Big Wins, Big Smiles at the Dragstrip
Written by Sheila Scarborough · March 30, 2008
Race conditions today were relatively cool and cloudy; much improved from the hot, sunny 1320 that gave drivers and tuners fits yesterday.
A standing room only crowd was 10 deep against the fence at Houston Raceway Park to watch the action.
There were plenty of upsets and excitement.
In Top Fuel, a huge Round One matchup sent Brandon Bernstein to the trailer when Tony Schumacher won, and pole winner Alan Bradshaw was dispatched by the Swiss driver Urs Erbacher. Round Two gave us Dougzilla Herbert taking out The Sarge (Schumacher’s earliest loss so far this season.)
New (to Top Fuel) driver Antron Brown beat Doug Foley, Cory Mac and Doug Kalitta to reach his first-ever final as a nitro guy. Larry Dixon beat Morgan Lucas, Bruce Litton and Doug Herbert to get to his lane in the final.
It was Antron Brown with the Wally at the end of the strip; his first Top Fuel win since shifting to the David Powers Motorsports dragster, edging Larry Dixon with a 4.605 at 320.28 mph. Brown is the first person to have wins in both Pro Stock Motorcycle and Top Fuel (and tuner Lee Beard has gotten 10 different drivers to the winner’s circle.)
“Being able to live this dream is unreal,” said Brown. “I was a little kid going to the Summernationals watching guys like Garlits, Kenny Bernstein, John Force and Don Prudhomme, and now I have to stop and ask myself, ‘Am I really here?’
“This team has been plagued in the second round all year, but we knew we were capable of winning. We had some really close races today. The margins of victory were so tight that it felt like Pro Stock Motorcycle racing at a faster speed.”
Funny Car’s first round was somewhat less surprising — Ron Capps lost to Tim Wilkerson and Tommy Johnson, Jr. beat Gary Densham. In Round Two, John Force beat pole winner Cruz Pedregon.
Ashley Force made it to the final round; it was her first since 2007 in Las Vegas, where she lost to Tony Pedregon. She took out Bob Gilbertson, Tony Pedregon and Tony Bartone to meet Del Worsham in the Houston finals. Worsham beat Jerry Toliver, Tim Wilkerson and John Force to get to the finals (and quashed public sentiment for a Force v. Force final round.)
Dad was a spectator for his daughter, but Worsham, one of his long-running rivals, beat sentimental favorite Force with a 4.933 at 316.60. It was his first victory since a win at the Mac Tools US Nationals in 2005.
“We had a great day,” said Worsham. “We had a lot of problems that tried to bite us, but we kept up with them. We had problems in the pits, on a warm-up and with a timer box, but we got them handled and my dad made great calls on the starting line.
“As bad as I felt after not qualifying at the first two races this year, I knew we had a car that could run well. It’s been a long time since our last win, and here it finally is. Nobody on the crew was with us during the last win except for my dad. We have a bunch of young kids who are hungry and really excited.”
Kurt Johnson marched through John Nobile, his own Dad Warren Johnson and V. Gaines to get to the Pro Stock final against Greg Anderson, who beat Greg Stanfield, Matt Hartford and Allen Johnson as the day progressed. Surprise upsets during eliminations included Jim Yates beating Jason Line and Jeg Coughlin redlighting against Allen Johnson.
KJ has had some long nights here in Texas, helping his father and fellow competitor Warren Johnson make emergency repairs after a blown engine and tagging the wall. WJ says that this was his first blown engine since 1979 (cracked one observer, “Yeah, what car was that, a Studebaker?”)
Ultimately, Greg Anderson was first off the starting line and prevailed with a 6.692 ET at 207.37 mph, as KJ had tire shake and swerved hard to the right.
“This was definitely a completely different win than Pomona,” said Anderson. “In Pomona, we qualified No. 1 and it was smooth sailing, but we were sixth here and couldn’t make it down the racetrack. We made some big changes last night and made some gains, but all hell broke loose again after that.
“It’s a special feeling to win a race this way, but it’s sure hard on the heart. I’m proud of my guys who fought and fought to get this thing figured out.”
Pro Stock Motorcycle had a big Buell matchup between Gainesville monster winner Matt Guidera and current PSM champ and Houston pole winner Matt Smith.
Guidera beat Craig Treble, Eddie Krawiec and Chip Ellis to get to the finals; Smith eliminated Junior Pippin, Angelle Sampey and Andrew Hines.
“This has been an awesome experience,” said Smith. “I was embarrassed by the way we got dominated in Gainesville. We found more power, and it shows. It was great to win for [sponsor] Kenny Koretsky on his 50th birthday. He helped us out, and we want to give him a championship in return.
“We wanted to prove a point. The extra weight slows us down, so we worked hard to speed back up without griping about the rules. The Buells, Harleys and Suzukis were all pretty close. Chip Ellis was running great on a Suzuki, but I think they just missed the tune-up in the semi’s.”
Finally, one last random quote of the day from a driver, in response to the question, “Who do you want to see in the other lane in the finals?” Answer: “Anyone with an oil leak.”
The next race is the SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway April 10-13.
Here are the POWERade points standings after the O’Reilly Spring Nationals.
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