NHRA ACDelco Nationals
Las Vegas, Nevada
by Susan Wade; Photos by Roger Richards

SUNDAY FINAL - SCHUMACHER HAS DOMINATING WEEKEND IN LAS VEGAS SWEEP; Scelzi moves into POWERade Series points lead in Funny Car, but Capps closes with victory; Johnson and Ellis also earn victories at ACDelco Las Vegas NHRA Nationals

(10-23-2005) - Tony Schumacher completed a dominating weekend at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway by racing to the Top Fuel victory Sunday at the ACDelco Las Vegas NHRA Nationals.

Ron Capps, Kurt Johnson and Chip Ellis also were winners at the $1.8 million race, the 22nd of 23 events in the $50 million NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series.

The newly crowned Top Fuel world champion won more than $200,000 for the weekend, including today’s final which paid more than $50,000 including contingency, the $100,000 Budweiser Shootout on Saturday and a $50,000 bonus from NHRA for sweeping both events.

In the process, Schumacher tied NHRA Top Fuel season records for consecutive victories (4) and consecutive final rounds (6). It was Schumacher’s eighth victory of the season and the 29th of his career.

Schumacher drove his U.S. Army dragster to a 4.486 second run at 327.19 mph to hold off final round opponent Dave Grubnic, who clocked a 4.587 at 324.28 in his StriVectin-SD dragster. In earlier rounds he beat Clay Millican, Brandon Bernstein and Doug Herbert.

“Getting four wins in a row, winning the Bud Shootout, all the other stuff, it starts to blow you away," said Schumacher, who on Friday secured his third world championship title, worth $400,000. “A season is defined by little moments and we had our struggles early on. But starting at Denver we really turned a corner. It's all credit to Alan (Johnson, crew chief). He’s so good and this team is just great. It was an unbelievable weekend for Schumacher Racing.”

Capps scored the Funny Car victory in a Schumacher-owned Brut Dodge Stratus by outrunning teammate Gary Scelzi in the final-round. Capps clocked a 4.780 at 325.69 to hold off Scelzi’s charging Mopar/Oakley Stratus, which posted a 4.819 at 324.51.

With the runner-up finish, Scelzi moved into the series points lead in what is setting up to be the closest Funny Car points finish in NHRA history. With the victory Capps cut Scelzi’s lead to two points with one race remaining. John Force, the defending and 13-time world champion is in third, 28 points back. It was Capps’ third victory of the season and the 17th of his career.

“Athletes always talk about peaking at the right time, and that’s what we’re doing,” said Capps, who defeated Tim Wilkerson, Mike Ashley and Tony Bartone in the first three rounds. “I’m still in awe. This has been an enjoyable ride and I feel really good going into Pomona. We’ve got a really fast hot rod right now and I’m looking forward to the battle. I’ve got that gut-ache, like Force is always talking about, and that’s just the way it is. It is going to be an exciting finish for the fans.”

Capps has finished second in the points order two times in his career. Three-time Top Fuel world champion Scelzi is trying to join Kenny Bernstein as the only drivers in NHRA history to win world championship titles in both nitro categories.

“We needed to make a move at this race and we were able to do it, and just about pulled off the perfect weekend,” Scelzi said. “Pomona is going to be a lot of fun to watch for the fans, but it’s going to be a fight. You can’t forget about Force, because he’s really steamed right now and you can never count that team out. It’s going to be such an exciting finish and all three of us want it really bad.”

Johnson powered his ACDelco Chevy Cobalt to the Pro Stock victory over the newly crowned series champion Greg Anderson. Johnson used a holeshot start and posted a 6.839 at 202.27 to defeat Anderson’s quicker Summit Racing Equipment Pontiac GTO, which clocked a 6.821 at 202.27. It was Johnson’s first win at The Strip in four final round appearances, his fourth of the season and 32nd of his career.

“We've been to the finals a few times here and it always seems to be Greg in the other lane,” said Johnson, who earned early round wins over Bob Panella, Jeg Coughlin and Erica Enders. “We always race hard and it seems like (the race) is always decided by a few thousandths (of a second). It just seems like he's always on the good end of that. But this is Vegas and your luck is bound to change and today it did.

“It just feels really good to finally win this race for my sponsor, ACDelco.”

Ellis was the automatic Pro Stock Motorcycle winner on his G-Squared/S&S Buell when Angelle Sampey fouled at the start on her U.S. Army Suzuki. In a rematch of the ’04 final here, it was Ellis’ second consecutive victory at this event and third of his career.

“I don't know what it is about this track,” said Ellis, who defeated Matt Guidera, Matt Smith and Tom Bradford to advance to the final. “I've raced a bunch of different bikes here in different series but I think every time I've come here no matter what I'm riding I’ve either won or was runner-up. This win is very special to me because I am dedicating this win to my four-year-old daughter (McKenzie) who is celebrating a birthday today.”

Defending series champ Andrew Hines lost in the first round and will bring a 47-point lead over his Screamin' Eagle Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson teammate GT Tonglet into the final race.

The NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series continues with the Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA Finals, Nov. 3-6, at historic Pomona Raceway in Southern California.

Final finish order (1-16) for professional categories at the fifth annual ACDelco Las Vegas NHRA Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The $1.8 million race is the 22nd of 23 events in the $50 million NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series.

TOP FUEL:
1. Tony Schumacher; 2. David Grubnic; 3. Doug Herbert; 4. Scott Kalitta; 5. Doug Foley; 6. John Smith; 7. Brandon Bernstein; 8. Morgan Lucas; 9. Rod Fuller; 10. Doug Kalitta; 11. Larry Dixon; 12. Joe Hartley; 13. Jack Beckman; 14. Clay Millican; 15. Melanie Troxel; 16. Cory McClenathan.

FUNNY CAR:
1. Ron Capps, Dodge Stratus; 2. Gary Scelzi, Stratus; 3. Tony Bartone, Chevy Monte Carlo; 4. Del Worsham, Monte Carlo; 5. Mike Ashley, Monte Carlo; 6. Eric Medlen, Ford Mustang; 7. Tommy Johnson Jr., Monte Carlo; 8. Cruz Pedregon, Monte Carlo; 9. John Force, Mustang; 10. Gary Densham, Monte Carlo; 11. Frank Pedregon, Stratus; 12. Tim Wilkerson, Monte Carlo; 13. Whit Bazemore, Stratus; 14. Tony Pedregon, Monte Carlo; 15. Phil Burkart, Toyota Celica; 16. Robert Hight, Mustang.

PRO STOCK:
1. Kurt Johnson, Chevy Cobalt; 2. Greg Anderson, Pontiac GTO; 3. Erica Enders, Cobalt; 4. Greg Stanfield, Chevy Cavalier; 5. Ron Krisher, Cobalt; 6. Jason Line, GTO; 7. Mark Pawuk, GTO; 8. Jeg Coughlin, Dodge Stratus; 9. Warren Johnson, GTO; 10. Rickie Smith, Cobalt; 11. Richie Stevens, Stratus; 12. V. Gaines, Stratus; 13. Dave Connolly, Cobalt; 14. Jim Yates, GTO; 15. Bob Panella, Cobalt; 16. Allen Johnson, Stratus.

PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE:
1. Chip Ellis; 2. Angelle Sampey, Suzuki; 3. Tom Bradford; 4. Craig Treble, Suzuki; 5. Ryan Schnitz; 6. Steve Johnson, Suzuki; 7. Geno Scali, Suzuki; 8. Matt Smith; 9. Matt Guidera; 10. Mike Berry, Kawasaki; 11. Chris Rivas; 12. Karen Stoffer, Suzuki; 13. Andrew Hines, Harley-Davidson; 14. Joe DeSantis, Suzuki; 15. GT Tonglet, Harley-Davidson; 16. Antron Brown, Suzuki.

PRO MODIFIED:
1. Joshua Hernandez, Chevy Bel Air; 2. Jay Payne, Dodge Stratus; 3. Steve Engel, Chevy Corvette; 4. Chip King, Dodge Daytona; 5. Frankie Taylor, Corvette; 6. Troy Critchley, Corvette; 7. Thomas Patterson, Willys; 8. Mike Ashley, Shelby Mustang; 9. Kirk Kuhns, Dodge Viper; 10. Glen Kerunsky, Bel Air; 11. Lee Smith, Corvette; 12. Harold Laird, Corvette; 13. Dennis Radford, Corvette; 14. Mike Bell, Ford Mustang; 15. Brandon Pesz, Corvette; 16. Troy Coughlin, Mustang.

Sunday's final results from the Fifth annual ACDelco Las Vegas NHRA Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The $1.8 million race is the 22nd of 23 in the $50 million NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series:

Top Fuel -- Tony Schumacher, 4.486 seconds, 327.19 mph def. David Grubnic, 4.587 seconds, 324.28 mph.

Funny Car -- Ron Capps, Dodge Stratus, 4.780, 325.69 def. Gary Scelzi, Stratus, 4.819, 324.51.

Pro Stock -- Kurt Johnson, Chevy Cobalt, 6.839, 202.27 def. Greg Anderson, Pontiac GTO, 6.821, 202.27.

Pro Stock Motorcycle -- Chip Ellis, Buell, 7.243, 187.63 def. Angelle Sampey, Suzuki, foul.

Competition Eliminator -- David Rampy, Roaster, 7.402, 178.21 def. Bo Butner III, Chevy Cavalier, 8.743, 154.26.

Stock Eliminator -- David Rampy, Chevy Camaro, 11.500, 112.18 def. Don Wann, Plymouth Satellite, 11.737, 112.07.

Super Comp -- Matt Constant, Dragster, 9.046, 163.91 def. Jason Kenny, Dragster, 9.042, 168.28.

Super Gas -- Robert Coleman, '27-T Ford, 10.251, 119.25 def. Jon Brazeau, Chevy Corvette, foul.

Final round-by-round results from the Fifth annual ACDelco Las Vegas NHRA Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the 22nd of 23 events in the $50 million NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series:

TOP FUEL:

ROUND ONE -- David Grubnic, 6.874, 286.74 def. Cory McClenathan, 12.860, 76.97; Brandon Bernstein, 4.489, 327.11 def. Doug Kalitta, 5.390, 242.80; Doug Herbert, 6.104, 276.52 def. Jack Beckman, 8.013, 114.30; Doug Foley, 4.714, 309.27 def. Melanie Troxel, 10.377, 82.09; Morgan Lucas, 5.403, 300.86 def. Joe Hartley, 6.676, 150.61; Tony Schumacher, 4.506, 330.55 def. Clay Millican, 9.112, 75.77; John Smith, 4.651, 319.14 def. Rod Fuller, 4.705, 329.58; Scott Kalitta, 4.591, 325.61 def. Larry Dixon, 5.965, 169.78;
QUARTERFINALS -- Grubnic, 4.555, 325.30 def. Lucas, 10.404, 84.87; Herbert, 4.653, 314.75 def. Foley, 4.745, 298.87; Schumacher, 5.046, 275.96 def. Bernstein, 7.426, 125.16; S. Kalitta, 4.633, 326.40 def. Smith, 4.869, 263.05;
SEMIFINALS -- Schumacher, 4.915, 291.51 def. Herbert, 5.251, 293.54; Grubnic, 5.739, 294.56 def. S. Kalitta, 6.084, 178.45;
FINAL -- Schumacher, 4.486, 327.19 def. Grubnic, 4.587, 324.28.

FUNNY CAR:

ROUND ONE -- Tony Bartone, Chevy Monte Carlo, 4.970, 255.73 def. Tony Pedregon, Monte Carlo, 8.195, 109.06; Tommy Johnson Jr., Monte Carlo, 4.957, 322.11 def. Phil Burkart, Toyota Celica, 9.042, 90.83; Cruz Pedregon, Monte Carlo, 6.631, 253.42 def. Whit Bazemore, Dodge Stratus, 6.889, 241.37; Ron Capps, Stratus, 4.793, 328.14 def. Tim Wilkerson, Monte Carlo, 6.877, 121.30; Gary Scelzi, Stratus, 4.823, 322.11 def. Gary Densham, Monte Carlo, 4.863, 318.09; Eric Medlen, Ford Mustang, 4.829, 324.83 def. Frank Pedregon, Stratus, 5.070, 251.72; Mike Ashley, Monte Carlo, 4.849, 323.43 def. Robert Hight, Mustang, 10.111, 97.68; Del Worsham, Monte Carlo, 4.848, 323.81 def. John Force, Mustang, 4.849, 323.43;
QUARTERFINALS -- Bartone, 6.077, 155.79 def. C. Pedregon, 6.696, 283.73; Worsham, 4.964, 314.09 def. Johnson Jr., 6.600, 152.99; Capps, 4.821, 324.05 def. Ashley, 4.892, 309.13; Scelzi, 4.834, 324.59 def. Medlen, 6.287, 175.16;
SEMIFINALS -- Scelzi, 4.851, 324.67 def. Worsham, 5.344, 280.66; Capps, 4.820, 323.50 def. Bartone, 5.326, 212.09;
FINAL -- Capps, 4.780, 325.69 def. Scelzi, 4.819, 324.51.

PRO STOCK:

ROUND ONE -- Mark Pawuk, Pontiac GTO, 6.856, 200.92 def. V. Gaines, Dodge Stratus, 6.861, 200.53; Jeg Coughlin, Stratus, 6.835, 201.40 def. Warren Johnson, GTO, 6.848, 202.21; Ron Krisher, Chevy Cobalt, 6.811, 201.97 def. Dave Connolly, Cobalt, 6.864, 200.80; Kurt Johnson, Cobalt, 6.803, 203.06 def. Bob Panella, Cobalt, 6.899, 200.00; Jason Line, GTO, 6.823, 201.88 def. Rickie Smith, Cobalt, 6.856, 201.10; Greg Stanfield, Chevy Cavalier, 6.866, 201.31 def. Richie Stevens, Stratus, foul; Greg Anderson, GTO, 6.806, 202.58 def. Allen Johnson, Stratus, 6.948, 200.17; Erica Enders, Cobalt, 6.828, 201.91 def. Jim Yates, GTO, 6.874, 200.86;
QUARTERFINALS -- Stanfield, 6.901, 200.00 def. Line, 6.874, 201.28; Enders, 6.850, 201.10 def. Krisher, 6.849, 201.37; K. Johnson, 6.870, 202.24 def. Coughlin, 6.896, 200.98; Anderson, 6.822, 201.94 def. Pawuk, 6.889, 200.77;
SEMIFINALS -- K. Johnson, 6.852, 202.00 def. Enders, 6.850, 201.61; Anderson, 6.845, 201.31 def. Stanfield, 6.893, 200.59;
FINAL -- K. Johnson, 6.839, 202.27 def. Anderson, 6.821, 202.27.

PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE:

ROUND ONE -- Craig Treble, Suzuki, 7.261, 187.34 def. Antron Brown, Suzuki, foul; Matt Smith, 7.290, 176.65 def. GT Tonglet, Harley-Davidson, 7.303, 183.92; Tom Bradford, 7.279, 181.45 def. Karen Stoffer, Suzuki, 7.284, 183.39; Chip Ellis, 7.217, 185.03 def. Matt Guidera, foul; Steve Johnson, Suzuki, 7.290, 183.42 def. Chris Rivas, foul; Ryan Schnitz, 7.267, 182.30 def. Mike Berry, Kawasaki, foul; Angelle Sampey, Suzuki, 7.271, 183.57 def. Joe DeSantis, Suzuki, 7.299, 186.12; Geno Scali, Suzuki, 7.287, 186.77 def. Andrew Hines, Harley-Davidson, 7.292, 161.90;
QUARTERFINALS -- Bradford, 7.299, 181.08 def. Scali, 7.323, 182.38; Sampey, 7.315, 180.60 def. Johnson, 7.320, 182.53; Treble, 7.252, 188.52 def. Schnitz, 7.296, 183.05; Ellis, 7.250, 182.97 def. Smith, 7.335, 179.78;
SEMIFINALS -- Sampey, 7.297, 183.39 def. Treble, 7.376, 184.04; Ellis, 7.304, 182.43 def. Bradford, 7.327, 182.43;
FINAL -- Ellis, 7.243, 187.63 def. Sampey, foul.

Point standings (top 10) for NHRA professional categories following the Fifth annual ACDelco Las Vegas NHRA Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the 22nd of 23 events in the $50 million NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series -

Top Fuel

1. Tony Schumacher, 1,863; 2. Larry Dixon, 1,513; 3. Doug Kalitta, 1,507; 4. David Grubnic, 1,355; 5. Doug Herbert, 1,321; 6. Morgan Lucas, 1,304; 7. Brandon Bernstein, 1,269; 8. Scott Kalitta, 1,110; 9. Cory McClenathan, 1,064; 10. Rod Fuller, 767.

Funny Car

1. Gary Scelzi, 1,458; 2. Ron Capps, 1,456; 3. John Force, 1,430; 4. Robert Hight, 1,325; 5. Eric Medlen, 1,316; 6. Tommy Johnson Jr., 1,222; 7. Del Worsham, 1,175; 8. Whit Bazemore, 1,160; 9. Tony Pedregon, 1,123; 10. Cruz Pedregon, 997.

Pro Stock

1. Greg Anderson, 1,849; 2. Kurt Johnson, 1,624; 3. Jason Line, 1,521; 4. Warren Johnson, 1,457; 5. Dave Connolly, 1,262; 6. Greg Stanfield, 1,066; 7. Ron Krisher, 1,048; 8. Jeg Coughlin, 1,029; 9. Richie Stevens, 1,008; 10. Jim Yates, 941.

Pro Stock Motorcycle

1. Andrew Hines, 1,003; 2. GT Tonglet, 956; 3. Angelle Sampey, 911; 4. Chip Ellis, 867; 5. Antron Brown, 847; 6. Ryan Schnitz, 844; 7. Geno Scali, 737; 8. Karen Stoffer, 728; 9. Craig Treble, 716; 10. Steve Johnson, 710.

SUNDAY NOTES -

'Absolutely fantastic' -- The normally talkative Tony Schumacher seemed a bit subdued, humbled by the effort it takes to dominate so thoroughly as his U.S. Army Dragster team did this weekend and certainly for the last few weeks of this season.

"Absolutely fantastic" was about the only way Schumacher could describe his $590,000 weekend. He won Saturday's Budweiser Shootout that was worth $100,000. He clinched the $400,00 series championship. And with his record-setting fourth consecutive victory and eighth overall this season, he won the customary $40,000 winner's share and the $50,000 double-up bonus form the sanctioning body.

"The fourth [straight] win . . . The Budweiser Shootout . . . You start to freak out," he said. "You think, 'What are the odds that someone doesn't get luck or just kick our butt?"

One thing that didn't change about Schumacher is his liberal praise of crew chief Alan Johnson, one of those characters who "can do things everyone else can't do." Said Schumacher, "I'll bet you if you ask him [why], he can't tell you that. He's just got something. You back him in a corner, watch him come out fighting. This team is just better in crunch time. We thrive on that excitement."

He said his excitement Sunday included cheering on his teammates. "I went back down to half-track and watched the Funny Cars. I was having the time of my life," he said. "Our whole Schumacher team is fun to be a part of, period. You might win, Angelle might win, Antron might win. Somebody's going to win. That is hard -- take three people and put them together and try to make it work. We have nine."

For the record -- Tony Schumacher tied two Top Fuel records with his 4.486-second, 327.19-mph victory.

He joined Scott Kalitta -- the driver he defeated in the Budweiser Shootout final round -- and Cory McClenathan for most consecutive victories in a season with four. Kalitta did it in 1994 and McClenathan in 1997.

He also grabbed a share of their record for most consecutive final rounds in a season with six.

Schumacher's winning time was low E.T. for the meet, and the 330.55-mph speed he used to beat five-time and reigning IHRA champion Clay Millican in Round 1 was the fastest of the weekend.

Daddy wins! -- A little four-year-old girl named McKenzie got a wonderful birthday present Sunday at the end of the Pro Stock Motorcycle final. Her daddy, Chip Ellis, won the trophy.

Ellis, the No. 3 qualifier on the G-Squared Motorsports' prepared and owned S & S Buell, defeated Angelle Sampey in the final round here for the second straight year.

The Americus, Georgia, resident won with a 7.243-second pass at 187.63 mph as Sampey had a foul start on the Don Schumacher-owned U.S. Army Suzuki. It was his second victory of the year and third overall.

"I don't now what it is about this track," he said. "I've raced in a lot of different series here, and every single time I've been here -- seven or eight times -- I've either won or runnered up.

"Today was just my day," Ellis said. "I cut bad lights all day. I had a very, very fast motorcycle."

He said he knew immediately that Sampey had red-lit. "She was set on kill. I knew I won as soon as I left," he said. "I hate it for her. She has always been nice to me from Day One."

Another fine mess -- Somebody mentioned to Gary Scelzi that the season finale at Pomona would be fun, with his mere two-point lead over second-place teammate Ron Capps and his 28-point edge over No. 3 John Force, who fell two spots in the standings Sunday.

"Is that what it looks like to you? It looks like a mess to me," Scelzi said. "We came here with the intent to qualify No. 1 and win the race, and we almost got it," the Mopar/Oakley Dodge Stratus driver said. He said The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway quarter-mile "seemed like a different race track today. If you were perfect, the car flew. If you weren't, it didn't. We didn't want to beat ourselves, and we didn't. We took the points lead. My teammate Capps was in the finals with us.

"We'd sure like to see it be a 1-2 Schumacher (Racing) finish," the three-time Top Fuel champion said. "Definitely I want to win it because I want to win a championship in Funny Car, and so does Ron. He's been close a couple of times."

He said he never can underestimate Force. "Don't forget about Force," Scelzi said. "That guy is stewing, and he is pissed off. I don't want a put a stick in his cage, because he'll probably bite it off."

Scelzi said he had a feeling the race would go to the wire. "I knew it was going to come down to Pomona. I was just hoping it would be me and all I would have to do is qualify. That's pretty damn good to come to a place and have your game plan almost come together."

Scelzi seemed to understand the classic nature of this chase. "It's a great championship battle, and I'm glad he's in it. Who better to beat than the king, if you can pull it off?"

Fairness in fashion -- Don Schumacher, who has nine drivers and bike riders under his racing umbrella, has drawn attention for the layers of team shirts he wears and peels off in order at the starting line as his drivers make their runs. As teammates Ron Capps and Gary Scelzi squared off against each other for the Funny Car final round, Schumacher wore a generic gold "Schumacher Racing" polo shirt and stood between the cars.

Double domination -- David Rampy, of Piedmont, Alabama, won both the Competition Eliminator and Stock Eliminator titles. Driving a '32 Bantam, he parlayed his No. 1 qualifier status into a 7.402-second, 178.21-mph victory over Bo Butner in the Comp Eliminator class. Butner ran an 8.743. In Stock Eliminator action, Rampy beat Don Wann, 11.500/112.18 to 11.737/112.07.

Tricky track -- Team owner Don Schumacher called it a "hiccup." But he said the preparation was tricky.
"They had a hiccup Saturday night, trying to clean the race track. They did a whole bunch of treatment to it that when everybody came out this morning they had to do some work. NHRA did their job . . . and got things done, but it was a tough race track for all the teams the first round. It settled down a little bit n the second round. The third round, it was the hottest race we've had out there all weekend long." He said his drivers "did what they had to do in the final."

As for his organization's overall performance this weekend and this season, Schumacher said, "I'm just a very, very lucky guy that these people have come to work for me and are willing to do this weekend after weekend and forgo their families and homes. I'm a very, very fortunate individual that these people come together under my organization."

Capps in awe of victorious weekend – Ron Capps defeated his teammate Gary Scelzi today to capture the Funny Car category here at the AC Delco NHRA Las Vegas Nationals.

“I’m still in awe about this,” Capps said. “Zippy and Ace talk a lot, but they both set the cars up differently. It’s cool that these are not cookie-cutter cars. They talk but each one does his own thing.”

Ed “Ace” McCulloch’s tune-up out muscled Mike “Zippy” Neff’s job in the final today, with Capp’s 4.780-second, 325.69 mph effort trumping Scelzi’s 4.819-second, 324.51 mph mark.

“Ace told me that if the car smoked the tires we were absolutely not diving,” Capps said. “He told me that he was getting after it. It is just really cool that I never have to worry about that stuff with this team.”

Capps has found some inner peace to deal with the crushing stress level that comes with a tight points battle. He was quizzed about how he came to deal with the stress that had him vomiting and physically ill in other ways just two weeks ago.

“You know, I don’t know what has changed,” Capps said. “Ace’s health kind of puts a different spin on this whole thing. He was out signing autographs today. He never does that. He told us all that his new motto is ‘enjoy the ride’ and that is something that we have embraced.”

Capps and the Brut crew are enjoying a ride that could end up with a special place in the history books, 2005 Funny Car champion.

KJ holeshots his way to the winner’s circle – Kurt Johnson will readily admit that he didn’t have the quickest car in the field today. He won the semifinals and the finals on holeshots over Erica Enders and Greg Anderson respectively.

“I had to go,” Johnson said when asked about his .002 reaction time against Anderson in the final round. He managed a 6.839-second, 202.27 mph lap against Anderson’s 6.821-second, 202.27 mph effort. “I dug into my basket of tricks and experience and came away with that 0.002 reaction time.”

Johnson told the assembled media that he was headed to Hawaii with his wife tomorrow to celebrate their 20th wedding anniversary. “This will save me a week over the winter,” Johnson said. “It is always good to go when you win the race too. Especially when it is your sponsor’s event; it is always great to win it for the people who support you.”

The victory was not without its troubles, though. The team has had a string of bad luck that began with a flat front tire on Saturday morning. “We had the car jacked up and we set it down and it was sitting on the rim. I have never had a flat front tire on one of these cars before. Then I got a bad foot cramp just before the final round. I knew our luck had to change, though, especially in Las Vegas.”

With this victory Johnson maintains his second place position. He will have to defend it once again in Pomona, so the work is not over yet. Johnson recites the same mantra that Greg Anderson muttered yesterday, “The competition never sleeps.”

Like daughters, like father -- The first-round losses were far less consequential for 19-year-old Brittany Force and her 17-year old sister Courtney than they were for dad John this weekend.

Brittany Force and Courtney Force drive matching Super Comp dragsters built by Victory Race Cars and sponsored by Brand Source. They dropped out early in Super Comp competition this weekend in their national-event debuts. But when No.5 qualifier John Force, the Funny Car points leader who has been engaged in an extremely tight battle in pursuit of a 15th championship as an owner/driver, took a significant hit when Del Worsham defeated him by one-thousandth of a second.

Worsham, the No. 12 qualifier, advanced to meet Tommy Johnson Jr. in the quarterfinals with a 4.848-second run at 323.81 mph in his Team Checker Schuck's Kragen Chevy Monte Carlo. Force clocked a 4.849/323.43 in the Castrol GTX Start-up Ford Mustang. Worsham had the better reaction time: a .056-second effort to Force's .080.

Force had entered the weekend with a 36-point lead over Gary Scelzi and a 57-point lead over Ron Capps. Scelzi won with a four-hundredths victory margin over Gary Densham, and Capps set low elapsed time of the round with the only 4.7-second pass (4.793) against Tim Wilkerson.

Force has not dominated at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway like he has at other tracks on the tour. At Las Vegas, he has advanced beyond the second round just three times in the last 11 tries. Sunday's stumble, which denied him a 120th career victory and sixth of the season, was his 10th first-round loss of the season.

Ironically, he lost to Scelzi the last two years at these ACDelco Nationals. In the spring race, Capps upset him in the opening round.

He said upon his arrival that he had no idea why Las Vegas oddsmakers would establish him as the 3-to-1 favorite. "I don't know what they've been watching," Force said. "I've never had any luck in Vegas."

He didn't have any luck as a car owner in Round 2, either, for teammate Eric Medlen in the Castrol Syntec Ford Mustang wasn't able to take out Gary Scelzi and his Oakley Dodge. That officially pushed Scelzi ahead of Force for the points lead.

Points, schmoints -- Winning the Funny Car title is something Gary Scelzi certainly has wanted for the past several years, but it also is something the Mopar/Oakley Dodge Stratus driver doesn't want to talk about -- not even when he replaced John Force for the lead with only the season finale to go.

When Scelzi polished off Eric Medlen in Round 2 Sunday with a 4.834-second run to Medlen's tire-striking 6.287, top-end interviewer Alan Rinehart asked him about regaining the top spot in the standings. "Do we still have to talk about that? We still have two rounds left," he said.

As for his strategy in the following round, the Don Schumacher Racing driver said, "I'm going to be an aggressive son-of-a-you-know-what."

(He really said "you-know-what.")

The Fresno, California, native had used his No. 1 qualifier position to gain four points on Force, who qualified fifth. He entered Sunday with a 32-point margin to cut.

"We've had a good car all year long, really," Scelzi said. "We've just had some stupid things happen, myself included." However, he said crew chief Mike Neff "has really matured as a crew chief."

He said Saturday night that in watching Neff's reactions to the runs of cars ahead of theirs and being fooled about whether Neff would tinker with anything, he thought, "This thing is either going to fly or it's going to smoke the tires. When it made it past 60 ft. I said, 'Here we go.' It was a serious run, a real serious run."

The same was true for Sunday's runs.

He had predicted that the track "will take a lot more than we've been giving it early. We feel we can be a little bit more aggressive early and still run on the safe side. We're not going to get stupid. We're just going to try to push it a little bit more early and just keep it in that range and it will be as good as anybody else, maybe even a little better."

He had made it clear that he knew time was a critical factor in the championship struggle. "This is a race you have to win. The playing games are over. You need to win here and you need to win Pomona" he said.

Running on Bud -- Brandon Bernstein set low elapsed time of the weekend -- 4.489 seconds -- in the Budweiser/Lucas Oil Dragster while adding to Doug Kalitta's misery.

Since winning Aug. 14 at Brainerd, Minn., Kalitta has won just three elimination rounds in six races.

Bernstein had trouble hooking up with the track in Round 2. So did opponent Tony Schumacher, but Schumacher and the U.S. Army Dragster won the tire-smoking skirmish with an unglamorous but effective 5.046-second, 275.96 clocking.

A first for Foley -- IHRA regular Doug Foley won his first round of NHRA competition in an opening-round battle of Torco-sponsored dragsters. The No. 14 qualifier used a 4.714-second elapsed time at 309.27 mph in his Torco Dragster to eliminate No. 3 Melanie Troxel, who sputtered her way to a 10.377/82.09 performance in the Don Schumacher-owned Skull Gear/Torco Dragster.

Troxel had qualified no worse than third in the past two events. She was second at Dallas.

In both Saturday qualifying sessions, the Richard Hogan-tuned dragster lost traction, and she had to rely on the 4.521-second elapsed time at 328.78 -mph from Friday.

An overnight change in track conditions may have been a factor. "It's hard to say," said Troxel, "but we were definitely caught off guard on that. There were some cars that made it down the track, but a whole lot of them that didn't.

"I think the track played a part in it, but those kind of things happen. We're trying to push these cars to the edge and every once in a while you go a little too far. I'm not sure exactly what happened in the final pass. It shook really hard. In the first pass, we tried something and obviously that didn't work," she said. Neither did the fix they settled on.

"It's still a huge improvement over where we were a couple of races ago," Troxel said.

Foley was a victim of tire smoke and Doug Herbert in the second round.

Refreshingly honest -- Tommy Johnson Jr., the No. 4 Funny Car qualifier, had to pedal his Skoal Chevy Monte Carlo to a 4.957-second, 322.11-mph victory over Phil Burkart in the Team Checker Schuck's Kragen Toyota Celica. In his top-end interview, the Don Prudhomme Racing driver said, "The Skoal crew did a good job. OK, so they didn't do such a good job -- I had to pedal it."

On a roll in Vegas -- Tony Bartone, who qualified 11th in the quickest Funny Car field in NHRA history but not until his final chance Saturday night, upset No. 6 Tony Pedregon in the first round with a 4.970-second E.T. to Pedregon's 8.195. Bartone, driving the Got CMKX?/Lucas Oil Chevy Monte Carlo, advanced to the final round in April in his last visit here. Evidently he and team owner/tuner Jim Dunn conquered the mechanical gremlins that plagued the car in his first three qualifying attempts. Bartone's qualifying effort of 4.799-seconds was the second-quickest of his career. Bartone had said before eliminations, "I think the Got CMKX?/Lucas Oil Funny Car is going to be a serious threat." Bartone beat No. 3 qualifier Cruz Pedregon in Round 2.


The Big Mo -- Mike Ashley, who clinched a second straight NHRA/AMS/TLR Pro Modified championship Saturday in his Shelby GT500E Mustang, kept his momentum going Sunday. He recorded his first NHRA Funny Car round-win from the No. 10 position, upsetting tire-smoking No. 4 Robert Hight. Ashley had a 4.849-second pass at 323.43 mph in the Mark Oswald-tuned Skull Gear/Torco Chevy Monte Carlo. And he delivered the final blow to the rookie's razor-thin hopes of challenging boss John Force for the championship.


Little bit of luck -- All three of the Kalitta Motorsports drivers qualified in the lower half of the Top Fuel field, and No. 13 qualifier Scott Kalitta said his success this weekend largely luck. And that especially was true, he said, of reaching the Saturday finals of the $100,000-to-win Budweiser Shootout.

He lost by about a seven-inch margin to Tony Schumacher and settled for a much more modest $15,000.

"For the most part, we were lucky to get to the final. First round, Morgan (Lucas) red-lit and we smoked the tires, so we had a gift there. The second round was a good race with Cory. We're not knocking off the killer numbers like everybody else," the Mac Tools/Jesse James Dragster driver said. "But we managed to get down the track. In the final, man, I thought I had it. As bad as we've been running lately, it was good to go some rounds and get to go. It kind of sucks that (Schumacher) took out all three of us. I don't think it'll ever happen again."

Kalitta opened eliminations by knocking off Larry Dixon and upset-minded John Smith (who had defeated No. 5 Rod Fuller in the first round).

Bike shake-ups -- Three of the top four riders in the Pro Stock Motorcycle standings were history by the end of the first round. Leader Andrew Hines and No. 2 GT Tonglet, his teammate in the Vance & Hines Screamin' Eagle Harley-Davidson garage, hampered their own efforts with slower reaction times than their opponents. Former series champion Geno Scali beat Hines, and Matt Smith eliminated Tonglet. Fourth-place Antron Brown had a red-light start.

New phase for Kalivoda -- Brady Kalivoda is heading south, geographically, but his pursuit of another Top Fuel ride continues. The Seattle native, who has been living in Las Vegas for the past six months, will be moving to Phoenix, where he and two business partners will start a door- and window- replacement company.

The opportunity arose right after Top Fuel team owner Bill Miller gave his ride to Bobby Lagana in February, just after the Winternationals. One of the appealing aspects of the offer, he said, was that it would give him the freedom to pursue a deal to drive a dragster. It also gives him security that being a hired driver does not.

"If I was to land a 23-race fulltime driving gig, I could do both," the 32-year-old said. "If and when I'm 40 years old and this sport decides it's done with me, if it hasn't decided that already, I have something real and concrete I've been building. The trick for me now is finding a way to get back in one of these race cars."

His father, Dick Kalivoda, who was a drag racer in the Pacific Northwest for years, is keeping his hand in the sport. He writes a column and sells advertisements for a bi-monthly racing magazine called "Cruzin'."

With friends like these - There were a few moments of levity earlier this morning in the Team Schumacher pits. All of the team drivers traditionally take a few minutes to address the assembled sponsors and guests in the hospitality area on race day.

In Dallas, Whit Bazemore used his time to talk about the pressure of racing for the championship just like Gary Scelzi and Ron Capps are now doing. That speech hit Ron Capps very hard, so hard, in fact, that it worked him up to the point of becoming physically ill, a fact that he shared on national television.

“I was on the toilet for eight hours,” Capps told ESPN.

In honor of his honesty and the admiration that Scelzi and Bazemore have for the Brut driver, they presented him with some “tools” in front of the crowd this morning. Bazemore led the ceremony, while Scelzi hid the goods under his shirt.

“We really wanted to help Ron out this weekend so we got him a couple of things,” Bazemore said. “This roll of toilet paper will help him through those times when he’s stuck on the toilet. This bag will help him deal with any issues he has if he gets sick to his stomach.”

The “bag” was a small paper bag emblazoned with a Brut sticker and the words “Barf Bag” scrawled in black marker. The crowd and the assembled Schumacher teams really got a kick out of it, and so did Capps.

Gary Scelzi may have said it best. “Hey man, we love you,” he told Capps. “If we didn’t, these gifts would be used.”

Leery left lane – The first round of fuel competition was very touch and go. The left lane quickly became suspect after several cars went up in smoke on that side of the drag strip.

Ron Capps was strapped into his car watching all of this unfold before him. Capps later said that Don Schumacher and Ace McCulloch had discussed switching lanes, but they decided not to.

So what’s it like to be sitting there waiting to run on a suspect lane?

“You just get crazy thoughts about what you're going to do,” Capps said. “Should I roll into the throttle? You just try to get yourself ready for it.”

Capps did not have to worry about it, however, as his car left like a rocket ship and went a low-for-the-round 4.793 at 328.14 mph.

SATURDAY - SCHUMACHER RACES TO BUDWEISER SHOOTOUT VICTORY AND ANDERSON CLINCHES THIRD POWERADE SERIES WORLD TITLE

Tony Schumacher raced to the Budweiser Shootout victory and Greg Anderson claimed his third consecutive Pro Stock world championship title Saturday at the ACDelco Las Vegas NHRA Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Morgan Lucas, Gary Scelzi, Anderson and Ryan Schnitz will lead their respective pro categories into Sunday’s 11 a.m. eliminations as the top qualifiers of the $1.8 million race, the 22nd of 23 events in the $50 million NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series.

Schumacher’s stellar season continued as he raced to the $100,000 Budweiser Shootout victory with a 4.572-second run at 326.95 mph in his U.S. Army dragster and defeated Scott Kalitta in a photo-finish, who posted a 4.593 at 321.81 in his Mac Tools/Jesse James dragster. The lucrative bonus race is contested annually for the season's eight-quickest Top Fuel drivers.

“Man, that was intense,” said Schumacher, who at the start of the final-round run was on and off the throttle in the first 60-feet and managed to slip past Kalitta's charging dragster by seven-inches at the finish line. “I didn’t expect that I would have to pedal it right there, but I didn't want to give up that $100,000 without fighting for it. I wish everyone could experience that rush because then they'd know why we do what we do. It’s just great to win the Budweiser Shootout and get $100,000, 50 cases of beer, and a ride with the Clydesdales.”

If Schumacher can win tomorrow he could earn nearly $200,000 for the race, which includes a $50,000 bonus from NHRA for sweeping the weekend. On Friday Schumacher clinched his third POWERade Series world championship, worth $400,000.

Anderson claimed his third consecutive Pro Stock world championship by qualifying No. 1 and mathematically eliminating second place driver Kurt Johnson. Anderson raced to a performance of 6.818 at 201.97 in his Summit Racing Pontiac GTO to secure his seventh No. 1 qualifying effort of the season and the 40th of his career.

“This weekend just keeps getting better and better and we'd love to get through the field tomorrow and cap it off in style,” Anderson said. “It feels great to clinch the championship here in front of (team owner) Ken Black’s hometown fans. I love this place and I consider Las Vegas to be my home track.. It has been very good to me.”

Lucas claimed his second No. 1 position of the season in Top Fuel, posting a 4.508 at 322.88 in his Lucas Oil dragster.

“The conditions were better tonight so we were able to pick up a little bit,” Lucas said. “Jim (Dupuy, crew chief) has a real good handle on this car right now and it says a lot about his ability and what kind of a guy he is. I am not sure if the fans were cheering for me or Schumacher there but we really enjoyed that ride back down the return road and soaked it all in."

POWERade championship contender Scelzi drove his Mopar/Oakley Dodge Stratus to a track record run of 4.746 at 327.90 to lead the quickest Funny Car field in NHRA history. It was Scelzi’s fifth No. 1 of the season and the 41st of his career. Following qualifying, Scelzi trails 13-time champ John Force by 32 points in the closest Funny Car points race in NHRA history.

“Running late tonight gave us a chance to run in perfect conditions,” Scelzi said. “I know we won't have conditions like this tomorrow but we did learn that this racetrack can hold a lot more than we've been giving it.”

Scelzi’s closest competition for the season championship also posted top-five qualifying performances. Ron Capps qualified second with a 4.754 at 326.71 in the Brut Dodge Stratus and Force powered his Castrol GTX Start Up Ford Mustang to a 4.766 at 317.57.

“This is a must-win race,” said Scelzi, a three-time Top Fuel world champion. Then we’ve got to go to Pomona (Calif.) and win there. The games are over. We need to do our thing and get it done and let everyone else worry about us.”

It was the first No. 1 qualifying performance of Schnitz’s career. He rode his Muzzy.com Buell to a leading time of 7.205 at 183.67 in Pro Stock Motorcycle.

“I really wasn't expecting to hang onto (the top position) today,” Schnitz said. “We knew Andrew (Hines) was going to make a big run at us and he did. I think it was just a little bit warmer and everyone couldn't quite match what we were able to do yesterday. I've been around long enough now that I know how hard it is to be No. 1 so I think I'll really be able to enjoy this.”

First-round pairings for professional eliminations Sunday for the fifth annual ACDelco Las Vegas NHRA Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the 22nd of 23 events in the $50 million NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series. Pairings based on results in qualifying, which ended Saturday.

Top Fuel -- 1. Morgan Lucas, 4.508 seconds, 324.36 mph vs. 16. Joe Hartley, 4.696, 312.50; 2. Tony Schumacher, 4.516, 326.95 vs. 15. Clay Millican, 4.655, 314.02; 3. Melanie Troxel, 4.521, 328.78 vs. 14. Doug Foley, 4.653, 300.00; 4. Larry Dixon, 4.524, 325.53 vs. 13. Scott Kalitta, 4.593, 321.81; 5. Rod Fuller, 4.525, 326.08 vs. 12. John Smith, 4.592, 320.89; 6. Doug Herbert, 4.528, 317.72 vs. 11. Jack Beckman, 4.581, 320.58; 7. Brandon Bernstein, 4.544, 325.14 vs. 10. Doug Kalitta, 4.570, 326.87; 8. Cory McClenathan, 4.553, 327.35 vs. 9. David Grubnic, 4.564, 323.12.

Funny Car -- 1. Gary Scelzi, Dodge Stratus, 4.746, 327.90 vs. 16. Gary Densham, Chevy Monte Carlo, 4.834, 318.32; 2. Ron Capps, Stratus, 4.754, 326.71 vs. 15. Tim Wilkerson, Monte Carlo, 4.826, 324.67; 3. Cruz Pedregon, Monte Carlo, 4.760, 324.36 vs. 14. Whit Bazemore, Stratus, 4.821, 323.27; 4. Tommy Johnson Jr., Monte Carlo, 4.763, 325.77 vs. 13. Phil Burkart, Toyota Celica, 4.804, 318.69; 5. John Force, Ford Mustang, 4.766, 324.98 vs. 12. Del Worsham, Monte Carlo, 4.800, 325.22; 6. Tony Pedregon, Monte Carlo, 4.766, 323.50 vs. 11. Tony Bartone, Monte Carlo, 4.799, 320.81; 7. Robert Hight, Mustang, 4.775, 327.35 vs. 10. Mike Ashley, Monte Carlo, 4.786, 320.05; 8. Eric Medlen, Mustang, 4.782, 323.50 vs. 9. Frank Pedregon, Stratus, 4.783, 320.05.

Pro Stock -- 1. Greg Anderson, Pontiac GTO, 6.818, 201.97 vs. 16. Allen Johnson, Dodge Stratus, 6.874, 199.82; 2. Kurt Johnson, Chevy Cobalt, 6.820, 202.94 vs. 15. Bob Panella, Cobalt, 6.872, 200.77; 3. Erica Enders, Cobalt, 6.827, 201.52 vs. 14. Jim Yates, GTO, 6.866, 200.41; 4. Jason Line, GTO, 6.833, 202.09 vs. 13. Rickie Smith, Cobalt, 6.863, 200.68; 5. Richie Stevens, Stratus, 6.838, 202.03 vs. 12. Greg Stanfield, Chevy Cavalier, 6.862, 200.68; 6. Ron Krisher, Cobalt, 6.844, 201.70 vs. 11. Dave Connolly, Cobalt, 6.861, 200.83; 7. Jeg Coughlin, Stratus, 6.847, 201.40 vs. 10. Warren Johnson, GTO, 6.859, 201.67; 8. V. Gaines, Stratus, 6.850, 200.71 vs. 9. Mark Pawuk, GTO, 6.852, 200.89.

Pro Stock Motorcycle -- 1. Ryan Schnitz, Buell, 7.205, 183.67 vs. 16. Mike Berry, Kawasaki, 7.286, 186.18; 2. Andrew Hines, Harley-Davidson, 7.211, 186.20 vs. 15. Geno Scali, Suzuki, 7.282, 182.87; 3. Chip Ellis, Buell, 7.224, 183.89 vs. 14. Matt Guidera, Buell, 7.280, 185.64; 4. Chris Rivas, Buell, 7.235, 185.38 vs. 13. Steve Johnson, Suzuki, 7.280, 183.00; 5. Angelle Sampey, Suzuki, 7.238, 183.44 vs. 12. Joe DeSantis, Suzuki, 7.276, 184.45; 6. Matt Smith, Buell, 7.240, 181.50 vs. 11. GT Tonglet, Harley-Davidson, 7.275, 184.72; 7. Karen Stoffer, Suzuki, 7.260, 183.64 vs. 10. Tom Bradford, Buell, 7.273, 187.11; 8. Craig Treble, Suzuki, 7.261, 185.43 vs. 9. Antron Brown, Suzuki, 7.262, 183.37.

Final round-by-round results from Saturday's $100,000 Budweiser Shootout for the season's quickest Top Fuel dragsters at The Strip at Las Vegas Motorsports Speedway.

ROUND ONE -- Doug Kalitta, Attac, 4.600, 325.06 def. Larry Dixon, McKinney, 7.911, 96.49; Cory McClenathan, Hadman, 4.555, 327.35 def. Brandon Bernstein, McKinney, 4.590, 320.43; Scott Kalitta, Attac, 5.497, 248.80 def. Morgan Lucas, Hadman, foul; Tony Schumacher, Hadman, 4.520, 325.69 def.
David Grubnic, Attac, 4.564, 323.12;

SEMIFINALS -- S. Kalitta, 4.610, 327.51 def. McClenathan, 4.641, 317.72; Schumacher, 4.499, 327.43 def. D. Kalitta, 5.730, 181.76;

FINAL -- Schumacher, 4.572, 326.95 def. S. Kalitta, 4.593, 321.81.

Going Out in a Blaze of Glory...

Bob Gilbertson's last shot at making the Funny Car field on Saturday night went up an a fiery shower of sparks as he torched an engine just past half track. To add insult to injury, Gilbertson wound up as first alternate in the No. 17 spot. (Motel6Vision)

SATURDAY NOTES - Anderson's hat trick, Schumacher's big payday and top qualifiers speak

He’s number one….twice – Greg Anderson just flat has it going on right now. Simply put, the rest of the Pro Stock world should be stocking up on Vivarin for the off season, because when they sleep Anderson and his team will be finding more horsepower.

With today’s No. 1 qualifying effort, Anderson clinched his third consecutive Pro Stock title. That’s puts him in the company of Lee Shepherd and Bob Glidden. This truly is the age of Greg Anderson.

“This is a real special feeling,” Anderson said. “To be able to do this at [car owner] Ken Black’s home track and just the feeling of working so hard to make the car better all year, it is just great.”

As scary as it sounds, Anderson is talking about an off-season that makes NFL training camp look like a weekend in the Hamptons.

“Ken took us to Hawaii last year and it was great, but I think that’s where our problems started,” Anderson said. “We completely stunk at the beginning of the season. My worst fears were realized at Pomona when we showed up and there were people faster than us there.”

Anderson’s team can go ahead and return the flip-flops and flowery shirts. A pair of work pants, a seat cushion for the dynamometer operator’s chair, and a hearty handshake may be all the gifts coming to the team this winter.

“There really is no off-season,” Anderson said. “There is only room for one thing in this business and that’s work. Anything else you do, any day you take off, someone else is working and making horsepower.”

The team proved that they were resourceful and tenacious this season by taking a car that was below par and working hard to make it right. It gives Anderson and the rest of the operation a good feeling to know that they conquered the obstacles, but it is not something they want to do next year.

“This year was a tribute to my team,” Anderson explained. “At the end of the year it was like the car was locked into auto-pilot. I was along for the ride. There is no team better than mine out there now and I am so glad to be a part of it.”

Anderson credited the new Pontiac GTO as a saving grace for his team. The newer, slippery shape may have helped the team when they were down on power, but once they got everything up to snuff, it was total domination.

“We’re going to work very hard this winter and make some hay,” Anderson said with a smile.

If you are running Pro Stock, it’s time to be afraid, be very afraid.

Earning the big bucks - Newly crowned National Hot Rod Association Top Fuel champion Tony Schumacher has the potential to earn $590,000 this weekend at the ACDelco Nationals.

The U.S. Army Dragster driver defeated Scott Kalitta and the Mac Tools/Jesse James Dragster by .021 seconds in Saturday's Budweiser Shootout final Saturday. With his 4.572-second elapsed time at 326.95 mph on The Strip at Las Vegas quarter-mile, Schumacher earned $100,000. He already has earned his team $500,000, including the $400,000 series-championship check that will be awarded Nov. 7.

If he wins today's [Sunday's] event, not only will he receive he $40,000 winner's share of the purse but he will pocket an extra $50,000 double-up bonus from NHRA.

"We single-handedly took their team apart today," Schumacher said after defeating all three Kalitta Motorsports drivers to claim his first victory in this 22nd edition of the specialty race that took place during qualifying. He beat Dave Grubnic and Doug Kalitta to advance to the final round of the Shootout.

"I got to tell you, man, when you're racing against a three-car team, and they're hard on you all year long, that's pretty darn cool," Schumacher said. "I guarantee I'm off their Christmas list, though, for sure."

Scott Kalitta had a 4.593-second, 321.81-mph performance against Schumacher.

"What a great weekend: the Powerade championship and $100,000 check from Budweiser. We've definitely earned it as a team," Schumacher said.

Schumacher was on the losing end in 2003, when Doug Kalitta defeated him with a 4.479-second E.T. to his 4.471. "So two Budweiser Shootouts were decided by less than 10-thousandths together, both against the Kalitta cars. That's huge."

Morgan Lucas took No. 1 qualifier honors a 4.508-second pass at 324.36 mph, denying Schumacher the chance to earn a class record 11th top position this season. Schumacher shares the mark with Gary Beck and the late Blaine Johnson, brother of Schumacher's crew chief, Alan Johnson. "Blaine Johnson and Gary Beck are two of my heroes," he said.

He said of his tremendous fortune, "Eventually it's going to end. It can't go on forever. It's so great that we've won three races and the Bud Shootout since my daughter was born. We have not lost a round. Eventually we will. That's not saying, 'Oh, look at us!' I have a spirit riding with me that very few people have had a chance to run. It's awesome. It feels great. My daughter, that's going to stick with her the rest of her life. I'll make sure I tell her about it. I'm pretty sure it’s the water in Chicago."

The Long Grove, Illinois, native, was treated to the traditional ride atop the famous Budweiser beer wagon pulled by the brewery's trademark Clydesdales. "It's special because of what it stands for. I don't care if I ride my pelican. It's what it symbolizes: winning the Bud Shootout, something so great and so hard to do," Schumacher said. "It's just another thing that we've accomplished this year. It's great racing, period."

Schumacher said the debate already has started about what team with multiple championships is the best in Top Fuel history but it's irrelevant. "There have been a lot of great teams, but we're right there. Alan Johnson and these guys work better together than any team I've ever seen." He said the Johnson-Gary Scelzi team "was a great team, too. We've watched [Kenny] Bernstein do it and [Larry] Dixon do it. And right now we're in the middle of it."

No harm, no foul - Funny Car driver Mike Ashley explained Saturday why he and his Torco/Skull Gear Chevy Monte Carlo ended up in the sand trap in the first qualifying session Friday and what exactly made him throw down his gloves in disgust after popping from the escape hatch.

The parachutes on his Team Checker Schucks Kragen entry failed to deploy at the end of his run and the car nosed just a few feet into the sand.

"I was worried that I had messed up my paint job," Ashley said. "I threw down my gloves in disgust, thinking I had done just that. Once I walked around front, I realized that it wasn't hurt at all. I guess it might have been comedic to some, but I hate messing up my cars. The boys at Illusions Paint & Body do such a great job on my cars that I hate to mess them up."

He will start 10th in eliminations and will meet Robert Hight in the first round.

Scelzi swipes top qualifying honors – Gary Scelzi took the No. 1 qualifying position during the last Funny Car session on Saturday evening. His 4.74-second, 327-mph effort secured the top spot.

Scelzi was at ease after the last session and happy that his team had risen to the occasion by grabbing the pole in the quickest Funny Car field in NHRA history. This marks his fifth No. 1 spot of the season and with the effort he has cut John Force’s points lead to a scant 32 markers.

“32 points is still two rounds,” Scelzi said. “My crew chief Mike “Zippy” Neff has just been so good with the car and he has been really confident with his tune up. In the past we would be making a lot of changes to the box when we were in the lanes. Now Zippy sets the car up in the pits and unless he makes a small tweak he normally does not touch it.”

The final session saw a flurry of changes in the top spot. Cruz Pedregon held the mark for only one pair. Ron Capps unseated Pedregon and then Scelzi came along and bumped them all down a notch.

“He (Mike Neff) made one adjustment and never went back to the box,” Scelzi explained. “I was thinking that the car was either going to really go or spin the tires. I am really impressed with how the guys are working together and getting this car tuned up.”

Scelzi was asked about the state of his nerves. In the past he has suffered from the stress of the points chase, but tonight things are different.

“I’m going to be fine tonight,” Scelzi explained. “I’m going to be okay. I’m going to focus on tomorrow. I would like to run early in the session because the track will be good right behind Top Fuel. I think we are going to be just as good and maybe even a little bit better.”

The importance of this race to Scelzi’s title hopes is not lost on him, either. To leave here without a win or to exit before John Force does basically spells suicide for the Oakley team.

“This is a must-win race,” Scelzi said. “There are no more games. I will let the others worry about us tomorrow. I spent a lot of time today on the tree and making sure I was good on the line. We got four good runs in through qualifying. That gives this team and I lots of confidence for tomorrow.”

Lucas takes Top Fuel pole – Morgan Lucas grabbed his second No. 1 qualifying position of the season at Las Vegas today with a 4.508/322.88 pass. Lucas expressed thanks to his team and the patience that his tuner Jim Dupuy has shown recently.

“Jimmy swore he backed the car off,” Lucas said. “He just made some small changes and the car responded. He is figuring out this car really fast.”

This has been a tumultuous second half of the season since Forrest Lucas announced that he would be putting his own team together next year. Add to that the fact that Joe Amato has sold his entire operation and the future is literally wide open.

Lucas said that the team has made a commitment to finish the season as a team and complete the job that they set out to do.

“We’re still a team regardless of what is going on right now,” Lucas said. “Everything is on the up and up. We started this year as a team and that is how we will finish. This group will leave as friends.”

Lucas admitted that this strong qualifying position has lifted everyone’s spirits.

“We’re showing good potential,” Lucas said. “When we were coming back up the return road Tony Schumacher’s crew was passing us in the other direction so everyone was cheering. I don’t know who they were cheering for, but I told the guy driving the van to honk the horn and let them know we were number one.”

Lucas and the Amato Racing crew go into Sunday with high hopes for a strong end to a strange and at times frustrating season.

“This really made the day a whole lot better,” Lucas said. “It really made up for the goof I made earlier in the day. It feels good.”

Schnitz holds on to top spot – Ryan Schnitz managed to maintain his No. 1 qualifier position in Pro Stock Bike action today. His 7.205, 183.67 pass, which was made yesterday, trumped Andrew Hines’ best effort of 7.211, 186.20.

“I didn’t think that number would hold up today,” Schnitz said. “I wasn’t sure if we could improve on our run from yesterday either because of the conditions.”

That being said it would be safe to assume that performance would also remain in the same league as today. Schnitz reflected on this season, which is the first he has been riding a V-Twin-powered Buell.

“This team has worked very hard,” he said. “We’ve been working hard for three years. It is really tough to earn the number one spot. I feel really good going into the show as the number one qualifier.”

Schnitz is confidant because his bike is leading a field of riders who are looking to make some noise in their second-to-last chance of the year. A strong finish can make all the difference in raising sponsor awareness and helping to get a race team funding for next season.

“I think that tomorrow will be a lot like today,” Schnitz said. “I think that low 7.20’s will be the number and that is good for us. I would say that the numbers tomorrow will be a lot like today.”

Schnitz would love to add another Wally to his mantle. It would make a nice set of bookends for the young rider who calls Decatur, Indiana home.

Racing royalty visits -- Among the guests at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway this weekend was sprint-car driver Steve Kinser. Known as "King of the Outlaws," Kinser recently earned his 20th World of Outlaws championship. He was in action Friday night and will help the WoO conclude its season Saturday at the Dirt Track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Buells rule -- Five S&S-powered Buells finished in the top eight following the first day of Pro Stock Motorcycle qualifying.

Ryan Schnitz led the way as low qualifier, and defending event champion Chip Ellis was fourth. Chris Rivas was fifth, Matt Guidera sixth, and Tom Bradford eighth.

Matt Smith, Ellis teammate, had trouble in both of his passes and started Saturday's action in 19th place.

"At the start, Matt's bike immediately made a strong turn toward the center line on his first run, and he lost an engine on his second pass," said George Smith, who, along with George Bryce owns and operates G Squared Motorsports. "He was on a decent run that second pass but only made it to half-track before troubles set in.

"Chip ran a good opening lap but used up valuable time correcting a start that sent him toward the centerline strip in session two. All-in-all not the best of days for our two bikes," he said. Ellis is sixth in the standings, only 35 points out of the top five.

"The good news is that five Buells with S&S power plants are running pretty strong and made the top eight today. Now we need to correct the problems with Matt's and see if he can work his way up in the field."

FRIDAY - SCHUMACHER, JOHNSON, ANDERSON AND SCHNITZ LEAD QUALIFYING AT ACDELCO LAS VEGAS NHRA NATIONALS AT THE STRIP AT LVMS

Tony Schumacher clinched his third NHRA POWERade Series world championship in Top Fuel and raced to the qualifying lead Friday at the ACDelco NHRA Las Vegas Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Tommy Johnson Jr., Greg Anderson and Ryan Schnitz also were qualifying leaders at the $1.8 million race, the 22nd of 23 events in the $50 million NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series.

Schumacher, who only needed to make a qualifying attempt to claim the season title, drove his U.S. Army dragster to the top of the 16-car order with a 4.516 second run at 325.53 mph. If Schumacher hangs onto the position through Saturday’s two qualifying sessions (noon and 3 p.m.) he will break a longstanding record for No. 1 positions in a season (10) for Top Fuel, which he currently holds with Gary Beck (1983) and the late Blaine Johnson (1996).

"I knew the championship was all but wrapped up, but I didn't want to smoke the tires on that clinching run,” said Schumacher, who will face Dave Grubnic in the first-round of Saturday’s $100,000 Budweiser Shootout. “I'm relieved it's over. We all worked so hard for this. Now, we can celebrate, but not too much, because the Bud Shootout is tomorrow. It would be nice to take home all of that Bud money.”

Schumacher teammate Melanie Troxel was second with a 4.521 at 328.78 in her Skull Gear/Torco Race Fuels dragster. Local favorite “Hot Rod” Fuller was fourth with a 4.547 at 326.08 in his David Powers Homes/Valvoline dragster.

Skoal Chevy Monte Carlo driver Johnson could earn his first No. 1 effort since 2001 if his 4.763 at 325.77 holds as the quickest performance in Funny Car.

“I guess you can call it a dry spell,” Johnson said. “I’m not sure if it will hold. The conditions should be pretty similar tomorrow, so people should step up. The performance of our car has been coming around the second half of the season. We’ve been qualifying well near the top of the pack. It wasn’t a big surprise to us, but it was a nice surprise. It was far from a perfect run, so we’ll definitely try and improve tomorrow.”

POWERade Series championship frontrunners John Force, Gary Scelzi and Ron Capps qualified ninth, third and 10th respectively.

Anderson posted a 6.825 at 201.40 in his Summit Racing Pontiac GTO to lead Pro Stock qualifying. He can clinch his third consecutive POWERade Series world championship title if he qualifies eighth or better at this event.

“I love this racetrack,” Anderson said. “It’s always been very, very good to me, and I can’t think of a better place to close this year’s chapter and clinch that championship here in front of (Las Vegas-based team owner) Ken Black and all of his family and everybody that’s done all this for me. I certainly wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for Ken and all of his family. I just can’t say enough about what he’s done. It feels great to come here and have a chance to wrap her up in front of him in his hometown.”

Schnitz raced to the qualifying lead in Pro Stock Motorcycle by clocking a 7.205 at 183.67 on his Muzzy.com Buell.

“All in all we had a good handle on the track, but I think we will need to improve to be able to stay on top,” said Schnitz who is seeking his first career No. 1 qualifying position. “This is my team owner Rob Muzzy’s birthday so this would be a good present to give him.”

Results Friday after qualifying for the Fifth annual ACDelco Las Vegas NHRA Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, 22nd of 23 events in the $50 million NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series. Qualifying will continue Saturday for Sunday's final eliminations.

Top Fuel -- 1. Tony Schumacher, 4.516 seconds, 325.53 mph; 2. Melanie Troxel, 4.521, 328.78; 3. Larry Dixon, 4.524, 325.53; 4. Rod Fuller, 4.547, 326.08; 5. Cory McClenathan, 4.553, 324.59; 6. Doug Herbert, 4.558, 317.72; 7. Doug Kalitta, 4.570, 323.97; 8. Morgan Lucas, 4.573, 321.19; 9. Jack Beckman, 4.581, 315.34; 10. Brandon Bernstein, 4.593, 324.98; 11. David Grubnic, 4.634, 318.99; 12. Scott Kalitta, 4.649, 321.58; 13. Doug Foley, 4.653, 292.65; 14. Clay Millican, 4.690, 314.02; 15. David Baca, 4.718, 314.90; 16. Bobby Lagana Jr., 4.736, 308.28.

Funny Car -- 1. Tommy Johnson Jr., Chevy Monte Carlo, 4.763, 325.77; 2. Robert Hight, Ford Mustang, 4.775, 327.35; 3. Gary Scelzi, Dodge Stratus, 4.776, 327.90; 4. Tony Pedregon, Monte Carlo, 4.780, 322.27; 5. Eric Medlen, Mustang, 4.782, 323.50; 6. Del Worsham, Monte Carlo, 4.800, 325.22; 7. Mike Ashley, Monte Carlo, 4.804, 320.05; 8. Cruz Pedregon, Monte Carlo, 4.809, 323.50; 9. John Force, Mustang, 4.817, 324.98; 10. Ron Capps, Stratus, 4.817, 323.27; 11. Tim Wilkerson, Monte Carlo, 4.829, 322.81; 12. Whit Bazemore, Stratus, 4.830, 323.27; 13. Gary Densham, Monte Carlo, 4.834, 318.32; 14. Bob Gilbertson, Monte Carlo, 4.839, 318.77; 15. Jim Head, Stratus, 4.893, 323.04; 16. Phil Burkart, Toyota Celica, 4.915, 307.51.

Pro Stock -- 1. Greg Anderson, Pontiac GTO, 6.825, 201.82; 2. Kurt Johnson, Chevy Cobalt, 6.828, 202.94; 3. Erica Enders, Cobalt, 6.831, 201.52; 4. Jason Line, GTO, 6.834, 202.09; 5. Richie Stevens, Dodge Stratus, 6.841, 202.03; 6. Ron Krisher, Cobalt, 6.844, 201.70; 7. Jeg Coughlin, Stratus, 6.847, 201.40; 8. V. Gaines, Stratus, 6.851, 200.71; 9. Dave Connolly, Cobalt, 6.861, 200.83; 10. Warren Johnson, GTO, 6.863, 201.67; 11. Mark Pawuk, GTO, 6.863, 200.62; 12. Rickie Smith, Cobalt, 6.863, 200.59; 13. Bob Panella, Cobalt, 6.872, 200.77; 14. Jim Yates, GTO, 6.872, 200.14; 15. Allen Johnson, Stratus, 6.874, 199.58; 16. Dave Howard, Cobalt, 6.881, 200.41.

Pro Stock Motorcycle -- 1. Ryan Schnitz, Buell, 7.205, 183.67; 2. Karen Stoffer, Suzuki, 7.260, 183.32; 3. Angelle Sampey, Suzuki, 7.265, 182.50; 4. Chip Ellis, Buell, 7.268, 183.89; 5. Chris Rivas, Buell, 7.268, 181.13; 6. Matt Guidera, Buell, 7.280, 179.90; 7. Geno Scali, Suzuki, 7.282, 181.84; 8. Tom Bradford, Buell, 7.285, 187.11; 9. Steve Johnson, Suzuki, 7.289, 182.75; 10. Antron Brown, Suzuki, 7.302, 179.42; 11. GT Tonglet, Harley-Davidson, 7.307, 184.22; 12. Craig Treble, Suzuki, 7.313, 184.90; 13. Shawn Gann, Suzuki, 7.321, 181.08; 14. Joe DeSantis, Suzuki, 7.336, 179.06; 15. Andrew Hines, Harley-Davidson, 7.340, 178.87; 16. Mike Berry, Kawasaki, 7.342, 182.60.

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FRIDAY NOTES - Schu clinches, Anderson on the verge, Ashley's close call and Schnitz wheels to top spot

Schumacher tops in Top Fuel – Tony Schumacher is on the verge of adding yet another feather to his Top Fuel Driving cap. If Schumacher can hold onto his No. 1 position through tomorrow he will surpass Gary Beck and Blaine Johnson for the record of most top qualifying spots in a season. His mark of 4.516, 325.53 was good enough to steal the pole from teammate Melanie Troxel.

“Well, we have more races now- Blaine did it in 14 races,” Schumacher said. “It is just incredible to be in that kind of company. For us to have a shot at another record this year is just amazing.”

Schumacher said that this season he has been less dominant than last year, but the team has amassed more records and accomplishments than in the previous season. When the great drag racing history book is finally written, the team of Johnson and Schumacher will be amongst the most legendary and dominant in the sport.

“Man, to be considered with a guy like Gary Beck is unbelievable,” Schumacher said. “My dad quit racing when I was five, but we used to see Gary Beck and those guys because they would stop at our house on the way to Indy.”

With nine years of experience in a Top Fuel dragster Tony Schumacher has etched his name next to the likes of Don Garlits, and surpassed many of the sports other legends. Of course this is just a Friday night qualifying session, but even it has repercussions that will resonate with drag racing fans and historians for a long time.

The work is not done, though, and tomorrow’s Bud Shootout is something that Schumacher has been very vocal about since Indy. The team very clearly wants to win that race, and with tonight’s performance they’ve given themselves a good foundation to do that with.

Schumacher clinches title -- All Tony Schumacher had to do to clinch his second straight and third overall Top Fuel championship Friday was make a qualifying pass during this weekend's ACDelco Nationals. However, he said he was quick to remind himself that that last official act in Friday's opening session was merely the last in a series of successes in a season that spans 11 months.

He said he wanted to make sure that the milestone pass wasn't a "bittersweet" one marked by mechanical problems or tire smoke. He delivered excitement with a 4.570-second pass at 324.75 mph that grabbed the provisional No. 1 position from Rod Fuller by two-thousandths of a second. Schumacher traveled the quarter-mile at 4.570 seconds at 324.75 miles an hour, topping Fuller's 4.572, 323.27.

He had to come back in the second session Friday with a 4.516-second pass at 325.53 mph to overtake teammate Melanie Troxel's 4.521, 328.78 to remain No. 1. Qualifying will continue Saturday.

The U.S. Army Dragster driver has reached the previous five final rounds and won three. This weekend he is trying to equal Scott Kalitta's and Cory McClenathan's class record of four consecutive event victories.

"I haven't lost a race since my baby girl was born," Schumacher said Daughter Jacqueline Susan, who joins brothers Anthony and Michael, was born Sept. 15.

Schumacher has won seven times this season and earned 10 No. 1 qualifying spots.

He said the task of making a simple qualifying pass was something that, curiously, he approached with nonchalance and a bit of edginess. "Give me some pressure," he said. "Tell us to go kick some butt. We understand that." On the other hand, he said of his car that's nicknamed The Sarge, "I'm freakin' out that it might not start."

But he would be the first to say that he never has had to panic with crew chief Alan Johnson tuning the 8,000-horsepower dragster. "It doesn't take him long to put a perfect team together," he said. "To put together a bunch of guys who get along this well for this long . . . and who don't want to be the weak link . . . it's unique."

Schumacher, of Long Grove, Illinois, said the fans -- particularly his hometown fans at Route 66 Raceway -- "reminded me again what it's like to sit on the edge of your seat. NHRA has had a great year, whether they know it or not. I'm happy to give this to our fans and 800,000 soldiers and millions of retired soldiers." His first championship came in 1999.

Schumacher credited crew chief Alan Johnson, who has five Top Fuel titles (including three with former driver Gary Scelzi, who's in contention for this year's Funny Car championship). "It doesn't take him long to put a perfect team together. He's a leader."

Sanctioning-body President Tom Compton said, "I don't think there's a better ambassador for the sport. We're proud to have Tony as our champion."

Team owner Don Schumacher said, "Tony and Alan and the guys, they've just been a machine out here week after week, run after run."

Anderson’s on top again – Greg Anderson only needs to be mediocre to clinch his third consecutive Pro Stock title. Unfortunately “mediocre” is not a word that exists in his world.

As long as Anderson slides no further than the number eight qualifying position he will be the 2005 NHRA PowerAde Pro Stock Champion.

“Today was a very good day on a great track,” Anderson said. “I can’t think of a better place to clinch this championship than here in Ken Black’s hometown. We could not have had any of this success without Ken and his family’s help.”

Anderson was even more pleased with the format of qualifying this weekend. Due to the World of Outlaws race that is happening at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, there are no night sessions on Friday or Saturday. Anderson believed that would contribute to a very tight field.

“It is great to have four daytime sessions,” Anderson said. “This will be a very tight field because of the fact we are running during the day. There won’t be any of those Friday night wonderland numbers; everyone is on an even field this weekend.”

Anderson revealed a surprising and as yet unknown fact when he was asked by a reporter if he wanted to drive Ken Black’s new Top Fuel car.

“Ken offered me that ride, but I turned him down,” Anderson said. “Call me crazy, but I love these Pro Stock cars. I have spent my whole life with them and I just don’t think anything can be better than this.”

Anderson also reflected on his early season struggles and how satisfying it was to now be standing atop the field and ready to clinch the title.

“We were embarrassed at this track in April,” Anderson said. “We won that race with a ton of luck, but that really opened our eyes. I don’t know if we got over confidant or what exactly happened, but they were showing us the way. We were able to find some more power as the season went on and when we switched to the GTO, it really brought us back to where we need to be.”

Where Anderson needed to be is where every racer wants to be – in the winner’s circle. He stands to be the top dog at this race and if his position holds he will be the top dog for the entire 2005 season. A season that tested his mettle and his skills more than any he can remember.


Breaking spell? -- Tommy Johnson Jr. was the only Funny Car driver to run in the 4.76-second range Friday, and he said he rather relished his "spoiler" role for the moment. Johnson said he isn't optimistic that his 4.763-second elapsed time at 325.77 mph in the Don Prudhomme-owned Skoal Chevy Monte Carlo will remain the low E.T. But if it does, it will give him his first No. 1 qualifier award since the 2001 Winternationals.

"It's been a dry spell for No. 1 qualifier," Johnson said. "Our performance has been coming around here lately. we’re right up there."

He said the honor was "not a big surprise, but it's a nice surprise." Johnson was quick to add, "It was far from perfect."

He said after winning the season opener at Pomona, he had hoped for a stronger season. However, he said it has turned out far better than last year's, when he pulled into Las Vegas in 12th place. "I'm glad we're finishing the season strong," he said. "It's making for a real good year all around."

No history -- For a few moments -- the time between Melanie Troxel's second-session run and teammate Tony Schumacher's -- fans were on the verge of seeing drag-racing history. Troxel, with her 4.521-second pass at 328.78 mph, had taken the provisional No. 1 spot from Larry Dixon. Her husband, Tommy Johnson Jr., was the provisional top qualifier in the Funny Car class. A husband and wife combination never have been top qualifiers in separate professional categories.

Warm and fuzzy for Muzzy -- Ryan Schnitz gave engine builder Rob Muzzy a great birthday gift Friday. The young Pro Stock Motorcycle rider from Decatur, Indiana, used Muzzy's engine to lead the field with a 7.205-second elapsed time at 183.67 mph. If it holds up as quickest among the two-wheelers, Schnitz will have his career-first No. 1 qualifier position. He already has two victories, at Columbus and Denver.

Points leader Andrew Hines struggled with a mechanical problem and was 15th, while his Vance & Hines Screaming Eagle teammate GT Tonglet -- the No. 2 rider in the standings -- finished the day 11th.

"This going to be a tricky track," Schnitz said. Because its so smooth, he said, a bike's gears have a tendency to have trouble disengaging.

He said he didn't put too much stock into qualifying No. 1 Friday. "Tomorrow's a whole new day," Schnitz said. "At Denver, I was No. 1 on Friday, and people told me, 'You've probably got that locked up.' I've learned not to count your chickens before they hatch." He won at Denver, though, so he said if he were knocked from the top spot but won the race, "that'd probably be OK, too."

Karen Stoffer and Angelle Sampey head into Saturday's final day of qualifying in the second and third spots, respectively.


Mr. Sandman -- With Torco President Evan Knoll at the starting line, Mike Ashley opened Funny Car qualifying and ran a respectable 4.870 in the Torco/Skull Gear Chevy Monte Carlo. However, his parachutes failed to open. Despite trying to slide the car sideways to slow it down, he ended up nosing the car into the sand pit at the end of the lane. Ashley, one of the three Team Checker Schuck's Kragen drivers, said drolly, "I wish I had stopped it a little bit sooner." He was eighth after the first session.

Dixon anticipating Shootout -- Larry Dixon, runner-up in the 2004 Budweiser Shootout, said he's looking forward to competing in the specialty race Saturday -- and maybe bringing the Don Prudhomme-owned Miller Lite/Ameriquest team $100,000 of the rival beer company's money.

"The Shootout trophies sit right next to my championship trophies," the three-time winner said, recalling his 1995, 2001, and 2002 triumphs. "My rookie year, I think the only thing we didn't do was win the championship. We won all the big races that year -- Gainesville, Englishtown, and Indy -- and then to close out the year with a win in the Shootout made for a storybook season."

Dixon said the Budweiser Shootout, in which he is the No. 5 seed and will face No. 4 Doug Kalitta in the first round Saturday, said, "That race pays more than Indianapolis, so you'd have to say it's the biggest race of the year. And the eight best cars in the class are the only ones to run in it. So it's a very prestigious race."

Dixon and Kalitta are second and third, respectively, in the Top Fuel standings. Because neither was able to stop Tony Schumacher for the championship, their match-up could be considered a matter of pride.

Snake Racing's Ted Yerzyk pointed out that this year's scenario is similar to the 1995 situation. He advanced to the final round at Gainesville and won at Englishtown and Indianapolis, same as when he beat Scott Kalitta to claim his first Shootout victory. The bonus race was contested at Pomona then.

"I think it’s a little different when you're in the middle of the points deal for the championship going into Pomona with everything going on," Dixon said. "If you’re still fighting for the title and have the Shootout and the race in one weekend, that's a lot. For me, my favorite was being part of the Funny Car team when they had the (Skoal) Showdown at Indy. You had the two biggest races of the season in one weekend. For heightened drama, that one still tops everything.

"It's cool being at (Las) Vegas, though," Dixon said. "Last year was the first year it was there and it certainly wasn't as big of an event was when we had it at Pomona, but it was at Pomona for nearly 20 years and there was a lot of tradition involved with the Shootout at the Finals."

Dixon said the first thing that comes to his mind when he hears "The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway" is "Bruton Smith." The facility owner has said he is interested in purchasing the NHRA. The sanctioning body said it is not for sale.

NHRA victory would cap season -- Top Fuel driver Clay Millican already has earned more money in one day than the winner of Saturday's Budweiser Shootout $100,000 jackpot will make. And in the final three races alone this season, he will have traveled 8,197 miles.

But all he wants to do at the moment is go one-quarter of a mile and bank $40,000.

The Drummonds, Tennessee native, who earlier this month earned his fifth consecutive International Hot Rod Association Top Fuel championship, still is seeking his first victory in the rival sanctioning body's competition.

Millican pocketed $106,000 this summer in an independent specialty race, the Rocket City Nationals at Huntsville, Alabama, which he and his Mike Kloeber-tuned Werner Enterprises/Koretsky Motorsports Dragster dominated on Huntsville Dragway’s eighth-mile track.

He won't have a chance to win the Budweiser Shootout. He was one of the drivers who earned the right to draw Thursday night for the eighth and final position in the bonus race that will take place during Saturday qualifying. But defending Shootout champion Dave Grubnic was the lucky one.

The team hauler began its nearly 8,200-mile journey Monday, leaving the shop in Atoka, Tennessee, just north of Memphis. It went 1,606 miles to Las Vegas. It will head Sunday night or early Monday to Rockingham, North Carolina, for the rain-delayed final IHRA race -- that is a 2,289-mile trip. Then the team heads west again for the Nov. 3-6 Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA Finals at Pomona, California -- another 2,472 miles. After that, the team will drive 1,830 miles back to Atoka, Tennessee.

Millican's IHRA series-title payoff is $200,000, half of what Schumacher will be presented at the NHRA awards ceremony Nov. 7. But Millican isn't motivated entirely by the money. He likes winning.

"Mike is getting the car running good again," Millican said. "We are happy to go to Las Vegas so we can try a few more things. He's on the edge of running at the top of the charts and I can't wait to go for that ride. It will be a fun weekend for us at Vegas."

Millican was 14th at the end of Friday qualifying (4.690, 314.02), one spot behind IHRA rival Doug Foley (4.653, 292.65).

Still out -- Among the unqualified Pro Stock drivers heading into Saturday's action are Greg Stanfield, Larry Morgan, Mike Thomas, and Mike Edwards.

What happens in Vegas . . . -- Sue Christopherson, Event Marketing Manager for GM Service and Parts Operations, announced Friday that ACDelco has extended its title sponsorship of the fall drag race at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway for three more years.

"You can't find a better collection of real car guys than at NHRA events," she said.

ACDelco, is sponsoring the October event for the fifth year. During the U.S. Nationals in September at Indianapolis, the company said it will continue to be the primary sponsor for Pro Stock veteran Kurt Johnson's Chevy Cobalt.

Okuma steps up presence -- Charlotte, North Carolina-based Okuma America, a leader in machine tool technology and manufacturing and a sponsor for the Bill Miller Engineering Dragster operation, has been named the official machine tool of the NHRA.

The official marketing partnership is the first for Okuma in drag racing. The company is an active sponsor for a NASCAR team.

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PREVIEW - FUNNY CAR'S CALIFORNIA QUINTET LOOKING FOR LUCK AT LAS VEGAS

(10-20-2005) - Ron Capps has been throwing up. The usually laid-back and eloquent Funny Car driver has been sick at his stomach and barely able to string together coherent sentences after making passes down a quarter-mile in the Don Schumacher-owned Brut Dodge Stratus.

It's just the heightened anxiety that comes with getting close to winning a championship.

Now he knows what John Force, a 14-time champion as an owner/driver, has been talking about. Force has been telling everybody for years that his "gut aches" every morning. As part of a quintet of Californians scrambling for the title, Capps has been trying to sort out his emotions.

"I had a long talk with Force, and I found out I'm not the only guy (who does that) and it's good," Capps said before starting a whirlwind of activities to keep his mind off this weekend's ACDelco Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The race, 22nd of 23 on the Powerade Drag Racing schedule, is critical to this tightest championship chase in Funny Car history.

Force leads the standings, 36 ahead of Gary Scelzi and 57 ahead of Ron Capps of Don Schumacher Racing. Force's own teammates, No. 4 Robert Hight and No. 5 Eric Medlen, are 104 and 133 points off the lead, respectively.

That I'm-going-to-be-sick feeling is something Capps said he's starting to enjoy, because it means he has something to be excited about at this time of the year.

"You have to go up there with that feeling," he said. It's what you really live for. I'm getting to like it. I'm getting to like that feeling like I'm going to throw up before I stage the car. I'm getting to feel like I can 'up' myself another level, and you always look for that next level to take yourself to, whether it's mentally or physically, to make yourself better.

"At this point we're at the highest level in the sport. So to find another level is tough to do, and guys like Force and Scelzi know how to do it. I still feel like I'm learning." Teammate Scelzi was a three-time Top Fuel champion in 1997, 1998, and 2000, when he drove for Team Winston.

"So far, I've been able to go up there and do my job, as nervous as I've been," Capps said. "So, as long as I can keep doing that and (crew chief) Ed 'Ace' McCulloch and the Brut guys keep doing what they're doing, we're good."

To help keep his mind off the racing pressures, he played Tueday in an Oakley-hosted celebrity golf tournament, along with Scelzi, Scelzi's crew chief Mike Neff, and TV and sports celebrities. One of Capps' crew members is getting married Thursday in Vegas, so he planned a bachelor party for Wednesday night and planned to participate in the Schumacher organization's autograph session at Treasure Island in his tuxedo before running across the street to the wedding. During the racing weekend, on Friday and Saturday nights, he plans to attend the World of Outlaws sprint-car race and his and Scelzi's pal, Danny Lasoski.

"I'm kind of glad it's that busy," Capps said. "At this point, everything is so weighted on what's going to happen in the championship that it's probably better not to have too much free time and too much time to think. To say that we're not nervous would be lying, but it's more a nervous excitement.

"When you have a guy like Scelzi, who's a three-time world champion, who gets his nerves up a little bit and red-lights (in Dallas two weeks ago), it just tells you how tough it is," he said, "because he's probably as cool as they come."

That red light bugs Scelzi, but he knows he has to forget it and focus on what's critical: today. "It's all on the line right now," he said. "There's no more time. It's going to be a big war and it's going to start in Las Vegas. We'll see what happens."

His foul-out in Dallas was simply human error, Scelzi said, and he addressed it this way: "Everybody wants an excuse, and I don't have one. I just blew it, and it happens. Baseball
players miss pop flies; they strike out. It's just a human element. It took me about four or five days to make myself believe that, but I'm not known as a screw-up driver, and, hey, I blew it on that run. So be it. I'm coming to Vegas and do the best that I can do, and hopefully that's going to be enough. And Mike (Neff) is going to do his job and the Mopar/Oakley Dodge team is going to theirs, and if we're the best car we're going to win.

"We need to win Vegas. We need to win Pomona," Scelzi said. "If we win both races, we've got this thing handled."

Ah, but he is wise enough to know that's far easier said than accomplished.

"This one is worse," Scelzi said, putting his championship battles in perspective. "When I'd done it before, most of the time it was with Cory McClenathan or Tony Schumacher. But I had always felt like we (with crew chief Alan Johnson) were in command, we were always in control, even though it got close and it was tough. But those chases never went this long, with this many drivers and this many different consequences involved."

Force, whose 199th career victory at Dallas in the previous race gave him the points lead for the third separate time this season, knows all too well how right Scelzi is.

"We won last week (two weeks ago at Dallas, Texas) and Scelzi went out in the first round," Force sad. "This week it could turn back around. I've lost more first rounds this year (nine) than I ever have. That's how tough it is in Funny Car right now."

Force has won five times this season. No one else has won more than three races. Usually, that would mean the competition was finished, but this has been anything but a usual season.

Force never before had lost more than seven first-round match-ups in an entire season and never had won a championship after losing as many as five.

"Times have changed," he said. "If it hadn't been so competitive this year, I would have been out of it already with that many losses. But everybody has beaten everybody else, and that's left it wide open."

Mathematically, Hight and Medlen could upset the top three drivers' plans. While neither has conceded anything, they recognize that their roles might be those of spoilers.

"We have a car that can win the last two races," Hight said, "so that's our goal – to go out and do what we can to win here and at Pomona. Everything else is out of our hands. We would have to win this week and the win the Finals, John and Scelzi and Capps would have to go out early. That's probably not going to happen but, if it doesn't, we can still play a big part. If we can beat those guys and help John, that'd be awesome."

As for his fall from the lead at Indianapolis on Labor Day weekend, High said, "The truth is we had our chances, just like everyone else, but the season has been more than I could have imagined. When we started out, they asked me about my goals and I think I said that if we could qualify for all 23 events, I would consider it a success. I've just been lucky. I was lucky that Eric did so well last year, because that opened the door for me. I was lucky that John was there to give me a chance. And I was lucky that I wound up with a veteran team and with a crew chief like Jimmy Prock."

Said Medlen, "My job now is to help John win the championship. When we were still in the hunt, you really didn't want to see Scelzi or Capps in the early rounds. That's not true any more. If we could get one of them in Round 1 and the other in round two (at Vegas), that would be fine with me. If we can take them out early, that means they can't earn any more points. Not that it's going to be easy. Those are two bad hombres. But we've got a pretty good race car, too.

"It's exciting to be in this position," Medlen said, "because that's our job. Every year, our goal is to win the championship with one of these Fords. It doesn't matter which one, really. Robert was out there for awhile. Now John's back in front. We probably won't win the championship for Syntec this year, but we still can have a say in it. That's our goal."

While so much attention is on the Funny Car race, with Top Fuel's Tony Schumacher and Pro Stock's Greg Anderson needing to do no more than make a qualifying pass to repeat their championships, the ACDelco Nationals offers much more. That includes the $100,000-to-win Budweiser Shootout and the Pro Stock Motorcycle championship chase as the two-wheelers return to action for the 14th of their 15 events.

Schumacher never has won the Budweiser Shootout. Kalitta Motorsports' Dave Grubnic, defending champion of the specialty race for dragsters, might not even have the chance to repeat his victory for sponsor StriVectin. Miller Lite-sponsored Larry Dixon, whose absence from the inaugural drawing last year stirred controversy, has a guaranteed spot and wants to improve on his 2004 runner-up finish. Cory McClenathan has toughed-out a hernia and kidney stones to be able to race the Carrier Boyz/FRAM Air Hog Dragster in the event he has missed only once in the past 13 years.

So the race has plenty of drama for the dragster drivers. That's especially true for Doug Kalitta, despite his late-season collapse after leading for a string of seven events and regaining it for in Sonoma for three more.

His luck has been good in Las Vegas. The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway is where he set his track-record 335.57 blast last April. He's the defending event champion of these ACDelco Las Vegas Nationals, having defeated Morgan Lucas in the final round (in the first final-round appearance of Lucas' Top Fuel career). Kalitta also was runner-up at the spring event in Las Vegas this year, just as he was runner-up run in the spring of 2003.

"We're concentrating on winning rounds and taking over second in the points now," he said, adding, "Congratulations to Tony and Alan [crew chief Johnson] and everyone involved with that team.

"I would be lying," Kalitta said, "if I said I'm not disappointed. We have had one of our best years ever, but we just came up short in our goal of winning the championship. We've won five races so far this year, and that's the most we've ever won in a season, so we're very proud of that. Hopefully, we can get a couple more in these last two races and end our great season on some high notes. Maybe we can get another Shootout win too."

He has won the Budweiser Shootout twice in seven previous appearances, in 1998 and 2003.

Teammate and cousin Scott Kalitta will be racing with special inspiration this weekend. He said he would like to win to honor the memory of his mother, Marianne McGee, who passed away last Saturday in Florida, following a three-year battle with cancer. She was 64, and would have been 65 this Thursday.

"Mom always had mixed emotions about me racing ,as any mom would," Scott Kalitta said. "All in all, though, she was behind me racing, because she felt like she had to be. She followed me and the sport religiously and was always quick to point out to me if I had done something good or something bad.
"It's going to be very hard to keep my mind on racing this weekend, but I want to go out there and win one for mom. I really want to win the Shootout and the race and double-up for her memory, but I'll be very happy with either one."

Andrew Hines is set to defend his Pro Stock Bike championship as class leader, but Vance & Hines Screamin' Eagle Harley-Davidson teammate GT Tonglet is just 42 points behind him.

The U.S. Army Suzuki duo of Angelle Sampey and Antron Brown, of Schumacher Racing, are third and fourth.  

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