2009 NHRA SUMMITRACING.COM NATIONALS - EVENT NOTEBOOK
Keep up with this weekend's NHRA SummitRacing.com Nationals by reading our behind-the-scenes event notebook. We bring you the stories behind the numbers and win-lights throughout the course of the weekend. Tune in daily for the latest news from the pits.
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ASHER'S NOTEBOOK - LET THE DOMINATION BEGIN!
Capps, Jeggie and Schumacher Win Again.
Schumacher won his second straight Top Fuel race, and he seems destined for more. He is not going to have an easy time of it in terms of taking another championship, but by the same token it’s time for those who suggested that crew chief Mike Green wouldn’t be able to come close to matching tuner Alan Johnson’s record of last year to shut up. Green has done a masterful job with the U.S. Army team thus far, and that word “team” is absolutely relevant here. Remember, almost every one of the guys who won last year’s title for the Army and Schumacher left to join Alan Johnson’s team and driver Larry Dixon, Jr. That left Green in the difficult position of starting virtually from scratch, but thus far he’s exceeded expectations – and there seems to be no end in sight.
Brandon Bernstein was emotionally crushed by his defeat. There’s no other way to
Because much of the race was telecast live on ESPN2 the racing was incredibly fast-paced, and everyone from NHRA to the Safety Safari and the teams themselves did an exceptional job of getting things done on time. In fact, the action finished early enough to enable Garry Gerould the opportunity of interviewing Funny Car runner-up Matt Hagan at the finish line, and if anyone deserved some TV face time, it was Hagan. Not only did the contender for the AAA Road to the Future Award appear confident and polished during that i nterview, he appeared just as smooth inside the race car. Small wonder that not only Capps congratulated him on his performance, but teammate Jack Beckman went out of his way to do the same. In some instances the teammate scenario seems engineered with sponsorship considerations in mind (having every member of the Army teams at the finish line when they ran multiple vehicles and one of them was in a final round comes to mind), but in this situation it came across as unrehearsed and sincere.
Way back at the Winternationals Ron Capps told us that tuner Ed “The Ace” McCulloch had a new plan for 2009, and it appears to be working. The plan has nothing to do with the tune-up, but everything to do with the way he’s determined to approach each and every race, and that’s to stick it to ‘em on every run. No more Mr. Nice Guy, just trying to make the Countdown. It’s all or nothing for McCulloch this year, and Capps has certainly bought into the plan. What you have to see for yourself – and may not even come across on the television – is how relaxed Capps is, and that s not just when he’s signing autographs or interacting with the fans. He doesn’t show the slightest sign of tension in his demeanor before he climbs into the car, and even with his helmet on, when he fist-bumps his guys you can see the smile in his eyes. If you’re looking for a game face scowl, you’re not going to see it on the face of the NAPA Dodge driver.
Yesterday we wrote some positive words about Shawn Langdon, and today he proved worthy of them. He went three rounds, and left
Pro Stock was sort of bizarre in the sense that there were some upsets – and one of the few professional re-runs we’ve ever seen. Jeg Coughlin faced Kurt Johnson in the first round, and it appeared that the latter wasn’t timed out by failing to stage within the mandated seven seconds after both sets of pre-staging bulbs had been illuminated. KJ’s car rolled forward, but the only light that came on was red, and the moment Jeggie left the line (Johnson followed 10 or 15 seconds later), starter Rick Stewart tried stepping into the staging beam with no results. That forced a re-run after the first round was completed, but that time Johnson couldn’t wait, and bulbed. Jeggie was handed another free pass when Mike Edwards fouled in the second round, wasting a 6.692 to Coughlin’s slower 6.710. Edwards must be having migraines over his driving this season, because losing like he’s been doing can’t be easy on him emotionally. He is just too good to allow this to continue.
What did we learn this weekend, other than it’s a mistake to suggest there won’t be domination when clearly there will be? We learned that the cream really does rise to the top. And we also learned that a couple of rookie drivers are going to make this a most interesting season.
We know things are tough out there. We’re all feeling it, so here’s a suggestion: Save your money carefully and wisely, and skip that match race with two jet cars and come to an NHRA Full Throttle Series race instead. Because dollar for dollar, it’s a heck of an entertainment value. And then read all about it here on CompetitionPlus.com!
SUNDAY NOTEBOOK - SCHUMACHER, CAPPS, COUGHLIN - THREE STORYLINES - ONE COMMON END RESULT
ON THE GOOD SIDE – After a few weeks of famine, Funny Car points leader Ron Capps returned to the feast during the NHRA 
SummitRacing.com Nationals in Las Vegas.
Capps, who won the first two races of the season and then lost in the opening round in Gainesville and Houston, was on his game en route to his 28th career Funny Car victory. The triumph extends his lead to 106 points over rookie Matt Hagan, his final round opponent.
Winning so convincingly and then losing consecutively can lead many to draw conclusions when they don’t know the full story.
“I was asked several times by the media what was wrong and I never worried,” Capps said. “With the testing limited to four days throughout the season, you are going to see teams testing some things in qualifying.”
Testing inside the events might work better for Capps, who along with his Don Schumacher Racing teammates staged a private test session in the days following the Phoenix event. The early losses in Gainesville and Houston could easily lead one to believe testing was overrated, even Capps was beginning to have his doubts.
“I was starting to think that,” Capps admitted. “As long as everyone in your team knows what’s going on, that’s the thing. I got beat on a hole shot in Gainesville and there wasn’t one thing said. Don or Ace never said anything. They know [the driver] is already beating themselves up as it is.”
Capps admits the early season success may have enabled complacency on his part. It never enabled him to doubt his confidence in new crew chief Ed McCulloch.
On a day when lane choice proved to be the most powerful weapon, McCulloch used experience to generate just enough to win. One had to look no further than Capps’ first round win as a prime example.
Capps ran a 4.21 to win the first round and didn’t earn lane choice for the second round where he was put in the “suspect” right lane.
“Everyone thought we were doomed,” Capps admitted. “It seems like when we lose lane choice and Ace has his back against the wall, he comes out swinging.”
But when you are in Vegas, Aces tend to be the magic card.
Capps stayed in the right lane and kept winning. When this tuner is on his championship game, as McCulloch was in Vegas, driving the NAPA Auto Parts car becomes more of an honor than a privilege to drive.
“It’s such a great race car to drive,” Capps admitted. “And even having no lane choice in the final and beating Robert Hight in the right lane, Ace wanted the right lane. So, (Hagan's crew chief) Tommy DeLago rolled up there and he'd been in the left lane and he chose the left lane. I thought this was cool. We're going to stage and let the cars do all the talking and lucky enough we got the win."
So what made the right lane so special?
"A lot of guys thought the left lane is where they wanted to go, but there's a bigger bump in the left lane than there is in the right and we figured since the car's really not handling quite as good as we want it to be, if we can keep Ron out of the bumps the better off he is, so as a rule we chose to stay in the right lane," McCulloch revealed.
In the end, it was Ace who summed up the magical day better than his driver could have imagined.
"I think it was a good day in Las Vegas,” McCulloch said. “If we had been on the crap table we would have gone home with a lot of money," he said. “We had some issues. I don't have to tell anybody the last couple of races haven't been good. We know they weren't good, but we had some things going on. And last night I said to myself, I know what it is I need to do today and let's go do it. So it worked out good.”
SCHUMACHER’S TEAM PULLS IT OFF - Tony Schumacher can drive after all. He proved that last weekend in Houston.
His team can win, too. They proved that again on Sunday in Las Vegas.
Both elements came together and the end result was a second consecutive
win for the U.S. Army team and tuner Mike Green, the veteran journeyman
given the monumental task of replacing Alan Johnson.
The weather conditions heated up and the defending world champions
turned up the wick on the competition and in winning, assumed the Top
Fuel points lead.
Schumacher’s 58th win in 90 career final rounds was won under ideal
conditions and with that said, he’s more than ready for the time of the
year when the conditions make both the tuner and driver earn their
money.
“I’m going to enjoy the heat when it comes around … the hot part of the
season … that’s when the drivers have to step up,” Schumacher admitted.
“The team won today because I didn’t do a good job driving today. The
team did a heck of a job and Green had a tune-up today; that car went
down the track today.”
One has to go down the track consistently and quick to beat the likes
of Terry Haddock, Cory McClenathan, low qualifier Shawn Langdon and
finally Brandon Bernstein.
Schumacher admits he did better on Sunday driving in Vegas than Saturday’s single day of qualifying.
“I red-lighted on Saturday and I’m glad I got that one out of the way
then,” Schumacher said. “It makes you a bit gun shy. The new trees are
doing their job. A driver has to think and prepare on those long trees.”
For Schumacher, one might think his foremost thoughts were of the
detractors who doomed his future with the departure of Johnson.
“You put a good group of guys together and some days it’s their day to
shine and sometimes it’s mine,” Schumacher admitted. “At the end of the
day, we all shine together. It’s fantastic.
“Most of the guys on my team had never won two races in a row. I didn’t
drive flawlessly today. I did a good job of keeping the car straight
but I didn’t do as good of a job as I did last weekend. They carried me
and that’s what a team is all about.”
NO WONDER THE DON WAS SMILING - With Tony Schumacher's win today, DSR teams now lead the point standings in the Top Fuel, Funny Car and Pro Stock Motorcycle classes.
"I'm tremendously ecstatic," said team owner Schumacher. "It was great to have Ron win today, to have Tony win today, [and] have Matt Hagan get to the final, a rookie like that. Tommy DeLago is doing a great job over there. All my Funny Cars are doing a great job, the dragsters are all doing a great job, and we're number one in the points with the Pro Stock Motorcycle also.
"Ron and Tony are really stepping this program up. They're doing one great, great job."
ONLY IN VEGAS - You'll excuse Jeg Coughlin, Jr., for thinking he'd made a wrong turn into the seedier side of Las Vegas. It seemed 
like every time he lined up for a run there was another red light.
Coughlin was the beneficiary as three of his four opponents red-lighted and one of those was on a rerun. The one guy he didn’t beat on a red-light, was the points leader Jason Line in the semis.
Despite the assistance from his opponents, this was not a easy day for Coughlin.
“We had a tough day,” Coughlin admitted. “We had to beat Kurt Johnson twice, although the first time didn’t count because the tree malfunctioned, but he had a close red-light. Then we beat the toughest guy in the class, the fastest guy who has run over 212 miles per hour in Mike Edwards, he had a rare, close red-light.”
The hits kept falling Coughlin’s way as he advanced to the final round by defeating Jason Line, 6.708, 204.60 to a 6.738, 205.79, before stopping an overanxious Greg Stanfield in the finals.
While his opponents battled the tree, Coughlin simply made his runs as cleanly as possible.
“This was the most consistent our car has ever been and that was our goal coming in here,” Coughlin admitted. “We changed a lot of stuff in the suspension in order to get a better race car.”
He had no other choice after last weekend’s Houston debacle where he strapped .09 on eventual winner Ron Krisher only to shake the tires at the mid-range and lose.
“That’s what’s been plaguing us all the way back to the tail-end of last year,” Coughlin explained. “We couldn’t see much at the altitude races and once we get to sea-level, we’ll see how our changes are working. That’s the name of the game; you better yourself and try not to make mistakes.”
All in all, he felt fortunate to have advanced to his second winner’s circle of the season.
“To see my win-light on by the time I pulled second-gear is not something I’m used to,” Coughlin said. “Pro Stock cars are on the edge and very difficult to pull a legitimate red-light. You look at Kurt Johnson’s .001 red and Mike Edwards’ .008 red and even Jason Line was within a few thousandths of those two and I think it proves everyone in the class is up on the wheel and driving their hearts out. They weren’t far off of it.
“We weren’t a threat off of the starting line, nothing to write home about, but when you’re having a cold one in the winner’s circle, I guess it’s alright.”
ROOKIE CONTINUES TO IMPRESS -Matt Hagan continues to lead the pack of NHRA Rookie-of-the-Year contenders with his solid 
performances in each of the five national NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series so far. He's consistently moved up the ladder; initially by winning his first round in the second event, then landing in the semifinals in the third. Today, he stepped it up even further and reached his first final round of his short career, ending the day as runner-up to his Don Schumacher Racing teammate Ron Capps.
His solid run launched him into second in the Funny Car point standings, and he's now 106 points behind Capps.
Hagan's charge through the field in the Shelor.com Dodge included a dismissal of Bob Bode (4.144/291.45), his DSR teammate Jack Beckman (4.215/298.73) and Cruz Pedregon (4.200/302.41) before facing Capps with lane choice in his arsenal.
"It's been an absolutely solid weekend for us," said Hagan, 26. "We moved up to second in points. I would love to have won, but, on the flip side, it will come. I think you have to pay your dues sometimes and I think that's what we're doing right now. We're learning as we go and I feel like I've learned a lot this weekend. I'm going to take it back and try to use it at the next event.
"I'm so excited. Congratulations to Ron Capps. They've got a solid team over there and they've proven themselves this year, for sure. They're going to be a tough competitor out here. I'm just glad to be here.
"The reason we were so good today is that we have Tommy DeLago tuning the car," he added when asked that question. "He's solid out here and he's definitely proven himself as a crew chief by getting us into the Funny Car final.
"Any of the 16 drivers out here could have won. You just have to be in it to win it. They were all tough. I have so much confidence in Tommy. I feel like he's helping me as a driver. Against Cruz he was giving me some pointers. That's what I need as a driver and I think we can bounce stuff off of each other and learn from each other."
IT WAS THAT CLOSE - Rookie Top Fuel pilot Shawn Langdon followed the first low qualifying effort of his brief professional career with a 
final-four finish.
"To get that close to our first final makes you want it even more," said Langdon, who had a monstrous .049 to .091-second reaction time advantage over Schumacher at the starting line. "I knew we left strong and the car was trucking down there. I didn't see him at all until it unloaded there at the end and he got past me.
"My confidence in this car and this crew is sky-high right now. I think it's just a matter of time before we win one together. To come out in just our fifth race together, get the pole, and come so close to reaching the final says a lot about our potential."
Team owner Morgan Lucas, who lost in the first round due to a spark plug malfunction, heaped praise on Langdon and the team.
"I couldn't be prouder of Shawn and his guys. They did great. My guys worked just as hard but we just don't have much to show for it right now. We'll get this thing fixed and be ready for Atlanta. That's all we can do at this point."
Lucas and Langdon remain sixth and eighth in the Full Throttle championship points.
NO MORE STREAK - Robert Hight had a streak of good fortune end with this weekend's visit to The Strip at Las Vegas. Since 2005, 
Hight has been able to win at least one race in the first five races of the season. That stat tumbled to the ground with a semi-final loss to eventual winner Ron Capps. Even with the streak ended, Hight was upbeat about the future.
“Today was a lot better than the last two races," Hight said. "I am upbeat about our Auto Club of Southern California Mustang because it is definitely tunable. We just need a few more runs and I think we are there. Yesterday in qualifying we made two good runs. We stepped up. We have all the old stuff back on it. We have a new chassis. It is working well,” said the former JFR crewman. “I am definitely excited about that. We are going to test here tomorrow and use one of our four days. We’ll see if we can’t get it to where we want it. This is a great race track and they do a good job. I’m looking forward to testing.”
Hight’s path to the semi-finals included a second round match-up with team leader John Force. They had met ten times previously with a 5-5 record and Hight took his career mark versus the 14-time champion to 6-5 with his third consecutive round win over Force. In the first round Hight had a minor incident that Hight’s crew chief Jimmy Prock was able to work around by round two.
“The first round we had a nozzle stick so it didn’t open. It burnt number five up real early in the run then it dropped a cylinder and then it pushed the head gaskets out. It was a mess,” said Hight. “That was a lucky one. Second round it was just kind of slow against John. Jimmy tried to tune it up and it really didn’t change it early. It was still slow early. When the clutch came together it spun.”
MAKE UP YOUR MIND – Cory McClenathan faced teammate Tony Schumacher in a rematch of last weekend’s Houston Top Fuel final. 
However, the excitement wasn’t on the starting line – it was back in the staging lanes determining which lane the drivers would run.
Schumacher had the lane choice and Cory Mac’s former tuner , who is now wrenching for his opponent took the left lane, apparently second-guessed him and went to the right, only to return to his original selection.
"In the back of the staging lanes we were told we were going to have the right hand lane," explained McClenathan. "Then we were swapped over to the left and I thought this might play in our favor. And, obviously, at the last second Mike said, 'OK, we want the left-hand lane back,' after what they saw in front of them (Brandon Bernstein beating Larry Dixon out of the left lane).
"Lane choice is the crew chiefs' prerogative. We kind of had it tuned up for the right lane to begin with, so I wasn't too concerned about the lane changes. You can't let that mess with your head. You just go up there and do your job as a driver.”
After the two launched with nearly identical reaction times, McClenathan struck the tires late in the run and slowed to a 4.415-second pass at 201.19 mph as Schumacher claimed the win with a 3.937/309.70.
"It got to that point where it seemed that everybody was struggling in that right-hand lane and we had the same problem: early wheel speed and it just kind of came unglued out there. I tried to pedal it once and twice, and saw Tony way out in front. I thought, 'just save the car, save the motor and go on to the next event'.”
LUCK BANK STIMULUS - One race after totally dominating a stout Funny Car field in Houston and moments after pairing with Jack Beckman for one of the quickest side-by-side Funny Car races of the day, Ashley Force Hood is convinced she can't get a break.
“We had a team meeting this afternoon and I told our team that we never get any luck. Not even a glimmer of luck. We have a really good car but every close race we are on the losing side. We have lost races that I would want to make the run we made since it would have won any other time or other part of the ladder. You think one of these days we will get some luck,” said Force Hood. “We just decided we will have to win this championship with skill and not even think about luck. We don’t need it with the team that we have. I know (co-crew chiefs) Guido (Dean Antonelli) and Ron (Douglas) think they should do stuff differently on the car sometimes in hindsight but my guys and I look at some of our runs and know that they were good runs, solid runs it would have beaten anyone else out there we just happened to be racing the one guy that could beat us.”
WHAT JUST HAPPENED? - Kurt Johnson's first-round loss to Pro Stock rival Jeg Coughlin Jr. at 
Sunday's SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals certainly had its share of unpredictable drama, even though the eventual outcome was not what the ACDelco driver would have liked. Especially on a weekend when the black-and blue crew continued to make substantial gains on their Chevy Cobalt with each pass down the race track.
Tree malfunctions cost almost 90 minutes of Friday’s qualifying in Las Vegas. A rubber malfunction in the first round of Pro Stock almost cost Kurt Johnson a disqualification.
KJ was pre-staged and then his side of the tree went dark.
"To be honest, I thought I had completely lost my mind," Johnson said. "I rolled in, lit the top bulb, and Jeggie was pre-staged, and he went in. I rolled through there, and before I knew it, my top bulb was out. There were no lights on whatsoever. It's like, did I miss the second bulb coming on and roll right through? I gave it a bump, enough for it to come on. I took a bite out of it, and probably rolled six or eight inches, and nothing came on, so I stopped, because you're being timed on the seven-second rule to be red-lighted. I said to myself, 'All right, we'll take another bite at,' and then the top bulb went out."
Coughlin's side was unaffected, and he bolted off with a normal launch, turning on the win light at the top end. Johnson, with nothing left to lose, decided to make the most of the situation.
"I figured I had lost and decided to at least get some data out of it," Johnson said. "I let the clutch out and made a nice run."
NHRA officials quickly descended upon the faulty starting box, and in no time, discovered the culprit. A small chunk of rubber had lodged inside the staging beam socket causing a malfunction with the right side of the tree. A quick ruling was made to rerun the round following a 30-minute hiatus that would allow both teams to regroup.
In the runoff, Johnson tripped the starting beams too soon with a -.001 red-light which automatically gave Coughlin the win.
"We had to run the world champion first round, and we knew we had to be on top of our game and that I had to be on time," Johnson explained after the race. "I knew I had to be .020 or better on the tree if we were to have a chance, and after last weekend's .065 light, I wasn't leaving anything on the table.
"The biggest issue about going back up there is that you're out of sequence and you're not running behind the same cars that you run behind on a normal basis. The track, actually, it looked good, but it kind of threw us a curve. The car spun the tires hard the first 60 feet and that's where we lost it all. We actually should have made some bigger changes, but not knowing what out e.t. was from the first run, or how fast we really went, it was kind of tough to judge. It gave us some good information, though, when we come back in October.
Johnson leaves Las Vegas in eighth place in the Full Throttle points standings, and returns to the friendly confines of Atlanta Dragway, the de facto home track for the ACDelco crew. It sits approximately 30 minutes east of the team's Sugar Hill, Ga., race shop.
HOW MANY MILES ON THAT MUSTANG? - John Force continued to improve in his Castrol GTX High Mileage Mustang, however a mechanical failure with his manifold burst panels ended his day against Robert Hight. Crew chief Austin Coil said that they replaced a number of panels after his first round win over Tim Wilkerson but in the second round they are not sure why the burst panels let loose dropping the available horsepower at half track and slowing Force abruptly.
OH CHUTE - Bob Tasca III’s day ended just 300 feet into Sunday’s first round eliminations when the left parachute malfunctioned on 
his Funny Car.
On Sunday morning, Tasca rolled to the line and faced defending series champion Cruz Pedregon. At the 300-foot marker, Tasca felt his Motorcraft/Quick Lane Shelby Mustang struggle to accelerate.
“I knew something didn’t feel right because the run started good and then the Mustang was struggling,” said Tasca. “I didn’t know the parachute was out, but I knew something was wrong.”
Tasca continued to explain the parachute problem, “The parachute malfunctioned because the pin wasn’t secure. We holeshotted Cruz during that run and we were going to beat him. This has never happened to me in my two years of Top Alcohol and the year and a half of Funny Car competition. It just wasn’t in the cards for us here in Vegas.”
As a pre-run routine, Tasca walks around his car, “I always look at the parachutes before I get in and everything was fine. On the burnout there was a little vibration, but nothing that I would even think twice about. There must have been enough of a vibration or shake that pulled the cable back,” said a disappointed Tasca. “The Motorcraft/Quick Lane Shelby Mustang was on a great run. The g-forces started to come into play and didn’t have enough to keep the parachute in the pack.”
“What makes it worse is that crew chief Chris Cunningham and I went back, looked at the data and realized that we probably would have won that round,” explained Tasca. “That’s what makes this loss that much more painful. We’ll conquer Atlanta. We’ve got to look forward and not behind us. We’re still in the running to be in the top 10. We win as a team and lose as a team, but that’s a tough way to lose. We really beat ourselves this weekend.”
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SATURDAY FROM ASHER'S NOTEBOOK - NOW WE'RE RACING
Better Conditions Result In A Good Day Of Qualifying In Las Vegas
Remember
the old song,
What
a difference a day makes?
Twenty-four
little hours…
Yes, the crowd was certainly better than Friday’s but even LVMS employees acknowledged they were a bit disappointed in the turnout. However, considering the circumstances, it was actually pretty good. The real problem this facility faces is the horrendous construction mess on Interstate 15, and this is no joking matter. LVMS is one of the few facilities in the nation with its own Interstate exit, and with Las Vegas a destination city, i.e., it attracts a tremendous number of out of town visitors who aren’t familiar with the place other than the “real” Strip where all of the big hotels and casinos are located, so getting around on surface streets can be daunting. Ironically, those very surface streets provide excellent access to the track (Las Vegas Boulevard – the Strip – literally runs south to north, from the concentration of hotels right to the back door of the facility), so if you’re willing to deal with a few traffic lights, access is surprisingly easy.
For years it’s been said that there are few activities in which you can go from hero to zero quicker than in drag racing, and we’re darn sure not going to argue the point. Consider, for 6.782 seconds, the case of Pro Stock driver Ron Krisher. This is the guy who won in Houston, fer cryin’ out loud. That was just one week ago. Uh, he’s a DNQ here in Las Vegas! Go figure – and he’s trying too, take our word for it.
Yesterday
we said Mike Edwards was on to something, and today he proved it, clicking off
a 6.656 for a new track elapsed time record and, of course, the Number 1 spot. Right now – and it’s real early, and we know that, we like Edwards for the championship if, brother, and that’s a big if, he can get it together behind the
wheel.
With 17
Funny Cars on the grounds someone was going to have to be disappointed, and
that man was Jerry Tolliver in Jim Dunn’s car.
Barely acing him out for the 16th and last spot in the field
was Del Worsham in the Al Anabi Toyota.
But fair warning: This car is
going to win races before the year is out, and if they were taking action on
that here in Glitter Gulch, we’d bet on it.
Alan Johnson Racing is peopled with talented tuners, designers,
tinkerers and mechanics, and when they figure this thing out we’d suggest you
get the heck out of the way, ‘cause they’re gonna be storming the winner’s
circle. With that said, for all we know,
it could be tomorrow!
Sunday’s
eliminations racing – heck, it’ll probably be today before you read this.
Wait a second. What day is
today? Aww, man, I’m confused. And here I was, thinking I oughta be serious
about this reporting stuff, but ya know what?
I think reading about drag racing ought to be fun, so if you want to
read about every driver’s elapsed time and speed, I can assure you, you are never going to see that in anything I
write.
Where was I? Oh, yeah.
About tomorrow. Forget it. Let’s just say about Sunday and be done with it.
It’s going to be a very good race.
I’m not talking “valuable Full Throttle points” (I’ll let others use
those tried and true sayings), and I’m not talking about bragging rights,
because ya know what? Drivers don’t brag
about their victories. They’re
realists. Sometimes they’re good, and
other times they’re lucky. Take, for
example, Krisher. Supposing he’d gone
around with an inflated ego after winning Houston last weekend. Imagine how his peers would be lining up at
his pit area to put it to him this evening.
Nope, it’s not happening. Instead
they’re commiserating with him, feeling his pain, because they’ve all been
there themselves.
The racing is going to be really great, and as I finish this story I’m bummed out about one thing and one thing only. It’s a l-o-o-o-n-g 14 hours until the first round begins!
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SATURDAY NOTEBOOK -AND A ROOKIE WILL LEAD THEM ON SUNDAY
THE ROOKIE DELIVERS - NHRA Announcer Bob Frey reveled in the moment and Top Fuel rookie 
Shawn Langdon didn’t mind the gifted microphone man stealing a bit of his thunder.
“This is something you’ve never heard any other announcer in drag racing say before,” Frey crowed over the loudspeaker.
“Shawn Langdon your No. 1 qualifier in Top Fuel.”
That’s correct. The rookie driver for Morgan Lucas Racing vaulted to the top of a one-day Top Fuel qualifying program to lead for the first time in his nitro career with a 3.874 elapsed time at 311.84 miles per hour.
The two-time Super Comp champion, who once bracket raced at The Strip in Las Vegas as well as in other sportsman divisions, will be announced as the No. 1 qualifier on Sunday morning.
“You can’t beat that,” Langdon admitted. “This team works awful hard. The track was tricky for us, but it was tricky for everyone else too. We finally got that number one spot and you have to start somewhere. Hopefully we can parlay that into a win on Sunday.”
Langdon is no stranger to winning on Sunday in the sportsman divisions and even claimed the 1997 Junior Dragster world championship. Thus far, Top Fuel has worked well for him as he’s reached the quarter-finals twice in the first four events.
Up to this point in his career, Langdon has been a master of making himself and the car into one. The more laps he makes in the Lucas Oil dragster, the more he gets in tune with the mechanical side.
“You just have to go from point A to point B,” Langdon said, when asked what the key to winning on Sunday was. “We’ve just been missing that a little bit in eliminations but Stew [crew chief Jon Stewart] and Jimmy Walsh both do a great job with this car. I think we are going to have a good day on Sunday.
"I've been trying to do the best I can as a rookie driver and not make any mistakes. The guys know what they're doing and Stewie has been out here forever. They know how to make a car run. I just try to keep the thing straight."
Langdon has qualified his Lucas Oil/Dixie Choppers dragster for every race this year, four out of five times in the top half of the field.
"The car's been real consistent, especially in qualifying," said Langdon, the winner of the last two Super Comp world championships. "We've just struggled on race day a little bit. Hopefully, that'll change tomorrow and we can go four rounds and get a win. No matter what, being No. 1 qualifier in just our fifth race is really cool.
"I have to thank Morgan Lucas (teammate and car owner) because he's coached me along through this whole process of going from a Super Comp dragster to a Top Fuel car. He's had an answer to every question I've asked him and I've asked a bunch."
Langdon and Lucas could meet in the quarterfinals if they both win their opening-round races. Langdon starts his day against final qualifier Steve Chrisman.
EDWARDS JACKPOTS AGAIN - Mike Edwards can’t help that he’s struck the jackpot, lately.
On Saturday afternoon Edwards clinched his third No. 1 qualifying effort of the young 2009 season, the ninth of his career and the first at Las Vegas.
He’s not apologizing either. Edwards is just taking in the moment because he knows Pro Stock fate can be a fickle and cruel master of destiny.
That’s why Edwards admits he’s getting while the getting is good.
Running a 6.665 elapsed time at the NHRA SummitRacing.com Nationals in Las Vegas is very good considering the track record on Friday afternoon was a 6.703.
“We've had an awesome start already this year,” Edwards confirmed. “We had a more than outstanding run Saturday morning. I didn't think it would run that fast.”
The run shouldn’t come as a total shock for Edwards and the crew as they laid down a 6.67 in Vegas pre-season testing.
For Edwards, this run of good fortunes can be attributed to the hard work of his crew and the team building the engines at his new in-house engine program.
“Oh my gosh, I take my hat off to my guys, they're doing an outstanding job – Josh, Terry, Allen and John. Real proud of all my guys,” Edwards said.
Saturday’s monumental run shouldn’t be that shocking to Edwards considering that the early years of his Pro Stock career were honed at this facility.
“Las Vegas is a special place to me,” Edwards admitted. “It's were it all started for me; John and Marilou Kight. Years ago, John and I raced together. Actually, Marilou was here today with me. It kinda brought back old times.”
This time Edwards hopes Saturday excellence converts to Sunday dominance.
“It's a good start for us,” Edwards said. “I've never really done really good on Sunday. Hopefully, I can turn that around this weekend.”
FRIDAY MADE A DIFFERENCE IN FUNNY CAR -
Don’t kid yourself into thinking Friday’s single 
Funny Car session at the NHRA SummitRacing.com Nationals didn’t play a huge role in shaping Saturday’s final field, because it did.
That’s how two-time NHRA Funny Car champion and No. 1 qualifier Tony Pedregon sees it. He’s the man to beat on Sunday with a 4.100 elapsed time during the final day of qualifications.
“Even for the guys who didn’t get down the track, they gained data,” Pedregon said. “The Top Fuel guys, I didn’t envy them in making the best of two runs.”
Pedregon was able to run the fifth quickest time on Friday with a 4.178 and that data was enough to allow crew chief Dickie Venables to zero in on the No. 1 combination.
“The conditions were a bit different on Saturday and we didn’t have the big disruption of the wind,” Pedregon said. “It pushed my car around quite a bit and in watching the cars before me; I know they were affected a bit more by the cross-winds. That’s when you get just past the grandstands.”
On Friday, Pedregon ran 297 through the traps. A calmer Saturday provided a 302.62 mph charge.
EARTH TO GREG – Multi-time Pro Stock champion Greg Anderson will reluctantly tell you the most 
seasoned drivers suffer brain fade from time to time.
Anderson had his fading moment during Saturday afternoon’s final qualifying session and it was so bad that even the Summit-sponsored driver had to laugh.
“If I was smart, I’d keep quiet,” Anderson reluctantly admitted.
“I was apparently out there sightseeing,” Anderson said of his qualifying attempt alongside former employer Warren Johnson. “I saw the strip and said, ‘oh man, I had better get the laundry out.”
Anderson wasn't late with the laundry, his parachute, had he been racing to the 1,000 foot mark like a nitro car. If you’re scratching your head, the Pro Stockers generally run 1,320 feet.
Not Anderson, not on this run.
“I threw the parachutes early, what an idiot,” Anderson proclaimed. “That was pitiful.”
Imagine this, Anderson still ran a 6.698 … would’ve, should’ve, could’ve.
THE NAME IS COUGHLIN, JEGGIE COUGHLIN – While Anderson might have had a lapse in time, 
defending NHRA Pro Stock champion Jeg Coughlin Jr., had a Bond, James Bond, moment.
Coughlin finished qualifying, put his Jegs entry into the 8th spot, and was immediately whisked away James Bond-style to a waiting helicopter for a quick flight to the Grand Canyon. He was scheduled to attend a wedding for close friends Doug Daniel and Heather Rickard, Saturday night on the rim of the Grand Canyon.
"We were cutting it close from the end of qualifying to the time we all needed to load up in the helicopter and fly over for the wedding but we got it done," Coughlin said. "It certainly made for a unique experience."
Wedding celebrations aside, Coughlin will begin his quest for a fifth Las Vegas title against No. 9 qualifier Kurt Johnson, who ran a 6.715 at 205.10 mph. The two raced once this year for the trophy of the Phoenix event, which Coughlin claimed. Overall, Coughlin is 31-25 versus his good friend. Coughlin recorded wins at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 2000, '01, '02, and '08.
"Hopefully we'll have two reasons to celebrate this weekend," Coughlin said.
Building on a foundation put in place last week in her victory at Houston, Texas, Ashley Force Hood shrugged off a first day misstep at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and sped to the No. 4 qualifying position for Sunday’s 10th annual SummitRacing.com Nationals.
THREE OF FIRST FOUR, NOT BAD - The 26-year-old daughter of drag racing icon John Force drove her Castrol GTX Ford Mustang through the 1,000 foot timers in 4.139 seconds at 303.23 miles per hour Saturday as Team Castrol Mustangs qualified 2, 3, 4 and 7.
A resurgent Robert Hight led the Castrol assault by pushing his Auto Club of Southern California Ford through the 1,000 foot timers in 4.115 seconds at the fastest speed of the day (305.15 mph).
“(Crew chief) Jimmy (Prock) made the right call by going back after Houston to the old clutch system that we used to run for a number of years. We weren’t having a lot of luck with our systems before that. Right off the bat here we dropped a cylinder if we would have still had the old clutch system that was one less run we would have had to figure out what was going on,” said Hight.
“Today he knew how to tune the old clutch system and he did it. The first run was real conservative and then tonight he just stepped it up a little bit. He didn’t want to give it up and smoke the tires. It ended up being close to low. In some respects after we saw that Del Worsham was going to be 16th that is a tough draw for the No. 1 qualifier. Being No. 2 is OK because Jeff Arend isn’t an easy first round draw either. We are in good shape. We haven’t made two good runs in a row this year. We are moving in the right direction. We ran top speed, 305 mph that is fast. We aren’t hurting anything. We have a good baseline for tomorrow. I feel good about it.”
He was followed by Mike Neff in the Ford Drive One Mustang at 4.125 seconds. Neff was pleased with the effort today and is looking forward to getting back to the track tomorrow.
“(The last qualifying run) was a good run for us. We were actually trying to run a little bit quicker than that. All things considered to end up No. 3 we’ll take that any day. The track seemed like it was in better shape today than yesterday. The conditions were a lot better today the wind died down. We could keep the track clean. When we smoked the tires yesterday it just gave us the idea that something wasn’t quite right with the track. It seemed to be pretty good today. The weather was nice. We are excited to be No. 3. We are excited to see Robert Hight get up there to the No. 2 spot. His Mustang definitely looks like it is back on the right track,” said Neff.
After failing to qualifying the last two years, the elder Force put his Castrol GTX High Mileage Ford solidly into the field and stamped himself as one to watch with runs of 4.149, 4.156 and 4.158 seconds.
“We have a job to do. Ashley winning last week was exciting. Mine is the one car we have to get right. It is starting to show potential. Ford will be happy along with Castrol and Auto Club. I am just proud of the whole team. A lot of the technology is starting to work. That is going to pay off for our sponsors like BrandSource, Nordic Boats, Sanyo, and all these guys like the DiPinto Brothers,” said an exuberant Force. “Let’s not forget the greatest tool company in the world Mac Tools. They put my cars back together after every run. A lot of times they don’t get the credit they deserve. They do today. We have a shot at winning now. We are stacked up a little on one side of the ladder but we are going to try and get three Mustangs to the semi-finals.”
THE REMNANTS
DEMKE’S WILD RIDE EXPLAINED - Remember the Top Alcohol Dragster final from last weekend’s NHRA O’Reilly NHRA Springnationals? You remember the one where one dragster nearly tried to draft the other NASCAR style across the finish line?
Chris Demke remembers it and with good reason. He was behind the wheel of the seemingly possessed dragster owned by his stepfather, Jerry Maddern.
They left Houston feeling fortunate.
“As I hit my (first to second gear) shift, I found the car going a little bit to the left. I remember seeing the 660’ cones and thought, those cones are way to close,” recalled Demke, a ten-time winner on the NHRA Divisional tour.
Demke had left the starting line with nearly a half-tenth of a second advantage over final round opponent Duane Shields. Demke realized he was in trouble by the eighth-mile mark.
He explained that the car started to drift towards the left about three seconds into the run. As he approached the 1000 foot cone, he was close to crossing the centerline.
Demke admitted to visualizing the worst.
“I thought to myself, ‘This can’t be happening,” Demke said recalling the moment that he was literally cranking the steering wheel towards the right.
Unfortunately, the right rear tire was still in the “groove” sending him straight for the 1,000 foot timing cones.
“I hit the cones and I realized ‘game over,” said Demke. “I lifted off the throttle but still had the steering wheel cranked and the car immediately drifted towards the wall.
“I thought to myself, ‘this is not going to end good.’
“I can’t tell you how I actually missed the wall, but I just did.”
Demke was headed for another scare.
“Now I’m heading for the other side of the track, right for Duane Shields…It’s not over yet” Demke explained. ”I cranked the steering wheel over to the right, and accidentally hit the throttle.”
Luckily for Demke and Shields, the blower belt had just sheared off ceasing all power from the engine. He was able to bring the car to a sliding stop in the shutdown area.
The Maddern Racing Peen-Rite Top Alcohol team brought the car home and examined every inch of the chassis.
“The car is fine, the team is awesome, and we are very excited about being back out racing again in Vegas,” Demke said. “Many people have been saying, ’great driving’ but actually, I truly believe it was the hand of God that kept me, Duane and those cars safe.” - Tim Charlet
MORE CARNAGE
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FRIDAY REVIEW - IT WAS JUST ONE OF THOSE DAYS
The Abbreviated Friday Report From The Summitracing.com Nationals by Jon Asher
It was ugly. There’s just no other way to say it, and it was no one’s fault. It was just one of those
Let’s begin with just trying to get to Las Vegas on Friday. Incoming flights were delayed due to the high winds, and those clinging to their seatmates as their aircraft bounced around like ping pong balls couldn’t help but notice, if they were brave enough to look out the window, that much of the desert floor seemed to be heading east in a massive dust storm. Getting from the airport to fabulous Las Vegas Motor Speedway was another nightmare, as I-15 appears as if it’s being rebuilt one mile at a time – every mile!
Brian Thiel opened the proceedings in Funny Car, followed by Bob Bode and Jeff Arend. Bode shot to the top of the list with a career-best 4.145/303.43, and we know – you’re sitting there going “Bob Bode? Bob Bode?” Hey, we said it was one of those days, didn’t we?
Then poor Jeff Foster of Compulink was placed squarely in the center of a bullseye as it took a few moments short of an hour-and-a-half to replace the Tree and completely re-wire it. NHRA’s Dan Olson told one trackside observer that NHRA does have a spare Tree, but not one that would work with the LVMS electronics configuration. That NHRA should have been prepared for something like this is obvious, but again, maybe it really was just one of those days. Nevertheless, as Foster worked the winds increased, with enough pieces of paper blowing down the track to resemble a ticker tape parade, and the fans just sat, frozen in their seats, trying to get warm by huddling up with their neighbors.
As we said, it was ugly.
After the Tree was replaced and up and running the remainder of the
Funny Car session was completed. Then the fans were treated to a
classic Arley Langlo Top Fuel run. Langlo is a photographer’s best
friend, because he can be counted on to blow up spectacularly, usually
close to the starting line, and he didn’t disappoint in Las Vegas, as
you can see.
Langlo oiled the track from stem to stern, and while the Safari
gallantly tried to fix things, the winds increased, the blowing paper
began to resemble snow, and NHRA wisely pulled the plug on the
remainder of the activities.
What will Saturday bring?
We’re expecting locusts, the plague and witches riding brooms.
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FRIDAY NOTEBOOK - IT WAS A STRANGE, STRANGE DAY
WHERE’S MY MULLIGAN?
If something could go wrong for the NHRA on this day, it did.
The end result is a the combination of electronic issues, followed by a 1000-foot oil spill by Arley Langlo’s oil derrick with wheels, provided enough time for a high-wind storm to hold the first day of the SummitRacing.com Nationals to two-thirds of one professional qualifying session.
The first session of professional qualifying was delayed nearly 90 minutes by a malfunction with the Christmas Tree. A spokesperson for Compulink said the problem originated with the left lane green bulb, which shorted out the electronic relay in the tree. Compulink officials then tried to place a new board in the tree and it suffered the same problem. At that point, all bulbs were removed and a new tree was installed.
With the tree repaired, the NHRA completed their extended Funny Car first session. Then, Langlo opened the Top Fuel division with a fire and subsequent oildown that took 30 minutes for the Safety Safari to clean.
In the half-hour required to clean the mess, a storm rolled in bringing with it high winds and unseasonably cool temperatures. NHRA officials were forced to cancel Top Fuel’s first session leaving Funny Car and Pro Stock as the only pro classes with a session in the books. (Roger Richards Photo)
BODE’S INCREDIBLE FRIDAY - Bob Bode was not going to make the walk alone.
The former powerboat racer from Barrington, Ill., brought along his wife Alice and son Bobby when he went to the media center at the Strip at Las Vegas.
Bode, for the first time in his nine year Funny Car career, had driven his way to the provisional low qualifying position. He believed family deserved to be in that room, facing the media as much as he did.
“They give up a lot for me to be out here,” Bode said, his pride showing.
Bode was living a dream and even though his 4.145 elapsed time won’t likely hold past Saturday’s first session, the feat was more than he could have ever imagined.
“The dream was to be qualified in the top half,” Bode said. “Standing here after the first day as the provisional No. 1, all the stars lined up, and everything was just amazing to let that happen for us. We worked hard at it, it’s not like it fell into our laps. We never thought we would get that kind of success all at one time. “
Bode has a sneaking suspicion based on the increasingly treacherous conditions facing the drag racers on Friday afternoon that the first day of the event was going to be limited to one session.
“I felt like with four or five pairs, the worst I was going to be was ninth,” Bode recalled. “Then I counted down to seventh. Then when it got down to the last pair, we were nervous standing there. Then when we ended the day as No. 1, everyone who worked on the team jumped up and down.
“We’ve had a few unsuccessful races so we know how tough it is when it runs bad. We were just unbelievably happy when it happened. It’s kind of like it came to us.”
Bode confirmed that he and the team were shooting for a 4.16. Tuning Bode this weekend are Richard Hogan and Robert Przybyl Jr.
“The best we had run to 1,000 feet was a 4.13 back when we were running the quarter-mile stuff.” The 4.14 was the best he’s run to the 1,000 foot since drag racing to 1,000 was made mandatory.
The addition of Hogan, along with Przybyl, has given Bode a sense of confidence he’s been lacking in the last few seasons.
“We came in here knowing that we had a good tune-up,” Bode said. “We knew we could step it up but we had no idea it would be enough to where I would be standing here. It was a surprise.”
When Bode left a 21-year career in powerboat racing to go nitro drag racing, he fell on some hard times.
“The first two years were tough but now I love driving these cars,” Bode admitted.
“We’re racing against the best out here and we get beat up regularly just because of the way we do it,” Bode said. “When we can come out of it and hit that good shot like a golfer, it’s amazing … it will fuel us for a long time and that just makes us happy knowing that when we do get beat up, we can hang in there.
“This is a dream for us.”
THEY CALL HIM THE BREEZE - There’s a reason Greg Anderson has
qualified on the pole five times 
in his career while racing The Strip
at Las Vegas.
To understand why, roll the clock back six years, to a time when Ken
Black selected Greg Anderson, an up and coming Pro Stock driver, to be
the hired gun for his KB Racing Pontiac for the answer. Black told
Anderson that performing at the top of his game was important to the
survival of the team and his position in particular. But just as the
successful Las Vegas businessman drove his point home, he paused to
make one more point.
Winning around the country is admirable. Success in Vegas was mandatory.
When the team owner in the large cowboy hat speaks, you had better listen.
Anderson did and if his Friday run holds during the first day of the
SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals, he’ll nail down his 71st career No. 1
effort.
Those are the kinds of numbers that make Black smile.
“It’s been a good run for us every since that first flop,” Anderson
admitted. “We did come here and test and made sure that would never
happen again. It is that important to Ken Black that we run well here.
I understand his side of this. He does this for a hobby but it’s a job
to us and we probably take it a lot more serious than he does. He wants
to have fun and winning races and qualifying No. 1 makes it fun.
“I wish we had six or eight races here.”
Anderson made his way to the media center on Friday just as conditions
became treacherous. While taking questions from the media, his
attention was fixated on a table blowing through the staging lines, a
victim of the high-winds that eventually forced NHRA officials to
cancel the day’s competition.
A reporter asked him about the conditions and he just shook his head and laughed.
“It’s getting a little breezy,” he said sarcastically.
Anderson knew when he made his one and only run of the day, a 6.718
elapsed time, it was as if he’d received the reprieve of a lifetime
from Mother Nature.
“It wasn’t too bad when we ran, we got lucky. To be quite frank, I
believe I got luckier than the rest of them. It seemed like the wind
stopped and died down.”
Anderson smiled when he explained how his teammate Jason Line and his
team whined a little about how they didn’t get a break from the wind.
If anyone knows the dangers of racing in windy conditions, it’s the multi-time world champion.
“You’re fine if it goes down with you or straight at you, but when it’s
going across, you have problems,” Anderson explained. “When you get
past the grandstands with the wind blowing, it can feel like someone
picked your car up and moved it over a body width. That’s not a
comfortable feeling at the speeds we are running.
Anderson estimates his Summit Pontiac is running 180 by the time he encounters the crosswinds of Vegas.
“These cars are not built for cross-winds, when we wind-tunnel we don’t wind-tunnel with a cross wind.”
Then Anderson paused and tried to justify a run that was only a few
ticks off of the track record. He stopped as a thought came to mind. It
appeared to work for him.
“Maybe that’s what happened, I got a piece of paper blown through the beams at the right time,” Anderson surmised.
URS TO THE BACKUP - Somehow or another the term massive just doesn’t do
justice to the 
explosion European Top Fuel driver Urs Erbacher
experienced in Houston.
Erbacher’s explosion netted an inordinate amount of television time but
the four-time FIA European champion ended up paying heavily for the
exposure. The team estimates the explosion did $120,000 worth of damage
and forced them into the back-up dragster for this weekend's event.
"With the short turnaround time between Houston and Las Vegas we just
didn't have time to inspect the car as closely as I feel we need to for
it to be ready to race," crew chief Wayne Dupuy said. "It needs to be
put on a jig and checked with a laser before I put Urs back in the
seat. I'm not going to take any chances.
"I told the guys to load up last year's car and we left the new one in
our Houston shop. This one is heavier, which isn't great, but we'll
work with it. We went to the semis in Pomona in November so it's a
pretty good car. I'm just glad we had it pretty much ready to go
because we really only had a day to prepare it before we had to leave."
As for the cause of the accident, Dupuy and Erbacher discovered the
problem and have already taken steps to make sure it doesn't happen
again.
"It stripped all the teeth off the bottom crank gear and the camshaft
quit turning," Dupuy said. Consequently, the valves quit opening so the
manifold filled up with fuel. With the new electronics the NHRA has us
running it keeps firing so it ignited and we had that huge explosion.
"That exact same thing happened to Tony Pedregon last year in Pomona
when he had that big boomer and burned himself up. It was the same
parts by the same manufacturer. The blower snout is longer, so there's
more torque on the blower belt. That pulls that crank gear up more than
normal and it gets hot. After awhile, the heat treatment wears off and
you have trouble.
"We're not really in the regular cliché of racers out here so we hadn't
heard about this problem. Most of the other guys talked about it after
Tony's deal and they've fixed the problem. We just weren't in that loop
so we learned the hard way."
Erbacher will race this event and has plans to race in Chicago but
unless he gets additionally funding, he may be sidelined after that.
STACK 'EM UP, KNOCK 'EM DOWN - The trio of NHRA teams who participated in the USBC Open Championships Thursday at the 
Cashman
Center may not have challenged for the top score among all of the
17,200 teams that will compete in the marathon five-month tournament,
however, for bragging rights in the pit area, there was an exciting
battle, and as is typical in NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing, there was
a close finish.
The drivers took time out of their busy schedules to participate in one of the world’s oldest major competitions.
“Bowling is a lot like a race car when you consider you have to make a lot of minor adjustments as you go and the lanes change just like a track will change,” said Hight, who posted game scores of 165, 178 and 182 to lead his team. “It was a fun experience. The other NHRA teams were really good too. It went right down to the tenth frame of the last game.”
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THURSDAY NOTEBOOK -
EVEN SUPERMAN HAD HIS KRYPTONITE - It's taken almost a decade, but John Force, drag racing's version of Superman, finally has convinced Las Vegas oddsmakers that The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway is his kryptonite.
For eight years, Force was the betting favorite every time he showed up at LVMS in one of the Castrol GTX® Funny Cars in which he has dominated the NHRA pro tour since the 1980s. He delivered just one victory overall and none in the SummitRacing.com Nationals contested this week for the 10th time.
Not only has he been shut out of the winners' circle at the spring race, the last two years he's been shut out of the starting lineup. As a result, the 59-year-old's expectations this week are modest, especially by his standards.
"I just want to race on Sunday," said the 14-time champion. "You get where you take things for granted, but the last few years we've got a reality check. You can't win if you don't race. We didn't qualify for four races last year including Vegas. That was painful."
When Force didn't qualify for the 2007 Summit event, it ended a record streak of 395 consecutive starts in the NHRA pro series, one that began in 1988. When he again failed to make the show last year, it marked just the second time in his 31-year NHRA career that he's missed a race in back-to-back seasons.
His overall record at Las Vegas is 16-13, but in the spring he doesn't even have a winning record (6-7) and has NEVER gone to the finals. So, this week, the experts have installed Del Worsham as the favorite at 3-1. Force is listed at 12-1, his longest odds ever.
THE PARTY STARTED IN VEGAS - Tim Wilkerson finds it ironic that his long-shot odds streak that 
nearly netted a world championship last year started in Las Vegas during the SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals.
In the midst of a tough season, Wilkerson could use a bit of that Vegas
magic to get on the same track that made him a contender for the title
in 2009 right up until the final race of the season.
In 2008, Wilkerson arrived at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
(LVMS) still dealing with a losing streak that stretched back nearly
four years. He hadn't won a race since Sonoma in 2004, but his LRS
Funny Car was running well while showing signs of serious life, and
after qualifying in the No. 2 spot at The Strip, he reeled off big wins
over Jim Head, Tony Pedregon, and Ron Capps before meeting up with
Ashley Force in the final; a pairing which left his daughter Rachel
torn between rooting for her father or her "other favorite" driver.
4.962 seconds later, Wilkerson had his first win of '08, and a new
streak was born. It was one that took him to the doorstep of the NHRA
Funny Car Championship.
"We knew we had a fast car coming into Vegas last spring, because we'd
been qualifying great and picking up a few round wins here and there,"
Wilkerson said. "But, when you haven't won a race in something like
four years, you can't help but wonder when it's going to happen again.
You just wonder if you're snake-bit, or unlucky, or just not good
enough. I thought we were good enough, and on Sunday at The Strip we
put it together and kind of proved it to ourselves, I think.
"Our whole world pretty much changed after that win, last year. Once
you get that losing streak broken, and get the first win out of the
way, your attitude changes and you get a little more aggressive,
maybe. We didn't feel so much like underdogs after that, and we tried
not to act like underdogs or expect anything less than success."
This season’s Vegas 1 and the breakout 2008 event bear a striking resemblance.
"I'm not much of a gambler, but I know how it works," Wilkerson said.
"It's all math, if you think about it, and the whole part about 'Why
not me?' keeps the people coming. The numbers tell you that the
casinos win enough to make their money, but if the gamblers don't win
often enough, nobody would want to make the wagers, so the chance of
winning is always there and you see other people winning all around
you, too. On the track, we try to play the odds but not push our
limits, and we can say 'Why not us?' just like the people in the
casino. We know the next lap can be a big one, and we're in pretty
good shape right now to do something big, so why not us?
"We've gotten better at every race, and we had one of the best cars
going this past weekend in Houston. Sometimes you don't have the
fastest car, but you catch some breaks and do a lot of good, and other
times you have a mean hot rod, but things just don't go your way. We
were just the same way last year, not getting many breaks when the car
was good enough to win, until we got to Vegas. Right now, I think the
LRS Shelby is good enough to win, and when you combine a good car with
some good breaks, you can get on a roll."
DOGGIN' WITH DENSHAM - One can never downplay the tenacity of Funny Car driver Gary Densham. He’s been down – more 
than
once. But, he’s never been out, and it looks like he’s going to avoid
another knockout punch in 2009. There’s no question that the year
began with Densham trapped in the corner, absorbing body blows – not
from his competitors, but from his bank account – or what was left of
it.
He struggled through the Winternationals, but then picked up some
needed assistance from Asomroso Tequila for the Lucas Oil Slick Mist
Nationals in Phoenix. If reality had been staring Densham in the face
before then, a few days prior to the AC Delco Gatornationals he faced
it full on, and reluctantly informed his every-loyal mechanics that
they had come to the end of the road, and wouldn’t be making the trip
to Florida.
“I was miserable at home all during the Gators,” Densham readily admitted to CompetitionPlus.com.
“I got to go to Houston and my dog will love me when I get home because
I was kicking him around the house during Gainesville, and my wife was
threatening to move out to a motel I was so miserable. They were happy
to see me leave to go to Houston, and now they’ll be happy to see me
coming home.”
Densham’s Houston “partnership” with Terry Haddock was put together
when it looked like there would only be 15 Funny Cars at the race. It
was a seemingly ideal scenario for both. As Densham says, “I was
planning on just gently running the car down the track so (Haddock)
would get his ten grand, and I’d get the 30 points, but they ended up
getting more cars, and it did turn out to be kind of a war. I figured
I’d need every point I could get if I managed to put something together
to run the full year. I’d need ‘em if I had any hope of making the Top
10.”
Contrary to rumor, Densham claims he’s not in debt. “You can only
spend what you have,” he says, but he does acknowledge that running the
second half of last season without the proper funding “was probably a
mistake. It wiped out whatever savings I might have had. I’m not
complaining, it all turned out great, but financially it was a
disaster.”
Densham will be heading to Las Vegas this weekend with additional
backing from AsomBroso, but things will be a bit iffy after that. It’s
unlikely that he’ll be able to run the remainder of the Full Throttle
Series, but he does say that “If my guys don’t have full time jobs, or
I can put together some help, I’m going to try and run Sonoma, the
second Las Vegas race and Pomona for the Finals. But, the truth of the
matter is that you can’t really make any plans on that right now.”
In 2002, when Densham won the Last Vegas race, he went off at 14 to 1
odds on the Palace Station books, and this writer was fortunate enough
to have cashed in on his victory. Assured that if the odds are good
enough we’d wager on him again, Densham said, “See if you can find one
of those multi-million dollar slots that’ll pay off on a couple of
quarters, okay?” - Jon Asher
SOMETHING'S GOTTA GIVE - The only thing missing from Mike Edwards 2009 resume to this point is an NHRA victory. Behind 
the wheel of his team's Pontiac GXP, he has started this year's campaign almost like a pre-season script every racer hopes for.
In the first four stops on the NHRA tour, Edwards has earned a
runner-up finish, back-to-back No. 1 qualifiers, and in Houston reached
the semifinals while recording the fastest speed in NHRA history and
becoming the first driver to eclipse the 212 mph barrier.
"Everything that has happened to the Mike Edwards Motorsports team is
all due to the hard work from every single person that is part of this
program," Edwards said. "The guys at the engine shop have worked their
tails off to get us some of the best power in the class. And the guys
at the race shop and travel to the events have done a flawless job on
their end as well; all that has made my job behind the wheel that much
easier."
With the start, Edwards sits third in the NHRA standings, his best
after the first four events at any part during his career. "We have put
in the hours and everything to make this team a success on and off the
track. It is nice to see all that come together at this point in my
career. I know that none of this would be possible if it wasn't for the
support from everyone on the team, the sponsors, and Roger and Tina
Stull. It is truly an honor to represent so many fine individuals."
THE ODDS ARE - Fred Crespi, oddsmaker for the sports book at The Palms Resort &
Casino in Las Vegas likes Larry Dixon, Del Worsham and Jason Line to
win Sunday’s NHRA SummitRacing.com Nationals finals at The Strip at Las
Vegas Motor Speedway.
Dixon, a past winner at The Strip at LVMS, is listed at 3/1, just ahead
of defending champion and perennial favorite Tony Schumacher (4/1).
Worsham is listed at 4/1, just ahead of NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing
Series Funny Car points leader Ron Capps (5/1) and Ashley Force Hood
(also at 5/1). Line’s line is 5/2, ahead of defending Pro Stock champ
Jeg Coughlin Jr. (3/1).
The NHRA SummitRacing.com Nationals will kick off Thursday evening with
a free driver autograph session from 6-8 p.m. in the Key West Room at
The Palms Resort & Casino (www.palms.com). Drivers scheduled to
appear include: Tony Schumacher, Jeg
Coughlin Jr., Cruz Pedregon, Ron Capps, Antron Brown, Jack Beckman,
Kurt Johnson, Morgan Lucas, Shawn Langdon, Urs Erbacher, Matt Hagan,
Jeff Arend, Johnny Gray, Kenny Koretsky, David Baca and Bob Bode. Many
more are expected to join the festivities.
SHOWING OFF FOR SHELBY - Las Vegas is home to Shelby Automobiles and the Shelby Corner Café. NHRA Gators Funny Car champion Bob Tasca III hopes his mentor and living legend Carroll Shelby brings him some Vegas luck this weekend.
“Las Vegas is the hometown for Carroll Shelby and it is only fitting that we run the Shelby Mustang,” added Tasca. “Carroll always comes to the race at least one of the days and it’s great to see him there as well as all the people from Shelby Automotive.”
HEROES HAVE ALWAYS BEEN COWBOYS - Las Vegas-based Technicoat Companies will be the primary sponsor this weekend on 
the
Top Fuel dragster driven by Doug Kalitta. A special edition, one-off Technicoat paint scheme will adorn
Kalitta’s 300-mph machine for this weekend’s festivities.
Technicoat Companies specializes in hi-tech performance coatings and
floorings, wearing surfaces for pedestrian traffic and vehicular
traffic, as well as new and existing roofs. Technicoat’s President Bob
Coffman and C.O.O. Glen Williams, a.k.a. “the Cowboys”, are fixtures in
the Team Kalitta pit area at most NHRA national events with their
trademark cowboy hats. Technicoat Companies and Kalitta Motorsports
began their marketing partnership near the end of the 2002 NHRA season.
“I’m sure we’ll have some fun in our pit area this weekend,” Kalitta, a
44-year old resident of Ann Arbor, Mich., and 31-time NHRA national
event winner, said. “The Cowboys are great. They come out to a lot of
events and there’s always a good time waiting to happen around them.
We’re really looking forward to having them as the primary sponsor this
weekend and having them and their guests out to the race track to cheer
for the Technicoat dragster.”
Kalitta,
a 12-year NHRA veteran, and his team won the season-opening
Winternationals in Pomona, Calif., in early February. It was Kalitta’s
first trip to the winner’s circle since the fall of 2007. Kalitta has
finished in the top ten in Full Throttle Top Fuel championship points
in every season of his drag racing career. He is currently in 7th place
(204) in Full Throttle championship points, 113 points behind the
leader.
Also, beginning at this weekend’s event in Las Vegas, the competition
number for Kalitta’s rail ride will be displayed throughout the
remainder of the season as “50” to commemorate team owner Connie
Kalitta’s 50 years in NHRA drag racing this year.
TAKIN' IT TO THE IN-HOUSE - CompetitionPlus.com reported a rumor last weekend that V. Gaines was developing a new in-house 
engine program. The veteran Pro Stock driver confirmed with CompetitionPlus.com today that he plans to debut the first of his engines at this weekend’s NHRA SummitRacing.com Nationals in Las Vegas.
This confirmation officially concludes a long time association with engine builder Larry Morgan.
“Larry has been there with us for a long time and helped us earn a
couple top 10 finishes,” Gaines said. “Larry is and will always be a
friend and a great engine builder.”
Gaines cited a large factor in his decision to go in-house was the growing need to control all aspect of the race operation.
“Being in charge of our own destiny is the goal,” Gaines continued. “To
move forward in anything, you have to take that chance of possibly
taking a couple steps backwards. We know this will be a positive for
our team in the near future”
Clyde West, crewchief for Gaines, believes the move will someday put them in line to win a championship.
“Only a couple of teams has ever won a Pro Stock championship while
leasing a motor,” West admitted. “The time is right for us to do our
own engines.”
The new engine program will be led by veteran engine builder Joe Jolly
along with the staff at Madcap Racing Engines in Lakewood, Colo.
“We’ve been on the dyno non-stop working toward this moment,” Jolly
explained. “I think we are pretty close on the power needed; now it’s
time to go down the track.”
STRESSING OVER WHAT? - Top Fuel racer Morgan Lucas admits he's a little nervous heading into 
this weekend's event, although his
trepidation has nothing to do with driving his 8,000-horsepower GEICO
Powersports/Lucas Oil dragster.
"A team of us are competing in the United States Bowling Congress Open
Championships against the best bowlers in the country on Thursday and
I'm seriously stressing about it," said the 25-year-old Lucas, the
youngest professional in the nitro ranks. "We're definitely hitting the
lanes at home before we fly out. I don't want to embarrass myself.
"I'm way more nervous about this bowling tournament than I've ever been
about a drag race. I have confidence in my race team but my bowling is
another story."
Lucas is actually a very competent bowler, carrying a 160 average with
a career-high game of 268. He's also doing pretty well on the drag
strip this year as he arrives in Vegas ranked sixth in the world after
recording round wins at every race thus far.
"If there's one thing I've learned in my first five years out here it's
that you can't make drastic moves and expect good results," Lucas said.
"We got onto a good, consistent tune-up towards the end of last year
and we've been going rounds ever since. Our crew chief Jimmy Walsh is
very methodical and he's real happy with the tune-up. We're really
fine-tuning at this point.
"I know a win is just around the corner for us. The vibe on the team is
so good. I have my best crew ever. The GEICO Powersports/Lucas Oil guys
and the Lucas Oil/Dixie Choppers guys all help each other out. We're
two cars but we're really one big team."
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