Watch the winners and low qualifiers describe their winning moments from the NHRA Kansas Nationals in Topeka, Kansas.

SUNDAY NOTEBOOK

FUNNY CAR WINNER - JOHNNY GRAY PRESS CONFERENCE

TOP FUEL WINNER - SHAWN LANGDON PRESS CONFERENCE

PRO STOCK WINNER - JEGGIE COUGHLIN PRESS CONFERENCE

SATURDAY'S NOTEBOOK

TOP FUEL

Tricky race tracks are hard to handle for some NHRA Top Fuel teams.

The Al-Anabi Racing team managed by Alan Johnson Racing relishes those conditions, and Shawn Langdon proved that Saturday.

Langdon clocked a 3.767 elapsed time at 322.50 mph at Heartland Park Topeka track to capture the pole at the Kansas Nationals.
This was Langdon’s third pole this season and the ninth of his career.

“Basically before we went out for the third session Alan (Johnson) and Brian Husen were talking, and they really felt confident in the track,” Langdon said. “The track surface has actually been really good this weekend. We had a lot of confidence in the tune-up in the car. The car has been running fairly well lately. We felt like (Friday night) if we had not knocked the rods out right before the finish line we might have got the No. 1 qualifying.”

Langdon also admitted he benefitted from Mother Nature Saturday.

“We were hopeful to get two runs in (Saturday) and the weather held out,” Langdon said. “We felt like the third session was the session we needed to go for it. Fortunately we had that cloud cover Saturday. If we didn’t have that cloud cover we would not have been able to go for it and fortunately everything worked in our favor.”

FUNNY CAR

You might get away with poking an old dog once or twice, but the third time he’s likely to snap or bite. John Force provided an equivalent object lesson during the third session of qualifying.

With a No. 12 standing in the Funny Car points, a ranking unbecoming of a 15-time champion, Force stepped up in a big way to deliver a big bite in Q-3 at Topeka with a track record 4.043 at 313.22 miles per hour to claim the No. 1 qualifying position.

“There’s another session and someone could bump it,” Force cautioned. “But for now, it’s a good feeling on a weekend when I have a new grandbaby on the way. I want to show them their grandpa can still race, and I know I can.”

The run held and for Force it marked his first pole since June 2012 in Chicago.

PRO STOCK

You might get away with poking an old dog once or twice, but the third time he’s likely to snap or bite. John Force provided an equivalent object lesson during the third session of qualifying.

With a No. 12 standing in the Funny Car points, a ranking unbecoming of a 15-time champion, Force stepped up in a big way to deliver a big bite in Q-3 at Topeka with a track record 4.043 at 313.22 miles per hour to claim the No. 1 qualifying position.

“There’s another session and someone could bump it,” Force cautioned. “But for now, it’s a good feeling on a weekend when I have a new grandbaby on the way. I want to show them their grandpa can still race, and I know I can.”

The run held and for Force it marked his first pole since June 2012 in Chicago.

PRO STOCK

Mike Edwards hasn’t had the best luck this weekend at Heartland Park Topeka as he has struggled through more than his share of engine troubles.

Friday, Edwards experienced engine woes and Saturday he had transmission problems.

Through all the adversity, however, Edwards still captured the Pro Stock pole position thanks to Friday’s 6.618-second time at 208.55 mph lap.

“I was watching the weather (Saturday) go up, up and up and I was kind of grinning every time it went up,” Edwards said. “I think for the most part the track is really, really good and (Sunday) if cloud cover happens it will be even better.”

This was Edward’s seventh pole position in eight races this season and 48th of his career. Those numbers are not lost on the veteran driver from Oklahoma.

FRIDAY'S VIDEO NOTEBOOK

TOP FUEL

Abbreviated qualifying hasn't been an ally to Tony Schumacher for the last two events. At both Charlotte and Houston, the multi-time NHRA Top Fuel champion relied on last-minute heroics to gain a berth in the 16-car field.

The prospect of getting a full complement of qualifying runs at the NHRA Kansas Nationals in Topeka, Kan., was enough to whip the U.S. Army-sponsored driver back into his old form.

"It was just a great day," Schumacher said. "It's been two races that we have been down to two qualifying runs. And it's so important when you are trying to win a race to have those [four] sessions."

Schumacher thundered to a 3.769 second elapsed time at 326.08 miles per hour to edge Doug Kalitta, who posted a strong 3.770 for second.

FUNNY CAR

Robert Hight cannot help it. For some reason, every time the 24-race NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series rolls into Heartland Park – Topeka, his AAA Ford Mustang shows lots of heart.

Friday, during the NHRA Kansas Nationals, his Mustang showed the heart of a thoroughbred Mustang as it galloped to a 4.067, 302.62 to claim the provisional No. 1 spot. If his run holds, it will be his second No. 1 effort of 2013.

“We qualified well, and for much of this season we’ve struggled in the early part of the run,” Hight said. “We definitely got it today. We were low elapsed time for both sessions. It’s been ages since we did that.”

Hight was correct. The last time he made a clean sweep of a qualifying day dated back to 2011.

“The back-halves of both runs today weren’t so good,” Hight admitted. “If we would have finished those runs out, it would have really been good.”

Hight was .025 quicker than teammate Courtney Force in the first 330 feet. She was the No. 2 qualifier with a 4.068 second elapsed time at a top speed of 312.86.

 PRO STOCK

Mike Edwards cannot help it. He has a fast car and even when the odds are stacked against him, he still runs fast.

Prior to the final Pro Stock session at the NHRA Kansas Nationals, Edwards and his crew noticed severe engine damage. An all-out thrash ensued, pushing the team up against the timer just to make the call for the final qualifying session.

“We had made a good first run, but upon close inspection, we noticed some serious damage,” Edwards said. “Just as we started to change engines, we got the call to come up for the final session.”

Edwards ended up making an engine change in 25 minutes, a feat he credits to his crew.

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