Tue, 21 Sep 2010, 11:30 PM The Long And Wacky Day

By Bob Frey Photo copyright 2010 Auto Imagery, Inc.

Karen Comstock drives the Camaro down the track.

To paraphrase the Beatles, the final day of racing at the O'Reilly Auto Parts Nationals was a very long and wacky day. There were a lot of oil-down delays and most of them were very lengthy. As hot as it was it had to be tough to sit in the stands for all that time, but those who stayed until the end saw some very exciting racing, especially in the semi-finals and finals. There were some big upsets, some real surprises, and in the end some worthy champions..Before getting into the race itself I wanted to thank everyone who came out and supported the B.R.A.K.E.S. charity dinner and auction on Thursday night. A lot of money was raised for Doug Herbert's foundation and that means that a lot of kids will learn how to be better drivers. There were hundreds of people there but I especially wanted to mention Rodger and Karen Comstock and Allen Johnson. Rodger, who owns and runs the Mail Terminal Services (MTS) company that is a fixture on Jack Beckman's car, can always be counted on to support the charities that help our fellow racers. Without getting into just what he bought at the auction let me just say that he and Karen were among the top bidders on several items, including a 1998 Camaro. As a reward they got to take the car down the Z-Max Dragway track on Sunday. Thanks to both of them for all they do for the racing community. Our sport and our world would be a lot better off if we had more people like them

Allen Johnson

involved...As for Allen, by now you know that he was disqualified from the race for failing a random drug and alcohol test. Allen admitted to having a few alcoholic beverages during a dinner with his family the night before his test. "Since I felt no ill effects from the alcohol I consumed I volunteered to take the test immediately even though I had 24-hours in which to take it." Apparently there were still some trace amounts in his system, and as a result he failed the test and was disqualified. "I fully support the NHRA's zero tolerance policy and I understand their decision," he said. I applaud Allen for being at the track on Sunday and for making himself available for interviews. He also posted his thoughts on his blog on Mopar Speed, the official e-zine of Team Mopar and that took a lot of courage. All of this took place after Allen was a huge supporter of and a big contributor to the B.R.A.K.E.S. function Thursday evening. Since it's public knowledge I will say that he donated $10,000 at the event and he had a hand in raising another $10,000 more. Allen has always helped Doug with this program along with supporting other charitable events, and it's a shame that just two days after that he had to be the topic of discussion, not for his kindness and generosity, but for an infraction that cost him more than money. He'll be back in action this week and I hope he can put all of the distractions behind him. He has a good car and had a very good shot at winning the championship and I hope he rebounds well in Dallas, and on behalf of Doug and his foundation, thanks, Allen.

Anderson celebrates win.

While AJ was on the sidelines in Charlotte he did get a break when the point's leader, Mike Edwards, went out in the first round. Mike, who qualified second behind Jason Line, lost to Jeg Coughlin in the opening round and that meant that everyone could close in on the top spot if they had a good day. It also meant that the damage to Allen was minimal, or as minimal as it could be under the circumstances..The biggest beneficiary of Mike's loss wasn't Jeggie, it was Greg Anderson, and that's because the Summit Racing Equipment driver went on to win the race. His win, the 63^rd of his career and the third in 2010, moved Greg to within twenty-seven points of Mike. Did you know that this was Greg's first win at Z-Max Dragway and that means that he has now won races at twenty-three different national event venues? With momentum on his side Greg is heading to Texas and an event that he was won three times. Since Mike is also heading to Dallas I should point out that he has never won the fall event at the Motorplex, but if he ever wanted to do it now would be a prefect time, don't you think?...I mentioned that it was a wild and wacky day on Sunday and nothing was more wacky than what went on in Pro Stock. In addition to Mike losing in round one, the number fourteen, fifteen and sixteen qualifiers all advanced, and as you can imagine, that just doesn't happen very often. Did you know that in the history of the Pro Stock class, excluding those few events when they actually ran thirty-two Pro Stock cars in eliminations, this was only the eighth time that the last three qualifiers all won in round one? That's eight times in over 650 events. Plus, it's only the third time it has happened in the last twenty years, and that my friends, is just plain wacky!!...By the way, the last time it occurred was at the last race in the 2007 season, and do you know who qualified last in that field? Mike Edwards. And do you know who was fourteenth in that field? Greg Stanfield. And do you know who lost to the fifteenth qualifier

WJ vs Kurt Johnson at 2005 Winternationals.

at that race? Greg Anderson. Like I said.wacky....Yeah, but you ain't heard nothin' yet? How about Warren Johnson winning two consecutive rounds on holeshots? And lest you think I'm making fun of the "Professor," when told that he had won on a holeshot in round two he responded with, "Wow, the other guy must really have been late." Classic WJ isn't it? Did you know that this was the seventh time in his career that Warren has won two rounds at the same event on holeshots? It's also the first time that he has done that since back in 2005. Still, he made it to the semi-finals on "Wacky Sunday" and that came after he and Kurt announced that they had secured some sponsorship for the future. Grant Motorsports, a Utah-based company, will support both father and son for the rest of 2010 and beyond. I spoke to Warren about it and he is very excited and we hope to learn more about the program in the days ahead..Things pretty much returned to normal in the semi-finals when Greg Anderson beat Kurt Johnson and Greg Stanfield took care of Warren. Then, in the final round, Mr. Anderson made his best run of the weekend, a solid 6.604 that was good enough to beat the Nitro Fish team and stop Greg Stanfield from winning back-to-back races..Dallas will be very interesting in the Pro Stock class, and with 101 points separating the top six drivers it really is anybody's race and I'm not sure I could pick a favorite right now.

Force vs. Lee

The wackiest thing in Funny Car happened even before the race began on Sunday. Tim Wilkerson, one of the contenders for the title, failed to qualify for the race and that was stunning. Did you know that Tim had made every starting field since the rain-shortened Winternationals last year? To see the Levi, Ray and Shoup car on the sidelines was a real shock and it dropped Tim down to ninth place in the standings, and as much as it pains me to say it, virtually eliminated him from title contention. Tim is 163 points, or more than eight rounds, out of first place and that's almost impossible to make up in four races....Early in eliminations we saw how wacky the race would be when John Force and Robert Hight both went out in round one. John lost to Paul Lee who is making a habit of beating the Team Force cars in the early rounds. Did you know that in his last three races Paul has beaten Ashley Force, Robert Hight and now John in the first round? John's loss in round one was his fifth of the year, and any opening round loss can be costly at this time of the year. Did you know that over the course of his career John has won

Pedregon vs. Beckman

over 78% of his first round races? That's pretty good, isn't it? Even with the loss John still leads the points but his margin is only four points over Jack Beckman....Jack had a chance to take over the points lead in the final but he ran into the buzz saw that was Cruz Pedregon. Did you know that this was Jack's 22^nd final round and that ties him with Billy Meyer for sixteenth place on the Funny Car list? Jack's final rounds came in 107 events while Billy's finals came in 125 races...Now I hate to say that I told you so, but I told you a few weeks back that Cruz was running very well and that I thought he'd win a race before the year was over. Well, if he runs in Dallas like he did in Charlotte he could win again. Cruz did everything but set top speed on his way to the win. He was the number one qualifier and he set low elapsed time, plus he had the quickest car in three of the four rounds of qualifying. In short, it was a

Cruz vs. Tony

dominating performance by the Snap-On Tools car and a very well deserved win. Did you know that Cruz's last win was at the final race of the 2008 season and that Larry Dixon and Greg Anderson also won that race, just like they did in Charlotte? Cruz started the day from the top spot and that was the 39^th number one of his career and that moved him past Kenny Bernstein and into third place on the all-time Funny Car list..Cruz and his brother, Tony, squared off in round two, and once again they showed that they will race each other straight up regardless of circumstances. Tony, decked out in the Komatsu colors for the race, could have used the win but so could Cruz. Nice job, guys..Cruz became the tenth different Funny Car driver to win this season and that's the second most ever in the history of the class. Did you know that there were eleven winners in FC in 2006 and that of those eleven five have also won this year?...The top seven drivers in the standings are 122 points apart and that makes the Dallas race extremely important to all of them. Did you know that of the top seven drivers in the points only two, John Force and Robert Hight have won the Dallas event?

Dixon and Pedregon celebrate win.

What can you say about Larry Dixon this year? The driver of the Al-Anabi dragster has been to eleven final rounds and he has won them all and that's a record for any driver in the Full Throttle classes. Sure, some drivers have won more than eleven races in a year but nobody had won eleven in a row without a loss. Even more impressive than his win might be the fact that Larry beat his three closest rivals in the points along the way. It shouldn't come as a surprise that Larry has the biggest lead of any pro driver. His eighty-five point lead over Cory McClenathan makes the Dallas race almost a "must-win" situation for Cory and the other contenders. Almost.Larry has now won three races in a row and that's only the second time in his career that he has done that. He'll try to set a personal best when he goes to Dallas at a track and an event that he has won twice. Did you know that only four Top Fuel drivers have won the Dallas race more than once and three of them are the top three in the points right now? Larry, Cory and Tony Schumacher all have multiple Top Fuel wins at the Motorplex and so does the fourth driver, Don Prudhomme...Doug Kalitta was Larry's opponent in the final round, and while he gave it his best shot, he

Dixon vs. McClenathan

came up a little bit short. This was Doug's 64^th final round and that ties him with Cory for fifth place on the dragster list..Cory, who was sporting Valvoline colors at the race, had a very good car but not good enough to beat Larry in their semi-final match. Did you know that Cory has now lost to Larry forty-four times and that is, by far, the most losses against any driver on Cory's list?...Larry and the "Sarge" squared off in round two and that marked the 70^th meeting between the two in their careers. And how about this? Did you know that of those seventy meetings each driver has won thirty-five times? And did you know that the only round where Tony holds a winning record against Larry is the final round? Interesting, isn't it?...Like I said, even though he didn't win the race Cory's car ran very well and he was the top qualifier, set low elapsed time and top speed at the event. This was the 30^th time that Cory has set low elapsed time and that's sixth best in Top Fuel history and he now has set top speed thirty-one times and that ties him with Larry for third place on that list. Cory won from the number one spot at the 4-wide race in Charlotte earlier this year, but other than that, no Top Fuel driver, except Larry Dixon, has won from the top spot in 2010. The way I see it Cory, Tony and Doug all need to gain ground on Larry this week or the last three races of the year could be an exercise in futility..And speaking of wacky, did you know that Mike Dunn won the Dallas race from the number sixteen qualifying spot in 1993 and that's the last time a Top Fuel driver won from the last spot in the field?

Phillips vs. Stoffer

I think "wacky" would describe the action in the motorcycle class this week. How else would you describe two holeshot wins by one driver when his opponents had reaction times that began with a 2? Michael Phillips beat Karen Stoffer (.236) and Steve Johnson (.239) on holeshots in the first two rounds and that's just, well, wacky?....There was nothing strange about LE Tonglet's win because the Nitro Fish rider went wire-to-wire to get it. He qualified number one for the first time in his career, ran low elapsed time, a staggering 6.879 in round one, and he won the race. Did you know that this was LE's third national event win and that's the same number that his brother, GT Tonglet, has won? LE is now sixty-six points behind the leader, Andrew Hines, and it looks like this is a two-team race for the championship now. LE picked up twenty-two points on the weekend and he needs to do that in Dallas, too if he wants to stay in title contention.Did you know that when LE qualified number one he became

Tonglet celebrates win.

only the thirty-second rider to lead the Pro Stock Motorcycle field in qualifying?...Angie Smith had a good weekend and she made it to the semi-finals before losing to Andrew. Still, the Coffman Tank Trucks bike is running well and she could be a spoiler for the rest of the year. Her sponsor will get double exposure this week when they also are on Bob Yonke's Pro Stock car..Andrew had another good weekend, maybe not as good as he had hoped, but not bad. Did you know that this was Andrew's fifth consecutive final round and that's very impressive? The Vance & Hines Screamin' Eagle Harley-Davidson also set top speed and that was the 35^th time he has done that. Did you know that ties Andrew with the great Dave Schultz for second place in the bike class? Only John Myers, who did it forty-five times, is ahead of him in the speed department.

It was like an all star show in the finals for the Lucas Oil classes at Charlotte, with Frank Manzo, Peter Biondo and Dan Fletcher among the winners. Frank won his thirtieth consecutive final round and that's not wacky, it's unbelievable. Peter won in his fifth different class and he's only the fifth driver in history to do that and Dan tied Kenny Bernstein for seventh place on the all-time national event win list with his 69^th victory..Monroe Guest jumped right into title contention with his win over Ken Perry in the finals of Top Alcohol Dragster and he did it with a perfect reaction time in the final round. Did you know that in the entire history of the class this was only the fourth time a driver has had a prefect reaction time in the final round? It's also the first time it has happened since Jeff Wilson did it in Houston in 2000..Frank Altilio won his first race sine the Gatornationals back in 1992 and Lincoln Morehead won for the first time since Englishtown in 2004..Melanie Troxel won the Pro Mod race and that gives her wins in four different classes at NHRA national events.

Mert Littlefield with '02 Seattle Wally.

And finally, I'm sad to report that Mert Littlefield passed away yesterday. Mert, who was 66, had been a vital part of the sport for almost fifty years and was active as a driver, crew chief and as the builder of some of the finest superchargers in the sport. I was there when Mert won the Seattle national event in 2002, a race that ended on a Monday. Even though there were only a few people there to see it Mert was as excited as any racer I had even seen as he hoisted his trophy. He was a wonderful man and a great competitor and we will miss him. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his wife, Lee, his son, Brad and his daughter, Kasey.