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ENGLISHTOWN. N.J. - The Pennzoil Racing Team made its presence felt at the 29th Annual Mopar Parts Nationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park with all of the Pennzoil professional drivers finding ways to distinguish themselves and their sponsor. First, National Hot Rod Association Hall of Fame member Eddie Hill rewrote a couple of entries in the NHRA record book while setting career-best marks in both the elapsed time and the top mph categories. Next, Mike Thomas pulled off the biggest upset of the weekend during the 14th annual running of the elite Pro Stock Challenge. Finally, two-time Pro Stock Challenge champion Bruce Allen, despite several problems with his car, made another respectable showing in the Challenge and raised his total appearance number to 10. Here is a brief recap of how each driver fared in the Garden State. Eddie Hill, the pilot of the Pennzoil Top Fuel Dragster, added to a couple of the impressive NHRA records he already holds when his consistently quick runs down the Old Bridge Township strip improved his number of sub-five second runs to 412 and his total of sub-4.7 second runs to 101. The marks helped Hill reach the second round of eliminations where he left the starting line prematurely and disqualified himself. Despite the red-light violation, Hill drove through a career-best run of 4.625 seconds at 312.64 mph. If it had been allowed, the pass would have easily advanced Hill to the semi-final round past reigning Top Fuel Champion Gary Scelzi. "I can't blame anyone but myself for the last three events," said Hill, who was beaten by better reaction times in Dallas and Richmond, Va. "First I'm late two times in a row, now I'm too quick. It's a shame because I felt like it was our day. Things looked good for us and I thought we were going to pull one off. Obviously, the Pennzoil Dragster is running great. We are so close." Mike Thomas, the driver of the Pennzoil Pro Stock Pontiac, used his first invitation to the annual Pro Stock Challenge as a stage to prove that he belongs among the sport's best. The Challenge is a special event that invites the top eight Pro Stock qualifiers from the last year to compete against one another in elimination-style, head-to-head racing for a $50,000 first prize. As the final entry in the eight-car field, Thomas had the dubious honor of facing points leader Warren Johnson in the opening round. When it came time to race, Thomas used the experience of a final-round battle the two had waged earlier this season to out-smart Johnson and take the win. "He psyched me out (at the Pennzoil Nationals) in Houston by taking a long time to stage his car (at the starting line)," Thomas said. "It distracted me for a split-second and that was all he needed to beat me. This time when I got up to the line, I took three deep breaths, staged the car and told myself that he wasn't going to get me this time." With a national television audience looking on, Thomas used the mental edge he had prepared for himself and soundly beat Johnson by a car length. "That was one of the biggest wins of my career," Thomas said. Ironically, the excitable Thomas faced Steve Schmidt in the semifinals and was beaten by Schmidt's better reaction time. For his efforts, Thomas earned $3,000. In the regular racing of the Mopar Nationals, Thomas used a breakneck pass of 6.920 seconds at 197.80 mph in Round 2 to put himself comfortably to the front of the 16-car qualifying pack. But when the elimination rounds started, Thomas found himself on the wrong side of Greg Anderson's career-best run. Thomas actually had the faster car but was beaten off the line by Anderson's near-perfect 0.428 reaction time. A perfect reaction time is 0.400. "My hat's off to Greg," Thomas said. "Plain and simple, he beat me. I still feel like the Pennzoil car is the best one out there and I'm going to prove it as soon as I can. Look out Chicago." Bruce Allen, the driver of the Outlaw Fuel Additives Pontiac, earned $2,500 for his 10th appearance in Saturday's Pro Stock Challenge but managed to accomplish little else over the racing weekend. Battling tire shake in every round of both the Mopar Nationals and the Pro Stock Challenge, Allen failed to qualify for the weekend's race or win one round in the Challenge. Consequently, Allen missed the cut of his fourth national event of the year and was unable to add to his impressive Challenge resume that includes two championships in a record six final round appearances. "I'm extremely disappointed," Allen said. "When you're in an elite field like the Pro Stock Challenge you know that everyone is watching you and expecting big things. It's really a chance to show everyone what your car can do. Unfortunately, the tires continued to shake and we lost in the first round. When your tires shake, it's all over. As far as the Mopar Nationals go, again, I'm disappointed. Last year we reached the finals here and I wanted to improve on that this year. But we just couldn't get away from this tire (shake) problem."
Allen's best run of the weekend was in the second round of qualifying when he
posted a 7.009-second pass at 196.73 mph.
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