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NHRA
TOYO Tires Nationals click here to view a photo gallery from Reading SUNDAY FINAL - SCHUMACHER CONTINUES TO OWN MAPLE GROVE RACEWAY, EXTENDS POINTS LEAD WITH THIRD STRAIGHT TOYO TIRES WIN
Pedregon wins in Funny Car, Anderson wins in Pro Stock, and Sampey gets the win in Pro Stock Motorcycle (9-18-2005) - Tony Schumacher and crew chief Alan Johnson continued their domination of Maple Grove Raceway with a third straight Toyo Tires Nationals win Sunday. The other winners at the $1.5 million race, the 19th of 23 events on the $50 million NHRA POWERade Series, were Tony Pedregon (Funny Car), Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) and Angelle Sampey (Pro Stock Motorcycle). The win over Larry Dixon – his closest chaser in the POWERade Series points race and the driver who beat him two weeks earlier in the finals of the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals – extended Schumacher’s lead in the standings to 100 points. “I came to the final round up 80 points and I’m thinking, ‘I leave this race up 60 points or up 100 points. That’s huge,” said Schumacher, who drives the U.S. Army dragster. “Now I can leave Dallas in no other place than first. “I raise to a different level when I race Larry,” Schumacher said. “There’s something about him. He’s on time. He’s never late. It just brings the best out of you.” Schumacher defeated Dixon with a pass of 4.498 seconds at 323.74 mph to Dixon’s 4.575 at 322.11 in his Miller Lite dragster. The No.1 qualifier (Schumacher) defeating the No. 2 qualifier (Dixon) capped a day of Top Fuel eliminations that saw every higher-seeded driver win. The stretch of six events since his last win (Mopar Mile High Nationals in Denver) was his longest stretch without a win since bringing Johnson aboard as crew chief. “That final round … when (crew chief) Alan (Johnson) says, ‘Big round,’ you know it’s important because he never says that,” said Schumacher, who has now won five times in 2005 in eight final round appearances.
“There probably isn’t anyone better I’d like to beat in the final round (than Force),” said Pedregon, who drives the Q Racing Chevrolet Monte Carlo. “You can beat someone else and they won’t give you as much credit. But you win a pedal-fest against John Force and you’ve earned it.” Pedregon, who broke away from Team Force and now owns his own team, pulled away from a wheel-spinning Force (Castrol Syntec GTX Ford Mustang) before he himself spun his wheels and then the two pedaled it all the way down the track. “I was flirting with the center line … I was flirting with the guard wall … sometimes the car does what it’s supposed to do and sometimes you have to have your dancing shoes on,” Pedregon said.
“There’s no way to call it over, but I like my chances a lot better than the rest of them,” Anderson said. It was Anderson’s first win at Maple Grove Raceway, one of two tracks that had kept him out of the winner’s circle. The only other track that has shut him out is Route 66 Raceway in Chicago and he’ll get another crack in two weeks. The win was Anderson’s seventh win in nine final round appearances in 2005. “I haven’t even rode that great this year,” Anderson said. “But I’ve been solid. I’ve stuck in the 40s and 50s in the reaction times and relied on the performance of the car.”
The critical win on final eliminations day was in the semifinals when she trailered points leader Andrew Hines and the powerful Vance & Hines Screamin’ Eagle Harley-Davidson. “That was a final round right there,” said Sampey, who moved into third place in the standings (149 behind Hines). “I don’t think I’ve ever been that excited for a third round. After I beat the Harley in the third round I felt like I’d already won the race.” It was Sampey’s second straight win at Maple Grove and her sixth overall at the Pennsylvania track. “I don’t know what it is, if this track likes me, if I like this track,” Sampey said. “Mike Lewis said in the winner’s circle, ‘I bet you wish every race was here,’ and I do.” Final finish order (1-16) for professional categories at the 21st
annual Toyo Tires NHRA Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway. The 1.5 million
race is the 19th of 23 events in the $50 million NHRA POWERade Drag
Racing Series.
Pro Stock -- Greg Anderson, Pontiac GTO, 6.721, 205.19 def. Jim Yates, GTO, 6.771, 204.57.
Final round-by-round results from the 21st annual
Toyo Tires NHRA Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway, the 19th of 23 events
in the $50 million NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series: SUNDAY NOTES – Tough right lane, Funny Car points and Pro Stock’s interesting match-upsOne-lane blacktop – If you raced in either of the nitro divisions and didn’t have lane choice in the first round of eliminations then you were out of luck. The drivers with lane choice, who all elected to take the left lane, won their first round matches. In fact, only five drivers in all four POWERade categories who were the lesser qualified won their respective classes. Funny Car driver Ron Capps saw his opportunity to qualify the Brut Dodge Stratus Funny Car in Friday night's session go by the boards when his attempt was disallowed. That is the session in which historically the quickest and fastest times of the weekend are posted. As a result, Capps missed a chance to claim a berth in the top half of the field and he subsequently lost lane choice to Robert Hight in the first round. Hight went on to eliminate Capps. "Lane choice definitely affected us," said Capps. "We
didn't have it. We were very optimistic about running Robert at this
point in the game. You have to make a move, so the way the cards fell
we had to run Robert in the first round, and the chance of running (teammate
Gary) Scelzi in the second "The lack of a run Friday night hurt us bad, because you have to have lane choice first round, there's no doubt about it, especially because of the transition here on this track. The transition here is a little shorter, at around 500 feet, and every car in the right lane did the same thing. "Our car went over the transition and just darted to the right so quick and moved out of the groove. Up to that point it was ahead of Robert and running great, and it just got out of the groove and spun the tires and he went around me. “ The ESPN2 telecast showed the right lane at the transition to be in less than optimum condition.
Despite that, the driver of the Mopar/Oakley Dodge Stratus R/T Funny Car snagged a 26-point lead in the Funny Car championship hunt over Robert Hight, whom he defeated in the quarterfinals. Scelzi was unstoppable all weekend after dominating three of the four qualifying rounds and the first two rounds of eliminations today. The No. 1 qualifier and event defending champion first disposed of Gary Densham with a 4.785/312.42, then took out Hight with a 4.818/319.98 before meeting up with eventual event winner Tony Pedregon in the semifinal round. The race was over for Scelzi at the hit of the throttle as the car went up in smoke. Pedregon cruised to the finish line with a 4.907/314.97 winning lap to Scelzi's coasting 11.963/73.76. "It broke the clutch lever right off at the starting line, which
caused it to smoke the tires," said Scelzi, who is seeking his
first Funny Car crown to go with his three Top Fuel championships. "It's
unfortunate. The levers were new at Indy (U.S. Nationals on Labor Day).
That's something that "Goofy things happen, but we're going to leave here with a bigger points lead than we came with. That's the main goal. We're in the hunt. We're playing hardball and we're making some moves. "We're focused, we're ready, we're going to go over everything again and just hope that bad luck doesn't bite us like it did today. We're all right. We'll be fine. We'll just tighten that belt another notch and go to Dallas." Two will do it – He who wins two will win it all. That’s the assessment Robert Hight gives when it comes to winning this year’s NHRA Funny Car title. “If you lose early in the next few races, you can forget it,” Hight said.
After qualifying fifth for this weekend's Toyo Tires NHRA Nationals with a career-best elapsed time of 4.550, she went on to improve the mark considerably by posting a 4.509-second, 322.65 mph lap to better Clay Millican's 5.865/152.66 mark. It was the second quickest E.T. of the round. Only her teammate Tony Schumacher surpassed her when he registered a 4.479-second E.T. Troxel advanced to the second round for the third time this year. This time around her opponent was Morgan Lucas. It was a close race down the quarter-mile, but it was Lucas first at the finish line with a 4.536/324.98 to Troxel's excellent yet losing 4.558/320.43. "We're certainly seeing the car coming around," she said. "We knew it had the potential all along, but (crew chief) Richard Hogan is definitely getting a better handle on the tune-up. "We're going down the track a lot more consistently. We made huge
progress here this weekend and took another round win. We continue to
make progress every race we go to. I think we've got a car that's right
there in the hunt to win "To get it (career-best E.T.) is a good sign. It still feels comfortable. I don't think it's quite set in yet, but it's nice to be finally running a little closer to what the Army car (Tony Schumacher) runs. We're getting there." Troxel's 4.509-second E.T. makes her the quickest female in NHRA history.
She succeeds Rhonda Hartman-Smith, who had previously clocked a 4.523
in 2003. Shirley Muldowney remains the fastest female in NHRA history,
with her speed "I have used the 'quickest and fastest female' designation in the media myself, so I can't totally dismiss it," said Troxel of the feat. "But, in all reality, I'm the only female competing right now in Top Fuel. So, it's an interesting fact, but it doesn't really mean anything to us. "We want to be the quickest and fastest car out here. It doesn't have anything to do with being male or female. "I think it's way more important that we've stepped up and we've got a very competitive car right now."
Morgan used a .008 starting line advantage to take out Connolly.
“Just to run this car is a dream come true to begin with,” Enders said. “This is surreal. We owed Rickie one after the last race.” "We missed our tune-up down low and that cost us," said Connolly. "We made improvements this weekend and our motors ran pretty good. We were hurt on Saturday when we broke two valve springs in the motor on what was the best qualifying session of the weekend. We likely wouldn't have qualified ninth and would've had lane choice in the first round." Dragging the line - Horsepower means everything in drag racing, but leaving the line can be even more crucial. Reaction time proved to be the difference for Pro Stock Bike teammates Chip Ellis and Matt Smith during final eliminations. Ellis, aboard his G Squared S&S Buell, advanced to the semifinals before dropping a close race to Ryan Schnitz. Smith, on his G2 Red line Oil/Torco Racing Fuels/Skull Gear Buell, exited in the opening round. Smith, who ran an elapsed time of 7.143 seconds, lost on a holeshot to Karen Stoffer, who stopped the finish line clocks in 7.188 seconds. The difference was reaction time. In the opening round, Ellis showed the power of his S&S engine running the low elapsed time of the weekend – 7.071 – in his defeat of Michael Phillips. Ellis then proceeded to run the quickest elapsed time of the quarterfinals when he ran a 7.103 to turn back Chris Rivas, also aboard a Buell. The semifinals matched Ellis against Ryan Schnitz in another battle of Buells. Schnitz was out first at the green and carried his advantage to the finish line. Schnitz’s 7.178 elapsed time bested Ellis, who ran a 7.144-second pass. “It’s disappointing,” said George Bryce, who along with George Smith are partners at G Squared Motorsports. “The guys at S&S Cycle have been working really hard. Todd and the boys in the dyno room in the engine shop have been finding new ways to make power and it showed this weekend. It was great to step up our performance and run near the front. “It’s unfortunate that both drivers lost on holeshots. It really frustrates the drivers and is disappointing to all those that put in so much effort to make this team a success. But please believe me when I say that both Chip and Matt are trying to cut good clean lights. It not lack of effort on either of their parts. “Now, we just need to go back and analyze what going on and see if we can help them do a better job.” All about consistency – Doug Herbert wouldn’t mind it one bit if this season never ended. After all, he added yet another semifinal finish to his season’s tally this weekend. Herbert made his fourth semifinal appearance of the year and second
in as many races. With just four races left on the schedule, the team
is more competitive than ever. Herbert beat Doug Foley in the first
round before moving past Cory "The consistency level is just unbelievable," Herbert said. "The guys are doing a great job working on the car and there is still time to get better. We've seen an incredible turnaround in the last six or seven races and that's all due to Wayne's (Dupuy, crew chief) determination and experience in getting the job done. "I feel really good and I think we're going to keep moving forward like this. Would we have liked to have this kind of performance earlier in the season so we could be chasing a championship right now? Sure. But we're creeping up there right now and that's saying a lot because there are a lot of competitive cars in the field every week and we've been going rounds." Herbert turned in a 4.536-second time at 322.65 mph to beat Foley's 4.581 at 320.74 before he beat McClenathan, 4.569, 319.37 to a red-light foul. Herbert then ran a 4.598 at 308.07 in a losing effort to Dixon's 5.540 at 326.08. "I didn't have my best reaction time of the weekend in the semifinals, but the car dropped a cylinder and we just got beat," Herbert said. "But we don't have anything to be ashamed of because the two guys in the final are the two guys who did better than us in qualifying and they are the champions from the last four seasons. To be in that company and be one of the last four cars standing shows thegreat strides of improvement we've been making. "Since Wayne has come on board he's been on a mission and we're not going to stop until we're where we need to be and that's championship form." a d v e r t i s e m e n t
SATURDAY - POWERade Points Leader Tops Funny Car Qualifying at Maple Grove Raceway
Funny Car points leader Gary
Scelzi blasted to the No. 1 qualifying position at the 21st annual Toyo
Tires NHRA Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway on Saturday. First-round pairings for professional eliminations Sunday for the 21st annual Toyo Tires NHRA Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway, the 19th of 23 events in the $50 million NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series. Pairings based on results in qualifying, which ended Saturday. Top Fuel -- 1. Tony Schumacher, 4.477 seconds, 323.35 mph vs. 16. Scott Weis, 4.838, 275.90; 2. Larry Dixon, 4.538, 324.90 vs. 15. T.J. Zizzo, 4.688, 289.94; 3. Doug Herbert, 4.541, 318.92 vs. 14. Doug Foley, 4.632, 318.69; 4. Morgan Lucas, 4.542, 325.06 vs. 13. John Smith, 4.616, 319.45; 5. Melanie Troxel, 4.550, 325.92 vs. 12. Clay Millican, 4.595, 319.52; 6. Cory McClenathan, 4.553, 327.27 vs. 11. Scott Kalitta, 4.585, 326.16; 7. Doug Kalitta, 4.554, 323.58 vs. 10. Brandon Bernstein, 4.575, 325.53; 8. David Grubnic, 4.560, 325.30 vs. 9. David Baca, 4.568, 324.44. Funny Car -- 1. Gary Scelzi, Dodge Stratus, 4.766, 323.58 vs. 16. Gary Densham, Chevy Monte Carlo, 4.887, 312.21; 2. Eric Medlen, Ford Mustang, 4.787, 317.12 vs. 15. Tim Wilkerson, Monte Carlo, 4.887, 313.58; 3. Tommy Johnson Jr., Monte Carlo, 4.794, 324.59 vs. 14. Bob Gilbertson, Monte Carlo, 4.865, 288.58; 4. Frank Pedregon, Stratus, 4.800, 298.60 vs. 13. Mike Ashley, Monte Carlo, 4.864, 318.39; 5. Tony Pedregon, Monte Carlo, 4.801, 319.52 vs. 12. Phil Burkart, Toyota Celica, 4.852, 311.56; 6. John Force, Mustang, 4.804, 322.11 vs. 11. Tony Bartone, Monte Carlo, 4.834, 316.90; 7. Whit Bazemore, Stratus, 4.813, 320.13 vs. 10. Del Worsham, Monte Carlo, 4.829, 317.94; 8. Robert Hight, Mustang, 4.822, 317.94 vs. 9. Ron Capps, Stratus, 4.824, 316.23. Pro Stock -- 1. Jason Line, Pontiac GTO, 6.735, 204.79 vs. 16. Allen Johnson, Dodge Stratus, 6.777, 203.09; 2. Greg Anderson, GTO, 6.736, 204.51 vs. 15. Greg Stanfield, Chevy Cavalier, 6.774, 203.52; 3. Kurt Johnson, Chevy Cobalt, 6.739, 204.54 vs. 14. V. Gaines, Stratus, 6.772, 203.80; 4. Ron Krisher, Cobalt, 6.745, 204.48 vs. 13. Dave Howard, Cobalt, 6.769, 203.61; 5. Jim Yates, GTO, 6.746, 203.61 vs. 12. Richie Stevens, Stratus, 6.769, 203.46; 6. Warren Johnson, GTO, 6.748, 204.23 vs. 11. Jeg Coughlin, Stratus, 6.764, 203.71; 7. Rickie Smith, Cobalt, 6.748, 203.92 vs. 10. Erica Enders, Cobalt, 6.760, 204.05; 8. Larry Morgan, Stratus, 6.755, 204.48 vs. 9. Dave Connolly, Cobalt, 6.760, 204.20. Pro Stock Motorcycle -- 1. Andrew Hines, Harley-Davidson,
7.098, 189.18 vs. 16. Geno Scali, Suzuki, 7.234, 184.50; 2. Chip Ellis,
Buell, 7.101, 188.41 vs. 15. Michael Phillips, Suzuki, 7.234, 190.73;
3. Matt Smith, Buell, 7.121, 186.54 vs. 14. Karen Stoffer, Suzuki, 7.230,
184.70; 4. Angelle Sampey, Suzuki, 7.128, 191.32 vs. 13. Tom Bradford,
Buell, 7.229, 188.67; 5.Antron Brown, Suzuki, 7.146, 190.00 vs. 12. Craig
Treble, Suzuki, 7.226, 190.57; 6. Ryan Schnitz, Buell, 7.147, 186.15 vs.
11. Matt Guidera, Buell, 7.223, 183.99; 7. Steve Johnson, Suzuki, 7.154,
186.41 vs. 10. Chris Rivas, Buell, 7.217, 182.85; 8. GT Tonglet, Harley-Davidson,
7.166, 190.03 vs. 9. Mike Berry, Kawasaki, 7.213, 187.42. a
d v e r t i s e m e n t SATURDAY NOTES - Troxel's best; V-Rod on top; Ashley's in and Capps reboundsLine up -- Jason Line, the defending Pro Stock champion
at Maple Grove who beat teammate Greg Anderson in the final round here
last year, edged Anderson again -- in qualifying. Line leads the field
with his 6.735-second elapsed time at 204.79 mph in his Summit Racing
Equipment Pontiac GTO, and Anderson will start second with his 6.736/204.51.
The two own Maple Grove Raceway's performance records, Line with the E.T.
mark of 6.669 seconds and Anderson with the speed record of 206.67 mph.
Ashley makes first show - Funny Car newcomer Mike Ashley
can cross a major objective off the list he made prior to his Indianapolis
debut two weeks ago. In just his second race behind the wheel of a fuel
flopper, Ashley qualified 13th for Sunday’s elimination rounds at
the Toyo Tires NHRA Nationals in Reading, Pa. Consistency for Cory -- Although Cory McClenathan dropped
from a provisional fifth to sixth in the Top Fuel field Saturday, he indicated
he was pleased with car's consistency. And he should be. He had the quickest
elapsed time (4.553 seconds) in Saturday morning's session, and followed
that with a 4.580-second E.T. in the final session. His 327.27 from Friday's
second turn is fastest in this 16-car lineup. "I think we've got a consistent race car. I really do," McClenathan said. "I think Todd (crew chief Smith) and Bob (Bauer, clutch specialist) are doing a great job, as is the entire crew. We’ll have to see where the chips fall tomorrow. No. 6 qualifier is not exactly where we wanted to be, but it's better than most of them out there and does give us lane choice going into the opening round." He'll have it over Scott Kalitta. More important for McClenathan was that he gained 10 Budweiser Shootout points on Dave Grubnic, who qualified eighth here, and 25 points on Scott Kalitta, who qualified 11th. McClenathan entered Reading qualifying No. 8 in the eight-car field for the $100,000-to-win specialty race, just 15 points behind Grubnic and Scott Kalitta, who were tied for six. That unofficially moved Cory Mac around Kalitta by 10 points and into seventh place. He now trails Grubnic, who remains sixth, by five points. "We still got a couple of races (Dallas and Chicago) left before
qualifying plays out for the Budweiser Shootout," McClenathan said,
"but we are pleased with what we accomplished during qualifying here
at Maple Grove." He encountered more of the same aggravation Saturday and wound up 15th.
He might have been on the bump spot, had Gary Densham -- who matched 4.887
-- had a better speed. Still, Wilkerson (who moved ahead with a 313.58
mph to Densham's 312.21 in his Racebricks Chevy Monte Carlo), has to meet
Eric Medlen in the first round. Medlen has been tough to take out in the
last few races in his John Force Racing/Castrol Syntec Ford Mustang. Then he said he "wasted" the evening run, although he ran a 4.887 at 313.58 mph to take a provisional No. 13 position. "On the last run, we had a pickup in the ignition system malfunction, and it ended up taking a bunch of timing out of it," Wilkerson said. "So the car did just what the timing told it to do. It took five degrees of timing out of it -- and it doesn't like to lose five degrees of timing. You hate to waste the evening pass, and I had it tuned up to run between a 4.78 and 80 flat. But it certainly wouldn't do that, missing five degrees of timing. It hates that with a passion. "I was going to put the setback on for [Saturday], but I'm not going to now, not after that," he said Friday night. "After what went on today, I don't want to take a chance. Instead, I want to figure out how to run the car on race day. Maybe it's a good thing that we get the gremlins out of the way in qualifying instead of on race day, like we had happen to us last week. Now we'll just go out tomorrow and try to run a low 80 in the middle of the day. We've done it before so I don't see why we can't do it again." Losing the blower belt and having an uncooperative crankshaft could be two reasons why he didn't. Wilkerson didn't improve, clocking first a 5.584 at 179.40 mph after losing the blower belt and then a 4.998/302.35. Wilkerson concluded that the problem might be his motor. So he and his team installed a fresh motor in the Monte Carlo overnight. "Man, we're re not having any luck at all for some reason,"
Wilkerson said. "We're putting a new motor in the car. The one we're
taking out was new when we got here, but I don't know what's going on.
Maybe the crankshaft is in it wrong. It doesn't respond to anything I
do to it, so I just took it out. I'm over messing with it. So we'll put
a different motor in it for [Sunday] and see if we can give Eric a run
for his money." Her previous qualifying runs this weekend produced a 9.427/83.15 after losing traction, a strong 4.610/325.92 pass Friday evening, and a 4.932/210.60 earlier today, when the car got loose midway down the quarter-mile. "In that last session the car was on a great run," Troxel said.
"Then it started moving around on the track a lot. I got it to the
finish line and ran a 4.55, which is a new personal best for me. It's
exciting to see the good numbers pop up, even though it was clearly not
a perfect run. Troxel said she was disappointed that she couldn't force the Don Schumacher-owned
dragster to run better in Saturday's opening session. But she said that
even as aggressive as she can be behind the wheel, she knew better than
to try to make it do something it didn't want to. "I tend to be a little more aggressive than most car owners or crew chiefs would prefer on some qualifying passes. I don't mind driving the car when it's out of the groove. When it makes a violent move like that, and you feel the lean of the car when it tries to come back, it gives you that sensation that the car is up on two wheels. It was pretty out of control; it got my attention." Troxel will face Clay Millican in Round 1 Sunday. "We've got a little
bit more in the car, Life, chase go on -- Ron Capps said he still isn't thrilled
that he was unduly penalized in Friday night's Funny Car qualifying, but
he said he simply has to ignore it and focus on his huge match-up in the
first round of eliminations. NHRA erroneously claimed the car had an oil leak and wouldn't allow Capps to run in the Friday night session. In Saturday's heat and humidity, Capps was 11th in the order with a session to go. But he improved his 4.850-second elapsed time at 314.61 mph with a later Saturday run of 4.824/316.23. "The unfortunate part is we lost a run," Capps said, "so Ace (crew chief Ed McCulloch) is essentially one run behind most crew chiefs here." With five races remaining in the season, the results of this first round
could have a major impact on the championship chase. "This is nice, don't get me wrong," he said, "but race day is when it all counts. We have to go out [Sunday] and perform well. We will not take anyone for granted in this 16-car field." Schumacher's first-round opponent will be 16th-place qualifier, Scott Weis. The last time they met in final eliminations was at the spring Chicago race. Schumacher won, but that means nothing to him now. "They can get down the track, so we just can't mail that round in," he said. "There's no room for mistakes right now."
a
d v e r t i s e m e n t FRIDAY - SCELZI LEADS FUNNY CAR FIELD AFTER TWO QUALIFYING ROUNDS; LEADS POINT STANDINGS BY ONE POINT AFTER 18 EVENTS
(9-16-2005) - Gary Scelzi led all Funny Car competitors Friday at the 21st annual Toyo Tires Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway. Tony Schumacher (Top Fuel), Kurt Johnson (Pro Stock) and Chip Ellis (Pro Stock Motorcycle) also were the provisional qualifying leaders of their respective categories at the $1.5 million race, the 19th of 23 in the $50 million NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series. Professional qualifying continues at 11 a.m. Saturday. Scelzi blasted to the top provisional spot with a 4.766-second performance at 322.11 mph in his Mopar/Oakley Dodge Stratus. Scelzi leads the chase for the POWERade Series world championship by one point over rookie Robert Hight in one of the tightest point battles in NHRA history. “Everyone's been kidding me that I'm the 'point leader,' as in singular point,” Scelzi said. “I didn't think my lead would even last today because [second-place Robert] Hight has been qualifying so well this year I figured he'd pass us up already. It sure is good to see my name on top instead. “Being No. 1 means a lot for qualifying points but it doesn’t mean a lot on Sunday. We saw [John] Force lose a few races ago when he was No. 1. I've lost to Terry Haddock and some of the lesser-funded teams. You have to be ready to win the race every single round. They're all so important now.” Chasing Scelzi (1,172) and Hight (1,171) in the tight Funny Car race are Ron Capps (1,136), who is three spots shy of qualifying for Sunday’s final eliminations, John Force (1,125) and Eric Medlen (1,117). “It's important not to let anything stupid happen now,” Scelzi said. “We can't have another (Indianapolis). We're not gonna get lucky like that again where all the big runners fall out early. The best thing is that my confidence in the car is back. I might have been off in Indy but the car wasn't.”
“It's been a wild couple of days,” said Schumacher, who became a father for the third time Thursday morning. “The baby came at 2:40 a.m., we had some time with her, then I was able to sleep a few hours before flying here. It's been crazy. For the first time in 10 years I forgot to put my earplugs in that time. It's loud in there. “I'm so used to hearing what the motor sounds like as I go down the track. That time all I could do is see what was happening. It picked the tires up nice and carried them down there. It was a good run.”
“Greg's been on a roll and we've been on a roll, it's going to be a close finish,” said Johnson, who has qualified No. 1 four times thus far in 2005. “What we need to do is just keep on racing the way we know how and hope that they go flat a little bit. “Probably what happened to us in Indy was we got too focused on hitting a home run and gaining a bunch of ground on them all at once. It ended up causing us to stumble and I lost in the second round. I can't worry about November right now. I need to worry about Saturday morning.”
“I was figuring we'd pick up in Round 2 but I had my bike leaned over so far I went left,” Ellis said. “I thought I was in NASCAR instead of NHRA drag racing I guess. The bike's been very good from the first pass. It's like all these S&S Buells. They just go real well with the Kosman chassis and they run great right out of the box. “Being No. 1 just means you get a few extra points. We've seen time and again this year that anyone in the field can win. Being No. 1 Friday night is good because at least you know you're probably gonna stay in there so you can work on other stuff. Otherwise, it don't mean much to me. I want to win.” Top Fuel -- 1. Tony Schumacher, 4.477 seconds, 323.35
mph; 2. Larry Dixon, 4.538, 324.90; 3. Doug Herbert, 4.541, 318.92; 4.
Morgan Lucas, 4.542, 325.06; 5. Cory McClenathan, 4.568, 327.27; 6. David
Baca, 4.568, 324.44; 7. Scott Kalitta, 4.585, 326.16; 8. Melanie Troxel,
4.610, 325.92; 9. Brandon Bernstein, 4.611, 325.53; 10. Doug Kalitta,
4.625, 315.86; 11. David Grubnic, 4.648, 313.95; 12. Clay Millican, 4.653,
290.19; 13. T.J. Zizzo, 4.688, 289.94; 14. Doug Foley, 4.704, 306.95;
15. Luigi Novelli, 4.953, 237.96; 16. John Smith, 6.093, 155.15. FRIDAY NOTES - No. 1 Dad: Scelzi Rolls; Bad Timing and a Rookie Impresses After performing his burnout, starter Rick Stewart ordered Capps to shut off the engine of his Brut Dodge Stratus as he was about to stage it in a pairing with John Force. Stewart said it was leaking oil, but crew chief Ed "The Ace" McCulloch contended that the oil was on the track before Capps rolled up and that he was the one who had pointed that out to Stewart. After watching Force make his run (which put him in the No. 5 spot), Capps and his crew had a heated discussion with Stewart. Now the pressure is on Capps, who wants to move up from his No. 3 rung in the standings but is unqualified in 19th place (5.081-second E.T. at 251.86 mph). Sanctioning-body officials denied Capps the run in cooler, more favorable temperatures. Then they and Capps' team members checked the Brut Dodge and said they found no evidence of oil leakage. However, officials didn't permit Capps to make a second pass. So the contender from Carlsbad, Calif., will have just two chances left -- and none in the engine-friendly evening conditions he missed tonight. Capps' team said the oil was left from a car that ran in front of Capps'. The car that ran immediately ahead of the Brut Dodge was the Matco Tools Dodge of teammate Whit Bazemore. That car showed no evidence of an oil leak, either. Paul Lee made a wiggly, tire-shaking 12.088-second pass right ahead of Bazemore's No. 6 qualifying run of 4.813/320.13. "Rick Stewart made a wrong call," McCulloch said. "They
need to 'fess up to the fact that he made a wrong call and make it right.
Their officials have been here (in the pits).They've looked. There are
no drips. There is no oil on this car. There are no leaks. The oil was
in the lane before we ran, and we pointed that out to them. They should
have cleaned it up before we ran. It was coming out of the car that ran
in front of us. When we did our burnout and we saw it, they went out and
they were trying to wipe it up. It wasn't from our car. It was from the
car before. There are no leaks in this car." "One point obviously doesn't mean anything," Scelzi said before taking his Don Schumacher-owned Mopar/Oakley Dodge Stratus down the track Friday. "That could be taken care of in qualifying. And the guy behind me in second is the king of qualifying right now." The guy he had to look out for wasn't Hight, but rather Tommy Johnson Jr. in Don Prudhomme's Skoal Chevy Monte Carlo. While Hight managed only a No. 9 showing at the end of the first day of qualifying, Scelzi had to overtake Tommy Johnson to claim the provisional top-qualifier spot. Johnson was first after the first session with a 4.861-second elapsed time at 311.85 mph, and Scelzi was a one-thousandth of a second slower (although about five mph faster at 316.82). Both improved their times on the second try, but Scelzi had a 4.766-second E.T. at 322.11 mph to Johnson's 4.794/324.59. Hight, who had been fifth in the lineup, slid to ninth with a 4.836/317.94. Only Johnson and Scelzi ran in the 4.7-second range Friday. Johnson said he and his Skoal team had emphasized running well early in the weekend. "Friday night is so important these days, and I thought we had to really concentrate on making a good qualify effort this weekend," Johnson said. "After being No. 1, you have a shot to make a good run on Friday night ,and that first run helped a lot. It's so important to make a good pass on the first run to put yourself near the back of the order for the night run. "The guys are trying some different things this weekend," ohnson
said. "It's really showing a lot of promise. They weren't trying
to go much quicker than that. They were trying to run a 4.78 or 4.79.
It was a good solid run. Sure, I would have liked to have stayed No. 1,
but there's nothing wrong with No. 2." He's three-for-four in final rounds. "It's also good thing to know that I've done well at the last five race tracks we'll be racing at to the end of the season," Scelzi said. Only five races remain on the 2005 schedule, but Scelzi has recorded a bit of history since his semifinal finish at the previous race, the U.S. Nationals on Labor Day in Indianapolis. He was the first non-John Force Racing driver to leave the U.S. Nationals with the Funny Car points lead since 1990. Since 1983, the Funny Car driver who left the U.S. Nationals in the lead won the championship every time except one. In 1992, Force left Indianapolis with the lead and Cruz Pedregon won the championship. "It's just good to be a part of this thing," Scelzi said of the championship chase as he tries to join Kenny Bernstein as the only driver ever to win titles in both Top Fuel and Funny Car. "You just can't make any mistakes right now. (Crew chief) Mike Neff had a team meeting the other day. He said he can't make mistakes, the driver can't make mistakes, and the team can't make mistakes. We can't have bolts falling out. We can't have parts breaking. We have to really look at every single thing we're doing, more so now than ever, if we want to be the POWERade champions. As for his edge over Johnson in the order and Hight in the standings, Scelzi said, "Don't count on that happening very long. In fact, everyone was making a joke that I was the point leader until I got into Reading, because Robert has been on such a tear in qualifying. We're obviously not dead just because we’ve got only a one-point lead. There are five of us right now who could be the champion. We just don't know what's going to happen until we play this thing out. "It sure looks good with me on top," he said with a laugh. As for his own team, Scelzi said, "I think everybody is focused. Everybody is on the same page. We'll just go see what fate has for us." The Fresno, Calif., driver has victories this year at Bristol, Chicago,
and Sonoma, and he was low qualifier at Las Vegas, Atlanta, and St. Louis. "Last year was very difficult to negotiate and (John) Force was
a killer, even in the sunlight. We had our backs against the wall in the
final round. Fortunately for us, he had a clutch problem. We knew he could
run a (4).70 something, and we weren’t going to try to run that." He used the cooler evening conditions to run a 4.829-second E.T. at 317.94 mph and land in the No. 8 spot overnight. "First off, I'm real happy with the way we have the car going down the track right now," Worsham said. "It's doing what we want it to do. It's not being bratty at all, and it's very easy to tune. "Unfortunately, we probably left a little on the table on both of those runs. We didn't go up there loaded for world record territory either session, and some other guys were more aggressive than we were. But we've got a car we can tune, a car we can race with, and a car that is just real consistent right now. No complaints." Timing troubles -- Ron Capps wasn't the only Funny Car driver with problems Friday. Both Phil Burkart and Tony Pedregon got clocked. Phil Burkart, in the Checker, Schuck's, Kragen Toyota Celica, and Pedregon in the Q Racing Chevy Monte Carlo, had their first-session times thrown out because of a glitch in the timing system. Both rebounded nicely in the closing session, though. Burkart ran a s 4.865 and claimed the No. 11 spot, and Pedregon was one-thousandth of a second slower than his brother Frank to earn the No. 4 position halfway through qualifying. "It was on a decent run in the first session, but it became obvious to us right away that the 4.86 wasn't right. We were something like 13th best to 1,000-feet, then the time mysteriously jumps right up to 4th at the finish line in the last 320 feet. It wasn't right," Burkart said. "When Ray Alley came over to tell us they had to throw the run out, we all just said, 'What took you so long to get here?' "It's always bad when you lose a run to some glitch in the timing
system," Burkart said. "You start to worry about all sorts of
bad things happening to you, so I'm glad we got down the track in the
second session. Now I'm not going to worry about it. What happens on Saturday
will strictly be a matter of the conditions." Smith took third with a 7.121-second E.T. on his G2 Red Line Oil/Skull Gear/Torco Racing Fuels bike. It was a boost for the King, N.C., resident, who had no ride after Indianapolis and no victory, either. Steve Johnson was awarded the U.S. Nationals title after officials reviewed videotape clearly showing Johnson crossing the finish line first. "My partner, George Smith, has suggested from the start that we should be running two motorcycles to accelerate our learning curve with both the chassis and the S&S power plant," George Bryce, said. Together they run G Squared Motorsports. "Currently with Chip and Matt being teammates through the end of this season, we are now able to double the data we receive during each qualifying session. At Indy, it definitely helped, because our two Buells were paired in opposite lanes each session, so we got data on both the right and left lanes each time," Bryce said. "Otherwise, with one bike, it would have taken two sessions to do the same thing. Granted that’s not going to happen every race. "It's just like you would think: you get to make two runs every round and it allows you to do different combinations to each bike in a given session." Ellis said he was just happy to be in the field. "Pro Stock Motorcycle is so competitive and the qualifying so close that you are just happy to make the field," the Americus, Ga., rider said. "When you do something extra like go to the top of the ladder, it shows you are running well and to be sure, these S&S-powered engines did their job for both Matt and me today." 'Nit-picking' -- Kurt Johnson was fourth in the opening Pro Stock qualifying session, but he gave his competitors what-for in the second with a 6.739-second elapsed time and a top speed of 204.54 mph in his ACDelco Chevy Cobalt to claim the tentative No. 1 position midway through qualifying. "We came here looking to get back on our game with everything working the way it should, Johnson, of Sugar Hill, Ga., said. "We started with a decent run this afternoon, and we fine-tuned it a little bit for the second session, running quick enough to be on top, which is all that matters. "As close as the competition is in Pro Stock, you have to nit-pick
every detail, getting every thousandth you can out of the car," he
said. "So far this weekend, we've been able to do just that, and
tomorrow, we'll see if we can make our ACDelco Cobalt even better." "Our first run was nothing too spectacular," Johnson said. "We were just a little shy on gear. We came back and made the necessary adjustments for the second session, and, according to the incremental numbers on the time sheets, our GM Performance Parts GTO made a pretty good run, although I did feel it labor a bit in third gear." His computer played tricks on him, so he has no accurate numbers to help him set up the car for Saturday's qualifying. He said that unfortunately, he has no idea how stout his No. 3 run of 6.750 seconds at 203.80 mph was "because our computer didn't work and we have no data to tune from. Therefore, we’ll have to wing it for tomorrow morning's session. "However, based on the experience we have on this team, as well as the strength of that run," he said, "we should be fine. And at the very least, that time should be good enough to keep us in the show. This is nothing more than an inconvenience. We're in good shape." Good day = bear hug -- You know you’re having
a good day when you grab the top-end track announcer and give him a monstrous
bear-hug. That’s exactly what Funny Car rookie Mike Ashley did upon
learning he once again had run the quickest and fastest pass of his short
career in the class. Ashley’s 4.864-second, 318.39-mph clocking was good enough to put
his Chevy Monte Carlo in the 10th position. Fast dad -- It was a wild 39-hour period for Top Fuel
driver Tony Schumacher this week. He became a daddy for the third time
early Thursday morning, as wife Cara gave birth to their daughter, Jacqueline
Susan, then he qualified No. 1 Friday evening with a 4.477-second blast
at 323.35 mph in the U.S. Army Dragster. "Believe it or not, I even shut (the engine) off early, so we may
have run quicker," he said of Friday's quickest pass. |
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Pedregon
(6.349 at 191.02) ended an almost two-year winless streak (Las Vegas
II, 2003) with his “pedal-fest” win over John Force (8.339
at 125.82), the man Pedregon drove for back in 2003 when he won the
Funny Car world championship.
Driving
his Summit Racing Pontiac GTO, Anderson (6.721 at 205.19) defeated Jim
Yates (6.771 at 204.57) and his Sea Ray Boats GTO to extend his now
commanding lead in Pro Stock to 176 points over Kurt Johnson.
Sampey,
who lives in New Orleans, rode her U.S. Army Suzuki to a 7.139 at 191.84
to defeat Ryan Schnitz (7.459 at 181.13) for her second win of the year
and 37th of her career, most by a woman in NHRA POWERade Series history.
Padding
the points – Funny Car points leader Gary Scelzi looked
like he was well on his way to his fourth win of the season until a
clutch lever caused his weekend to end in the semifinals.
Seeing
Progress – Top Fuel driver Melanie Troxel can’t
help but take notice of the progress her SKULL GEAR/Torco Race Fuels
dragster continues to make. The team was assembled in less than a month
and debuted in Denver.
A
Tale of Two Match-ups – The first round of Pro Stock
created a couple of situations that aren't exactly commonplace for the
class. One was Larry Morgan’s holeshot victory over young ace
Dave Connolly and the other was the first career victory for Erica Enders
as she beat Rickie Smith.
Enders
became the second female Pro Stock runner since Lucinda McFarlin to
win a round of competition. It will also go down in history as being
the first of her career.
Schumacher,
who piloted his U.S. Army dragster to a 4.477 at 323.35, will race Scott
Weis in the morning. Schumacher led his category by 40 points over Doug
Kalitta before this weekend's event, and plans to have a front-row seat
when Kalitta faces Brandon Bernstein in the first round. 
Line
drove his Summit Racing Equipment Pontiac GTO to a 6.735 at 204.79 for
his first No. 1 qualifying effort of the season and the third of his career.
His teammate, two-time and defending world champion Greg Anderson, qualified
at No. 2 in his Summit Racing Equipment Pontiac GTO. 
Hines
recorded a 7.098 at 189.10 on his Screamin' Eagle Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson
for his ninth No. 1 qualifier of the season and the 17th of his career.
Hines will tie his brother Matt Hines for the NHRA record for Pro Stock
Motorcycle No. 1 qualifying efforts in a single season if he can top the
fields at Las Vegas and Pomona. 
Tony Schumacher,
who led the series’ fastest category by 40 points over Doug Kalitta
and 79 over Larry Dixon entering this weekend’s event, piloted his
U.S. Army dragster to a 4.477 at 323.35.
In Pro
Stock, Kurt Johnson drove his ACDelco Chevrolet Cobalt to the top spot
of the day in 6.739 at 204.54. Johnson was second in the point standings,
135 points behind two-time and defending Pro Stock World Champion Greg
Anderson after 18 events.
Chip Ellis
rode his G-squared Star Racing S & S Buell to the provisional No.
1 qualifier spot in – seconds at 181.57 mph. This would mark Ellis’
first No. 1 qualifier of the season and third of his career.
© Competitionplus 2005
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