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

SUNDAY NOTEBOOK - HIGHT, LUCAS AND LINE HEADLINE PRO WINNERS

HIGHT BACK INTO HIS WINNING GROOVE - On a night when actors were winning Oscars, Robert Hight was ecstatic to be holding on to a Wally.

Hight won the NHRA’s season-opening Winternationals with a holeshot victory over Matt Hagan Sunday at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona.

“The biggest deal for me is just how long it has been since we have even won a round,” said Hight, who drives the Auto Club Ford Mustang. “It goes clear back to Brainerd last year. The only thing that made it good was John winning everything at the end of the year and Ashley winning Indy. What is really important to me is that this is the fourth year in a row my guys have stayed together. That makes it so easy to get out here and do what you know how to do. You do not have to train people because everybody knows their job and it makes it that much more special when you win because you pulled together and stayed together. Plus, to win at Auto Club Raceway is just awesome.”

Hight clocked a 4.056-second time at 312.71 mph, while Hagan came in at 4.023 seconds at 310.20 mph. The difference was Hight cut a .060 light compared to Hagan’s .105 reaction time.

Hight, the 2009 world champ, had not won a race since the Mopar Mile-High Nationals last July at Bandimere Speedway in Denver. This was his 19th career national event, all while driving fir John Force Racing.

“It has been so long since we won a race and you keeping thinking about it all winter,” Hight said. “Plus, this winter has been longer than most for us. We had a good test session, but there is still doubt. You look at the (Funny Car) class and it isn’t that easy to get one of these trophies. Look at the guys I had to beat today, Bob Tasca, John Force, 15-time champ, (Ron) Capps and Hagan. It is not that easy. If we would have slipped up just a little in the final we would have been dust.”

Hight’s run against Hagan looked flawless, but Hight had plenty of drama taking place in the cockpit.

“In the final, I was getting so pumped up in the car,” Hight said. “I see the people out in front of me in Jimmy Prock, Dean Antonelli, Ron Douglas, all of the guys coming up and telling me to go get them. I pump myself up and I’m moving around and somehow I unplugged the airline to my helmet. I was so pumped up that I didn’t even notice that when they turned it on, I wasn’t getting air. When I put my visor down to stage, it kept fogging up and it kept fogging up all the way down the race track. They had good lights out here and I saw my win light come on, but I honestly, at one point, didn’t know where I was at on the race track. A lot of times you just know and feel where you are at. You do not feel a big move or it (the car) darting or going one way or the other. It was definitely fogging up and I do not want to do that again. I will have a longer hose next week.”

During his post-race press conference, Hight also said longtime crew chief Austin Coil, who left JFR at the completion of last season, was sending him encouraging words Sunday.

“Whatever differences Austin Coil and John (Force) have had in the past, I get a text from him (Coil) in the middle of the day, saying ‘hey go get them. You need a win.’ That just pumps you up so big because he is still behind us and he’s following us. I know he was texting Zippy (Mike Neff) about the weather, telling him he may only have one qualifying run because of the weather and to get the run in.”

Hight also acknowledged he was carrying a good luck charm with him in his firesuit pocket Sunday to help break his winless drought.

“The Wood Brothers gave me this last year, a commemorative coin for their 60th anniversary,” Hight said. “They went out and won Daytona (with Trevor Bayne) and they didn’t get lucky, they went out there and dominated kind of like John Force Racing did today. To have this (coin) ride me and Ford to go out and win Daytona and the Winternationals, this baby is going with me to Gainesville.”

The Wood Brothers presented Hight with the coin last Semptember when they were watching the national event at zMax Dragway in Charlotte.

“All seven runs this weekend, this car went down the track flawless and that’s a good job by him (Jimmy Prock), and he just knows what is out there,” Hight said.

MORGAN LUCAS RACING DOMINATES POMONA TF - Morgan Lucas wasn't particularly excited to take his seat in second-period English class at Jurupa Valley High School in nearby Mira Loma, Calif., that day back in 2000. That is, until one of his classmates turned to him and said, "Hey, I heard you drag race. I drag race, too."

From then on, Lucas and his classmate, Shawn Langdon, were fast friends, talking and daydreaming about the National Hot Rod Association and what their places in it would be someday. They got an inspiring vision Sunday of what it can be, racing each other as teammates in the final round of the Kragen O'Reilly Winternationals at Auto Club Raceway.

Rain, snow, sleet, and hail -- and all four fell on the season-opener in unseasonably frigid Southern California this past weekend -- couldn't stop Lucas, winless in 2010, from winning for the first time here and the first time since the August 2009 Memphis race.

Also earning the specially designed pewter Wally statue that commemorates NHRA's year-long 60th Anniversary celebration were Robert Hight (Funny Car) and Jason Line (Pro Stock).

Lucas, with a 3.835-second pass at 316.38 mph in the Geico/Toyota Dragster, denied Langdon his first Top Fuel victory to lead the standings for the first time in his career.

"I really don't even know how to feel," Lucas said after fending off the 4.047-second, 313.73-mph effort in the Lucas Oil/Speedco Dragster from Langdon, the 2007 NHRA Super Comp series champion  and 1997 Junior Drag Racing League national titlist.

"This is one of the most special races, in my eyes, (along with) Gainesville and Indy. I went to high school about 25-30 minutes from here. The corporate headquarters for Lucas Oil is about a half-hour from here. So this is just a really special moment for us," Lucas, who competed in the 2003 Winternationals Top Alcohol Dragster finals against Tony Bartone, said.

"Honestly, I don't want to project anything but being humble, because . . . we went on a big drought and this makes you appreciate all the success," he said. "We want to appreciate and enjoy this. Who knows when the next one is going to happen?"

He said the win-win situation of racing his teammate in the final made him relaxed enough to tell himself as he flipped his visor down for the last time Sunday, "Let's have some fun" rather than "Don't mess up. Don't screw up."

Although Lucas had a twinge of sadness that he had to keep Langdon, his friend through thick and thin, from winning his first pro race. "He's one of my best friends. That's what makes it fun," Lucas said. "He's such a good driver he's going to win a ton. I think he's going to have a long, massive career and he's going to win championships.

"I'm just Joe Schmoe -- it's no big deal," he said.  

"Somebody on this race team has a horseshoe somewhere," Lucas said. How appropriate, considering his family has close ties with the Indianapolis Colts NFL team, whose symbol is a horseshoe.

With a crew chief who had built his recent resume in the Funny Car class and hadn't been in the Top Fuel ranks in decades, Lucas said, "They're not as experienced (in Top Fuel) as the Alan Johnsons of the world, but they knew how to make it go down the track."

Together they did it in style Sunday, as Lucas blazed past Brandon Bernstein, Terry McMillen, and Del Worsham. In the process, his Dickie Venables- and Kurt Ellott-led crew helped Langdon service his dragster after its engine blew in the quarterfinals Sunday.

Of Venables, Lucas said, "He has made me want to become a better driver, because he's such a competitive person. I complement him; he complements me."

Lucas, 26, confessed, "I've slacked off" but said his goal this year is not to count points but to improve as the owner of Morgan Lucas Racing and a driver who will live up to its potential.

He said he has been talking with driving coaches, training himself to worry on race only about what he can do as a driver to help the team, and finding a balance between being a leader and trying to control everything.

"It's just growing up," he said.  
   
Langdon also has been running his Lucas Oil Super Comp dragster at this race, and he said that "has helped me get into the right frame of mind. All my eggs aren't in one basket. The sooner you can get your driving in order early in the year, the better you're going to do."

LINE REBOUNDS FROM BACK SURGERY WITH WIN - If Jason Line knew having back surgery would have enabled him to achieve such a dominating win, he’d have elected for the surgery a lot sooner.

Line, 41, of Troutman, NC, rebounded from a first round loss at last season’s NHRA Winternationals to even the score with Greg Stanfield. The Summit-sponsored thundered by Stanfield to establish low elapsed time of the event with a 6.529, 211.89. The victory comes just four weeks and two days after surgery to correct a hereditary back condition.

“I said at the beginning of the season that I wanted to win all of the races but you can’t do that unless you win the first race,” said Line of his 22nd career Pro Stock victory. “It was a strange one with the weather and between that and running my kids to the hospital to get stitches.”

Both of his children, ages 5 and 2, visited a local hospital to repair wounds for falls associated with what Line describes as the dad’s coordination combined with running around wild like maniacs.

Line admitted he drove pain free for the first time in many years, and without experiencing numbness in one leg and pain in the other.

“I don’t have an actual back injury, it’s a condition called spinal stenosis – a narrowing of the spinal column,” Line explained. “I can thank my dad for that because it’s hereditary. It was pinching my spinal cord and giving me numbness in my left leg and a lot of pain in my right.”

Line believes he drove better today than he has in a long time and the numbers support his statement. He opened with a 6.538 elapsed time to knock off V. Gaines and improved with a 6.535 to beat Vincent Nobile. In the semis, he blistered teammate and defending series champion Greg Anderson with a .001 reaction time and a 6.532.

“I should have had it done a while back,” Line said with a smile.

The first victory of the new season provided a good enough measure of payback for Line against Stanfield.

“I’ve owed [Greg] for a lot of things,” Line said. “He’s beat me his share and he’s tough. There’s really no one better at letting out the clutch. He’s a tough racer and always has been. He’s a survivor and comes back every year. To beat him feels good. I was a one-man Greg wrecking machine.”

SUNDAY QUICK HITS - RACE DAY REPORTING IN RAPID FASHION

TOP FUEL

ROUND ONE

'INSTIGATOR' BITES CHAMP - Terry McMillen might need to make another trip to K-Mart. He joked to ESPN's Gary Gerould Saturday that's where he would head for some more parts. He damaged an engine in his Amalie Oil/UNOH Dragster in his final qualifying chance Saturday but made the field in the No. 16 spot. Jumping up and down, ignoring the fact he underwent replacement surgery on both knees just after his previous visit here in November, McMillen celebrated making the first race of the season. It didn't matter to him Saturday night that his feat only would give him one more big hurdle: facing Larry Dixon, who just had set the track and national elapsed-time records with a track-record speed.
 
McMillen wasn't intimated by that at all Sunday morning, either. Again the Hoosier Thunder Motorsports owner-driver added a bit of lightning to his run, as he pulled off the upset of the weekend. With a 4.188-second, 207.88-mph effort, McMillen (who calls his alligator-themed car "The Instigator") eliminated the three-time and reigning champion and No. 1 qualifier. Dixon, who launched first with a .055 reaction time to McMillen's .100, was faster with a 223.91-mph speed but pulled a slower 4.486-second pass from the Al-Anabi Dragster.
 
"This is just an awesome day, because you have the toughest of the toughest teams out here," McMillen said. "I don't know how many times this guy has won the championship, but he's an awesome driver with an awesome team. It was our day. He left a little ahead of me, but I never really saw him until he pulled up a little ahead of me. Then he faded away and my car shut off. We were fortunate enough to run on and get the win. At the end of the day, it's what drag racing is about, go A to B."

"The car is really fast early. I know he (Dixon) left on me a little bit but we we're right there with him, then he started to fade. I was pretty excited until our car torched the head and shut off. I was Just glad we beat him to the stripe.
 
McMillen said his "K-Mart" remark referred to Kalitta Motorsports, which helps his Hoosier Thunder Motorsports team: "I was kind of kidding about K-Mart. It was a loose reference to Kalitta's team. We've bought a lot of parts from them this offseason. We're still figuring out our big end tuneup and tore up some parts this weekend. So, I thought we were going to have to make another run to K-Mart for some more parts."
 
WINNING COMES FIRST - Tony Schumacher watched Saturday as -- by one-thousandth of a second -- Larry Dixon's 3.770-second elapsed time eclipsed the national record the U.S. Army driver had set in October 2008 at Richmond, Va. Schumacher didn't reclaim it with his first-round victory over Troy Buff, although he recorded an outstanding 3.782-second E.T. However,  he did reset his own national speed record at 327.03 mph on the run, which erased his 325.61 from last October in Las Vegas.      
 
"Winning is first, records come second," Schumacher said following the run.
 
As always, Schumacher enjoyed the day, the moment, the environment. "It's a beautiful day to be out here in California., the first race of the NHRA's 60th anniversary. For the soldiers, this is the greatest thing in the world. You give us freedom that allows me to be out here. And how about the fans? I had so many people come up to me and tell me this was their first race. This is what you expect at an NHRA Full Throttle event every time. You get the best racing, the best fan appreciation."
 
KNEES KNOCKING - Del Worsham gained his first Top Fuel round-win in 18 years. Powered by a sharp .045 reaction time, the longtime Funny Car fixture traveled the 1,000-foot course in 3.803 seconds at 322.11 mph as opponent Bob Vandergriff struggled right off the line. Even though Worsham is no stranger to the dragstrip or even to the Top Fuel class, he said, "My knees were knocking. It was my first Winternationals round win in a Top Fuel dragster. We got the round win and Bob Vandergriff Jr. is a great competitor. We've been friends for a long time."
 
TOUGH FROM THE START - Spencer Massey, back in the Top Fuel ranks after sitting out a season when team owner Don Prudhomme parked his dragster, held his own along with not only Don Schumacher Racing teammates Tony Schumacher and Antron Brown. He defeated Ron August Jr. in the opening round and did it with a  3.782-second, 324.83-mph performance. The time equaled Schumacher's for lowest of the round and not all that far behind Dixon's top-qualifying number (3.770). His speed, a mere .15 of a mile-an-hour slower than Dixon's qualifying-best speed, actually was the slowest of the three DSR dragsters. Schumacher had the national speed mark at 327.03, and Brown won with a 325.37.   

"You can’t imagine the feeling of going 300 miles per hour in one of these Top Fuel dragsters," Massey said. "We went a 3.78. [Crew chiefs] Todd [Okuhara] and Phil [Shuler] did a great job. This Prestone/FRAM car went right down there. Full Throttle . . .  what can I say? I’m back with Full Throttle Energy Racing. Racing with Prestone. I love it. Let's go some rounds today."

QUARTER-FINALS

ACCENTUATING THE POSITIVES - It didn't take Morgan Lucas long to see the positive in his second round victory over Terry McMillen in a battle of the oil-sponsored dragsters. Lucas ran a 3.858 / 317.12 to pull away from McMillen's 3.945 / 266.32.
 
The race was close until half-track, then McMillen experienced a flash fire and shredded blower.
 
"At the worst, we can leave here fourth in points," Lucas said. "Right now we are just excited to have the car go down the track. The first round we missed it and dropped a hole. That time it went straight down. Maybe we can learn something from that."
 
ELIMINATED BUT ELATED - Steve Torrence lost in the second pairing of the season to Doug Kalitta, but he said, "I'll take races like that any day, as long as I get to win sometime along the way. We didn't give it away -- we just got outrun." His 3.831-second pass at 317.42 mph (to Kalitta's 3.830 / 318.92) in the Capco Racing/Tuttle Motorsports was the quickest of the round in the left, less-popular lane. Said Torrence, "This was a good weekend, considering we had a new car. I hadn't been in the car since November, and we had to deal with cold, wet qualifying conditions. The car ran very well, and we got down the track on three of our four runs." Tuttle said the car was third-quickest in one of Saturday's sessions and produced the team's quickest time to half-track and 1,000 feet."
 
LANGDON OVERCOMES HURDLES - Shawn Langdon seldom is second at the Christmas Tree. But he didn't mind so much in Sunday's second round, where he dispatched Tony Schumacher. The bigger issue was he oiled down the racetrack with his Speedco/Lucas Oil Dragster.
 
"It wasn't pretty but we got the job done," Langdon said after battling his car throughout the pass. "We didn't run good on our first run. We've been struggling getting down this track this weekend. With the weather costing us a run, we kind of threw a Hail Mary [to get into the field]. I got down there and I heard a pop. At that time, I am just trying to grab all of the brake I can and throw the 'chutes."

WIN SOME, LOSE SOME - No. 1 qualifier Larry Dixon, smarting from a first-round loss to Terry McMillen, said pragmatically, "You put two cars on the starting line and one of them is going home. Today it was us. Luckily we have two bullets in the chamber with Del Worsham in dragster this year." He said the Al-Anabi organization "is expecting big things from him." Worsham advanced to the semifinals with a quarterfinal victory over Spencer Massey. Dixon said having Worsham make the switch from a Funny Car is helping already. "Walking out of here with a national record," he said, is proof that "it's already paying dividends."  

 SEMI-FINALS

THE UNSUNG HEROES - “That supercharger sitting at a 90-degree angle isn’t usually a good thing,” proclaimed NHRA announcer Bob Frey following the semi-final race between Shawn Langdon and Antron Brown.

The supercharger didn’t belong to Langdon, it was Brown’s whose Matco Tools dragster exploded at half track. Langdon, despite not even having the luxury of warming the car before the race or seating the clutch, made a clean run to the finish line.

“That’s a testament to all of these guys out here from Lucas Oil,” said Langdon, who lost to Brown in the finals of the last Pomona event. “These guys work hard on this car. It ain’t about me, it’s about them. They bust their butts between rounds.

“We had to change everything between rounds. We had to check things in the rounds just to make sure we got everything right. These guys are the best.”

SYNCHRONIZED EXPLOSIONS - Halfway into the 20-minute oildown necessitated by Antron Brown’s engine explosion, the tuners for the Del Worsham dragster opted for a lane choice in their match against Morgan Lucas.

Both cars, in almost an exhibition of synchronized explosions, blew up about 800-feet into the run.

Lucas ensured an all Morgan Lucas Racing final with a 4.049, 220.80 win. Worsham limped to a 4.291, 186.59. Fortunately neither team deposited oil on the racing surface.

FINAL

WIN-WIN SITUATION - Any way you looked at it Morgan Lucas had won at the Winternationals before he even staged his Geico dragster. In an all-Morgan Lucas Racing final, team owner Lucas overcame a holeshot from the lightning-quick Shawn Langdon.

Lucas spotted Langdon .018 seconds out of the gate and quickly made up the deficit as Langdon, with sponsorship from Lucas Oil, drifted out of the groove.

Lucas scored his fourth career Top Fuel victory with a 3.835, 316.38 run.

FUNNY CAR

ROUND ONE

STILL ROLLING - John Force extended his round win streak to nine consecutive rounds dating back to last season’s NHRA Las Vegas Nationals. Force ran a 4.115, 310.48 to beat Paul Lee, a driver known to have Force’s number over the last two seasons.

“You just have to get that out of the way,” Force said of the first round. Three times last season Lee, driving for Jim Dunn Racing, knocked off a member of JFR in the opening session

“I came out here in my baby’s hot rod,” added Force about driving daughter Ashley’s Mustang from last season. “This is the house that Austin Coil built. It’s unbelievable and it ran right down there.”

HAGAN COMES AROUND – Making a clean hard run to the finish line was a futile effort for Matt Hagan in two of his three qualifying runs. For his frustration, Hagan was rewarded with low elapsed time of the first round in defeating Gary Densham.

“That Tommy Delago is an animal,” Hagan exclaimed. “He went to work last night. We hadn’t had a good run until the last run last night. One lap at a time. We’re just having fun.”

BURNOUT CONTEST WINNER – Ron Capps got more style points on his first round burnout against opponent/teammate Jack Beckman in their match. He also gained more Full Throttle points by winning the lap.

“I was told to do a burnout further than I ever had before,” Capps explained. “I did the burnout to half-track and it ended up looking like a Fuel Altered. I will get to do those kinds of burnouts at the March Meet in Bakersfield next month.”

For his part, Beckman welded Capps to the tree with a .008.

Beckman, the cagey teacher, has a plan in place for the next race in Gainesville.

“I’m doing a long burnout,” proclaimed Beckman.
 
GETTING OFF ON THE RIGHT FOOT – Kalitta Motorsports driver Jeff Arend has never qualified for the Countdown to the Championship. On raceday, he padded his efforts by knocking off a heavily favored Johnny Gray. The win marked his first Winternationals round win as a driver for Kalitta.

Arend proved to be luckier than good because his engine gave up the ghost prior to the finish line and he coasted to the victory.

“I was about 850 feet and then it started smoking the tires,” Arend explained. “I began to pedal it and it just popped.”

ANOTHER STREAK CONTINUED – Mike Neff has won 13 consecutive round wins at Auto Club Raceway of Pomona. Neff won the 2009 NHRA Finals as a Funny Car driver and last season tuned boss John Force to victory in both Pomona events.

Neff advanced to the second round by knocking off Tim Wilkerson.

“The nerves came back into play just like I remembered the last time I drove,” Neff admitted. “That felt good. I started getting a little nervous. I just played it safe. I was hoping to run quicker. We got the win light and that is all that matters.”

BROTHERLY LOVE AND PEDALFEST – Cruz Pedregon beat his brother Tony in a run where it could have been easily assumed the siblings were running an identical tune-up. Both drivers struck the tires nearly simultaneously.

Cruz, the low qualifier, recovered first and won a 4.573, 283.97 to 4.869, 231.68 decision.  

“I was saying, ‘please brother, don’t pass me – car don’t fail me,” Cruz said. “He’ll get it figured out one of these days, he’s two-time champion. The Pedregon Brothers fight hard and we just got away with one there. This is a big win for us.”

A TALE OF TWO LANES – Bob Bode might have been lucky during the final qualifying session on Saturday, but his luck ran out during the first round. As he crossed the finish line behind Jim Head, his Toyota-bodied flopper burst into flames and slid to a stop in the shutdown area with some of his oil under the tires.

Head also had some flames coming from underneath his car, but unlike Bode, he spilled no oil on the racing surface.

“My new puke system worked well,” Head confirmed.

However, Head, who also tunes his car, said he expected to get chewed out by his tuner for the run.

“It’s pretty hateful back there,” Head confirmed.

SPEAKING OF HATEFUL – The NHRA’s new oildown policy went into effect this weekend.

In 2011, the first violation for competitors in each of the four NHRA Full Throttle Series categories will result in a $1,000 fine. If the violation occurs during qualifying, it will result in a loss of five points and the loss of elapsed time and speed for the run.  Times will be voided for qualifying position, qualifying performance points, session run order and national records.   During eliminations, a violation results in a $1,000 fine plus a loss of 10 points and the loss of elapsed time and speed for the run.  If the oil violation occurs on a winning run, the driver will advance, but will lose lane choice and run order selection for the next round, and the performance will not be eligible for national record consideration.  

Second violations at the same event will result in a $2,000 fine plus a loss of 10 points in qualifying and 20 points in eliminations.

More than two oildowns at an event by a single team will result in an NHRA review of teams’ season performance and further action may be taken as determined by NHRA.  Penalties will be in effect for all 2011 events including the Countdown to the Championship events.

All teams will receive one oildown credit at the start of the 2011 NHRA national event season however no further credits will be awarded during the season.

QUARTER-FINALS

TUNING AND DRIVING - Mike Neff used a .03 on the starting line to continue his good fortunes at Pomona. Pulling the double duty role of driver and tuner, Neff was his own best friend with a 4.243 to 4.231 victory.

He’s also his worst critic in proclaiming upon exiting the car, “It had a hole out at the hit.”

“I guess something went wrong there. It put a cylinder out. It smelled weird when I got down here too. Not sure what is going on here.”

PRESIDENT BEATS THE FOUNDER - Robert Hight took advantage of John Force’s plan to take the scenic route to the finish line. In a battle of the last two NHRA Funny Car champions, Hight led Force all the way to the finish line with a 4.107, 308.92 while Force moved around on the top end.

“Somebody asked me if he [John] was my assistant now,” Hight said with a smile. “He’s gonna have to take over because I have some work to do.”

REDEMPTION, AT LEAST FOR NOW – Ron Capps and Robert Hight both struggled in last season’s Countdown to the Championship. Today they have a chance to reach the finals.

Capps ran a 4.117, 306.40 to beat the tire-smoking No. 1 seed Cruz Pedregon.  The NAPA-sponsored driver praised his dedicated crew.

“These guys have been with me since the Brut [sponsorship] days,” Capps explained. “They’ve had chances to go elsewhere but they want to win a championship. I’d jump in front of a bus for them and they would for me.”

Capps will surrender lane choice to Hight next round.

“I will give him the return road if he wants it,” Capps said with a smile.

NOT A STAT MAN – If NHRA announcer Allen Reinhart didn’t inform him, Matt Hagan never would have known he had just raced his 100th round of competition. Hagan made the most of the opportunity by scoring his second consecutive elimination round low elapsed time with a 4.106, 305.08.

“I’m glad you keep up with that because it’s pretty awesome,” said a jubilant Hagan. “With Diehard giving us the opportunity to make it to 100 is great. It’s cool to get into this second round. This Pomona track hasn’t been good to me.”

Two Force cars race the two Schumacher cars in the semis.

“It’s big, that’s what makes it worth those moments when you get the trophy,” Hagan said.

SEMI-FINALS

HIGHT TO THE MONEY ROUND – Familiarity worked for Robert Hight in reaching the Pomona final round.

“I never lost faith in my guys, this is the fourth year in a row that we’ve all been back together,” Hight said. “This Auto Club team is so strong, we went testing and no one had to learn their jobs. They were focused.”

However, it was Hight who was most focused by outrunning Ron Capps with a 4.070, 312.35 to 4.079, 307.16 margin.

HAGAN WORKS HIS WAY TO THE FINAL – After suffering one of his most stinging drag racing defeats to a Ford last season, Matt Hagan doled out a measure of payback in the semis by knocking off Mike Neff on a holeshot.

Hagen’s victory puts him on course to meet the Ford of Hight.

Hagan won with a 4.138, 302.14 to 4.122, 306.95 margin.

FINAL

HIGHT SOARS TO VICTORY - Both Robert Hight and Matt Hagan  survived the day on horsepower and performance through to final eliminations. However, when they lined up against one another in the final round, reaction time was the difference maker.

Hight grabbed an .045 advasntage out of the gate against Matt Hagan and never looked back. The 2009 series champion reeled off a 4.056, 312.71 and his effort was strong enough to fend off Hagan’s thundering 4.023, 310.20.

 

PRO STOCK

ROUND ONE

FAVORITE GONE EARLY - Coming into this event, Allen Johnson had established himself as the man to beat by virtue of his 6.498-second test pass at Bradenton, Fla., earlier this month. He started third on the grid, behind Erica Enders and current champion Greg Anderson, but many looked for him to pull an eye-popping number from his Mopar/J&J Dodge Avenger. After all, dad Roy Johnson is one of the Pro Stock class' top engine builders.
 
That was evident Sunday morning -- and some stunning numbers popped up on the scoreboard, all right. But they belonged to Vincent Nobile, who used Roy Johnson power to knock off the favored Allen Johnson in the opening round of the season on a holeshot. Nobile was off the line in .002 seconds and laid a 6.561-second, 211.73-second performance on Johnson, who ran a quicker and faster 6.559, 212.39.
 
"You have no idea just how much fun I am having," said Nobile. "I cannot tell you how good I feel now. I want to put this car in the winners circle."
 
BELONGS THERE - Erica Enders, in the field's only Chevy Cobalt, claimed the No. 1 spot in the Pro Stock field in her return to the class and to Victor Canazzi Racing, ultimately clinching it after three qualifying sessions. But despite the class being denied a fourth session Saturday because of dropping temperatures, she proved she belonged at the top of the order Sunday. She posted a .023-second reaction time and a 6.545-second, 212.43-mph quarter-mile ride that earned her a track-record speed. "We have a long day ahead of us, but it’s a good way to start," she said.
 
CADILLAC ATTACK - Jason Line qualified a so-so 11th and didn't have lane choice against V Gaines. But he came to life in the first round, running a 6.538-second ET at 211.89 mph. "We struggled a little with the Summit Racing Pontiac, but she was a Cadillac there. That pas was just the fourth this year for Line, who didn't do any preseason testing.
 
KRISHER FLYING - Ron Krisher, driving the Valvoline Pontiac GXP from the No. 4 slot, set low elapsed time of the meet in the first round, defeating Rodger Brogdon with a 6.533-second pass at 212.06 mph. His speed was the best of the weekend until top qualifier Erica Enders showed her No. 1 status was well-earned with a 6.545 E.T. at a whopping track-record 212.43.

QUARTER-FINALS

FAST SPEEDS - The first round served up some of the fastest passes in Pro Stock history. Erica Enders's 212.43-mph speed tied for the second-fastest ever, just a few ticks off Greg Anderson's 212.46 from last March in the 4-Wide Nationals at Charlotte, N.C. Krisher's 212.06 mph was good enough for the class' fifth-fastest speed on record.
 
THANK YOU - Ronnie Humphrey got a couple of gifts to begin his first full season. In the opening round, he won when Warren Johnson fouled out, then got to make a solo pass after No. 1 qualifier Erica Enders experienced the ultimate disappointment with a wounded car. So he reached the Final 4 with winning elapsed times of 11.738 and 12.640 seconds.
 
Enders made the burnout but said she tried several times unsuccessfully to get the car to refire. Her team pushed her Chevy Cobalt aside while Humphrey rolled slowly into the semifinals, then they finished pushing it off the track. "Number 1 doesn't mean anything on Sunday," she said, adding quickly that the development "sucks but we remain positive."     
Her misfortune made it a clean sweep of the top qualifiers. Top Fuel's Larry Dixon lost in the first round and Funny Car's Cruz Pedregon exited in the second round.
 
NO. 48 - In their quarterfinal match-up, Vincent Nobile became the 48th different driver Jason Line has faced in his 167-race Pro Stock career. This was the seventh time he has started from that position and the fourth time he will have a semifinal or better finish.

SEMI-FINALS  

LINE SHAKES CABIN FEVER - Jason Line always thanks his Summit Racing Equipment Pontiac GXP crew following a round-win, but Sunday he also thanked his doctor in Charlotte, N.C. Line underwent back surgery during the off-season, and once he beat teammate Greg Anderson to reach the final round against Greg Stanfield, Line said of his surgeon, "Not only did he fix my back, but he also fixed my left leg."
 
Line and Anderson have combined to win five of the previous seven Winternationals, so the Summit team was poised to make it six of eight.
 
Line's off-season also included a week-long trip to visit the troops in Germany, as well as several trips to Phoenix to participate in the shooting of the "Burnout: The Ultimate Drag Racing Challenge" show that will air on MTV2 beginning in April. He also contributed research-and-development efforts with sorting out usable parts from the engines damaged in Anderson’s hauler fire.
 
"This extended break between races is the longest period I have ever been away from a racetrack in my life," Line said. And it as clear he was excited to return.
 
“I’m not going to make any bold predictions, but let’s just say I’m optimistic about our Summit Racing team’s chances in 2011,” Line said.  “With as tight as the competition is right now in Pro Stock, I don’t think anyone is going to dominate, but I feel we have as good a shot as anyone to take home the championship.  My focus is on doing my job to the best of my abilities, doing whatever I can to put us in a position to win.  That is my primary objective heading into the season."
 
STANFIELD SOARS AGAIN - Greg Stanfield left Pomona last fall as the runner-up to series champion Greg Anderson, and with a last-minute marketing partnership, the Louisiana veteran put himself in a position to leave this time as a winner for Bob Yonke Motorsports.

Stanfield left Pomona last fall as the runner-up to series champion Greg Anderson, and with a last-minute marketing partnership, the Louisiana veteran put himself in a position to leave this time as a winner for Bob Yonke Motorsports.

Stanfield prevented an all-Summit Equipment team final by dispatching Ronnie Humphrey.

FINAL

RUNNING THE LINE - Jason Line used pure horsepower to overcome a Greg Stanfield holeshot in the final round.

Line, .021 in the hole out of the gate, chased down Stanfield with low elapsed time of the event with a 6.529 elapsed time at 211.29 miles per hour.

This is the second career NHRA Winternationals victory for Line.

---

 

a d v e r t i s e m e n t

Click to visit our sponsor's website

---

SATURDAY NOTEBOOK -

CRUZ THUNDERS WITH NEW CAR - When you’re the boss, you can make the tough decisions without getting fired. Making decisions which won't cost him his job, Cruz Pedregon believes allowed his team to capture the pole position at the first event of the 2011 Full Throttle Championship Series.

Pedregon drove his Snap-on Tools-sponsored Toyota to the No. 1 qualifying position at the NHRA Winternationals with the third quickest Funny Car run in 1000-foot drag racing history with a 4.015 second pass at 313.22 miles per hour.

“I looked up and got a sneak peek at the scoreboard,” admitted Pedregon. “The scoreboards are at a quarter mile and I just happened to glance up which is crazy. I saw that 4.01 and I said there it is that’s the payoff to what we’re trying to do. We’re just trying to run as fast as the track. I just wanna hand it to the prep team because you can’t do it without the track. It’s crazy that we had sleet and we’re out here today running on the track. I think it was like 80 degrees on the track. Great credit to the team and we were firing for the big number on that run and luckily it paid off.”

Pedregon was considered to have one of the strongest cars in last season’s Countdown to the Championship, although he missed earning a place in the top ten. He won two of the first three races of the six-event championship phase.

The two-time champion took a calculated gamble and brought out a new car for the season, even though his car at the end of 2010 was responsible, as he puts it, for “bringing the team back from the dead”.

“It’s actually a car that my crew chief Ron Tobler said in 2009 he didn’t like so we made three runs in 2009 on it and put it up in the shop,” explained Pedregon. “We dug it back out during the offseason and didn’t touch the old car and we’re using it as a backup.  We built a completely new computer box and a dual wheelie bar and made a few other changes that we’d like to keep to ourselves but it’s a different car but we’re changing a few things on it and the way it works.”

Pedregon admits he made the decision to go with the different car and it was one without an afterthought.

“One of the luxuries I have with this team is that we don’t have a boss,” Pedregon said. “I work with the team. We don’t have to worry about the politics of getting fired if you make a change. If you’re a hired crew chief, like most of these guys are, you’re afraid to make changes because you don’t want to get fired. I really feel it’s an advantage that I work with the team and I’m involved in the decision making so that we’re not afraid to make changes. In fact we did make some pretty big changes not with the motor combination but with the chassis we did some different things. I can’t fire myself.”

DIXON SHAKES, RATTLES AND ROLLS TO RECORD - Defending Top Fuel champion Larry Dixon understands the upside of fate.

Fate, for Dixon, was shaking the tires during the final qualifying session at the NHRA Winternationals in Pomona, Ca, and not only gaining the No. 1 qualifying position but also scoring the first leg of a new national record in the process.

Dixon’s 3.770 elapsed time was enough to eclipse Tony Schumacher’s 3.771, run in Pomona in November 2009. As exciting as laying down the provisional record would prove to be, something else got Dixon more excited.

“Just qualifying for the event gets me excited,” said Dixon. “A couple of years ago we didn’t get that done so I’m just happy to get qualified. That run today was just spectacular from my standpoint. It shook really hard coming out like Del’s car did. It was almost to the point where you were going to give up. We just cleaned it up and went on down the track and with us only racing a thousand foot you can see the scoreboards come up. When you click it off and you see a 77 pop up you say, wow was that really right.”

Today’s No. 1 effort marks the ninth time in the last twenty races he’s entered race day as the low qualifier. By leading two of the three sessions this weekend, Dixon extends his mark to 33 low elapsed time sessions dating back to last year.

Even more impressive is the fact Dixon’s run came on a track barely topping 60 degrees. The track temperature was 63 prior to Dixon’s momentous run and dropping rapidly.

“We’ve never gone down the race track in that cold of track temperature,” admitted Dixon. “Last I heard the track was 68 degrees. I was talking to our clutch guy Nick and I asked him have we ever gone down the track when it was 68 and he starts going through his notes and doesn’t find anything.”

As much as fate shined on Dixon this day, Sunday is another day.

“This doesn’t buy us anything tomorrow we still have to earn our spot,” Dixon confirmed.  

ENDERS RETAINS TOP SPOT - Mother Nature proved she’s an Erica Enders fan.

For just the second time in her Pro Stock career, Enders is headed into raceday as a No. 1 qualifier. The scheduled third Pro Stock session at the NHRA Winternationals in Pomona, Ca, was cancelled when race officials determined the track temperature was too cold to safely run the final session on Saturday.

Enders ran a 6.553, 211.69 in the ZaZa Energy-sponsored Chevrolet Cobalt during Thursday’s lone qualifying session to earn the spot.

“To be honest, we didn’t think we were going to get to run today,” Enders admitted. She ran a 6.59 in Saturday’s lone session.

Defending series champion Greg Anderson came close to knocking her from the top spot with a 6.559.

“God gave us a break and some sunshine and we were able to get out there,” she said. “After we ran on Thursday, and finished in the top spot I felt confident the run would hold. I’m just very excited.”

Enders faces No. 16 qualifier Richard Freeman in the first round of Sunday’s final eliminations.

“Based on the championship caliber team we have at Cagnazzi Racing, we felt like we had enough horsepower to stay on top,” she continued. “I will say this is a surreal feeling. I’m pinching myself to see if this is real.”

Enders really wanted that last run.

“My initial reaction was that I was mad because I wanted to make one more hit,” Enders said. “But, you figure God has a plan.”

Unfortunately on the other end of the spectrum was 2009 series champion Mike Edwards, who failed to make the field after making a single 28.456 run.

I THINK I’M CATCHING UP – Johnny Gray’s Service Central Dodge Charger, for at least the first two sessions of Funny Car qualifying was the quickest car in the field.

The driver … well, he’s doing his best to catch up.

“I’m not caught up,” Gray admitted following his Saturday afternoon 4.049 second pass at 311.20 mph. “I asked [crewchief] Lee [Beard] where I shut off on Thursday, and said he thought it was the third green on the golf course.”

Gray does have a good excuse.

“Lee keeps giving me a fast car like this, it’s tough for me to catch up,” he added.

YOU'RE WHO? - The weekend has had its annoying moments for a couple of high-profile guests at the NHRA's 60th birthday bash.

Three-time champion Gary Scelzi, one of only two in NHRA history to win titles in both fuel classes, showed up Thursday with sons Dominic and Giovanni, only to be detained at the gate by personnel who didn't know who he is.

Then Saturday, team owner Connie Kalitta, one of the NHRA's most colorful personalities with three titles as crew chief and/or team owner, forgot his credential and wasn't allowed inside the facility.

Both situations were resolved relatively quickly.

Maybe it just is a tough week for champions. Pro Stock's Mike Edwards, the 2009 champion, was bumped from the field in Saturday's only Pro Stock qualifying session. 

 

SOMETHING HIT IT – The biggest question Funny Car driver Ron Capps had following his final qualifying run was, “What did I hit?”

Capps believes he hit a bird, and that’s about the only explanation he has for the cracked windshield on his NAPA Dodge Charger.

“It was shattered,” Capps explained. “It kind of scared me. I didn’t know whether to lift or not. I just stayed on the gas and I’m glad I did.” 

 

 

 

 

 

WHERE'D THEY GO? - No one has bolted from Kalitta Motorsports's two-car operation, but the team has lost a man . . . sort of.  Team manager Jim Oberhofer has dropped a total of 100 pounds in the past year. Two of Doug Kalitta's team members, assistant crew chief Troy Fasching and Mike LaJoice, lost 31 and 30 pounds, respectively. Public-relations representative Todd Myers is 27 pounds lighter.  That adds up to 188 pounds, about the equivalent of one sturdy team member.

BECKMAN DEALS WITH SURPRISES - It has been a stretch of surprises for Funny Car driver Jack Beckman. First, he and wife Jenna learned they are expecting a second child this summer.
 
"In August we're going to have a little girl," he said, beaming.
 
Extra-excited is big brother Jason, who will turn four years old on March 8. He went along to Mom's ultrasound test about a week ago, and he was really pleased to learn his new sibling will be a sister.
 
Said Beckman, "I don't think he realizes that we can't turn a switch and choose boy or girl, but he told us he wanted a sister. So he was so excited when the technician said, 'It's a girl!' " Dad said his only request is "10 fingers and 10 toes, evenly distributed. I just want a healthy baby.
 
"Jason is going to be the best big brother in the world. I think it’s going to make him a better human being. I've heard girls tend to ruin their dads. So we'll see how that goes."    
 
After running outstanding numbers in preseason testing, Beckman started the season with a surprise that wasn't as pleasant. He found himself 19th among 19 drivers after Thursday's run, with the pressure ratcheted up Saturday in the wake of Friday's rainout at Auto Club Raceway and continued downpour overnight and much of the morning. He had no assurances that the sun would come out as it did and let the pro classes run.
 
It all worked out by the end of Saturday's second session, Beckman first climbed to the 16th and final spot, watched Brian Thiel bump him off the grid, then stormed back with a 4.111-second elapsed time on the 1,000-foot course at a track speed record 313.58 mph.
 
It landed him in the No. 9 position -- a remarkable recovery but far too much drama to suit him as he tried to impress new marketing partner Aaron's in its drag-racing debut.
 
As for the wacky weather, Beckman said, "We can't control that. You can ruin yourself stressing out over things you have no control over. NHRA always does everything they can to put on a show for the fans, and the Safety Safari always does everything to give us a good racetrack. But we're slaves to the weather out here on the NHRA tour."
 
He had hoped to show his best numbers in his debut for marketing partner Aaron's. "It's a huge program for NHRA. Them having the faith in our fans to do their marketing over here in addition to their NASCAR program is something that has been a dream come true," Beckman said. "We want to give them a good and exciting debut. And we've got to be in the show."
 
Beckman said the bottom line is that "you have to manage the things you can control. I try to do my best not to worry about the things that I can't affect."   
 
As for Thursday's run in which he smoke the tires, he said, "With nitro in the fuel tank, weird things happen, you know? We can't go back. Kicking the car, throwing your helmet, having a tantrum, and behaving poorly is not going to change what has already happened. We have got to keep our chins up, do everything that we can do to get this car in the show. But we also recognize it completely depends on the weather and having the envelope to get this in."
 
He said "it's comforting and it gives me confidence" to know he has crew chief Rahn Tobler and assistant John Collins prepping his Don Schumacher-owned Dodge Charger. He said he has "so much faith in what they do."
 
Before the third qualifying session which seemed so improbable earlier in the day, Beckman said, "We're bolting this thing together, and we're going to tow it on up there and hope we have a racetrack to run on."
 
The track and set-up combined to give him a 4.553-second elapsed time at 286.86 mph that left him on the bump spot with questionable-looking clouds but a fourth and final chance nevertheless to improve to ensure a spot in the 16-car field.
 
After the pass early Saturday, Beckman said, "I hope it's good enough. I hope we get another chance to prove what we're capable of. It's our first race for Aaron's, and they have such a big NASCAR presence."
 
He said he isn't superstitious but figured it wouldn't do any harm to take along a trinket someone handed him before the run. "I took a John Force bobblehead doll in the car," he said. "I'm not sure how that worked out."

 

 

RELAXATION FROM RACING WHILE RACING – Richard Hartman makes a living by turning the wrenches on Terry McMillen’s Amalie Oil Top Fuel dragster. During his off-weekends, the former fuel Funny Car racer, races with his father, Virgil Hartman, piloting a Pro Stalgia Funny Car on the IHRA’s Nitro Jam circuit.

Hartman has raced in the big show, handling all of the crucial roles as team owner, bill payer, crew chief and driver.

“It’s relaxing,” Hartman admits. “Normally on a good weekend we don’t have to do a lot of work to the car but there are times when we have to work on it but it’s still fun and not nearly the pressure of this deal.”

There’s a part of Hartman which misses the big show, if only to grab the exhilaration of driving a fast nitro car.

“I still like to get in one every now and then when I get that itch but this takes the pressure off,” Hartman said. “I enjoy what I’m doing here and it’s definitely a challenge. If I could go and be just a driver, I’d love it. But the last time I drove a car I was the tuner, team manager, driver, paid the bills, did everything and I would never do that again.”

HADDOCK RETURNING - Terry Haddock said on Saturday morning before the Tire Kingdom Gatornationals at Gainesville, Fla., the next stop on the Full Throttle Drag Racing Series tour, he will announce a primary sponsor and two associates for a nine-race effort this season.
 
Haddock, a New Jersey native who has raced out of Seattle, is now  settled in Temple, Texas, where he owns and operates Lone Star Aluminum Block Repair, a business he purchased from longtime and respected machinist Mike Kopchick of Rage Racing Engines. But Haddock is putting together a Funny Car program to remain an active driver, as well as helping girlfriend Jenna Reich (pronounced "rich") secure her Top Fuel license.
 
With a Toyota Solara body from the Kalitta Motorsports stock, Haddock said his 2011 schedule calls for him to debut at Las Vegas and add appearances at Houston, Englishtown, Joliet, Norwalk, Seattle, Indianapolis, Reading, and Dallas. If his performances are promising, the team might opt to race the final three events, at Phoenix, Las Vegas, and Pomona.
 
"I want to race more than ever," the 2008 IHRA Nitro Funny Car champion said Saturday before heading to the Southern California shop to help work on Mike Stallings' nostalgia nitro Funny Car with Wheel Vintiques backing. Haddock will drive at a few races in the Hot Rod Heritage Series.
 
The 2009 NHRA season was outstanding in a number of ways for Haddock and in one perturbing, detrimental way.
 
"In '09 I qualified for 18 of 19 events. I made about 70 runs, and 66 were clean and dry," Haddock said in his own defense. "But nobody remembers that. The last two races, financially, we shouldn't have been there. Those two bad races at the end of '09 gave me a false black eye. But don’t take my word for it. Go sit in front of the Internet and see."
 
Said Haddock, "I've raced for 18 years and have given it my heart and soul." He has given his body, as well, overcoming burns and banged-around bones. Now, with Reich's help,  he's giving it another shot -- with all of his business-administration details squared away.

 

AN IMPROBABLE DAY OF QUALIFYING - Three hours after Auto Club Raceway of Pomona was hit first by rain followed by a hailstorm, the first Funny Car fired for Saturday’s improbable qualifying session.

James Day didn’t get far in his tire-smoking, pedaling run but remarkably following the morning’s weather – the track reached 72-degrees.

The first two of three cars resulted in the rolling of the Safety Safari trucks.

---

a d v e r t i s e m e n t

Click to visit our sponsor's website

---

FRIDAY NOTEBOOK - RAIN DOESN'T WASH AWAY THE STORIES FROM THE PITS

NEFF IS UP TO THE CHALLENGE - The experience is certainly not foreign to Mike Neff.

As he sits in his roller chair staring at his computer screen, pondering his tune-up for a dreary weather day of qualifying at Pomona, Lanny Miglizzi walks into the lounge of the John Force Racing hauler.

Miglizzi, the track specialist for the team, explains to Neff what the rainy weather has done to the track since the driver/tuner recorded a
4.103-second run at 311.20 mph during Thursday’s lone qualifying session.

Miglizzi’s information proves valuable to Neff since a lot has changed over last month for the two-time championship tuner and past national event winning driver.

The track whisperer, as Miglizzi has been labeled, enables Neff to be in two places at once. Being in two places at once has become a way of life for Neff since he was named to the dual role of crew chief and driver following the announcement that a pregnant Ashley Force Hood would be sitting out the 2011 season.

“I lose the ability of going and checking the track,” Neff said of the challenge of working both sides of the nitro fence. “That’s why Lanny is so helpful. He keeps me updated.n It’s difficult because you just can’t stand up there and watch the other cars because four cars before you have to run, you have to go back to strap in for your run. ”

Miglizzi is just one piece in Neff’s puzzle. Neff’s able crew, along with Bernie Fedderly and the rest of the Force braintrust, have all jumped in to do all they can.

“I rely on all of their help for the things I can’t do any more,” said  Neff. “We are working on a pretty good system. We're just trying to develop a routine to make it as easy as possible.”

The last time Neff pulled this double-duty routine was in 2009. Last year, Neff's team was parked for lack of sponsorship.

Neff not only won in his last race of the season as a driver but also claimed the first victory of the ensuing season as a tuner.

Three weekends ago, while testing at Palm Beach International Raceway, Neff had four days to reacclimate himself into the role of tuner/driver.

Part of his routine was training his mind to block out a tuner’s natural tendency to second guess tuning decisions.

“When you’re a tuner, you never stop thinking about the decisions you just made for the upcoming run,” Neff explained. “You’re always somewhat second-guessing yourself and wondering to make sure you’ve got everything covered. You’re usually thinking about that the whole time until the car fires. The hardest part is making a decision and when it comes time to drive … living with that decision.

“There are times when you get ready to run and you’ll have indecision, but you have to be able to block that out. That’s the hardest part about pulling double duty. You can go up there thinking about the tuning part of it, and not drive as well as you should. In the end, if you blow it as a driver, it doesn’t matter what you did as a tuner. You have to do one job at a time and not let them adversely affect one another.”

Neff admits focusing on driving can be a challenge while wondering if, as tuner, the clutch is right for the changing conditions. Last year, as a tuner for Force, Neff admits he sometimes went into the electronic box following the burnout.

“I could make one last adjustment on the clutch flows,” Neff admitted. “Now I don’t have that luxury.”

In fact, there’s not a lot of luxury when you reach the end of the day.

“I’m pretty mentally drained at the end of the day,” Neff said. “With the possibility of rain affecting this weekend’s race, that's added stress. There’s no downtime.”

'LUCKY OLD FART' BACK - Common sense is Bob Glidden's mantra, now that he's back in the active Pro Stock picture, helping 19-year-old newcomer Buddy Perkinson compete in the car THAT the drag-racing legend himself drove several times last season.
 
When last Glidden came to Pomona, in November, he took a fall, had a seizure, cracked his head on the pavement, and ended up in the hospital. Standing on the outside of the car Thursday, Glidden reassured, "I'm good. I'm as good as I can be."
 
Glidden's son Billy said his dad is the toughest son-of-a-gun he ever has known, however his dad downplayed the fact.
 
"I'm just a lucky old fart. I went through all that. I went through the seizures. I'm just lucky that I'm here," Bob Glidden said, adding that he wouldn't mind racing again if he had a car that could win.
 
"I'd like to drive a competitive car, but I don't have a license. So right now I can't do that," he said.

With a touch of sarcasm he said it would be tempting "with all the geniuses fired and gone from here, now that we can use some common sense with these cars."
 
What excites him right now is working with young Perkinson.
 
"Number one, he's a good boy, got a good attitude," Glidden said. "I didn't even realize until Wednesday after the test at Bradenton than he's only 19 years old. He certainly acts older than 19. He's a rock inside the car. I really like the kid because of his attitude. He'll be a great driver."
 
What brought him back to Jim Cunningham's team was desperation - Cunningham's.
 
"Jim was supposed to have someone to help him at Bradenton [in preseason testing in Florida]," Glidden revealed. At the last minute, that arrangement fell through. Cunningham called Glidden on a Saturday night and asked if Glidden would come down to Florida and help out once again.
 
It turned out to be a much more enjoyable stint with the Cunningham team than he had last season.
 
"Last year I was just there to observe. It was a pathetic mess," Glidden said. "But at Bradenton we just used common sense and put a normal tune-up in the car, and the old car ran pretty good. I enjoyed the test because I enjoyed being around Buddy. We ran good with the same stuff we had last year."
 
Perkinson's parents asked Glidden to make the trip to Pomona, from his Whiteland, Ind., home. However, Glidden said, "After this I don't know what I'm going to do."
 
He'll be enjoying the NHRA's year-long 60th Anniversary celebration but thinks he simply was at the right place at the right time to have the chance to become a legend at all, with his  85 victories which rank him third on the all-time list, behind Funny Car leader John Force and No. 2 Warren Johnson, his former Pro Stock nemesis.
 
"I'm an old fart, like drag racing," Glidden said. "I was just lucky enough to come along at the right time to be a part of it. That’s the way I feel about it. If I'd have come along 10 years later than I did, I'm sure that I wouldn't have been as fortunate as I was. So I'm just lucky to be a part of it."

HISTORY LESSON - Larry Dixon, current and three-time Top Fuel dragster champion and teammate Del Worsham share a common trait. Both are students of drag racing and well-versed in its history.
 
"It's interesting how history kind of has a way of repeating itself," Dixon said, thinking about the notion of having a teammate in the same class with Worsham's re-introduction to dragsters. "When I got my Top Fuel license at Gainesville in 1994, Del signed it for me. Here we are in 2011, and I'm signing Del's Top Fuel license after our test at West Palm Beach.  I thought it was very cool that I was able to do that. I guess it's just kind of a neat trivia question, but it's still cool."
 
And, speaking of cool, the temperatures in Pomona dipped into the 40s to add to the soggy misery of a rainy day, prompting Dixon to remember a year when the Winternationals lived up its name.
 
"Well, it's not snowing yet," Dixon joked. "But I've seen it snow here before. Actually, there was a famous National Dragster picture of snow on the starting line. The whole track was covered in snow. It was 1978. I was 11."
 
He also said he recalls his reaction to all the white, fluffy, cold stuff. "I was scare to play in I, because I'm a Southern California guy. That stuff's supposed to be in the mountains, not on racetracks. It made for a good picture, but it really wasn't enough snow to throw snowballs or build a snowman."
 
After living in Indianapolis for a dozen years, first working with Don "The Snake" Prudhomme and now with Alan Johnson's organization down the street in Brownsburg, he has gotten more comfortable with snow, he said.
 
"My perspective has changed, but people in L.A. aren’t used to seeing it snow; so it was crazy that weekend," Dixon said. "We had to come back two weeks later to run the race. The greatest thing about our sport is that we try to chase the good weather around the country. Two weeks ago it was 80 degrees here."
 
As for the NHRA's 60th Anniversary celebration, Dixon said, "I'm glad NHRA decided to celebrate their 60th anniversary, because there are so many great stories in our history. I would like to think that there were a lot of people who are considered NHRA legends in our sport that have influenced me, and I've tried to learn as much as I could from all of them."
 
His legends list, he said, would include "for starters, my Dad (Larry Dixon, Sr.), (Don) Garlits, Shirley (Muldowney), obviously Snake, but the one guy that probably influenced me the most was Roland Leong. When I was crewing, he was the guy who gave me guidance and advice about turning my crewing career into a driving career. If he hadn't kicked me in the rear end, I may not have moved forward."
 
AH, MAIS OUI -- M6 TV -- Métropole Télévision, the privately owned national French television channel which broadcasts globally to the French-speaking world, is on hand here with a film crew. It is focusing on the Al-Anabi Dragster team of Larry Dixon and Del Worsham and the R2B2/In-N-Out team of Melanie Troxel as it films an hour-long documentary about the sport.
 
ABC's: AXLES, BRAKES, CRANKSHAFTS - If only Jurupa Valley High School in Mira Loma, Calif., had a motorsports team. The mascot is the Jaguars, after all.

Shawn Langdon and Morgan Lucas, classmates there and now Top Fuel teammates, both finished in the top 10 in each of the past two seasons.

The classroom connection prompted Toyota PR rep John Procida to refer to their school days as "Fast Times at Jurupa Valley High."
 
BODE, A YEAR LATER - This time last year, Funny Car owner-driver Bob Bode figured success would be simply to qualifying at a race. His performance at one race would determine if he would enter the next. He has plenty on his plate with his plastic-bag manufacturing business in Elk Grove Village, Ill., but he loves drag racing and enjoys the people. So the approach was just fine with him.
 
Then a curious thing happened to him. He won the Brainerd, Minn., race last August; and not with gifts from any opponents, either. So with his first Wally trophy in his possession and not just in his dreams, is Bode any different as this season gets under way?
 
"You'd think I'd have lots of confidence after that," he said Friday about his return to Auto Club Raceway at Pomona. "But I was nervous. My team was telling me Thursday, 'Go away, Bode.'
 
"We just wanted to do good right out of the box," Bode said, accounting for his edginess Thursday. "We're sixth -- real good! I'm doing my rain dance."
 
Bode closed the first session positioned in the lineup behind Don Schumacher Racing's Johnny Gray, Cruz Pedregon, and the John Force Racing trio of the 15-time and reigning champion, Robert Hight and Mike Neff. He qualified No. 4 twice, several years ago -- once at Brainerd with Richard Hogan tuning the car and again at Las Vegas.
 
His 4.121-second, 299.86-mph pass came in a new Impala. But as he waited out the rain interruption Friday, he and his crew were preparing to run the Toyota Solara he bought from Kalitta Motorsports. That Toyota is the one Jeff Arend was driving last April in the 4-Wide Nationals at Charlotte when Robert Hight's Mustang crossed the centerline and sideswiped him.
 
"It ripped the side of it off," Bode said. "I put it back on, and we're planning to run it in the next session."
 
WOULD YOU LIKE A MANICURE WITH THAT? - While access to a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series garage is limited, there are average fans who gain access to the drivers and crews. The numbers are small which is quite opposite of the numbers of average fans who get face time with the drivers in the NHRA.

When fans Chris Carvalho and wife Chrystine, visiting from Visalia, Calif., approached Funny Car owner-driver Bob Bode, he invited them under his awning, away from the rain.

Chris Carvalho had taken a photo of Bode last year, had it enlarged, and wanted Bode and wife Alice to autograph it. Bob and Alice did so happily, but the photo got a few raindrops on it. Immediately Bode ran into his trailer returning with an industrial-strength blow-dryer. He used it to make sure the picture wasn't ruined, carefully instructing the Carvalhos how not to smear the raindrops or the autographs. Bode repeated his mantra, that the fans and the participants in drag racing are what make coming to the racetrack so exciting.
Bode said he watched last weekend's Daytona 500 and loved the ending -- probably because it gave him a flashback to his own underdog triumph at Brainerd last summer.

"Trevor Bayne is my hero!" Bode said. 

 

 
 
 
 WELCOME BACK - The Summit Racing team welcomed back an old friend on Thursday, announcing that noted crew chief Jeff Perley had returned to the organization.  Beginning with this weekend’s NHRA Winternationals in Pomona, CA, Perley will join co-crew chiefs Rob Downing and Tommy Utt in making the tuning decisions on the Summit Racing Pontiacs driven by defending Pro Stock champion Greg Anderson and Jason Line, as well as the Summit/Genuine Hotrod Hardware Pontiac piloted by Ronnie Humphrey.

 “It’s good to have Jeff back home,” said Anderson.  “He left us in 2006 to start his Goodyear store, a move we both understood and supported.  However, in the back of our minds, we always hoped he’d find a way to come back to us.  Although he’s still running his tire store, he just wasn’t having the fun that he got from racing.  Now that we’re running three Summit Racing Pontiac, we needed an extra set of eyes to make sure we paid attention to every detail, and Jeff was fortunately able to help us out. The gang is back together.”

Perley was a part of the Summit Racing team from 2003-2006, when Anderson and Line dominated the Pro Stock category, winning 51 races and four consecutive Full Throttle Pro Stock championships.  He left the team following the 2006 season to open Perley Tire & Service Center in Charlotte, NC.  Having reached the point where his business allowed him some free time to return to the track, he welcomed the opportunity to rejoin his old team.

“I’m excited to be coming back to the Summit Racing team,” said Perley.  “I’m in a good position that allows me to take time away from my Goodyear store to help out over here, where hopefully, I’ll get to enjoy the best of both worlds.  I’ll get my racing fix over here with KB Racing, working with a great bunch of guys, while still being able to take care of things with my business.   It’s a great opportunity, and I look forward to contributing to their continued success.”

---

a d v e r t i s e m e n t

Click to visit our sponsor's website

---

THURSDAY NOTEBOOK -  2011 IS UNDERWAY

IT'S THE POWER OF THE TWITTER - Let it be known that Ron Capps now recognizes the power of Twitter.

The driver of the NAPA Auto Parts Funny Car on the NHRA’s Full Throttle Drag Racing tour made a comment on his Twitter feed regarding a comment made by NHRA VP of Operations Graham Light during the pre-race driver’s meeting.

Capps was surprised Light had to mention one very important driving procedure.

Light reminded the nitro drivers driving their cars to the 1400-foot mark was an unsafe practice.

Capps had to say something – on Twitter.

"First drivers meeting of 2011.on the gas till the auto shutoff?? Come on man ..."

“I just starting Twittering, so I guess putting your thoughts out there can sometimes be a good or a bad thing,” Capps admitted. “We were at the drivers meeting and Graham Light is good about telling the drivers about issues they need to keep their eyes on. The fact was brought up that some drivers had been on the gas to about 1400 feet, and letting the electro-motion turn the car off. It just made me think, 'Come on man.'”

The NHRA first introduced the electro-motion device in 2009 but temporarily suspended the use of the device in February 2010 pending further research. The device was made mandatory in May last season.

The automatic shutoff procedure was implemented as a safety measure to stop a vehicle in the event of driver inability to do so. 

“If you’re on the gas at 1400 feet, something is wrong,” Capps continued. “My Twitter was the same as me talking to a buddy, asking the question that someone was actually on the gas at 1400 feet. Come on man. If you don’t know when you’re at 1400 feet, and as a driver, you don’t want to rip on another because it could happen to you, but things like that will start the sanctioning body to thinking about keeping things like that from happening. The next thing you know is the driver will be taken completely out of this.

“Before we know it, they will have it shut the car off and pull the parachutes for you just like a Hot Wheels car set. It’s frustrating because we love each other out here dearly as friends. When they are on the gas to 1400 feet, it just makes you wonder what is going on in the cockpit.”

As Capps pointed out, that was the point he was trying to make.

MY GOD, THIS THING IS LOUD - On his first run back in a nitro Funny Car after racing Pro Stock for the past two years, Johnny Gray admitted that he didn’t need to be reminded of the largest difference between the two styles of professional race cars.

“It was extremely loud,” said Gray, referring to his first Funny Car test run.

“I actually didn’t have any radios on, I was so excited that I guess I forgot to put my ear plugs in. I hit the throttle and thought to myself, ‘My God, this thing is loud.”

Thursday in Pomona, during the NHRA Winternationals, it wasn’t Gray who believed his flopper was the loudest. His competition did as he sent a message loud and clear that he wasn’t just a rich guy out for a ride.

Gray’s Service Central Dodge Charger Funny Car thundered to the provisional pole position in the only qualifying session of the day. There is another session scheduled for Friday, followed by two on Saturday.

If Gray’s 4.079-second pass during Thursday’s qualifying holds up, it will be the first time Gray has ever qualified No. 1.

“There’s nothing wrong with that one,” Gray said of the 306.33 mile per hour run during the first pair of Funny Car qualifying attempts. “Don has put together a good team here and has let Lee Beard put together some good guys on the team. What can you say? All I have to do is get in there and pull the trigger.”

Gray, having run a myriad of NHRA classes including Comp eliminator and the Top Alcohol divisions, received a measure of counsel before Thursday’s run.

“The guys told me before I ran to be careful that the track was better than I might think,” Gray explained. “We didn’t want to go out there and shake, we just wanted to go out there and take a shot at it. Then they told me that if it doesn’t go, to pedal it twice. I barely let out of it and it went right down Broadway.

“I was just holding on, it was a little down in the tires … wallowing around … I don’t have many laps since I came back so I was probably a little behind the car. I probably didn’t drive it the best, but hey, I got it down there.”

Gray, the one Funny Car driver with Pro Stock experience, couldn’t avoid the debate of which class is harder to drive.

“Ain’t neither one of them easy to drive,” Gray pointed out. “They’re both different. Both are a handful and both are fun. My personality, I love the fuel cars.”

Does Gray have realistic goals for his latest fuel car stint?

“I’d be a fool if I didn’t say I was going to try and win a championship,” Gray admitted.

FLASHY RETURN - With her quickest and fastest pass in a  Pro Stock car that she called "surreal," Erica Enders made her re-entry to the class and to Victor

Cagnazzi Racing in style.
 
The Texas twister from Houston stirred up interest in the factory hot-rod class with a 6.553-second pass at  211.69 mph in the ZaZa Energy-sponsored 2011 Chevy Cobalt to claim the provisional top qualifying position on opening day of the Kragen O'Reilly Winternationals.
 
Enders, who calls New Orleans home, was the only Pro Stock driver to dip into the 6.55-second zone, although the remaining tentative top-five in the order -- Ron Krisher, 2010 season runner-up Greg Stanfield, on-a-roll Allen Johnson, and current champion Greg Anderson -- clocked 6.56s.
 
She said she was surprised that her early run -- she was in the second pairing -- held up to top the order.
 
"I figured we'd better watch out for A.J.," she said, referring to Allen Johnson and his stunning 6.498-second pass at 213.06 mph during recent testing at Bradenton, Fla.. She included the Summit Racing Equipment tandem of Anderson and Line among those who could burst her bubble.
 
Her feat, she said, "kind of sank in after A.J. ran. We just crossed our fingers for Greg and Jason. It held! It was awesome!"  
 
This Cobalt, the same one five-time champion Jeg Coughlin drove for Cagnazzi, is the lone Chevy in the Pro Stock field. Roy Simmons is her crew chief, and teammate Dave Connolly is helping set up the car that Cagnazzi promised will give her a better chance to win than she had in her previous stint with the North Carolina-based team.
 
The team put it to the test, with underlying pressure about the uncertain weather this weekend. She and her team talked about the possibility that this might be their only chance to qualify and they concluded that they would "have to be conservative and get down the track." She said they decided "to treat it like the first round on Sunday and prepare to the best of our ability. It seemed to work well that time."
 
Enders began her Pro Stock career at Cagnazzi Racing in 2005 and left in '06, though she remained close friends with Cagnazzi and wife Brita.

Enders said of her return, "I haven't stopped smiling," emphasizing that she is elated "to be back where I started, with a team of that caliber and the type of people they are."
 
She said, "It's really rare to be teamed up with somebody who's as awesome a person as Victor. I'm excited about the opportunity. We have a lot to be optimistic about."
 
Among her achievements is being the first female to qualify No. 1 in Pro Stock and first even to start in the top half of the field. Moreover, she's the first female to advance to a final round. But with her renewed confidence and her mastery at sorting out everything that happened to her in the past seven years, she has bigger goals and a better sense of self as she approaches the 2011 season.
 
"I'm a lot more confident of a driver. I have a lot more seat time. Seat time is priceless. You can't pay for it," Enders said. "I've grown up a lot. All the experiences that I've been through in the past few years -- good and bad -- and everything coming together to get to this point has been a huge blessing. It's ll coming together, and it’s a good feeling."
 
She qualified all that by saying, "I'm confident in my driving. Every single time on the ractrack it's different. There's not one single thing that's the same. By no means have I learned all that I need to learn at all. I feel confident that I now know what to do and when to do it."
 
How much Pro Stock competitors and fans will see Enders this year is "the two million question," she said. ZaZa Energy, a Houston- and Corpus Christi-based oil and gas company, is underwriting her launch this season, and Enders said they "have been very generous to get this program going.
 
"They're going to stay on board as long as they can until we find other money," she said. "They absolutely love this sport. They love Pro Stock. They're in it for the long haul, they tell me. I don't know what our plans are. We hope to run a full year. We've got a couple of opportunities on the table that would be multiple-year deals."

BROWN GOES DOWNTOWN - With the Don Schumacher Racing trio unleashing a barrage of 3.804-second elapsed times and the Al-Anabi tandem of Del Worsham and Larry Dixon gobbling up the remaining top five Top Fuel spots, tentative No. 1 top-qualifier Antron Brown said, "This is going to be a throwdown fest this year for the championship."
 
Brown's 319.98-mph speed in the Matco Tools Dragster edged Spencer Massey's 319.90 in the Prestone/FRAM entry and relegated Tony Schumacher and the U.S. Army Dragster to the No. 3 spot overnight with a 316.38 in Thursday's  first session of qualifying for the season-opening Kragen O'Reilly Winternationals.
 
"How about that?" Schumacher said with a chuckle. "It's really something that we all went out and posted identical times. But that's the kind of teamwork we have at DSR. It's all about the data sharing."
 
Brown agreed. "All of our crew chiefs really work well together, and its really showing right now," he said. "It's what you have to do to beat that Al-Anabi team for the championship."
 
Speaking of whom ... Al-Anabi's Del Worsham, making his return to a dragsters after 15 years of racing a Funny Car exclusively, and current champion Larry Dixon grabbed the next two spots in the order. Worsham ran a 3.814-second elapsed time at a class-fastest 321.96 mph to stake out the No. 4 position, squeaking past Dixon (3.818 / 318.47).
 
"Our field is definitely stacked this year," Brown said. "It's going to be a heck of a battle."
 
Said Schumacher, "You really can throw a blanket over us. I believe the racing is going to be this close all year long. I can't see anyone running away from the pack at any given point in the season."
 
A battle on Brown's team started in early December, about a month after the Matco Tools gang left Pomona last Nov. 14 as the winner of the NHRA Finals. Brian Corradi, one of the crew chiefs survived a life-threatening complication from a broken leg from a motocross accident.
 
But Brown said Corradi's situation "didn't change none of the game plan." He said DSR's depth of personnel and quality of crew members ensured that.
 
"Each guy is a true specialist," Brown said, describing his team members. He cited new additions Tony Derhammer and Jason Thomas, both clutch wizards. Derhammer was Brown's Matco Tools clutch expert when he first made the switch from Pro Stock Motorcycle to Top Fuel with the David Powers team. Thomas is a former motocross wrench-twister.
 
And of course, Mark Oswald, who came to the Brownsburg, Ind., DSR shop from his home in Houma, La., near New Orleans, to work every day with the crew while Corradi was sidelined.
 
When it comes to crew chiefs, Brown said, "We've got two-for-one on our team. So it never suffered. We went through a lot, but we're prepared."
 
 Brown said he was pleasantly surprised by the condition of the racing surface at Auto Club Speedway this first day of the new season. He praised the NHRA preparation crew. "This track is incredible. Usually the first run is green. And it was incredible," Brown said.
 
"I just want to start off the year right. We struggled a little bit at the beginning of last year. We came on strong in the last four races. We'll just ride off what we did at the end of last year. We want to race as strong as we can, "Brown said. "We want to be there at the end for that championship."
 
Among those off the 16-car grid so far are Morgan Lucas, Dave Grubnic, Troy Buff, and Mike Strasburg. Steve Faria clings to the No. 16 spot with one qualifying session scheduled for Friday and two more Saturday. Eliminations are scheduled to start at 11 a.m. Sunday.



THE BUMP MAN - Larry Morgan heads into Friday's second of four scheduled Pro Stock qualifying sessions in the bump spot with a 6.602-second elapsed time. Teams get one chance to qualify on Friday, with the final two qualifying sessions set for Saturday, and final eliminations on Sunday.

GREAT EXPECTATIONS – Spencer Massey understands the feeling of great expectations. For the second time in three seasons, the past IHRA Top Fuel champion and two-time NHRA national event winner is adjusting to driving for a high-profile team owner.

He’s also the predicted NHRA Top Fuel champion by CompetitionPlus.com presented by Attitude Apparel for the second time in three years.

“This makes you feel unbelievable,” said Massey, who was named the replacement for Cory McClenathan at Don Schumacher Racing. “This kind of expectation means not only a lot to me but to this team as well. This is a testament to everyone who works on this car because they are the ones who make this car run great. I’m just the lucky guy who gets to stab the gas and talk to the media.”

Massey won’t say that he’s got the team to beat for the 2011 NHRA Full Throttle title but did admit, and no disrespect towards Don Prudhomme, that his current ride provides the best opportunity in his short career to win the gold.

“Based on the way the car ran in testing and when Cory drove it, I’d say yes,” Massey said. “This car is very capable of winning the championship. This car is just as good if not better than Snake’s quality of ride and he had the best of the best. We have the best of the best here. We had a shot with Snake, but I’m really excited about this opportunity.”

Massey will likely benefit from the aggressive tuning style of co-crew chiefs Todd Okuhara and Phil Shuler. Both tuners made the transition to tuning Top Fuel two years ago after building a solid reputation in Funny Car.

“When I stood on the gas [the first time], it definitely got my attention,” said Massey, of his first test session at Palm Beach International Raceway last December. “The car got up and went.”

Massey readily admits the most profound lesson he learned from  previous team owner Prudhomme was the swagger of a professional driver. He brought the lesson learned to his new assignment with Schumacher and coupled it with his new boss’ lesson.

“Win,” Massey said of his first lesson at DSR. “We are here to perform … here to win … here to do the job. I’m not saying that didn’t happen over at Snakes. We were there to win as well. The thing is Tony Schumacher has won many championships. Antron Brown has almost been there. Cory Mac was almost there. There’s no holding back. Whenever the car doesn’t run or we don’t win a race, we are going to be disappointed.

“It’s the drive and this team is driven to win.”

DISAPPOINTED FOR CORY – Massey knows exactly how the driver he replaced feels. At the end of a Rookie of the Year season, Massey found himself on the sidelines after Prudhomme closed up shop with his Top Fuel team.

McClenathan found himself out of a ride when longtime sponsor FRAM decided to change their marketing direction.

“When Snake folded up, I began to wonder if that was going to be my only year,” Massey admitted. “In my life’s goal, I made up my mind that driving a race car was how I wanted to earn a living. I figured if I got to drive a Top Fuel car once, that was all I needed. Then I won some races with Snake. I thought I could have been content with that. But then it occurred to me, ‘No, this is my life. I want to drive a race car.”

“In my heart, I was driven to drive a race car. I would have been disappointed had I not have gotten the opportunity.”

McClenathan, despite being close to sealing some deals, came to Pomona as a spectator as opposed to driving.

“I’m big time disappointed in seeing Cory on the sidelines,” Massey said. “There’s a lot of good drivers out here who aren’t driving that need cars like this to be racing. It’s the lack of sponsors. It’s the lack of car owners. It’s the economy and that’s the sad part of the deal.” 

LAMB IN LIKE A LION - Nevada-based sportsman racer Justin Lamb, of Henderson, is No. 1 right now in both the Super Stock and Comp classes. He's driving a '10 Mustang in Super Stock and a '10 Cobalt in Comp. [I really don't know anything about him. Maybe you do.]
 
TRIPTIK-QUICK - Megan McKernan, of Sierra Madre, Calif., is qualified No. 13 so far in TAD. She's the daughter of Auto Club of Southern California President Tom McKernan. maybe she's the Treasure of the Sierra Madre?

ART IN MOTION - With the inspired stroke of a paintbrush or pen, Kenny Youngblood can transform the visuals of drag racing into a lasting work of art. He has been doing it for 45 years. Now his artwork will blast down the dragstrip -- on T.J. Zizzo's PEAK/Herculiner Dragster.
 
Zizzo, who said he noticed Youngblood's distinctive handiwork on the walls of every manufacturing facility or racing shop he ever has visited, wanted to commemorate the lively artist's  body of work with a variety of Youngblood-replication  paint schemes.
 
They'll ride on Zizzo's dragster this weekend and at the six other Full Throttle Drag Racing Series events the Lincolnshire, Ill., resident is scheduled to enter. All Zizzo Motorsports uniforms will carry the logo. Various decals will be added during the season to display some of Youngblood's favorite paintings.
 
"I'm speechless, which is rare," Youngblood said Thursday, just before the unveiling of the high-performance artist's easel and Zizzo's 3.870-second, 312.57-mph pass that landed him tentatively in the No. 7 qualifying position.
 
Said Zizzo to Youngbloood, "When I get strapped into that car today, I will be honored to have your insignia, your touch, everything you wanted to put into this riding on my car, riding in my heart."
 
"It's a dream come true for me, not only to have my art on one of these cars," Youngblood said, "not just at this event but all year -- but for it to be on this car. I'm just really honored. This is a great team, so that makes it all the better. They don't run all that much, man, but when this thing runs, it runs good. It qualifies well."
 
Youngblood is an artist, not a spy, and he couldn't keep part of the yet-to-be-unveiled first paint scheme secret Thursday.
 
"As soon as he told me about wanting to do this, I thought, 'Gee, how about if we took that dragster off the 'Beyond 300' painting [the one that celebrated Kenny Bernstein's classic speed milestone] taking off like a rocket and put it right up the nose of the car?' I'm just thrilled to be involved."
 
The idea took shape at last September's Mac Tools U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis, as Youngblood, Zizzo, and Old World Industries brand manager Brian Bohlander brainstormed about combining drag racing's nostalgia and new technology.
 
"TJ’s one of those guys, you meet him and you feel like you’ve known him for 10 years," Youngblood said.
 
Zizzo said, "It wasn't the artwork" that has compelled him to become friends with Youngblood but rather the wisdom from the drag-racing fixture. "Whether it's the stress-o-meter or about my marriage or my kids, I always learn something from kenny. And that has touched me personally."
 
Kevin McNeiley, a graphic artist with Old World Industries, has worked with Freelance Imaging in Indianapolis to take the artwork and turn it into a unique wrap dragster.
 
"This is one of the most exciting things we've done in drag racing," Bohlander said, "and we've been in this sport for a long time. We would like to thank T.J. for all he does and thank Kenny for being a part of this project."

QUIET BUT NOT IDLE – Just because they weren’t out trailblazing the testing tour doesn’t mean past Pro Stock champion Mike Edwards and his Penhall team were sitting around twiddling their thumbs.

Edwards, who won eight races in 2011 and finished third in the championship points, admits he’s been awful busy during the off-season.

"This has been a real busy winter for us," Edwards explained. "The dyno has been running non-stop at the shop in North Carolina trying to find that extra power we need. In Oklahoma, that side of the team has worked countless hours getting everything else ready for a run at the championship. I am so proud how hard all the guys have been working to get this team back on top. That has been the focus of the off-season and we are ready to see it pay off."

For Edwards, an aborted run opened his 2011 season. He was unqualified after the first day of qualifying at the NHRA Winternationals in Pomona, Ca.

"With a new Pontiac we wanted to make a few more hits, but that wasn't in the cards," Edwards said. "We didn't get to test as much as we would have liked to do, but the weather did not cooperate. It seemed like every week Oklahoma was getting blasted with snow or where we wanted to go test was having a freaky winter as well. We were snowed in for over a week, so that in itself made testing not an option.

---

a d v e r t i s e m e n t

Click to visit our sponsor's website

---

 

---

 

a d v e r t i s e m e n t

---

 

 

 

---

a d v e r t i s e m e n t

Click to visit our sponsor's website

---

---

a d v e r t i s e m e n t

Click to visit our sponsor's website

---