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NHRA Full Throttle National event coverage at SpeedZone can be sponsored by you. Call (604 826 5775) or email
Sept 2-7, 2009 Mac Tools Us Nationals presented by Lucas Oil NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Clermont Ind. Pro coverage is on this page Sportsman coverage is here. Monday eliminations David Smith photos
If it's Indy it must mean Tony Schumacher will be in the final round. These two (Larry Dixon was the r/u) will battle for a long time in the future.
Schumacher, who has been to the last eight final rounds at this event and 10 overall since he began his career at this race in 1996, powered to his fourth victory of the season and 60th of his career, with a performance of 3.861 seconds at 314.17 mph in his U.S. Army dragster to hold off rival Larry Dixon, who trailed with a 4.208 at 228.58 in his Al-Anabi Racing dragster.
Schumacher said to beat three-time Indy winner Dixon and his old teammates in the final was satisfying. Dixon drives for the new team created by Schumacher's former crew chief, Alan Johnson. Together Schumacher and Johnson were virtually unstoppable, winning consecutive championships during the last five seasons and rewriting most of the Top Fuel record book during a stellar 2008 campaign. "To hold this trophy at the end of the day with all the pressure and circumstances and beat a great team like they have over there in the final round, I wouldn't want it any other way," Schumacher said. "The reason I race is for days like this."
Froce lead from the start and Hight capped off his controvesal weekend with a big boomer (below) at the finish line.
It was actually the second time Force Hood has won this event. Back in her sportsman racing days, she made her maiden trip to the winner's circle here. "When I won in '04, it was my first national event win, and I happened to win at the 50th annual U.S. Nationals, and you couldn't pick a better time to win your first event," said Force Hood of her Top Alcohol Dragster victory. "I don't think I really realized what was going on that day. Now, I can look back and appreciate it. It's funny because before that final round, I was thinking, 'OK, Robert seems to have magic here. When that team comes here, they do really well.' I've spent a lot of winner's circles here with his team, so I thought maybe this was going to be his day. Then Jerry Darien walked by, and I just had to laugh because I thought, 'Well, it's been our day here before, too, with Darien and Meadows - we won here, too.' It kind of relaxed me a little. Either way, team Force was going to get in that winner's circle." Hight, in his fourth consecutive Indy final round appearance, finished in 4.217 at 271.19 in his Auto Club Mustang and with his effort for the day locked in the 10th position in the point standings and secured a berth in the playoffs.
What can you say about Jeggie as he solidifies his #1 seeding into the final six races. "We had a three-time world champion in the first round in Greg Anderson and it doesn't get any tougher than him," said Coughlin, who also beat Roger Brogdon and top qualifier Mike Edwards to advance to the final. "It was a huge win (against Anderson) for a number of reasons. He was trying to protect Jason Line's opportunity to unseed us for the No. 1 spot going into the Countdown to 1. The win over Greg all but sealed the No. 1 spot for us, which means a lot because you get an extra 20 points going into it. That's how we started the day, but then good old Lady Luck put us through the next three rounds, without question. Hopefully we haven't used up all that luck yet as we just got the Countdown started and it's a six-race dash for the Full Throttle championship. Let me tell you, it's going to be one interesting battle in Pro Stock."
Hecotr won for the third time this year, and this one was the biggest of his career. He goes into the final six races on a high and he will be tough. The Harley boys will be his toughest challengers. "This is the sweetest moment for me," Arana said. "All the years I struggled people always told me, 'There is something better for you,' but I always wondered when my time was going to come. Now, I've won three races this year including the U.S. Nationals and I can't ask for anything more." In addition to Coughlin, Tony Pedregon also secured the No. 1 playoff spot in Funny Car with his first round win over Del Worsham. Antron Brown (Top Fuel) and Eddie Krawiec (Pro Stock Motorcycle) had already claimed the top playoff spots in their categories. Each of the regular season champions receive a 20-point bonus to start the playoffs.
Danny Rowe should have,would have, and could have won the Pro Mod event at Indy. He was the quickest all weekend, but like so often, mechanical woes ended the favorites weekend. With the win by Burgess, the final three events will be very tough as four drivers including the two finalist and Burton Auxier and Mike Castellana
Roger Burgess won his second event of the season and
claimed the crown jewel of drag racing by winning the Get Screened
America Pro Mod Challenge presented by ProCare Rx event at the Mac
Tools NHRA U.S. Nationals. Burgess defeated Danny Rowe in the final
and moved into second place in the points-standings after seven of
ten events have been completed. Burgess dedicated his win to the memory
and honor of his fallen teammate Bobby Monacelli who passed away from
a heart attack on August 10. Burgess' path to the winner's circle began with a stellar day-one qualifying run of 5.960 at 242.45 mph that gave him the provisional pole. In the second qualifier he suffered mechanical failure and was passed in the standings by Danny Rowe and Joe Baker to land No. 3. First round eliminations action paired Burgess with John Russo and his unique 2000 Chevy S-10 pickup where Burgess' 5.979 at 241.45 handily defeated Russo's 6.723 at 164.79 and set the tone for the remainder of his elimination rounds. Second round, he slowed slightly to a 6.062 at 241.07 but still had much more than he needed to defeat Mike Knowles' tire-smoking 8.408 at 110.60 mph. In the semifinals, series points leader Burton Auxier nailed a nearly perfect .003 reaction time to try and surpass Burgess Al Billes-tuned machine, but Burgess' "Ancient Warrior" '67 Camaro had more than enough power to pass Auxier, 5.996 at 239.74 to 6.068 at 232.99. In the finals, emotions were running high as the teams had to quickly refresh their cars to make the call to the starting line. Burgess lined up against Danny Rowe who had been running his Sterling Bridge '67 Camaro like a bracket car, besting Kirk Wilmes, Rickie Smith and Ike Maier with a 5.949, a 5.986 and a 5.973 after having qualified number one with a 5.943 at 245.54. At the lights, Burgess cut a .027 reaction to Rowe's .045 and then the Duluth, Ga.-based driver never looked back. Rowe's car suffered engine damage and slowed to a 6.585 at 160 mph, while Burgess ran his best lap of the weekend of 5.956 at 241.80 to take the win. As he climbed out from his car, the first words out his mouth were, "This one is for Bobby." Burgess said, "We came to this race with a very heavy heart, mourning the loss of our friend and teammate Bobby Monacelli. We didn't talk about it, but every member of this team was resolved to win this event in the honor and memory of Bobby. "As we worked our way through the day going round by round, we all felt that Bobby was up there watching out for us and smiling as we won each round. The entire team worked tirelessly to get us through each round. "We'll be sending our trophy and a poster-sized photo that all of the team members and series drivers have signed to Bobby's father, Clem, with the wishes and heartfelt message that Bobby is still a special part of all of us, and that we will miss him greatly," Burgess said.
Monday's final results from the 55th annual Mac Tools U.S. Nationals presented by Lucas Oil at O'Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis. The race is the 18th of 24 in the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series Top Fuel -- Tony Schumacher, 3.861 seconds, 314.17 mph def. Larry Dixon, 4.208 seconds, 228.58 mph. Funny Car -- Ashley Force Hood, Ford Mustang, 4.170, 294.75 def. Robert Hight, Mustang, 4.217, 271.19. Pro Stock -- Jeg Coughlin, Chevy Cobalt, 6.689, 206.48 def. Greg Stanfield, Pontiac GXP, 6.691, 206.35. Pro Stock Motorcycle -- Hector Arana, Buell, 7.026, 189.10 def. Michael Phillips, Suzuki, 7.086, 185.84. Pro Mod -- Roger Burgess, (0.027) 5.956 241.80 def.
Danny Rowe, (0.045) 6.585 160.00 SpeedZone Sunday notes Sunday final qualifying (David Smith photos) Top Fuel.............No real surprises in Top Fuel, as Antron Brown did what he has done at almost half of the events this season already (7 #1's), taking the top spot with a 3.835/319 run after the four (of the scheduled five) rounds of qualifying at the 55th US Nationals. Tony Schumacher ended up #2, 1/1000ths back with a 3.836. Rod Fuller made his second event of the year, in the Rob Vandergriff Top Fuel car. He wound up in the middle of the pack, in the #10 spot. Pat Dakin, the long time veteran, but occasional racer in the last decade, was well into the field, in the #8 spot, with a great 3.875/313.95 blast. Joe Hartley lost his chance of making the countdown with a surprising DNQ. He was only three points back of Clay Milligan for the last spot, and with Millican making the field, Hartley could only sit back and think of the events where he let it slip away. Two of the drivers in the running for the Rookie of the year , Spencer Massey and Shawn Langdon were in the field and were in the countdown. The most notable first round pairing was Massey vs Brown.
Clay Millican made the countdown. In the "knew it would happen again" dept. Luigi Novelli was asked to park his car Saturday after a lenghty oil down Friday. He was allowed to race again Sunday but did the same thing. He likely will be away from the series for a couple events.
Novelli is in detention after this weekend. Funny Car..........Funny car was a bit more dramatic, as perennial top runner had an overall disastrous year, but still had a slim chance to make the countdown. He needed to qualify and go two rounds further than Cruz Pedregon and hope Matt Hagan was not better qualified and go a round further than him. The qualifying issue was taken car of in shot order as he dominated the field (along with the other three Force FC's).
Cruz and Robert are in a huge battle. After the first three runs the Force clan held the top four spots in the field. By the time final qualifying was over, Cruz had dispatched JF in the #4 spot. Hight led with a 4.082/308, Ashley Force was #2 with a 4.093 the same number as Mike Neff who was 1 mph slower. Cruz went 4.098 and John was #5 with a 4.107. The top 15 cars were less than a 1/10th apart in ets. Grant Downing the part time runner ended up #16 with a 4.230. Bob Bode lit up the highlight reels with his blower exploding body shredding lap in Sunday that had the parts of carbon fiber flying higher than any other body Bob Frey had ever seen.
Bob Bodes is out a few doolars after this boomer. A few big pairings in FC's first round included Ashley Force and Matt Hagan, Cruz Pedregon and Ron Capps and Del Worsham Vs Tony "P". That is why Funny car is so exciting compared to the Top Fuel class , as there are a bunch of tough pairings right from round one on. Two other match-ups have strong implications as well (Wilk and Tasca and Neff Vs Beckman). After round one they get huge if certain drivers advance.
Mike Edwards continues his performance dominance Pro Stock.............This weekend the final qualifying wound up to be a shocker. The WJ/KJ Johnson two car team failed to qualify for the US nationals. This is the first time since the 2004 Joliet fall race that the two Johnson team mates failed to qualify at the same event. Johnny Gray was the benefactor of the DNQ by Warren Johnson, as he makes the countdown. Mike Edwards was the only driver to hit the 6.50's and he did it in the second round Saturday. His .04 spread from #1 to #2 is the biggest I can remember in a long time.
A big oops for the Johnson family Pro Stock Motorcycle.............Eddie Krawiec clinched the #1 spot in the countdown and his team mate Andrew Hines won the "Ringers Gloves" shoot-out Sunday. There was big battle for the final 2 spots in the countdown, with #11 Steve Johnson and #11 Junior Pippin looking for their shot at the coveted spot. After qualifying, Steve Johnson actually moved in front of Karen Stouffer for the #10 spot. But he needed a win or Stouffer to lose in order to stay in the #10 spot. The real issue in PSM is whether or not the Harley's will continue to dominate the class (their performance advantage is very evident based mostly on the speeds they run), and what will the NHRA do about the disparity.
Eddie Krawiec and Andrew Hines
Hector Arana (NHRA media recap) Antron Brown raced to the No. 1 qualifying position
in Top Fuel at the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals presented by Lucas Oil,
the world's most prestigious drag race. Brown scored his seventh top qualifying position of the season with his performance of 3.835 seconds at 319.22 mph in his Matco Tools dragster. A two-time winner of this event in Pro Stock Motorcycle, Brown will try to win it for the first time in Top Fuel tomorrow at O'Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis when he faces rookie Spencer Massey in the opening round. "You wouldn't think of (Spencer) qualifying No. 16, so we're going to have to race him like it's the final round," Brown said. "Racing Spencer this year, he'll cut a light on me then I'll cut a light on him. I don't look to go up there and give anybody an advantage. I want to leave on everybody. There are a handful of guys in the class that are great leavers, so you always have to bring your 'A' game." Clay Millican claimed the 10th spot in the Countdown to 1 in Top Fuel when 11th place Joe Hartley, who came into this race trailing Millican by three points, failed to qualify.
"That was four pretty impressive qualifying runs that the Auto Club Ford Mustang put down; that's just stout," Hight said. "It's hard to run one of these fuel cars, especially a Funny Car, that many times down the track in a row. Dating back to last weekend when John [Force] was in the car in Reading, that's nine runs in a row down the racetrack without dropping cylinders and all the little things that can go wrong, so that's very, very stout. It's better late than never I guess because we've struggled all season long, and we've never been that messed up; we've always been close." Hight is one of three drivers, including defending series champ Cruz Pedregon and rookie Matt Hagan, who are locked in a tight battle to make the Countdown to 1, NHRA's playoffs. Following this event the top 10 drivers in each pro category will compete in the six-race championship playoffs, which begin Sept. 18 at zMAX Dragway in Concord, N.C. Hagan will face Hight teammate Ashley Force Hood in the first round, while Pedregon will race Hagan teammate Ron Capps in the opener. "Going into tomorrow, we have a big day ahead of us," Hight said. "We're basically No. 12, and we did what we needed to do in qualifying: We out-qualified Cruz and Hagan. Now, we have to go two rounds further than Cruz and a round further than Hagan. Ashley has Hagan first round, so that's good for us. Basically, when I look at the ladder, if we win the race tomorrow, we're in the Countdown because we would have raced Cruz in the semis or else he was already out, and that's the two rounds we need. If I beat him in the semis, that gives me one round.Then if I go on and win the final, that gives us a second round, and that puts us in the Countdown. That's huge."
"I have to pinch myself, because qualifying No. 1 at the U.S. Nationals, that's pretty special," said Edwards of his 16th career No. 1 position. "It's just another great weekend for my team. I know I sound like a broken record, but we're just making such very good runs on this race track. We had some difficulties there on Saturday morning but the guys at the shop got [a new engine] together and brought it up last night, and we've got everything in place. It looks like everything is good. I want to thank my guys and tell them how much I really appreciate them. It's the team, it's not just one person. It takes everybody to do this. And I give God all the glory because it's all up to him." Six-time Indy winner Warren Johnson failed to qualify, which automatically ensures that 10th place qualifier Johnny Gray and 16th place qualifier Rickie Jones will earn the final two spots in the Countdown to 1 in the 200 mph category.
"I won this race before and this is my third low qualifier in the last four years at this track so for some reason we seem to shine here," said Smith. "We hurt an engine in the Ringers [Pro Bike Battle] yesterday and last night, Steve [Tartaglia, crew chief] took our engine back to Don Schumacher Racing up the road in Brownsburg and he worked until 2 a.m. to get it right and today, it was a rocket ship. We have six engines and he could have used any one of them but this is Indy and he wanted our best one in the bike today so he rebuilt it. He deserves all the credit. That run was really fast. It pulled the front wheel when I plugged sixth gear and the Suzuki's almost never do that. It's great to be No. 1 and now I know we have a good tune-up for tomorrow." In the Countdown battle in the two-wheel category, Steve Johnson gained two points on Karen Stoffer, so they enter tomorrow's eliminations tied in the point standings. He will face Chip Ellis, while Stoffer faces L.E. Tonglet in the first round. Full Throttle final qualifying Top Fuel 1 5 Antron Brown, Pittsboro IN, Hadman-TFX 3.835
319.22 319.22 ------------ Not Qualified ------------ 17 7727 Ron August, Pleasanton CA, McKinney-BAE 4.013
298.93 298.93 Funny car 1 4 Robert Hight, Yorba Linda CA, '09 Mustang 4.082
308.35 308.35 ------------ Not Qualified ------------ 17 340 Bob Bode, Barrington IL, '09 Impala SS 4.292
264.39 290.69 Pro Stock 1 4 Mike Edwards, Coweta OK, '09 GXP 6.581 209.01
209.01 ------------ Not Qualified ------------ 17 3 Kurt Johnson, Sugar Hill GA, '09 Cobalt 6.701
206.48 207.43 Pro Stock Motorcycle 1 3 Matt Smith, King NC, Suzuki TL 1000R 6.918 192.38
192.38 ------------ Not Qualified ------------ 17 69 Bailey Whitaker, Miami FL, Buell XB9R 7.066
186.54 186.54 Pro Care RX Pro Mod Sunday recap CLERMONT, Ind. -- Rain showers and live television
scheduling conflicts forced NHRA officials to cancel the final round
of qualifying scheduled in the Get Screened America Pro Mod Challenge
presented by ProCare Rx at the Mac Tools NHRA U.S. Nationals. The
field was set based on the two previously completed qualifying rounds.
Newcomers Jason Stock, Ike Maier, and Dennis Radford along with John Russo all made the field that has the rookie from Oklahoma, Kirk Wilmes, on the bump spot with a 6.120. This is the quickest field ever for a U.S. Nationals, surpassing last season when Josh Hernandez took the pole with quickest ET and top speed at 5.993 at 241.20 and a bump spot of 6.132. Local Indiana-resident Brad Personett has top speed of the meet so far at 248.84, and Rowe has low ET so far at 5.943 seconds. Notably not making the field were Scott Ray representing the weekend's featured Pro Mod sponsor, Ohio Crankshaft; world ET record holder and the winner of the last event Raymond Commisso; and the Trane-backed Rick Stivers who was making his return after suffering a crash in St. Louis that sidelined him for several months. Also missing out were Adam Flamholc from Sweden, Canadian Rick DiStefano, Tommy D'Aprile and his beautiful '62 Bel Air, and Scott Christoffel from Oswego, Ill. who had suffered with back problems the entire weekend. Final order after two rounds 1 Danny Rowe 5.943 245.54 Eliminations are scheduled to begin Monday morning and run throughout the day, weather permitting.
Saturday pro qualifying TF 1 2 Larry Dixon, Brownsburg IN, Hadman-TFX 3.850
302.89 306.81 ------------ Not Qualified ------------ 13 524 Joe Hartley, Portland OR, McKinney-BAE 3.919
289.76 289.76 FC 1 4 Robert Hight, Yorba Linda CA, '09 Mustang 4.082
308.35 308.35 ------------ Not Qualified ------------ 13 3 Jack Beckman, North Hills CA, '09 Charger 4.184
296.89 296.89
PS 1 4 Mike Edwards, Coweta OK, '09 GXP 6.581 209.01
209.01 ------------ Not Qualified ------------ 13 357 Larry Morgan, Newark OH, '06 Stratus 6.655
207.18 207.56
PSM 1 235 Hector Arana, Milltown IN, Buell XB9R 6.936
191.89 191.89 ------------ Not Qualified ------------ 13 77 Angie McBride, King NC, Buell XB9R 7.090 184.37
184.37 Pro Mod Rowe blasts from Zero to
Hero in Day Two at Indy Eliminations conclude Monday. 1 Danny Rowe 5.943 245.54
INDIANAPOLIS --
Defending winner Hight, who is in a tight battle with Cruz Pedregon and Matt Hagan for the 10th spot in the Countdown to 1, NHRA’s championship playoffs, gained some confidence for his quest when he powered his Auto Club Ford Mustang to the top of the qualifying order with a performance of 4.107 seconds at 305.36 mph. Pedregon qualified third in his Advance Auto Parts Toyota Solara with a 4.124 at 302.35, while Hagan was sixth in his Shelor.com Dodge Charger with a 4.171 at 299.46. Pedregon is currently 10th in the standings, followed by Hagan in 11th and Hight is 12th, 38 points back. The top 10 drivers in each pro category after this event will race for NHRA Full Throttle Series world championships in a six-race playoff, which starts Sept. 18 at zMAX Dragway in Concord, N.C. “This is definitely a great start to a big, big weekend for the Auto Club team,” Hight said. “We’ve dug ourselves a huge hole, and what’s amazing is we’re within striking distance, two rounds. It’s going to be important to out-qualify Cruz and Hagan because qualifying points could put me behind and make it to where I have to make up three rounds. It’s 38 points now. That’s two rounds, so we want to keep it under 40, and this was definitely a good start.” Hight feels like his team will have to run quicker during tomorrow’s two sessions (noon and 5:45 p.m.) to hang on to the top spot. “Tomorrow, we’re after Top Fuel, so we’re going to be running when it’s a little darker, a little later, and a little cooler,” said Hight, who has advanced to the final round at this event the last three years, winning twice. “And as the weekend goes on, more cars run, and the track gets a little better. Tomorrow night, I’m betting that that 4.10 will not hold up, so we’re going to have to step up a little tomorrow night if we want to maintain the top spot. This definitely gives us an opportunity to press a little harder tomorrow night because we’re in the show. You know (crew chief) Jimmy Prock, that’s his forte. We’ll be trying to run a 4.0 tomorrow night, I guarantee it.”
"It's nice to get down the track and know you have a car that will stay in the top 12," Dixon said. "It was a long day for the team. I think we made more changes in the clutch in the staging lanes than we did all day in the pits. We're happy with the run, and I think tomorrow night's session will really determine who gets the pole."
“It’s a long way to go to be No. 1 on Sunday,” Edwards said. “Four more runs, and there are a lot of good cars. We’re just getting started and I’m sure that won’t hold up. We’ll have to keep battling away and try to make the best adjustments we can, race the track, and see what comes up.”
"We just freshened up our engine, so we have zero runs on that motor [before the run], so I was a really nervous because I didn't know what it was going to do," said Arana, who will face Matt Guidera in the first round of the Ringers Gloves Pro Bike Battle, of which the winner will take home a $25,000 payday. "I saw several guys laying 7.0s and I was wondering who was going to be the first to run 6.90s. The run felt alright; it wasn't the perfect run, but I'll take a 6.98 for the first hit at the U.S. Nationals. This is my hometown now, so I want to do good." |
