Mike Neff and his Old Spice Ford Mustang had to battle one of the toughest Funny Car fields,

Just
goes to show you how quickly a driver can progress. Two races ago, Mike
Neff couldn't win a round of competition. Now he can't seem to win a
final round.

Mother Nature and a surprise mechanical problem
in the final round at Bristol Dragway en route to an upset loss to
Melanie Troxel.

As the Old Spice Ford Mustang pulled up to stage Neff’s team was unable
to lift his Mustang body. As a result crew chief John Medlen was unable
to make critical engine adjustments to his BOSS 500 Ford motor. At the
top end Neff’s Mustang erupted in flames as Troxel pedaled and drove
past him.

Look out NHRA Pro Stock top 10 hopefuls, Dave Connolly is closing in.
 

Dave
Connolly needs to average a semi-final finish foer the rest of the
first phase of the countdown. Thus far he's won one and finished
runner-up in another. He's currently 14th and 83 points out of tenth.
The victory brought him up four positions in the standings. (Roger Richards)

He began chasing POWERade Series points five races after his
challengers, making his 2008 debut three races ago. But he and the
Cagnazzi Racing Charter Communications Chevy Cobalt team
showed little rust.  Connolly was runner-up two weeks ago at St. Louis
and then he drove into the Thunder Valley Nationals winner’s circle
Sunday at Bristol Dragway following a long day of waiting out rain
delays. 
 
The victory, the 18 of his career in 31 final rounds, boosted him into
14th place with 244 points and he is just 83 out of 10th – the final
position in the six-race Countdown to the Championship that doesn’t
begin until September.

During Saturday evening’s telecast of the Sprint
All-Star Race on “Speed,” announcer Darrell Waltrip, commenting on the rapidity
with which Kyle Busch was driving away from the field after a restart, said, “I
don’t know whether he spun the tires, but he sure looks like John Force!” Nice
to see that someone who might be a casual fan of the quarter mile is well aware
of the exploits of our favorite drag racing competitors.

Tony Schumacher has heard Rod Fuller's Dark Side comments. He's got another nickname for Fuller to call him.

Here’s a note to those who race Top Fuel. If you get Tony Schumacher
fired up, you’ll pay the price. If his tuner Alan Johnson gets fired up
– the price will really be steep.

Schumacher banked his third victory of the season Sunday in the rain
plagued O’Reilly Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway. He came
into round eight of the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series holding the
Top Fuel point lead, and leveled Larry Dixon in the finals with a
4.555-second pass at 306.81 mph.

If Melanie Troxel was looking for a way to trump Ashley Force’s
monumental victory in Atlanta, she did so in Bristol. Not only did
Troxel beat Ms. Force in the second round, she went on to become the
first female to win in both NHRA-sanctioned nitro categories.

Troxel defeated Force, 4.820 to 4.863, in a race in which she clearly
had to manhandle her ProCare RX Dodge Charger in the second-half of the
run.

Troxel downplayed the gender hype in their match.

Nothing warms a drag racer’s heart more than a win-win situation. And,
for Mike Ashley, no matter how he rolled the dice in the final round of
the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals in Bristol, Tenn., he came up with
the winning numbers.
 
Sure, Ashley wanted to win his Pro Modified final round against Steve
Engel and even though he might not have lit the scoreboard with a
triumph, seeing his Funny Car driver Melanie Troxel become the first
female driver to win in both NHRA nitro divisions more than made up for
it.
 
“How can you not get excited to see a team turn around the way our
Funny Car team did this weekend,” Ashley admitted. “Something has to be
said about a team that gets knocked down to the canvas and comes back
swinging.
 
“We all come together as a team this weekend and performed when the
conditions around us were very difficult. Those were the same
conditions every team in Bristol experienced and to see our teams rise
to the challenge says a lot about both the Funny Car and Pro Modified
teams.”

Sunday's final results from the Eighth annual O'Reilly NHRA Thunder
Valley Nationals presented by Q at Bristol Dragway.  The  race is the
eighth of 24 in the  NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series:

Top Fuel -- Tony Schumacher, 4.555 seconds, 306.81 mph def. Larry Dixon, 4.958 seconds, 253.37 mph.

TROXEL BECOMES FIRST WOMAN TO WIN IN TOP FUEL AND FUNNY CAR; SCHUMACHER, CONNOLLY ALSO WIN AT BRISTOL

Melanie Troxel became the first woman in NHRA history to win in both
Top Fuel and Funny Car when she raced to the Funny Car victory Sunday
at the O’Reilly NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals.

Tony Schumacher and Dave Connolly also won in their respective
categories at Bristol Dragway in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series
event.

Troxel, who earned five Top Fuel victories prior to switching to Funny
Car this season, joined her husband Tommy Johnson as one of 14 drivers
in NHRA history to earn victories in both nitro categories when she
powered her ProCare Rx Dodge Charger to a 5.066 at 310.27 to defeat
rookie Mike Neff in the final round. She is the second female to win in
Funny Car in NHRA history, following Ashley Force's gender-breaking
victory last month in Atlanta.

“You know I haven’t even given that any thought,” said Troxel,
referring to being one of fourteen drivers to get a win in both of
NHRA’s nitro classes. “We were so focused on going out there and
getting some round wins and getting a win. That’s kind of like icing on
the cake.”

Point standings (top 10) for NHRA professional categories following the
Eighth annual O'Reilly NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals presented by Q at
Bristol Dragway, the eighth of 24 events in the  NHRA POWERade Drag
Racing Series -

 He had to wait until late Sunday evening to get the job done, but
Steve Engel was more than happy to break curfew to claim his first JEGS
ProMod Challenge victory. Driving his Diamond Heavy Haul '63 Corvette,
Engel beat two-time champ Mike Ashley by nearly two-tenths of a second
in the final, taking the stripe with a 6.051 at 238.17 mph to Ashley's
6.244 at 231.99 mph.

Engel becomes the fourth different winner of the first five races. His
Thunder Valley victory lifts him into the JEGS top 10 for the first
time this year. After beating Joe Baker Saturday night, Engel took out
points leader Tony Pontieri and Kirk Kuhns before downing Ashley in the
final.