After a few weeks of famine, Funny Car points leader Ron Capps returned to the feast during the NHRA SummitRacing.com Nationals in Las Vegas.

Capps, who won the first two races of the season and then lost in the
opening round in Gainesville and Houston, was on his game en route to
his 28th career Funny Car victory. The triumph extends his lead to 106
points over rookie Matt Hagan, his final round opponent.

Winning so convincingly and then losing consecutively can lead many to draw conclusions when they don’t know the full story.

“I was asked several times by the media what was wrong and I never
worried,” Capps said. “With the testing limited to four days throughout
the season, you are going to see teams testing some things in
qualifying.”

You'll excuse Jeg Coughlin, Jr., for thinking he'd made a wrong turn into the seedier side of Las Vegas. It seemed like every time he lined up for a run there was another red light.

Coughlin was the beneficiary each time during Sunday's eliminations as three of his four opponents red-lighted
and one of those was on a rerun. The one guy he didn’t beat on a
red-light, was points leader Jason Line, in the semis.

Despite the assistance from his opponents, this was not a easy day for Coughlin.

“We had a tough day,” Coughlin admitted. “We had to beat Kurt Johnson
twice, although the first time didn’t count because the tree
malfunctioned, but he had a close red-light. Then we beat the toughest
guy in the class, the fastest guy who has run over 212 miles per hour
in Mike Edwards, he had a rare, close red-light.”

The hits kept falling Coughlin’s way as he advanced to the final round
by defeating Jason Line, 6.708, 204.60 to a 6.738, 205.79, before
stopping an overanxious Greg Stanfield in the finals.

Tony Schumacher can drive after all. He proved that to his critics last weekend in Houston.

His team can win, too. They proved that to those same critics on Sunday in Las Vegas.

Both elements came together and the end result was a second consecutive
win for the U.S. Army team and tuner Mike Green, the veteran journeyman
given the monumental task of replacing Alan Johnson.

The weather conditions heated up at the NHRA SummitRacing.com Nationals and the defending world champions
turned up the wick on the competition and in winning, assumed the Top
Fuel points lead.

Schumacher’s 58th win in 90 career final rounds was won under ideal
conditions and with that said, he’s more than ready for the time of the
year when the conditions make both the tuner and driver earn their
money.

Tony Schumacher raced to his second consecutive victory of the season Sunday at the SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals.

Schumacher’s teammate Ron Capps and Jeg Coughlin also were winners in
their categories at the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series event at
The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Five-time defending world champion Schumacher moved into the Top Fuel
points lead for the first time this season when he powered his U.S.
Army dragster to a 3.874 second run at 311.77 mph to defeat Brandon
Bernstein’s Budweiser/Lucas Oil dragster, which finished in 4.003 at
295.66.

Schumacher’s dragster was consistently quick in earlier round wins over
Terry Haddock, Cory McClenathan and top qualifier Shawn Langdon.

Point standings (top 10) for NHRA professional categories following
the Tenth annual NHRA SummitRacing.com Nationals at The Strip at Las
Vegas Motor Speedway, the fifth of 24 events in the NHRA Full Throttle
Drag Racing Series -

Final round-by-round results from the 10th annual NHRA SummitRacing.com
Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the fifth of 24
events in the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series:

Sunday's final results from the 10th annual NHRA SummitRacing.com
Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The race is the
fifth of 24 in the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series:

Tony Bartone has himself a pretty good ride heading into final
eliminations on Sunday in Top Alcohol Funny Car at the Summitracing.com
Nationals. The former nitro flopper pilot, and multi-time winner in
both TAFC and TAD, finds himself in the number one position, for the
27th time in his stellar career by recording a solid 5.586 elapsed time
at a speed of 255.15.
 
Driving for Rick Jackson and tuned by long time friend Steve Boggs,
Bartone believes this ride is one that was perfect for him at this time
in his life.

Remember
the old song,

        What
a difference a day makes?

        Twenty-four
little hours…

We’re not
sure if you can see it, but check out the flash of flame in the hood scoop of
Larry Morgan’s Dodge as he clears the finish line during qualifying.

No?  Never heard that one?  Ah, you’re just too darn young.  Anyway, that’s what happened in Las Vegas,
only it wasn’t 24 hours, it was something like 16.  Whatever. 
When dawn broke there was no wind, the skies were clear, and the
temperature climbed just enough to make it a very comfortable day for the fans
who poured into The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Yes, the
crowd was certainly better than Friday’s but even LVMS employees acknowledged
they were a bit disappointed in the turnout. 
However, considering the circumstances, it was actually pretty
good.  The real problem this facility faces is the horrendous construction
mess on Interstate 15, and this is no joking matter.  LVMS is one of the few facilities in the
nation with its own Interstate exit, and with Las Vegas a destination city,
i.e., it attracts a tremendous number of out of town visitors who aren’t
familiar with the place other than the “real” Strip where all of the big hotels
and casinos are located, so getting around on surface streets can be
daunting.  Ironically, those very surface
streets provide excellent access to the track (Las Vegas Boulevard – the Strip
– literally runs south to north, from the concentration of hotels right to the
back door of the facility), so if you’re willing to deal with a few traffic
lights, access is surprisingly easy.

First-round pairings for professional eliminations Sunday at the
10th annual NHRA SummitRacing.com Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas
Motor Speedway, the fifth of 24 events in the NHRA Full Throttle Drag
Racing Series. Pairings based on results in qualifying, which ended
Saturday. DNQs listed below pairings.