Wed, 30 Oct 2002, 11:17 AM Everybody Wins In Las Vegas!!

By Bob Frey Photo copyright 2002 Auto Imagery, Inc.

Force, Coughlin, Dixon and Savoie

OK, so not everybody won in Las Vegas, but those who came to the AC Delco Las Vegas Nationals won, because they saw a great drag race. When Larry Dixon, John Force, Jeg Coughlin and Angelle Savoie won the race on Sunday it capped one of the great final days of racing in quite some time. Plus, for the first time in a long while, three of the professional classes were wrapped up at the same event, with only the Funny Car title still undecided. And, I ask you, when was the last time that you saw four final rounds that were as close and exciting as the ones in Las Vegas?

I guess the best place to begin this week is with the Top Fuel class. The really big winners in Las Vegas had to be Larry Dixon, Dick LaHaie, Don Prudhomme and all of the "blue" team that works on the "Miller Lite" dragster. Did you know that Larry’s win, his 9^th of the year, ties him with Gary Scelzi for the most wins in a single season by a Top Fuel driver and it ties him with Gary for 5^th place on the all-time win list? Larry had already set the single season mark for the most final round appearances with 13 and now he can add to that record and tie another mark if he wins at Pomona in two weeks. Did you know that Larry now has 57 round wins this year, and an event win in Pomona would give him 61 and tie him with Kenny Bernstein for the most round wins in one year by a dragster? Not a bad season, huh? And, the way I figure it out, if Larry has a good race in Pomona, including a win in the Budweiser Shootout, he could become the first driver in NHRA history to win over one million dollars in a single season. Think about it…

Kenny Bernstein

Kenny Bernstein will finish his career in Pomona and what a career it has been. Even though he will finish in second place this year, it has been a pretty good ride for KB, hasn’t it? Did you know what the three things are that Kenny lists as the major accomplishments in his career? Of course the 300-mile per hour barrier buster is number one, while his win in Las Vegas last year on the same day that his son, Brandon, won in the alcohol dragster class is number two, and the Top Fuel title last season is listed as number three. Those accomplishments alone would make a pretty nice career for most drivers…When Kenny lost to Shirley Muldowney on Sunday, did you know that it evened his career record against women drivers at 19-19? And, did you know that KB only has a winning record against three of the eight women whom he has raced? Plus, did you know that in his entire career, Kenny only raced one woman in the Funny Car class? Della Woods, who went to the semi-finals at Maple Grove in 1985 was the only woman driver whom Kenny ever raced before switching to the Top Fuel class. Oh yeah, there is one more thing, if Kenny wins in Pomona he will finish his career with more Top Fuel wins than Don Garlits, with whom he is now tied. That would be pretty special, too….Doug Herbert, who didn’t win the race, still had a pretty good weekend. Did you know that Doug’ s #1 qualifying effort was only the second one of his career and that they have both come in the past three races? Doug also set low elapsed time at those two events (Chicago and Vegas) and that was the first time that he had done that in ten years. Before Chicago, the only other time that Doug Herbert set low elapsed time was at the Winternationals in 1992. Just for the record, Doug hasn’t set top speed since 1993, but the way his car is running lately, don’t be too surprised if he does it at Pomona. By the way, Doug is selling his "Dougzilla" T-shirts at his souvenir trailer at the track and all of the proceeds go to help his good friend, Billy Williams, who is still in need of a lot of medical help. So, when you go to Pomona, if you buy one souvenir, why not make it a "Dougzilla" shirt. You may want to check dougherbert.com to see if they’re available on line…..Speaking of the #1 qualifier and low elapsed time, did you know that in each of the four pro classes at Las Vegas, the number one qualifier also set low elapsed time and that none of those drivers won the race? Doug, Bruce Sarver, Kurt Johnson and Matt Hines all won the statistical battle but they all lost the war…Shirley Muldowney has had a lot of great days in her career and Sunday in Vegas had to be one of them. Even though she didn’t win, did you know that Shirley made the quickest and fastest runs in her career last week? Her 4.585 against Kenny and her 322.34 mph run against Tony Schumacher in the second round were both career bests and crowd favorites…I mentioned Paul Jones last week and said that he would be trying to get his Top Fuel license this week in Las Vegas. Well, after four pretty good runs, including a best of 4.76 at 305 mph, Mr. Jones is now a full-fledged, card-carrying member of the TF fraternity. Way to go, Paul.

Pedregon and Force

The Funny Car point’s chase, believe it or not, is the only one that’s not decided and that should prove to be very exciting at Pomona. With his win this week, John Force increased his lead over Tony Pedregon to a lofty 31 points, or about a round and a half. Regardless of what happens next week, the final round in Las Vegas between John and Tony was just spectacular. With almost identical reaction times and two very good runs on the track, it gave the fans exactly what they wanted to see, a heads-up run between the two best cars in the class. For his part, John had to be feeling pretty good about his chances on winning the race when he looked at the ladder. Did you know that John was 82-20 for his career against the four guys that he raced on Sunday? Now that’s almost total domination. Of course, now he’s 86-20 against them…In all of the excitement about the weekend, one very impressive statistic was overlooked. Did you know that, with his four rounds wins on Sunday, John Force became the first driver in NHRA history to win over 800 rounds of competition? He now has 801 and that’s the best by any racer in the 51-year history of NHRA. By comparison, Kenny Bernstein has won 638 rounds and Warren Johnson has won 740….In the Funny Car category, Matco Tools has announced that they will, again, be the main sponsor on Whit Bazemore’s team in the Don Schumacher camp next year, and I can tell you that Oakley and Scotty Cannon will be together again next year and they’ll be racing in the NHRA Funny Car class. That should answer a few of the questions or silence a few of the rumors that have been out there. Oh, did I mention that Whit drove Scotty’s car today in Las Vegas? There, now that should start some rumors all over again….So should this. What was John Force doing driving a Ford pickup truck at the Vegas test session? And it was a 1957 Ford truck with a tube chassis, strut front end and more. The new FR-150 truck should be available soon. I can say no more!!…Bruce Sarver, Alan Johnson and Toyota should all be one, big happy family again next year if my sources are correct. Bruce, who had a wild weekend that included everything from spectacular runs to spectacular explosions, could be a real spoiler at next week’s event. I can guarantee you that neither John nor Tony will want any part of that Toyota at Pomona…..Del Worsham is still in third place and he’s exactly 31 points in front of Gary Densham, the same total, ironically, that separates John and Tony. As he attempts to keep "Team Force" from a sweep, Del has to try to stay away from the Fords in Pomona. Did you know that Del is a combined 29-56 against the Force team, and that includes a 12-4 mark against Densham.

Jeg Coughlin

Jeg Coughlin got more help than he bargained for in Las Vegas en route to his second Pro Stock title. Jeg’s two closest challengers, Jim Yates and Greg Anderson both failed to qualify and that really opened the doors for Mr. Coughlin who took advantage of their mistakes. Jeggie went .440, .426, .416 and an almost perfect .401 off the line to beat Scott Geoffrion, Ron Krisher, Allen Johnson and Warren Johnson for the title. In case math isn’t your long suit, let me tell you that that averages out to an amazing .421, which will win you most races. Did you know that the .401 that he had in the final round is the best reaction time in Jeg’s career and that it’s the 5^th time that he had had a .40 reaction time in a race, and the second time that he’s done it in a final round? Jeg went .406 against Tom Martino to win in the final round at Houston in 1998. In case you were wondering, a perfect (.400) reaction time is rare, very rare in the professional classes. In fact, did you know that, in the past 13 years, there have been exactly 12 perfect reaction times in Pro Stock? Just for the record, Jeg doesn’t have one of them, but his brother, Troy, does….Mark Pawuk ran well in Las Vegas and he did it with a Steve Schmidt engine. After testing for a while in St. Louis, Mark decided to bring the Schmidt engine to Las Vegas for a try and he had to be pleased with the results. Steve has always been able to make a lot of power and, with his new car and new found power, Mark could be a dark horse in Pomona….There will be a new Pro Stock team in Pomona and it will be one to watch in the future. Jeff Taylor, one of the sport’s top sportsman drivers, will make his second stab at Pro Stock when he gets behind the wheel of his new Dodge Neon. With some good financing (sponsor to be announced at or before Pomona from what I hear), with a David Nickens motor and with Jeff driving, I wouldn’t bet against him making the field in his first race….And Scott Geoffrion, Bob Panella and Hurley Blakeney had to be pleased with their showing in Vegas. The AC Delco Nationals was the second race that they ran one of Bob Panella’s motors and the first time that they used it exclusively for the entire race. Nice to see Scott and Ford competitive, again, now if they could just bring out those new Escort bodies.

Kevin Helms

With all but one of the pro classes decided, a lot of attention will now focus on the Lucas Oil Sportsman classes, which will have their final divisional race this weekend in Las Vegas. Except for the two top classes (dragster and funny car), most everything else is still up for grabs, although someone will have to show me how anyone can beat out Anthony Bertozzi in the Super Stock class. Mike Saye and Don Stratton can still win it in Competition Eliminator, with Don being able to claim both the Vegas points race and the Pomona final race, while Mike only has the national event still to claim (and I assume he’ll come to Pomona, won’t you Mike?). Stock Eliminator has a lot of possibilities, with the current champ, Kevin Helms, hoping to be able to hold off a gang of challengers, including Toby Lang, Jeff Hefler, Gene Mosbeck and Eric Waldo to name a few. Joe Harper, who tested the Vegas track in Super Comp this week, has a shot at catching Tom Stalba for the Super Gas crown (a semi-final finish this week or next could do the trick), while Frank Kohutek and Gary Risk could also track down the leader….And, finally, it was great to see John Johnston back at the track this week. John, one of the great engine builders, chassis guys and drivers in the Competition Eliminator class, had brain surgery earlier this year and this was his first trip back to the races and he spent some time hanging with Jeff Gillette and his team. Welcome back, John.

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