Wed, 8 Apr 2009, 08:00 AM Yeah, It Was Weird

By Bob Frey Photo copyright 2009 Auto Imagery, Inc. & David Allio

K. Johnson vs. Coughlin

The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway isn't that far from the famous, or infamous, Area 51 that you've heard about and that may account for some of the strange things that went on this week. Of course Las Vegas itself is famous for strange things, and if you don't believe that all you have to do is spend a few minutes on the real strip in Vegas to see what I mean. Whatever it was, the SummitRacing.com Nationals will be remembered for some weird things that took place, some great racing as well as a few surprises. The electronic glitches on Friday, along with the really gusty winds combined to shorten the day and then the gremlins hit again on Sunday and that forced a re-run in the Pro Stock class. Just like the race cars themselves, the electrical systems at the track are not perfect and, on occasions, very rare occasions, things happen, as the expression goes. On Sunday it was a piece of rubber that got lodged in the guard beams on the starting line and that kept Kurt Johnson from being able to stage properly and that resulted in a re-run between "KJ" and Jeg Coughlin. Hey, it happens. In the end, for the second time in his career Jeg had to make five runs in order to get the win, and the fact that he had three drivers foul out against him was just another of the strange occurrences at the event. I'll have more on that later, but for now let's congratulate the winners and encourage everyone to enjoy the off-weekend before heading to Atlanta.

Schumacher vs. Bernstein

It's hard to say that a win by Tony Schumacher is surprising but most observers of the class thought that the Army team would struggle this year. Well, that means that most observers were wrong. On the heels of his win in Houston a week earlier, Tony, crew chief Mike Green and the rest of the team did it again, beating Terry Haddock, Cory McClenathan, Shawn Langdon and Brandon Bernstein to pick up his 58^th national event win. With the win Tony moved into the point's lead for the first time this year and it certainly looks like he'll be at or near the top for the rest of the year. And if winning on Sunday wasn't enough, the Army team then stayed and tested in Las Vegas on Monday. Hey, I guess that's why they have been and continue to be so good. The group of drivers that Tony faced was interesting since it featured two young drivers and two veterans. Did you know that when Tony met Terry Haddock in round one it was their first meeting ever and that Terry became the seventy-first different driver that Tony has faced in his career? Did you know that out of those seventy-one drivers Tony has a winning record

Shawn Langdon

against sixty-four of them? Tony also faced Shawn Langdon, the top qualifier, for the second time while he has raced Cory and Brandon a grand total of seventy-one times. Tony is also starting to show that if you want to beat him you better do it in the middle rounds. His first round win over Haddock made it thirty-one consecutive races at which he has advanced past the first round, and his win over Brandon in the finals gave him a 15-1 record in his last sixteen finals rounds. All of those things and a good, solid team could add up to another championship for the "Sarge."...Brandon Bernstein has done everything recently except win a race. The Budweiser team keeps going rounds, making it to final rounds but just can't close the deal.

Brandon Bernstein

Did you know that Brandon has been to six finals in the last twenty-seven races and he is still looking for his first win over that span? Keep in mind that just to get to that many finals in a year is very impressive and not many teams can say that they have done that, and the fact that Tony Schumacher has been there waiting for him at four of those races must be pointed out, too. Rob Flynn is doing a very good job with the car and sometimes you just have to give the other team credit for beating you. Brandon is and will be in the thick of the point's chase all season long, now if we could just find a partner for them for 2010 and beyond...Shawn Langdon was pumped up about being number one, and rightfully so. Starting just his fifth Top Fuel race, the reigning Super Comp world champ has been in the top half of the field for four consecutive races and that's not easy for anyone, let alone a rookie. Shawn, who is learning to make the transition from a sportsman class to the pros in a hurry, is also learning that being number one is not a guarantee of victory, especially in Las Vegas. Did you know that the last time a TF winner came for the top spot in Las Vegas was in 2002?

Capps vs. Hagan

Ron Capps won for the third time this year in the Funny Car and the NAPA team really looks like they may have the best car in the class right now. As you know, it's been a case of all or nothing for Ron since he has three wins and two round-one losses in the first five races of the year. Ron beat first-time qualifier Brian Thiel in round one before disposing of a pair of Team Force cars in the next two rounds. Then, in the final, he beat another rookie and another member of Don Schumacher Racing, Matt Hagan. The way the parings went we had two Schumacher cars meeting each other in round two, two Team Force cars squaring off, two Pedregon brothers racing each other and one matchup that featured Team Force against Team Don. Did you know that for the entire weekend the only losses by the Team Schumacher cars came at the hands of another Team Schumacher car? Jack Beckman lost to Matt Hagan and then Matt lost to Capps....Ron's win

Matt Hagan

was his 27^th in a Funny Car and that moves him up to fifth place on the all-time FC list. Only John Force (126), Tony Pedregon (40), Don Prudhomme (35) and Kenny Bernstein (30) are ahead of him, and since the "Snake" and the "King" aren't racing anymore Ron should move up to the top three before too long. Not bad for a guy who started out racing Top Fuel in 1995 is it? For a guy who went the entire 2008 season without a win Ron is now off to the best start of his career and Ed McCulloch has to get a lot of the credit, along with his crew, for the turn around. Ron said that it's just a new attitude that Ed has taken this year, an attitude that says they have to go out and try to win every round, not just hang around in an effort to make the "Countdown" at the end of the year. Whatever it is it has obviously paid off for the team....Tony Pedregon was the top qualifier in the Funny Car class and that should have told him that he wasn't going to win. Did you know that no Funny Car driver has ever won the Las Vegas race from the top spot? If that's not enough, did you know that the only number one guy to even make it to the finals in Vegas was Whit Bazemore

Tony Pedregon

back in 2003 and he lost to, you guessed it, Tony Pedregon....Whit was the topic of a lot of discussion this week since he was in town doing some work for ESPN. I know Whit would like to drive again, but if that doesn't happen I guess a gig working with his pal, Mike Dunn on the TV shows wouldn't be too bad. I think this may have been a one-race experiment, at least for now, so we'll just have to wait and see where Whit shows up next....Tommy Johnson was at the track for a few days and he stopped in to the announcing booth and spent some time with me on Saturday and Sunday and I have to say that he did a very god job. Tommy has driven in both fuel classes and his insights into the racing were very impressive and he expressed them well. He also told me that there is a chance that he could be back racing as soon as the Atlanta race. It's not a "done deal" but, as he said, it could happen. By the way, happy birthday to Tommy and Don Prudhomme who share yesterday (Monday) as their birthday... There used to be a time in the Funny Car class where if you qualified number one you were pretty sure that you would get an easy opponent in round one, but no more. Tony was the top guy and he got to run Del Worsham in Alan Johnson's car in the first round. Did you know that Tony has beaten Del thirty times and that's more than he has beaten any other driver? Tony beat Del and then lost to his

Bob Bode

brother, Cruz, when Tony hit the timing cones in the middle of the track. Tony's 4.100 elapsed time in qualifying stood up as low E/T for the weekend making it the 33^rd time Tony has had the quickest car on the property. Did you know that is the fifth most in the history of the FC class?...Matt Hagan is impressing a lot of people and the Shelor.com car is now in second place in the points. Matt came so close to winning his first race, and even though he came up a bit short, we all know that he will win in the very near future....And let's give some credit to Bob Bode for his great qualifying effort. Bob made two solid runs, one on Friday and one on Saturday and it looked for a while like he may get the top spot. In the end he finished up fifth before losing in round one to Hagan. Still, it was an exciting weekend for Bob and I want to congratulate him and his team for their efforts. Bob was also one of the many drivers who stopped by the Palms for the big autograph session on Wednesday night. Thanks, to him and all the drivers who made that event another huge success.

Coughlin vs. Stanfield

There was nothing weird about Jeg Coughlin winning in Pro Stock. Oh sure, he had to make five runs but in the end it was vintage Jeggie as he won for the second time this year and, in the process, took over the top spot. What was weird was the fact that Jeg had three drivers foul out against him on Sunday. Did you know that in the entire history of Pro Stock, and that's a span of 623 races, this was only the sixth time a driver won by having three red lights in the other lane? The first time it happened was at the Gatornationals in 1975 when Bob Glidden had Bobby Yowell, Larry Lombardo and Wayne Gapp foul out against him. Oddly enough, the next time it happened was when that same Larry Lombardo had Lee Hunter, Richie Zul and Don Nicholson foul out at the 1977 Winternationals. Like I said, it's only happened six times in the Pro Stock class and that's not a lot, especially when you consider how many races have been contested in Pro Stock since 1970....I don't know if it's weird or not, but the only round where Jeg didn't win by a red light was in the semi-finals where he was second off the line against Jason Line. Since Jeg isn't second off the line very often, I just thought I'd mention that...Jeg's win was the 161^st for Chevrolet and he has accounted for twenty-two of them. Did you know that only Kurt Johnson (29) and Lee Shepherd (26) have won more Pro Stock races in a Chevrolet than Jeg has?...Jeg won the race after qualifying eighth in the field and that's not easy to do. Did you know that the number eight qualifier has only won

Mike Edwards

eleven times in Pro Stock history and that Jeg has won three of them?...Mike Edwards had another good weekend from a performance standpoint. Mike qualified first and left the track with low elapsed time in the class, a solid 6.656. To show you how good Mike's in-house engine program is doing, consider this. Did you know that in his entire Pro Stock career coming into 2009, a career that spanned 267 races, Mike had set low E/T exactly twice and now he has done it three times in the first five races of 2009? Mike, who was one of the three to foul out against Jeg, has struggled on the starting line this year but he'll get it straightened out and, when he does, look out. That's a great car that he has and he'll be battling for the championship the next time we come to Las Vegas in the fall.

Ted Seipel

It may not be strange, but it doesn't happen very often. In fact, it's never happened before. I'm talking about Ted Seipel winning in Super Gas. Sure, that's happened before but not for a long while and certainly not since he turned 72 years old last December. Ted officially becomes the oldest driver to win an NHRA national event, and I say that with the utmost respect. What a great sport this is when you can have a bunch of "twenty-something's" racing in the pro classes and a 72 year old man winning in the sportsman ranks. Congratulations to Ted and all of the Ferrari fans worldwide. After all, that's what he was driving and that, in itself, is weird enough. I mean, how many people come to the drag races to see a Ferrari?...Tony Bartone couldn't run 7.03 to make the alky show in Houston last week and now he comes to Las Vegas and runs the table. Tony, who was the only number one qualifier to win in any class in Vegas, took Rick Jackson's car to the win, his second of the year and that means we're going to have a real battle for the Top Alcohol Funny Car title this year. And for all the fans of the alky classes, here's good news, Tony and his team will be in Englishtown in a few weeks to take on Frank Manzo and the rest of the east coast stars. I can't wait. Did you know that Tony's twenty-seven wins puts him fourth on the all-time list in the TAFC class?....Justin Davis won his first national event when he beat Chris Demke for the Top Alcohol Dragster title in Las Vegas. Justin, along with Steve and Patty Federlin, beat a very good field of cars, one that included Jim Whiteley, and that's something to be very proud of....Dan Fletcher won again and that makes three national event wins already this year in the Comp class. Now that's really impressive and it looks like he is the man to beat, again this year for the Competition Eliminator crown....Jody Lang pulled the rare "double-up" when he took Super Stock and Stock honors. The only thing that would have made that better would have been if his mom, Janet, who passed away earlier this year, had been there to see it....Michael Miller and Tim Landis took Super Comp and Super Street honors to wrap up the sportsman champs in Vegas.

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