Cream still rising to the top in Pomona
Written by Sheila Scarborough · February 10, 2008
Schumacher, Hight and Anderson take the Wallys at the CARQUEST Auto Parts NHRA Winternationals in California.
Is Tony Schumacher going to kick back and let somebody else play Top Dog in Top Fuel? Not likely. For the first time since November 2006, an all-Schumacher team went to the Top Fuel finals (Tony and new DSR teammate Cory McClenathan, who took out #1 qualifier Antron Brown in Round Two.)
Only one was left standing, and that was the guy in the US Army dragster. In post-race remarks, he saluted his opponents.
“The car was so consistent in qualifying and I was kind of glad to start the day against a guy like Doug Kalitta because it really forced the team to focus from the start,” Schumacher said. “It seems like we’re at our best when we have a challenge. We were on it from the start today and we needed to be because we haven’t quite figured out the 90-percent nitro deal yet.
“This trophy is going to Doug Herbert [who lost his two sons in a January auto accident.] I’ve been praying for him and his family every day. It was tough racing him in the second round but if he had won that race I would’ve been so happy for him and I would have backed him to win the race. I hope he enjoys it and it helps him in some way.”
Robert Hight was thrilled to bring the Funny Car win home to John Force Racing at his hometown track in Pomona, and he also had good words for recent safety modifications.
“After the first two rounds I didn’t give us a chance,” said Hight. “We didn’t do well in qualifying and we didn’t get to test in the off-season because we got these [modified] cars so late. Jimmy [Prock, crew chief] told me earlier this weekend that we’re still testing to a large extent and that’s what it was like.
“I can see so well in this car. I had to pedal in the first two rounds and I was able to see where I was and when I could get back on it so much quicker. I’m giving this trophy to Niranjan Singh, the Ford engineer who worked night and day to build this new car. He came over from Formula 1 and he’s been relentless working on this thing to get it ready in time.”
Funny Car was also marked by Tony Pedregon’s scary fire and explosion while racing John Force in Round One, but both men are fine. Tony had actually red-lighted and Force was so busy reacting to Pedregon that he forgot to pop his chutes, and took a little dive into the sand trap.
Pro Stock was once again a struggle between the mighty and the great, as Greg Anderson defeated 2007 champion Jeg Coughlin with a 6.616 at 209.23 mph.
“Jeg’s worn me out on the starting line so I knew I needed to be sharp to have a chance and we ended up leaving together,” Anderson said. “After that you just make sure you execute the run properly because I know the KB Racing horsepower is going to be there.
“We’re going to try to win every single race this year. We got off of that last year and I paid dearly for it in the end. We thought we could pull back and test some things after we built up such a big lead but we found out you can’t just turn it on and off like that. It was a lesson learned, for sure, and I won’t make that mistake again. This will be the toughest year ever in this class and we won’t give an inch if we can help it.”
The next POWERade series race is the Checker Schuck’s Kragen NHRA Nationals at Firebird Raceway, near Phoenix Arizona, February 22-24.
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