Wed, 19 Oct 2011, 08:32 AM
That Was Hot In More Ways Than One
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By Bob Frey
Photo copyright 2011 Auto Imagery, Inc.
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Nobile and Arana Jr.
Photo copyright 2011 NHRA
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I don’t know who made the decision to move the Phoenix race from early
in the year to the end where it would be part of the “Countdown” but I want to
thank them. Besides the obvious fact that it was hot, like one hundred degrees
hot, the action that the fans saw was also hot, and in the end we saw a new
point’s leader in Funny Car, a great battle in Top Fuel and a two way fight for
the Pro Stock Motorcycle crown. We also saw the very rare occurrence of a
driver winning one race and then not qualifying at the next, and that was even
more surprising when that driver was Spencer
Massey, the points leader in Top Fuel coming into
the race. Oh yeah, we also saw the two drivers who are vying for the Rookie of
the Year honors both win the race and one of them is in title contention. Like
I said, it was hot and I hope the fans that were at Firebird Raceway enjoyed themselves because I know that I did.
Spencer Massey
Photo copyright 2011 NHRA
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I guess the best place to start is Top Fuel. Following his
impressive win in Reading two weeks ago Spencer Massey and his FRAM team sure looked like the team to
beat down the stretch. After all, they had been making one good run after
another all year long, had picked up an emotional win over Del Worsham in the final round at Reading and didn’t appear to have any
weaknesses. Well as we often know, as quickly as a team can stumble on a good
combination they can lose it, and for whatever reason that’s exactly what
happened to Spencer. The team never got untracked in Arizona and they missed the field, earned
the minimum of ten points and saw their lead slip away. Now make no mistake
about it, they are still right in the title chase but a race like this one has
to hurt. Following the race Spencer dropped to third place, twenty-five points
behind the leader Antron Brown.
Twenty-five points is a little more than one round, and if you told Spencer
earlier in the year that he would be within one round of the lead going into
Las Vegas he probably would have been ecstatic, but when you go to Vegas after
a DNQ it has to change your mindset, doesn’t it? To show you how good that team
has been all year, and how stunning the DNQ was, did you know that Spencer had qualified in the top half of
the field at every race but one this year? Only a thirteenth spot at the 4-wide
race marred his qualifying record this year and that’s why it was such a shock
when he didn’t make the show. Spencer’s DNQ, coming on the heels of his win in Reading, puts him in a
very small group, a group that I’m sure he would rather not be in. Did
you know that since we went to all sixteen car fields in 1986 Spencer
Dixon wins his
second race this season.
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is just the eighth Top Fuel driver to win one race and then fail to qualify at
the next one?...
Larry Dixon, who
came to Phoenix in fourth place, took advantage of Spencer’s problems by
winning the race, earning 123 points and pulling to within one round of the
leader. The points are so close now that if Larry had lost the final round he
would have left
Arizona
in fourth place instead of second. “This is why they started the ‘Countdown,’”
Larry said after the race. “Love it or hate it this has created excitement in
the class.” Yes it has, and Larry and his
Al-Anabi
team are going to be part of that excitement for the next two races. Larry won
the race by doing something that he has done several times in his career, he
swept the race.
Did you know
that when he qualified number one, set low elapsed time and top speed on the
way to victory it became the eleventh time that Larry swept an event? Larry’s
win was his third at the
Arizona
track and that ties him with
Cory
McClenathan and
Tony Schumacher
for the most Top Fuel wins at Firebird Raceway. Speaking of Cory,
did you know that besides Larry
he is the only other Top Fuel driver to sweep the Phoenix event and he did that
in 1994?...
Del Worsham, who drives
the other Al-Anabi dragster, is now in fourth place fifty-one points back while
Tony Schumacher is in fifth place and he is ninety-one points out of first
place. As close as the points are and with five top quality teams all within
striking distance of the lead the Las Vegas race will play a huge part in the
run for the 2011
Full Throttle
Championship.
Beckman celebrates win with crew.
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There are so many stories emerging from the Funny Car show
in Arizona I
almost don’t know where to start. I guess the fact that Jack Beckman is the
new point’s leader would be a great place. Did
you know that this is the first time that Jack has ever led the Funny
Car points and he becomes the 39th driver to lead the points at least
once? Most of the names on that list are familiar and there aren’t a lot of
surprises, although it does include Tim
Grose, Dale Emery and Phil Burkart....Jack’s win was his
third at Firebird Raceway and that is the most for him at any single event. Did you know that Jack also won
the race in 2008 and 2010 and he now becomes just the second Funny Car driver
to win the event in back-to-back years? John
Force, who won it eight times, is the other. And speaking of John, he lost
in the first round for the eleventh time this year and for the sixth
consecutive race. Did you know
that both of them are records for John, records he would just like to forget?
And did you know that those
eleven round-one losses this year have come against eleven different drivers?
What are the odds?...With his opening round win Jack ran his record against
John to a lofty 16-6. Did you know
that’s the best winning percentage of any driver who has raced John at least
fifteen times?...Jack now leads his Schumacher teammate, Matt Hagan, by five points with Mike Neff in third just twenty-two points out of first place. Also
still in title contention are Cruz
Pedregon, forty-eight points back and Robert
Hight who is ten points behind Cruz. That’s fifty-eight points, or about
three rounds separating the top five drivers, so just like the dragster class Las Vegas will be huge
Ron Capps
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for these drivers.... There were three fouls in the Funny Car class, and when
you compare that to the seven fouls that there had been all year in the class
(including one “timed out”), that’s a barrage of red lights at one race.
Did you know that in the entire
history of the Funny Car class, and that’s 690 races, there have only been
seven events with three or more fouls in them? The 1994 race in
Houston has the record
with five fouls and four of them involved one driver.
Jim Epler had the first three opponents foul out against him and
then he fouled out in the final round....
Robert
Hight was one of those who fouled out and he did it in round two against
Jack. I remember watching that particular run and thinking how strange it was
to see Robert make any kind of mistake, because he just doesn’t do that very
often. In fact,
did you know
that in his entire career, and that spans 159 races and 351 rounds, this was
the first time that Robert ever fouled out? The first!! And he has lost exactly
five rounds on holeshots in his career and none since 2008, so that’s why it’s
surprising when something like this happens....Cruz Pedregon qualified number
one for the third time in the last five races, and for the second time in that
span he didn’t get out of round one.
Did
you know that Cruz was number one at Indy and he lost to
Jeff Arend, the same guy who beat him
in round one in
Arizona?
Did you know that this was the
third time in his career that Jeff beat the number one qualifier in round one?
The points Jeff gained by making the semi-finals moved him up to sixth place in
the points...
Ron Capps failed to
make the show and that ended the longest qualifying streak in Funny Car.
Did you know that
Ron had qualified for 105 consecutive races before
missing the cut in
Arizona?
The longest streak in the class now belongs to Jack Beckman who has made 80
straight starts after missing the cut at Englishtown in 2008....
Todd Lesenko
gets credit for making the Funny Car field in his first try. That is never easy
to do and on the tricky track in
Phoenix
it had to be even harder. Nice job and congratulations also to
Alexis DeJoria for making her first
start in the fuel ranks.
Nobile celebrates third win.
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Jason Line proved
that he was human and Vincent Nobile proved that he doesn’t want to give up that
Rookie of the Year title without a fight. Jason, who can lock up the
championship in Las Vegas, bowed out in round
one while Vincent won for the first time since Norwalk. Did
you know that Vincent is now in third place in the standings and that’s
very impressive for a rookie? While rookie drivers have done well in the past
and have made the top ten, winning three races in a single season is very rare
for any driver, let alone a first year one. Among other first-year drivers who
have done well are Kurt Johnson, who
won three races in his rookie season of 1993, and Jeg Coughlin and Jason Line who
both won four times in their first full season in the class....Mike Edwards had
a good car, maybe the best car in the class in Phoenix, before he lost to
Vincent in the second round. Mike qualified number one set low elapsed time and
top speed and then shook the tires right off the line and could only watch as
Vincent went on to take the win...Vincent continued to drive well and that’s
one of the reasons why he is having such a good year. Did you know that he was first off the line in every round
on Sunday? That continues a pattern for him and he has now been first off the
line a staggering 86% of the time this year. Good reaction times must be passed
down from father to son, I guess!!
Arana Jr. won his second consecutive race.
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The Pro Stock Motorcycle class is now a two rider affair,
with Eddie Krawiec and Hector Arana
Jr. going at it for the championship. With his win over Eddie in the final
round Jr. pulled to within one round of the lead and he appears to have a good
bike and is riding very well. It’s obvious that the Lucas Oil Buell is running well since he was the top qualifier, set
low elapsed time and top speed. Did
you know that this was the sixth time that Hector has been the number
one qualifier and it’s the first time he swept a race?...To punctuate the win
Hector posted a perfect reaction time in the final round, the first perfect
reaction time of his rookie season. Did
you know that this was just the seventh perfect reaction time in the
final round of a Pro Stock Motorcycle race, and it’s the first one since Memphis in 2004? And did you know that of those seven
perfect lights three of the riders still lost the race?...The low elapsed time
was the eighth for Hector and that moves him into ninth place in the bike class
where he is tied with Eddie and Antron Brown.
McClanahan vs. Biondo
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There was a lot of great action in the sportsman classes,
too this week, and not only in Arizona.
Ryan McClanahan, the reigning Lucas
Oil Super Stock World Champion, had a great final round match with Peter Biondo, a match that Ryan won.
Ryan’s father, Brian, also went to the final round but he lost the Stock
Eliminator title to Randi Lynn Shipp
who won her first national event. Did
you know that Brian’s father and son have both won national events and
he came so close to joining them in the winner’s circle?....Across the country
in Reynolds, Georgia, Bill Reichert, the reigning Top Alcohol Dragster champ, beat Duane Shields who is leading the points
this year. Bill can’t repeat this year so it had to feel good for him to beat
Duane. We will see Duane in action next week in Las Vegas as he tries to hold off his
competitors in an effort to win his first series championship.
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