Wed, 18 Oct 2000, 10:14 AM Professional Winston Point Standings Recap #2

By Mickey Schultz

FastNews Network continues to bring you the latest in the NHRA Winston point standings for the five professional classes - - Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock (Car), Pro Stock Truck, and Pro Stock Motorcycle. This information will be posted on the Wednesday or Thursday prior to each national event, for the remainder of the 2000 season.

Let's recap how points are earned in the professional classes: There are 138 points available for the professional classes at each event - - 10 for making at least one qualifying run, a maximum of eight if you qualify number one, 100 for winning the event, and 20 points if you set and leave the event with an official NHRA elapsed time national record.

For Top Fuel, Funny Car and Pro Stock, that means, with three events remaining on the 2000 NHRA Winston Drag Racing Series, there are currently 414 points up for grabs. To clinch their respective category the point leader must leave the O’Reilly Fall Nationals presented by Castrol Syntec with a 277 point advantage over second place.

Pro Stock Trucks, which do not compete on the full national event schedule, have only two races left (Dallas and Pomona). That means, there are currently 276 points up for grabs. To clinch the Pro Stock Truck category the point leader must leave the O’Reilly Fall Nationals presented by Castrol Syntec with a 139 point advantage over second place.

Pro Stock Motorcycles, which do not compete on the full national event schedule, have only two races left (Houston and Pomona). That means, there are currently 276 points up for grabs. Pro Stock Motorcycles do not compete at the O’ Reilly Fall Nationals presented by Castrol Syntec in Dallas. To clinch the Pro Stock Motorcycle category the point leader must leave the Matco Tools SuperNationals (Oct. 26-29) in Houston with a 139 point advantage over second place.

Let's now review each of the five professional categories:

TOP FUEL: With an accident to Tony Schumacher during qualifying and an accident to Larry Dixon in the final round against point leader Gary Scelzi at the recently completed AutoZone Nationals presented by Pennzoil in Memphis, Scelzi increased his point margin over all contenders for the Winston Top Fuel title. Only five drivers remain in this season's point battle, as Kenny Bernstein was mathematically eliminated from contention at the Memphis event. Scelzi, who now has 1663 points, picked up 77 points on second place and now holds a 126 point lead over Tony Schumacher, who remained in second despite the adversity he underwent in Memphis. The Army car will run at Dallas but without Schumacher. Current plans call for Schumacher, who underwent surgery on October 9th, to miss both the Dallas and Houston national events. Larry Dixon, in third, lost 23 points to Scelzi at Memphis and is now 223 points behind the leader. Dixon's accident prevented him from picking up the 20 extra valuable Winston points he would have earned for a victory over Scelzi. Instead the points went to Scelzi. The Miller Lite crew is readying two new dragsters for Dallas and Dixon plans to run at the Motorplex even though he had outpatient surgery on his leg on October 11th. Joe Amato, down 382 points, and Doug Kalitta, 394 points back, are in fourth and fifth respectively. About all that can be said for Amato and Kalitta is that both are alive mathematically going into the O’Reilly Fall Nationals presented by Castrol Syntec. Nothing short of a miracle will still have these two contending after Dallas. On the championship, Scelzi had this to say during a post-race interview in Memphis, "I'm not comfortable with the point lead I have. It would be nothing for Tony (Schumacher) to come back in Dallas. Larry, too. Realistically, Tony's car is running good enough to win the next three races and I could go out in the first round the next three. I don't take anything for granted. If anybody does, then they're stupid, plain and simple. Along as there's points left and there's races left, somebody else can win. It's not over until you have more points than races left." Scelzi's comment was made before it was announced that Schumacher wouldn't compete. Even with Schumacher out, the one thing that is for certain at Dallas is that Scelzi can't clinch the Winston championship.

FUNNY CAR: John Force, who now has 1659 points, is cruising toward his 10th Winston Funny Car championship. Only Ron Capps and Jerry Toliver have a chance at unseating Force and taking this year's title. And that's a very small chance. As a result of his Memphis win and Toliver's first round loss there, Capps moved into second and is now 290 points behind Force. Toliver drops to third and needs to make up a 306 point difference between himself and Force. Force’s teammate Tony Pedregon is fourth, 458 points behind his car owner and as a result is mathematically eliminated from contention. At Dallas, Capps must pick up a minimum of 14 points on Force to remain alive and Toliver needs to pick up a minimum of 30 points or Force will pin him to the mat. The bottom line is that Force can clinch at Dallas.

PRO STOCK (CAR): This one is over. Jeg Coughlin, Jr., took both the event win and the Winston Pro Stock Championship at the AutoZone Nationals presented by Pennzoil in Memphis. The only thing remaining for this season's champ is to see if he can break (or tie) Darrell Alderman's single-season Pro Stock win record of 11 or tie the NHRA all-time single-season win record of 13, held by Funny Car driver John Force. Coughlin, currently has 1827 points and 10 wins, with three national events remaining. At the post-race media interview in Memphis, Coughlin commented on winning the championship. "We certainly don't wish anything bad on any of our competitors at any time. With Kurt Johnson not qualifying, that put him out of the championship hunt. Then Warren (Johnson), ironically, taking out (Ron) Krisher first round, took him out of the hunt. So that locked the championship up for us. We're extremely excited. Since the start of this season, we've hoped that this time would come at some point during the year. This is our third full year in Pro Stock and the championship has been our goal all along. We finished runner-up, number two, the previous two years and we're looking forward to sporting the number one in 2001 and being aligned with GM and Chevrolet for next year. I think that's going to be a great program for us." With Kurt Johnson (with 1295 points), Ron Krisher (with 1267 points), and Warren Johnson (with 1239 points) battling for the second spot.

PRO STOCK TRUCK: The one thing that is for sure in the Pro Stock Truck battle is that for the third straight year the champion will be behind the wheel of a Chevy S-10. Only two drivers - - Bob Panella, Jr. and Randy Daniels - - have a chance at this year's title and Daniels must make a BIG move at Dallas or Panella can wrap it up there. Team leader and family patriarch Garley Daniels has been hospitalized for the last two truck races and this may have contributed to the team's slide during that time period. The rest of the field is vying for third. This reporter feels that Panella, who leads Daniels by 230 points, will capture his second consecutive Winston Pro Stock Truck Championship at the upcoming event at the Texas Motorplex.

PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE: As noted previously, the Pro Stock Bikes don't compete at Dallas. Their next competition is the following week at Houston. But to review: While Tony Mullen is mathematically still in the running, it's a two-way battle between Team Winston’s Angelle Seeling and reigning Winston bike champ Matt Hines. Seeling leads the points when the Pro Stock Bike contingent return to action in Houston. She has 1140 points, while number two, Matt Hines, is 138 points behind. Seeling wants this title in the worst way and could leave Houston as the new Winston Pro Stock Motorcycle champion. We see Hines in second, with teammates Tony Mullen and Antron Brown both aiming for third.

That's it for now… set your modem for Wednesday, October 25 and Recap #3.