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SUNDAY NOTEBOOK

FORCE CHALLENGES FATHER TIME IN WINNING RACE, CHAMPIONSHIP - As far as John Force is concerned, Father Time had better get another set of running shoes.

“I ain’t trying to bull-jive nobody,” Force, 64, said just moments after winning race No. 183 to become a 16-time Funny Car champion at the NHRA Toyota Nationals. “Old Father Time is chasing me but that sum-beech better keep running if he’s gonna catch me.”

Father Time wasn’t the only one chasing drag racing’s iconic driver.

Force was the quickest Funny Car in the first two rounds and when he wasn’t, he was the more masterful in the art of the pedalfest.  Credit tuner Jimmy Prock for keeping his driver focused on a day when he needed to be.

Prock kept Force glued to his practice tree repeating practice launch after launch.

“I had to stay focused,” Force admitted. “I was beating that tree because Jimmy kept telling me to do it. I was stressed. I won a couple of rounds and asked him if I could go get something to eat. He told me, ‘don’t eat because you know it screws you up.”

Prock and Force have only been together since July but the veterans have learned each other’sintricacies.

“He told me to get over there and it kept me focused because those thoughts of can I win itstart coming in,” said Force. “As soon asHagan, and I love the kid, he went out, there’s Beckman and Hight, all with the same attitude. If you don’t fight the fight all day long you lose, and we are going to Pomona with the same fight and continue to win.”

Force defeated friendly rival Gary Densham, Del Worsham and then survived a pedalfest with Alexis DeJoria. In the final round, he saved his best, a 4.062, for the final to end his winless streak against his daughters by beating Courtney Force.

“My luck just turned around in a year when I needed to win,” said Force. “At the end of the day and [Dale] Earnhart always said, ‘I’ll do the winning, and you guys do the selling. I never had the guts to say that because luck is a big part of it. That guy was a winner and he could do it. I had luck on my side the last few races. That kind of sums it up.”

The better Force was over the course of the weekend, the luckier he got. More focused,too.

BROWN KEEPS TF TITLE HOPES ALIVE WITH VEGAS WIN - It appeared Shawn Langdon might clinch his first NHRA Top Fuel world championship at the Toyota Nationals in Las Vegas Sunday.

Antron Brown never received that memo.

Instead, the reigning world champ kept his season title hopes alive by defeating Clay Millican in the final round Sunday at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Brown recorded a 3.782-second lap at 324.51 mph to defeat Millican’s 3.822-second time. Langdon smoked the tires and lost to Millican in the semifinals.

“Hats off to all of our boys,” Brown said. “We have just been working hard. We struggled in the middle of the year. What I’m proud about the most is the way we just kept our heads down and we never gave up. When we were making some mistakes in the middle of the season we just put our heads down and worked harder. We worked harder and we went testing every Monday. Let me tell you something we were the winner of the Monday Nationals a lot of times this year, but it made us better. We learned a whole bunch of new things and we just kept on digging. It is not over until it is over.”

This was Brown’s fourth win of the season and 25th Top Fuel win of his career. More importantly, Brown moved up from fifth to second in the point standings 102 points behind Langdon with one race to go.

NHRA’s season finale is the Auto Club Finals Nov. 7-10 in Pomona, Calif. The most points a driver can collect at Pomona is 150. Brown won the 2012 Top Fuel world title when Brandon Bernstein upset second-place finisher Tony Schumacher in the final round at Pomona.

“Last year Tony came within seven points of winning the championship,” Brown said. “You are never out until the last race of the year. We are going to give it all we have got and take it one round at a time and there is still some hope out there. I treat every race like a new race no matter how well we do there or bad we have done there. We have won Pomona (2009, 2010) and we have been runner-up at the beginning of the year. Last year we had some mishaps, but that can happen at any race. I’m going in there with my head down and give it every ounce of juice I have got. We are going to go up in there and give the glory to God and have faith and we are going to give it everything we have got.”

In the midst of his struggles this season, Brown admitted there was a turning point.

“The Countdown gives you the opportunity to come back in the mix,” Brown said. “We came back in the mix and then we had that (DNQ) at Charlotte (Sept. 13-15) and that really took a lot of air out of our tires. All the front runners went out first round and it eased the bleeding a little bit, but if we just would have qualified at that race, that’s probably 50 points right there. You can’t lose faith and you can’t lose hope and the good Lord knows you just have to put the work in and we have been putting the work in. That’s how you come back from ninth in the points in the Countdown (after Charlotte) to all the way to second place in the Countdown and it is not done until it is over.”

Brown also knows nothing comes easy in the Top Fuel class.

“This year has been even tougher,” Brown said. “The thing about it is a lot of people see Al-Anabi, and they see Morgan Lucas Racing, they see Vandergriff Racing, Kalitta Racing, everybody is running so tough and so strong. Brittany Force is coming out running strong and our (Don Schumacher Racing) teammates (Tony Schumacher and Spencer Massey) we are all battling this year. Nobody has an easy first-round match-up. If you sneeze, you are done. It made me go back and do some homework and work harder. If you don’t cut better than a 60 light you are going home. The car has been running phenomenal since St. Louis (Sept. 27-29) on. Our car has been mean. I don’t want to go out there and be late on the tree and lose the race. I have been working hard trying to keep the car straight. It has been rough and next year is not going to be any easier.”

MATT SMITH CAPTURES NHRA’S PSM CHAMPIONSHIP - Matt Smith is a world champion again.

The King, N.C. resident clinched the second Pro Stock Motorcycle title of his career, thanks to winning the Toyota Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway Sunday.

Smith, who won his first NHRA championship in 2007, clinched the 2013 crown by beating Jerry Savoie in the finals.

Smith clocked a 6.991-second elapsed time at 192.08 mph to edge Savoie’s 7.050-effort.

“Our Viper Motorcycle Company (team) has been awesome from the word go,” Smith said after his 17th career win. “We had transmission problems the first three races. We got that fixed and we have almost been, and I’m not bragging, but we have been almost unstoppable. We have been to10 finals since Epping and now we have six wins. Those are pretty amazing numbers for our whole team.”

There’s even more satisfaction for Smith because he also serves as his own crew chief and the crew chief for his teammates John Hall, Scotty Pollacheck and Angie Smith, his wife.

NHRA’s season finale is Nov. 7-10 in Pomona, Calif., and Smith can’t be caught in the standings because he has a 165-point lead over second-place Hector Arana Jr. The most points a driver can win at a national event is 150.

“I’m going to do a little something different for Pomona,” Smith said. “I’m going to do my best to get Scotty Pollacheck a win, and I’m going to put him on my bike in Pomona.”

Consistency is what helped Smith to the top in 2013. He has four wins and four runner-up finishes in 15 races. Smith’s title also is extra special because his father Rickie was the 2013 NHRA Pro Mod champ.

“It’s emotional,” Matt said. “I know he (Rickie) has tried so hard for so long to do it, but for me and my dad to win a championship in the same year, not only for NHRA but for the whole motorsports world, you have had the Earnhardts, the Pettys, the Yarbroughs, never was there a father-son that won the championship the same year. We have done that. We have won races together this year (Norwalk), and now we have won a championship together. If that can’t make the cover somewhere in history, then I don’t what else we can do. NHRA needs to promote that because that is amazing, in my opinion.”

Smith’s march to a championship happened when he beat former champs Andrew Hines and LE Tonglet and then he beat Shawn Gann before facing Savoie.

Smith becomes the seventh rider to win at least two NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle world championships.

“That is some pretty elite company,” Smith said.

Although Smith arrived in Vegas with a 125-point lead, he was far from relaxed for the weekend.

“I haven’t slept good in three or four nights,” Smith said. “I was tossing and turning, worrying about stupid stuff. In 2008, we had the championship wrapped up and we had electrical failure. That is the only round we had to win and we would have won the championship again there. That was in the back of mind. Is something stupid going to happen? Luckily it didn’t. We pulled this off and we can go to Pomona and we are just going to try and get somebody else (Pollacheck) a win and see what happens.”

SHANE GRAY BREAKS THROUGH WITH PRO STOCK WIN - All year long Shane Gray has had the car to beat. Sunday in Las Vegas he proved it.

The second-generation Pro Stock driver, after reaching five final rounds, scored his first win of the season after stopping V. Gaines in thelast round of the NHRA Toyota Nationals. The win marked the third of his career and first since Topeka in 2011.

The victory vaulted Gray into fourth place in the championship points with the potential to climb as high as second in the points standings.

“The team needed a day like this badly,” said Gray. “Shane had let them down twice this year on holeshots in the final rounds. The team needed that real bad. I got a big boost of confidence today. It’s amazing what winning will do. It certainly lets you know you are capable of doing it again. I’m looking forward to Pomona because I think I will be a bit tougher there than I was here today.”

While Gray laments the losses on the starting line, on Sunday, he gained redemption with two wins on holeshots.

“Anytime you can win a race in the Pro Stock class, I think you have done well,” said Gray. “The cars are getting more and more difficult to run. It’s just ultra-competitive, especially in the Countdown. Those who are in the Countdown seem to elevate their level by two notches. We look back on the notes and wondered if we could run certain passes during the regular season we could have qualified second, third or first. Now it might get you a fifth place.”

Gray, who raced oval track before racing Comp eliminator, made the jump to Pro Stock in 2010. Sunday he defeated Matt Hartford, Jason Line and Kurt Johnson to reach the final round.

Gray, who with a few different final round outcomes could have been in the point lead,tries to keep a low profile even though his team is anything but an also-ran.

“I have never been one to play myself up too much,” said Gray. “I just try to stay low key and keep a low profile. I try to do my talking on the track. We go to Pomona and we could end up second. I’m looking forward to next year. I want to rest a while. I look forward to learning new things and changing some techniques up, coming up and seeing what we can do next year.”

Gray announced Saturday in Las Vegas his merger with Cagnazzi Racing, a move he described Sunday as basically, ‘putting all of our stuff together on the floor.”

Gray confirmed a two-car team consisting ofhim and Dave Connolly.

SATURDAY NOTEBOOK

TOP FUEL

LANGDON KEEPS VEGAS TOP FUEL POLE - If Shawn Langdon is feeling any pressure he isn't showing it.

Langdon, who is trying to win his first Top Fuel world championship,  was in top form in qualifying at the Toyota Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway this weekend.

Langdon's 3.778-second elapsed time Friday was good enough for him to win Saturday's pole position in his Al-Anabi silver dragster.

"We have started off very well in qualifying," Langdon said. "That was something coming into this weekend that the whole Al-Anabi team was trying to focus on. We were trying to find a couple thousandths of a second. We felt we had a great car in Reading (Pa.), but we knew coming into the last two races everybody was going to bring their 'A' game. We are trying to be one step ahead of everybody and overall it was a great qualifying effort by anybody's standards."

Langdon remains atop the points and stretched his lead to 99 points going into Sunday's eliminations. He collected 11 of the 12 possible qualifying points that were up for grabs.

This was Langdon's class-high seventh pole position this season and 13th of his career.

"That was basically our goal to keep extending our (points) lead," Langdon said. "I think we are pretty close to five rounds in lead and we just have to take it one round at a time."

MILLlCAN SURVIVES TIRE BLOW OUT - Veteran Top Fuel driver Clay Millican survived a wild ride in the final qualifying session Saturday evening at the Toyota Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

"It was a little scary, and I'm just thankful the car somewhat went straight after it happened. We will figure out what it was. Goodyear makes an awesome tire. Wow! What a ride, I will tell you that. I had my heart rate up there for a moment."

Millican's dragster was on a strong run and then with approximately 300 feet remaining his tire blew up.

He was able to keep his dragster from crashing before skidding to a stop, and most importantly he walked away uninjured.

"I don’t know how to describe it," Millican said. "The thing just blew. Hopefully the chassis is OK; that is the scary part of those deals. I am thankful NHRA gives us all the safety items we need and I'm still here and kicking. Now we just have to make sure the car is OK for (Sunday). It is part of drag racing, the scary part of it. Hey, we all love watching these things. I'm just fortunate that I took a crazy ride and that I'm OK from it."

MILLICAN SURVIVES TIRE BLOW OUT - Veteran Top Fuel driver Clay Millican survived a wild ride in the final qualifying session Saturday evening at the Toyota Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

"It was a little scary, and I'm just thankful the car somewhat went straight after it happened. We will figure out what it was. Goodyear makes an awesome tire. Wow! What a ride, I will tell you that. I had my heart rate up there for a moment."

Millican's dragster was on a strong run and then with approximately 300 feet remaining his tire blew up.

He was able to keep his dragster from crashing before skidding to a stop, and most importantly he walked away uninjured.

"I don’t know how to describe it," Millican said. "The thing just blew. Hopefully the chassis is OK; that is the scary part of those deals. I am thankful NHRA gives us all the safety items we need and I'm still here and kicking. Now we just have to make sure the car is OK for (Sunday). It is part of drag racing, the scary part of it. Hey, we all love watching these things. I'm just fortunate that I took a crazy ride and that I'm OK from it."

A REVERSAL OF FORTUNE - Steve Torrence has not had much luck during NHRA's Countdown to the Championship.

He has remained in the No. 10 spot in the points and at Reading (Pa.), he failed to qualify and his crew chief Lee Beard abruptly retired.

Torrence's fortunes finally changed in Las Vegas, of all places.

After failing to qualify Friday he clocked a 3.783-secondelapsed time which left him qualified No. 2 in the 16-car field.

"I'm going racing," Torrence said after his new crew chief Bobby Lagana tuned his dragster to a stellar lap.

Torrence meets T.J. Zizzo in first round.

FUNNY CAR

FORCE MAKES VEGAS STATEMENT WITH NO. 1 - Fifteen-time NHRA Funny Car champion John Force put himself in the driver’s seat Saturday during qualifying at the NHRA Toyota Nationalsat Las Vegas. Force raced to the No. 1 qualifying position with a 4.011-second time at 317.79 mph to edge daughter Courtney Force,whose 4.052-second time was second quickest.

Force made the quickest pass of the first qualifying session and the quickest pass of the final session to pick up six qualifying bonus points to extend his points lead to 72 points over second place Matt Hagan.

“It smoked the hot dogs a couple of times today but I leave that to the crew chiefs. I don’t think about it. (Crew chief) Jimmy Prock and our brain trust they just go after it. It has had a little magic and it would just get away with anything. Jimmy said we had to pull it back. It still was in trouble. They found the problem and zip right down the race track. It was just like a rocket ship. It was pretty awesome,” said the 145-time No. 1 qualifier.

Force races friendly rival Gary Densham in the first round. Their careers first crossed paths over three decades ago when Force was just getting started.

“I have Densham. I love the guy. He taught me how to race. He is a good guy.  We will race the race track. The points will be what they will be,” said Force.

Over the course of their careers Force is 37-10 versus Densham but at the spring race here Densham defeated Force in the first round. For the winningest driver in NHRA history his success has not given him any sense of over-confidence going into race day for the 634th time.

“I have people ask me if I am nervous. I am nervous but I have the same gut aches that everybody has. I am 64-year-old truck driver. I have four beautiful girls and I am a fifteen time champ. What else can a guy ask for? I just do what I do and I love NHRA. I love the crowd they are unbelievable. They were screaming over here and I finally went over and saw them,” said Force, an obvious fan favorite

“Anybody can whip anybody else out here. He is a drag racer and he buys parts from me. He is a good racer and I love the guy. We will go up there and have a race. If he spanks me; he spanks me. I am just going to have some fun tomorrow. I am going to go home tonight and have my little bowl of tomato soup and split a tuna sandwich with my wife,” said Force.

HEAD REMEMBERS FALLEN FRIEND – Right above the work station in Jim Head’s hauler is a photo of Jonie Lou Earp.

Earp, a longtime crewmember for Jim Head Racing, passed away on August 20, after a courageous battle against cancer. She was 57.

“She was more than a friend,” Head pointed out. “In this [pit] area that we consider our family, there are some people who love racing and others who come for a paycheck. Some are in between. The Earps, both Jonie and [husband] Rex, loved and love drag racing. I never really realized how much they loved drag racing. I always thought Jonnie was coming just to keep Rex out of trouble. Then I realized after a little while she loved it just as much.”

While Head described himself as a “hacker” in the machine shop, he described Jonie and her husband as the real deal, a couple who ran a successful machine shop for decades and decided one day they wanted to go racing with his team.

Head described having them on his team as a blessing.

“She was passionate about racing just like her husband,” Head said. “They are not race fans, as they had been in the industry forever. We’ve all lost a special person. There aren’t many people out here that have the passion like she had and Rex still holds. It’s a real loss. They never came out here wanting a dime, they just wanted to race. She is irreplaceable. One day we’ll see each other in Heaven.”

Head described Rex, who is working with the team this weekend, and Jonie as inseparable.

“When you consider Jonnie and Rex, you considered them as one person and not two individuals,” Head said. “They were simply the Earps. I’m proud of Rex, he’s hanging in there and doing a great job. He probably lost three races throughout the ordeal.”

Jonie’s last race with the team was in Norwalk when it was clear her battle against cancer was grueling.

“She would lay down in the lounge, sick as a dog,” Head said. “Jonie just didn’t miss a race. This is where she wanted to be. I worried about her traveling and everything.”

This is the second major loss of a friend for Head, who just a few years ago lost JT Stewart.

“He was the same way,” Head said. “He was shot in the end, but there are those who know they don’t have long and this was where they wanted to be and get in as much time before they leave. They never cared about how it would benefit them financially. They just wanted to be a part of it. It was what made them happy.”

Head revealed his sister has been battling cancer off and on for 22 years and went into the hospital on Saturday morning. Jonnie had faced a similar battle during her lifetime.

“People make a lot of sacrifices for this sport and at first, I thought she was sacrificing … making sacrifices to be here, but she wasn’t,” Head said. “This was where she wanted to be.And I was glad she wanted to be here with us.”

Head takes solace in his Christian faith, a faith he shared with Jonie and Rex.

“People die every second of every day and to get all caught up in your own world about it, you realize, it’s a part of life,” said Head. “it’s something you deal with. Thank God I’m a Christian and Jonie and Rex shared the same faith. That makes it so much easier to deal with these things. It gives us a chance to know we will all be reunited one day in Heaven.

BACK IN THE SADDLE – Phil Burkart is racing this weekend behind the wheel of the Steve Plueger Funny Car. He made the field in the No. 15 spot with a 4.384.

Sitting on the sidelines has been a challenge for the Upstate New Yorker but not as bad as one might think for the competitive driver. He’s kept busy with a speed shop as well as spending time with his fiancée and two daughters.

“I just got back from Disney World,” said Burkart. “I work 10 - 12 hours a day at my business as well as go home and have a family life. There are other things to do other than drag racing."

Burkart has sound advice for those drivers sitting on the sidelines hoping to return to the sport.

“It really comes down to what you want to do with your life and in your life and for your life,” said Burkart. “Either as a hobby or as a career if you want it as a career you have to focus 110% of your time to it and basically make it your life. Make it the most and the only thing that you focus on.”

KEEPING PACE - Matt Hagan and the Dickie Venables-led team qualified No. 5 for Sunday's NHRA Mello Yello eliminations and posted their quickest elapsed time of the weekend in the final session of qualifying with a 4.05-second effort.

LUCKY THIRTEEN IN VEGAS - No. 13 qualifier Tim Wilkerson will face Ron Capps in round one.

"We put a cylinder out at the hit on the first one, and just mowed through the clutch on the second one," Wilk said. "There was plenty of track out there in Q4, and we went end-to-end, but that was a session where you needed to really step up if you wanted to move up the list, and we left way too much on the table.  We were trying to go faster, but we didn't get it right.

"If there's good news, it's that we're not going to be running round one in the shade tomorrow. It will be a little bit warmer, and the track will be too, so even though it'll be good out there, you're not going to be able to just throw the coals at it and go for glory. Either way, we're going to have our hands full and we need to be smart out there. Typical deal for us. We'll just race the track and try to go as fast as we can."

PRO STOCK

EDWARDS STICKING TO THE PLAN – Mike Edwards is sticking to his plan of attack. Win every round of competition for the rest of the season and let the chips fall where they may.

Saturday, during Pro Stock qualifying at the NHRA Toyota Nationals, Edwards put himself in the best position possible headed into Sunday by scoring his 14th No. 1 qualifier of 2013 thanks to a 6.632 elapsed time at 208.23 miles per hour. This marks the 55th time in his careerthat he’s headed into Sunday as the top seed.

“We made an extremely good run and it happened to be at the right time,” Edwards said. “I’m just proud of my Interstate Batteries guys. They did a great job, that’s for sure.”

Edwards believes the championship, which has changed point leads five times during the Countdown, will be a last round of the last event affair.

“I believe it will come to the last round of the season,” said Edwards. “There’s a lot of good drivers out here and they are past champions. They know the routine and they know the deal. They know what’s ahead of us. We did well, and we came in here and got a few of those little points. Those little points are critical. We came in here today and won the battle. Now we have to win the war tomorrow. It’s game on and whoever does the best job is going to be champion. We have to win here and win Pomona. We’ll see what happens.”

Edwards said the lack of production within the Countdown wasn’t a source of frustration after being so dominant in the regular season.

“We had some issues that most people don’t know about,” Edwards admitted. “We had some other stuff go on in the heat of the battle. We overcame it. We feel that we are back to running better. The Countdown races are six events by themselves and it is actually a second season. We won the first season and now we are struggling to win the second. It is what it is and I feel good about our team and our chances.

“We have to win both races and that’s the bottom line. We have kind of dug ourselves a hole. We had a good race in St. Louis but dug a hole in St. Louis. We still have a shot.”

Edwards, a man of faith, never questioned the fall off in performance during the championship phase of the season.

“I don’t question why,” Edward adamantly said. “This only makes me stronger.”

Edwards scored six bonus points on Saturday and despite Jeg Coughlin gaining two, he was able to net four.

NOT IMPOSING A REV-LIMITER ON PRO STOCK – Multiple sources confirmed with CompetitionPlus.com, the NHRA’s flirtation with using rev-limits to help curtail spending in the class has been shelved.

“I cannot confirm nor deny that was one of the things we were looking at,” NHRA VP of Tech Glen Gray said. “We were looking at a lot of things and talking to the  racers about a lot of different options. And we got a lot of input from the racers as to what make sense and what might not.”

Gray said the NHRA is studying ways to limit the extreme spending in the factory hot rod division which has affected participation this season. He believes they must be diligent in their research if only to prevent the opposite effect from taking place.

“Sometimes the things you think might save money by changing rules, and you have to be careful about this as a sanctioning body, the things you think might be simple changes may not save money,” Gray explained. “It may increase the costs for racers and you have to be cognizant of that. And you have to talk to all of the racers and get a good technical understanding and a good understanding of the impact on them.”

While sources have indicated the rev-limiting option was met with resistance, Gray was quick to point out that the class’ participants have been supportive of the NHRA’s efforts.

“There wasn’t any pushback from any of them regarding the ideas presented,” Gray said. “We didn’t have any volatile discussions with anyone. There wasn’t any strong positions one way or the other or pushback from the racers on any ideas discussed.”

Gray said there aren’t any sure-fire fixes to what has become a difficult situation to remedy.

“Right now, there is nothing just sticking its head up telling us this is something we need to do. It is difficult to save money in racing. Sometimes you can make rules with the intent on saving money and have the opposite effect. At this time there is nothing we have discussed which looks like a great idea to try and implement for next year.

“We have time between now and February, but we will give the racers as much time as we could to adapt to whatever we come up with. There’s nothing screaming at us that we need to do this.”

PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE

ANANA SR. GRABS PSM VEGAS POLE - The Arana name was once again atop the Pro Stock Motorcycle qualify ladder at the Toyota Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

The difference Saturday was Hector Arana Sr replaced Friday's polesitter Adam his youngest son.

During Saturday's final qualifying session Arana Sr actually unseated Steve Johnson with 6.930-second elapsed time at 192.44 mph to capture the pole position.

Johnson was second at 6.945 seconds and Adam Arana was third at 6.946 seconds.

"Coming to Vegas is always fun," said the eldern Arana, who was in the Halloween spirit. "Everyone wants to participate and enjoy this. We try to entertain the fans because they are the only reason we are here. The fans are our No. 1 priority we want to entertain them and give them something so they want to come back next year."

Arana Sr admitted he had some mixed feelings about not seeing Adam keep the pole.

"(Friday) Adam had an awesome run and I was happy for him and I really wish he could have stayed there," Hector Sr said. "I also wanted to be No. 1 and I feel good, but my kids (Hector Jr. and Adam)  are learning quick and it will not be long before they are dominating. I wasn't expecting a 93, but I figured we could run a 94 and be No.1 or No. 2. That 93 with a zero was awesome. "

Arana Sr is now focusing on Sunday's eliminations.

"We have to stay calm," he said. "We can't take anything for granted. We have to stay focused on the first round and keep doing the same thing. We don't want to count the chicken before the egg is hatched. "

FRIDAY NOTEBOOK

TOP FUEL

LANGDON INCREASES TOP FUEL POINT LEAD AT VEGAS - Shawn Langdon took another step Friday in trying to capture a coveted NHRA Top Fuel world championship.

Langdon, the driver of the Al-Anabi silver dragster,took the provisional pole with a 3.778-second elapsed time at 324.28 mph during the first day of qualifying for the Las Vegas Nationals at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

“The Al-Anabi team just did a phenomenal job (Friday) preparing two great runs down the race track,” Langdon said. “They were clean. We actually had a hole out on the first run about half track, but we were able to fix that for (Friday night’s) run and we were able to step on it a little bit more and maintain that No. 1 position.”

Alan Johnson Racing manages the two-car Top Fuel operation of the Al-Anabi Racing Team.

Langdon came to Vegas 83 points in front of second-place Doug Kalitta and 86 in front of Spencer Massey, who was in third.

After having the top qualifying runs in Friday’s two sessions, Langdon picked up six bonus points. He now has an 88-point lead over Kalitta and is 92 in front of Massey.

Langdon, Kalitta and Massey have never won a series championship.

“I was thinking about that the other day when I was looking at the points,” Langdon said. “We had a couple of weeks off and I was just kind of looking at it. That actually did come through my mind that the top three guys have not won a championship. It is great for the sport. A lot of fans have been saying this weekend they really hoped I would get this championship because they would love to see a new champion. Whether it be me, Doug orSpencer, however, it plays out, and obviously I’m pulling for us a little bit more. We just want to keep plugging away at it.”

Langdon’s performance Friday comes as no surprise. He has a class high six wins and six pole positions.

“(Saturday) we are just going to try and make good clean runs and then get those little points,” Langdon said. “Obviously this is a big weekend for us (in Las Vegas) with Toyota being the sponsor this weekend and we obviously want to put on a great show for them. The Al-Anabi team, we just didn’t stop after Reading (Pa.) (Oct. 6). We won the race, but went back to the shop and continued to work hard and just find little areas of improvements on the car.”

CLINCH SCENARIOS - A driver in any category needs a lead of 151 points or more at the conclusion of the event to earn his or her respective NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series world championship title at the NHRA Toyota Nationals in Las Vegas. A maximum of 150 points is available at this event to one racer in each category. Only eight rounds of racing remain in the season.

Shawn Langdon holds an 83 point lead over second place Doug Kalitta and 86 point lead over third place Spencer Massey. In order to clinch in Las Vegas, Langdon needs to increase his lead by 68 points (more than three rounds) over second place. There are still nine drivers mathematically in contention for the championship title in Top Fuel.BARRING A MIRACLE, TF POISED TO CROWN A FIRST TIME SERIES CHAMPION - Shawn Langdon stands as the only point leader in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing series to possibly win his first professional series championship. However, he's challenged by two potential first-time NHRA champions Doug Kalitta and Spencer Massey.

Right now Langdon has a more than four round lead over Kalitta with just eight left in the season.

"I am very excited, and I am very proud to be in this position with a four-round lead going into Las Vegas,” said Langdon, who has won a class-best six times this season. “But we have to keep working as hard as we can because there are still eight rounds of racing left. We’ve seen it year after year. Somebody always gets hot in the last couple of races, and a four-round lead can deteriorate quickly. The Al-Anabi team has had a really good year, and we would love nothing more than to finish it off with a Mello Yello championship."

Kalitta, who last flirted with a championship title in 2006, is up for the challenge ahead. Kalitta has a victory at Dallas and three semifinal finishes during the Countdown. With five No. 1 qualifying positions this season, his machine has been one of the quickest in the class.

"Right now I've probably got one of the better opportunities to hopefully run with Shawn and whoever else is coming up, because I think second on back, everybody is within a round of one another," said Kalitta, whose Mac Tools dragster will feature a special edition Chip Foose design this weekend. "Shawn has pulled away a little bit, but we're hoping that we can definitely gain on him, and I think we can. This is one of my better opportunities I've had in a few years to be in this position, so hopefully we can take advantage of it."

Massey, who has won a series title while racing the smaller International Hot Rod Association, has excelled at The Strip at LVMS in the past and feels confident during this weekend's NHRA Toyota Nationals. Massey has won four times in six final round appearances this season. However, his only Countdown playoff final came in a runner-up finish at Charlotte, N.C.

“Vegas is usually a good track for us,” Massey said. “We have a couple of wins there, a runner-up at this race last year. That's all we need to do is just go rounds and turn on win lights and everything will play out the way it's going to. We just need to do our part.”

TORRENCE VS. TORRENCE? - Billy Torrence was on the sidelines in April watching son Steve race at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. At the time he had no idea that he would be strapped in another Torrence Racing/Capco Contractors Top Fuel dragster in the team’s second visit of the year.

The elder Torrence has shown remarkable progress as a Top Fuel driver since making his debut at the U.S. Nationals earlier this summer.

Torrence qualified No. 11 with a 3.862-second time at 317.87 mph Friday at the Toyota Nationals at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Unfortunately, his son Steve continues to haveproblems in his Torrence Racing/Capco Contractorsdragster. Steve failed to qualify at the previous race at Reading, Pa., and after two qualifying runs in Vegas Friday he was out of the show with a best time of 9.308 seconds.

While other drivers are concentrating on winning rounds and adding points to their Mello Yello Series totals, Billy Torrence has a few objectives as well.

“Steve and I still would like to race each other before the season ends, and since there is only one more race to go, we had better see what we cando to accomplish it,” Billy said.

The 2013 NHRA season concludes Nov. 7-10 with the Auto Club NHRA Finals in Pomona, Calif.

Billy has made a seamless transition from 180-mph Sportsman cars into the Top Fuel class.  He has qualified at the previous five races, beginning at the U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis, where he also picked up his only round win.

“We’ve had to make some crew changes recently,”Billy said. “My car’s crew chief, Bobby Lagana, was moved to Steve’s team after Lee Beard retired(after Reading, Oct. 6) and Donnie Bender will be working with both teams.  I believe we will have good, competitive cars that are capable of winning rounds this weekend.”

Steve Torrence came to Las Vegas 10th in the point standings.

SARGE HAS STRONG EFFORT – Tony Schumacher is clinging to a slim hope as he tries to and win his eighth Top Fuel world championship.

Schumacher and the U.S. Army Top Fuel Dragster for Don Schumacher Racing came out swinging on Friday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

In the second qualifying session Friday, he clocked a 3.784-second elapsed time at 324.59 mph, which left him second on the qualifying ladder.

“We’ve needed that,” said Schumacher, who trailed points leader Shawn Langdon by 139 markers in the Countdown to the Championship standings to start the weekend. “I am just so proud to be able to have a day like that for the Army Soldiers we represent, who are the strength of the Nation and the strength of our Army. This Army-NHRA partnership provides Americans a platform to experience the power, speed, teamwork and technology that drives that strength. We’ve been getting there. We’ve been working on putting it all together at the start of the weekend like we did today because Fridays can destroy you if you screw things up. But, bottom line, you want to run Sunday against the No. 15 or 16 qualifier rather than the guy who knows how to get down the track every time, so that’s good.

“Langdon is the only one who beat us both sessions. He’s got a good car. But we’re finding it, after we’ve been working on it for a really long time. Whether we win a championship or not, we win two races here at the end of the season and show everyone that we’re always in the fight until the bitter end. I actually shut it down at the very end against Landon on that second run because it felt like it lost power. Then it came back, but that was it.”

BROWN TRIES TO STAY ALIVE - Defending Top Fuel champion Antron Brown and the Matco Tools/U.S. Army Dragster for DSR finished Friday fifth in the qualifying order after his second-round run of 3.820 seconds at 317.94 mph. Brown’s car had mechanical issues that cut short his opening qualifying run. Brown started the weekend 129 points behind Langdon with just two events remaining on the schedule.

BERNSTEIN FEELS AT HOME IN VEGAS – TheProtectTheHarvest.com/MAVTV Top Fuel dragster has been running strong and a personal winning history at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedwayhas Brandon Bernstein upbeat.

"I do love Vegas," Bernstein said. "I love racing there. I've got a lot of great history there with my dad (Kenny) and me both winning there on the same day in 2001. I've had good success there winning in both Top Fuel and Top Alcohol Dragster. It's one of those tracks you just love to go to."

Bernstein had a solid outing Friday, qualifying No. 6 with a 3.821-second lap at 314.39 mph.

Bernstein said being in Sin City really puts him in a good frame of mind when he goes out to the racetrack.

"Vegas is one of those cities that is alive 24-7," Bernstein said. "That energy goes with you everywhere. It's a perfect spot to have one of the last races of the season.

"With the season winding down, the grind can really get to you and wear you down. Going to Vegas gives you that spark that can carry you through the rest of the season."

FUNNY CAR

COURTNEY RACES TO THE TOP - A second shot at the Strip at Las Vegas racing surface was all Courtney Force needed to spoil her father's Friday.

Force, the youngest daughter of John Force, thundered to a 4.052 at 318.24 mph to lead provisional qualifying at the NHRA Toyota Nationals in Las Vegas.

“It definitely felt good. You always like to have one good pass so you can build off of that," said Force. "We dropped a hole earlier and I just got out of it early because it wasn’t getting down there and I didn’t want to hurt anything."

The last time Ms. Force raced in Las Vegas, at the NHRA SummitRacing.com Nationals in April, she qualified in the No. 2 spot and on race day took down Tim Wilkerson, Del Worsham, and Matt Hagan before falling to Cruz Pedregon in the final round. If the sophomore driver’s 4.05 holds through two qualifying rounds tomorrow, the will be her fourth career No. 1 qualifier.

“It felt great going up there the second pass. (Crew chiefs) Ron Douglas, Dan Hood and all of my Traxxas team, they’ve done a great job working on my car and gave me a great car. It flew down there in that left lane and pulled me pretty hard to the right. I had to pull it back down there and not let it cross the centerline.”

Force’s 4.05 secured the Traxxas Ford Mustang team three additional qualifying bonus points for being quickest of the session.

“It felt great to make a solid pass. When you get out of your car and your guys are giving you a thumbs up you know it was a great pass. Running a 4.05 and stealing that No. 1 spot from my dad, well, I don’t think he was that happy about it. He was obviously trying to make a better run than me, but didn’t get down there quite as good as he wanted. He came back and said, ‘well, you took the No. 1 spot from me, but I guess it’s better you picking up those three points than anyone else.’”

The 2012 Auto Club Rookie of the Year award winner currently sits in the No. 7 spot in the Funny Car points, but is mathematically still in the running for the 2013 Mello Yello Championship.

“Obviously we don’t have (the championship) out of our sight," admitted Force. "Anything is possible and I think my dad proved that in 2010. He knows better than anyone to give me that motivational speech and coming out here, we just want to be consistent. We don’t want to make mistakes. We want to finish the season well. Our goal right now is to win the championship, but we really want to finish better than fifth, which is where we finished last year. That’s our team’s main focus. We want to go rounds, have a consistent race car, pick up the points and try to close that gap and climb back up in the point system.”

CLINCH SCENARIOS - A driver in any category needs a lead of 151 points or more at the conclusion of the event to earn his or her respective NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series world championship title at the NHRA Toyota Nationals in Las Vegas. A maximum of 150 points is available at this event to one racer in each category. Only eight rounds of racing remain in the season. 

John Force is up by 65 points over second place Matt Hagan. In order to clinch the title in Las Vegas, Force needs to increase his lead by 86 points over second place (more than four rounds). All 10 Countdown drivers in Funny Car are still mathematically alive.RIGHT NOW, FUNNY CAR CHAMPIONSHIP LOOKS LIKE AN ENCORE CLASH OF THE TITANS - The NHRA Mello Yello Funny Car title has shaped up to be a battle of two titanic drivers with one looking to sink the other during the penultimate race of the 2013 season this weekend at the Toyota NHRA Nationals in Las Vegas.

This championship battle is a reverse of the epic 2010 battle John Force and Matt Hagan staged. Then Hagan led Force by 105 points leading into the Las Vegas event. By winning the event, Force whittled the cattle farmer's lead to just 37 points.

Hagan stumbled in Pomona and Force took over the point lead and won his sixteenth championship.

“We got past him three years ago,” Force said of Hagan, “but, at the end of the day, he could do the same thing to us this time.  He’s got a fast hot rod over there with Dickie (Venables, crew chief) and (car owner Don) Schumacher, he’s a great young driver and he’s motivated.  That’s a dangerous combination. But (crew chief Jimmy) Prock has given me a good hot rod and I am ready for a fight to the finish and I know it will be tough over these next two races.”

His time the roles are reversed with Force leading by 65 points.

Hagan was the No. 1 seed heading into the Countdown, clicking early with a new but proven crew chief in Dickie Venables and a young race team.

"We're racing with the best out there, and it's not to say that there's a couple boys back there right behind us that can't sneak up here and do this thing, too, but I really think it's turned into a two horse race here, and we just have to focus on what our car can do and not really who's beside us, as hard as that is to do with a 15-time champ out there," Hagan said. "But we can't control how he qualifies, we can't control who he runs, we can't control how many rounds he goes.  We've just got to go out there and try to go four rounds on Sunday and turn four win lights on and do it two more races.  I believe we can do it.  I know that's a steep hill to climb, but I've never won back to back, and I sure would like to these last two races."

If Force and Hagan both stumble, there's a strong likelihood the title chase could open up to more mathematically alive drivers such as defending world champ Jack Beckman, ’09 champ Hight, Cruz Pedregon, Ron Capps and Courtney Force.

A SPECIAL SCHEME - Courtney Force's paint scheme on her Funny Car was a long thought-out process.

“This car represents my past and hopefully my future in racing. It represents the growth of me as a driver and our team and the foundation of it all. It shows where my passion for racing really began. Winning the Auto Club of Southern California Road to the Future Award for Rookie of the Year is a big deal to me and I just want this car to show how thankful I am for the support of my family, my team, my sponsors and of course the fans who helped get me to where I am today.

“It was exciting to watch my ideas come to life on the computer. I put a lot of time and thought into how I wanted to design this body with (JFR graphic designer) Brandon Baker. I wanted to make sure fans could see the growth from where my passion for racing began to where I am now,” said Force.

The “Rookie of the Year” diecast car will be available from Lionel Racing in the spring of 2014.

“The sort of timeline on the car shows me as a young kid in the winners circle with my dad which is shown on the side panels of the car, then racing up through the ranks of Super Comp and Top Alcohol Dragster with wins of my own before making the biggest transition into the professional ranks with my Traxxas Ford Mustang Nitro Funny Car, which is shown on the hood.

“I wanted to make sure to highlight my family because they were my biggest support group and my dad was my mentor. On the hood I wanted to highlight my team and my win during my rookie season. The winners circle picture of me with my dad and crew chiefs, Ron Douglas and Dan Hood was perfect because they were the ones that gave me a great and competitive race car all season long,” said Force.

The Rookie of the Year Traxxas Ford Mustang is the second specialty car Force has driven this season, after competing in a one-of-a-kind pink Funny Car body in honor of breast cancer awareness month at the 29th annual Auto-Plus NHRA Nationals earlier this month at Maple Grove Raceway.

“I'm so excited to be running my second specialty car of the season and look forward to closing out the year with one that has so much importance to me. Winning Rookie of the Year last season was such an honor. It meant so much to me that I couldn't wait to help design the specialty body with the help of Brandon Baker, our graphic designer,” said Force.

JUST WIN BABY - Jack Beckman knew the battle would be tremendous in defending his Funny Car championship. He just figured he'd have at least won a race by race 22 of the 24 event season.

"It's certainly not because we haven't been competitive," he said. "We have had a good year."

Beckman has two opportunities left, starting with this weekend's NHRA Toyota Nationals in Las Vegas.

Beckman isn't totally winless, having won the $100,000 Traxxas Nitro Shootout all-star event. The season hasn't been a total wash as he's reached three finals, the semifinals six times and earned two No. 1 qualifier positions.

"We challenged basically all year long, we just haven't closed the deal when we really needed to."

Beckman entered the event ranked third in points behind leader John Force by 126 and Matt Hagan by 61.

"Force has found some magic and made us all look silly the last couple events," Beckman said of Force winning the last two titles to pass Hagan for the lead at the last event.

Racing in Vegas, Beckman understands racing becomes about the odds and for him, the reality sets in with no Funny Car driver having won a championship trailing the leader by more than 69 points with two races left. Cruz Pedregon set the benchmark as he trailed by 69 points in 2008 and rallied to win the championship in the last two events.

"We're in a position that if we are going to win the championship we have to win the next two races and John would have to do terrible at the next two, and with Nitro Funny Cars anything and everything is possible. Things like that happen.

"If we win the next two races and qualify better than John and John doesn't win more than two rounds over the last two races then we could pass him. It's doable, but there is a very slim chance because he would have to stumble significantly.

"We're in a unique position because we really don't care about the points, we really just want a trophy. We just want to win a race or two."

Beckman was second quickest during Friday qualifying with a 4.052 second elapsed time.

PRO STOCK

ALLEN JOHNSON NOT BOWING OUT AS HE NAILS NO. 1 - Credit Allen Johnson for not giving up his crown without a fight.

The defending NHRA Pro Stock champion raced to the provisional No. 1 qualifying position at the NHRA Toyota Nationals by running 6.651 seconds at 206.99 miles per hour. He edged teammate and point leader Jeg Coughlin by .004 of a second.

Johnson entered this weekend’s event 73 points out of the lead and by leading both sessions picked up six bonus points. He was able to net four points on Coughlin.

“We definitely have to win both races,” admitted Johnson. “Our Mopar Expresslane Dodge Avenger team is up for it. We are motivated and we have it on kill. We want to get every little point available for two races and give ourselves a shot if we can do that.”

This season Johnson is the predator and not the prey. He entered last year’s Vegas event with a 129 point lead.

“We are 69 points back and our goal is to get that down below the 60 [point] mark,” explained Johnson.“We are going to try and make both finals and even if Jeggie makes it too we ought to be close.”

This season’s Countdown point battle has been a challenge for those seeking to gain command of the factory hot rod division. Three different drivers have accounted for five lead changes.

“We’ve been right there all year and in second place,” Johnson said. “In the Countdown, we got off to a slow start. I think I have lost my last three races by a total of twelve inches. One of those losses was a dead heat. The other two were less than a thousandth. You just have to have a little luck and I think it’s going to come around for a big finish.”

Qualifying provisionally has Johnson brimming with confidence.

“I’ve got all the confidence in the world in Mopar, Chrysler and my team,” said Johnson. “If the driver can do his job, with the car on kill, I believe we can get it done.”

2013 PRO STOCK CHAMPIONSHIP PROMISES EPIC CONCLUSION - The 2013 NHRA Pro Stock championship battle during the Countdown phase has looked more like an eBay bidding war than the title battles race fans have seen in the past. There have been five lead changes, some during the course of an event, spread amongst three different drivers, Jeg Coughlin, Jason Line and Mike Edwards.

Headed into this weekend's NHRA Toyota Nationals, Coughlin is 45 ahead of 2009 champ Edwards, a six-time winner this season, 50 up on two-time champ Line and 73 ahead of teammate Johnson, who won the spring Vegas race.

"I don't think the title will be decided one way or the other in Vegas, but we may leave town with a much clearer picture," Coughlin said. "You have to remember, the three guys behind us in the points are all past NHRA champions. It's going to be a thrill ride."

In order for a driver to win the title they must have 151 points or more at the conclusion of the event to earn his or her respective NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series world championship title at the NHRA Toyota Nationals in Las Vegas. A maximum of 150 points is available at this event to one racer in each category. Only eight rounds of racing remain in the season.

Coughlin leads Mike Edwards by 45, Jason Line by 50 and Allen Johnson by 73. Coughlin needs to add 106 points over second place (more than five rounds) to secure the championship in Las Vegas. There are still nine drivers in contention.

TEAMING UP - Gray Motorsports and Cagnazzi Racing will combine forces in 2014 to create a powerful multi-car team with sites set on winning Mello Yello Drag Racing Series championships. The two established NHRA Pro Stock programs will merge together as one and operate under the Gray Motorsports banner.

Engine development for both the Pro Stock and Cagnazzi's successful COPO Camaro Stock Eliminator programs will take place at the Gray Motorsports facility in Denver, N.C., and chassis development for both will take place in Victor Cagnazzi's facility in nearby Mooresville. The new Gray Motorsports team is currently seeking support for a three-car team to include drivers Shane Gray, Dave Connolly, and Erica Enders-Stevens.

The merger will allow Cagnazzi and Gray Motorsports owner Johnny Gray to follow an already proven method of success.

"This is a model that NASCAR embraced years ago because of all the performance and economic efficiencies," said Cagnazzi. "We believe that for NHRA and the sport of drag racing, this is a natural progression, and it's a progression that we intend to lead."

Gray agreed and said, "With the cost of running these cars and the difficulty of finding sponsorship, it just makes sense to follow NASCAR's successful model. We believe that this merger is in the best interest for all of us, and we expect to see results."

Also included in the merger will be the establishment of an engine and technology leasing program that will allow Pro Stock drivers and teams requiring varying levels of support to participate in the ultra-competitive class.

"We want to provide good, competitive engines to customers who do not have the funding required to spend on the research and development it takes to be successful in this class," said Gray. "There will be something for everyone; we'll offer programs to lease engines for the guy who can only run two or three races a year all the way up to a full season. Heck, if you want to bring your helmet, we'll provide you with a complete car, crew, and the expertise with which you can run at the championship."

EDWARDS MUST WIN - Mike Edwards knows there's no room for error.

The once dominant Pro Stock driver has kept pace with the competition during the Countdown but now the time has come when he needs to win like he did during the regular season. Edwards entered the playoff phase with six victories, 13 No. 1 qualifiers and having surrendered a huge point lead.

Edwards stands 45 points out of first place.

This weekend, at the NHRA Toyota Nationals, the odds are clearly in Edwards' favor.

Edwards has claimed three of the last seven titles in Las Vegas, including sweeping both the spring and fall races in 2011.

"After having such success as we've enjoyed the last few seasons, it makes you want to get back to that track and continue the run," Edwards said. "It is always fun coming back to a place where you have reached the winners circle. It gives us all the confidence in the world that we can again make good runs in qualifying and be a strong player come eliminations."

"After how this season has transpired where we ran really strong for much of the year and then come the playoffs and some of the struggles we've encountered, and still have a chance to earn the one goal of being the champion, which every team shoots for, will speak volumes for my team, " said Edwards. "Sitting only 45 points behind with two races to go, and coming to a track that has been good to us the last few trips, gives us that confidence.

"We know we have to work on making four solid runs in eliminations to grab that seventh Wally of the year. We have taken the couple weeks since the Reading event and really have focused into the areas that have troubled us and work on taking that negative and make it one of our strengths for the last two stops. We know we have the car and the horsepower to make this happen; now we just need to go out and make it happen."

Edwards finished first day qualifying as the third quickest with a 6.651 elapsed time at 207.34 miles per hour.

HOLDING OUT HOPE - Shane Gray has only two more opportunities to grab a win in 2013.

"At this point, I really believe it's possible to win," said Gray. "It's a matter of getting the right combination, and that's what we've been working on all year long. This has so far been a great year for us, and I can tell you, the future looks very, very bright for this team. I'm excited, and the fact that we get to finish out the year in Vegas and Pomona is always a great time for us. It's a change of scenery, and The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway is just a real neat place. Racing there is always a lot of fun."

Gray has come close this season with five final round appearances, and one during the Countdown.

RUNNING WITH THE PACK - Jeg Coughlin Jr. will give Las Vegas-area Cub Scouts a special treat on Saturday at the event.

Local Cub Scout Pack 830 recently completed its popcorn sales drive to help benefit military families with loved ones serving overseas. The pack exceeded its goal of $15,000, due in some part to the incentive that the pack's top-five sellers would get to go to the race and meet the driver of the JEGS.com/Mopar Dodge Avenger.

"It's an honor for us to have these scouts as a part of the JEGS team," Coughlin said. "This is something we've done for a few years, and these young men have really hustled to help make their community a better place.

"Seeing these scouts getting up close and personal with the race car is a real treat for everyone in our program."

Pack 830's top-selling scouts this year were Alexander Rodriguez, Michael Giambrone, Miles Cheam, Dylan Soule, and Sam Fisher. Accompanying the scouts to the track will be Miranda Haws, pack chairperson; Maggie Fisher, cub master; Tony Oppelt, Bear Den leader; Mei Cheam, Tiger Den leader; and Spence Fisher, assistant.

“I have known Jeg and his brothers since we were kids growing up in Ohio and see him twice a year when the circuit comes through Vegas," Spence Fisher said. "We wanted to give the boys some added motivation for their annual popcorn sales drive, and Jeg was gracious enough to offer to host our scouts.

"The boys were up for the challenge and exceeded the goals early. I am excited to introduce these boys to NHRA drag racing. Pack 830 is very grateful to JEGS for this opportunity."

The pack will also make a donation to the JEGS Foundation in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

OPPORTUNITY OF A LIFETIME - Buddy Perkinson has had the time of his life in three races as a Pro Stock frontrunner.

Perkinson has been the third team driver for KB Racing and will finish the season behind the wheel of the Summit Camaro.

"It has definitely been enjoyable to be with this group of people. They are so organized and run their race team as a business," said Perkinson, who made his Pro Stock debut in 2011. "It's been an honor and a privilege to race with them, and their way of doing things has made it easy for me to fit in. They have a very strong work ethic as a group, and they run like a fine-tuned machine. I haven't seen any flaws anywhere."

Perkinson's ride is just a part-time deal but clearly the best opportunity he's had since breaking into Pro Stock during the 2011 season.

"This is such a different position than I've ever been in before," said Perkinson. "I've already had a great time with this blue KB Racing Chevrolet Camaro, and it absolutely gets your adrenaline going. This car had the No. 1 on the window in 2012 and then ran with No. 2 on it for the first part of this year, so you know the car can win on Sunday. I've enjoyed racing Pro Stock before, but I always had to be perfect on the Tree and make a perfect run, and even then I'd just be hoping to win first round. Now, you're looking at winning the race. It adds a lot of pressure, knowing you have such a great chance. You don't want to mess it up, but I have come to realize that if you don't put so much pressure on yourself, you'll perform better. And that is the attitude we're taking these last few races."

For Perkinson, the remaining two events of the season are a platform that will allow him to gain even more experience while under the wing of one of the most prolific teams in the history of NHRA Pro Stock. The magnitude of the association is certainly not lost on the ambitious driver.

"My goal is to make a career of competing in Pro Stock, and I certainly have the desire and the will to compete with the best out there, the guys like Jason and Greg," said Perkinson. "This has been a great experience, and before the year is through, I'd like to win a couple of rounds. I know that it really never gets easier in this class – it only gets harder – but once you've won, you know the path to get there. That's what I want to accomplish these next two races."

Perkinson rounded out Friday's provisional top 12 with a 6.702 pass.

PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE

ADAM ARANA RULES VEGAS PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE CLASS - With two races left in the 2013 NHRA season, Pro Stock Motorcycle racer Adam Arana is trying to finish his rookie season with a flurry.

On Friday, Arana made a statement, clocking a 6.946-second time at 192.71 mph to capture the provisional pole at the Toyota Nationals at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Although Arana can’t win the season championship he is still a candidate to capture NHRA’s Auto Club Road to the Future Award given to the top rookie.

“I am for sure (trying to impress the voters for the rookie honor),” Arana said. “Chad Head is killing it and Brittany Force is doing great and these past couple of races I haven’t had the best of luck. I lost a couple of rounds due to holeshots. I definitely need this (pole) position. We work really hard and I feel like we deserve it. I just need to stay focused and ride to the best of my ability.”

Arana’s season highlights so far are a runner-up finish at Epping, N.H. in June, and a pole position at the Mile-High Nationals at Denver in July.

“It is tough out there, it really is,” said Arana, who rides the ProtecttheHarvest.com Buell and is the only rookie to earn a spot in the Countdown to the Championship playoffs. “The hardest thing is the mental part. Coming into it I was like it can’t be that hard, you only have to focus on a couple of things, but it is completely different when you are out there. You are going 190-plus mph, I went 192 (Friday), and there is a lot going on. You need to know where you are on the track and you need to worry about your shift points, and the bike shifting left to right. I don’t know if you guys saw my first pass, but it went way right. I was hanging 100 percent off to the left. You have to be prepared for that because it is happening so quick. You don’t have a chance to think about it. You just need to react. It is a lot harder than what people think it is.”

Arana won the pole from his older brother Hector Arana Jr., who was second on the qualifying ladder at 6.965 seconds. Adam is ninth in the points, while Hector Jr. arrived in Vegas second in the points 125 behind leader Matt Smith.

“I didn’t expect to go that quick,” Adam said. “That first run we should have thrown away because we had no information off of it. We were going up to it (the second qualifying run) lost. My dad (Hector Arana Sr.) made a call and he was 100 percent right and because of him I’m No. 1.”

Adam’s provisional-pole winning time was quite an improvement from his 7.271-second lap in Friday’s first qualifying session.

“I double-clutched it,” said Adam about what happened. “The bike spun and drifted and kicked off to the right and it sent me toward the wall, so I had to react quick or else I was going to hit it, and I got pretty close.”  

MATT SMITH COULD BE FIRST CHAMPION CROWNED THIS WEEKEND - Matt Smith would love the opportunity to be part of history, and based on his large point lead in Pro Stock Motorcycle, he has a great opportunity to make it happen.

For Smith, he'd love to share the proverbial championship podium with his father and newly crowned Pro Modified champion Rickie Smith.

Smith holds a 125-point advantage over second place Hector Arana Jr., and could claim his second world championship title by increasing his lead by 26 points during this weekend's NHRA Toyota Nationals. Smith could clinch his second career title by qualifying strong and going one round farther than Arana Jr. during eliminations.

The King, N.C. rider has advanced to the final round in the last three events, winning the last two.

“This thing’s not over yet,” Smith, the 2007 series champion, said. “I’m still looking at every round as just 20 points. But we’ll be strong, I guarantee you, in Vegas.”

Michael Ray, Hector Arana Sr. and defending world champ Eddie Krawiec are still mathematically alive, as all three riders sit just a few points back of the second place rider.

TONGLET EYES STRONG FINISH - LE Tonglet’s Nitro Fish/Tonglet Racing Suzuki GSXR came to Las Vegas sixth in Pro Stock Motorcycle Series points (2,299). He trails fifth place by 46 points and is 58 out of fourth with two races left.

Tonglet didn’t have the best effort Friday, but his 7.021-second run Friday did get him in the top 12. He is No. 11 on the qualifying ladder.

“We want to finish strong,” Tonglet said.  “Our goal is to finish in the top five.”

SMITH IN AT NO. 8 – Matt Smith is on the verge of winning his second career Pro Stock Motorcycle world championship. He came to Vegas with 125-point lead over second-place Hector Arana Jr.

Smith is safely in the Las Vegas show at No. 8, thanks to his 7.010-second time on Friday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.