Tue, 19 Feb 2013, 22:55 PM
It's Official!
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By Bob Frey
Photo copyright 2013 Auto Imagery, Inc.
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Antron Brown's big explosion.
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I am now officially retired! I know you thought that I retired
at the end of last year, but since I would have been off for the past three
months anyway my retirement didn't officially begin until the 2013
NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing season
began and that was last Thursday. After a very nice gathering with friends and
family on Saturday I sat back, checked in with
DragRaceCentral.com over the weekend and saw the results of what
was a wild weekend in
Pomona.
>From
Courtney Force qualifying
number one and winning the race to
Antron
Brown's spectacular crash, from the unbelievable final round in Top Fuel to
the classic final round in the Top Alcohol Dragster class, from
Jimmy DeFrank's unusual double-up
(because they had to run the Super Stock final twice) to
John Lombardo's second consecutive win at Pomona, the latest
running of the Winternationals certainly seemed to have something for
everyone..Before I go on I should mention that I think Courtney's performance
was every bit as spectacular as
Danica
Patrick's, even more so because Danica still hasn't won anything in her
NASCAR career. Courtney has so much going for her and I hope NHRA can
capitalize on it because she can do great things for the sport, but I'm afraid
she'll get overshadowed by Danica this week and this year. I shudder to think
what will happen if Danica should happen to win Daytona. Anyway, drag racing
fans should be thankful for what we have and that is our own great
representative who is also a wonderful driver. See the things I think about now
that I'm retired.
Leah Pruett
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Antron Brown's crash will certainly get a lot of exposure,
and while I don't know if that's good or bad it sure is good that he walked
away from the incident without any serious injuries. That's a tough way to
start the season and with only days before the next race the Matco Tools team will really have to
hustle to get ready for the race in Phoenix
this weekend. As far as I can tell, when he failed to show for his semi-final
race, that was the first time in his drag racing career, either on a motorcycle
or in a Top Fuel car, that Antron ever missed a round..The Top Fuel field
included three rookie drivers who were all making their first national event
start in the "big cars" and that's very unusual. Brittany Force, Leah Pruett
and Sidnei Frigo all made a little
bit of history and all should be pleased with their performance. Did you know the last time that
three Top Fuel drivers made their first start at the same race was at the
Winternationals in 2009? That year there were actually four drivers, Del Cox, Steve Faria, Andy Carter
and Shawn Langdon who debuted at
Shawn Langdon celebrates win.
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that race. Before that you would have to go back to the Winternationals in 1997
when
Gary Scelzi,
Spike Gorr and
Cristen Powell all made their first Top Fuel start to find three
new drivers all making the field for the first time. Having three new drivers
all make the field is very impressive and is good for the class and the sport.
Congrats to each of them for a good showing and good luck the rest of the year..The
entire weekend in Top Fuel was spectacular and
Tony Schumacher must be wondering what a guy has to do to win a
race. He ran 3.747 in the final round and lost!
Shawn Langdon belted out a stunning 3.721 and he coupled that with
a .011 reaction time and that's going to win a lot of races.
Did you know that Tony was 10 -5
against Shawn coming into the final round but that Shawn had left the starting
line first in eleven of those fifteen previous meetings? Now with a great
reaction time and a thundering run on the track the
Al-Anabi car is in the points lead and that's a first for Shawn in
Top Fuel.
Did you know that
Shawn is the 42
nd driver to lead the Top Fuel points since the
point's system went into effect in 1974? Of course several of those leaders
only held it because they won the Winternationals but something tells me that
this isn't the last time Shawn will be at the top of the pack..The win was his
second and that moves him out of that "one hit wonder" category, and for any
driver that's a good thing. Now he joins such greats as
Mike Snively,
Pete Robinson
and
Bennie Osborn as two-time Top
Steve Torrence defeated Spencer Massey
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Fuel winners..Tony Schumacher continues to run very well and he should be
counted on as a real threat to regain the Top Fuel title. This was Tony's 120
th
final round and that moved him past
Kenny
Bernstein and into seventh place on the all-time NHRA list. The
Army car is for real and
Mike Green and the crew continue to do
a great job with the car and Tony's not too bad, either..
Don Schumacher and
Spencer
Massey held a joint press conference on Thursday to answer any and all
questions about their break-up and reconciliation. I said last week that I hope
this ordeal is over and I hope that their appearance before the media puts it
to rest once and for all..
Steve Torrence
beat Spencer on a holeshot in round one and that, in itself, is news. As we all
know Spencer is very good on the line and he doesn't get beat that way very
often.
Did you know that this
was just Spencer's second holeshot loss in his Top Fuel career? On the other
side of the coin he has eight holeshot wins and two of them came last year and,
ironically, they both came against Steve Torrence. For his part Steve led the
class last year in holeshots and it looks like he's picking up right where he
left off.
Courtney Force qualified No. 1
for the third time in her
career.
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Courtney Force dominated the Winternationals like very few
Funny Car drivers have in the past and that's saying a lot. She qualified
number one and did you know
that she became just the fifth Funny Car driver in the last thirty-six years to
win the season-opener from the top spot? But here's an even more amazing little
tidbit. In addition to her number one spot Courtney also set low elapsed time
and top speed. Did you know
that in the entire history of the Winternationals she is just the third Funny
Car driver to sweep the event and she's the first to do it since Don Prudhomme in 1977? In fact, the
"Snake" is the only other driver to accomplish that and he did it in
back-to-back years in 1976 & '77. With the long history of this event, and
remember Funny Cars have been part of it since 1969, Courtney and Don are the
only two to run the table at the year's first event and that's amazing, so in
just her second year of racing Courtney has already done something that her famous
father never did..Courtney got a break in the semi-finals when Bob Tasca fouled out. Red lights in the
Funny Car class are very rare (although there were two on Sunday, Tim Wilkerson had the other) but I'm
sure Courtney and her team will gladly take a win like that anytime, especially
Courtney Force celebrates win.
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when she slowed to a 10.422 elapsed time. I guess that old adage is true that
you need at least one lucky round if you want to win one of these races.
Did you know that Bob had three
previous red lights in his career and that they all came against
Cruz Pedregon? This was his first foul
start since the 2009 season and it couldn't have come at a more inopportune
time.With the win Courtney becomes the 40
th driver to lead the Funny
Car points. Now if she can say that she's the leader after the next race in
Pomona that will really be big news..
Ron Capps didn't win but he did have a very good weekend and it
looks like the
NAPA team hasn't missed a beat since last
year. Ron's run with
Johnny Gray in
the semi-finals was an epic match and he needed all of the
Rahn Tobler horsepower to get the win. Johnny ran 4.056 and lost,
so like Tony he's trying to figure out what you have to do to get a win..Poor
Gary Densham, on one run his parachute
never came out and he ran off the end of the track and then in eliminations it
comes out as soon as he takes off and he loses. Still
Gary and his crew chief, Greg
Amaral, were very impressive and they
could make life miserable for some of the full-time touring pros if they show up
Tony Pedregon had big
engine explosion on Friday.
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at a lot of races this year..And
Tony
Pedregon might want to give some thought to just skipping the
Winternationals. As if his world famous explosion there a few years ago wasn't
enough Tony did it again this year. As I often say, unless you're winning the
race it's never good to hear the folks at
ESPN
say "let's take a look at that from another angle." Besides the explosion Tony
also had a tool box stolen from his pit area so he should just chalk this up as
a lost weekend and move on. Of course that's easy for me to say because I don't
have to pay the bills.
I mentioned last week about the group of Hemi-powered cars
that were going to be at Pomona
and I told you that they were all good, quality cars. Well, in the end, it was
a pair of Hemi Dodges that met in the final round, a wacky final round that saw
Vincent Nobile beat Jeg Coughlin when Jeg fouled out.
That's right Jeg fouled out! After a holeshot win in the semi-finals over V. Gaines Jeg lit the red bulb in the
money round. Did you know that
was just the third time in his career that Jeg has fouled out in a final round?
He only has twelve foul starts altogether in his 727 rounds of racing and that,
Vincent Nobile celebrates win
with Mountain View Tire team.
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in itself, is amazing. Still, in the end it was Vincent who got the win and he's
the point's leader for the first time in his career. Just like Shawn who joined
some legends with his win Vincent is now on a list that includes
Bill Jenkins,
Don Nicholson and
Ronnie Sox
as winners of the Winternationals. I wonder if Vincent realizes how cool that
is? If there is one thing I missed by being retired it was the wild and wacky
celebration that had to take place after Vincent won. His father, John, the
Mitsos family (and especially Irene) and all the folks at
Mountain View Tire really enjoy racing and they absolutely love
winning and it shows and that's a good thing.The final round was wacky because
Vincent almost didn't get his to car back to the starting line after the
burnout and then Jeg, who had shut his car off to wait for his opponent, almost
couldn't get his car started again. Whether that had anything to do with the
red light we'll never know, but what we do know is that two Dodges were in the
final round at the Winternationals for only the second time in history and for the
first time since
Darrell Alderman beat
Scott Geoffrion in the final in 1995...
Mike Edwards set the pace in qualifying
with his new Camaro but those pesky new car blues set in in round one when he
lost to
Chris McGaha and his Dodge.
Did you know that this was just
the seventh time in the history of the event that the top qualifier in Pro
Mike Edwards receives the K&N Filters
Horsepower Challenge
award.
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Stock lost in round one? When Mike grabbed the number one spot he joined a very
select group.
Did you know
that he became the first driver to qualify number one at the Winternationals in
a Camaro since
Joe Lepone did it in
1986? By the way, Joe also lost in round one in 1986, and while I know that
won't make Mike feel any better but I just wanted to point it out.Make no
mistake about it Mike has a good car and even though it says
"I Am Second" on it he will be first a
lot of times this year..V. Gaines also ran well and, as I pointed out a few
weeks ago, I think he is poised to have his best season ever...V. and Mike were
just two of the many cars that looked great thanks to wraps by the folks at
Fineline Graphics.
Did you know that half of the Pro Stock field had their cars
wrapped by Fineline? I just mention that because I think it's a great process,
helps the cars look great and makes it overall a better experience for racers
and race fans. And I'm not even on commission!!
Jim Whiteley and Chris Demke squared off in another
classic final round and Jim, the reigning Lucas
Oil World Champion, picked up his twentieth national event win. Those two
Jimmy DeFrank celebrates double-up.
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can always be counted on for a good race and this one was no exception.
Did you know that Jim's twenty
wins have him in the fifth spot overall in the Top Alcohol Dragster class? Not
bad for a guy who has only competed at fifty-eight races, is it?...Jimmy
DeFrank finally "doubled-up" at a national event when he won both Super Stock
and Stock Eliminators. After a faulty start caused by a photographer's
flashbulb, Jimmy and
Mike Cotten
re-ran the final in Super Stock and that gave Jimmy his second win of the
weekend.
Did you know that this was Jimmy's third attempt at a double
and he finally pulled it off..
Pete Bothe
made it to the final round of Super Gas for the second consecutive Pomona event
and, for the second time, he came up a bit short. Pete lost to
Ryan Herem at the NHRA Finals last
November and lost to
Rick Beckstrom
this time. Still, to make back-to-back finals in the rugged Super Gas category,
and to do it in a Porsche, is very impressive.
John Lombardo Jr. won his second straight race at Pomona when he
beat
Jason Rupert in the Top Alcohol
Funny Car final round. John and his
NAPA
team have to be considered top contenders for the championship this year and it
looks like he can run with anyone in the class.
Ross Wilson and
Phil Dion
rounded out the Lucas Oil winners when they both notched their first NHRA
national event wins. Congratulations.
NHRA: 10 Most Recent Entries [ top ]
Nov 11- POMONA 2 - Thursday Schedule
Nov 11- POMONA 2 - Top Fuel Preview
Nov 09- Loaded 2027 Schedule Announced for NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series
Nov 06- LAS VEGAS - Top Alcohol Funny Car Final, Round 4 Eliminations
Nov 06- LAS VEGAS - Competition Eliminator Final, Round 5 Eliminations
Nov 06- LAS VEGAS - Top Dragster Final, Round 5 Eliminations
Nov 05- POMONA 2 - Event Preview
Nov 02- LAS VEGAS - Summary of Eliminations in Top Alcohol Funny Car
Nov 02- LAS VEGAS - Summary of Eliminations in Top Alcohol Dragster
Nov 02- LAS VEGAS - Summary of Eliminations in Competition Eliminator
