Tue, 20 Apr 2010, 09:52 PM It's About Time

By Bob Frey Photo copyright 2010 Auto Imagery, Inc. & David Allio, LVMS

Edwards, Dixon and Force

Finally, we finished a race on Sunday, a race that didn't include any rain or any other problems that caused a major delay. The SummitRacing.com Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway was exciting, interesting and fun, and in the end it featured winners who probably all went off at about "even" by the odds makers in town. Larry Dixon, John Force and Mike Edwards were anything but surprises but they were popular. "We had a great time and all of our favorites won," is how one fan put it to me after the race. "We love Larry," another said in the winner's circle. And who doesn't love John and Mike? Yes, it was a very good race and a race that was won by some of the top stars in the sport. And believe me, it won't be the last time those three win this year. Did you know that this was the fifteenth time that Larry and John have won the same race? It was also the second time that these three drivers have shared the same winner's circle and both of those races have come this year. Larry, John and Mike also won the Winternationals this year and I will be stunned if they don't celebrate together again before the year is over. Did you know that in the entire 2009 season there wasn't one time when the same three drivers won more than one race together?....With the race in Vegas over I would like to thank, as I always do, Chris Blair and his staff for doing such a nice job and making our visit to their facility a real pleasure. It's always nice to visit Las Vegas and the "Strip" is just one of the many reasons, and for drag racing fans, the best reason....On Sunday, in a very nice gesture, several of the regular racers in Las Vegas put together a tribute to Jason Dubs, Chris Blair's brother-in-law, who was killed in an accident earlier this year. The racers brought their cars to the track and paraded in front of the crowd before the finals in a salute to Jason who was loved by all the racers and staff at the track. It was a nice gesture and one that I know was appreciated by his sister, Heather, and the other family members. Very nicely done racers, and thanks.

Dixon celebrates win.

Larry Dixon once said that, "as a driver, I have one job to do...don't screw up." The fact that he is so focused on doing just that was emphasized when a reporter asked him if he was running the new Goodyear tires all day Sunday. "You're asking the wrong guy because I honestly don't know," he said. And I think he was being honest. "The crew does their job and I do mine," he added. And both of them did their jobs very well on Sunday. After a few very good runs in qualifying (on the new tires) Larry certainly looked like the class of the field on Sunday when he recorded low elapsed time in three of the four rounds, and that included a stunning 3.910 win over Brandon Bernstein in the semi-finals. The Al-Anabi team followed that with a 4.016 win over Cory McClenathan in the final round, a round that gave Larry back-to-back wins and the 51^st win of his career. Did you know that this was the ninth time in his career that Larry has won at consecutive races? The

Dixon with his sign.

win also moved Larry back into first place, by one point ahead of Cory, for the first time since the Winternationals. Did you know that Larry and Cory ran together in all four rounds of qualifying before facing off in the finals on Sunday? In those four runs both cars ran well and Larry posted the best time in several of those rounds even though he didn't get the top spot back from Antron Brown who ran 3.881 in round two of qualifying. Larry, who was given a nice testimonial during the pre-race ceremony for winning his 50^th race in Houston a week earlier, said that he wanted to take the "0" on that sign and cross it out and replace it with a "1" after the race. I don't know if he actually did it but he could have. With the hot weather now upon us I think that Larry, crew chief Jason McCulloch and the rest of the Alan Johnson led team will be tough to beat over the next few races, and it's apparent that they will be among the top contenders for the championship once the "Countdown" begins...Cory and his FRAM team continue to run well and he's having his best start since the 1998 season when he won three of the first five races. In the semi-finals on Sunday Cory beat Brandon Bernstein, a driver who really has had Cory's number over the years. Did you know that Brandon had beaten Cory in twenty-one of their previous twenty-five meetings before Sunday and that he had also won fifteen of their last seventeen encounters

Brandon Bernstein

since 2005? And did you know that, of all the racers he has faced, Brandon had beaten Cory more times than any other? You never can figure out why things go a certain way, after all Cory has always been a formidable opponent, but for some reason he just couldn't beat Brandon....Brandon didn't win the race but he went further in eliminations than he had all year and the Copart team, with a lot of help from the U.S. Air Force, certainly looked better than he had in the past few races. Now we'll have to wait until next week to see if they are ready to turn the corner and become serious contenders for the championship....As mentioned, Antron Brown was the top qualifier but he didn't win the race. In addition to qualifying number one "AB" did manage to set low elapsed time and top speed and that moved him up the chart in both of those categories. Did you know that he now has set low elapsed time ten times and that ties him with Don Prudhomme in that category? He has also set top speed seventeen times and that ties him with Gary Beck on the Top Fuel list. I ask you, three years ago did you ever think that you would hear the words Antron Brown, Don Prudhomme and Gary Beck in the same sentence? Neither did I.

Force celebrates win.

I said it after Pomona and once or twice since then but I'll repeat it, John Force is back. If you don't believe me just ask the other Funny Car racers who are trying to beat him, just like they did for so many years before his accident. John won for the amazing 129^th time and he did it from the bottom half of the field. Did you know that this was just the fourth time in his career that John won a race after qualifying in the bottom half of the field? The lowest starting spot that he had and won was at Phoenix in 1995 when he qualified twelfth and then went on to beat Tom Hoover in the final round. If I recall that was the famous "underwear race," the one where John vowed to strip to his underwear to prove that he wasn't cheating. You had to be there....Not only did John start from the bottom half of the field but so did his final round opponent, Tony Pedregon. Did you know that this was just the twenty-first time in the 653 races in Funny Car history where both drivers in the final round qualified in the lower half of the field? Oddly enough, it's also the third time that it has happened at the first Las Vegas race. Go figure!...Del Worsham qualified number one with

Del Worsham

his surprising 4.187 pass on Saturday. Did you know that in his entire career, a career that includes 417 races (some in Top Fuel), this was only the fifth time that Del was the top qualifier? Once he grabbed that top spot Del probably could have kept his car in the trailer on Sunday, and I say that because the number one Funny Car driver has never won the first race in Las Vegas. In fact, other than Whit Bazemore in 2003, the top qualifier has never even made it to the money round at this race. Strange but true.....Tony Pedregon had his second major incident in as many weeks when he had a big fire following his semi-final win over Del. The fire burned up his Chevrolet body, but Johnny West and the crew were able to get it repaired or replaced in time for the final round with John. For their efforts the crew was rewarded with the Full Throttle Hard Working Crew award for the second consecutive race. It's nice to win that and it's worth $3000 to the team but I have to think that there is an easier way to win it than burning up your car.In addition to his number one spot Del Worsham had a very uncharacteristic .354 reaction time in his first round match with Jim Head on Sunday, but he still won the race when Jim smoked the tires. As strange as it is, did you know that's not the worst reaction time that Del ever had? In Houston in 1996 he posted a .769 (which would be .369 with today's clocks) against Cruz Pedregon in round one. And you know what, he won that round, too when Cruz had clutch problems. What are the odds?

Edwards celebrates win.

Last week I proclaimed Mike Edwards "human" and then he comes out this week and crushes his opposition. Mike did everything but set the record in Las Vegas as he swept to the twenty-fourth win of his career and the fourth of the season. When you consider that we have only had six races that's a lot of wins for one Pro Stock driver. As dominant as he was last year and is this year, did you know that this was only the third time in his career that Mike has swept a race? He was the top qualifier, set low elapsed time and top speed and it's the second time this year that he has done that and the third time in the last dozen races. As dominant as he was last year I am surprised that he only swept one race, Charlotte, in 2009. Having said that it sure looks like he is the man to beat this year and the other Pro Stock drivers can't wait for September when the points get re-set for the "Countdown."...Jason Line reached a milestone of sorts when he qualified for his 150^th consecutive race since he joined Pro Stock in 2003. Did you know that of those 150 races Jason has qualified in the top half of

Jason Line

the field 123 times? Bruce Allen had the record for consecutive starts at the beginning of a Pro Stock career when he qualified for 148 races in a row between 1985 and 1993. Did you know that of his 148 races Bruce qualified in the top half of the field 112 times? Jason, his Summit Racing teammate Greg Anderson, Mike Edwards and some others visited Ken Black before the race, and from what I was told, the big guy is making slow but steady progress as he recovers from a stroke that he had last December. As good and exciting as the race was in Las Vegas it was still missing something because Ken wasn't there, wearing his cowboy hat and cheering his Summit Racing team on from the starting line. Let's hope he continues to improve and I look forward to the time when he's back at the track and celebrating a win with his drivers.Greg Stanfield made it to the final round before losing to Mike, but the Nitro Fish team continues to run well. Since I mentioned the Full Throttle Hard Working Crew award in Funny Car I thought I should mention the fact that Greg and his team won it in Pro Stock. Greg, who made it to the final in Charlotte at the 4-wide race, continues to run well and is in fifth place in the points. Did you know that Greg has been to the finals in each of the past three years at this event and he has five final round appearances for his career in Las Vegas? Like John Force, Greg qualified eleventh in the field, but unlike John he didn't win from that spot. Did you know that in the history of Pro Stock, and that covers 648 races, the number eleven qualifier has only won nine times?

Cowie vs. Severance

The sportsman racers put on a great show in Las Vegas, too, and in the end, Shawn Cowie and Jay Payne were the winners in the two top sportsman classes. Shawn, with a brand new car that was built at the Brad Hadman shop by Joey Severance, whose son just happened to be in the other lane in the final, picked up the second win of his career when Joey had trouble in the final round, trouble that kept him from staying with Shawn's very good 5.424..Chris Demke was the top qualifier in the alky field making it two straight races that the Jerry Maddern-owned team sat atop the field. Did you know that you have to go back 146 races to find the last time that the same blown, alcohol dragster qualified number one at two consecutive races? And it should come as no surprise that it was Rick Santos who did that at the end of the 2000 season..Even though he didn't win Joey did set low elapsed time for the first time in his career and Chris added top speed to his list of accomplishments..Jay Payne won for the 21st time in TAFC and that is sixth best in that class. Jay, who has now been to sixty-six final rounds between the alky dragster and funny car classes, also recorded his 443 round win. And when he faced John Lombardo Jr. in round two it was the first time they had ever raced and John became the 240^th different driver that Jay has raced in his alky career. That's a lot of racers and Jay has beaten most of them. Nice going, Jay..Tony Bartone, who never met a race car

Payne vs. O'Bannon

he didn't like, lost in round two to the eventual runner-up, Sean O'Bannon, but then stayed around until Monday to test out his new, nostalgia, front-engine dragster....Justin Lamb won a battle of the young guns when he beat Brad Plourd in the Super Stock final round, while Larry Gilley won his second national event in Stock and Dick Vander Meer won his first national event when he beat Thomas Bayer in the Super Comp finals....The Super Gas final featured two completely different cars, Mike Ferderer's new look, big speed K&N sponsored car, and the '41 Willys of Dennis Paz. In the end it was Mike who got the win but both drivers provided the fans with lots of excitement and a great final round. Did you know that Mike has more wins in Super Gas than any other driver in the history of that eliminator? His fourteen wins put him two ahead of Sheldon Gecker who is in second place. And as much as I love the new cars in Super Gas I really like Dennis's Willys. He has had that truck since 1978 and went to the final round at the NHRA Finals in 1991 with that same machine. Now that's way cool!!