EVENT NEWS EVENT NOTEBOOK GSA PRO MODS POINTS AFTER EVENT ROUND-BY-ROUND  FINAL ROUND RESULTS			EVENT GALLERY

 

SUNDAY NOTEBOOK

WJ: THERE ARE NO BAD WINS OR GOOD LOSSES - Rain fell all three days throughout the NHRA Midwest Nationals at Gateway International Raceway [GIR] except in one place – the pit space assigned to Pro Stock legend Warren Johnson.

Johnson, 66, from Buford, Ga., officially ended his drought Sunday afternoon. Under the threat of rain showers, Johnson essentially soloed for his first national event victory since 2006 when Jeg Coughlin Jr. broke on the starting line. The St. Louis victory marked the 97th of his career.

“Today presented one of those scenarios where everyone else did something wrong and we were just cruising,” said Johnson during the event’s post-race press conference. “It’s a case where you are going to every so often, have everything just go your way. Lots of times it doesn’t happen, so you take the good with the bad.”

Just one round before topping Coughlin, Johnson scored another improbable victory when Mike Edwards broke before his burnout. In WJ’s world there’s no such thing as a good loss or a bad win.

“If you’re diligent enough and keep your nose to the grindstone it’s going to happen,” said Johnson. “You get off on a performance tangent where you are a little off-center … it becomes a matter of just finding yourself back. We’re slowly crawling ourselves back. We can see the corner; we just can’t see which way it is going right now.”

Johnson certainly hasn’t been working any less in the time since his  last victory and understands the competition has been hard at work as well.

“A lot of the guys have picked up a significant amount of performance,” Johnson said. “We were off a little bit and maybe we experimented a little too much. That’s the learning curve and maybe one day we will be back on top of it. This is just evolution.”

During the dry spell a lesser driver might have lost interest and waned in their effort. For the veteran Johnson, quitting was not an option. The reality that drag racing is his livelihood inspired him to keep forging ahead.

“If you’re going to make it at the level you want to be, you have to be diligent about it,” Johnson said. “A lot of times, it looks foolhardy to do it the way we do … at the same time, all of the people at the shop and all of the sponsors who have been behind us over the years – those are the people who deserve [the win].

“K&N has been with us going on four years and they stuck with us even though we had some obvious lean times. I truly appreciate that.”

Johnson’s victory at GIR marked his third career win  at the facility, tying him with son Kurt.

SUCCESS, GATEWAY STYLE - This didn’t seem like a recipe for success.

Robert Hight, the reigning Funny Car world champ, was lacking consistency and he was going to a track - Gateway International Raceway - where he has never reached the final round.

Hight’s struggles in St. Louis vanished Sunday when he beat Jack Beckman in the finals of the 14th annual AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals.

Hight clocked a 4.149-second elapsed time, compared to a 4.204-second effort by Beckman.

“This has been an unbelievable week,” said Hight following his 15th career Funny Car victory. “I had a lot of fun here in St. Louis. The timing was just perfect. I’ve always wanted to come here and win at St. Louis, and give a trophy back to the AAA (Insurance) Missouri group. They support the Gateway folks and they’ve supported us all along.”

Hight’s win, coupled with him getting to throw out the ceremonial first pitch at the St. Louis Cardinals game against the Atlanta Braves Wednesday at Busch Stadium, and it’s no wonder why he couldn’t stop smiling Sunday evening.

“Getting to go to the St. Louis Cardinals game and throw out the first pitch just started out this week with so much fun,” said Hight, an avid baseball fan. “It wasn’t a perfect pitch. I called it an unintentional sinker, but it got there. I also learned something at that ballpark because I go to Dodgers’ game and other baseball games. This town of St. Louis really rallies around the Cardinals’ and yet they didn’t boo the Atlanta Braves. It is like a religion back here. That’s also the same way NHRA fans are with their drivers and just the sport of drag racing as a whole.”

Hight, who is now sixth in the Funny Car points standings, also was thrilled to share the St. Louis Victory Lane spotlight with the legendary Warren Johnson who won the Pro Stock title. This was Johnson’s first national event crown since Phoenix in 2006. John Force, Hight’s father-in-law and boss at John Force Racing, is atop the points chase with a 616 total, 189 in front of Hight.

“I always love it when Warren Johnson wins because my first two wins (Houston and Denver in 2005), Warren won as well in Pro Stock,” the 40-year-old Hight said. “I’m a fan of drag racing, and I have a lot of respect for Warren Johnson and what he has done. He’s a mechanic and he’s just so smart and so focused and to see him back and win a race, it is really cool. I’m just glad I could be part of that as well.”

Although Hight hasn’t had a championship-caliber season so far, he was never ready to push the panic button.

“I've been saying all along that we were not that far off,” Hight said. “John’s car has been just killing them, and he duplicated my car over the winter, and they (the cars) are so close. We’ve just had little gremlins with piston rings and different things. We had it again (Saturday night) and we stayed out here real late last night and we changed everything. We went back to our old combination from two to three years ago.”

The wholesale changes didn’t produce an electric ET in round one against Dale Creasy Jr, but Hight’s 4.235-second effort did get him the win light.

“The first round wasn’t great,” Hight said. “We slowed the clutch down and dropped a cylinder and got lucky and got the win. It wasn’t a terrible run, but it wasn’t what we were looking for.”

Despite Hight’s lackluster win over Creasy, his crew found some much-needed horsepower, against Force of all people in round two. Hight ran a 4.165 ET, edging Force, who came in at 4.221 seconds.

“When we race John, I can usually tell if Jimmy’s confidence is there or if he thinks that we’re over in a bad lane, and John is going to outrun us,” said Hight about his crew chief Jimmy Prock. “You can read him and I just kind of knew there was something there, that we were going to have something for John. We were not in the lane of choice in the hottest part of the day and we turned it around and made our quickest run of the weekend. From there, it (the car) was on a rail. After that, he could start focusing on the little things to make better runs. When you’re just focusing on one thing, a gremlin, you forget the clutch, and you forget all of the other things that make this combination and tuneup.

A year ago, Hight barely made it into the Countdown, claiming the No. 10 spot, and then he did the improbable by capturing the championship. However, he doesn’t want to follow that script again.

“The next championship I win, I want to win it in convincing fashion,” Hight said. “I want to be up near where John is right now and I want to be a hitter all year long because the way we did it last year, I do not know if anybody can ever do that again. I do not want to put myself in a position to be in 10th place going into the Countdown. I do not know with the way this Funny Car class is that you can actually win three races and come back from 10th and win it again. So, we need to be up near the top and be competitive all year long and that will really make a special championship.”

SCHUMACHER PULLS BACK INTO THE TOP FUEL RACE - Just when you think it’s safe to write off Tony Schumacher he thunders back with a reminder why he’s the defending NHRA Top Fuel champion and a 63-time national event winner.

Schumacher defeated Doug Kalitta to capture his second career NHRA Midwest Nationals victory at Gateway International Raceway located outside of St. Louis and his second win of the 2010 season.

His contends the win was not sending a message but rather just a matter of racing the way he always has. He lets the chips fall where they may.

“I'm a pretty laid back guy for the years,” said Schumacher, “You don't see me throwing helmets. You don't see me pissed off. If we get beat, we get beat.”

Schumacher doesn’t believe his team has lost pace with the leaders - Larry Dixon, Cory McClenathan and Kalitta. He leaves the winner’s circle in fourth place, 92 points out of first.

“We've gotten beat with some really good races this year,” Schumacher said. “We've gotten beat a couple stupid things. We out in Houston and smoked the tires first round. We have no idea what happened there; either a bad clutch disc or something. But, more often than not, it's just good old races we're getting beat at.”

For Schumacher, Sunday’s victory in St. Louis was just a matter of winning the races he needed to and getting a break or two along the way. Admittedly his second round win over Pat Dakin with a 4.209 was a draw on the luck bank, but his semi-final triumph over Dixon with a 3.863 was nothing more than standing up to the challenge.

“We went out and outperformed everyone,” Schumacher explained. “We got a lucky break second round against Dakin. More often than not you need that lucky break. It was a good day. To beat Dixon in that third round – that's just a monster run. We're going to have those battles.”

Credit a fair share of the monster run to a test session Schumacher and the team conducted on the day after the NHRA SummitRacing.com Nationals two weeks ago in Las Vegas. The test directly attributed to overcoming their second round shortcomings.

“We've struggled with that second round, but once we get by that second round we win the race,” Schumacher admitted. “We've got to keep working on that second round, that's the apparent key out here. Mike (Green) did a great job. Neil, all the guys that work on the car dug super deep.

“Mike was up in the lounge going, 'every time I do this and back it down I know it needs to be backed down but I'm not doing it this time. I'm moving it forward.' He did it and it just hauled butt.”

“The track is hot. It was just a perfect run under the circumstances. That thing went out and did exactly what it had to do.”

Schumacher revels in the fact he performs the best when he’s in charge of his destiny.

“I've been blessed with the fact our championships have been decided by us having to win,” Schumacher said. “Rather than watching some else get beat. In 2006 with Kalitta, I had to lose and he would have been the champ. I don't think that is the way he wanted it. He had done an amazing job. You want the ball in your hands for the final shot.”

And on Sunday in St. Louis, Schumacher had a ball.

NO PAIN, ALL GAIN FOR PHILIPS - For a rider sponsored by a pain management patch, Pro Stock Motorcycle rider Michael Philips had no problem meting out pain all day long on race day at the NHRA Midwest Nationals in St. Louis.

Philips, aboard the Racers Edge Suzuki, raced to his fourth career national event victory by stopping a surprising L.E. Tonglet in the finals.

“We have a new engine from Vance-Hines thanks to Rodger Brogdon,” said Philips.

The first few runs with the new engine were challenging for Philips, who tried to incorporate the new engine with his existing clutch program. An offer of a new clutch from fellow racer Craig Treble made the difference.

“Everything just gelled together real quick,” explained Philips. “On my first couple of runs it picked up on me pretty quick.”

Philips went into the final round inspired and determined to win for The Racers Edge-owner Rodger Brogdon, who crashed earlier in the day in his Pro Stock Pontiac.

“I wanted to do my best for him,” Philips said. “I wanted to cheer him up a little bit. That gave me incentive to go out and doing my best. I concentrated a little bit more and kept a lot of distractions out of the trailer and stuff, and everything came together.”

SCARY MOMENT - Rodger Brogdon realizes it’s not if a driver will ever crash a car, it’s when.

Sunday afternoon at the NHRA Midwest Nationals in St. Louis was Brogdon’s time.

In a close race with Justin Humphreys, Brogdon’s Attitude Apparel Pontiac GXP drifted out of the groove, rolled onto its roof and impacted the left retaining wall. The car burst into flames but the safety personnel were able to extinguish it quickly.

Exiting the car under his own power with an assist from safety personel, Brogdon was checked and released by NHRA Emergency Services and released.

“The fire part was the scariest of the entire accident,” said Brogdon. “You know the cars are safe and built to withstand crashes. When fire enters the picture, you quickly develop a different mindset. Getting out of the car becomes the most important thing.”

Brogdon actually became stuck in the car when he unbuckled his belts while hanging upside down. The Safety Safari pulled Brogdon out the passenger side door.

“I fell onto the steering wheel and couldn’t get loose,” Brogdon said. “The fire kept burning and it seemed like it burned forever.”

Brogdon said the car was moving around at the top end, a normal occurrence for the Pro Stockers. However, the combination of the lightweight rear section of the car and the reality the NHRA doesn’t spray traction compound past the 1,000 foot mark makes for a tough situation.

This season has been one of the toughest on record for Pro Stockers when it comes to crashing.

“It’s the way we are trying to run them,” Brogdon admitted. “To get the most out of them, you’ll have to run them light on the rear. They don’t spray past 1,000 feet, and I’m not saying that was the cause for this. Even when I was on the Div. 4 sportsman safety committee, we had them spray 100 feet past the finish line. It really wasn’t anyone’s fault, it just happened.”

Chassis builder Jerry Haas will put the car on the jig Monday morning, and if it’s repairable, he’ll run it at the NHRA Southern Nationals in two weeks.

If not, he’ll wrap last season’s Charter Car and run it.

UNDER FLOOD WATERS - Mark Pickens could use a few prayers.

Pickens, who owns MPE Enterprises in Millington, Tenn., the Top Fuel team driven by Clay Millican, was notified Saturday morning that his race shop was under water as a result of severe storms that crossed over the region early Saturday morning.

Millington, a town of 10,433, is presently under a dusk-to-dawn curfew following a series of levee breaks.

“We got 14 inches of rain and in some places in our shop, we are under four feet of water,” Pickens said on Sunday morning at Gateway International Raceway. “In the lowest places, it’s about two feet.”

This is another setback for the team which parked last season due to lack of sponsorship. Recently, the team had made significant sponsorship progress and was working towards a return. He’s kept the crew intact for the entire time it’s been parked.

Pickens character and Millington’s pride for the race team inspired the community to pitch in and help.

“We had an army of volunteers show up to help,” said Pickens, voice cracking with emotion. “There were 40 people who showed up unannounced with squeegees, mops and buckets – ready to help. We are looking at a very tough situation right now.”

Pickens is unsure if his team will be able to recoup their losses, citing his flood insurance as “questionable”.

“We definitely could use everyone’s prayers right now,” said Pickens.

Millican traveled back to the shop on Saturday since Pickens is competing in Top Sportsman during this weekend’s NHRA Midwest Nationals. He provided an initial damage estimate to Pickens last evening.

“The clutch room is gone,” Pickens explained. “The trailer took on water and the low sitting stuff is underwater, including much of the wiring. Our machinery, lathes, mills and presses didn’t suffer as much damages as we thought. The engine room was significantly covered in water.”

Pickens believes there is a silver lining in the otherwise dismal situation. First, no one was injured in the flood and secondly the building wasn’t totally damaged.

“There’s always a positive in any situation,” Pickens admitted. “There is one here. We are trusting the Lord in all of this. I know He called us to be out here. With that in mind, I know He will find a way to get us through this.”

ALMOST A DOUBLE - Five-time world champion Jeg Coughlin Jr. came very close to a rare double-win Sunday in St. Louis, finishing just short of doing something that hadn't been accomplished in 18 years.

Racing in both Pro Stock and Top Dragster at the 14th annual AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals, Coughlin expertly raced his way through the elimination fields of both categories to put himself in position to duplicate Pat Austin's last Pro/Sportsman double-win in 1992.

In the finals, Coughlin got the ball rolling with a near-perfect victory against Top Dragster finalist Mallori McCullar-Rodge, leaving with a .010-second reaction time and running dead-on his index with a 6.600 in his brother John's JEGS.com rail.

All he needed to do at that point was beat Warren Johnson in the Pro Stock final, and he entered the contest a prohibitive favorite after running low ET of the weekend (6.607) in the semifinals. Meanwhile, Johnson hadn't won a race in more than four years.

But fate wasn't on Coughlin's side as his JEGS.com Chevrolet Cobalt barely moved when he dropped the clutch, leaving Coughlin and crew wondering what happened as Johnson sailed away for his 97th career victory.

“I guess it just wasn't meant to be,” Coughlin said. "We sure wanted to pull off the double, no doubt, but I'm not going to say I'm disappointed because winning in the Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series in the Top Dragster was pretty darn awesome. I love bracket racing and it's so tough to win in any of the Lucas Oil categories.

"We thought we'd have a great chance against W.J. but we broke a rocker arm (in the motor) and we were done. It was still a great effort by the Pro Stock team and we'll just regroup for Atlanta and do our best there."

Aside from taking out McCullar-Rodge in the Top Dragster final, Coughlin also beat Steve Cohen, Dean McIlvain, J.R. Lobner, and Lynn Ellison on the day.

In Pro Stock, Coughlin eliminated Greg Stanfield, Greg Anderson, and Erica Enders.

SUNDAY QUICK HITS – RACEDAY REPORTING IN RAPID FASHION

TOP FUEL

INTRAMURAL COMPETITION – Point leader Cory McClenathan fell in the first round to his Don Schumacher Racing teammate Antron Brown in the first round.

“That’s not the way we want to do it over here at DSR,” Brown explained. “We prefer to meet in the final round.”

A disappointed McClenathan offered his congratulations.

“I didn’t expect that,” McClenathan said. “It’s just a slugfest and we come out here and try to put on the best race we can. Another DSR car is going into the second round.”

PLEASANT SURPRISE – Terry Haddock’s first round win of the season followed his traditional method of racing, it was untraditional.

Paired against David Grubnic, Haddock pulled to the water box to do his burnout. Unbeknownst to Haddock, Grubnic’s crew couldn’t fire their car. Meanwhile the pilot chute inexplicably fell out as the team thrashed to get the car started.

More times than not, Haddock ends up on the wrong end of a racing scenario. This time fate was on his side as the Kalitta team threw in the towel. Haddock launched, smoked the tires and coasted to the win.

BY GOSH, AT LEAST WE DIDN’T SMOKE THE TIRES - He left Gateway International Raceway Sunday a little earlier than he hoped, but Steve Torrence was nonetheless pleased with the final two runs he made in the Torrence Racing/Tuttle Motorsports Top Fuel dragster during the NHRA Midwest Nationals.

Torrence left the starting line first in the opening round of eliminations, but rival Doug Kalitta had a little quicker race car and lit the win light in 3.885 seconds at 305.84 mph, followed closely by his 3.966 at 302.38.

“It was a good run,” said Torrence, “and a good race. I was happy because we put together good back-to-back runs for the first time in awhile. I hope we’re getting a handle on the car again.  We didn’t have any more smoking tires.”

STILL STREAKIN’ - Top Fuel racer Shawn Langdon lost in the first round to Brandon Bernstein. The silver lining for Langdon is the fact he's left first against all 17 drivers he's faced this season.

"It's always tough losing first round," Langdon said. "We just didn't qualify well and it put us in a tough position.

"Sometimes you have to start testing stuff during qualifying because you don't want to get too far behind the times. You are always looking for improve your performance. We felt like it was our weekend to start trying some different things. We did and we learned a few things. It's not the end of the world; the car is still good.


FUNNY CAR

NOT A BAD DAY - Ron Capps continued his solid run at Gateway International Raceway and while he didn't score his fourth national event victory, he still leaves as the winningest Funny Car driver at Gateway (three wins). He reached the semifinal round after defeating Jeff Arend and Del Worsham, then had the exit door opened to him by eventual event winner Robert Hight in the semifinal round.

"I told Ace (crew chief Ed McCulloch), even in the heat today on race day, to run that 4.15 was incredible. That was the quickest run of the race day until the final.

'We've been experimenting with some new in-house parts that Ace is working real hard at. We stayed in Vegas and tested and it was a very good test for us. He decided to leave everything in it and run it here. I think it's very gratifying to see how hard he's worked and have the car respond the way it did here on race day, because it gave me a lot of confidence. I can see, as we went on with the day, there was more and more confidence building up on the team.

"At this point of the season, we're moving around in points, but nothing starts happening until later in the year when the Countdown gets close. I feel like right now, as usual, our NAPA car is always capable of winning and we're showing that we can even do a little bit of experimenting, some testing, and still have one of the quicker cars at a race. So that's encouraging."


PRO STOCK

ODD INSTANCE – Allen Johnson and his team were left on the starting line wondering what happened in the first round. Paired against Ronnie Humphrey, as Humphrey staged – Johnson’s side of the tree immediately went to red, as if it was a time out.

Race officials review the video footage and determined the incident to be a human error on behalf of the NHRA. Johnson won on the rerun at the end of the round.

EXPERIENCE HELPS - Tuning knowledge gleaned from two days of testing prior to NHRA’s AAA Insurance Midwest Nationals helped Greg Stanfield Sunday as he drove Kenny Koretsky’s Nitro Fish Pontiac GXP into the Pro Stock semifinals at Gateway International Raceway.

“We had a very good day.  The car ran well,” said team crew chief Eddie Guarnaccia.  “We definitely benefitted from testing, and it showed.”

Stanfield, meanwhile, was sharp on the lights in each round.  He opened eliminations with a 6.649-second quarter-mile lap at 206.76 mph when Shane Gray fouled out.  In the second round, Stanfield’s 6.655 at 207.34 sent home Justin Humphreys (6.701) and set up a semifinal match with Jeg Coughlin.

Stanfield left the line first but couldn’t hold off Coughlin’s 6.607-second effort – the weekend’s quickest elapsed time.  Stanfield’s time was 6.634 – his weekend’s best – at 207.40 mph.

PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE

STILL AHEAD - Defending Pro Stock Motorcycle world champion drag racer Hector Arana padded his lead in the Full Throttle standings to 68 points over second-place Eddie Krawiec by reaching the semi-finals.

Arana was on the losing end of a hole shot against LE Tonglet, who advanced to his first ever final with a slower 6.977 at 189.76 mph ahead of Arana's 6.927 at 192.74 mph.

"I really have to start practicing at the tree," Arana admitted. "Sometimes you get the fear of red-lighting, and what happens is you hang onto the clutch too tight, like more than you normally do. It happened; I've got to let it go and focus on the next race.

DANGED GLOVE - Matt Smith was stunned.  His glove accidentally got caught in the clutch lever of his Al-Anabi Pro Stock motorcycle as he prepared for his quarterfinal run against Michael Phillips and it resulted in an uncharacteristic .124-second starting line reaction time.

“I’ve been teaching Angie (Smith, his wife and PSB rider) and Doug Horne (a Matt Smith Racing teammate) about keeping the glove away from the clutch lever,” he said.  “And then I get up there and do it.  It was weird, but we see this problem happen a lot.”

TREBLE TO THE QUARTERS - Craig Treble rode the Valvoline Motorcycle Oils Suzuki Pro Stock Motorcycle to a quarterfinal.

“The Valvoline Suzuki was off in eliminations. After we blew up that motor in qualifying we seemed to have lost our tune-up," said Treble. "It’s still in there, but it’s a hard thing to find and that was our third motor of the weekend. We lost compression in one cylinder.  I don’t know if we scuffed up the piston or what, but we noticed it right after first round, so we were fairly excited going into second round, thinking, OK, we had a scuffed piston, we went a low .0, so maybe we got something for it in the second round.

"I don’t know. It just didn’t go down the track like we wanted it to, so we’re back to the old drawing board! Maybe we can go do some testing and get a better handle on it."

 

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SATURDAY NOTEBOOK

THE UPS AND DOWNS OF FORCE - John Force has been through periods of upswing and downswing, and times when he couldn’t get out of his own way.

During the first day of qualifying at the NHRA Midwest Nationals, Force drove his Castrol GTX-sponsored, Ford Mustang to the top spot with a 4.103 elapsed time at 307.23. The 14-time champion couldn’t beat his best run, but neither could anyone else.

The pole position marks the third time he’s led the field into final eliminations and the 144th time he’s been the No. 1 seed headed into final eliminations.

“The 144th means that I will get to keep my job a little longer,” Force joked.

The loss of team driver Eric Medlen, killed in an accident while testing and an accident in 2007 which sent Force almost to his grave, propelled the 14-time champion into a personal and performance tailspin. He became hit-and-miss on the race track, winning rounds sporadically.

“The last two years I thought I was really doing great,” Force said, brandishing a big smile. “That’s the world I used to live in. My wife let me know I really wasn’t doing that well.”

The upswing for Force came earlier this season when he parked his fourth Funny Car, a combination JFR and Ford-funded effort driven by Mike Neff. He then brought Neff into his camp and paired him with Force brain trust icons Austin Coil and Bernie Fedderly.

The result has been two wins thus far in 2010. Having a chance to win is a far cry from where he used to be 30 years ago when he raced in St. Louis back in the day.

“I am just excited to be in the game now,” Force admitted. “I can remember back in the old days when I came here, getting arrested at the truck stop. They busted me for having boat tags on the trailer and the officer asked me if I was taking the race car fishing. I told him he was funny. He wasn’t … pointed out that I had boat tags on the trailer.

“They impounded me. Frank Bradley and Dick LaHaie bailed me out. In those days, I was just a guy trying to race. I was trying to race and feed my family.”

And after qualifying No. 1 today, Force is doing more than feeding the family, he's feeding a throng of fans excited about his resurgence in the race car.

A THIRD FOR 2010 - Cory McClenathan snagged his third No. 1 qualifying position of the season and 36th of his career today during the NHRA Midwest Nationals in St. Louis.

McClenathan recorded his quickest pass of 3.815 seconds at 305.63 mph in Saturday’s opening qualifying session. On Friday, he smoked the tires and limped into the eighth spot headed into the final day of qualifying.

“Our No. 1 qualifying run was on a string,” he said. “Everything went right, the track was in good condition, everything was kind of going along and we still shut off at 900 feet, smoked the tires, put a couple cylinders out. For the sake of parts we shut off early. I was surprised we ran that quick.”

Of his three qualifying shots, only one made it to the finish line under power.

“As the day changed, the conditions changed along with it,” McClenathan explained. “When the sun comes out here it tends to make it a little bit more tricky. We made some changes, we didn’t see a lot of people throwing down any really low ETs in the left-hand lane, but we still wanted to try to be aggressive. So, we did that and obviously we had to abort that run and shut it off early.

“The hardest thing is going into tomorrow and we’ve only had a few runs. It depends on the weather. If it's cool and cloudy, I would expect us to go out and run an .81 again. If not, we kind of need to live in the mid- to high-.80’s range.”

McClenathan will face his DSR teammate Antron Brown in the opening round of Sunday's eliminations.

“It’s tough when you fall on the same side of the ladder, for one thing,” he said. “When you fall where you have to run each other first round, that’s a whole different deal. We gather information through the weekend with all three cars (Tony Schumacher, McClenathan and Brown), and we share information. We know they’re going to have a good car going in tomorrow; they’ll be fine. It’ll be a good drag race either way, but we race heads up. That’s how we do it.”

With the bonus points earned by both points leader Larry Dixon and McClenathan, Dixon enters Sunday's eliminations still one point ahead of Cory Mac.
 
“That’s the hardest thing,” said McClenathan. “You know you’re really close within a few points here and there and we keep kind of throwing it back to each other. The biggest thing is not to look over your shoulder. Look ahead, look at your own car, try to race your own car. We’ve taken that mentality here: go out every single weekend, let’s get it qualified, let’s not look ahead too much, and take one round at a time. And it's worked so far for us, so we’re going to keep trying to do that.”

STILL HIS PLAYGROUND – For one session of qualifying Mike Edwards looked vulnerable. Then reality set in and Edwards' 6.640 elapsed time was enough to overtake Rodger Brogdon’s top spot run by a mere .004 of a second during the final Pro Stock qualifying session at the NHRA Midwest Nationals in St. Louis.

The No. 1 qualifier marked his sixth number one qualifier of the season, third consecutive and the 28th of his career in a humble manner.

“We just had some misfortunes earlier in the day, but we came back and regrouped, put a new K&N Filter on it and installed a new Interstate Battery. Hat’s off to my guys, we were real fortunate to walk away from here with the No. 1.”

Where did they err? Edwards wouldn’t say.

“We just didn’t make the right choice this morning,” Edwards reiterated. “We just made a few changes and gave it another shot.”

Is the competition catching up to Edwards? He’s not convinced there was really an advantage for his team.

“Everybody has said I’ve dominated … when you look at the other cars, they are running the same back half performances,” Edwards said. “We’ve just been making good runs in the front half and that’s where we’ve been beating them. It’s a long season and these guys are going to catch you. There’s a lot of good cars out there capable of catching us. The fans come out here to see real close racing. That’s what Pro Stock is all about.”

GET BY WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM HIS SONS - Pro Stock Motorcycle champion Hector Arana didn’t have to look far for his help in overtaking Craig Treble for the No. 1 qualifying position at the NHRA Midwest Nationals in St. Louis.

“My crew this weekend is my two boys,” Arana said of sons Hector Jr. and Adam. “One's working on the bike and the other has been watching the track conditions. They've been great and I'm No. 1 qualifier because they've worked hard for me.”

Arana rode to his second straight No. 1 qualifying position in 2010 with a 6.905 second elapsed time at 194.46 mph during the first of two sessions on Saturday. By virtue of his top spot, Arana will race No. 16 qualifier Angie Smith in the first round.

“To be running strong like this is my dream come true,” Arana said. “When we posted that 6.90 the RPMs went really high early and I thought that might have hurt me but then (the track workers) gave me that No. 1 finger at the top end and I was smiling.”

PROPOSED FUEL PUMP CHANGE HAS THE NITRO PITS BUZZING - The NHRA, in an continuing attempt to slow down nitro cars, has planned another data gathering test on the Monday following the Midwest Nationals in St. Louis. The focus of this test will be in reducing the size of the fuel pumps used in the nitro cars to 65 gallons per minute [gpm].

The test will be conducted by Tim Wilkerson and most likely John Force since longtime tuner Austin Coil will also participate.

“The goal is to reduce the size of the bomb,” said Wilkerson, who has been the NHRA’s primary test driver for the majority of nitro data gathering sessions. “I don’t know that anyone knows if this is the way to go, but it looks like a logical direction in reducing the size of the bomb.”

The consensus in the pits is the small fuel pump, while intended to slow the nitro cars down for safer racing, will actually cause more engine damage and inevitably create more dangerous explosions.

According to at least one crew chief who discussed the current nitro engine, when the cars are in the midst of a run, and the clutch comes in pulling the engines into the “belly,” the rpm is usually in the 6,500 range. The engine is at its most efficient rpm requiring 80 gpm of fuel flow. Any less than that, teams will run the risk of running their engines lean and as a result creating more carnage.

Bill Miller, a leading manufacturer of nitro rods and pistons, believes if the NHRA implements the smaller pumps, the line between the haves and have nots will be even clearer at the races.
 
“To those who can afford to burn the heads off on every run, it’s really no big deal,” said Miller. “In the 120 years we’ve been racing cars, the guy with the largest wallet usually wins the races. If you have a competitor who can afford to burn the heads off of the thing every run because he misses the fuel tune-up, he’s going to win the race because those who can’t afford to or don’t desire to do that won’t run as quick or fast.”

Miller believes the teams will adjust but the margin of error in tuning window will decrease considerably.

“The teams will put in just enough clutch to try to get the rpm level at a point where they won’t burn up,” Miller adds. “If they miss, you think you’ve seen explosions now … not only will they be as large … there will be ten times as many. The engines are designed to run on large fuel pumps.”

Alan Johnson, owner of AJPE, a leading supplier of nitro blocks and engines, declined to offer his opinion of the proposed fuel pump change. He did confirm with Attitude’s CompetitionPlus.com that Miller is absolutely correct in suggesting the smaller fuel pump will create more engine damage.

Miller believes the fuel pumps are already limited because there’s only so many pounds of air in the combustion chamber.

“If I put more fuel in there … it just turns it rich,” Miller explained. “If I had a 300 gpm pump, I couldn’t burn it anyway. If the engine says I want 80 gallons per minute at 6,500 – that’s what it wants. If I try to give it 85 gpm, it puts cylinders out.

“Airflow is what got us to this power level. The fuel pump volume is merely a requirement of how much airflow you have. It seems only logical that if you want to slow them down again, you do not address the device that is merely responding to airflow. You need to slow the airflow back down.”

For Wilkerson, he’s reserving judgment until he makes a few runs.

“We’re going to run it down there a few times … probably won’t run it far and see how it does,” Wilkerson said. “We’ll get some data and Coil will get some too. We’ve been talking about it and he’s going in one direction and I’m going in another.”

Regardless of what decision the NHRA makes, Wilkerson says the teams will adjust. He believes something needs to be done.  

“When I’m using 13 pairs of tires in two races like I did in Gainesville and Charlotte, we have to do something about that,” Wilkerson said. “I know the small fuel pump will take care of that by reducing the power.”

Wilkerson is also prepared to face the reality if this rule change causes drastic carnage and increases the cost of doing business, he might just be done.

“When we ran these pumps, we were a lot poorer,” Wilkerson admitted. “Nobody had the kind of money which is out here now. If it takes a pair of cylinder heads to beat the competition, it wouldn’t hurt John Force or Don Schumacher … if that’s what it takes, that might be enough to run me out business. But, maybe we are overreacting. That’s why they call it testing; maybe we ought to just give it a try.”

At this point and time, Wilkerson believes it’s worth a try to determine whether whose right and wrong in their assumptions.

“There are many different ideas of what the right thing is to do,” said Wilkerson. “This is just one of the opinions and it’s still early in the year. At least there are two people testing it, and if we both burn the heads up – we’ll know, that doesn’t work.”

YES, HE SMILED - “Big” Jim Dunn, a five decades drag racing veteran, who is known to be tough and an unlikely candidate to wear his emotions on his sleeve, actually opened up a little bit on Saturday at the NHRA Midwest Nationals in St. Louis.

Big Jim actually smiled.

Then when he thought no one was looking, he smiled again.

For the first time in his short NHRA Funny Car driving career, Dunn’s driver Paul Lee, will start Sunday’s eliminations from the top half of the field.

Dunn tuned Lee to the No. 6 qualifying position at the NHRA Midwest Nationals in St. Louis with a 4.250 elapsed time at 292.39 miles per hour.

“We were in the top four for the last two runs and didn’t hurt any parts,” beamed Dunn, as he assembled his pistons for Sunday’s eliminations. “That’s about as good as you can wish for.”

Dunn’s team sat out the final session, intent on preparing for Sunday’s final eliminations and double-checking all of the details.

“We’ll get some money back tomorrow for running so bad this season,” Dunn continued. “We can count on about $10,000 tomorrow [standard qualifying money] and when you’re on a budget you do what you have to do.”

Lee will race Tim Wilkerson, another racer who has remained competitive while showing a penchant for stretching his dollars.

“Everything ran well this weekend, the car was a little rich,” Dunn explained. “The first run, we leaned it and went a little further. We’ll lean it a little more and go a little further tomorrow. She should run a 4.20 tomorrow and that should be good if the weather doesn’t change a lot.”

Dunn went back to work immediately, but for a brief moment, cracked a third smile.

DO OR DON'T DO - Jeg Coughlin Jr. entered Saturday's fourth and final Pro Stock qualifying session at Gateway International Raceway on the outside looking in. His JEGS.com Chevrolet Cobalt hadn't been down the quarter-mile course under power all weekend, track conditions had drastically deteriorated, and Coughlin was forced into the right-hand lane, which had been causing everyone fits.

It definitely was do-or-die time.

So with the pressure at its highest point this season, Coughlin answered the call, posting a stunning 6.647 at 207.40 mph to jump from 26th to third place and move from also-ran to contender status.

“It was big drama, without question,” said Coughlin. “We knew we had a top two or three car based on our speed and back-half performance. We just needed the car to accelerate in the front half of the track.

“It's something we worked on in the beginning of the week in testing but it wasn't until the third round here that we got the car to go straight. Then we were able to tune from there and we took a big shot there in Round 4 and it stuck.

“I went into fifth gear probably a little early in anticipation of the bumps out there in the right lane and the car just slid right over them. It was a great run at the perfect time.”

Coughlin's run pits him against Erica Enders in Sunday's opening round of eliminations, scheduled to begin around noon CST.

 

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FRIDAY NOTEBOOK

NO DARK CLOUDS HERE – From the first time veteran Pro Stock Bike rider Craig Treble threw a leg over the new 1755 Suzuki at Don Schumacher Racing, he knew he had a bike capable of running really fast. Friday at the NHRA Midwest Nationals in St. Louis, his intuitions proved correct.

On a day when the dark clouds confirmed an ominous weather forecast, Treble was a ray of sunshine for the Suzuki fans.

“I can’t say enough good things about [crew chief] Steve Tartaglia,” said Treble, who is on the cusp of his fourth career Pro Stock Bike No. 1 qualifier.  “

Treble agrees on a day when the weather conditions didn’t necessarily jibe with record-setting performances, he had a leg up on the competition.

“It was just a matter of getting the chassis right, the clutch right and Steve has slowly but surely crept up on it,” explained Treble. “I think there’s more in that bike. It is stout. It’s a pleasure to ride that bike and my riding could have been better. I short-shifted the bike. I am still learning to ride this bike.”

The behind-the-eight-ball status the team has battled for the first three races wasn’t due to lack of preparation. There was simply no time to prepare. The team was assembled in February, just as Treble was getting ready to find a full-time job and park his racing aspirations.

“Don called me and asked if I would like to ride his bike,” said Treble. “Then we had to get the rig together, crankshafts and put engines together. We never got to test or to dyno. We just came out.”

The first test session for Treble and Tartaglia was the last event on the tour for Pro Stock Motorcycles, the NHRA Spring Nationals in Houston. Treble and the team tested to outstanding results.

“Steve didn’t want to rotate the earth, he just wanted to make it repeat,” said Treble. “I’d say he’s got a pretty good handle on it now.”  

A PATH OF ONE – Tony Schumacher needed a turnaround in a bad way. With his one shot qualifying effort on Friday at the NHRA Midwest Nationals, he got the marching orders he needed.

“That was an outstanding run by the U.S. Army team,” said Schumacher. “The car left great and we shot right through the shake zone and on down there. I didn’t know the number, but I felt like it was a pretty good lap.”

Schumacher ran a 3.829 elapsed time at 318.62 miles per hour to secure the provisional No. 1 qualifying position. Though he’s nearly .08 quicker than No. 2 Brandon Bernstein, the defending world champion isn’t about to celebrate on Friday evening.

“It’s only one run, but it looks like the test we had right after the Las Vegas race is producing the kind of results we wanted. We tried a lot of things to try and get the car to run consistently.”

A consistent car, Schumacher believes, could be the difference in improving the car’s recent performances.

“We really haven’t been running very well of late, so we need to go some rounds this weekend to try and turn this thing around. We’re still early in the season – it’s just a matter of remaining focused and working hard. Before too long, we’ll start moving up in the standings.”

KNOW WHERE YOU ARE – John Force understands the importance of knowing where you are at all times on the track. This knowledge could have made all of the difference between the No. 1 qualifying position, and well, not being No. 1.

Force ran a lofty 4.103 elapsed time at 307.23 miles per hour to put a lot of daylight between he and his teammates as well as No. 2 qualified Ron Capps.

“We have learned how to run on good tracks with the cool air and we have learned how to run in the hot air,” said Force, who stands to gain his 134th career No. 1 qualifier if it holds. “We are also able to learn from the other two Mustangs. I watched Robert go out and spin his tires and then see Ashley do almost the same thing. Mike Neff, Bernie Fedderly and Austin Coil got together and made some adjustments on my Castrol hot rod. I have been pretty good at picking people but putting those three guys together I have been real fortunate.

“At the end of the day I want to thank Lanny Miglizzi our track specialist. He is a big part of this. He gets out here early in the week and reads the race track. He is really key in helping the crew chiefs make the calls. When I spoke to Coil and Neff they said I should thank Lanny.”

While Force isn’t complaining about his qualifying position, with the threat of weather looming over the event, getting all of the John Force Racing teams solidly in the field was

“Getting everyone in the top half of the ladder when you have weather coming in is important. When you are racing for 25 years with Castrol and there are a lot of people invested in me and my teams. We want to perform for them. They gave me a second chance. I really appreciate all my sponsors Ford, Auto Club, BrandSource, and Mac Tools. AAA Missouri bought the sponsorship of this race and I know Robert will be flying tomorrow. Jimmy has his Mustang right on the edge. That car is ready to run. I just got through there in that first session. We have worked with AAA Missouri for a few years but to see them buy a race is cool and we want to do well for them and all our sponsors.”

RAMBLING HAS ITS REWARDS

Never would have John Force envisioned one of his ramblings would have yielded a prize. During the NHRA Las Vegas race coverage, Force was interviewed by ESPN2 regarding the No. 2 points earner Matt Hagan.

Force went on to spin a lengthy yarn about how tough Hagan is due to his rancher occupation and the revelation led to a story about his youth when he and older brother Louis faced off with an angry steer.

Today, Hagan presented Force with a helmet equipped with two large horns from a steer which used to live on his ranch.

“I just figured we could have some fun with it,” Hagan said. “We had some horns laying around the house, and I found an old Pro Mod helmet with a skull painted on it. It was pretty cool to mount those horns.”

Force was impressed to say the least.

“It’s pretty awesome,” Force admitted as he tried on the new helmet. “It was quite a gesture and he’s a good guy. He looked at me at first almost like he thought he was insulting me. I love it. In competition which is neck and neck, you gotta know how to have fun. I will say one thing, the kid knows how to get television time.”

And for Force, the kid’s willingness to stand up to the champion and present the gift was impressive.

“I understand the kid has no fear, he’s a rancher. First of all, when you’re built like that. Who is going to have any fear? It’s cool … big ‘ole giant horns. I tried to get in the car with it on, but realized I needed a wider roll cage. He said it was one of his old Pro Mod helmets, but how in the heck he got it in there, I’ll never know.”

For Hagan, he made the most of an inventory of odd items.

“When you have as much cattle as we do, you’re going to have stuff laying around,” said Hagan. “You never know what you are going to find until you dig through the pile.” 

FORCE HOOD ENTERTAINS STAMP OUT HUNGER DIGNITARIES - The thought of anyone going hungry was enough to inspire Ashley Force Hood to get involved.

The iconic Funny Car driver is participating in the United States Postal Service’s drive to Stamp Out Hunger. She’s not the official spokesperson, but her influence in racing is enough to make those spearheading the effort excited about her participation.

“You hear the stories of those who are hungry and it’s hard to picture that,” Force Hood said. “We can all take things for granted from time to time, and you just assume there’s always enough food to go around and sometimes there isn’t in our communities.”

This weekend, Force Hood is joined by a representative of the St. Louis postal system as well as representatives from the Campbell’s Soup brand.

Last year, the Stamp Out Hunger drive collected a record 74.3 million pounds of food nationwide. In eighteen years they’ve collected 900 pounds of food.

“We’re hoping to do more than that this year,” said Barry Linan, Vice President, NLC Branch 343 in St. Louis, local coordinator for Stamp Out Hunger. “We’d just like to remind everyone to place their non-perishable goods alongside of their mailbox for their letter carriers.”

The Stamp Out Hunger food drive is scheduled for May 8. Residents are asked to set out their non-perishable good for collection by their mail carriers. The collected food is then delivered to the local food shelters in their respective towns.

Joe Huxhold and Andrew Pressberry of Campbell’s Soup attended the NHRA Midwest Nationals in St. Louis to show their support of Force-Hood as well as to reinforce their support of the drive.

“We came out today and we didn’t have a clue just how big drag racing is,” said Pressberry, Campbell’s Soup Retail Business Manager, who was attending his first drag race.

“I think having Ashley involved in the program is only going to help it grow. In my eyes now, Ashley Force-Hood is bigger than Danica Patrick.”

Force Hood initially found out about the program while reading a Redbook magazine last year. She texted the program to her friends, then tweeted on twitter and the next day she got a call from officials of Stamp Out thanking her.

“What we do is exciting on the track but it is even better when you can use that towards a worthwhile project like this that helps the community and the country,” said Force Hood.

The reason the program is staged in May is largely because of the number of children who face hunger in the summer months because they are out of school. Often times, Force Hood conveyed, the main source of meals for many of those children is school.

“It’s said when you realize this goes on,” Force Hood said. “[Hunger] is a bigger problem than many realize. It’s so really easier to help when you look at how they have set it up. It couldn’t be any easier for those who want to get involved to do so.”

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THURSDAY NOTEBOOK - DIXON GOES FOR THIRD CONSECUTIVE WIN THIS WEEKEND IN ST. LOUIS


Point leader has struggled at Gateway in the past ...

For the last 13 seasons Gateway International Raceway has been Larry Dixon’s own personal Bermuda Triangle on the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series circuit.

His racing history at the multipurpose motorsports complex just across the Mississippi River from the famed St. Louis Arch is at best an unexplained mystery.

Dixon’s highly decorated NHRA Top Fuel career includes 51 victories and two world championship titles. His name is in the record book for a significant accomplishment at every track on the NHRA schedule except one.

Dixon has never won, posted a runner-up finish or claimed a No. 1 qualifying position at GIR. In fact, his best finish there is a semifinal effort. He has qualified No. 2 once, but his average qualifying position is seventh. He posted a rare DNQ in 2002, the year he won his first series crown. His 13-year winning percentage at GIR is a mind-blowing .478 (11-12).

For stats geeks, palm readers and highly superstitious people, this is really neat stuff.

For Dixon, who has always been great at keeping a proper perspective, GIR is just another track that he needs to conquer. He’ll try once more at the 14th annual AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals, April 30-May 2. Antron Brown (Top Fuel), Del Worsham (Funny Car), Jeg Coughlin (Pro Stock) and Eddie Krawiec (Pro Stock Motorcycle) are the defending winners of the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series event, which will be televised on ESPN2 HD.

“Dale Earnhardt went to Daytona a bunch of times before he won the Daytona 500,” Dixon said. “He didn’t give up, and the Al-Anabi team won’t either.”

Dixon refuses to get all caught up in the mystical analysis of why he hasn’t hoisted a Wally in GIR’s winner’s circle. Or why he has never visited the track’s media center for a post-race interview.

That’s not his department. His specialty is driving a race car, and he knows he has a very good one in his Jason McCulloch-tuned Al-Anabi Racing dragster that has posted back-to-back wins, in Houston and Las Vegas, at the last two NHRA Full Throttle Series events.

Could this season finally be Dixon’s time to shine at GIR?

“It’s not at all frustrating not to have won in St. Louis,” Dixon said. “I don’t feel like I’ve had bad luck there or anything; it’s just that one thing or another has gone wrong to prevent us from winning there. We’ll go into St. Louis, do our best and try to close the deal.”

Not only does he head to GIR riding a two-race winning streak, but he also comes into the seventh race of the season as the series leader. He moved one point ahead of longtime rival and good buddy Cory McClenathan in the point standings with his Las Vegas victory.  Seven-time defending world champ Tony Schumacher, a resurgent Doug Kalitta and a very hungry Brown are some of the other teams that have indicated they intend to be major players in the championship hunt this fall.

“The Top Fuel points battle isn’t just one or two teams,” Dixon said. “There are several very good cars that are in the mix so far this season, and it’s exciting to be one of them.  We have to play hard every round; there are no easy rounds … you have to be prepared for a battle every time you go to the starting line.”

In the last two races Dixon moved into the points lead by taking out series leader McClenathan in head-to-head meetings. At Houston Dixon beat McClenathan in the semifinals, and at Vegas the two faced off in the final round. Dixon expects to see a lot more of his old friend this year, given McClenathan’s FRAM dragster has performed like the world’s quickest bracket car all season.

“I like racing Cory, and Cory likes racing me … he’s told me that,” Dixon said. “Nobody plays any games. We go up there and do our thing. We both do our best on the line, and we let the cars do the talking. It’s just nice to race somebody like that that you have a lot of respect for. He’s one of the guys I looked at when I started driving. Both of us are fighting for a championship this year, so it’s fun to be a part of that.”

In Funny Car, 14-time world champ John Force has turned back the clock to post three victories and lead the standings in the 7,000-horsepower category in his Castrol GTX High-Mileage Ford Mustang. Matt Hagan may not have earned rookie of the year honors last year, but the sophomore driver is turning heads in his DieHard Dodge Charger this season with strong performances, including his first career victory in Houston. Other pre-race favorites include defending series champ Robert Hight, who is hoping to turn his season around in the Auto Club Mustang, and Ashley Force Hood, who has moved to third in the point standings after a slow start in her Castrol GTX Mustang.

Defending world champ Mike Edwards has continued his domination in Pro Stock this season and opened a big lead in the point standings with four wins in his Penhall/Interstate Batteries Pontiac GXP. Allen Johnson, Greg Anderson, Jason Line, Greg Stanfield and Ron Krisher are a few of the other favorites in the 200-mph class.

Series leader Hector Arana is going for back-to-back world titles aboard his Lucas Oil Buell in Pro Stock Motorcycle competition; however, the Screamin’ Eagle Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson team of Houston winner Andrew Hines and Gainesville winner Krawiec are hot on his trail. Others to watch in the two-wheel division include Charlotte winner Matt Smith, Karen Stoffer, Craig Treble and Michael Phillips.

DOUBLING UP - Jeg Coughlin Jr. is best known for the four Pro Stock titles and 49 national event wins he's amassed in his JEGS.com Chevrolet Cobalt, but its no secret the 39-year-old from Columbus, Ohio, loves to race in the sportsman classes.

This weekend at Gateway International Raceway, Coughlin will once again pull double-duty, adding a foray into Top Dragster to his Pro Stock aspirations.

Coughlin will be piloting his oldest brother John's championship-winning Top Dragster entry at Gateway and is expected to challenge for the trophy. The last time he competed in the class was in 2006 when he won the JEGS Cajun SPORTSnationals at No Problem Raceway in Belle Rose, La. He also won the last time he drove one of John's cars, which was in 2003 when he took home the Super Stock Wally at St. Louis.

MAKING THE MOST OF THE BREAK - The Pro Stock Motorcycle class in the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series has taken a few weeks off since its last race in Houston and defending series champion Hector Arana has taken full advantage of the break.

Arana has gone over his Lucas Oil Buell V-Twin with an eye for detail ahead of this weekend's 14th annual AAA NHRA Midwest Nationals. He wants to make sure everything's perfect when he pulls through the gates of Gateway International Raceway.

"We've been really going over this motorcycle and getting it ready," Arana said. "Pretty soon we're going to have some back-to-back races, so we're trying to do as much maintenance as we can right now so we don't have any problems down the road."

The fact this race is only a few hours down the road from Arana's home base in Corydon, Ind., just outside Indianapolis, doesn't make the prerace preparation any easier for the perpetual worrier.

"I've been watching the weather, because this race is later than we're used to running it," Arana said. "That's on my mind. And we're still feeling rushed with the work. I'm still in the process of putting the bike back together, then we have to get everything loaded on the trailer and get to the track no later than Wednesday.

"I feel like I'm already behind the gun, pressed for time. It's always like this in racing."

The work Arana has completed on the bike has been extensive.

"We've taken the motor off the frame and disassembled it to take a look at things carefully," Arana said. "We've also inspected the frame and looked for cracks here and there. We've replaced bearings and done everything else that needs to get done."

Arana, the current series points leader, is coming off a runner-up finish in Houston. He lost that race on a red light, but is determined to not be timid at the line.

"I've just got to overcome the red light," Arana said. "I've had my share of them and they should be over with. I'm still not going to be afraid of doing it, because if you are afraid of red lighting you are going to lose races. I'm just going to go out and do the best that I can."

BREAKAWAY AT GATEWAY - It has been a busy week around the Amalie Oil Top Fuel dragster race shop. Terry McMillen, owner and driver of the NHRA Full Throttle Top Fuel team hopes this week is even busier as the team rolls into the Gateway International Raceway for the AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals.
 
"Richard (Hartman, crew chief) has been going over everything with a fine-tooth comb," McMillen said. "This car is so close to putting up some really impressive numbers - it's what keeps us motivated. If you look at our incremental times from the 330 foot mark to the finish line, we're a top five or six car. Yet our 60 foot numbers are at the bottom half of that same incremental sheet. The car really wants to run - if we can just figure out that piece of the puzzle (60 foot times) the car will go."
 
McMillen's team will also add a different rear wing to the car this weekend. "We had a chance to pick up a Magiera rear wing," McMillen said. "Not only is it lighter weight than our current wing, we think it will make more down force on the big end of the race track. We're going to try anything and everything we can to start winning some rounds."
 
With six races in the record books McMillen has continually improved, setting new personal best in elapsed time, mile per hour and qualifying efforts so far this season, yet the Elkhart,Ind. based team is still searching for its first round win. "We're as motivated as we were when we started the season," McMillen said. "I know there's nothing more my team would rather do than to work a little overtime on Sunday in St. Louis. We've improved every part of our game except race day, we hope to change that this weekend."
 
McMillen's weekend will start early when he does a photo shoot for a CD/album cover. McMillen, his Amalie Oil Dragster and local models will be the subjects for the cover. "I'm not sure why they want me in there with all those beautiful models," McMillen joked. "I'll have my helmet on -  so that should help. We've worked with Brian Bayley before on a CMT project and we're proud to work with him on his independent venture also." Bayley's band lineup, the Louder House Project, is producing a race-themed album, Fast Forward, due out later this year. Photos from the shoot are expected to me online Thursday night.
 
Just before Saturday qualifying, McMillen will call into 1320AM - KFan, The Sports Leader in Salt Lake City, Utah. Terry will speak with Shane Beck, Steve Schoenfeld and Russ Sala Jr. during their Speedway Radio Network show "The Racing Fan" (11:00am to 1:00pm ET). Fans can tune in live or download the podcast at http://gofastwin.com.

GRUNINGER IN FOR CUNNINGHAM - NHRA Pro Stock sophomore racer Danny Gruninger is about to fulfill a dream thanks to Pro Stock team owner Jim Cunningham.

Gruninger has been selected to drive the Cunningham Motorsports Pro Stock Ford Mustang for the next two NHRA National events, beginning this weekend at the AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals contested at Gateway International Raceway in Madison, Ill.

“I'm very grateful for Jim and Gloria Cunningham to give me the opportunity to drive for them,” noted Gruninger, who has been driving his family’s Colorado based USRECOGNITION.COM Pro Stock car for the past two seasons. “It's only a two race deal for St. Louis and Atlanta at this time so my main focus is to go out there, drive the best I can and help this team as much as possible in this short stint.  I've been eating, breathing, and dreaming NHRA Pro Stock for the majority of my life and to be part of such a first class operation with such good people is what I've dreamed of for many years.”

Gruninger recently spent the past weekend with the Cunningham team at Capital Raceway in Crofton, Md. gaining valuable seat time behind the wheel of the teams Ford Mustang in preparation for the race in St. Louis. Gruninger made a solid half track pass with incremental times showing some very promising results. The group at Cunningham Motorsports and their newest team driver are very excited about the prospects this weekend in St. Louis.

“It's no secret Pro Stock racing is won back at the shop, and this team really does have ‘it’”, Gruninger said. “Jim and Gloria have put together all the equipment needed and more importantly a great group of people that work as many hours as any team out there. Jim and Gloria Cunningham, Cunningham Racing Engines, the staff at Capitol Raceway, and Ford Racing have put forth a lot of effort preparing this red Mustang and it’s my intention to represent them well. Also, my family members and employees back at Us Recognition are working their tails off giving me the chance to do this. Without the support of everyone around me I'd never be in this position. I'm just an extremely thankful person this weekend and hope we can give the Ford Racing fans something to cheer about.”

STILL PERFECT - Once the hours of work are finished and a Top Fuel dragster pulls to the starting line for a race, the focal point becomes the driver, who pilots the 8,000-horsepower machine through a 3.8-second pass.

A key task is leaving the starting line ahead of the opposing driver, which shifts the advantage squarely into the lane of the pro with the quickest reaction time. In 2010, no one has proven more lethal at the line than sophomore racer Shawn Langdon, who has gotten a jump on all 16 men he's faced thus far in his Lucas Oil/Speedco dragster.

"It's a fun deal and I understand the media attention this little streak is creating but my focus has to stay on doing the best job I can when I'm in the car," Langdon said. "It's really just a fluke. It's impossible to keep something like that going forever.

"My job as a driver is to leave the starting line fast, keep the car in the groove, and be ready for anything that might go wrong, like the tires breaking free or a cylinder going out, which makes the car move around. To me, I'm just doing my job. The streak has just happened."

Langdon's success at the Christmas Tree is based in large part on his years in the sportsman ranks, where he's a two-time world champion. Reaction times are even more crucial to sportsman drivers as nearly every race is decided by thousandths of a second.

To that end, Langdon sharpened his skills last weekend at a bracket race in Bristol, Tenn., where he raced two different sportsman cars owned by John Ciccarone.

"It can only help to take the tree in competition as many times as possible," Langdon said. "Practice trees are great tools, but nothing replicates a real race."

A 27-year-old from Southern California who now resides in Indianapolis, Langdon raced to a semifinal finish his first time through Gateway International Raceway. He's hoping to continue his streak of quick reaction times this year, but is placing an even greater emphasis on winning elimination rounds on race day.

"I'd trade this streak for a win any time," he said. "We'll be in contention in St. Louis. It's just a matter of time until we get everything together and win one of these things."

 

 

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