Tue, 20 May 2008, 10:18 PM Melanie is Right

By Bob Frey Photo copyright 2008 Auto Imagery, Inc. & Robert Grice

Troxel vs. Force

Melanie Troxel's win at the O'Reilly Thunder Valley Nationals was historic for a couple of reasons, none of which impressed Melanie Troxel, the Funny Car champion. Following Ashley Force's win a few weeks ago, Melanie became the second female to win a Funny Car race and she won the much heralded first-ever meeting between the two when she beat Ashley in round two. She also became the first woman to win an NHRA national event in both Top Fuel and Funny Car and she's one of only fourteen people ever to do that. And, like I said, the only thing that Melanie cared about was the fact that she won the race. "It's sad if it all comes down to just what we (she and Ashley) do as women. We're racers and that's what we do and that's how we want to be treated." She went on to say, in essence, that the good thing about racing is that everyone has the same chance and that you should be judged on how you do as a racer, gender not withstanding. She said the same thing when she was getting all the awards and attention at the start of the 2006 season and I applaud her for her consistency. The sooner we get over putting labels on our competitors the better off we'll be. Having said that, I know the media will have a field day with this win just like it will if Melanie or Ashley should win the season championship. Or Antron Brown, for that matter. So be it.

Troxel vs. Neff

Actually, there are two things that Melanie probably was excited about this weekend. She did win her first round as a Funny Car driver and she did win the race. Did you know that this was the seventh win of her career and those wins have come in three different classes? She won four times in Top Fuel and twice in the Top Alcohol Dragster class prior to getting her initial Funny Car victory. I also have to think that the fact that she joins a very select group of drivers who have won in both fuel classes means something to her. Did you know that there are only fourteen people who have accomplished that goal? Of course you do if you read the first paragraph of this story, but did you know that of that total of fourteen twelve of them were in Bristol this past weekend? Check it out, in addition to Melanie, Ed McCulloch, Ron Capps, Mike Dunn, Jim Head, Frank Hawley, Kenny Bernstein, Scott Kalitta, Mark Oswald, Don Prudhomme, Tommy Johnson and Gary Scelzi have won in both fuel classes and all were involved with the race in Bristol in one way or another. Only Gene Snow and Tom McEwen of that group of fourteen were not in Tennessee this weekend. Interesting, huh? Did you know that of those fourteen drivers, only Ron Capps, Scott Kalitta and Tom McEwen did not win multiple times in both classes? Ron and Tom both won one Top Fuel race while Scott only won once in Funny Car. All the others won

Mike Neff

more than one race in both TF & FC, so that gives Melanie something to shoot for now that she has put one in the win column in the Funny Car class ..Mike Neff went to his second consecutive final round and, for the second consecutive time, came up empty, but just the fact that he made it to back-to-back finals after not winning a round for the first six races of the season is impressive. With those two final round appearances Mike now finds himself in seventh place in the points, a jump of seven spots in the last two races. Mike also became the 85^th driver in Funny Car history to record a number one spot. Did you know that of that total thirty-four of those drivers never were number one again after their first time? And did you know that in addition to Mike six of those drivers were in Bristol. Tony Bartone, Jack Beckman, Scott Kalitta, Glenn Mikres, Todd Paton and Johnny West all have one top qualifying sport to their credit in the Funny Car class. Something tells me that Mike's number one spot will not be his last. Even though he didn't win Mike did fare better than most other top qualifiers in the FC class at Bristol. Did you know that no number one

Robert Hight

driver in Funny Car has ever won the Bristol race? In fact, only once, in 2004, did the top guy even make it to the final round. If it were not for a little mechanical glitch in the final round the results may have been different in Bristol, but I guess we'll never know..Robert Hight set low elapsed time at the event and, in the process, he took the track record away from the late Eric Medlen. Robert said that he had mixed emotions about that and I'm sure he did. Everyone loved Eric, especially the people who are part of Team Force, and anytime they take one of Eric's records it has to a bitter sweet..The top six drivers maintained their positions in the standings while Ron Capps moved up one, Gary Densham dropped two spots and Jack Beckman, with his DNQ, went from eighth to eleventh in the points...Melanie's win gave us seven different Funny Car winners in the first eight races this season with only Tim Wilkerson having more than one win. Did you know that there were only eight winners in the entire 2007 season?

Schumacher vs. Dixon

Tony Schumacher is hot. Now that's a revelation, isn't it? The "Sarge" took the Army car to another win, the third of the year in five final round appearances, and with the win Tony has moved to a 131 point lead in the standings and that's a bunch after only eight races. The only thing that kept Tony from sweeping the event was a 330.80 mph charge from JR Todd that gave him top speed of the meet. Other than that, the win and all of the performance marks went to the Army team led by Alan Johnson. I know that there are a lot of races remaining on the schedule but I have to say that the Army team certainly looks like the best car in the dragster class right now. As much as Tony loved the new Countdown format last year, right about now he probably wishes they would go back to the old format. On the other hand I have to think that all of the other Top Fuel teams are really glad that the Countdown program is the way it is right now because that will give them all a chance to catch Tony late this year. After all, no matter what kind of lead Tony has (assuming he does still have the lead) after Indy, it will be all bunched up after that and nine other drivers will have a shot at the title just like Tony will. I actually think the real battle will be for the final couple spots in the Countdown and that should get very interesting by the time we get to Indy, the last race where drivers will be able to earn a spot in the top

Larry Dixon

ten....Larry Dixon was the opponent for Tony in the final round and it marked the thirteenth time the two have faced each other in the money round and Tony has now won nine of those meetings. That's interesting, too, because in their overall head-to-head meetings, Larry leads 26-23, but it seems to be those final rounds that everyone remembers. Did you know that Larry has a winning record against Tony in every round except the final? Staying in that final round mode, did you know that Larry has now been to eighty finals and Tony has been to seventy-five? The only driver who is ahead of them in the Top Fuel class is Joe Amato who went to ninety-nine finals in his Top Fuel career. Both of these great young drivers could pass Joe eventually but if they do, it won't be for a while. Tony, with his four round wins now has 401 and that is eleventh best in all of the pro classes. Even though Tony said that his numbers paled in comparison to John Force's record 1,000 round wins, it's still a very impressive accomplishment for Tony and his entire team. Tony has been very consistent this year with no first round losses and only twice has he failed to get as far as the semi-finals at a race. That's the kind of performance and consistency that championships are made of, isn't it? Tony is off to one of the best starts of his career with nineteen round wins in the first eight races of

Hillary Will

the season. Did you know that's more than he had in 2006 & 2007 combined after eight races? He did win eighteen rounds in his first eight races in 2005 and he won an amazing twenty-one rounds in the first eight races in 2004, so this year's start ranks up there with his best. Did you know that when Tony won from the number one spot it was the 15^th time in his career that he's done that and that's more wins from the top spot than anyone else in the history of the TF class...The biggest change in the TF points was right in the middle of the pack, where Hillary Will and Cory McClenathan changed spots, with Hillary now fifth and Cory sixth. With her two round wins on Sunday Hillary now has nine for the season and that matches her entire total for the 2007 season.

Johnson vs. Edwards

The Pro Stock class was probably the most surprising in Bristol with more twists and turns than a spy novel. To begin with, Jeg Coughlin didn't qualify and that ended his streak at seventy in a row. Then Warren Johnson, who has a very good race car this year, was upset in round one by Mike Edwards who is having one of the best years ever by any driver on the starting line. Then Dave Connolly, who wasn't even qualified going into Saturday's program, makes the field in the number six spot and goes on to win the race. Throw in a pair of red lights by the Summit Racing drivers and you had one very wacky weekend in Pro Stock. When it was all over, Greg Anderson was the points leader, Jeg dropped to fourth and Ron Krisher moved into the top ten. Ron's move was aided by the fact that Justin Humphreys failed to make the cut for the second consecutive race....Certainly Jeg not qualifying was huge, but Warren Johnson losing in round one was equaling stunning, and not because Mike Edwards didn't have a good car, because he did, but because Warren looked so strong through four rounds of qualifying and it sure looked like he had the car to beat. By the same token, Kurt Johnson,

Kurt Johnson

who was coming off a win in St. Louis, also appeared to have a car that could win some rounds and he didn't get out of the first round, either. Did you know that this was the thirty-sixth time that Warren and Kurt have qualified number one and two at the same race? It's also the second time this year that they have done it but did you know that it's the first time in all those thirty-six races that they have both lost in the first round? Warren set low elapsed time and top speed and still didn't get out of round one and that just shows you how tough the Pro Stock class is this year..Mike Edwards must be practicing a lot because he sure is looking good on the starting line this year. Mike put a perfect reaction time on the board in round two after a .009 reaction time against Warren in round one. Did you know that this was the third perfect reaction time of the year for Mike to go along with three more double-zero lights? Mike becomes the first car driver in the history of the sport to put three perfect reaction times on the board in one season and his five perfect reaction times in his career are the most by any driver in the pro classes. I say "car driver" in that one regard because Antron Brown, in his motorcycle days,

Connolly vs. Stanfield

also posted three perfect reaction times in one year, but Mike is the only pro driver to do it in a four-wheeled vehicle....Dave Connolly's win was the 150^th time that a Chevrolet has won a Pro Stock race. Those wins have been spread out over the years and include wins by the new Cobalt along with the venerable Camaro, Vega, Cavalier, Beretta, Lumina and Monza models and it goes back to the very first Chevy win which took place at the very first Pro Stock race in 1970. Dave's win, his 18^th in a Chevrolet, ties him with Jeg Coughlin for third on the all-time Chevy win list. As I mentioned last week, Kurt Johnson is at the top of the list with twenty-seven and Lee Shepherd in second with twenty-six....Even with his DNQ Jeg got out of town with the least amount of damage as possible. That's because of the fact that Jason Line, who was the leader coming in, fouled out in round one, Kurt went out early and so did Allen Johnson....Dave Connolly's win moved him into fourteenth place in the points and he is now eighty-three points out of tenth place. Anyone care to bet against him making the Countdown? Didn't think so. Dave's win made him the seventh different winner this year in Pro Stock and, when you remember that we only had six all last year, it is another indication of how balanced the class is.

Travis Nicholson

Jim Harrington, Anthony Fetch, Mike Robilotto and Ray Connolly all won in the sportsman classes. For Harrington it was his third national event win and he's done it in three different classes. Prior to winning in Super Stock he had victories in Stock and Super Comp.Fetch beat the "Terminator," Peter Biondo, in his final round to claim the second national event win of his career. In the "90" categories, Mike Robilotto joined his daughter, Heather, as a national event winner while Connolly joined his son in the winner's circle for the third time...The Lucas Oil Division 3 race in Norwalk, Ohio, was rained out and that will put Frank Manzo's streak on hold. I did notice that Bobby Martin, who now drives for the Parker family, was right there with Frank in qualifying after running a personal best of 5.575. That run qualified Bobby second with Frank's 5.573 the only one who was better going into race day....And congratulations to Travis Nicholson for winning his first race when he beat the red-hot Spencer Massey in the finals of the Top Alcohol Dragster class at the Division 4 race in Houston. I hope we see Travis at one of the upcoming national events because it's always fun to see new teams and drivers mix it up with the more familiar teams out there.

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