Wed, 7 Nov 2001, 10:52 PM This Is It!!

By Bob Frey

Well, it all comes down to this, the 37^th running of the Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA Finals. With 23 races in the books, and one to go, the Top Fuel, Pro Stock, Pro Stock Motorcycle and Pro Stock Truck titles are still up for grabs. OK, so there really isn’t a lot of drama in the Pro Stock classes, but the dragster class could be pretty exciting. Only 54 points separate the two contenders to the throne, Kenny Bernstein and Larry Dixon. Did you know that the 54-point total is exactly the same number of points that Kenny trailed Joe Amato by when they came to the finals in 1992? Of course, at that race, Joe lost in round one, Kenny went out in round two and Cory McClenathan almost stole the championship. This year, the pressure is on both drivers, since Larry, virtually, has to win the race and hope for Kenny to go out early, while Kenny needs to make it to the semi-finals to shut out Dixon, and then hope he doesn’t lose points with an oil down. It should be very exciting. Whatever happens, it’s been a great year for both drivers. Did you know that Kenny, with his seven wins this season, has established a single-season best for himself? Now you have to remember that he had some pretty awesome years in the Funny Car class, so winning seven is very impressive. Of course, up until last year, that would have been an NHRA record, but Gary Scelzi, with nine wins in 2000, shattered that mark. Still, both Kenny and Larry have bettered the one-year-old record for the number of round wins in a season. Gary won 54 rounds last year, while Kenny already has 57 and Larry has 55. By the way, if you’re wondering how they’ve done against each other this year, that could prove to be the margin of victory. Did you know that the two have met nine times this year and that Kenny has won six of those meetings? That’s huge! Plus, over their careers, K.B. has the edge 19-12, with a 9-6 margin over the past, two seasons. And, in case they meet in the finals, Kenny leads there, too, 3-1. Still, for some strange reason, the "King" has struggled at Pomona over the past few years, especially at the Finals. Did you know that Kenny has never been a number one qualifier in Top Fuel at the season finale, and that his best start in the past six years has been a number five spot? Still, he did win it twice, in ’94 beating Cory Mac, and in 1998 when he stopped Gary Scelzi. Kenny also has two FC wins at the Finals, and one of them came at the expense of Larry’s car owner, Don Prudhomme. For his part, Dixon has one final round appearance at the Finals, and that was in his rookie year of 1995. It should be exciting.

Warren Johnson

The Pro Stock title is still up for grabs, although Warren Johnson certainly has a much better shot at winning it than Jim Yates does. Coming into this race, the "Professor" has a 103-point lead on Jim Yates, which means that if Warren wins the first round, it’s all over. Of course, winning the first round hasn’t been easy for either one of those guys this year. Did you know that, between them, Warren and Jim have lost a total of 18 times in the first round? 18! W.J. has failed to advance past round one ten times this year, while Yates has been beaten in round one on eight occasions. Hard to believe that you could do that and still make a run for the championship, isn’t it? Now, if Warren gets beat in round one at Pomona, all Yates has to do is win the race and set the record to win the championship. Like I said, Warren certainly looks like the favorite to me. Like Top Fuel, there have been some strange final races in Pro Stock that have affected the outcome of the title, and Warren has been involved in a few of them. In fact, did you know that, in 1976, Warren had a chance to win the Winston Championship, but he had to go further than Larry Lombardo in eliminations to do it? As fate would have it, Lombardo, driving for Bill Jenkins, struggled during qualifying and ended up in the bottom half of the field for the first time in his career. But, Warren was in the top half, and the two would meet in round one, with Lombardo winning on a holeshot and ending Johnson’s chance to win the crown. Warren would wait sixteen more years before winning his first, Winston Championship. Now, he seems ready to win his sixth.

Angelle Savoie

The motorcycle class is almost like Top Fuel, that is, the leader would really have to stumble for the challenger to go around for the win. Angelle Savoie is 73 points up on Antron Brown, which means that if she goes to the third round, it’s over. Of course, if Antron goes out early in the program, Angelle could win it earlier. And, you might ask, just what are the chances of her going to the third round? Well, did you know that Angelle has been to the semi-finals at 11 of the 13 races this season? Plus, she hasn’t lost in the first round in over two years and 33 races, and that’s the best in the sport, so you’ve got to like her chances. Whatever, she looks like a lock to win her second, consecutive title and move within one of Shirley Muldowney’s record of three, Winston Championships. Of course, as of this moment, no one really knows what lies in store for Angelle or the Star Racing team for 2002. But for now, let’s let them enjoy this year.

The truck class, which makes its final appearance as a professional category at Pomona, will go to Bob Panella as soon as he attempts to qualify. Since he is already 134 points ahead of Greg Stanfield, the 10 points that he’ll get for simply showing up will give him more than enough to claim his third, Winston title, even if Greg were to run the table, that is, win the race and set a national record. Congratulations to Bob for another, great year, a year which saw him qualify for every race and beat the guys he had to beat in order to secure the title. Did you know that Bob is the only driver who qualified for every Pro Stock Truck race in history? Hey, that’s something special. Plus, with that record, he has qualified for 53 races in a row, and that’s more than anyone in the Pro Stock car class except Warren Johnson. Speaking of that, Warren’s streak of 287 in a row almost came to an end in Las Vegas, when he made the show on the last attempt. Warren’s mark is the longest in the history of drag racing, and is even better than John Force’s mark of 276 in a row. Did you know that the last time that John failed to qualify was at the Winston Finals in 1987? At that race, the bump spot was a 5.670 by Eric Reed Dowd, and John’s best was a 5.834, which placed him below Gary Densham, Johnny West, Brad Tuttle, Jim Head, John Martin and Ed Mohr. Wow. At that same race, for the real historians out there, Warren Johnson qualified number two behind Bob Glidden, and the DNQ’s in Pro Stock included such notables as Kenny Koretsky, Geoffrey Bailey, R.J. Gottlieb, Ed Robinson and Willie Mitchem. Honest! (Note: I’m sure my editor will have a picture of Willie to throw in here). That race also was the one where Dick LaHaie won the Winston Championship when he beat Joe Amato in the semi-finals, and then he lost to Darrell Gwynn in the final round. Now if you’re really good, you’ll remember that Dick was driving the Miller Beer car that year and his crew chief was his daughter, Kim. You’ll also recall that he lost the final to Darrell who was driving the Budweiser car. Dick hopes to turn the tables this year. Oh yeah, Kenny Bernstein, in the Bud Funny Car, was upset at that race in round one. He sure hopes history doesn’t repeat itself this weekend.

Gary Scelzi

Besides the point’s races being decided, a couple of other, notable things will happen at this race. First, it will be the last event for the Winston sponsorship. I, for one, would like to thank them for all that they have done for the sport over these past, 27 years. Without them, who knows where the sport might be today. With their sponsorship going away, that means that "Team Winston" will also cease to exist. From what I hear, Gary Scelzi and Bruce Sarver will return next year and they’ll both be driving Funny Cars, while the Alan Johnson dragster may also return with Bruce Penhall at the wheel. I’m not saying that ’s a fact, it’s just what I’ve heard….It will also be the last race for Frank Pedregon in the C.S.K. "blue" car. Too bad, since that was a nice relationship for everyone, but business is business. Frankie, who read the handwriting on the wall, took a pre-emptive strike in announcing his retirement from the team, let’s just hope he lands another driving gig for 2002. Hey, Cruz is getting out of the TV booth, maybe another Pedregon could step in. Just a thought…. And I still think that there is a blockbuster announcement coming in the Pro Stock ranks, although I’m not sure what it is. Call it a hunch, but I think it will be huge! Anyway, let’s not forget the sportsman titles that are still up for grabs this weekend and the Budweiser Shootout at Pomona for the dragsters. Combined with a great autograph session featuring most, if not all, of the top ten drivers on Saturday, this should be some weekend for drag racing fans. Oh, yeah, NHRA will also announce the top, two drivers in their Top 50 poll. I can’t wait for the comments once the number one guy is announced on Sunday morning. Oh well, enjoy…