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

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

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

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

The action was fast, furious and constant at Summit Motorsports Park in the ADRL Ohio Drags all day Friday.

With fans getting a 2-fer deal - qualifying for the Ohio Drags and elimination rounds for the rain delayed DragStock VII from Rockingham Dragway – there was barely a moment of silence in the Ohio countryside.

At the end of the evening, Ty Tutterrow, Cary Goforth, Spiro Pappas, Dough Riesterer and Todd Tutterow all spent time celebrating in the winner's circle.

The most exciting of the five final round races involved Goforth and Cale Aronson in Extreme Pro Stock and Ashley Owens and Kim Morrell in Pro Extreme Motorcycle.

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

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

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

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

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

Cruz Pedregon showed his performance last week in Concord was no flash in the pan.

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

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

Not even a scorching-hot Texas track, a shiny glare that wiped out his vision of the already-narrow groove, Cory McClenathan's relentless pursuit and a top speed of 311.56 mph, or any "September surprises" from any other Top Fuel Countdown competitor could derail Larry Dixon and his Al-Anabi Dragster Friday at the O'Reilly Super Start Batteries NHRA Fall Nationals.
 
Dixon, quickest and fastest in the first session at the Texas Motorplex with a 3.962-second run at 306.33 mph, shaved off some time in the cooler second go-round and found some extra speed to retain his provisional top spot at 3.852 / 308.85.
 
McClenathan is dogging him in second place so far with a 3.881 as the only other driver in the 3.8-second range, and native Texan Brandon Bernstein is third at 3.906 / 308.43.

Karen Stoffer's "Redemption Tour" started off exactly as she expected Friday at the O'Reilly Super Start Batteries NHRA Fall Nationals -- with her GEICO Powersports Suzuki in first place on the Pro Stock Motorcycle list.
 
With a hot, slippery track toasted to 134 degrees at the Texas Motorplex, Stoffer rode to a 6.953-second, 192.41-mph pass that she hopes to parlay Saturday into her first top spot since the class' season-opener in March at Gainesville, Fla.
 
"The boys hit the tune-up right off the bat," Stoffer said. "They've been working hard on the tune-up, but they've been working harder on the chassis. So it was really nice that they were able to get the tune-up right out of the gate for those hot tracks. That's what they've got to do. They've got to tune for these hot tracks. They're learning how to do it with this power that we have now."

Larry Dixon raced to the qualifying lead in Top Fuel Friday at the O’Reilly Super Start Batteries NHRA Fall Nationals presented by Castrol Syntec at the Texas Motorplex near Dallas.
 
Cruz Pedregon, Allen Johnson and Karen Stoffer also were leaders in their categories at the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series event, the third of six races in the Countdown to the Championship playoffs.

Dixon, an 11-time winner this season including the first two playoff events, covered the famed all-concrete dragstrip in 3.852 seconds at 308.85 mph in his Al-Anabi Racing dragster. If his performance holds through the final two qualifying sessions Saturday (11:15 a.m., 2:30 p.m.), it will be his seventh No. 1 position of the season and 47th of his career.

Billy Glidden, driver of the Mickey Thompson Tires XTF Mustang has been knocking on the three second door all year without anyone answering. While he has broken the barrier in testing, those passes mean nothing when it comes to the record books.

Friday afternoon at Summit Racing Park during first round qualifying for the ADRL Ohio Drags Glidden got close at 4.026 seconds. One round later, in a mixture of qualifying and first round eliminations for the rain delayed Dragstock VII from Rockingham (NC) Glidden busted down the door with a 3.991 at 184.40 mph to dispatch Tony Wilson, despite being beat solidly at the tree, .012 to Glidden's .109.

The American Drag Racing League (ADRL) has announced a scheduling change for Saturday’s Summit Racing Equipment Ohio Drags IV at Summit Motorsports Park.

The fourth and final qualifying session on Saturday will now begin at 9 a.m. with final eliminations set to start at 1 p.m. The MAVTV Winner’s Circle celebration is now slated for 8:15 p.m.

The ADRL Top End Ministries Chapel Service will now take place at 8 a.m. and the spectator gates will still open at 9 a.m.

Rockingham Dragway owner Steve Earwood was one of the first to identify Kenny Nowling’s American Drag Racing League as “the next big thing” in professional drag racing.  On The Rock’s 2011 schedule, he’ll make it official.  
 
Earwood, whose track has hosted major national events promoted by the National Hot Rod Association, the old American Hot Rod Association and, most recently, the International Hot Rod Association, announced Friday that The Rock’s marquee event next season will be the ADRL’s Dragstock VIII, scheduled for September 9 and 10.
 
“We’re just acknowledging what the fans already told us with their attendance,” Earwood said.  “In 2004, the first Dragstock set records at a track that’s featured some of the top drivers in drag racing history including John Force, Don Garlits, the late Ronnie Sox, Don Prudhomme and Shirley Muldowney.