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Tue, 2 Aug 2011, 10:38 PM

Put The Brooms Away

By Bob Frey
Photo copyright 2011 Auto Imagery, Inc.

Anderson vs. Edwards

While most teams and drivers don’t start thinking about sweeping the Western Swing until they have won the first two races on the journey, some may give it a passing thought after the Denver race (or the first race regardless of where it takes place). Well, following the 24^th running of the FRAM/Autolite Nationals we can put all of the talk about a sweep behind us. Only one of the Denver winners, Mike Edwards, even made it to the final round in Sonoma, and when he lost to Greg Anderson the talk of a sweep was over. Now it’s on to Seattle for the third race of the “Swing” and then it will be a much needed rest for all of the teams. That will be followed by the race in Brainerd and then the final race, the MAC Tools U.S. Nationals, before we set the field for the “Countdown.”....Like I said last week, the battle for the final spot or spots in the “Countdown” is going to be as exciting to watch as the fight for the top spot and the bonus points that go with it. Let’s face it, more drivers have a shot at number ten than have a chance to be number one going into the “Countdown” and that should make for some very exciting racing. Speaking of number one, did you know that Mike Edwards’ final round appearance in Sonoma moved him to the top spot in the Pro Stock points? That’s a nice rebound for a guy who failed to make the field at the Winternationals, isn’t it?

Brown celebrates
third win this season.

Following their performances in Sonoma five drivers are now locked into spots in the “Countdown” in Top Fuel. Del Worsham continues to hold on to the number one spot while Spencer Massey is second, Antron Brown is third and Larry Dixon and Tony Schumacher are fourth and fifth. As well as Del has been running this year it was the three Team Schumacher drivers who had their way with the field in Sonoma. All three, paced by Tony and the Army team, qualified one, two and three and a pair of them, Antron and Tony, made it to the final round. I have to say that it’s refreshing to see the Team Schumacher cars go at it head-to-head whenever they run. Don Schumacher has always said, and he has always told his teams, that “if you deserve it you’ll win it” and that has made for some great racing this year. In Denver it was Spencer beating Tony in the final round and this time it was Antron over the “Sarge,” and both times the fans were treated to a great race. As an aside, it was great to see Tony come on stage when he was introduced as the number one

Tony Schumacher
qualifier, with a Purple Heart recipient from the Army. It was also great to hear the ovation that the fans gave him when Tony introduced him. Our fans always treat the soldiers with a great deal of respect and I’m sure it made this particular soldier feel very good despite what he has been through....Antron Brown is having another very good year and one of the reasons for his success is the consistency of his race car. Antron has now won three races this year and that will add a lot of points to your total. But you can’t get to the final round if you don’t win the first round and that’s something that Antron has done at every race in 2011. Did you know that Antron is the only Top Fuel driver who hasn’t lost in round one this year? There are several who have only lost once in the opening round but Antron is the only one to go 13-0 in his round one matches this year....Even though he didn’t win in Sonoma Tony did make it to the final round and that gave him four more rounds of racing in his Top Fuel career. Did you know that Tony now has competed in 826 rounds of racing and that’s the seventh most in the professional classes?....Tony probably had the best car in Sonoma, at least if you look at the numbers. He was number one, set low elapsed time and top speed but didn’t win the race. Did you know that was the 15^th time Tony has led the way in all of the performance categories and still didn’t win the race? I should point out that every time Tony records one of the numbers he increases his total at the top of the dragster class. It should come as no surprise that he has all of the performance records in the Top Fuel class. Did you know that Joe Amato is second in every one of

Terry McMillen
those categories?... As good as Antron’s car was running the Matco Tools team also got a boost from Antron’s driving. Did you know that he was first off the line in three of the four rounds on Sunday and only Del Worsham had a better reaction time than Antron in those four rounds? And did you know that “AB” has been first off the line an amazing 79% of the time this year? I know all about shallow staging and deep staging and all of that stuff but all I can go by are the numbers, and they tell me that Antron is very good on the starting line. Antron won the race after qualifying third and that kept a very significant record in place. Did you know that in twenty-four years of racing in Sonoma not one Top Fuel driver who qualified in the bottom half of the field has ever won the race?...David Grubnic held on to the tenth spot in the points and Terry McMillen is in eleventh. Terry is just ten points behind Doug and that should make for some tense moments for both of them at the next three races. Now that I think about it, didn’t those same two drivers slug it out for the final spot in the “Countdown” last year?

Capps celebrates
first win of the season.

Ron Capps did something that he hadn’t done in a year when he won the Sonoma race. Ron’s last win came at the same track one year ago and that’s a long time to go between wins for one of the best drivers and teams in the class. Since Ron also is part of Team Schumacher it means that the only driver outside of John Force’s team or Don’s team to win this year is Jeff Arend, and ironically he failed to make the show in Sonoma. Besides being a good morale booster for the team, Ron’s win was significant for a variety of reasons. Did you know that this was Ron’s 65^th final round in a Funny Car and that moves him into third place on the Funny Car list? Only John Force (214) and Tony Pedregon (76) have been to more finals in the class than Ron. The win was also Ron’s 31^st in the Funny Car class and that moves him into fourth place past Kenny Bernstein, and it was his 32nd

Capps and Roger Primm crew
celebrate '95 Seattle win.
win overall (including one in TF) and that ties him with Doug Kalitta for eleventh place on the al time nitro win list. Overall I would say that’s a very good weekend for the driver of the NAPA Dodge. Ron will now take his talents to Seattle where he is the only driver to ever win in both fuel classes. Did you know that Ron’s one and only Top Fuel win came in Seattle in 1995 when he beat Cory McClenathan? Rob beat Jim Head, Mike Dunn and Kenny Bernstein before beating Cory in the final round.....Tim Wilkerson was the runner-up in Sonoma and he now goes to Seattle where he hopes to do what Ron did, and that is win at the last track where he won. Did you know that Tim’s last win came at the Seattle track in 2010? Tim’s loss in the final round in Sonoma was his twenty-third loss to Ron and that’s the second most losses for Tim against any driver. Did you know that only John Force has beaten Tim more times than Ron, and he’s done it twenty-eight times? Even with his strong showing this week Tim remains in tenth place but he opened up a 55 point lead over Johnny Gray with three races to go before we make the cut to the top ten. Tony Pedregon who is in twelfth place is 95 points behind Tim and he’ll need at least one final round at the next three races if he hopes to continue his streak of top ten finishes. Did you know that Tony has been in the top ten for fifteen consecutive years, or every year that he has been in the Funny Car class?....John Force didn’t win even though, like Tony Schumacher, he set all of the performance marks in the class. Did you know that this was the twenty-sixth time in his career that John has been number one, set low elapsed time and top speed and still didn’t win the race? Of course just to do that twenty-six times means that you’ve been very good, doesn’t it? When he failed to win from the top spot it ran John’s streak to fifteen races in a row where

Richards working on his Plymouth Superbird
he led the field in qualifying but wasn’t able to close the deal on race day. Did you know that the last time he won from the top was at the last race of the 2004 season? Strange but true. John did set another record with that number one spot. It was the 139^th of his career and that breaks the record that had been held by Warren Johnson. When John qualifies at the top he is very hard to beat in the first round. Did you know that he is now an astounding 129-10 in round one when he qualifies number one? Even though he didn’t win you have to figure that he’ll be a factor in the “Countdown” as will his other cars, the ones driven by Mike Neff and Robert Hight... Mike, who has been the point’s leader for most of the year, suffered a very rare opening round loss when Gary Densham beat him. Did you know that this was only Mike’s second round one loss this year and that’s the best in the Funny Car class?...Congratulations to Tim and Kim Richards for getting the win with Ron. That was the 78^th win for “The General” as a fuel crew chief and that’s a bunch. Nice going to the Richards family. Did you know that before he hooked up with Joe Amato and became a big time crew chief Tim used to race his Plymouth Superbird at Atco Dragway and that he won the Atco divisional race in 1971?

Anderson celebrates 68th win.

Greg Anderson reached a couple of milestones in Sonoma. First of all when he qualified it ran his consecutive streak to an amazing 200 races. Did you know that the last time he failed to make the show was at the second Las Vegas race in 2002? That’s a long time ago, and to show you just how long, did you know that among those who did qualify at that race were Tom Hammonds, Tommy Lee and Larry Nance? Warren Johnson holds the record in the Pro Stock class at a staggering 303 races, which means that if Greg wants to break that record he’ll have to qualify for every race between now and the middle of the 2016 season. Good luck, Greg....Greg’s other mark came in the final round which just happened to be the 100^th of his career. Greg becomes just the third Pro Stock driver to reach the 100 final round mark, trailing only Warren (151) and Bob Glidden (122). Greg’s win was his 68^th in those 100 final rounds and it’s easy to figure his winning percentage, isn’t it? By comparison, Warren won sixty-four percent of his final rounds while Bob won sixty-nine percent of the time when he was in the final round. And what about John Force you ask? Well, the “Champ” wins sixty-two percent of the time when he goes to the money round. Any way you look at it those are very good numbers for all of those drivers and that’s why they are all considered among the best ever in our sport.....Greg’s 68^th win also moves him into fifth place overall in the pro list, behind only John, Warren, Bob and Kenny, and since you’re reading

Larry Morgan
this column I assume you know who they are even without their last names....Greg is running well, obviously, but so are several other drivers, and if I had to pick a favorite for the championship I don’t think I could do it. This year, more than any in recent years, really does seem to be wide open and that’s why I can’t wait for the “Countdown” to begin....Don’t look now but Larry Morgan is creeping closer to a spot in the top ten. With his recent surge Larry has moved to within thirty-one points of Ron Krisher who is currently in tenth place. These next couple of races will be very important to both of them and the Seattle track is a place where they have both had some interesting weekends. Larry went to the final round there in 2003 and Ron made the finals in 2005. The main difference is the fact that Larry actually showed up for his final round match while Ron was knocked out of action with a crash in the semi-finals. Did you know that since his final round there Larry has only won two rounds in seven trips to the Seattle track? Having said that you have to be impressed with what he has done lately with his Lucas Oil-sponsored Ford. Did you know that the last time a Ford won in Seattle was in 1990 when Bob Glidden beat Mark Pawuk? Keep your eyes on Ron and Larry this weekend, because the guy who gets more points in Seattle could be the one who makes the “Countdown.”

Tonglet celebrates third
win this season.

LE Tonglet appears to be back, doesn’t he? After not making the show in Norwalk the reigning Full Throttle Champion has won two of the last three races and he looks like a champion contender again. Like all of the other Full Throttle classes the bike class is loaded with talent heading into the “Countdown.” Did you know that there are five riders who have won at least one season championship among the current top ten in the Pro Stock Motorcycle class and that’s more than any of the other pro classes? You also have two rookies, Jerry Savoie and Hector Arana Jr. in the top ten and that’s the most of any of the pro classes, too....The bikes will take this week off but they will be at all of the races for the rest of the year. Maybe the time off will give Matt and Angie Smith some time to get the financial help they need to stay on tour. I spoke with Matt in Sonoma and he said they are working on a few things and let’s hope they come together. Matt is currently in sixth place and always has to be considered a title contender, while Angie went to her first semi-final of the year in Sonoma and is always a crowd favorite. Matt has been helped by Best Tech Brands, Synergyn and Fast Shark Supply.com for the past two races and maybe they’ll stay on for the title run. Let’s hope so....The Arana family has put a lock on the top spot in PSM. Did you know that Hector and his son have now been the top qualifiers at the last four races? And did you know that even though they qualified at the top at five of the eight bike races this year neither of the Arana’s have won a race in 2011? But they’re not alone. Did you know that there has only been one top qualifier to win in the bike class this year? LE Tonglet went from the number one spot to the winner’s circle in Atlanta and he’s the only top qualifier to win a bike race this year.