Wed, 4 Jun 2008, 12:26 AM Good Things Come to Those Who Wait

By Bob Frey Photo copyright 2008 Auto Imagery, Inc.

Ron Krisher

Throughout the course of drag racing history there have been some long droughts, time between national event wins, for a lot of drivers. Al Vanis went almost twenty-nine years between wins, Ralph Hope went almost twenty-seven and Ken Montgomery went more than a quarter of a century between wins. There weren't any such drought-breaking wins this week at the O'Reilly Summer Nationals at Heartland Park Topeka, but a couple of drivers, pro and sportsman, did get wins that were a long time coming. Hillary Will won for the first time in Top Fuel, Ron Krisher won for the first time since the St. Louis race in 2003 and John Force won for the first time since his crash at Dallas last year. I believe the final figure was 252 days, but for John it had to seem like an eternity.

Hillary Will

Hillary Will's win almost seemed like it was a matter of "when" and not "if" she was going to win a race. Over the past few national events, Hillary has been running well and her Ken and Kenny Black-owned car had moved up the points from eighth place after the Arizona race to fifth place coming in to Topeka. Now, with her win, Hillary is in fourth place and she trails only Larry Dixon (3d place), Antron Brown (2^nd) and the leader, Tony Schumacher. With her win Hillary joins Shirley Muldowney, Shelly Anderson, Melanie Troxel, Lucille Lee, Lori Johns and Cristen Powell as women who have won in the sport's premier class at a national event. She also becomes the 92^nd person overall to win a Top Fuel race on the NHRA national event level. Now what she hopes to do is make sure she doesn't become one of the thirty-nine drivers who only won one Top Fuel race. Among that one-win group are both Lucille and Cristen. With Ashley Force and Melanie Troxel both winning their first national events in Funny Car this year, we have added a lot of new names to our winner's lists in 2008. Did you know that there has been at least one woman in the final round at each of the last six NHRA national events where the pro cars were racing? That includes the win by Brina Splingaire in St. Louis and it just shows how diverse the racing is on the NHRA level....Hillary won the race after starting in the number eleven spot in the field and that is significant for a couple of reasons. Did you know

Will vs. Dixon

that Hillary has qualified number eleven more than any other starting position? And did you know that when Ashley and Melanie won their races this year they both had qualified number eleven? What are the odds? They are also the only wins in the pro classes this year from the number eleven spot. And did you know that in the previous nineteen years of racing at the O'Reilly Summer Nationals the number eleven qualifier in Top Fuel not only hadn't won the race but had never even made it to the final round? Congratulations to Hillary, her team, Jim Oberhofer her crew chief, and everyone involved with that car. By the way, just to show you how well that car has been running this year, did you know that Hillary's team is currently in fourth place in the Full Throttle points which means they have done well in qualifying as well as on Sunday. The win for Hillary comes in her 55^th national event and that's why it must seem like forever for her. Did you know that of all the women who have won in Top Fuel, it took Hillary more races to win her first pro race than it did for any of the others? Now that she has won, though, I, and a lot of other people whom I spoke with, firmly believe that she will win again.and soon....Larry Dixon was the runner-up and his U.S. Smokeless Tobacco car continues to run well and he is solidly in third place less than a round behind Antron Brown. Larry qualified number one and, because there were only fifteen cars on the grounds, he got the bye run in the first round. Did you know that in the 298 races of his career this is only the second time that Larry has ever had a bye

Larry Dixon

run? The other time was at Englishtown in 2001 when there were also just fifteen cars in the TF field. One of the reasons that Larry has done well over the years is because he has had great success in the opening rounds, even the ones where he had to run someone. Did you know that Larry has won 73% of his opening round matches during his career and that's his best winning percentage of any round? Larry did everything but win the race this weekend and that included qualifying number one, setting low elapsed time and top speed. Did you know that this was the ninth time in his career that Larry has set all the performance marks at an event and on six of those occasions he also won the race? With his numbers this weekend Larry ties Kenny Bernstein and Doug Kalitta for sixth place on the number one qualifiers list and he is also tied with Gary Ormsby for tenth on the Top Fuel top speed list with twenty-two. As you might expect, while going to the final round from the number eleven spot doesn't happen very often, especially at Topeka, getting there from the top spot does. Did you know that in the twenty years of this event the top qualifier has made it to the final round ten times in Top Fuel? Hey, that's almost half the time!!...T.J. Zizzo, Troy Buff and Luigi Novelli are entered for this weekend's race in Joliet so there shouldn't be any bye runs in the dragster class.

John Force and Austin Coil

Even though John Force had won 125 races before this weekend, he said that the Topeka win was his most satisfying. Now whether he says that after his next win, or after all of them, remains to be seen, but he was genuinely enthused after beating Tim Wilkerson in the finals. If you ever get the chance you have to visit the press room after John wins and listen to his interviews. Even the most veteran reporter usually leaves the room in awe after John holds court. It really is amazing as he speaks from the heart about what a win means to him, and in this case, about a win that a lot of people thought might never happen. He praised his crew, his family and especially Austin Coil for sticking with him as he rebounded from that crash in Dallas last year. "Coil told me that we win together and we lose together, and if I'm going down he's going down with me," John said. That was in response to a question about putting someone else in the car while he recovered fully from the accident (which he still hasn't). It was vintage John Force and it just goes to show how passionate he is about racing and winning. John's win runs his streak to an amazing twenty-two years in a row in which he has recorded at least one win and that ties Warren Johnson for the longest winning streak in the sport. John's win over Tim also ran his record against the points leader to an amazing 23-5 overall, but they are 2-2 in their four final round encounters. John also won

Force vs. Wilkerson

out of the bottom half of the field in Topeka, and like the Top Fuel class, that just doesn't happen that often. In fact, did you know that it's never happened before at Heartland Park? That's right, in the twenty years of this event this is the first time that a Funny Car driver has won the race after qualifying in the bottom half of the field. It's only the fifth time a bottom half Funny Car has even made it to the final round, let alone won at HPT. But then again, John Force had never won a race from the number nine spot before this weekend, either. In fact, did you know that until this year John had never even been to a final round after qualifying number nine? Never, and he's done it twice

HJohn Force

now in 2008, once in Atlanta when he lost to Ashley, and now this weekend. John did mention in one of his interviews that he is also focusing on gaining points for the U.S. Smokeless Showdown at Indy, a program that he is currently not a part of. He still has time to make that show but he's got to start qualifying higher than ninth in the field if he wants to earn one of the eight spots for that lucrative event..Even though he didn't win Tim Wilkerson did extend his lead over Ashley Force who lost to her dad in round one. Tim continues to have a very good season and he is also number one in the points for the Showdown as well as having the top FC crew in the Full Throttle standings. Like I said, it's been a very good year for Tim...Bob Tasca moved into the top ten for the first time since Pomona and it appears that he is going to give Mike Neff a run for that Rookie of the Year award. Bob continues to run well and his team seems to be getting better every week as was shown when they won the Full Throttle award this week in Kansas....Mike Neff's DNQ just goes to prove what I've been saying all along, and that is, with the quality of cars in the Funny Car class some of the big dogs are going to be on the porch every Sunday.

Ron Krisher vs. Larry Morgan

Ron Krisher's win also wasn't in the Ralph Hope time span, but when you go five years between wins in a pro class that seems like an eternity. Ron's last win came at St. Louis in 2003, and even though he has been to three final rounds since then, it's been a long while since he was the last man standing. Make no mistake about it, either, that was no lucky win, Ron simply had the best car on race day and he drove well to earn his sixth national event win and second at Heartland Park Topeka. Ron had low elapsed time in every round and he was first off the line in two of his four rounds. Ron, who is using power from Victor Cagnazzi's shop, has had a good car all year long and he finally made it pay off with a win. Even though we run a lot more races now than we used to, it's still nice when you can be mentioned with some of the greats in the sport. As such, Ron's six wins is the same amount that were recorded by such Pro Stock legends as Don Nicholson and Wayne Gapp among others. Ron's win comes on the heels of his semi-final appearnce in Bristol and it moves him up to ninth place in the points and that's his best of the year and his best standing since the end of the 2005 season when he finished ninth for the year. Ron won from the number two spot and that seems to be very popular in Pro Stock in Topeka. Did you know that this was the eleventh time that the second qualifier has made it to the final round in Topeka and it's the sixth time that the race was won from the number two spot?....Kurt Johnson didn't win the race but he

Kurt Johnson

did have a smile on his face when he left the track. That's because he is now the points leader and it's been a while since Kurt could say that. I mean, he's not in a Ken Montgomery drought, but it's been a while since he led the points. Did you know that it has been five years to the day since KJ last led the points? To the day!! After he won the Chicago race on June 1, 2003, Kurt took over the points lead and that's the last time that he was on top of the standings..Kenny Koretsky will probably skip this weekend's race following his crash in Kansas. Kenny's Nitro Fish Pontiac hit the wall very hard and he is lucky that he didn't suffer any serious injuries, and that really is a testament to the people who design and the build the cars as well as the people who make the rules. Kenny did say that he'll be back by the time the tour comes to Englishtown and let's hope that's true. Along with his partner, Greg Hill, Kenny and the Nitro Fish car bring a lot to the class and I hope he gets another shot at that long-awaited national event win. Did you know that Kenny's first national event in Pro Stock was in Gainesville in 1987?...Warren Johnson set top speed, again, and that's the 212^th time he's done that and it's the sixth time this year that he's had the fastest car in the class. WJ continues to struggle on race day but he's going to break out of that slump soon and when

Larry Morgan

he does he could put a string of wins together in a hurry. Warren is now tenth in the points and, assuming he makes the Countdown, he will be as competitive as anyone over the course of the final six races of the year....Greg Anderson and Jason Line struggled through a tough weekend. Both of the Summit Racing Pontiacs qualified in the bottom half of the field and that hadn't happen since Indy last year. Greg hardly ever qualifies below "the line" and to see him do it twice this year is really surprising. Did you know that in the past five years, coming into the 2008 season, Greg had qualified in the bottom half of the field exactly four times? Now he's done it twice already this season. Greg will probably bring out a new car this week although he told me after the race that he wasn't sure if he had a "car problem or an engine problem."...Larry Morgan went from not qualifying for a race all year to almost winning a race. After missing the cut for the first eight races of the season, the biggest drought to start a season in Larry's career, he was one round away from winning it all in Kansas. Larry showed that the layoff didn't bother his driving since he was first off the line in three of his four rounds. Not bad for a guy who hadn't raced on Sunday since the end of last year, is it? Still, Larry is winless since Sonoma of 2002 but maybe he has turned things around and will win one before very long.

Mark Niver

Of all the racers who won this weekend and felt that they were ending their personal drought, none felt that way more than Mark Niver. Mark won the Top Alcohol Dragster class to record his first NHRA national event win. Mark, one of the nicest guys in the sport, went to his first final round in the old Pro Comp class at a divisional race back in 1977 and he's been trying ever since to pick up the elusive national event win. Did you know that it was at Fremont in '77 where Mark beat Gregg Bellemeur, Tom Ridings and Gary Southern before losing to Dale Armstrong in his first-ever final round? And prior to this past week his only other final round on the national level came at the 2007 Winternationals where

Standing: Jeff Town, David Rampy, Steve Harker and Mark Niver Kneeling: Tommy Phillips, Tim Ekart and Mark Underhill

he was the runner-up. Mark ran well all weekend on a track that certainly seemed far more suited to the blown dragsters than the injected nitro cars and yet Mark was able to win four rounds. It was an interesting pair in round one on Sunday when Mark squared off against Brittany Force who was born in 1986, nine years after Mark's first final round appearance. Mark then beat some of the best cars on the property including Thomas Bayer, Jim Whiteley and, finally, Chris Demke..The Top Alcohol Dragster class should be some fun this weekend in Joliet since there will be thirty-three cars fighting for the sixteen spots in eliminations..David Rampy and Dan Fletcher staged an early all star show when they met in the final round in Competition Eliminator. David got the win, the 68^th of his career and it came in only the second final round meeting ever between the two sportsman superstars. Did you know that David Rampy went to the one and only final round of his Pro Stock career in Topeka in 1993 where he lost to Larry Morgan?....Jeff Town, Tim Ekart and Mark Underhill all joined Mark Niver as first-time winners on the national event level when they won the Super Stock, Super Comp and Super Street classes respectively.