Tue, 13 Apr 2010, 08:00 PM We Almost Made It

By Bob Frey Photo copyright 2010 Auto Imagery, Inc.

The 23^rd running of the O'Reilly Springnationals is in the books and it almost became the second race of the year to be completed without any rain delays. Almost. An unexpected rain shower on Saturday stopped the action for about three hours and caused a lot of the sportsman racing to be re-shuffled and re-scheduled (stop me if you've heard that before). Just like three of the previous races this year, the rain played havoc with the schedule, cutting qualifying rounds short and causing some racing to be contested on Sunday morning. But, as always is the case, the racers, especially the sportsman racers who realized that there was nothing anyone could do about the weather took everything in stride and made the best of a bad situation. In the end, the race was completed on Sunday, the champions were crowned and everyone had a great time. I should mention that the folks at Houston Raceway Park did a great job with their facility and it looked beautiful as the racers and fans enjoyed some great racing, some wild runs, and, in the end, some very deserving champions. I should also mention that if you're planning to attend the race next year you should check out the new Tower Club that they have at the track. This is Houston Raceway Park's version of the Top Eliminator Club and it is really special. From the VIP seating and parking to the food and other amenities, this is one of the nicest of its kind at any track. Closed circuit televisions, special hosts to answer your questions and visits from some of the sport's top stars make it the place to be when you're at HRP. I don't know when tickets go on sale for those limited number of seats for next year's event, but if I were you I'd check with the track and get my name on the list. Believe me, next to mine, it's the best seat in the house.

Dixon celebrates win.

I often say that you really need to be focused if you want to be successful in any endeavor, and drag racing is no exception. That's why it's a little bit of a surprise that Larry Dixon won the race. Make no mistake about it, Larry and his Al-Anabi team are loaded with talent and resources and they have everything they need to win races and championships. But the news that Larry's son, Darien, was in the hospital back in Indianapolis, had to be on Larry's mind all weekend and that made his win all the more impressive. Larry's a great family man and a wonderful father and he had to put all of the distractions out of his mind in order to win the 50^th Top Fuel race of his career. After a spectacular qualifying run on Saturday, the one where Larry and Antron Brown went 3.772 and 3.777 respectively, the two made their way through the field on Sunday to meet again in the final round. And, while the final wasn't nearly as quick or as fast as their qualifying run, it was spectacular in its own right. It was a tire-smoking affair that Larry won when his car outlasted Antron's,

McClenathan vs. Schumacher in 2005.

and as they say, the crowd went wild. Did you know that Larry becomes just the eighth professional driver to win fifty or more races? During the course of those fifty wins there have been some dominating performances and this would have to be considered one of them. From the time he qualified at the top of the pack, Larry looked like he had the best car and he proved it by running low elapsed time in three of the four rounds and he also set low elapsed time and top speed for the weekend to complete his "sweep" of the event. Did you know that this is the seventh time that Larry has swept a race but it's the first time that he's done it since Englishtown in 2005? Larry's run of 3.772 was very impressive and it was the reason that Larry recorded low elapsed time for the 36^th time in his career and that ties him with Kenny Bernstein for third place on the Top Fuel list. In the end, it wasn't the numbers or his driving ability that gave Larry the win, it was a great team effort by one of the best teams in the sport, a team that everyone expects to contend for the championship this year, and after this weekend, it's easy to see why....The final round pitted the top two qualifiers against each other and that hasn't happened very often in Houston. Did you know that in twenty-three years this is only the third time the top two qualifiers made it to the final in Top Fuel in Houston? And did you know that on all three occasions the number one guy got the win? Mike Dunn did it in 2001 when he beat Larry and Tony Schumacher did it in 2005 when he beat Cory McClenathan....

Rendering of Bobby Lagana's Top Fueler.

Bobby Lagana was in Houston and he'll be in Las Vegas this week, too. Bobby continues to fly the Tire Kingdom colors and he will in Vegas and at Pomona at the end of the year. Now if only we could get him to all of the other races in between....Tony Schumacher did something that he hasn't done in a while and that is lose in round one. I guess that shows you how good the Army team is when I think it's news that they lost in the first round. Did you know that they only lost once in round one all year long in 2009? I pity the team that gets them in round one in Las Vegas....If you'd like to meet Tony and all of the other Team Schumacher drivers, stop by the New York New York hotel in Vegas this Thursday night. They'll all be there from 7:30 until 9:30 and it looks like it will be a lot of fun, and while you're there, have a Nathan's hot dog.

Hagan and crew celebrate win.

One of the more excited members of Team Schumacher who will be there for the autograph session will be Matt Hagan, the newest Funny Car winner on tour. Matt, Tommy DeLago and the rest of the Die Hard team beat Jeff Arend in the Funny Car version of the wild, tire-smoking final round to get the win. Along with the latest addition to the team, John Medlen, the crew celebrated on the starting line after the win and John told ESPN how happy he was for everyone on the team. It was a very nice, poignant moment.... I have seen a lot of drivers come and go over the years and I have to say that I am quite impressed with what I see in Mr. Hagan. He's young, bright, articulate, good looking and he can drive. I guess what I'm trying to say is that Matt's a welcome addition to the sport and I think he has a great future and its nice for him to finally get that first win. I also have to point out that whatever or whoever it was that lured John Medlen to that team should be applauded. Tommy has to get a lot of credit, too, since it can't be easy to have someone as high-profile as John join your team, especially when you're the crew chief. Tommy has done a very good job with every team that he has been involved with and this one is no exception, and now that they have that first win the Die Hard team could be tough to beat for the rest of the

Gilbertson celebrates 2000 win.

year....John Force was on the verge of greatness in Houston, on the verge, that is, until he lost in round one. John had everyone buzzing when he ran 4.021 in qualifying to record the second quickest run in a Funny Car at 1,000 feet. Believe me when I tell you that everyone I spoke to thought that John was a lock to set the record before the weekend was over, but instead of doing that, he smoked the tires on his last qualifying run and then lost in round one in Sunday. Did you know that this was only the tenth time that John lost in the first round after he qualified number one? When you consider that he has 133 top qualifying spots, that's an amazing number. It's also only the fourth time in the history of the Houston race that the top qualifier in the Funny Car class lost in the first round. Did you know that the last time it happened was in 2000 when the 16^th qualifier, Bob Gilbertson, beat John Force?..Even though he didn't win it is apparent that John is ready to make a run for another series championship, and that anyone who wants to win it will have to contend with John sooner or later....Tony Pedregon had another wild weekend.

Jeff Arend

After blowing the body off his Nitro Fish car on Friday, Tony just barely made the field in the sixteenth and final spot, and that meant that he would face John in round one. Did you know that in their seventy-six previous meetings John and Tony had only met once when one of them was number one and the other was number sixteen and John won that meeting?....Two cars that impressed me during qualifying were Jim Head and Jeff Arend. Jim made three really good runs to get the eleventh spot in the field while Jeff and his DHL team qualified sixth. My thoughts that those two could both go rounds on Sunday ended when they were paired up against each other in round one, a round that Jeff won, and when he beat Robert Hight and Del Worsham in the next two rounds, Jeff was in the final round against Matt. Even though neither one won the race, keep your eyes on both Jeff and Jim because they both have good cars and will win a race before too long. Remember where you heard it first!

Johnson vs. Humphrey

Mike Edwards is human after all!! That revelation came when Mike ran 6.612 in round two against Rodger Brogdon, and in the process lost lane choice for his race against Jeg Coughlin in the semi-finals. When Mike went 11.543 in the left lane in the semis, it sure looked like lane choice was a real factor in Pro Stock, or at least it looked that way for a while. In the final round, Jeg, in the right lane, ran 6.599 while Allen Johnson went quicker, 6.596 in the left lane. Allen's Dodge made the better run on the track but a slight advantage off the line enabled Jeg to get the win, the 49^th of his Pro Stock career. I'm sure that if you spoke to a lot of the Pro Stock teams they would say that Allen made a better run in the left lane than they thought was possible. All of that came after he went 12.133 in round two to beat Ronnie Humphrey in a race that was just plain weird. Think about it, when was the last time a 12.13 got the win when there wasn't a red light in the other lane? On that run both drivers shook very hard and Allen was able to coax his car to the finish line ahead of Ronnie, and for his efforts Allen gets the "Full Throttle Hard Working Crew" award for the event. In the next round Allen was put in the left lane for his match with Ron Krisher, a race Allen won, and maybe

Coughlin vs. Johnson

that helped prepare him for the final round. By that I mean that he, his dad and Mark Ingersoll got a look at the lane and that may have given them some information for the final round. Whatever it was, they ran well against Jeg only to come up a little short. Allen's Mopar is consistently among the top runners in the class and his runner-up finish has him solidly in second place in the points. Did you know that Allen and Jeg have now met thirty-two times but this was the first time they ever met in a final round? Coming into Houston they had fifteen round one meetings, eight in round two and eight in the semi-finals but none in the final..Even though I have already pronounced Mike "human," I don't want to give the impression that he has lost any edge. Sure, he didn't win the race, but he did qualify number one, set low elapsed time and top speed in the class and that's not too bad, is it?....Jeg finally put four good rounds together after having a very good race car early in the year but coming up empty on race day. A string of good qualifying runs at the first four races was not followed by four good runs on Sunday, at least not until this week. Victor Cagnazzi's team, led by Roy Simmons, constantly shows that they are among the best in the

Jim Cunningham

sport and they always give Jeg a good race car. When you have a car like that and a driver like Jeg who is very good off the line and who makes very few mistakes on the track, that can be a tough combination to beat. I'm sure Roy and his crew knew that Allen would mount a serious challenge and they didn't want to give the race away, so they picked a setup that would work on the track and went with it and won with it...Even though he didn't qualify I have to think that Jim Cunningham was pleased with his performance. Running one of the two new Fords out of his shop (Erica Enders drives the other), Jim set a personal best and just missed making the field. Both Jim and Erica will race in Las Vegas and I expect at least one of them to make the field, and I wouldn't be surprised if, before the year is over, they both qualify for the same race. We'll see.

Andrew Hines won the Pro Stock Motorcycle class when Hector Arana fouled out in the final round and that makes three winners in three races this year in the bike class and Hector isn't one of the three.In one of

Hines vs. Arana

the more interesting matches Matt Smith faced his wife, Angie, in round one. The simple fact that Angie made it back after a big fire (by motorcycle standards a huge fire) was a credit to her and her entire team, which of course is led by Matt. After that round one win over Angie, Matt beat Craig Treble to advance to the semi-final round, a round that featured all current or former Full Throttle World Champions. Did you know that in the entire history of the Pro Stock Motorcycle class that's the first time that a semi-final round included four riders who all had won at least one world championship? Even the semi-finals at the 4-wide race didn't have four world champs in it. Hector beat Matt and Andrew beat his Harley-Davidson teammate, Eddie Krawiec to set up the final round..Michael Phillips, sporting the colors of the Racer's Edge, set top speed with a blast of 197.13 miles per hour. Now that's fast, in fact it's the third fastest run on a Pro Stock Motorcycle in NHRA history. Did you know that only GT Tonglet and Andrew Hines have gone faster and they both went 197.45 mph and they both did it at the same event, Gainesville in 2005? And did you know that, like Michael, even though they had the fastest bike on the property they didn't win the race?

The sportsman racers put on a great show in Houston and Bill Reichert, the four-time Lucas Oil World Champion, won his first race of the year. In the process Bill finished with 240 round wins for his career making him the winningest TAD in history. Did you know that Rick Santos held the old mark with 238 round wins? Congratulations, Bill..Mickey Ferro has established himself as

Vern Moats from Ontario in the seventies.

the man most likely to run with Frank Manzo this year. Mickey and his team won the TAFC crown when they beat Tony Bartone in the final round. Mickey ran the table on his way to the win, and by that I mean he qualified number one, set low elapsed time and top speed..Even though he didn't win Vern Moats reached a milestone at this event. Did you know that Houston was the 250^th national event for Vern and that's the most for any driver in the TAFC class?....The Comp final went to David Rampy when he beat Dan Fletcher. The final, which was the 100^th for Dan, pitted two drivers with one hundred or more final rounds against each other. Talk about a heavyweight battle!!... Slate Cummings, Lloyd Parfait, Tommy Phillips and John Garner took the other sportsman crowns while Danny Rowe beat Melanie Troxel to claim the Get Screened America Pro Mod title. The Pro Mod cars put on a great show with Jay Payne claiming the number one spot with a best of 5.813 and Ray Commisso set top speed with a run of 251.30 mph. In just two races the Pro Mod cars have gained a lot of fans and become a nice addition to the national events. And, for some reason, the fact that they are running for one of the coveted "Wally" trophies seems to make the racing even more intense...Now let's head to Las Vegas and hope that we don't have any rain. Hey, a guy can dream, can't he?