Today will mark the beginning of the end for the 2010 season. Twelve racers with a mathematical chance to procure a Full Throttle Drag Racing championship

will begin qualifying at the NHRA Auto Club AAA Finals in Pomona, Ca.

One of the most heated battles will come from the Funny Car series staged between sophomore hopeful Matt Hagan and 14-time titlist John Force. Force pulled to within 37 points of the Don Schumacher Racing driver with his recent Las Vegas victory.

"No matter what happens, we can't lose sight of how much progress we've made this year,” said Hagan. “This is the team that in our rookie season last year struggled to try to make the Countdown. And now we're in a position where we've really got a legitimate shot to win the championship.

Today will mark the beginning of the end for the 2010 season. Twelve racers with a mathematical chance to procure a Full Throttle Drag Racing championship

will begin qualifying at the NHRA Auto Club AAA Finals in Pomona, Ca.

One of the most heated battles will come from the Funny Car series staged between sophomore hopeful Matt Hagan and 14-time titlist John Force. Force pulled to within 37 points of the Don Schumacher Racing driver with his recent Las Vegas victory.

"No matter what happens, we can't lose sight of how much progress we've made this year,” said Hagan. “This is the team that in our rookie season last year struggled to try to make the Countdown. And now we're in a position where we've really got a legitimate shot to win the championship.

"There are only four rounds of racing left and John Force has to make up half of those on me, and that's huge. But I know how determined he is, but so are we.”

Determined would be an understatement for Force’s mindset.

“Right now I’ve got to come in with an attitude that there can be no error, there can be no mistakes,” said Force. “We have to gobble up every point that we can.  We didn’t get every point at Vegas.  But my daughter (Ashley Force Hood) outran me and had a shot at the record there.

“We can’t wait for Hagan to fail … too good of a race team. You have a driver that knows how to win a championship.  He’s in this game.  He’s very focused.  So we can’t wait for him to err.  That means we have to do everything we can.  We have to stay ahead of him in those qualifying points just during the four sessions that we get before the race because if he picks up a couple more points there, then that’s another round that I’ve got to gain on him.

“I may be pushed to setting the record and having to win the race might be my only shot at getting him.  So it’s a shot, like [Tony] Schumacher said.  But right now what we’re focusing on is weather.  We’re watching that to see if there is a potential of how we can race him.  But he knows how to run in the cool air, too.”

The Top Fuel championship might be point leader Larry Dixon’s to lose but that hasn’t stopped seven-time class champion Tony Schumacher from attempting to rattle Dixon’s cage using past success as a weapon.

Twice Schumacher has entered the final day of the season with a seemingly insurmountable deficit and both times won the title on the final run of the season. Dixon leads the in the standings by 85 points, roughly over four rounds of competition.

"I would like to believe Larry would be more comfortable if I was 20 points behind him than 85 because it’s what we do so well, pulling off these silly miracles,” said Schumacher.

Dixon doesn’t play into the mind games.

“You go in there with what you know, do the best you can, hope it’s enough,” said Dixon, who is in his second season driving for Schumacher’s former crew chief Alan Johnson.  

“That’s what we did last year, and it wasn’t.  This year, we worked a lot harder, came together as a team to be in better position when the playoffs started.  I think we have.”

Another championship battle which could go down to Sunday’s final elimination rounds consists of the Pro Stock Motorcycle standouts Andrew Hines and rookie of the year lock L.E. Tonglet. The 34 points separating the two riders represents the closest of the four available championships.

“We never really thought we could be in this kind of position,” said Tonglet, driver of the Tonglet Racing Nitro Fish Suzuki GSXR.  “I’m glad we can be a threat to Andrew.   If we want to beat him, we need to get on the same side of the ladder so we can meet him before the finals. We plan to go into Pomona and come out swinging.”

For all intents and purposes, the Pro Stock division is essentially decided. With a 115 point lead, Greg Anderson realistically needs to only win Sunday’s first round and the battle is over. Defending series champion Mike Edwards is second.

Qualifying for event No. 23 on the 23 race tour begins later today at 1:30 PM, PST.

 

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