Perhaps one of the most competitive sportsman races of the season took place right here at Maryland International Raceway this weekend.

Two new world records were established and a host of others were threatened as veterans dominated the win column.

During the second half of the season, no one has had more bad luck than Cary Goforth.
After two final rounds and an incredible 9-2 win-loss record through the first three races of the season, Goforth’s last four national events have included two first round losses, a second round exit and a no show.

For the second race in a row and for the fifth time this season it was Kenny Lang and Ed Hoover in the final of an IHRA Pro Modified national event.

No matter the car counts, the talent level and no matter how you look at it, two of best quarter-mile Pro Modified drivers in the world have put on quite a show this season and the pair continued their bitter rivalry on Sunday with yet another head-to-head final at the IHRA President’s Cup Nationals Sunday at Maryland International Raceway.

The top points earning drivers from NHRA member tracks across the Northeast division competed today in the Race of Champions at the NHRA Summit Racing Series Northeast Division Finals.  The ROC should have been completed in conjunction with the rest of the Division Finals event but it was postponed by rain until today.  In fact, due to more rain today, there was one pair of cars that did not make it down the track and that was the final of the Super category.

Make it four straight for Del Cox Jr.

After a bit of a rocky start to the 2009 IHRA season, Cox managed to get things turned around in a big way at midseason and once he got it figured out, he hasn’t lost since.

Cox hasn’t lost a round since mid-July and continued to show his dominance on Sunday with a thrilling victory over teammate Ron August Jr. who was in his first career IHRA final at the President’s Cup Nationals at Maryland International Raceway on Sunday.

Jack Beckman reached his fourth final round of the 2009 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series, and 16th of his career, at the NHRA Fall Nationals at Texas Motorplex, bowing out to Robert Hight.

En route to the money round in the Valvoline/Mail Terminal Services Dodge Funny Car, No. 7 qualifier Beckman dismissed his teammate Matt Hagan in the first round with a 4.241-second pass at 292.77 mph, then disposed of 14-time world champion John Force in the second round with a 4.219/294.11.

Robert Hight continued his impressive post-season performance by racing to the Funny Car victory Sunday at the O’Reilly Super Start Batteries NHRA Fall Nationals presented by Castrol Syntec.

Tony Schumacher (Top Fuel); Greg Anderson (Pro Stock); and Hector Arana (Pro Stock Motorcycle) also were winners in their respective categories at the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series event.

Hight, who barely advanced to the Countdown to 1, has now won the first two of the six championship playoff events. He defeated Jack Beckman in the final-round at the Texas Motorplex, after outrunning Leif Helander, Tim Wilkerson and Ashley Force Hood in earlier rounds. Last weekend he beat Matt Hagan in the final-round to win the NHRA Carolinas Nationals near Charlotte, N.C.

“The first two weeks of the Countdown couldn’t have been any better for us,” said Hight, who posted a 4.218 second run at 296.44 mph in his Auto Club Ford Mustang, to hold off Beckman’s Valvoline/Mail Terminal Services Dodge Charger in the final, which finished in 4.271 at 292.58. “We won them and went from worst to first, so it’s very exciting for me. It’s something I never thought was going to happen. I never lost faith in my team. You dream big, but this is huge.”

The driver of the Shelor.com Dodge Funny Car Matt Hagan has been up to his elbows in babies lately – baby cows or calves, if you will. However, the most important baby to Hagan is the baby girl Rachel, his wife, is carrying, which is now two weeks late in arrival.

Last weekend in Concord, NC, Hagan was ready to make the quick trip home on a moment's notice. This weekend, the NHRA tour is in Texas and Hagan is keeping tabs via his cell phone and text messages.

There would be no rushing home from Texas. If Rachel went into labor, Hagan was prepared to rely again on the cell phone and text messages.

Final round-by-round results from the 24th annual O'Reilly Super Start Batteries NHRA Fall Nationals presented by Castrol Syntec at Texas Motorplex, the 20th of 24 events in the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series:

World records and multiple wins highlighted final eliminations at the IHRA President’s Cup Nationals at Maryland International Raceway Sunday in Budds Creek, Md. after a soggy start gave way to a beautiful afternoon of racing.

Del Cox Jr. (Top Fuel) and Kenny Lang (Pro Modified) won for the fourth and third time in a row respectively and Cary Goforth (Elite Motorsports Pro Stock) returned to victory lane for the first time since April as the championship battles in each of the three professional classes reaches a frenzied pace with one race remaining.