ROOMAN'S CHASE UPDATE - FINAL TALLY
As noted in the first article in this series comparing the
new NHRA points system for 2007 with the current allocation and applying the
new scenario to this year’s chase, the NHRA’s Graham Light applied the new
allocation to past years’ battles and in most cases the result was the same at
the sharp end. The idea was to foster
more interest in the championships and avoid having the titles’ outcome settled
earlier in the year as has been the case in the past, especially in Funny Car and Pro
Stock. That said, I doubt that there could be a more exciting finale to the Top
Fuel championship than what took place at Pomona
this past weekend.
Years back the
Amato/Ormsby fight went down to the wire with the final round settling the outcome
but this time not only did Tony Schumacher need to win (less of a problem with
a team car in the opposite lane) but he also had to set the national record to
beat out Doug Kalitta. No amount of engineered points resetting in the last
quarter of the year is likely to present that scenario again although the
tightening of the points margins prior to Indy and Las Vegas will certainly negate the chance of
one team dominating and clinching the title early.
As you will note
from the listings the end result was the same in all of the pro categories with
the same winners and runners up but Pro Stock was the only category where the
top four were in the same order under both systems. In T/F Rod Fuller trailed Melanie Troxel this year
whereas under the new system Troxel
would have been eliminated at the cut to four cars and even her final round
appearance at Pomona
would not have helped her in the standings. Tony Schumacher won easily with the
new allocation with a 103 point margin over Kalitta who was fourth in the new
order coming into the Finals and eked out a slim 9 point margin over Brandon
Bernstein to take the second spot.
In Funny Car
Force’s margin over teammate Robert Hight would have been reduced from 112 to
48 markers while Capps’ loss to Force would have helped Eric Medlen hold on the
third in the final standing to give the Force team a sweep of the category.
Greg Anderson’s
Pro Stock victory would still not have
been enough to edge Jason Line with the final margin being 14 points, or less
than one round of racing rather than the final 123 split under the current
system although in this case there was a
definite chance for the champ to repeat.
The bikes were tight either way with a two round split in both cases although the current system gave Antron Brown more of a shot as the 23 point split could have been reduced to a single round margin by a better qualifying performance. Karen Stoffer was the winner here as she slipped to sixth in the final order whereas she could do no worse that fourth under the new scenario.
FINAL POINTS FOR THE CHASE - 2006
TOP FUEL
1. |
Tony Schumacher - 3275 |
2. |
Doug Kalitta - 3172 |
3. |
Brandon Bernstein - 3163 |
4. |
Rod Fuller - 3135 |
FUNNY CAR
1. |
John Force -3193 |
2. |
Robert Hight -3145 |
3. |
Eric Medlen - 3120 |
4. |
Ron Capps - 3086 |
PRO STOCK
1. |
Jason Line - 3226 |
2. |
Greg Anderson - 3212 |
3. |
Dave Connolly - 3138 |
4. |
Mike Edwards - 3085 |
PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE
1. |
Andrew Hines - 3226 |
2. |
Antron Brown - 3212 |
3. |
Angelle Sampey - 3138 |
4. |
Karen Stoffer - 3062 |
TORCO'S COMPETITIONPLUS.COM PRE-SEASON PICS
Top Fuel - Doug Kalitta
2. Tony Schumacher
3. Morgan Lucas
4. David Grubnic
Funny Car -John Force
2. Ron Capps
3. Gary Scelzi
4. Robert Hight
Pro Stock - Kurt Johnson
2. Greg Anderson
3. Jason Line
4. Warren Johnson
Pro Stock Motorcycle - Chip Ellis
2. Andrew Hines
3. Angelle Sampey
4. G.T. Tonglet