FEATURE- Did You Know? by Bob Frey

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Wed, 26 Aug 2009, 07:52 AM

Take a Breath and Get Ready for Indy

By Bob Frey
Photo copyright 2009 Auto Imagery, Inc.

Working on the weepers.

My old adage that a good race is a race that ends on the day it was supposed to end really applies to the 25^th running of the Toyo Tires Nationals at Maple Grove. Rain, water coming up through the track and a few long oil-downs really made the event a test for racers and fans alike. In the end, all of the pro classes and one sportsman class were completed on Sunday, late, but on Sunday, while the remaining sportsman classes were finished on Monday morning. The folks at Maple Grove, more than any other track on the tour, have certainly had their share of really bad weather over the years and they deserve a break one of these times. The water problem, which we have seen at other tracks over the years, is something that really wasn't expected even with all the rain in the area, and is hard to predict and even harder to fix. The family that runs the track made every effort to fix the problem over the weekend and they made a promise to the fans and the racers that we would never have that situation again. Let's face it,

Frey points out his brick
in "The Walk of Fame."

things happen that you can't anticipate and this was one of them, and as long as everyone makes an honest effort to fix it that's all you can ask..Before moving on I would like to thank Maple Grove for including me in the class of 2009 of inductees into their "Walk of Fame." Along with Kenny Bernstein (son Brandon accepted), John Force and Frank Manzo, I was honored before the race began on Sunday and it was very exciting. Thanks to everyone, and if you want to visit my brick (something I never thought I would say), it's on display with all the other inductees and past recipients at the track. Thanks, again. And for all of you who have visited my home (and you know who you are), the trophy now occupies a place of honor in my office, and I'm sure you all know exactly where that would be!!

Clay Millican
We are now seventeen races into the season and have just one race to go before we make the cut to the top ten teams who will race for the championship. In Top Fuel, everything is pretty much set with the exception of the tenth and final spot. That battle has been and will be, at least for one more race, between Clay Millican and Joe Hartley. Joe who drives the family car, was in the tenth spot for the first nine races of the year while Clay has occupied that spot ever since. Did you know that Clay has lost in the first round at four of the last five races and that has enabled Joe to climb right back into the points battle? Joe, meanwhile, has made it to the second round at three consecutive races and that has helped him move to within three points of Clay as we go into Indy. Wouldn't it be neat if they qualified opposite each other at Indy and then just let the best man win and earn the final playoff spot? I don't know if Clay and Joe would agree but I think the fans would love it.Larry Dixon

Joe Hartley
won the race and, in the process, achieved a couple of personal goals. Did you know that in all of his years in Pennsylvania Larry had never won at Maple Grove until this weekend? The win, which is the 48^th of his career, gave him four more rounds to go with his previous total which means he now has competed in 798 rounds of Top Fuel racing. Did you know that those four rounds moved Larry ahead of Joe Amato (795 rounds) and into first place on the all-time TF list? Also, with his four round wins Larry moved closer to Joe in the win total, too. Did you know that Joe won 527 rounds while Larry now has 523 round wins? By the way, Cory McClenathan could also pass Joe this year since he has 790

Dixon vs. Massey
rounds of Top Fuel racing to his credit..Larry won the race from the number three qualifying position and he beat Spencer Massey who had qualified fifth. Did you know that in the entire twenty-five year history of this race this is the first time that the number three qualifier won in TF and the number five car has never won in Pennsylvania? Larry looks like a lock for second place in the points and the Al-Anabi team will be tough to beat once the "Countdown" begins.On his way to the win Larry beat Tony Schumacher and the Army car in the second round before beating Spencer for the trophy, and please don't tell me that those two races

Dixon vs. Schumacher
were just "another round" of racing for either team. Tony wanted to beat Alan Johnson, Larry and the rest of that team while Larry surely wanted to beat Spencer and the Don Prudhomme-owned team. Hey, it's human nature, isn't it? This was the first time that Larry had beaten Tony in their three meetings this year while he evened his record against the US Smokeless team to 2-2 for the year. Those three teams alone should make for some interesting battles once we get to the "Countdown.".Antron Brown swept all the statistical categories but he couldn't close the deal. "AB" was the number one qualifier, set low elapsed time and top speed yet didn't win the race. Antron did, however, secure the top spot in the "Countdown" and the bonus points that goes with being number one.

Tasca vs. Neff
The Funny Cars lived up to their name, or maybe they should be called "wacky" cars after this weekend. We had blow-ups, disqualifications, very rare red lights and so much more. In the end what we also had was a win by Bob Tasca who has been running very well lately and another tough loss for Tim Wilkerson. Tasca, who won his second national event of the year, ran 4.26 in his round one win over Ron Capps while Tim ran 4.26 in his first round match and lost to Mike Neff. This coming after the Brainerd race where Tim ran 4.12 and lost to Ron Capps who went 4.11. Even with those tough losses you can mark this down, once we get to the "Countdown" Tim will be as tough to beat as anyone and I fully expect him to contend for the championship again this year.This was the second win for Bob Tasca and he is now tied with a host of racers with two wins in the Funny Car class. The thing that may surprise you is who some of the others are with two wins. How about Ashley Force? Or Dean Skuza? Or Gary Burgin? I think most folks would have believed those drivers had won more than twice, but they haven't....Ashley

Tasca vs. Force
Force was disqualified after beating Jeff Arend in round one and then coming up lite at the scales. After her big explosion in qualifying, Ashley and her team brought out a new car, and after the win, it did not meet the minimum weight and she was DQ'd. In the overall realm of things it meant little to her other than the scrutiny (and exposure) that it brought to the team.If that weren't enough excitement for Team Force, who were still answering questions about the switching of drivers, cars and crew chiefs, John Force went and fouled out in the semi-finals against Bob Tasca. Did you know that, in 1,425 rounds of racing, this was only the twenty-first time that John has fouled out? And, ironically, his last red light came at this same race back in 2007 when he fouled in the final round. With so few fouls it shouldn't come as any surprise that John has never fouled out against the same driver more than once....Mike Neff, who made it to the final round, then had a reaction time of .235 and that, basically, ended any chance he had of beating Tasca. Did you know that Mike is now 0-5 in final rounds? Mike has had some real interesting finals

Mike Neff
in his brief driving career, including last year when he lost to Tim Wilkerson in St. Louis 4.87 - 4.88 and then lost to Tim again in Englishtown by that exact same time, 4.87 - 4.88. His other loses included the one in Bristol when he blew up against Melanie Troxel, and earlier this year when he broke on the burnout against Ron Capps in Arizona.. Geez, what's a guy have to do to get a win around here?.... The battle at the top of the pack is close, with Tony Pedregon leading Ron Capps by 73 points in the race for number one going into the "Countdown." That's more than three rounds and that will be tough for Ron to make up at one race..The battle for the tenth spot is even better, and more crucial to the competitors, with Cruz Pedregon holding on to tenth place with 801 points, Matt Hagan in eleventh place thirty-one behind Cruz and Robert Hight another seven points behind Matt. Should be some real fun in Indy, don't you think?

Gray vs. Coughlin
Jeg Coughlin did it again when he won a race that it didn't look like he was going to win. Jeg, who started from the eighth spot, beat Johnny Gray in the final round to get his sixth win of the year, his 47^th in Pro Stock and his 60^th overall. Did you know that Jeg becomes just the ninth driver in the history of the sport to pick up sixty national event wins? Along the way to his win Jeg beat Ronnie Humphrey in round one, top qualifier Mike Edwards in round two and Jason Line in round three before stopping Johnny Gray in the final round. Did you know that Jeg's 6.634 in the final was the low elapsed time of the meet in Pro Stock? This was the first time all year that Jeg had set low elapsed time and that should be good news for the team heading into Indy. Did you know that when he won from the eighth spot Jeg became the first driver in twenty-five years to do that at Maple Grove? The win was Jeg's twenty-sixth in a Chevrolet and that ties him with the great Lee Shepherd for second place on the all-time Chevy win list. Only Kurt Johnson, with twenty-nine, has won

Johnny Gray
more for the "bow tie" brigade....Johnny Gray's final round appearance moved him closer to Warren Johnson and the final spot in the "Countdown" and it also moved him into the record books. Johnny is now only nine points behind Warren in the standings so it looks like the driver who is better at Indy will get a shot at the running for the championship. As far as the records go, did you know that Johnny becomes the first driver in the modern era and only the second driver ever to make a final round in the Funny Car class and in Pro Stock? Toss in his wins in both alky classes and you have a very versatile driver with a record that may never be broken, that is, unless Gary Scelzi gets a Pro Stock ride real soon!! The other driver who did make it to final rounds in both Funny Car and Pro Stock would be Don Nicholson, who made his one and only FC final round appearance at the 1966 World Finals where he lost to Eddie Schartman. Even though the class hadn't officially been designated for competition yet, this is regarded as the first Funny Car race in NHRA national event history and "Dyno" Don made it to the finals, the only time he was in a FC final round in his career.

Phillips vs. Krawiec
The Pro Stock Motorcycles ran the gamut from long-time racers to riders making their first NHRA start. In the end, though, it was the reigning champ, Eddie Krawiec, who took the trophy home when he beat Michael Phillips in the final round. Michael, who blew his engine up in the semi-finals, got a lot of help from Steve Johnson who loaned him an engine and Craig Treble who came over to help out installing it, but it wasn't enough as Michael limped through with a time of 8.153 to Eddie's 7.138.Still, it was a valiant effort and a tip of the cap to Steve, Craig and everyone else who helped out, and at least the fans got to see two motorcycles on the starting line in the final round.Eddie, who has clinched the top spot in the "Countdown," won for the fourth time this year and, like Jeg, he did something that he hadn't done all year. Did you know that when Eddie ran 6.970 in the first round it marked the first time this year that he

Geoff Godfrey
set low elapsed time in the bike class? And it's only the second time in his career that he has had the quickest bike on the property...Michael's run to the final round didn't result in a win but it did move him from eleventh to eighth place in the points and virtually secured a spot for him in the "Countdown.".The battle in Indy will be between Karen Stoffer and Steve Johnson for the final spot, that is, unless they both stumble and Junior Pippin sweeps in to grab the last spot. Karen leads Steve by two points and Junior, with two good races at Brainerd and Reading, is now just fifty points behind Steve....Andrew Hines qualified for the race and that makes 100 consecutive races for Andrew while Geoff Godfrey qualified for his first NHRA national event. Did you know that Geoff becomes the 173^rd rider to make the starting lineup at an NHRA event?...In the "for what it's worth" category, Eddie set low elapsed time on a Harley-Davidson, Hector Arana was the top qualifier on a Buell and Michael Phillips set top speed on a Suzuki. Parity? You decide.

Thomas and Dan Fletcher
Frank Manzo did what he has been doing at Maple Grove since 1985.he won. Frank, who won the first Maple Grove national event in 1985 when he beat the top qualifier, Vern Moats, won for the twelfth time at the track and that includes every race since 2000. Frank beat Marc White in the final round on a slight holeshot, 5.604 to Marc's 5.593. Marc is one of the few drivers to have beaten Frank in the last decade and he did it at Columbus in 2002 and he did it on a holeshot. Did you know that win was the twenty-third final round in a row that Frank has won? Amazing, isn't it?...Duane Shields beat Maple Grove's own Mike Lewis in the final round on Monday to take the TAD win, the thirteenth of his career. Did you know that moves Duane into eighth place on the all-time alky dragster win list?...Dan Fletcher and his son, Thomas, both won and that makes them only the fourth father-son team to win at the same event. Kenny and Brandon Bernstein did it in Las Vegas in 2001 and Sam and Peter Biondo did it a year later at Englishtown, and the Connolly's, Ray and Dave have done it three times, Chicago in 2004, St Louis in 2007 and at Bristol in 2008..With Jeg, Frank and Dan all winning that means that three of the top ten winners of all time all picked up a "Wally" at Maple Grove.Shawn Cowie won the Division 6 race in Montana, but since he had already reached his maximum number of races to claim, it didn't help him in the points. The fact that he beat Jim Whiteley means it didn't help Jim, either. It also means that this week, with races in Topeka, Bowling Green and Cecil County, there will be a lot on the line for the drivers who are battling for the TAD Lucas Oil championship this year.