The last time Courtney Force was in Pomona, she lost to Cruz Pedregon in the finals.

But like she has displayed throughout her brief Funny Car career, the learning curve appears to be rapid for the reigning Rookie of the Year winner.

Back in Pomona, this time to kick off the 2013 season with the NHRA Winternationals, Force was incredible, qualifying No. 1 and then rolling through eliminations on Sunday. She capped it off with an event-best 4.025 at 317.12 mph to beat Ron Capps for the second straight time en route to her second career win.

For a man who had admitted no love for Auto Club Raceway of Pomona’s right lane in the past, Mike Edwards experienced a change of heart during this season’s O’Reilly NHRA Winternationals.

Edwards, on the strength of 6.528 elapsed time during Friday qualifying scored his 42nd career No. 1 qualifier. He was the quickest Pro Stock driver on Saturday as well, also running in the right lane.

Ron Capps knows the thrill of victory and agony of defeat. Last season was one unlike he's experienced in his storied career.

Ron lost the title by a mere two points to teammate Jack Beckman, after leading the chase for much of the season.

This was the fourth time the fan-favorite and social media icon had come up short. This time, Ron believes, the reality of the shortcoming was compounded more than ever.

Top Fuel's Tony Schumacher shaved five-thousandths of a second Saturday from his already best-in-class elapsed time at the O'Reilly Auto Parts Winternationals.

His 3.753-second pass on the Auto Club Raceway at Pomona's 1,000-foot course in the U.S. Army Dragster made him the  No. 1 qualifier -- quickest in the quickest field in Top Fuel history.

Rather than bask in the honor of stretching his record 72nd time to lead the class into Sunday eliminations, Schumacher minimized it by saying, "It means I have to run the quickest 16th qualifier."

John Force was walking through the pits, wearing his firesuit and drinking a cup of coffee -- which seemed weird enough to daughter Courtney Force, for she was sweltering in the blessed February warmth.

She told him he needed to hustle to the Auto Club Raceway at Pomona starting line to watch her sister Brittany make another Top Fuel qualifying pass. Immediately he went into battle mode, dropped his coffee cup to the ground, and took off running toward the track.

Jack Beckman is notorious for taking a long time to talk about a short pass.
 
But after taking over the Funny Car class' provisional No. 1 qualifying position Friday at the NHRA's O'Reilly Winternationals with a 4.045-second run, he tried to be a little more concise.

Tony Schumacher survived a parachute malfunction and landed in the sand trap Friday at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona during qualifying for the O'Reilly Auto Club Winternationals.

Tony Schumacher survived a parachute malfunction and landed in the sand trap Friday at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona during qualifying for the O'Reilly Auto Club Winternationals.

Still, he expressed faith that his U-S Army Dragster team would have everything ready for Saturday's final two qualifying sessions.

After all, it's the same crew that sent him on the 3-point-758-second pass at 328-14 miles an hour and right to the No. 1 spot in the Top Fuel field.

Veteran Pro Stock driver Mike Edwards doesn't harbor any hate in his heart -- except maybe for the right lane at California's Auto Club Raceway at Pomona.

However, the two made up Friday afternoon.

In the day's only qualifying session for the O'Reilly Auto Club Winternationals, Edwards used that lane to post a quarter-mile run of 6.528 seconds in the I Am Second / Interstate Batteries Pontiac Chevy Camaro.

As the winter days slowly crept by this off-season, V. Gaines simply grew more anxious and it was certainly easy to understand why.

Coming off a career-best season in 2012, the Pro Stock standout was itching to get back behind the wheel. Gaines wasted no time in asserting himself on Thursday, claiming the No. 1 qualifying spot at the season-opening NHRA Winternationals in Pomona with a spectacular 6.538 at 211.49 mph.