March 28-30th, 2008

Houston O'Reilly Nationals

BAYTOWN, Texas --

Final eliminations

Antron Brown capped off an historic Sunday afternoon at the 21st annual O'Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals presented by Pennzoil when he powered his Matco Tools dragster past Larry Dixon U.S. Smokeless dragster to become the first driver in NHRA history to win races in Pro Stock Motorcycle and Top Fuel.
He followed Del Worsham (Funny Car), Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) and Matt Smith (Pro Stock Motorcycle) into the winner's circle at the fourth of 24 races in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series.

Brown had won 16 races in Pro Stock Motorcycle before making the jump to the 7,000-horsepower Top Fuel class this year and he'd not been able to get past the quarterfinals until Sunday when he sped past Dixon in a terrific final, 4.605 (at 320.28 mph) to 4.621 (at 309.06).

"We've been plagued by the second round all season - the second round's been biting us, but today we bit back," said Brown, who is the second African-American driver to win a race in Top Fuel (J.R. Todd).

Worsham defeated John Force in the semis and Ashley Force in the final - 4.933 at 316.60 to 4.971 at 302.62 - en route to his 22nd career win, but just his first since Labor Day weekend 2005.

"It finally happened," said Worsham, who was sporting a K&N Filters paint scheme over the traditional Checker Schuck's Kragen decal on his Chevy Impala. "Everything came together. I won't say it wasn't without a problem, but my dad (crew chief Chuck Worsham) made some great calls on the starting line. Great day."

Ashley Force was in her second career final round in her Castrol GTX Ford Mustang and she is still the only female competitor to reach a final round in Funny Car.

Anderson's win - 6.692 at 207.37 in his Summit Pontiac GXP over a tire-shaking Kurt Johnson (13.425 at 64.01) in his ACDelco Chevy Cobalt - was the 53rd of his career, which moved him one ahead of Joe Amato (52) into solo fifth on the NHRA POWERade Series' all-time wins list.

It was quite a bit different from win No. 52, which came in the season-opener at Pomona when he ran the table from the No. 1 qualifying position.

"We were flawless at Pomona. This was different - we qualified No. 6, I don't know how it looked (from the stands), but it was a struggle (on the track). The good lord was looking after me today," said Anderson, who still willingly accepted the trophy.

"There's no such thing as an ugly win so we'll take it," he said.

Anderson leapfrogged teammate Jason Line and defending POWERade Series world champion Jeg Coughlin to regain the points lead.

The defending Pro Stock Motorcycle world champion, Smith, powered his Nitro Fish Buell past Matt Guidera's Mohegan Sun Buell, 7.060 at 187.76 to 7.140 at 185.03, to claim his first win of the 2008 season.

"It's an awesome experience," said Smith, who struggled at Gainesville in the season-opener for the two-wheel class. "We were embarrassed the way we raced at Gainesville. We went home and went to work and it showed (with the win Sunday)."

Sunday's final results from the 21st annual O'Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals presented by Pennzoil at Houston Raceway Park. The race is the fourth of 24 in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series.

Top Fuel -- Antron Brown, 4.605 seconds, 320.28 mph def. Larry Dixon, 4.621 seconds, 309.06 mph.

Funny Car -- Del Worsham, Chevy Impala, 4.933, 316.60 def. Ashley Force, Ford Mustang, 4.971, 302.62.

Pro Stock -- Greg Anderson, Pontiac GXP, 6.692, 207.37 def. Kurt Johnson, Chevy Cobalt, 13.425, 64.01.

Pro Stock Motorcycle -- Matt Smith, Buell, 7.060, 187.76 def. Matt Guidera, Buell, 7.140, 185.03.

Top Alcohol Dragster -- Randy Eakins, 5.392, 263.67 def. Duane Shields, 5.392, 273.50.

Top Alcohol Funny Car -- Jay Payne, Ford Mustang, 5.626, 256.41 def. Mickey Ferro, Chevy Monte Carlo, 11.799, 62.46.

Super Stock -- Pete Peery, Olds Calais, 9.990, 123.63 def. Scotty Richardson, Chevy S-10, foul.

Stock Eliminator -- Bob Unkefer, Pontiac Trans Am, 11.402, 116.57 def. Austin Ford, Shelby Mustang, 10.947, 120.97.

Super Comp -- Shawn Langdon, Dragster, 8.881, 170.02 def. Kurt Damron Jr., Dragster, 8.875, 175.21.

Super Gas -- Jimmy Lewis, Chevy Corvette, 9.929, 147.88 def. Wes Neely, Chevy Camaro, 9.975, 148.20.

BAYTOWN, Texas --

Alan Bradshaw
Led by Odessa, Tex.-native Alan Bradshaw, the four provisional No. 1 qualifiers from Friday night retained their top spots on Saturday as qualifying was completed at the 21st annual O'Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals presented by Pennzoil.
Cruz Pedregon (Funny Car), Kurt Johnson (Pro Stock) and Matt Smith (Pro Stock Motorcycle) rounded out the No. 1 qualifiers at the fourth of 24 races in the NHRA POWERade Series. The foursome will lead the field into final eliminations beginning at 11 a.m. Sunday.

It was the second straight No. 1 qualifier for Bradshaw, who shot for a high-4.50 on Saturday but wasn't able to make that happen. Still, his 4.526 at 323.50 mph from Friday night wasn't threatened.

"Today was all about test mode to see what the track would take," said Bradshaw, who entered the weekend in 13th place in the POWERade Series standings and would need to win at least two rounds to get in the Top 10 by Sunday night.

Bradshaw will open his quest to get into the Top 10 by facing No. 16 qualifier Urs Erbacher in the first round, hoping for different results from two weeks ago when he spun his wheels and lost to No. 16 qualifier Bruce Litton in the ACDelco Gatornationals first round.

Cruz Pedregon
"We've got the Vis Viva in there. We've got the Shell V-Power in there. I think we've got something that works . at least for Friday night qualifying," said Bradshaw, who is sporting a Shell V-Power wrap on his dragster this weekend.

Early-arriving fans will be treated to a monster first round matchup between three-time defending champion Tony Schumacher and Brandon Bernstein, who came within a single round-win of wresting that championship away from Schumacher at the Auto Club Finals last November.

The most impressive pass of the day was turned in by Cruz Pedregon's Advance Auto Parts team, which guided his Chevy Impala to a 4.86-second pass during Saturday's first session that was a tenth better than the next best Funny Car.

"It kind of surprised us. It was actually faster at the eighth (mile) than (Friday night's) 4.83," said Pedregon, whose 4.834-second pass at 314.97 from Friday night remained the standard in Funny Car. "It (the tune-up) was a calculated guess (by crew chief Rahn Tobler) and guys guess right sometimes. Rahn has a good feel for the car. He's adapted well."

Kurt Johnson
In yet another illustration of how difficult the Funny Car class is, Pedregon's reward for qualifying No. 1 is a matchup with four-time world champion Gary Scelzi.

"Bring it on. I feel like if we're going to be successful, we're going to have to beat guys like that," said Pedregon, who will enter Sunday's final eliminations in second place after points leader Robert Hight failed to qualify. "It's a long year, but is it good to be in this position after four races? Yeah."

The other particularly intriguing first-round matchup in Funny Car features John Force's Castrol GTX team against Jack Beckman's Valvoline/MTS team, which will enter Sunday's final eliminations in the points lead after Robert Hight failed to qualify.

In Pro Stock, Kurt Johnson's 6.638-second pass at 208.42 mph from Friday was good enough to keep the ACDelco Chevy Cobalt on top of the ladder.

Matt Smith
"We're pretty pleased with the runs we've made so far this weekend, especially considering the amount of changes we've thrown at it," said Johnson, who will meet John Nobile in the first round Sunday. "Today (Saturday) we were tuning for (Sunday), throwing different combinations at it, and fortunately everything stuck. It's like a Velcro race car - everything we're throwing at it is sticking."

Smith led the two-wheelers with a 6.929-second pass at 191.38 mph on his Nitro Fish Buell that was set on Friday and held up Saturday. And in spite of the fact that he maintained the top bike on Saturday, the defending POWERade Series champion is cautious entering Sunday.

"This is qualifying and raceday is different. That's why they call it qualifying," Smith said.