable of seizing the monumental weekend he needed to throw points leader Larry Dixon off-balance as the six-race Countdown marked its halfway point at the Texas Motorplex.
 
Schumacher warmed up Sunday against Mike Strasburg, then Steve Torrence. Then he blasted past dogged Don Schumacher Racing teammate Cory McClenathan and finally Shawn Langdon to serve notice that if he yields the crown he has worn for the past six seasons and for seven overall, it won't be without a Texas-sized fight.
 
He donned a cowboy hat following his fifth victory in seven final-round appearances this season, the 66th of his career, and the Top Fuel-leading fifth at this facility that was celebrating its 25 birthday. But another Full Throttle Drag Racing Series crown is what he pictured himself wearing.
 
Mike Green, crew chief for Schumacher's U.S. Army Dragster, reassured him, "We've got a handle on this car. We really understand this car. It's going to go fast, and it’s going to start winning races."
 
Schumacher said the Dallas-area race is the perfect place to start his comeback with three races -- at Reading, Pa., Las Vegas, and Pomona, Calif. -- remaining. After all, this is where Schumacher won last Sept. 27 to begin his march that rolled over Dixon and his own former crew by two points at the end of 2009.  
 
In his best showing in five races, since a final-round loss to Dixon July 18 at Sonoma, Calif. -- one that has run his round-win record so far to 42-15 -- Schumacher beat Shawn Langdon in the final round. Schumacher posted a 3.838-second elapsed time at 320.43 mph to Langdon's 3.908 / 298.67 in the Lucas Oil/Speedco Dragster.
 
For the first time in four races and only the third time in the past eight, points leader Dixon was not a factor by the final round. And Schumacher made the most of it, appreciating Langdon for his holeshot victory that beat Dixon in the quarterfinals by about five feet (.0097 of a second) but showing the sophomore dragster driver no mercy in the final.
 
"Langdon's a great kid," Schumacher said. "I told him, 'I'm going to try to kick your butt -- but if you beat me, I want you to know I'm going to be proud to be in the other lane.' It's a fact. There are certain guys you don't like very much, but he's one of the good ones. He's going to be a great driver, and he's going to win some races.
 
"But when a guy like Dixon, who has won so many races, loses, you absolutely have to rise to the occasion," Schumacher said. "You have to win, gain those points, put pressure back on them. They were walking away with it."  
 
Langdon, who had fallen three positions in the standings at the previous race (at Charlotte) with a first-round exit,  found a positive spin to his runner-up finish.
 
"Today showed the potential of this team," he said, after being denied his career-first victory at the site where Schumacher recorded the first of his 66 triumphs. "We can beat these guys. We can run with them. We can win these races. It just wasn't meant to be today, unfortunately. Hopefully we'll get it by the end of the year.
 
"It's what the Countdown is all about – bringing out the best in your team, yourself, and your car. I think we showed a little bit of that today."
 
"It was a great day for the team, a real confidence booster going into Reading, knowing we can run with these guys," Langdon said. "We found some problems that have been plaguing us and have been keeping us from performing to our expectations."
 
Schumacher began to show again he can meet his own expectations. The semifinal match-up against McClenathan "was an absolutely brutal race," the U.S. Army driver said. "We're here to take every win we can take and leave nothing -- not even scraps -- on the table. When the car starts it's game on. Cory understands that. We're here to dominate."
 
He acknowledged that he and his team haven't had that kind of a season,that Dixon can make that claim instead. But he said Dallas is the place to start causing a commotion.
 
"I feel like we just rustled one up," Schumacher said from underneath his Stetson Sunday.  

His victory, coupled with Matt Hagan's triumph over John Force in the Funny Car final, gave DSR its 23rd double-up weekend.

HAGAN MAKES HIS MARK IN CATTLE COUNTRY - Second year driver Matt Hagan, in the DieHard Dodge Charger Funny Car, took on the granddaddy of Funny Car drag racing and beat him to take home his second Texas Wally this year.

Hagan won his first Wally in Houston back in April.  

“It was definitely gut-wrenching (to race Force),” said Hagan, of his final round match-up in the 25th annual NHRA Fall Nationals at Texas Motorplex in Ennis, Texas. “It was just amazing that it came down to me and him there at the end. Just to pull it together, our team, to go up there and go down the race track after coming in here in 14th and having to do a pedal job to get into the race. We were just fighting our way all the way through here, and it's just been great.

“All the (team) guys have been flawless this year. They haven't made any mistakes, really, and when they don't make mistakes it really helps me and Tommy (DeLago, crew chief) go rounds because we make enough mistakes for everybody. It's a young team, I'm a young driver, Tommy's a young crew chief, and we're very hungry.

“I'm glad to be here, glad to be beating John Force.

En route to the sixth final round of his short career, Hagan defeated Jeff Arend with a 4.105-second elapsed time at 305.15 mph, Cruz Pedregon with a 4.062/306.74 and Ashley Force Hood with a 4.111/300.26.

As if it wasn't hard enough getting past the hot hand of Cruz and the always tough Ashley Force Hood, Hagan then was faced with staring Mr. Drag Racing straight in the eye.

“It's definitely intimidating (to race Force),” admitted Hagan, “but you have to block it out. He's just another guy. And he's had some success out here, and I hope we have that much success in my career.”

Hagan is now three for three in final round appearances this year, not counting the four-wide run at zMax Dragway in March. Two of those three victories have been in Texas, which prompted the Virginia cattle farmer he might should make the state his second home.

“I'm really loving Texas,” he said. “(I) might be buying some land down here because it feels like home.”

Without lane choice in the money round, Hagan edged out Force at the starting lights by a hundredth of a second, then cruised to the victory with another stellar 4.155/294.63 as Force lost traction, slowing to a 4.491/203.74.

"I left the line and never saw him,” said Hagan of the run. “I kept listening for him over there and I kept looking over. I was just saying, Come on! Turn that win light on! It finally came on.

“It's just overwhelming and exciting. I have so much respect for that whole John Force team over there and I kept looking over. When we won in Chicago, every one of those guys came over and shook our hands and told us what a great job we did. They're a first-class operation, just like DSR. We're a first-class operation and it's always great to race the best. It was just a great weekend. I was just saying, Come on! Turn that win light on! It finally came on.

Hagan moved into second place in the Countdown to the Championship point standings and is now slightly more than one round win, 25 points behind Force.

TONGLET LONE UNBEATEN RACER - LE Tonglet has an innocent face, an accent like gooey molasses, a lanky 5-foot-11, 130-pound body perfect for competing in the Pro Stock Motorcycle class, and, for a 20-year-old, a curious mix of hobbies such as movies, golf, skydiving, paintball, and day trading.
 
Now he also has four victories in five final rounds, including three straight over points leader Andrew Hines in the money round, with his triumph Sunday in the O'Reilly Super Start Batteries Fall Nationals.
 
Tonglet rode Kenny Koretsky's Nitro Fish Suzuki past a red-lighting Hines to a 6.972-second pass at 187.94 on the Texas Motorplex quarter-mile. With that, the rookie from Metairie, La., claimed the distinction as the only undefeated competitor in the Countdown to the Championship.
 
"It's unbelievable," Tonglet said -- the same thing he has said throughout his on-track battles with Hines and his Vance & Hines Screamin' Eagle Harley-Davidson V-Rod -- and against the source of his horsepower.
 
"Our season's turned upside down," Tonglet said, recalling how Koretsky rescued his performance-strong but sponsorship-weak rookie-of-the-year bid before the Brainerd race in mid-August.
 
However, Tonglet said this weekend at the Motorplex (his new hometrack-away-from home since the NHRA dropped the Memphis venue from its schedule) wasn't easy. Cutting Hines' lead in the standings from 66 to 44 points was hard work.
 
"I wasn't feeling too confident Saturday night, We've been stumbling in qualifying," the No. 6 qualifier said. "We didn't find it [his motorcycle's potential] until the second round. The bike really woke up.
 
"From then on," he said, "our confidence all went up. My dad said, "We can do this. We just need to have a good light against Eddie [Krawiec] and see what happens."
 
He said he was "just happy to be in the semis. From there on out it's a bonus. It didn’t matter whether we won or lost. We were still going to go home happy. The win makes it that much better."
 
In the process, Tonglet beat Michael Phillips, Karen Stoffer, and Eddie Krawiec to reach the final.
 
His toughest opponent all day turned out to be Krawiec, who had posted low elapsed time and top speed in both of the first two rounds atop his Vance & Hines Screamin' Eagle Harley-Davidson. Krawiec ended up with low E.T. (6.899 seconds) and top speed (195.03 mph) of the meet.
 
In the semifinal, Tonglet and Krawiec clocked identical 6.969-second E.T.s and Krawiec's 187.68-mph speed (best of the round) was slightly faster than Tonglet's 187.08. However, Tonglet used reaction time to advance to the final, his .011 of a second topping Krawiec's .030.  
 
Hines eliminated red-lighting Angie Smith, as well as Steve Johnson and Matt Smith to advance to his sixth consecutive final round. He fouled out by six-thousandths of  a second in the final-round showdown between the class' top two ranked riders.
 
Tonglet said three-time champion Hines had remarked at the previous race, at Charlotte, that he "had a complex" about facing Tonglet so much and letting the young rider get the better of him.
 
"This race it showed," Tonglet said. "He's definitely thinking about it. For him to go up there and red-light, he had to feel the pressure."
 
He added that Terry Vance, the "Vance" of Vance & Hines, said he was proud of Tonglet and was proud, too that his company is "showing everybody that Vance & Hines gives out the right amount of power to beat them."
 
Tonglet said he "saw the red light when I left, so just knowing that you're going to win, that's just so nice. It's just so awesome."
 
Pressure is something Tonglet says he doesn't like to dwell on. "I don’t feel that much pressure. It is there. I'm just glad I have GT (older brother and Pro Stock Motorcycle class veteran) and my dad (Gary, his crew chief, who raced in the class first) there to keep me calm.
 
"We'll happy with a top-three finish," LE Tonglet said, "but my dad says he's hungry for that championship. He needs the money, he said."
 
He earned the winner's jackpot Sunday, but he said, "We have to keep this momentum going. We have to keep our heads straight and it should play out pretty good."

A CONFIDENT ANDERSON WINNING, GLOWING - After his second win in as many races, Greg Anderson is a confident racer, which should be a red-flag to his fellow competitors.

“When I have confidence I seem to be a pretty good racer,” said Anderson after closing the gap on point leader Mike Edwards to just 16 points.

The win was basically a come from behind victory as Edwards was first off the line, but it was Anderson first across the stripe at the finish. Edwards made it tough on Anderson with a .001 light to Anderson's .014. However, it was Anderson, 6.58 to 6.61, at the finish line for his 64th career win.

“My team has been flawless for two races in a row now and I'm so proud of them,” added Anderson. “They've got a heck of job on their hands trying to keep me positive all the time because if my car's not the fastest car out there I'm not happy and shame on me for that because it doesn't have to be that way.

“We’ve got serious chance at getting the championship back and I really had doubts a few races back,” said Anderson, further explaining his change of attitude. “The guys are giving me a race car every race that I can win with now. We’re still not in the lead after back-to-back wins and that just goes to show you how tough this class is and how tough Mike Edwards is. We’re going to have to find a way to take that trophy from him; he’s not going to give it up. He’s the champion for a reason. He’s a great racer, he’s got a great team, he’s got a great hot rod, and he just doesn’t make many mistakes. The good news is we’re kind of peaking at the right time. We’re a threat to win every race now and we’re threat to win the championship.”
Anderson and his Summit Pontiac battled their way past semi-teammate and brother-in-law Ronnie Humphrey in round one with a 6.59, then took out low qualifier Allen Johnson in the semifinals with a strong 6.58 before ending the hopes of rookie Shane Gray in the semifinals, 6.60 to 6.61.
There was one achilles heel in Anderson's game plan this weekend. Luckily he avoided the problem while his team mate Jason Line did not.
“Where you pull up in the water box there are grooves and ruts,” explained Anderson. “The problem is the concrete, You can't cut a section out. With all the cars that have done burn outs they've worn a groove in the concrete. It's like a truck stop exit. It's a problem but I don't know what we can do about it.”

Line tried to do a burnout and in the process rolled past the starting beams. When he backed up and tried a second burnout, Line ran afoul of one of those obscure rules.

“Jason didn't realize there was a rule about burnouts. I didn't know it. Shame on us for not knowing the rules. I feel horrible for Jason.”



QUICK HITS - RACE DAY REPORTING IN RAPID FASHION

TOP FUEL

FIRST ROUND

BETTER BRING A BOATLOAD OF POWER – If anyone knows the value of cool air and track temperature in the mid-80 degree range, it’s Antron Brown.

“I stepped on the gas and the track is just really tight out there,” Brown said. “The car actually stumbled and moved hard over to the left and got out of the groove a little bit and shook a little bit. (We) had enough power to muster on down through there. The track is tricky, real tight; it's going to hold some low ET's. We've just got to give it to it.”

HOMETOWN ROUND WIN – Steve Torrence entered the NHRA’s Countdown to 1 playoffs as the ninth seed. The past Top Alcohol Dragster champion scored his second round win of the playoffs at the expense of David Grubnic. Their match represented the first head-to-head competition of championship contenders.

Torrence, of nearby Kilgore, Texas, was excited to win before his home crowd.

“It's huge,” said Torrence, who has won at the Texas Motorplex as a sportsman racer. “We are doing the best we can to represent. Hopefully, we'll go some rounds today; maybe go home with a Wally. It is a great racetrack. As long as I can do my job on the tree, we've got a shot.”

NOT LOOKING AHEAD – Larry Dixon is focusing on the task at hand, even if he’s won 13 rounds in a row. ESPN announcer Gary Gerould reminded him of his winning streak after winning the first round over Scott Palmer.

“You just take it one run at a time,” Dixon said. “Gary Gerould is asking me how it feels, 13 round wins in a row and I am thinking about how to get a win light and lane choice. Fortunately for us, everybody did a great job and we got lane choice.”

MAINTING PACE – Tony Schumacher understands that with every round Dixon wins, his chances of repeating as Top Fuel series champion diminishes. Schumacher beat Mike Strasberg to win the first round.

“People have been telling me all day, 'you gotta keep up.' Keep up with what?” Schumacher said. “We're 160 behind him. We need to make up 80 points on him. They go out and win rounds like that; you're just not going to make it up. All you can do is be a machine. Go out there and do the exact same thing we've been doing all year long. We just don't want our performance to fall off. We know how to win races, how to win rounds. That's what we have to keep doing.”

CERTIFIABLY HOT – Cory McClenathan intends to keep his name in the championship battle as he’s in second place behind Larry Dixon. In the first round, he carded a 3.817 elapsed time to not only beat Countdown qualifier Morgan Lucas but to get an early leg on low elapsed time. His victory pairs him against Doug Kalitta in the second round.

“How about that big orange race car,” McClenathan said as he exited his Fram dragster. “All the folks on this car, they really, really want us to win this championship. We take it one round at a time. When it gets like that, and those guys are running those kinds of numbers, Phil [Shuler] and Todd [Okuhara] are up there saying, 'let's push it.' “


QUARTER-FINALS

DOWN GOES FRAZIER – Headed into the Top Fuel quarter-finals, Shawn Langdon only had 15 round wins all season. His overwhelming opponent Larry Dixon had 12 in a row.

By .009 of a second, Langdon grabbed sweet sixteen and ended the point leader’s run for perfection in the Countdown. Langdon, known for his starting line prowess, snagged .039 off of the starting line. That proved to be the difference in a race where Dixon ran a 3.802 to Langdon’s 3.831.

“We’ll take whatever we can get to get into the semis,” said Langdon, commenting on his win generated on the starting line advantage. “To beat Larry Dixon like that says a lot about our team.”

The win pairs Langdon against Brandon Bernstein in the semis.

GOOD SPONSOR RELATIONS – Brandon Bernstein is intent on proving to sponsor Copart that their decision to extend the sponsorship with Kenny Bernstein Racing was a good one. Not only did he advance to his tenth semi-final round of the season by beating Antron Brown, he also recorded a career best 3.784, 318.09.

“When it runs that good, you know it,” Bernstein admitted. “I knew it was a good one when it left the starting line.”

MR. SPEED – If speed represents horsepower, then defending world champion Tony Schumacher was flexing his muscles in the semis by beating Steve Torrence. Schumacher thundered through the speed traps at 321.96 miles per hour.

MAKE UP GROUND TIME – Cory McClenathan heads into the semi-finals trailing Larry Dixon by a little over three rounds of competition. McClenathan beat Countdown hopeful Doug Kalitta in the second round with a 3.802 at 311.13.

As fate would have it, his scheduled semi-final opponent and teammate Tony Schumacher also ran a 3.802.

“The car was fast early and it held on just enough to get the win light,” McClenathan explained. “We are going to bring it out. We both ran 3.80 and he gets lane choice by mile per hour. To see Dixon go out like that and be able to take advantage of it is huge.”

Schumacher trails McClenathan by 68 points headed into their third round match.

SEMI-FINALS

THAT’S THE WAY IT SWINGS - Seven inches stood for a forty point swing in the Top Fuel championship point standings. Tony Schumacher made sure the pendulum swung his way by taking out teammate Cory McClenathan.

Waiting for the defending Top Fuel champion is the No. 9 qualifier Shawn Langdon. Langdon beat Brandon Bernstein to reach his second career final.

The number nine qualifier hasn’t won in 24 years of Top Fuel racing at the Texas Motorplex.

Ironically, it was the same Lucas Oil car formerly driven by J.R. Todd which ended Tony Schumacher’s reign of terror in 2008.

FINALS

SCHUMACHER WINS - Tony Schumacher won’t go down without a fight in his bid to defend the NHRA Full Throttle Top Fuel championship.

Even though Shawn Langdon was first off the line, Schumacher quickly bridged the gap and thundered by for the victory with a 3.838, 320.43. Langdon made a battle of it with a 3.908, 298.67 in a losing effort.

Schumacher’s win, his fourth of the season and the first since winning Bristol in June, is the 66th of his career.

FUNNY CAR

FIRST ROUND

ALWAYS PAY ATTENTION – Recent Charlotte winner Cruz Pedregon was getting ready to do his burnout against first round opponent Paul Lee, when he noticed rain on the windshield of his Snap-on Funny Car. Just before hitting the throttle to do his burnout, he cut one last glance to starter Rick Stewart who was motioning for the drivers to shut off their engines. Lee had already performed his burnout.

Pedregon is glad he double-checked.

“He did me a favor and he raised his arms like this is probably not going down because there is moisture on (the track),” Pedregon said. “I paid attention to him thinking, 'I hope his is not up there itching his underarms,' because I just didn't do the burnout. I figured I hope they shut off now because I was committed; but I was thinking 'man, it's so wet out there I better not make a burnout.' If you make a burnout and they stop, it changes the clutch and heat and all that stuff. We want to go out there as fresh as we can and hopefully everything will work out.”

“The NHRA they do a great job. It's safety first. Yea, we want to beat the other car in the other lane, Paul Lee, but it's safety first. We have enough obstacles with the change in the weather. It got a lot cooler. We don't need help by a wet track. These cars, they accelerate so hard you've got to have every bit of traction and then some. I am glad they made the call and Rick was decisive.

“We like to go out there not having made two burnouts on the clutch.”

FIRST PAIR OUT WORKS FOR BECKMAN – Jack Beckman raced Jim Head in the first pair of Funny Cars.

“You know sometimes better because you’re not sitting and watching the rest of the funny cars and trying to figure out if they are going to shake or smoke,” Beckman admitted, as to why he prefers to go early in eliminations. “Sometimes worse because you’re not sitting and watching the rest of the funny cars and trying to figure out if they are going to shake or smoke.

“I took the early turnout. Here, even at 300 with one chute you can get these things stopped pretty quick. I caught one of the NHRA's scooters in the parachute so I hope there is not a fine involved in that.”

ANY GIVEN SUNDAY – A 4.11 would have paced Friday’s Funny Car qualifying, but on Sunday it sent Jeff Arend packing in the first round. Matt Hagan ran a 4.105 to advance to the second round.

The fickle weather conditions have been tough on the teams this weekend.

“It's tough,” Hagan said. “It was hot, then cold and now it's trying to rain. For this car, one more round. Some more points in the Countdown.”

IT’S ABOUT TIME – Del Worsham’s good fortune train arrived in the first round. Worsham eliminated Ron Capps in the first round by a .009 margin of victory.

Today he was glad to take a ride.

“Yeah, I've lost ten of them to Ron Capps,” Worsham explained. “He's a great friend of mine, but between him and Ashley Force I'm a whipping boy for them. I guess qualifying doesn't mean much; because there it is.”

A TENNIS STYLE CHAMPIONSHIP BATTLE – Jack Beckman jumped to the top of the point lead with his first round victory over Jim Head. A few pairs later John Force regained the lead with his victory over defending series champion Robert Hight. Four points separated the two drivers headed into the weekend.

WHAT’S A BATTLE AMONGST FRIENDS? – Bob Tasca III believes there’s something to be said about racing friends. He raced and beat Tony Pedregon in the first round of eliminations.

“He's the guy you want to race,” Tasca said. “As an up and coming driver, John Force, Cruz and Tony Pedregon, they are the champions of the sport. So you can get up. It's real easy to get up. You better get up or you aren't going to win the race. We got real lucky in that round, this thing had a wicked vibration and I couldn't even see the finish line. NHRA put those big tall orange things up and that is about all I got a glimpse of.”

TIP-TOEING – Tim Wilkerson had quite the ride in the first round knocking off Dale Creasy.

“I was on the radio with my guys asking, 'what do we do and nobody said anything', it was raining all over my windshield,” Wilkerson explained. “Nobody said anything, so I hit the gas and it knocked the tires right off. I was fortunate to get by that run. Creasy should have had me there. Hopefully, we can get our car straightened out. Maybe I can get lane choice with a 5.02.


QUARTER-FINALS

THE HITS KEEP COMING – Del Worsham continues to make a run for a national event victory in 2010. His bid was bolstered with a second round victory over Bob Tasca.

“I’d say this is a good place for us to get healthy this weekend,” Worsham admitted. “We got some help from some old friends and the car is running a ton better.”

The event didn’t start off on a positive note for Worsham who had the mother of all oil downs during first round qualifying on Friday. There was so much oil leaking from the car, race officials decided to remove the car from the track via rollback to prevent any further spreading of oil.

Worsham entered the event tenth place in points, and with the second round victory moved into eight, just seven points out of seventh.

TWO FORDS GO OUT, ONE COMES BACK – John Force won an intramural battle among the Blue Oval floppers. Force eliminated No. 1 qualifier Tim Wilkerson in round two.

“I really wanted to do some damage here,” Force said.

Force is experiencing his best Dallas outing since an accident in the semis of the 2007 NHRA Fall Nationals when he suffered serious injuries which almost ended his driving career.

CLOCK STRIKES MIDNIGHT – Matt Hagan doesn’t mind being the bad guy when it comes to stopping the Cinderella bid of Cruz Pedregon. Pedregon, who scored a monumental victory last weekend in Charlotte, ran square into Hagan’s freight train, which rumbled to low elapsed time of the event with a 4.062.

Hagan credited his oft-overlooked crew chief Tommy Delago with a monster tuning call.

“Tommy Delago is an animal,” Hagan said. “He’s got all of these tricks up his sleeve. I’m just glad to drive the race car he puts underneath me.”

IN A BLAZE OF GLORY – Jack Beckman’s bid to overtake John Force’s point lead leaving Dallas went up in flames, literally, following a second round loss to Ashley Force Hood. As Beckman drove through  the finish line, his car erupted in flames prompting NHRA announcer Bob Frey to proclaim, “Fire in your wheel wells is never a good thing.”

Beckman was uninjured in the fire and exited under his own power through the roof hatch.

Sunday in Dallas was not one of his better days on the job.

“First I knocked an NHRA scooter over with my parachutes and now we catch our Dodge Charger on fire,” Beckman said. “Roger Comstock is not going to be happy that we heat treated the MTS car. If we could have traded that for a win-light, that would have been cool. That’s the biggest fire I’ve ever had.”


SEMI-FINALS

TIME FOR NEW MEMORIES - The Texas Motorplex is a drag strip that will forever be etched in the memory banks of John Force. The 14-time Funny Car champion hopes to change the most memorable moment from a negative to a positive. In 2007, Force suffered a crash following a semi-final win against Kenny Bernstein.

This year, Force beat Del Worsham to advance to the finals.

On the other side of the ladder, Matt Hagan blocked an all Team Force final round by eliminating Ashley Force Hood.

FINALS

HAGAN TOPS FORCE – Matt Hagan made his qualifying position just another number as he drove from the 14th qualifying position to the trophy on race day. By beating John Force in the final round, he moved into second place in the championship point standings, just 15 points behind Force.

Hagan ran a 4.155 at 294.63 to beat the 14-time champion Force, who drifted out of the groove and lost with a 4.491.

The win marked the third of the season and fourth career for Hagan.


PRO STOCK

FIRST ROUND

THE BATTLE – Allen Johnson performed impressively enough to qualify No. 1 in the field. For his efforts, Johnson gained a first round match against Coughlin, the racer just ahead of him in the Countdown points.

Coughlin out-reacted Johnson by .024 and led the first part of the race until his car drifted out of the groove, allowing the No. 1 qualifier to reel him back in for a .001 margin of victory.

HIS BEST WASN’T GOOD ENOUGH – Warren Johnson, a seasoned veteran of Pro Stock, ran his best run of the weekend in the first round against Jason Line. However, so did Jason Line.

Line entered the event as the third quickest, and of the 26 times he’s started in this position, he’s won four of seven national events.

BROTHERLY IN LAW LOVE – For the sixth time in their racing career, in-laws Greg Anderson and Ronnie Humphrey met in the first round. Headed into Dallas, Anderson carried a perfect record against Humphrey.

Anderson grabbed .009 out of the gate and reeled of a 6.597 for the win and at the time, the quickest Pro Stock run of the weekend of the weekend.

HOW DID THAT WORK OUT FOR YA? – Sometimes a racer shouldn’t second guess their decisions. Kurt Johnson found that out the hard way.

Just moments after Anderson’s victory over Humphrey, the quicker qualified KJ swapped lanes to go with the left in his first race against Ron Krisher. Krisher didn’t flinch as he nailed KJ to the tree with a .002 reaction and won with a 6.601.

FATHER NEEDS A BREAK – Johnny Gray just can’t get a break against that boy of his. Shane Gray, in his first year of racing Pro Stock, has raced his dad and won all three times.

Shane pushed the total to four with a win in the first round.  

A FORD WIN – Larry Morgan entered the first round of Pro Stock eliminations carrying the hopes of the entire Blue Oval brigade on his back. The cagey veteran reached into his bag of tricks during the opening round and pulled out a .063 holeshot and a win with a 6.633.

His round win represented the fourth of this season for Ford. He won two of them in the first race of the season.

QUARTER-FINALS

COULD BE BETTER - Mike Edwards was about as apprehensive as a second round winner could be. He dodged a bullet in beating his teammate Ron Krisher on holeshot. The margin of victory was .001 of a second. He won with a 6.598 while Krisher had a quicker 6.578.

“That wasn’t a good run, the car stood up and went to the right,” Edwards said. “We were fortunate to win. We had better tune her up if we want to go any further.”

ODD SCENARIO – Greg Stanfield sat in his Pontiac calmly as all kinds of commotion transpired in the other lane. Jason Line had burnout issues and rolled forward barely crossing the line. He rapidly backed up and did a second and better burnout. Not a good thing to do. By crossed the starting line twice – he violated a major rule.

“I hate to win them that way,” admitted Stanfield. “Jason is a great racer and I didn’t know what was going on, we turned off my radio after the burnout. I didn’t know what was going on over there, if he was broken or what. It’s twenty points and we’re going into the semis.”

MAKING UP GROUND – On his side of the elimination ladder, Allen Johnson had two drivers ahead of him in the Countdown.

In the first round Anderson knocked off Jeggie Coughlin, who was third in the point standings. Then his luck ran out, as he lost a second round battle to Greg Anderson.

Johnson entered the event fifth in the standings. His first round victory moved him into fourth. Coughlin dropped to fifth with two races remaining.


SEMIS

DÉJÀ VU, KINDA-SORTA – The last time Mike Edwards and Greg Stanfield met in head-to-head competition was the NHRA U.S. Nationals final round in Indianapolis. This week, they met in the semi-finals.

Edwards fouled in Indy, and this time Stanfield grabbed the foul start. The defending series champion advanced to his second final round of the Countdown.

“I have struggled and hat’s off to my guys for sticking with me,” said Edwards.

ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE LADDER – Greg Anderson got the best of the rookie Shane Gray to advance to his second consecutive final round. The final round will represent a battle between the top two racers in the points standings.

FINALS

ANDERSON GETS EDWARDS – Greg Anderson beat a determined Mike Edwards to clinch his second consecutive Countdown to 1 victory. Anderson pulled to within one round of the defending series champion.

Edwards was lightning quick off of the starting line with a .001 reaction time but his 6.612, 208.46 run was no match for Anderson’s 6.585, 209.39.

Anderson now has 65 career victories.


PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE

FIRST ROUND

BIG UPSET – Defending Pro Stock Motorcycle world champion Hector Arana’s title defense hopes took a blow in the first round. Unheralded David Hope knocked off the champion, using a .06 starting line advantage to his favor and winning with a much slower 7.128. Arana lost with a much quicker 7.082, unfortunately it was a .111 reaction which did him in.

TONGLET’S TERROR CONTINUES – LE Tonglet, bidding to become the first rookie of the year candidate to win a championship since Gary Scelzi in 1997, knocked off Michael Philips in the first round.

THAT’S A CLOSE ONE – Steve Johnson scored a close win in the first round against Craig Treble. Just how close was it? The margin of victory was .001 of a second.

LOW OF THE ROUND – Andrew Hines scored the low elapsed time of the first round when beat Angie Smith with a 6.593.


QUARTER-FINALS

NOT YOUR AVERAGE FISH TALE - There’s nothing fishy about the performances LE Tonglet has been turning in on his Nitrofish Suzuki. The only undefeated runner left in the Countdown extended his round win streak to 13 with a win over Karen Stoffer.

“We stumbled in qualifying but this Nitrofish Suzuki has been flying in eliminations,” said Tonglet, the leading Rookie of the Year candidate. “

BYE RUN – Matt Smith made good use of his second round “free run” as an uneven amount of bikes produced a second round bye run. He gained lane choice over Andrew Hines by virtue of a 6.961.

LOW ET – Eddie Krawiec obliterated David Hope’s chances in the second round as he ran a 6.899 elapsed time. The win set him up for a semi-final match with the undefeated Tonglet.


SEMIS

WIN-WIN SITUATION - The final round of Pro Stock Bike will be a win-win situation for Andrew Hines and his family’s Vance & Hines business. The engine in Tonglet’s Suzuki is built by Vance & Hines.

“We keep teasing LE and on our Facebook page, someone pointed out the Eagle always gets the Fish,” said Hines of their sponsors Screamin’ Eagle and Nitrofish. “Hopefully we’ll get the fish in the finals.”

Hines believes Tonglet’s success sends a message loud and clear.

“It just goes to show Vance & Hines gives its customers the best available and he’s making the most of it,” Hines said.

Tonglet beat Hines’ teammate Eddie Krawiec on a run where they ran identical 6.969’s. Only .60 separated their speeds.

FINALS

PERFECTION – LE Tonglet continued his bid for a perfect Countdown to 1 by beating point leader Andrew Hines in the final round. Hines rolled the beams early with a -.006 red-light, handing the rookie rider his 12th consecutive round win.

Tonglet entered the Countdown in Indianapolis as the seventh seeded rider and has pulled into second place, just 44 points behind Hines.

He now has five career victories, all of which have come this year.

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SATURDAY NOTEBOOK - A REALLY LONG DAY PRODUCES BIG TIME

DIXON GETS BIG DADDY'S BLESSING - Top Fuel sensation Larry Dixon had conducted top-qualifier press conferences before -- seven times in 20 races this season alone and 47 times in his career.
 
But nothing could match the visit he had with reporters Saturday at the Texas Motorplex after he captured the No. 1 position for the O'Reilly Super Start Batteries Fall Nationals. He did so by breaking his own track-record elapsed time with a 3.793-second pass at 320.05 mph to top last-ditch efforts by No. 2 Tony Schumacher and No. 3 Cory McClenathan.
 
Into the room walked NHRA legend, pioneer, innovator "Big Daddy" Don Garlits, who told Dixon, "You never cease to amaze me." He wished Dixon good luck for Sunday's eliminations in which the Al-Anabi Dragster driver is seeking his fourth consecutive victory.
 
Garlits reminisced about seeing three-year-old Dixon tag along with his dad, Larry Dixon Sr., when he won the 1970 Winternationals, as a commentator with Keith Jackson on the ABC-TV broadcast of the Pomona, Calif., classic. Dixon, flattered by Garlits' approval and completely respectful in response, marveled at his fortune of "being in the same room with him" and said of the drag-racing icon, "That's my Michael Jordan, right there."
 
It simply added to memories Dixon has accumulated throughout the years.
 
Special to him, he said, is a winners circle picture taken when he was a crew member with Ed "The Ace" McCulloch's winning Funny Car team at this Dallas-area race in 1987. Jason McCulloch, Ace's son, is his crew chief today. Dixon also recalled that Texas is where longtime boss Don "The Snake" Prudhomme earned his last victories in both Top Fuel and Funny Car.
 
"So I've got a lot of great memories from this track. We're just trying to make our own now," Dixon said.
 
Holding onto Saturday's top spot has to rank among his best memories of this season, considering the late charges by Schumacher and McClenathan. Closing qualifying for this 25th anniversary of NHRA presence at the Texas Motorplex were the two Don Schumacher racing teammates.
 
Schumacher reset his own year-old track speed record with his 321.65-mph blast to improve to second place in the order with a 3.799-second E.T. McClenathan made his quickest pass of the weekend and wound up in the No. 3 slot.  
 
"I really thought the two Schumacher cars that ran behind us could run better than that,  and I'm sure they did, too," Dixon said. "We were just fortunate to run a little bit quicker.
 
McClenathan had been on top of the qualifying charts during a five-hour rain delay with his 3.834-second run at 316.08 mph in the third qualifying session. While the Funny Car class had to rely on just three qualifying sessions, the Top Fuel class got to run once the rain stopped and the track dried. And conditions gave the fans a real show.
 
DSR driver Antron Brown overtook McClenathan's spot with a 3.812/321.42, and Dixon followed.
 
"It's that time of year," McClenathan (who's second in the Countdown rankings) said. "Everybody is trying to win a championship. We're running good, Dixon is running good, and Tony and Antron are running good, It's cool to see that after all that time of waiting and waiting the fans got to see some good side-by-side runs. It just shows how good a job NHRA is doing taking care of tracks, getting them dried off, as we're all trying to put on an excellent show for the fans, and that's what we did."
 
Schumacher, who arrived in Texas 148 points behind Dixon in third place in the standings, said Saturday, "I had all the faith in the world we would do the job today. We had a couple of unlucky breaks yesterday, so it was just a matter of dusting ourselves off and taking care of business.
 
"We absolutely need to have a great Sunday," Schumacher said. "The time is now for the U.S. Army team. If we're going to remain in contention for another world title, we have to be hoisting the trophy tomorrow."
 
He said he's focused on taking elimination rounds away from Dixon in the next four races.
 
"There's no doubt about that," Schumacher, last year's event winner, added. "We need as many rounds as we can get. Of course, we'll also need some help from others relative to beating Larry early. You can be certain we're going to keep slugging it out right on through the season finale."
 
He'll be going for his fifth victory of the year and the 66th of his career, first against Mike Strasburg. Dixon will square off first against Scott Palmer and McClenathan against Morgan Lucas. Missing the field Saturday were Mike Bowers and Terry Haddock.

NO. 1 WILKERSON ON HIS WAY BACK - Tim Wilkerson is always thinking.
 
Sometimes it gets him into trouble, as it did a week ago at Charlotte, when he tried a strategy that didn't work and left him and his Levi, Ray & Shoup Shelby Ford Mustang with a DNQ.
 
But sometimes it pushes Wilkerson to the top of the Funny Car class. That's what happened Saturday when he was declared the No. 1 qualifier for the O'Reilly Super Start Batteries Fall Nationals after a third-session rain delay of more than five hours.
 
With a new combination that he's starting warm up to, confidence from a sponsorship extension from Dick Levi for 2011, and a little bit of lucky timing, Wilkerson will lead the class in eliminations Sunday at the Texas Motorplex with a 4.079-second pass at 305.77 mph.
 
Wilkerson's constant deliberation left him a bit puzzled earlier in the week about what his mindset should be.      
 
He knew that, as always, he would show up, planning to win the event. ("You never go to the starting line thinking you don't care if you win or not," he said. "We always want to win.)
 
But slipping to eighth place, 163 points off pace, with just four races to go after his ill-timed failure to qualify had him calculating. He had one foot in the "comeback" camp and the other in the "test-mode" camp.
 
 "The only thing I'm thinking about right now is those 10 rounds we probably need," he said as he prepared to arrive at the Ennis, Texas, all-concrete supertrack. "If we come out of there still in the position we're in now, you have to start thinking about trying new stuff and testing on the fly for the rest of the season."
 
However, Wilkerson wouldn't give up on the notion that he could pull off an upset.
 
"Dallas is the big one for us, right now, if we want to think in terms of the championship," he said. "We need to have a really good weekend, and by that I mean we need to probably get to the final round or win the race if we want to have even a distant chance. That's a lot of rounds in four races, but we're going to Dallas with the idea of picking up three or four of them on some people, and then the strategy gets a little more realistic. If we can bite off a big chunk, we have a chance."
 
He bit off a big chunk, if you will, besting No. 2 qualifier Ashley Force Hood by more than two-hundredths of a second Saturday to claim his first top spot of the season and first in 60- events (since the May 2008 St. Louis race).
 
One other matter was in the back of his mind: "On top of that, we'll need some help, because some of those teams ahead of us need to lose." No one has lost an elimination round yet, but he picked up some bonus points Saturday and saw the cancellation of the fourth qualifying session rob other Countdown hopefuls of the chance to start better on the ladder and maybe earn some bonus markers.
 
Moreover, Wilkerson saw non-Countdown driver Jeff Arend assert himself again, this time as No. 3 qualifier, and saw Cruz Pedregon, who missed the cut but won at Charlotte, nail down the No. 6 starting position. And he saw the lineup pit leader John Force against teammate and reigning champion Robert Hight in Sunday's first round. So the opportunities are there for Wilkerson to use that new combination to its fullest.
 
Trouble is, Wilkerson isn't sure what the new combination might throw at him, let alone what it might throw at his opponents. But he said Saturday he's getting a better idea.
 
"We have a new combination we're testing," he said. "I don’t know if I know how to run it yet. We won’t find out until tomorrow. I think I do. Hopefully I can prove we're not as dumb as we look or at least as dumb as we looked last weekend. We just had a bad weekend last weekend, and we need to come back in order to stay in this chase. If the right people lose, maybe we can get right back in the middle of it."
 
Again he said he's "not sure I know how to race this combination yet. It's a little trickier than what I used to have. It's fast. And a fast car is an evil car. So we have to learn to run it."
 
Although this is a splendid rebound from the Charlotte DNQ, Wilkerson said, 'I don't get wound up about that stuff. I'm very methodical. I run the racetrack I can run. I try to base every run on the racetrack. I just do the best I can do every weekend. We're happy to be here, fortunate to be here."
 
He announced Levi's continued presence with his team and said, "Dick Levi is backing us again next year. For Dick Levi, I'm happy that we did well here."
 
Wilkerson said he "figured somebody else would run faster." And he said the long rain delay "played into our hands, quite frankly. I felt more confident about everything I did, every decision I was going to make when the sun went down."  
 
So is Tim Wilkerson back? He's on his way. But he knows he has to knuckle down and do his job Sunday for anyone to consider him on a roll.
 
"It's a nice rebound for us after Charlotte, so now we just have to capitalize a bit on Sunday. If you overlook Dale Creasy you're about as stupid as a fence post, because that guy won a lot of races and the championship over in IHRA, so they know how to race. There is no doubt about that. We'll go out there and race the lane, and hope we get to the stripe first, just like we would if we were racing John Force or anyone else. We'll let the chips fall where they fall, but we hope to have a good day."

JOHNSON’S NO. 1 LEADS TO TOUGH SUNDAY OPENING ROUND - Allen Johnson didn’t rightfully know whether the proper reaction to ualifying No. 1 in Dallas was one of celebration or grimace.

With a sense of urgency to gather every possible point to make up for his loss of points during last weekend’s event in Concord, NC, Johnson retained his top spot in the Pro Stock field during the final day of qualifying at the NHRA O’Reilly Fall Nationals in Dallas.

The task for Johnson now is to continue to gather as many points as possible. However, the road may not be a smooth one. Johnson's first obstacle is multi-time world champion Jeggie Coughlin. Not the kind of first round matchup Johnson was hoping for when he rolled into Texas on Thursday.

“Yeah, congratulations No. 1, you get to run Jeggie in the first round,” said Johnson smiling, simultaneously shaking his head. “I guess this gives me the opportunity to try and knock someone out ahead of me in the Countdown. Our goal is to make up ground and get points, what better way to do it?”

If Johnson beats Coughlin in the first round, he has the potential to race another racer ahead of him in the points, provided Greg Anderson beats Ronnie Humphrey in Sunday’s first round of eliminations.

“You have to try and be a master of the positive,” said Johnson. “You just can’t sit there and look at the negative and hope to get ahead. The only thing you will do is drown in your own pity. We’ll see if we can turn this No. 1 today into a No. 1 tomorrow.”

Johnson gained six bonus points for his efforts in qualifying this weekend.

“Maybe getting Jeggie in the first round is a little bit of a negative, but I want to do what I can to make it a positive. Hopefully, we can go around him in the points.”

Johnson trails Coughlin, by 16 points, who is fourth in the standings.

In his final qualifying pass, Johnson believes he left some bonus points on the table by missing the starting line combination.

“The car got out of the groove and went way left,” Johnson said. “Out of the groove here is no good. That cost us some bonus points.”  

But for today, Johnson is merely focusing on the positives.

SMITH FIRES THE NOTHING TO LOSE SHOT - For much of the last two weeks, Pro Stock Bike rider Matt Smith repeatedly spoke out on how the parity in the class has been off-center. That’s why, while qualifying was delayed for nearly five hours during the NHRA O’Reilly Nationals in Dallas, Tex., when Smith found the opportunity to make a performance statement, he did.

“I had nothing to lose,” Smith said in a post-qualifying press conference. “I figured if it didn’t shake, it would be quite a pass.”

The second-generation drag racer, son of multi-time Pro Stock car champion Rickie Smith, trusted his instincts all the way to the No. 1 spot in qualifying. His 6.923 was .001 ahead of second place Eddie Krawiec. The top four spots consisted of one Buell, two Harley-Davidson V-Rods and one Suzuki.

“We made a picture perfect pass,” Smith said. “Our 60-foot was at the top of the list. Our 330 was tops too. I just think the other guys just missed it. The track was just really good. I threw everything I had at it down low. It didn’t shake. It didn’t spin. It just stuck. When I went up there and checked the track, I told my guy that the track was really good, and sent him back to get my laptop. I came back and upped the rpm to lock that clutch up as fast as I could.”

During the five hours of downtime, Smith and his crew had an opportunity to go through the Al-Anabi Racing bike with a fine tooth comb.

“We found a problem with two injectors on the bike,” Smith said. “They were stopped up a little bit but I don’t think that was the key; the key was we just got a-hold of it down low.”

And for Smith, the bike really hugged the Texas Motorplex racing surface. In fact, Smith admitted he was taken aback by the end result.

“When they told me I had a 6.92 … I said no way,” Smith said with a smile. “I saw our time slip and we picked up almost .04 on our 60-foot time. I think that’s where we got it all at.

“It was overcast, it had rained and the rain cleaned the track off. Any time it rains like this and they get the track dry it just makes for a very clean surface. The six Funny Cars that ran ahead of us left so much rubber down that I knew we had to go for it. We had nothing to lose and I think the rest of the guys just didn’t take advantage of it.”

Smith made sure their loss was his gain.

RAYMOND BEADLE BEATS THE ODDS - Raymond Beadle stood face to face with the widowmaker and two-and-a-half months later lived to tell about it.

In his first drag racing appearance since suffering a major heart attack in July, the three-time NHRA Funny Car Champion, 79, 80 and 81, spent much of the day congregating with admirers and drag racing fans checking out the Ronny Young-built, Blue Max tribute Funny Car.

Beadle showed no ill-effects of the potentially fatal heart attack he suffered on July 15.

“I’m feeling good, there are no problems,” said Beadle as he autographed a retro handout for a race fan.

Beadle readily admits for much of his drag racing career he had a penchant for being in the right place at the right time. This time it made the difference between life and death.

Beadle was on the way to visit his mother when he began to feel discomfort similar to what a heart attack victim would feel. He experienced chest pains and shortness of breath. Beadle just happened to be in close proximity of the Baylor University Heart Center.

“I was right there, so I decided to pull in and see what was going on,” Beadle explained. “I went in and they checked me out and they rushed me in when they realized what was going on. They put the stent in and I’ve been good ever since.”

Beadle confirmed that since the incident, his physician has put him on a cardio-heavy workout. He’s listening to the doctors but on the fateful day, he’s grateful he followed his instincts.

“For once, I listened to myself and it saved my life. Any other time, I might have gone home and took a nap on the couch,” Beadle admitted.

Beadle had a 100-percent blockage on the artery known as the “widowmaker”. He had a 70-percent blockage on another artery.

A “widowmaker” is a nickname used to describe a highly stenotic left main coronary artery or proximal left anterior descending coronary artery of the heart.

This term is used because if the artery gets abruptly and completely occluded it will cause a massive heart attack that will likely lead to death. The blockage that kills is made up of platelets streaming to the site of a ruptured cholesterol plaque.

“The doctors told me there’s a less than ten percent survival rate of this kind of blockage,” Beadle said.

And for Beadle, the cagey drag racing veteran, beat the odds one more time.

THREE MORE WITH COPART - Kenny and Brandon Bernstein had one year to make an impact. Mission accomplished.

Bernstein, along with Copart CEO Jay Adair, announced a three-year contract extension on Saturday afternoon during the NHRA O’Reilly Fall Nationals in Dallas, Texas.

“It makes a big statement for our race team, our sport and the National Hot Rod Association,” said Bernstein.

Bernstein confirmed that he and executives from Copart will sign the three-year contract tomorrow afternoon live on ESPN2, 6:30 PM, CST.

Adair was all smiles as he addressed the media with a glowing review of his company’s first year in the fastest motorsport in the world.

“We’re excited about it and a great opportunity to continue in our support of drag racing,” said Copart CEO Jay Adair. “We love what we’ve seen so far. It’s been a huge win for our company in getting new members to our site and more visibility. We needed the three year commitment to activate this program and the infrastructure that it takes to work with all of the fans. This three-year deal gives us the opportunity to connect with them.”

Adair and Bernstein announced a one-year sponsorship last year during the NHRA U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis. It didn’t take a full season for Adair to see the value drag racing had to offer.

“I often describe drag racing as an athletic sport that meets the country fair,” explained Adair. “It’s an experience when you go out. This is a sport that is very entertaining. Most sporting events, you go for a day, it ends and you go home. This is a three day long experience. If you love automotive, you are really going to be into it.”

Adair confirmed his company has made the most of the program, at times bringing as many as 750 people to a drag race. He said as many as eighty percent of those attendees were first timers.

“We’ve brought in a lot of people who are not automotive minded and they still love it,” admitted Adair. “It really impacts our culture and they love it. I think it’s a sport most people don’t know about and when they are subjected to it, they are instantly sold on it.”

Bernstein is impressed with the way Copart went to work and made the most of their marketing program. The bottom line, he believes, if the program didn’t work there wouldn’t have been an extension.

“They’ve learned quickly how to make it work for their customer,” Bernstein said. “They’ve been able to get more cars because of this program. There’s also an increase in morale for the employee as well. I am astonished by the number of people who come with them to the track and it’s their first time.”

For Bernstein, the longer contract adds a great measure of security for his race team.

“The three year (deal) is good for both of us,” added Bernstein. “A one year deal goes by so fast and it’s over before you know it.”

TURNING IT AROUND? - Dave Grubnic, who hung on at Brainerd in the Kalitta Air Dragster to secure the 10th and final Countdown berth for the Top Fuel class and lost in the opening rounds at both Indianapolis and Charlotte to start the payoffs, cracked into the top five Friday. He entered this race 289 points behind Larry Dixon.

WAITING AND WANTING - T.J. Zizzo qualified his the PEAK/Herculiner Dragster 10th at the U.S. Nationals, then started a career-best sixth at Charlotte. But he'll have some time on his hands to think about his .005-second loss to equally hungry Steve Torrence at North Carolina's zMAX Dragway.
 
Zizzo's next Full Throttle Drag Racing Series appearance will be Oct. 29-31 at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
 
Recalling that match-u with Torrence, Zizzo said, "We were also the fastest loser. In my book, that would be equivalent to the biggest loser. All that didn't matter because we came up a few feet short and Torrence took us out.
 
"That was a disappointment because we had qualified a career-best sixth position," Zizzo said. "It was one of the hardest losses of my career. I did not see him and I thought that I won until I heard from our team on the radio that it was a great race and we were just a little short."
 
TEXAS-SIZED CONCERNS - The Texas Motorplex has been a curious place for John Force, first as a battlefield of seven Funny Car triumphs, a not-so-glorious 2007 wreck that signaled his career and fellow legend Kenny Bernstein's will be linked forever, and now a personal, emotional challenge.  
 
Points leader John Force said before this O’Reilly Super Start Batteries Fall Nationals that "it's a struggle every day to race against all these kids. I'm just happy to be able to compete again (but) I really do want this championship. I'm 61 and don't know how many more chances I’m going to have."
 
Frittering away much of his lead with an opening-round loss last weekend at Charlotte and returning to the site of his life-changing 2007 crash, his anxiety has been heightened -- again --as he returned to the Texas Motorplex this weekend.
 
He has his Castrol GTX High Mileage Ford Mustang 11th in the lineup with two more qualifying sessions set for Saturday in muggy, 90-plus-degree Ennis, Texas. Force has won here seven time, more than any driver in any class. But he said he wants "to get closure" at this quick, fast, and -- in his mind -- haunting racetrack.
 
"It would mean a lot to win it," Force said of this weekend's event, the third of six in the Countdown. "That's where I got hurt, and every time I race there, that's in my head. So [winning] could be as important to me as the championship. I don't want to ever leave this sport and not win [again] in Dallas. I just need to get that out of the way."
 
Naturally, he's also looking to extend the points lead he has owned after all but two of the 19 races so far this season.
 
Force suffered a compound fracture of the left ankle and broken bones in his hands and feet, as well as in his fingers and toes. He had a significant cut on his right knee and a left wrist dislocated so badly that it initially was thought to be broken. It took six hours of surgery to patch him up that Sunday night, Sept. 23, 2007.
 
The accident propelled him into a deeper commitment to building  a safer competitive environment for a new generation of racers, in drag racing as well as in other forms of motorsports. He had begun the initiative earlier that season following the death of rising John Force Racing star Eric Medlen.
 
It also fueled his competitive fires, and he returned to the cockpit in February 2008, still undergoing grueling physical therapy. He struggled the next 24 months to recapture the form that made him the sport's all-time winner, including a string of no final-round appearances last year.
 
This year Force has regained his form as he celebrates 25 years of Castrol sponsorship. He has advanced to more final rounds than any other Funny Car driver (eight), shares the category lead in victories with current series champion and teammate Robert Hight, has been top qualifier three times (for his first time since 2006), and has registered the season's quickest time at the 1,000 foot distance (4.021 seconds).
 
Crew chief Mike Neff, who gave up his seat in a fourth JFR Mustang as part of the team's belt-tightening move, has made a big difference, Force has said. He has switched to a chassis developed in-house at his Brownsburg, Ind., facility and the Eric Medlen Project. And he still diligently visits the gym each day.
 
And this O'Reilly Super Start Batteries Fall Nationals plays a key role as to whether it will pay off in an unprecedented 15th championship and 17th as a car owner.
 
NOT NO. 1 BUT HAPPY - Robert Hight wasn't No. 1 in the Funny Car class Friday at the O'Reilly Super Start Batteries Fall Nationals. He was fourth. Just the same, he was satisfied, at least somewhat.
 
"Normally you would not be happy to be No. 4, especially in the Countdown. But in this instance I am happy," Hight said, "because everybody that is [qualified] ahead of me is behind me in points or they are not in the Countdown. As tricky as this place was and when you consider the position we were in after the first run today it had to go. Now Jimmy [crew chief Prock] looked at that and he really believes what Cruz ran is achievable if you wanted to push that hard. We will pick it up everywhere. It is not that bad. We would have liked to have gotten some qualifying bonus points today, but I bet you see us getting points tomorrow,” Hight said.
 
The AAA Texas Mustang drivers said, "It is do or die. It is all or nothing. Friday night going down the track takes the pressure off [Saturday]. We can go out there and be a little aggressive.
 
"We weren't in that position in Charlotte. We weren't qualified after the night session. So on Saturday we had to go out there and we were behind the eight-ball. We had to limp it down there, and it was too slow the first run and the second run it was kind of in between and we lost lane choice. We are going to have lane choice here. This is a track historically where lane choice is important. Goal number one was getting solidly in the top half so we would have lane choice in the first round. Done. Now we need to get some qualifying bonus points tomorrow and gain on the leaders," Hight said.
 
ON TO THE NEXT TASK - It was mission accomplished already Friday for Levi, Ray & Shoup Shelby Ford Mustang driver Tim Wilkerson. He also not only made the field, but he earned four points for the day's effort.
 
Eager to shake a DNQ at Charlotte a week ago, Wilkerson was the first-session leader in the heat of a scorching day with a 4.325-second pass. With the sun gone and temperatures tolerable, he posted a 4.181-second elapsed time that left him No. 3 overnight.
 
"That wasn't perfect, but it feels a whole lot better than Charlotte," Wilkerson said. "That first run was just a deal where you dig back through the log book and try to find a match race on a hot day in July somewhere. If you thought you were going to go out there on that track and run 4.20, you smoked the tires because you really couldn't do it. I thought we left just a little bit on the table, because we dropped some cylinders way down there, but skating it to the other end like that was about the only way to get it there."
 
He said he "seriously doubted" his 4.32 would remain low E.T. He said he figured it wouldn't even be good enough to keep him in the top 12. So he pressed hard to get into the 4.1-second range.
 
"It didn't make it all the way to the end, but I think we put on a good show as the last pair, us and Jeff Arend, with the flames up and side-by-side. Good for those guys, to be in the No. 2 spot, so we'll take No. 3 and go after it [Saturday]. Not perfect today, but a very good day on the track for the LRS team. We'll take it, that's for sure."
 
'PRETTY DARN HAPPY' - If it weren't for "that big honking Hemi," Jason Line might have his second straight No. 1 qualifying position. Line, who led the field at Charlotte last weekend in his Summit Racing Equipment Pontiac GXP, was the provisional leader after the first nasty-hot, muggy qualifying session with a 6.644-second elapsed time, he finished the first day of qualifying in second place behind Allen Johnson and his Team Mopar Dodge Avenger with a
 
Line said he's looking to improve Saturday. "We didn't do everything as well as we should have, so we’re absolutely positively going to make it better tomorrow. We have our work cut out for us to catch that big honking Hemi, but I believe we can do it. I know the conditions are forecasted to change, but we should be just fine. Let's just say I'm pretty darn happy with how things are going and am excited heading into the rest of the weekend."
 
STANFIELD DEEP IN FIELD - Greg Stanfield, the U.S. Nationals champion who gave team owner Kenny Koretsky his first Pro Stock victory in his long career and recorded back-to-back finals with a runner-up finish at Charlotte, was 14th heading into Saturday's final two qualifying sessions. He ran a 6.698-second pass at 206.92 mph in the Nitro Fish/Indicom Electric Pontiac GXP.
 
"Greg took the motors home from Charlotte and everybody in his shop [has been] working on them," crew chief Eddie Guarnaccia said. "We are in a good position, and we want to continue running like we have been. We have to get after it so we can keep up with the other guys."
 
Koretsky said, "Eddie, Greg, and the rest of the guys on the team have put a lot of effort into getting our car competitive. This is the right time for us to be running well."
 
Stanfield is third in the standings, a mere 34 points behind leader Mike Edwards with only three races remaining after this weekend's O'Reilly Super Start Batteries Fall Nationals.
 
Stanfield was runner-up to Greg Anderson here at the Texas Motorplex last year and, driving for Bart Price and Greg Hill in 2008, he won the event. That victory was his first in the Pro Stock class and marked his first NHRA triumph since his March 2001feat in the Pro Stock Truck class at Gainesville, Fla.
 
SCELZI COPYCAT? - Pro Stock Motorcycle newcomer LE Tonglet is making a strong statement as he tries to become only the second driver in NHRA history to win a championship and rookie of the year honors in the same season. Gary Scelzi was the first to do it in 1997 as the Top Fuel champion.
 
He and his family, including crew chief dad Gary and brother GT, know the ins and outs of NHRA drag racing. So it's no real shock that the 20-year-old rider took the family-funded Suzuki GSXR to the winners circle in June at Joliet and twice this month, at Indianapolis' U.S. Nationals and last weekend at Charlotte.
 
He has been unbeatable in the first two Countdown events and is second in the standings, entering this race 66 points behind leader Andrew Hines. Tonglet was fifth in the bike order after two Friday qualifying rounds.
 
"I never thought in the middle of the year that we would be this close to a championship,"  Tonglet said, "and I never thought we'd win two races in a row. It's unbelievable. My dad tuned up the motor for the finals Sunday and the performance picked up a lot. We’re glad we saved it for the finals.
 
"Thankfully, Kenny Koretsky's Nitro Fish Apparel is behind us now and we are able to compete for the championship."
 
The Tonglet family was unsure if it would be able to race at the final five events because of funding. Then Koretsky stepped up with support for the remainder of the season.

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FRIDAY NOTEBOOK - A HOT AND HUMID DAY IN TEXAS


AN UGLY, HOT START - Friday’s Funny Car qualifying at the NHRA O’Reilly Fall Nationals ranked in a category of its own. An ambient air temperature of 95 degrees, 44-percent humidity and an adjusted altitude of 3,801 feet above sea level made for one of the lesser exciting qualifying sessions.

Add in a 40 minute oildown, and the track had the opportunity to heat up to a 141 degree track temperature, its hottest point of the day.

The most seasoned of drag racing tuners were scratching their heads on a racing surface which yielded a best 4.325 seconds at only 278 miles per hour.

Funny Car tuners will tell you that finding the right combination can be a complex challenge in optimum conditions, but where does one start when the thermometer tops 140?

“That’s a good question, something all the crew chiefs here in the pits would love to know,” said John Medlen, lead tuner on DSR’s NAPA Auto Parts car driven by Ron Capps. “It gets hot and greasy and all you can do is keep moving the timing out, moving the clutch out. You’re just going to have to let her slide down there the best you can. The starting line doesn’t seem to be all that big of an issue, but when you hit 100 feet out, it does.”

Capps ran a 4.861 in his first run, ending up eighth quickest.

Medlen confirmed the starting line temperature was 137 when his team ran but 100 feet out was 142. The starting line, according to Medlen, isn’t the challenge.

“You just have to get far enough out,” Medlen explained. “The trick is finding out where that far enough is.

But when you take everything out, it throws another important element out of whack – the clutch.

“When you pull all of that timing out, the clutch doesn’t wear,” Medlen said. “Then it changes how early you get the clutch. You are fighting two different battles. You can turn all of the knobs, and that’s probably the right decision, but you don’t know what the clutch is going to wear. If it wears normal, you’re good.”

Del Worsham, driver of the Alan Johnson-managed, Al-Anabi Funny Car said the trick to driving on a hot track is to maintain the same routine as running in the cool, optimum conditions.

“You hit the throttle and try to keep it in the groove just as you would with a 75-degree track,” said Worsham, who broke his engine and failed to make it to the finish line under power in Friday’s first session. “If it smokes the tires, you really want to stay sharp on your game and not over-rev the engine.”

John Force is a veteran of navigating the ugliest and nastiest of racing surfaces. He had to rely on years of experience during Friday afternoon’s qualifications.

“You just choke her down and try to make her stick,” said John Force.

"It’s gonna be a fun weekend for all of us,” Force added in obvious sarcasm.

WORKING HIS WAY BACK - Allen Johnson knew he needed to make a strong run out of the gate if he hoped to salvage his 2010 season, both literally and figuratively,

The Pro Stock racer from Greeneville, Tenn., parlayed the quickest “short time” of Friday’s second qualifying session at the NHRA O’Reilly Fall Nationals into the best “long time” to gain the provisional No. 1 qualifying position at 6.632 seconds.

Johnson was the quickest of the Pro Stockers to the 60-foot mark at .979 seconds.

“That’s the part we were missing,” said Johnson, who ran a 6.67 in his first effort.

Johnson is in catch-up mode at an extreme level. Penalized for a positive alcohol test, last weekend at the NHRA O’Reilly Auto Parts Nationals in Concord, NC, Johnson was stripped off all points from the event after being disqualified on Saturday.

Johnson tested .027 in a random drug/alcohol test administered by a third party independent lab. The NHRA maintains a zero tolerance even though Johnson’s reading was below the legal limit for operating a motor vehicle on the street.

Johnson entered this weekend with the full intent of swinging for the fence in every remaining run for the Countdown to 1 playoffs phase of the 2010 season. He has a mission impossible challenge being out of the lead by 196 points.

“We’re coming up there dialed on kill for every run,” Johnson explained. “We’re gunning for solid runs every time we go up there. We have a lot of points to make up.”

Johnson said he spent a lot of time with his team focusing on the task at hand.

“We’re positive and still have this [championship] in sight,” Johnson said. “There’s a sense of racing for redemption this weekend. We know we are going to have to work harder than anyone else out here to get to where we need to be. Everybody is willing to do what it takes to get there.

“Our fan base probably doubled this week. The outpouring of support from the NHRA community has been incredible. Family friends and even NHRA folks have offered their support.”

And for Johnson, some of his best advice came from father Roy Johnson, who builds the engines on his Mopar-sponsored Dodge Avenger.

“You’re always going to get that,” Johnson said of his father and son talks. “He’s wiser than I probably ever will be. It’s just a blip in the road. We’re going to make a positive out of a negative.”

CRUZ IN CONTROL - Cruz Pedregon showed his performance last week in Concord was no flash in the pan.

Less than four days after tasting the ceremonial champagne, Pedregon’s Snap-on team rolled through the gates of the Texas Motorplex.

“We had a really short week to celebrate,” Pedregon said. “It was kinda hard because I haven’t even had time to think much about it. On one hand you want to celebrate and on the other, you want to keep it going. We have momentum. It’s kind of easy to readjust back to racing because you get right back out there and get into the thick of racing.”

Now the two-time NHRA Funny Car champion stands on the cusp of two consecutive No. 1 qualifying efforts after barnstorming to the top of the provisional Funny Car field at the NHRA O’Reilly Fall Nationals.

Pedregon recorded a 4.129 elapsed time pass at 299.26 miles per hour run during Friday’s second session. He was .04 ahead of second qualifier Jeff Arend.

“We have found consistency,” admitted Pedregon. “The car has been knocking on the door for about six or eight races. The car has been blasting out some good numbers. We just hadn’t been consistent. We figured out what not to do with the car and it’s all coming together.”

Friday’s first session left many of the leading nitro tuners scratching their head at what approach to give a 141 degree racing surface. Pedregon, who admitted last week that he’s active in the tuning decisions on his car, was right along with those struggling with a firm idea of how to attack the opening session.

“We were nervous at first. We wanted to make a nice soft run and as bad as we didn’t want to smoke the tires, it did. We pulled it back and adjusted.”

 Pedregon felt the first run on Friday was crucial to ensuring a carry-over of the momentum from the last event. He won from the No. 1 qualifying position last weekend after leading all four sessions.

“I found myself getting very disappointed when we didn’t make it down, and then I realized, it was just the first run,” Pedregon said. “I had to give myself a mental slap and realize it was just one run and we had three more. You want to go down the track every time, even if it is slow. But when you get a 140 degree track, that’s another thing.”

And according to Pedregon, they adjusted … they adjusted, and then they adjusted again.

“We kept going in the box and turning things back to the way they were. It worked. I was really nervous. I’m in the car thinking about all of these things. I had to just eventually put my driver hat on.”

LITTLE THREATENS DIXON'S DRIVE - Not even a scorching-hot Texas track, a shiny glare that wiped out his vision of the already-narrow groove, Cory McClenathan's relentless pursuit and a top speed of 311.56 mph, or any "September surprises" from any other Top Fuel Countdown competitor could derail Larry Dixon and his Al-Anabi Dragster Friday at the O'Reilly Super Start Batteries NHRA Fall Nationals.
 
Dixon, quickest and fastest in the first session at the Texas Motorplex with a 3.962-second run at 306.33 mph, shaved off some time in the cooler second go-round and found some extra speed to retain his provisional top spot at 3.852 / 308.85.
 
McClenathan is dogging him in second place so far with a 3.881 as the only other driver in the 3.8-second range, and native Texan Brandon Bernstein is third at 3.906 / 308.43.
 
He Dixon of his team manager and crew chief, "Alan [Johnson] and Jason [McCulloch], they hit it, and we got some of those bonus points -- which we still need.
 
"They ain't cut us a check yet," he said, referring to the Full Throttle Drag Racing Series championship, "so it's still open. You've got to race 'em hard and keep it going."
 
Dixon has won all 11 of his final-round appearances this weekend and if his elapsed time remains best Saturday, he'll have his seventh No. 1 position of the season and 47th of his career.
 
But Dixon said his Friday feat was no cakewalk.
 
"I can tell you this place is challenging," he said. "You look at the top end, there are no lights on the racing surface and all kinds of lights on the top end. There's this big glare that goes across the track that you can't actually see the groove. You hope you've got it aimed up and you hope it stays in the groove. But as far as being physically able to see the track, you can't at all.
 
"I had the same trouble last year. Talked to Gabrielle [Texas Motorplex general manager Gabrielle Stevenson] and Billy [owner Billy Meyer] bout it. Didn't quite get it fixed yet. Maybe next year," Dixon said.  
 
Overall, he said, the pattern Friday was similar to last year's drill: "It was a struggle to get down the track the first session, andf the second session, you get the sun off the track and cars got running good."
 
Curiously, Friday's top four drivers were in dragsters from four different designers/builders. Dixon drives a Brad Hadman-built frame, and McClenathan is banking on the new DSR model that has had input from engineering students at Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis. Bernstein is in a Murf McKinney creation and No. 4 Dave Grubnic turned a 3.933 / 308.78 in an Attac chassis.
 
Plano, Texas, resident Mike Bowers (driving a Swindahl chassis), is on the bump at 4.827 seconds. Scott Palmer and Terry Haddock are out of the 16-car field at the moment.
 
Dixon's closest rival in the standings is McClenathan, who entered the event trailing by just 85 points. But the eyes of Texas also are upon seven-time and reigning champion Tony Schumacher, who needs an outstanding performance -- perhaps a repeat victory here -- to challenge Dixon to the end for another showdown like last year (when he bested Dixon by two points for the series crown).
 
But Friday was not Schumacher's day. He lined up against Doug Kalitta in the opening session and was a victim to the debris that Kalitta's dragster spewed at the top end in anm engine explosion. No one was hurt (Kalitta even took the tentative No. 5 position), but Schumacher ended up with no time from his run.
 
"After not getting a time in the opening session, we wanted to come back and post a good number in Round 2," Schumacher said. "Unfortunately, something broke in the engine. We'll intently work on the car tonight and return tomorrow, looking to get a good starting spot."
 
He's 15th with two more qualifying sessions to go Saturday. The U.S. Army Dragster driver came into the weekend 148 points off Dixon's pace and in third place, needing to slice into Dixon's lead.
 
"We need to do that," Schumacher said. "We're halfway through the Countdown and time is definitely running out. It's a must we win this weekend. Of course, we need for Larry to have a bad race, as well."
 
If Friday's results were any indication, that doesn't look likely.

STOFFER MAKES BIG STEP CLOSER TO 'REDEMPTION'- Karen Stoffer's "Redemption Tour" started off exactly as she expected Friday at the O'Reilly Super Start Batteries NHRA Fall Nationals -- with her GEICO Powersports Suzuki in first place on the Pro Stock Motorcycle list.
 
With a hot, slippery track toasted to 134 degrees at the Texas Motorplex, Stoffer rode to a 6.953-second, 192.41-mph pass that she hopes to parlay Saturday into her first top spot since the class' season-opener in March at Gainesville, Fla.
 
"The boys hit the tune-up right off the bat," Stoffer said. "They've been working hard on the tune-up, but they've been working harder on the chassis. So it was really nice that they were able to get the tune-up right out of the gate for those hot tracks. That's what they've got to do. They've got to tune for these hot tracks. They're learning how to do it with this power that we have now."
 
Stoffer began the year with the third-quickest elapsed time ever (6.847 seconds) but fell from third in the standings after that event to as far back as 10th as late as the July 18 Sonoma, Calif., race. So the return to performance superiority -- even if only temporary -- was a big boost to her and her crew.
 
"My biggest relief is we've been getting the bike going straight lately. It's just a relief to be back in the No. 1 spot. We haven't been No. 1 since the beginning of the year. It was a huge reward to get down there and get down there fast and put that Geico Powersports bike in the No. 1 spot," Stoffer said.
 
"We knew we had the bike. We were just facing all these issues all year long," she said.
 
She said crew chief husband Gary Stoffer has given her bike that can perform even better than it did in the opener of this third of six Countdown races.
 
"I don't know if it [her time] will hold. People were just trying to figure out what to put to the track. So I'm not 100 percent sure it's going to hold," Karen Stoffer said. "But I know the GEICO Powersports bike is going to get a little bit quicker. We still have a little more left in it."
 
Saturday's two sessions (at 11:15 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. CDT), she noted, are "going to be a little warmer and a different time of day," but she said she hopes to improve. "It's supposed to be the same conditions, so I'm confident we'll get the GEICO Powersports bike down into the 6-second range again."
 
She and the following three rider sin the order -- Eddie Krawiec, Steve Johnson, and Andrew Hines -- were the only ones to run quicker than seven seconds in the opening session. But No. 5 LE Tonglet, who posted a 7.008-second E.T. in the first session, dipped to 6.999 in Friday's nightcap. He was the only one of the top five competitors Friday to improve in the second session.
 
"Historically, if you look at the bikes here," Stoffer said, "they don’t really improve on the second session, even though it does tend to be a little bit cooler. We tried something on that second pass -- obviously it didn’t work. "Tomorrow we'll try something going back the other way."
 
Stoffer's most recent victory was at the Gatornationals at Gainesville in 2007.

PSM BIKE COUNT LOW THIS WEEKEND - The day Steve Johnson hoped never would arrive has come this weekend during the NHRA Fall Nationals in Dallas, Texas. For the first time in his 24 years of competing in NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle, Sunday’s final eliminations will open with a short field.

The final entry list for the event showed only fifteen.

“The NHRA and the Pro Stock Motorcyle team owners cannot fix the economy,” said Johnson. “But, we can be smart. As a group, PRO2, we can come together and analyze situations ahead of time and bring riders in. I mean, if you show up here and qualify, that’s $1,000.

“We just have to work smarter. When PRO2 dissolved a little bit, it lost that marketing and brand manager. Now that we’ve decided to bring it back and the brand manager will take up the slack in situations like this. This can be fixed, there’s no reason why we should have a short field here.”

Johnson doesn’t believe the class became complacent. Rather, he believes everyone just got busy.

“Everyone became so involved in their programs,” Johnson said. “Their lives are complicated and therefore their racing is complicated too. Human beings can only process so much information. I was just fortunate that I didn’t have anything else going on but racing. The brand management for the category was easy for me to take over. When you live and breathe it, like I do, it was easy.

“When it looked like we were going to have issues, I cut it off and called in the troops.”

Johnson resigned his leadership role at PRO2 in April of 2008.

Only 13 bikes made runs in the first qualifying session on Friday.

OFF WE GO - Imagine NHRA Top Fuel team owner/driver Terry McMillen speeding 1500 miles an hour with his hair on fire.
 
That's how he imagined what's in store for him next year, taking a ride in an F-16 fighter jet. This week, before the start of the O'Reilly Super Start Batteries Fall Nationals at Ennis, Texas, McMillen and his team visited with the 301st Tactical Fighter Wing near Fort Worth and shared demonstrations of drag racing and military technology with each other.
 
They met at the former Carswell Air Force Base that today is called Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth / Carswell Field.
 
McMillen shared what he called "an extraordinary day" with the Air Force Reserve Command unit's maintenance division, watching the servicemen and servicewomen dazzle him with machinery and power that could trump the potency and pageantry of a Top Fuel dragster.
 
After he started his 8,000-horsepower Amalie Oil/Wolverine Dragster and gave the throttle a few whacks, the military crew showed his crew America's power of freedom. The drag racers went out to the runway and watched the military crew go though their preflight routine for the F-16 Fighting Falcon tests.
 
"We got to go to the edge of the runway," he said of his jet-watching session. "When they came by, they went vertical right where we were standing. When they went vertical, in 15 seconds they were out of sight. You couldn't see 'em. What a sight it is to see what our armed forces do for us and how they protect us and the equipment they have. It's just phenomenal. The 650 guys who maintain those F-16s, my hat's off to them."
 
He said he got to spend some time with the fighter-jet pilots, while crew members paired up with the airplane mechanics and crew chiefs talked shop among themselves. "What was the coolest," McMillen shared, was that crew chief Richard Hartman and mechanic Austin Lambright were allowed access to the jet dynamometer room.
 
"They got to throw the throttle on this jet, got to light all five stages of the afterburner," McMillen said. "Talk about something glowing, making noise, and [having] an extreme amount of power!"
 
This weekend many of the 301st Tactical Fighter Wing will be at the Texas Motorplex, hanging out in McMillen's pit, watching him and his team in action, launching from a standing start and traveling the length of more than four football fields in less than five seconds, accelerating faster than the F-16s. McMillen said he learned that what's work for him and his gang based in Elkhart, Ind., is pure pleasure for these military folks.
 
"Most of these guys in the armed services are all hot rod enthusiasts," he said. "They either had a drag car or an awesome street rod. They're all hands-on guys, all hands-on mechanics, so it was cool to learn similarities between what they do and what we do: the techniques, education you have to have to perform each one of these tasks and functions.
 
"Its' amazing the similarities that take place," he said. "The braking system that they have on the F-16 is the same braking system we have."
 
He said just recounting the events of the day on base "makes my hair stand up on the back of my neck."
 
And McMillen is no starry-eyed pilot wannabe. He is a pilot who has owned a Cessna 175 Skylark, taken helicopter pilot lessons, and flown in acrobatic planes and gliders. He said he felt at home with his military counterparts.
 
"We're speed junkies," McMilen said. "That's what we're all about. We want the ultimate rush with everything we do. When I get in that F-16, that's going to be the ultimate rush."

ANGELS AMONG US - A recent business trip to Colorado by FireIce CEO Michael Cordani prompted the title sponsor of championship drag racer Jay Payne's team to begin a new campaign to promote nationwide awareness for Angel Faces. The 501c3 non-profit organization provides healing retreats and ongoing support for adolescent girls with severe facial disfigurements, mostly caused by fires.

"We were assisting with the wildfires in Colorado when we met these incredible people from Angel Faces," Cordani said. "The firefighters were holding a benefit for them and when I heard what they were all about I knew we needed to get involved."

Established in 2003 by Lesia Cartelli, Angel Faces holds innovative retreats that focus on the healing process of the mind, heart, and spirit of its guests. The end result is a new and hope-filled start for girls, who leave the retreat with the skills and tools to overcome the challenges of living with a facial disfigurement.

Through her own personal experience, Cartelli realized the need to teach girls about setting goals and establishing emotional, physical, social, personal, sexual, and spiritual boundaries -- all vulnerable areas to a teenage girl trying to "fit in." Angel Faces was honored in December of 2006 on the Dr. Phil Show, when Dr. Phil and his wife Robin presented Cartelli the prestigious Heart of Woman Award.

"We met Danette Haag from Angel Faces, a burn victim herself, and she told us all about the program," Cordani said. "We made a quick call to Jay and decided collectively to do all we can to bring awareness to this organization with Jay's FireIce race cars."

Beginning immediately, Payne will banner Angel Faces (AngelFacesRetreat.org) on both his FireIce Top Alcohol Funny Car and his FireIce Ford Mustang Pro Mod racer.

"I'm more than happy to do whatever I can to help out these folks," said Payne, a 13-time drag racing champion with more than 100 victories. "It sounds like they're wonderful people doing great work and we're honored to have them on our racecars. Now I'm more inspired than ever before to do well and get them some extra attention."

FireIce is an environmentally friendly fire suppression gel firefighters add to water in pumper trucks, helicopters, fire planes, and handheld extinguishers to help extinguish fires much quicker than with water alone. Aside from supporting Payne's racing efforts, GelTech, a publicly traded corporation (OTCBB: GLTC), is a corporate partner to the Fallen Firefighters Foundation, which helps firefighters families in need.

 

 

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THURSDAY NOTEBOOK - GETTING READY FOR DALLAS THUNDER

TOP FUEL

GOT MOTIVATION? - Tony Schumacher doesn't know the fan's name. But what that one person said at zMAX Dragway after points leader Larry Dixon won his 11th race of the season will motivate Schumacher throughout the remaining four races. That starts with this weekend's O'Reilly Super Start Batteries Fall Nationals at the Texas Motorplex, where he earned the first of his NHRA-best 65 Top Fuel victories in 1999 against Scott Kalitta.
 
Schumacher lost to Dixon in the quarterfinals last weekend at Charlotte, and as he left zMAX Dragway, he overheard somebody say the Top Fuel race was over.
 
"Of course, my reaction was one of disbelief. Nobody had told me as yet the Full Throttle trophy was being handed out. Last I saw, there was still plenty of racing left on the schedule," the seven-time and reigning champion said. "This ain't over by a long shot. We're going to keep fighting.
 
"Admittedly, we didn't have the kind of results we wanted in either Indianapolis or Charlotte," he said, "so it's time to change all of that down in Texas. If we can get on a roll starting Sunday, who knows where we'll be by the time we get to Pomona (Calif.) in November?"
 
He has rallied before against nearly impossible odds. Heading into the race at Ennis, Texas, south of Dallas, Schumacher is more than seven rounds of racing behind Dixon in the standings, 148 points.
 
"There are 16 rounds of racing left on the table," the U.S. Army Dragster driver said. "If Larry goes out early in a race or two and we can run the table on those occasions, we'll be right back in it. Our goal is to go out and win the next four races, plain and simple."
 
He said he thinks his Monday test session at zMAX Dragway, in which he said he and his team "worked on a number of things," could pay off at Dallas. No Top Fuel driver has won more at drag racing's first all-concrete "supertrack" than Schumacher, who has four triumphs there. Schumacher said he "will always consider the Texas Motorplex a very special place," because "everyone Everyone remembers their first pro win." He's hoping it will take on a special new significance this year.
 
DIXON TAKING NOTHING FOR GRANTED - Larry Dixon, meanwhile, saw Funny Car contender Tim Wilkerson DNQ at Charlotte. Maybe in the back of his mind, too, still lurks the ugly reminder of his own failure to qualify at the 2002 St. Louis race on his way to nine victories and the first of his two championships.
 
Back then he said, "That proved to everybody something that we already knew. It is very hard to run one of these cars."  He said he'll be paying careful attention to detail at this weekend's O'Reilly Super Start Batteries Fall Nationals at Ennis, Texas, because -- ash said eight years ago, a stumble at a critical juncture is a bigger deal in NHRA drag racing "than it is in NASCAR, because there are no provisionals."
 
Unwaveringly concentrating on the next task and nothing beyond that, Dixon said he is not taking anything for granted, despite 11 victories that include the past three. Brandon Bernstein (in the semifinals in July at Denver) is last to beat Dixon. So that means Dixon has won his past 12 elimination rounds. But he knows he has to continue to prove himself.
 
"We are all thrilled with the way the weekend went in Charlotte, but now it's full speed ahead on Dallas," Dixon said. "We don't have provisional starts in NHRA. So we have to qualify for this weekend's race and then take it one run at a time."
 
He said his feats this year are past performances, that he needs to keep working hard.
 
"As far as winning races in a season, winning 11 straight final rounds is something Alan (team manager Johnson) and Jason (crew chief McCulloch) have already done, so they aren't star-struck by it," Dixon said. Instead, he aid, he was awed by Tony Schumacher's class-best 15 victories in a year.
 
"When Tony won 15 races in a season, I really thought it was like a 20-year storm, something you may never see again in your lifetime again. Alan, Jason, and the guys are trying to do it again. I've just won three races in a row for only the second time in my career, so 11 wins in 11 final rounds is new territory for me," he said.
 
"Our car hadn't even gotten back to the pit area [after the Charlotte victory last weekend] and the Al-Anabi team was already strategizing on Dallas," Dixon said. "It's a special group of people, and things like that make me realize even more why they wanted to stay together as a group, as a whole team. I've never seen anything like it in the 20-plus years I've been on the NHRA tour, and I'm honored to be a part of this Al-Anabi team.
 
"We had a great race day and a great points day at Charlotte, but there's still four races to go in the Countdown. And a lot can happen in four races," he said.
 
Cory McClenathan, who he has defeated in the past three events, including two of the past three final rounds, was on his flight from Charlotte to Indianapolis last Sunday) night. Dixon said McClenathan "said we did a great job but he's not giving up. I know they won't, so we have to keep pressing."
 
He looked ahead to the Dallas event, which he won in 2001 and 2007 and for which he was No. 1 qualifier last year, before losing to Schumacher in the final.
 
"Dallas is another all-concrete track. We just left the latest one, and now we're going to the first one we ever had on the tour. The track is celebrating its 25th year in business, and hopefully it'll be a great race," Dixon, who owns the Texas Motorplex elapsed-time record (3.820 second, September 2008), said. "The forecast looks like it'll be in the 90s, which is similar to what we had last year at Ennis and last weekend in Charlotte. So you'd hope that some of what we did last weekend will apply to this weekend."
 
He leads second-place McClenathan by 85 points at the start of this third of six Countdown races.  He is the first pro driver in NHRA history to win his first 11 final rounds in a season and has advanced to at least the semifinals in 15 of 19 events this year.
 
DON'T MESS WITH TEXAS - Copart/Lucas Oil Dragster driver Brandon Bernstein, whose 18 career Top Fuel victories tying him with the legendary Shirley Muldowney, will be on home turf this weekend. The Dallas native and Texas A&M graduate won this event in 2006, and he said, "We feel we could repeat this time around."  He has three runner-up finishes, is the last to beat Larry Dixon (in the Denver semifinals), and is above .500 on Sundays (28-19). "We always enjoy coming back to Dallas," he said. "We celebrated a great win here in 2006 with family and friends. This race marks the halfway point of the Countdown to 1, and we need to deliver our best performance. Dad's roots are in Dallas, as well, and we’ll have a lot of friends and family at the Texas Motorplex throughout the weekend. So we're looking to go to the head of the class.
“Competition is intense, so the fans will witness some great racing. It is going to be exciting without a doubt as we begin to close in on the teams that will be crowned champions. Our car has been running good numbers with consistency, and you get a certain level of confidence coming into a track where you've won in the past."
 
DANGEROUS TO DIXON - As if it weren't enough knowing Cory McClenathan is just 85 points behind him and Tony Schumacher third with only a 148-point difference, leader Larry Dixon also has to contend with  Doug Kalitta. The Rocky Boots Dragster driver, who won at Dallas in 2002, is fourth in the standings, 165 points out of first and just 17 behind Schumacher.
His runner-up finish at Charlotte was his fifth of the season.
 
"We were so close, but that's drag racing," Kalitta said. "Some days you get to win the close ones and some days you don't. We're in good spirits, though. I'm very proud of all the guys on the Rocky Boots Dragster team. We've had a great year so far, and I'm sure we're going to have some more chances for wins in the last four events."
 
HE WANTS WHAT?! - Maybe somebody should take Shawn Langdon's temperature. He'll be wearing a firesuit this weekend in Texas, and he's hoping for high temperatures on the thermometer.
 
"To be honest, although it's no fun sweating it out in a big, thick firesuit, I hope it's really hot this weekend," Langdon said. "We tend to run better at the trickier racetracks. And when it's hot at the Motorplex, the groove down that all-concrete strip gets real narrow. It becomes a driver's race, and I like those. Plus, the high-horsepower teams are forced to de-tune a little bit, so the playing field is leveled. It's definitely a track that can play into our favor."
 
The Lucas Oil/Speedco Dragster driver knows that from his many times down the track in sportsman competition.
 
"I've run Dallas quite a bit with my various sportsman cars," Langdon, a two-time Super Comp champion, said. "I've won a divisional race there but never a national event. I've been close many times, so maybe our turn is coming this weekend."
 
He has won twice this season in the Lucas Oil Series when racing both among sportsmen racers and Top Fuel heavyweights.  And he was as high as fourth in the Countdown standings after a semifinal effort at the U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis, just a couple of miles from his Morgan Lucas racing shop.
 
However, he lost three places in the Countdown lineup, falling to seventh, when a mechanical problem ruined his day in the first round at Charlotte's zMAX Dragway. Now he's eyeing a top-five finish.
 
"It's going take us a day or two to get over what happened in Charlotte," Langdon said. "We'll get past it. It's not the end of the world, and we have four more races. Our championship hopes were hurt pretty bad, but I think we can still finish the year in the top five. That will be a solid year for our team. We'd really like to win a race. We've been so close with this car, and what's cool is my team was right there with me the two times I won in sportsman action this year. So it's like we can taste it and feel it. I want to get it done for these guys."
 
EAT MY DUST? - GEICO Powersports Dragster driver Morgan Lucas helped with Meals on Wheels deliveries Thursday before the O'Reilly Super Start Batteries Fall Nationals at the Texas Motorplex. He'd rather be Hell on Wheels at the Ennis facility.
 
"I love the track," Lucas said. "If the weather's right you can absolutely pound on it and the surface will hold whatever you put down. Because it's all concrete, the groove can be narrow, especially downtrack, so there's a premium on driving to the ultimate limit of your abilities, which I like. It keeps me focused. Dallas can be warm and tricky, or it can be cool and perfect conditions. It's also deep in the heart of Texas, so you never know what the weather is going to do. We've got to go there and play it smart."
 
He said he has to be efficient, too. "Top Fuel racing is tough. The competition is such that if you're off by a fraction it can appear that you're way off," Lucas said. "We're making gains every time we go down the track. In Charlotte, we got it together, just not in time enough to make it count. We'll try to be more efficient in Dallas."
 
Thursday night from 6-8 p.m., he will join his drag-racing colleagues at Splitsville, an upscale bowling alley in Arlington, Texas, for a fan-appreciation bowling party. "I love the Metroplex area," Lucas said. "It's a fun place to visit, and we're going to get a chance to meet some really cool people during our Meals on Wheels delivery and later at the bowling alley. Hopefully we can go to this race, have fun, perform well, and leave with a smile on our face."
 
OVERDUE, SEEKS DEJA-VU - Antron Brown won the final race of 2009 and hasn't won since. But he's hoping he'll record his first victory of 2010 at the site of his first NHRA victory. "We got our first career NHRA win at the Motorplex way back in 1999 on the Pro Stock Bike, and Dallas would be a great place for us to strike for our first win of 2010. We're way overdue," the Matco Tools Dragster driver said. He stayed at Charlotte and tested Monday, trying to gain consistency in the heat of the day, and Brown gave the effort a thumbs-up. "Testing went well after Charlotte, and we need to put it all together on race day." He's the No. 7-ranked driver.

NEEDS PRECIOUS POINTS - Cory McClenathan said of the Countdown battle, "With four races left, it's getting tighter and tighter." And he definitely is hearing the clock ticking and feeling the pressure.
 
"It is certainly exciting for the fans, but really hard on the drivers as we all try to be No. 1," the No. 2-ranked FRAM Dragster driver said. "We just have to focus on our mission. We certainly have a consistent car and crew chiefs (Todd Okuhara and Phil Shuler) and a  team that can make it happen."
 
He's 85 points off the pace and has strategize about what needs to happen to earn his first series title in his 20-year career. Knowing he has yet to beat the points leader in any of their elimination-round match-ups, McClenathan is aiming to earn every point he can.
 
"The Dallas race will be very important for us to take the FRAM car out and qualify well and try to get some more of those precious points because right now we need every point we can get to try to close the gap on Larry [leader Dixon]. And [Don Schumacher Racing teammate] Tony Schumacher [No. 3] needs every point he can get to help both of us move forward. Obviously, [DSR teammate] Antron Brown [No. 6] and everybody else is right in there too, including Doug Kalitta in fourth and Brandon Bernstein in fifth. There's some great cars out there that still have a chance of doing something."
 
McClenathan has won three times at the Texas Motorplex, in 1996, 1997, and 2000. He also qualified No. 1 there in 1997 and was runner-up in 1994 and 2002.
 
 

FUNNY CAR
 
DNQ CHANGES WILKERSON STRATEGY -- Tim Wilkerson is approaching this weekend's race at the Texas Motorplex with a swirl of thoughts. The Levi, Ray & Shoup Shelby Mustang driver wants to rebound from a DNQ at Charlotte, and he has several reasons on his mind, he indicated.
 
"It's a terrible time to do this, but we have four races left and that means we have four races we could win," Wilkerson said. "Even if the math says we're done, we're still going to approach every lap and every race with the intention of winning. At some point, we might start trying some things just to get a leg up on next year, but right now we're still going with the mindset that we can come back and win races. If we do that, you can't count us out yet. And it's not just that, either. Every team out here wants to finish as high as they can in the points and not just because the Full Throttle bonus check is bigger. We're no different than anyone else in that regard. It's a pride thing, for all of us, so we'd like to finish as strong as we can."
 
He's ninth in the standings, 163 points behind leader John Force. "It's nine rounds, as it sits right now, but with the bonus points those guys rack up all the time, it could be 10 pretty easily," Wilkerson said. "The truth is, though, that if you're going to start the playoffs like we just did, the damage isn't as bad as it could be. We started the thing 70 points out of first, and now we're 160-something. There have been a lot of upsets at the first two races, and if you add all that up it means no one has pulled away and sealed the deal yet."
 
He said "Big D" is the Big One for his team. "I think you have to admit that Dallas is the big one for us, right now, if we want to think in terms of the championship," Wilkerson said. "We need to have a really good weekend, and by that I mean we need to probably get to the final round or win the race if we want to have even a distant chance. And on top of that, we'll need some help because some of those teams ahead of us need to lose. Right now, we're headed to Texas with the thought of winning the race, and we'll play it that way. If we come out of there still in the position we're in now, you have to start thinking about trying new stuff and testing on the fly for the rest of the season."
 
But, Wilkerson said, "That doesn't mean we won't still be trying to win, don't get me wrong. You might try new clutch set-ups or a new blower at any time during the season, but you never go to the starting line thinking you don't care if you win. We always want to win. The only thing I'm thinking about right now is those 10 rounds we probably need. That's a lot of rounds in four races, but we're going to Dallas with the idea of picking up three or four of them on some people, and then the strategy gets a little more realistic. If we can bite off a big chunk, we have a chance."
 
The sweltering heat predicted could help him. "Right now, they're calling for 90 degrees every day we're there, and that might not be a bad thing for us. The Motorplex track is very good, but if it gets hot, it will act like just about any track," Wilkerson said. "And then things get tossed in the air like they did in Charlotte. You put these 8,000-horsepower cars on a 125-degree track, and you'll see a lot of upsets. We've usually had a good car on hot tracks, so maybe that equalizer can help us out. Either way, we'll be there to get this LRS Shelby back where it belongs, and that's in the winners circle."
 
TROXEL BACK, NEW FEATHER IN CAP - Melanie Troxel might especially enjoy being back in the Funny Car mix this weekend. It's an environment in which she isn't labeled by her gender much anymore. Never one to trade on being a "female racer," she attracted attention for being the first female to win a Pro Modified class trophy last Sunday at Charlotte (in a solo run because Scott Ray was unable to answer the call following semifinal engine explosion).
 
"I realize the female thing is something that gets the attention of the media and the fans,  and I certainly don't shy away from any of that. But I'm more proud of the fact that this team as a whole has risen to level where we expect to win and are capable of winning every week," said the In-N-Out Burger Dodge Charger driver.
 
"Now we switch back to our Funny Car, and we're anxious to get it up front and contend for some race titles," Troxel said. "We've improved our performances throughout the year, and we're working on consistency. We're no longer smoking the tires in the place where we have to take timing out to prevent smoking the tires early in the run. Now we're making it further down track. The thing is you can recover better if you smoke the tires further down the track versus right at the starting line.
 
"We've been working on some other stuff, too," she said. "The car's going down the track every time, so we continue to make improvements. And that's all we can ask for."
 
Troxel has won in Top Fuel, Funny Car, Top Alcohol Dragster, and Pro Modified. "For me to win in four different categories in the NHRA is pretty special," Troxel said. "I'm not sure if I'm going to run Pro Mod next year, and I was starting to get a little worried about getting a win because I only had two more races left in the season. We definitely wanted to get one before this season was over. Now we have."
 
She will join Morgan Lucas and others for a "Meals on Wheels" delivery to elderly people in the area , then head to the Splitsville bowling alley at Arlington from 6-8 p.m. Thursday night for a Texas Motorplex 25th Birthday party.
 
LIKING HIS CHANCES - Bob Tasca III is on the move with his Motorcraft/Quick Lane Shelby Ford Mustang. He entered the Countdown in seventh place and used a semifinal appearance last week at  Charlotte to jump to fifth.
 
"We're on an upward climb," Tasca said. "We're going in the right direction, so we're looking to build on the momentum that started in Charlotte. We're not going to take Dallas lightly because we can’t afford a bad race. We're in the fight, but to stay in this fight, we've got to go rounds."
 
He's one who loves racing on back-to-back weekends, and he especially likes this sequence because Charlotte's zMAX Dragway is the more modern version of the 25-year old Texas Motorplex, the first all-concrete so-called supertrack.
 
 "When you go from one race to the next and the conditions are similar, I think everybody is on the same page," Tasca said. "There will be a lot of similarities between Charlotte and Dallas since both tracks are all concrete. We have a great Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Shelby Mustang Funny Car. We made some great runs. We made some runs where
we knew what went wrong, so we know what we need to do to improve. I feel pretty confident that we'll improve in Dallas."
 
A victory is the key to his plan. Said Tasca, "You need to win two out of the six races in order to win the championship and pick up a couple semifinals and final rounds. So far, we haven't had any first-round losses in the Countdown, and we went to the semifinals in Charlotte. We need a win, and that’s the next step. We need a win to get ourselves in that top three as we go into the final races of the season. We're still in a position to contend for this championship."
 
HIGH HOPES - Four points -- that's all that stands between Jack Beckman and the Funny Car lead that John Force has. With Force's early stumble at Charlotte (losing in the opening round to Paul Lee) and Beckman's trip to the finals, the Valvoline/Mail Terminal Services Dodge Charger driver nearly took over first place. Had he beaten Cruz Pedregon, he would have. So Beckman can taste it, and he's said he's ready to celebrate this weekend at Ennis, Texas, with his dad, who lives nearby, and a big group of fans in the winners circle.
 
"I think we had a pretty close-to-perfect weekend in Concord," Beckman said. "We would have loved to have earned that gold man at the end of the day there, but maybe in Dallas we can have that perfect weekend."
 
He never has won at the Texas Motorplex but was runner-up to Robert Hight here last year.
 
"I've got to be consistent," Beckman said. I've said that it was race wins in the regular season that counted, round wins in the Countdown. That doesn't mean that we're satisfied with just making it to the final and coming up runner-up, but it means that we're doing all the things necessary to keep us in contention for the championship.
 
"We've had some luck in Dallas before," he said. "I have never been in the winner's circle, but I've been in the final, and I went to the Motorplex as a spectator for its very first race back in 1986. I watched Don Garlits win it then, and I'm still as big a fan today as I was 25 years ago.
 
"I have a lot of friends and family in the area. My dad lives in that area, and he's coming out to the race. I'm really hoping to have a big entourage up in the winners circle with me Sunday afternoon."
 
PLAYING CATCH-UP - Ron Capps hardly could have gotten off to a worse start in this year's Countdown. He has had a pair of first-round losses and finds himself in seventh place. What makes that even more frustrating is that two top-five drivers dropped out in the Round 1 and he missed the chance to take advantage of that.
 
"When you lose first round in the first event of the playoffs, you know you have to fight your way back into the Countdown," Capps said. "And, in Concord, N.C., last weekend, an almost-perfect scenario happened. A couple of the leaders in front of us went out early and we thought we could capitalize on it, but we couldn't. Our Don Schumacher Racing teammate Jack Beckman did capitalize on it by coming in runner-up and is at the top of the list right now, in second, just four points out of the lead.
 
"Looking at the points after the Concord race was over, it's not as bad as it could have been," he said. "We're only 122 out of first, and just a few rounds out of being back in the top three."
 
The NAPA Dodge Charger driver said he's happy to return to the Texas Motorplex, where he won in 1998 against John Force and was No. 1 qualifier in 2005.
 
"The Texas Motorplex is a great facility, as every driver will tell you. Billy Meyer has done a terrific job of making many updates to the track. He made changes safety-wise to the walls at the other end to make drivers comfortable, so when you strap in and pull up to the starting line at this track you know you're going to have a really good chance to run well. With that assurance, we're going to do all we can to move up in points," Capps said.
 
His John Medlen-led team tested Monday at Charlotte,and Capps said it was "one of the best test sessions we've had in a very long time. We really think we learned something. It was very hot, we made some very good runs in the heat. And it's nice to go directly to Ennis the next weekend after you've had a bad outing, because you want to get back on the horse and get right back in there. What we learned in the test session is going to be beneficial because the temperatures are going to be in the low 90s in the Dallas area this weekend. I feel very comfortable that we're going to have a good result and get right back in the hunt."
 
HEAD-HUNTER HAGAN - Matt Hagan is Virginia's quickest and fastest Angus Cattle farmer but he calls himself a "head-hunter" these days. He doesn't particularly want John Force's head, but he would like Force's No. 1 ranking in the standings. And he's in third place, just 43 points behind the 14-time champion, as the tour heads into the third of six Countdown races at Ennis, Texas.
 
The 27-year-old farmer took a break from his 500-acre spread and his cattle this spring and claimed his career-first NHRA Funny Car victory at Houston. Naturally he's eager to go back to Texas, this time to the lightning-quick all-concrete Motorplex.
 
Hagan this year has driven the Don Schumacher Racing-owned DieHard Dodge Charger to the national elapsed-time record (4.022 seconds), three low-qualifier positions, and two final rounds.
 
"I wish we had done better at the last race," Hagan, who lost in the quarterfinals at Charlotte last week, said. "We have a good car and we have a good shot at winning the championship. But like Tommy (DeLago, crew chief) said, we have to take it one round at a time.
 
"You can see that the pressure of the playoffs is starting to eat at some people," Hagan said. "I think that the biggest thing we can do for ourselves is just take a deep breath and let it all out and just go racing and have fun. Whether you admit that it weighs on you, it's going to weigh on you to some extent, so we just want to do the best job we can and not leave anything on the table.
 
"We have a really good chance to move up in the standings this weekend. We've been fortunate enough to not go out first round after qualifying pretty well most of the time (in top half in 14 of 19 events this year). We're still here, we're still head-hunters out there and we're trying to get it done."
 
 
PRO STOCK
 
JOHNSON READY TO REBOUND - Team Mopar/J&J Racing Dodge Avenger driver Allen Johnson is looking past his ejection from last weekend's race at Charlotte, eager at Dallas to make up the two positions he lost behind leader Mike Edwards. He said the damage to his championship hopes wasn't too bad and said the remaining four races provide "more than enough time to close the gap between us."
 
The four-time top qualifier this season said, "The way the J&J Racing team has been preparing the Mopar Dodge Avenger all year, we've qualified at or near the top of the field in almost every event. Dad [Roy Johnson, his father and engine builder] continues to make tons of horsepower with our Mopar HEMI engines. You can't count us out.
 
"I'm only about 30 more points out than what I was heading into last weekend. The way the whole deal worked, with Mike getting knocked out early, I'm still in the hunt," Johnson said. "All I need is one good race, and I can be right back in it."
 
Johnson is one of the NHRA racers who played Wednesday in the Greg Morris Memorial Golf Tournament at the Old Brickyard Golf Course at Ferris, Texas. The tournament was founded to help support the daughter of Greg Morris, a track worker at Texas Motorplex who passed away following a battle with brain cancer. Greg was diagnosed six months before his daughter, Heather, lost her mother in a car accident.
 
"The Greg Morris Tournament is one of my favorite charitable events," Johnson said. He has participated in the tournament for several years. "The racing community comes together to help a little girl whose parents both passed away. It's a great tournament, and a lot of good people get involved."
 
R&D MEETS BIG D - Larry Morgan said he has been in research and development mode all season with his Lucas Oil Ford Mustang. "Now I really need to get down to racing this final stretch of the year so we're up to speed by 2011," he said. "I'm just trying to figure out everything so we'll be good next year. That's my goal."
 
Eager to put Ford back in the Pro Stock spotlight in a competitive way, Morgan said, "We're inching up on it. I just checked out the engine, and everything is looking good on it. We'll be ready for Dallas." He indicated that his new program has moved from survival as the goal to taking aim at the 2011 championship.
 
Morgan fouled out in the opening round last Sunday at Charlotte against Greg Anderson, but Anderson set low elapsed time of the round (6.614) and top speed of the meet (209.98 mph) on the run. Just the same, Morgan said he's is geared not to repeat his mistake: "We're going to be all right in Dallas," Morgan said. "We just spun the tires up real hard last race. We were just not quite ready for race day."
 
He'll be helping the Meals on Wheels program and joining even more NHRA colleagues Thursday at the Arlington bowling facility Splitsville to help the Texas Motorplex celebrate its 25th birthday with a fan-friendly bash.
 
COUGHLIN OPTIMISTIC - The always-optimistic Jeg Coughlin can cite a dozen reasons he's eager for the O'Reilly Super Start Batteries Fall Nationals to start this weekend at the Texas Motorplex in Ennis. He won here in 2002 and was runner-up three time (2000, 2003, 2008), as well as No. 1 qualifier in 2000, 2004, and 2008. In 15 appearances here, Coughlin has a Pro Stock round-win record of 20-11.
 
"The last four races of the year are at racetracks I consider to be favorites of mine," Coughlin said, "so we're very, very pumped up. I've won at all four places, and Vegas and Pomona are probably the two tracks where I've had the most success. So there's every reason to be excited about the stretch run.
 
"The JEGS.com Chevrolet Cobalt is running exactly the way we want it to," he said. "Dallas is a tricky track, but it can be a drivers' track, too, which I think favors this team. I hope we're up for the call."
 
Coughlin couldn't help but look backwards a bit, to the Charlotte race last weekend, in which he came from the No. 15 spot to beat points leader Mike Edwards but lost on a holeshot in the next round to eventual runner-up Greg Stanfield.
 
"We missed out on a huge opportunity right there," Coughlin, who's fourth in the standingsand 80 points out of the lead, said. "That race against Mike, if he had won, it would have made it awfully tough for us to stay in the fight. To win it, on a holeshot at that, was such a big deal I felt like I should have pulled off at the top end and been handed the trophy. It was that crucial.
 
"Of course the best-case scenario would have been to roll on from there and gain as many points as we could on him, but it wasn't meant to be. The car got a little loose at the launch in Round 2 and it was enough to cost us the race," he said. "At least we gained a little ground and are still right there in the lead pack. It's sure getting exciting now."
 
SHANE GRAY KNOWS WHAT TO DO - Tire Kingdom Pontiac GXP driver Shane Gray was frustrated at the Charlotte race -- in his newly adopted hometown -- by losing in the opening round, as did his father,Johnny Gray. The rookie said two things bit him.
 
"We definitely need to find some more horsepower. We ran strong, but it's just not enough. If we want to take on the top of the class, guys like Greg [Anderson and Stanfield], we need to step up our program," he said. "Then there's my being too early on the tree."
 
His red-light DQ against Greg Stanfield in Charlotte's opening round, he said, is a mtter of the car matching his own improved driving ability. "I don't want it to sound like I’m making excuses, but part of my red light problem is the car. It's set up for the way I drove when I first started. My driving is getting better. I think it's time for us to make some adjustments to match the level I'm at with my driving abilities. That should help me on the tree."
 
Lucky for the No. 8 driver that he was right at home so he could get a coupe of days' work in the shop before heading to Ennis, Texas, for the O'Reilly Super Start Batteries Fall Nationals. "We should be able to make the adjustments." He said he was hoping to find some more boost there, too.
 
 
 
PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE
 
DEMON BIKE - Hector Arana knows how special and how difficult it is to earn the NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle championship.  This year, seeking a second straight crown is doubly difficult -- he said he thinks his Lucas Oil Buell V-Twin is possessed.
 
"There’s something going on with this thing," he said. "I've tore it down, literally, to the bare chassis. I mean, we took everything off. Then we thought we had found something, but we go out and make a run and it's still there. I just don't know what it is.
 
"We can definitely rule out that it's a mechanical issue," Arana said. "It's something electrical. What's strange is that it only does it when every once in awhile. It's not something that happens every pass. This thing has a mind of its own. It's the most frustrating thing."
 
He led the standings for a class-best nine races this year but finds himself fifth after losing two positions heading into the third of six Countdown chances this weekend at Ennis, Texas. He's 176 points behind leader Andrew Hines.
 
"The Countdown is the worst time to have a problem like this," Arana said. "Drag racing can be cruel, man. If we can find out what's slowing this bike down and fix it, we will be right back in the fight. I have a lot of confidence in what we can do. There's still time."
 
REDEMPTION TOUR - Popular Pro Stock Motorcycle rider Karen Stoffer is calling the final four races of the year's Full Throttle Drag Racing Series her "Redemption Tour."
 
"I have a do-over," Stoffer said after she qualified fifth but Michael Phillips upset her on a holeshot with a nearly perfect .002-second reaction time (against her drowsy 0.236). "The good thing about back-to-back races is I can have a do-over. I can redeem myself. You don't have time to worry about what just happened, so it's not lingering in the back of your head any more. Now, I've just got to focus on my mind and the tree and getting my head in the right spot so I don't let the team down again. After all we've been through this year, I've decided to call these last four races the 'Redemption Tour.' I’ve just got to redeem our team's effort, redeem ourselves, and validate that we deserve our spot in the top 10."
 
She's ninth, after flip-flopping places last weekend with Craig Treble. It's not at all where she and the class figured she'd be when at the bikes' season-opener at Gainesville, Fla., she rode her GEICO Powersports Suzuki to the top of the list with a record pass of 6.847 seconds. It appeared then that she and her husband/tuner Gary had mastered the bigger Suzuki engine that the NHRA had allowed.
 
But Stoffer began to flail around in an ocean of chassis issues, mechanical glitches, and a riding-style change that landed her in mid-pack. But she rallied heading into the Countdown, nailing down here berth at Denver.
 
"We hadn’t felt comfortable as a team with the bike all year long," Stoffer said. "By Indy and the start of the Countdown, it seemed like we got our bike back. Actually, we know we have the bike now. We've got our record-breaking bike back."
 
She won’t ride it Thursday, when she helps with the local Dallas Meals on Wheels program or to the birthday bowling party in Arlington for the Texas Motorplex's 25th Birthday celebration and fan-appreciation event. But she'll be ready when action starts Friday at Ennis.

LE  TONGLET, BIKE STAR - Who else but Pro Stock Motorcycle's LE Tonglet could be the face of "The Young And The Restless"?
 
Strengthening his case for the Auto Club of Southern California's Road to the Future Award honoring the NHRA's top rookie, Tonglet, 20, qualified No. 1 (at the previous rae, at Cahrlotte's zMax Dragway), set low E.T. and top speed of the meet, and won -- for his second consecutive victory.
 
Tonglet, following that first race with the Nitro Fish label on his firesuit and his Suzuki GSXR and after defeating points leader Andrew Hines in the final round for the second time this month and the second straight Countdown race, said, "This feels awesome. It's unbelievable. I never thought we would win two races in a row. That's just crazy."
 
Crazy, in Tongletspeak, is what's on his mind now.
 
Trying to impress a panel of journalists judges in the rookie-honors race has become a secondary goal, Tonglet said. "We're not thinking about just winning rookie of the year anymore. We have bigger things on our minds . . . and that's winning the championship,"
he said.
 
He's 66 points behind Hines but said, "With Nitro Fish behind us, I think we have a real good shot at doing it."
 
Stay tuned.

 

 

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