Final round-by-round results from the 24th annual Checker Schuck's
Kragen NHRA Nationals presented by  Castrol at Firebird International
Raceway, the second of 24 events in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing
Series:

Mike Edwards lost in the semi-finals during the NHRA CSK Nationals but
he couldn't stop smiling. Today marked the finest hour for his
fledgling in-house engine program.

"I tell you what, it's a blessing to come out here and
(make it to the semis) this early in the season," Edwards said. "We've got a lot
of new things going on and a lot of things we don't exactly know what to do
with, but we just keep working on them and see if we can pick it up. We're not
where we want to be by any means, but it's a good day and hopefully we can build
on this and get better.

Funny Car points leader and media favorite for the championship Robert Hight
reached his third consecutive final round driving the Auto Club Ford Mustang at
the 24th annual CSK NHRA Nationals. Hight once again dominated from
the bottom of the field winning three rounds of racing after qualifying No. 9.

“I have a good feeling about the way
this year has started especially with as few runs as we have made. We didn’t get
full qualifying here so we only got two shots. The amount of runs we have had
versus what we should have had is we are probably down twenty runs,” said
Hight.

Four-time world champion Gary Scelzi moved into a solo spot in fifth
place in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series Funny Car point standings
after finishing in the quarterfinals at the NHRA Nationals at Firebird
Raceway, the second event of the year.

After qualifying in the top half of the field, in No. 7, the driver of
the Mopar/Oakley Dodge Charger R/T defeated reigning Funny Car champion
Tony Pedregon with a 4.874-second pass at 317.72 mph to Pedregon's
5.052/260.11 in the opening stanza, then met up with his Don Schumacher
Racing teammate Jack Beckman in the second round. Both had identical
lap times in their opening-round victories, with lane choice going to
Beckman because of speed.

They launched with nearly identical reaction times (.094 for Scelzi,
.085 for Beckman - .000 is perfect), but Scelzi began experiencing tire
shake, which pulled the front end into the air, and, despite quick
pedaling action, Scelzi lost to Beckman with a 7.021/124.24 run to
Beckman's winning 4.884/320.20.

Tony Schumacher dropped a semifinal round encounter to Larry Dixon
Sunday in the Checker Schuck’s Kragen Nationals at Firebird
International Raceway.

Bidding for his second straight victory of the season, Schumacher
posted a better elapsed time than Dixon in round three (4.529-seconds
to 4.534-seconds), but the former departed the starting line a little
later and was nipped at the finish line.

“That’s a tough one to swallow,” said Schumacher, a five-time world
champion. “I thought I left pretty good, but he was clearly a lot
better (Schumacher had a .098-second reaction time to Dixon’s
.056-second reaction time). You have to tip your hat to him. That’s why
he’s considered one of the better drivers out here.

“For sure, today’s race was exhausting, but just like our Army Strong Soldiers, we carried on and gave a great effort.”

Sunday's final results from the 24th annual Checker Schuck's Kragen
NHRA Nationals presented by  Castrol at Firebird International
Raceway.  The  race is the second of 24 in the  NHRA POWERade Drag
Racing Series:

John Carapellese, a 29-year-old drag-racing enthusiast from Flagstaff, Ariz.,
was selected as the second NAPA AUTO PARTS Honorary Crew Member of the 2008 NHRA
season at this weekend's NHRA Nationals at Firebird Raceway. Carapellese, who
works at the Flagstaff NAPA AUTO PARTS store which also serves the Winslow and
Prescott, Arizona, valley areas, was nominated by the wife of his boss, Brent
Crosser, for the prestigious honor.
 
Carapellese helped escort the NAPA
AUTO PARTS Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car driven by Ron Capps to the staging lanes
in the team's Dodge Durango tow vehicle during the first round of eliminations
and then helped retrieve the race car at the end of the track following the run.
He also received a NAPA team shirt and met the entire NAPA AUTO PARTS racing
crew.

Allen Johnson was shaking his head in disbelief as he wandered into the post-qualifying press

Allen
Johnson replaced the memories of a DNQ the subsequent heart attack of
his dad/engine builder Roy Johnson with a fourth career pole position. (Roger Richards)

conference.
How could one of the worst memories of his life a year ago at the NHRA
CSK Nationals, do a 180-degree turn in the positive direction a year
later?

The veteran driver kept the memories of a 2007 DNQ [Did Not Qualify]
and the subsequent heart attack of his dad/engine builder Roy Johnson
in the back of his mind. They were quickly replaced by the reality of
his fourth career pole position during the 2008 event.

“We couldn't do nothing right,” said Johnson. “We got down the track
one time I think.  We just could not get a hold of the race track. 
Then the deal with dad happened on Sunday.  We said coming back here
last week the media asked me, ‘How are you going to feel going back
there?”

The old saying "some days you are the windshield, and some days you're
the bug" couldn't be more true for Top Fuel driver Alan Bradshaw during
the NHRA CSK Nationals in Phoenix, Arizona.

"This weekend we were the bug," Bradshaw said.

Only seventeen cars made the trek to Phoenix and entering the final
session, Bradshaw was on the outside looking in courtesy of an aborted
opening run.