Del Cox Jr. began the year on quite a roll, but a few early exits and poor qualifying runs over the last three races left many wondering if the boy wonder had used up all of his beginners luck.

Sunday afternoon Cox proved that luck has nothing to do with it.

Cox put himself right back into championship contention over the weekend, qualifying first with the fastest lap of the year before mowing through the Top Fuel field on Sunday to record his second victory of the season.

“We are back on top of the mountain. Paul Smith is the man, he gave me a great car this weekend,” Cox said.

Del Cox Jr. began the year on quite a roll, but a few early exits and poor qualifying runs over the last three races left many wondering if the boy wonder had used up all of his beginners luck.

Sunday afternoon Cox proved that luck has nothing to do with it.

Cox put himself right back into championship contention over the weekend, qualifying first with the fastest lap of the year before mowing through the Top Fuel field on Sunday to record his second victory of the season.

“We are back on top of the mountain. Paul Smith is the man, he gave me a great car this weekend,” Cox said.

Cox (Downey Calif.) ran a solid 4.882 elapsed time at 285.77 miles per hour, edging points leader Bruce Litton (Indianapolis, Ind.) who ran a 4.945 E.T. at 256.31 mph in one of the closest battles of the event.

“I went out there and smoked the tires, but anything for the win these days,” Cox said.

Cox’s victory allowed him to make up a little ground in the Top Fuel title chase, but Litton’s fifth final in six tries still gave him some breathing room over the rookie. Litton leads Cox by 68 points with four races remaining this season.

 “There are a few more races and we are going to win them too. Little by little, a couple more No. 1 qualifiers, a couple more wins and we should be able to catch him in no time,” Cox said.

On Sunday Cox defeated Bobby Lagana Jr. and Litton to claim the win.

It was Cox’s second win of the season, knocking off Litton the first time as well three months ago in Rockingham.

Litton reached his fifth final in four tries with a win over Tim Boychuk in the semifinals. The two drivers nailed the tree and were glued together over the first 1,000 feet, but both lost power at the top end giving Litton a chance to drive around the Canadian and take the win.

Litton ran a 5.065 E.T. in the semis while Boychuk coasted across with a 5.251 second pass.

Cox received a free pass into the final when team owner Mitch King did not show. Cox smoked the tires at midtrack and ran a 6.027 E.T., giving lane choice to Litton.

In quarterfinal action it was business as usual as all four of the top qualifiers moved on to the next round.

Cox was able to keep in the throttle in his win while opponent Bobby Lagana Jr. battled to keep it off the wall at half track and did a nice job of saving the car. Litton, in his first successful pass with the backup motor, topped the 300 mile per hour mark for the first time this weekend in a win over Tim Cullinan.

King kept up his recent success with a win over Dom Lagana in his first full weekend of competition and Boychuk blew by Fred Farndon.

“I want to thank all of the boys on the team, Bexar Waste, Lucas Oil, Mitch King, RG Industries, Sparco Race Products – everybody,” Cox said. “I wish my grandpa was here, this is for him. Without him I would be nobody.”
 

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