Stop us if you’ve heard
this scenario before. Tony Schumacher enters the final race of the season
trailing in the points and has to win the event to claim the championship.

Blame it on Schumacher for
making it look easy last season by not only winning the event but in also
setting the new elapsed time record.

Standing in his way this
time was Bob Vandergriff, a 12-time runner-up in final round matches.

Schumacher certainly had
the pressure on his shoulders considering he’d lost two out of three matches in
2007 to Vandergriff. The one bright spot is the final round in Sonoma where Schumacher beat him.

That, and a championship
on the line, was all Schumacher needed. He clinched the title with the
convincing victory over Vandergriff and edged Hot Rod Fuller by 19 points.

Tony Schumacher and Matt Smith needed wins in the final round of Sunday's 43rd
annual Auto Club of Southern California NHRA Finals to clinch Countdown to the
Championship titles in the POWERade Drag Racing Series. New Funny Car champion
Tony Pedregon sweated it out until the semifinals before securing his second
crown, while Jeg Coughlin wrapped up his third Pro Stock title in the
quarterfinals.

For the second year in a row, Schumacher waited until the
final pass of the season to steal the title away, this time from "Hot Rod"
Fuller. He defeated Bob Vandergriff with the quickest pass of the race, a 4.486
at 328.30 mph. Robert Hight beat fill-in teammate Phil Burkart in the Funny Car
final when Burkart's car lost traction 200 feet out.

In Pro Stock,
Coughlin punctuated his title with his 38th career win, this one over first-time
finalist Justin Humphreys. Smith beat fellow Buell rider Chip Ellis in the Pro
Stock Motorcycle final.

Jeg Coughlin, Jr. took a
season off and came back with only three races to go last year. That’s all the rest
he needed to win a fourth world title and third in Pro Stock. That, and a second-round
win over Richie Stevens combined with Greg Anderson and Dave Connolly's
first-round exits.  

"What a
feeling!" Coughlin said. "To win another championship for JEGS.com
and all of our employees and fans is special. It's such a cool deal to win the
first championship under the NHRA's new Countdown playoff system. It was a
tough battle against the best racers in the world but we got it done as a team
and I couldn't be prouder of the entire Victor Cagnazzi Racing
organization."

Coughlin opened the final
day of the season trailing Anderson
by 36 points. Each elimination round is worth 20 points, meaning Coughlin had
to advance two rounds further than his rival. With Anderson
on the opposite side of the ladder, Coughlin needed some help and he got it
when newcomer Justin Humphreys left on Anderson
by a whopping .053 seconds, which translated to a stunning 6.669 to
6.658-second holeshot win at the top end.

Point standings (top 10) for NHRA professional categories following the 43rd
annual Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA Finals at Auto Club Raceway
at Pomona, the final of 23 events in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series -

Sunday's final results and pictures from the 43rd annual Automobile Club of Southern
California NHRA Finals at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona.  The race is the final of
23 in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series:

Final round-by-round results from the 43rd annual Automobile Club of Southern
California NHRA Finals at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona, the final of 23 events in
the  NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series:

Pro Stock Motorcycle
standout Chris Rivas was summarily fired by team owner Rickie Smith following
the third qualifying session here at the Auto Club Finals. 
Smith referred to Rivas
as “not a team player” as one reason for his dismissal, but there appears to be
more to this than a simple disagreement between rider and team
owner.

Four-time and reigning POWERade Drag Racing Series champion Tony Schumacher
raced to the No. 1 position in his last qualifying attempt Saturday at
the 43rd annual Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA Finals to
add some more drama to the final day of the 2007 POWERade Countdown to
the Championship.

In Funny Car, points leader Tony Pedregon barely made the field in the
16th and final spot, but by holding on he all but secured his second
POWERade world championship. His rivals need him to lose in Round 1
while they go on to win the race and set a national record to steal
away the crown.

The Pro Stock categories -- whose qualifying ladders are topped by Dave
Connolly and Andrew Hines -- are still undecided but could be wrapped
up by the semifinals if leaders Greg Anderson and Andrew Hines maintain
their edge.

NHRA officials released its 2008 NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series
schedule today, which features 44 events, with a minimum of six races
conducted in each of NHRA's seven divisions.

NHRA Lucas Oil Series drivers in eight categories compete for valuable
points leading to divisional and national championships and a share of
the $561,000 purse.  The series also includes three sportsman-focused
national events: the Jegs NHRA Cajun SPORTSnationals in Belle Rose,
La.; the Jegs NHRA Northern SPORTSnationals in Columbus, Ohio; and the
Jegs NHRA Pacific SPORTSnationals in Fontana, Calif.

The 2008 season marks the seventh year of Lucas Oil's support of NHRA
sportsman racers in a partnership that extends through 2009.

"Each of the seven NHRA divisions presents a great challenge to
determine the 2008 NHRA Lucas Oil Series champions," said Graham Light,
NHRA senior vice president of racing operations, NHRA.  "We look
forward to another very competitive and exciting season."

Forget what
we reported from the NHRA ACDelco Nationals in Las Vegas last weekend: 
Tommy Johnson, Jr. is destined to stay at Snake Racing for the
foreseeable future.  The team will have major sponsorship support for
their Chevy Monte Carlo Funny Car for next season.  Prudhomme is
working towards that goal as this is being written, and appears to have
some exceptional opportunities.  However, while the car is 99% likely
to compete next year it will undoubtedly be with a new crew chief, as
we’re hearing from numerous sources that Mike Green will not be
retained.  It’s quite possible that Chris Cunningham, who’s been
working with the CSK operation for some years, will join the team and
could take over as the lead tuner.