Wed, 18 Nov 2009, 12:42 PM It's All Over

By Bob Frey Photo copyright 2009 Auto Imagery, Inc.

"Diggity" Dave, Frey & Compton

As I walked through the restaurant at the Hyatt Hotel this morning (that's where the awards show was held last night) I ran into several people who said, "I'll see you in eighty-five days." That fact that they knew how many days it was until the first race of the 2010 season was very interesting, or scary, or both. Of course, since I haven't counted, I'll have to take their word for it, but since more than one said it I guess it's true. Or at least, close. Others walked by and said, "I'm glad it's over." And that's a sentiment that I heard a lot over the past few days. As I always say, as much as I love drag racing, when the last race is over I really am ready to put my feet up, sit back and relax. And then, when the season is about to get underway again (in eighty-five days), I'm ready to go out and begin another new year. For now, though, let's just celebrate a great season, a season that ended with a bang at Pomona. Even though none of the series champions won the last race, the Auto Club Finals was still a very exciting event, one that I'm sure the racers and the fans all enjoyed. OK, so the fans enjoyed it, but I'm not sure about all the racers, especially those who fell just a little short of their championship goals....One of the reasons that you should plan on attending the awards show next year is that you never know who may show up. I happened to get my picture taken with a lot of folks on Monday night, but my favorite might be the one I had taken with "Diggity" Dave from "Pimp My Ride" and Tom Compton, President of the NHRA. By the way, that's Tom on the right.

Tony Schumacher

When it was all said and done, the "Sarge," Tony Schumacher did something that nobody thought he would do, he won another Top Fuel championship. Actually, there were some who thought he could do it and they were mostly in the Schumacher / Army camp. I know that, at the beginning of the year, several of us picked the champions for the year and none of us had the Army car going the distance. In the interest of fair reporting, none of us picked any of the other pro champions, either. So much for being an "expert," huh? Tony, Mike Green and his team did everything they had to do and won when they had to win and they deserve all of the accolades that go with winning the championship. There was nothing lucky about it. Nothing was given to them and they worked for and earned all the points they got. In the end, when Larry Dixon smoked the tires right in front of Tony in the semi-finals at Pomona, it was over and Tony became a seven-time Top Fuel champion. Did you know that only Bob Glidden, Frank Manzo and John Force have won more championships

Massey vs. Dixon

than Tony has? That's pretty good company to be in isn't it? I'll have a complete look at Tony's year in a future column, but for now I just want to congratulate him and his team for a job well done. Very well done.....I can't be the only one who found it ironic that Larry's loss came at the hands of Spencer Massey, the man who replaced him in the Don Prudhomme Top Fuel car, can I? Did you know that Larry and Spencer met eight times during the year and Spencer won five of those meetings? And did you know that those eight times represent the most times that Larry faced any driver in 2009? As I often say, what are the odds?....Spencer finished the season on a high note with a win in Las Vegas and a runner-up in Pomona and then a Rookie of the Year award.

Spencer Massey

Congratulations, Spencer and the rest of your team...There are people who will never like the "Countdown" format, but after watching the drama unfold this week, it's hard not to be a fan. Tony won by two points over Larry while Antron Brown finished third, Cory McClenathan was fourth and Brandon Bernstein ended up fifth....None of the number one qualifiers won in Pomona and that's not really that unusual for this race. Did you know that, since Pro Stock and Funny Car became regular parts of the NHRA Finals in 1970, there have been twelve times that none of the top qualifiers won the race? That includes a couple of years when the Pro Stock Trucks were running and there were five professional classes at the race....Antron Brown closed the season with a win and that gave him six for the year, the most in the TF class....One of the biggest rounds of applause at the awards ceremony came when they introduced

Chris Karamesines

Cory McClenathan as the fourth place finisher. I guess, like me, a lot of folks would love to see Cory win a championship and they appreciated the efforts of Cory and his Fram team this year. He has a good car and a good team and I expect him to contend for the championship again next year....I'm not saying it was the run of the year, although it very well could be, but eighty-one year old Chris Karamesines, ran 3.897 at 308.57 miles per hour in qualifying. The "Greek," who had a birthday on Wednesday before the race, then went out and ran a very respectable 3.99 in his round one loss to Brandon Bernstein. Chris, who first ran at Pomona in 1964, looked as good, on and off the track, as I have seen him for a long while, and to see him run that well was really nice.

Mike Neff

Not only did none of the top qualifiers win in Pomona, but only one even made it to the final round. Ashley Force, who finished the season in second place, went from the top position (that she took from her dad at the last moment on Saturday), to the final round where she lost to her teammate, Mike Neff. Mike, who finally got that monkey off his back, won for the first time in six final round appearances, three this year and three in 2008. Mike, who hadn't had a lot of success against Ashley in his career (he was 1-5 going in to the final round), won the race when Ashley smoked the tires, got sideways and tagged the wall. Mike becomes the 85^th driver to win in the Funny Car class and he joins a big group of drivers with just one win. Among them are Shirl Greer, Larry Fullerton and Tommy Grove. Mike, who is turning into a very good driver after being an excellent crew chief, talked about doing both duties during the questions and answer session at the NHRA Museum on Friday night. He said that he really enjoys driving but he always liked standing on the starting line watching his car go down the track and turn on the win light. As tough as it is to find good crew chiefs these days, let alone excellent ones, I'd really like to be Mike's agent right about now. Having said that, Mike seems to be very content where he is and I expect he'll be behind

Robert Hight

the wheel of that John Force Mustang in 2010...Behind Robert and Ashley in the points were Ron Capps, Tim Wilkerson and Jack Beckman....Mike won the race from the tenth spot in the field and that's the first time anyone has done that in the Funny Car class at the final race of the year. Did you know that it is also only the sixth time in forty-one years that the Funny Car class has been won by someone from the bottom half of the field? But how about this, it has now happened three years in a row! Robert Hight won from the number fourteen spot in 2007 and Cruz Pedregon won from the twelfth spot in 2008...Robert won the championship after almost not making the "Countdown" and that's one of the big stories of the year. Once the playoffs began, though, he had the best car out there and it was a surprise, at least to me, to see him go out early (round two) in Pomona...As everyone knows by now John Force did not win a race this year and that brings to an end on of the longest consecutive streaks in any sport. John had won a race every year since 1987 and that's one of those streaks that will probably never be broken. John also didn't make it to a final round this year and that's the first time that has happened since 1984. At the awards ceremony he was as optimistic as ever and he can't wait for the start of the new year....Even though he didn't win, John had to be proud of what his team did, with Ashley's strong performance, Mike winning a race and, of course, Robert winning the championship.

Mike Edwards

Mike Edwards didn't win the race bit he did win the championship and the acceptance speech he gave at the awards ceremony was very nice, indeed. Mike, who is a very spiritual man, thanked God for his blessings and he put racing into its proper perspective when he said that "it's not everything" in his life. With his wife, Lisa, and his team on hand, Mike talked about the year, but he mainly talked about his family and all the help he has received over the years. He had a great car this year and he will be tough to beat in 2010, but for now, let's congratulate him on a job very well done....Greg Anderson finished second in the points, and that's good by most people's standards. Greg's Summit Racing teammate, Jason Line, also had a good year winning five races and finishing third in the points. Did you know that Jason, not Mike, set low elapsed time and top speed this week? He ran 6.555 at 211.26 mph, but unfortunately it came in a losing run against Kurt Johnson. With Jason getting two of the three performance marks in the class this weekend, (the other being the number one qualifier that Mike had), it is the first time since the Sonoma race that Mike didn't record at least two of those marks. Like I have said all year, Mike has had a great car but maybe this little performance burst by the Summit guys is a sign of things to come in 2010. Maybe...Kurt Johnson, like John Force,

Anderson vs. Johnson

had a good streak going coming into the year. He had won at least one race for the past fourteen years and it was beginning to look like he might be able to steal one in Pomona. Of course, if you read this column last week you knew that he had no chance in the final round. That's because he qualified tenth, which is the bottom half of the field (aren't you glad I pointed that out?), and since nobody had ever won in the Pro Stock class from the bottom half in thirty-nine previous NHRA Finals, what chance did he really have? Did you know that the only other driver to even make it to the final round after qualifying tenth was Steve Schmidt in 1995? And who do you think beat him that year? Did you say Kurt? Close, but it was actually Warren Johnson. Nice try....With the Fords coming on strong next year, with a couple of new drivers joining the ranks (like Johnny Grays' son, for example), it looks like 2010 could be another banner year for Pro Stock. At least I hope it is.

Hector Arana

Nobody deserves a championship more than Hector Arana. Ok, so maybe that's an exaggeration, but the way he has worked over the years and the determination he has displayed are the signs of a true champion. I had a nice talk with Forrest Lucas before the awards ceremony and he told me about his early meetings with Hector, how he believed in him and helped him get on his feet. He also told me about building a machine shop for Hector as well as some special oil, and in the end it all paid off with a championship. Forrest also said that of all the things he has done in motorsports, his association with Hector is one of his proudest accomplishments. With a skeleton crew, a lot of desire and some help from Larry Morgan, Hector is now that champ, and after his struggles for so many years, it has to feel great....Almost lost in all the commotion about the Top Fuel battle is the fact that the Pro Stock Motorcycle championship was also decided by just two points. Eddie Krawiec finished second, Andrew Hines, third with Matt Smith and Douglas Horne fourth and fifth....Douglas had to get some votes for the Rookie of the Year and, even though most, if not

Krawiec vs. Horne

all of the ballots had been cast by Sunday, his final round showing at Pomona was the finishing touch on a very good year....There were a couple of new riders at the NHRA Finals in the bike class including Dawn Matthews-Baugues and Gary Moreno. Although it was the first NHRA national event for Dawn, did you know that Gary raced in a couple of events almost twenty years ago? He was in the field at the 1990 and 1991 NHRA Finals, races where he lost to two of the greats, John Myers and Dave Schultz. Welcome back, Gary, and nice going, Dawn.....Douglas Horne fouled out in the final round and that was one of three pro finals to be decided on a red light start? Did you know that it's only the fourth time that three finals have been decided by a red light? Strangely enough, three of those races have been the Auto Club Finals including the final race in 1992 and 2005. And how's this for weird? At all four of the races where three classes were decided via the foul start, it was Top Fuel, Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle at each race. Never, at one of those races, did a Funny Car driver foul out.

Just a reminder, the Full Throttle awards show will be streamed on www.NHRA.com and on the NHRA channel on "youtube" beginning Wednesday, November 18th at 3:00 PM eastern time. Enjoy.

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