2007 POWERade Funny Car Championship runner-up Robert Hight came up just short against Tony Pedregon – again.

Last year Hight, the 2005 Road to the Future award winner, came within
19 points of winning his first POWERade championship only to finish
second to Pedregon by less than one round of racing. Today in the final
of the 2nd annual Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals in Norwalk,
Ohio, Hight was consistent all day and it took Pedregon’s best run of
the weekend to defeat him.

“In the final it (Hight’s Auto Club Ford Mustang) put some cylinders
out but it was way on down the track. Tony (Pedregon) took a shot at us
and he ran two hundredths quicker and he killed me on the starting
line. I would have needed a .10 light to beat him because he out ran
us,” said a disappointed Hight.

HERBERT RACES TO EMOTIONAL TOP FUEL VICTORY AT SUMMIT RACING EQUIPMENT NHRA NATIONALS

Roger Richards Photos

T. Pedregon, Anderson and Arana also win at Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park

Doug Herbert and daughter Jessie celebrate his first Top Fuel victory of 2008.

Doug Herbert raced to an emotional Top Fuel victory Sunday at the
Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals and dedicated his first win of
the season to the memory of his two young sons who were tragically
killed in a highway auto accident in late January.

Tony Pedregon, Greg Anderson and Hector Arana also were winners of the
NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series event at Summit Racing Equipment
Motorsports Park.

Point standings (top 10) for NHRA professional categories following the
Second annual Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals at Summit Racing
Equipment Motorsports Park, the 12th of 24 events in the NHRA POWERade
Drag Racing Series

Final round-by-round results from the Second annual Summit Racing
Equipment NHRA Nationals at Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park,
the 12th of 24 events in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series:

TOP FUEL:

ROUND ONE -- J.R. Todd, 4.876, 299.13 def. Hillary Will, 5.278,
215.89; Antron Brown, 4.616, 302.14 def. Steve Torrence, 4.829, 234.09;
Doug Herbert, 4.692, 297.29 def. Troy Buff, 4.721, 294.18; Brandon
Bernstein, 4.688, 304.39 def. Luigi Novelli, 5.162, 214.28; Rod Fuller,
4.648, 303.57 def. Doug Kalitta, 4.731, 301.47; Cory McClenathan,
4.640, 308.64 def. Morgan Lucas, 4.668, 298.07; David Grubnic, 4.633,
302.08 def. Larry Dixon, 4.642, 307.16; Tony Schumacher, 4.607, 318.62
def. Bob Vandergriff, 4.752, 292.33;

Sunday's final results from the Second annual Summit Racing Equipment
NHRA Nationals at Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park. The race is
the 12th of 24 in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series: 
 

Top Fuel -- Doug Herbert, 4.636 seconds, 311.70 mph def. Brandon Bernstein, 4.611 seconds, 313.58 mph.

A day after one of his finest driving displays ever, Mopar Pro Stock
driver Allen Johnson was smiling. The Greeneville, Tenn.-based driver
reeled off a perfect .000 reaction time to defeat Greg Anderson in the
finals of the K&N Horsepower Challenge, a special
race-within-a-race staged during qualifying at the Summit Racing
Equipment NHRA Nationals in Norwalk, Ohio.

Johnson’s feat put an extra $50,000 in his pocket courtesy of K&N Filters.

“To win this means a lot,” said Johnson, who made his fifth appearance
in the bonus event. “Mopar hasn’t won this race in 17 years. I don’t
think this will be our last. Dad [engine builder Roy Johnson] and the
whole crew, everybody’s been doing an awesome job with our program.”

Hot Rod Fuller is comfortable racing out of the No. 1 spot at Summit Racing
Equipment Motorsports Park. The seven-time NHRA Top Fuel winner raced his David
Powers-owned Ohio CAT dragster to the No. 1 qualifying position Saturday
afternoon at the Norwalk,
Ohio race with an elapsed time of
4.629-seconds.

After losing the opening day of
qualifying at the Norwalk track due to water seepage on the track
on Friday, professional nitro teams were limited to just two qualifying attempts
to set the 16-car field. Fuller’s Ohio CAT/Matco Tools car spun the tires at
mid-track on Saturday’s first pass as the Las Vegas racer slowed to a run of 5.794
seconds at 156.68 mph. On his final qualifying effort, the University of Arkansas graduate used a tune-up from crew chief Rob
Flynn to race the Ohio CAT car to the quickest pass of the day at 4.629 seconds
at 311.13 mph. Fuller earned the pole at the Norwalk race last June with a run
of 4.533 at 323.50. He holds the track elapsed time record at 4.533-seconds. It
is Fuller’s seventh career Top Fuel pole.

Mike Edwards has no qualms when it comes to admitting his position on
the wrong side of his friendly rivalry with Greg Anderson.

He might not change the face of their head-to-head records on the basis
of one race, but winning in Sunday’s first round would provide a step
in the right direction.

"Greg has really had my number, and I know it needs to change soon,"
Edwards added. "Heck, he got the best of me in the semifinals last week
in Englishtown and I know our Penhall/Young Life Pontiac GXP is going
to get that win light in the first round. It has to happen."

After water seepage through the track surface of Summit Motorsports
Park forced cancellation of both rounds of Friday qualifying for this
weekend's second annual Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals, Jason
Line made the most of today's two rounds of qualifying for Sunday
eliminations by placing his Summit Racing Pontiac GXP on the pole of
his car sponsor's race.  Line had an elapsed time of 6.716 seconds at
205.51 mph for his second No. 1 qualifier of the season (St. Louis) and
15th of his career.  Line's teammate, Greg Anderson, finished runner-up
to Allen Johnson in the final round of the K&N Horsepower
Challenge, a non-points bonus Pro Stock event featuring the top eight
Pro Stock drivers who have accumulated the most points in qualifying
during the past year. 

"We're happy we got some racing in and even happier to put the Summit
Racing Pontiac on the pole at the Summit race," Line said.  "At this
particular race, I think it's huge to get the pole, especially
considering who was on the provisional pole (Jeg Coughlin in the
JEGS.com Chevy) after first round.  Any time we can knock the yellow
car off is good for us.

Top Fuel team owner Bill Miller couldn’t wait to get the qualifying
sheet from the first qualifying session during the NHRA Summit Racing
Equipment Nationals at Summit Motorsports Park  in Norwalk, Ohio.

Miller’s freshman driver Troy Buff had driven his dragster to the fifth
quickest run of the session with a 4.987 elapsed time during a session
when many of the leading teams struggled.

“I’m looking at the progressive sheet and I see a # symbol by my number
and I look at the bottom of the sheet and it says I was disqualified,”
Miller said. “I look at the other sheet and it said I had been
disqualified. I was looking at it and said, ‘What the hell for?”

“I figured it had to have been the scales because the nitro was 88.5% and the blower was at 50% over.”