Winners Cory McClenathan, Tim Wilkerson, and Greg Anderson and their fellow National Hot Rod Association racers completed the Northwest Nationals Sunday evening and are moving on to Sonoma, Calif., for this weekend's FRAM-Autolite Nationals at Infineon Raceway.
 
Meanwhile, the King County Sheriff's Department Criminal Investigations Division will continue its examination of the Pacific Raceways scene where Top Alcohol Dragster driver Mark Niver died Sunday in a high-speed top-end accident.
 
Lead Detective Jay Moloney said Monday morning, "We're just barely getting started. We processed the scene yesterday, but I haven't had a chance to do much but just the initial paperwork on this. The autopsy was most likely early this morning, but I haven't heard from the medical examiner's office yet."

While Chris Demke sat strapped in his Top Alcohol Dragster Sunday afternoon he was mentally preparing himself for his semifinal bye run down the right lane during the NHRA Northwest Nationals at Pacific Raceways in Kent, Wash.

Demke had no idea what an emotional whirlwind he was about to go through.

As Demke sat in the right staging lanes, he watched fellow competitor Mark Niver, who also was in the right lane, beat Shawn Cowie with a 5.364-second pass at 271.79 mph.

At this time last year, Robert Hight and crew chief Jimmy Prock were trying to figure out a way to get their Auto Club Ford Mustang into the Countdown to 1, NHRA’s championship playoffs.

Struggling for much of the season near the bottom of the top 10 standings, Hight and Prock ultimately pulled off a miracle save at the final hour to squeak into post-season play. Since then the duo has shined. They went on to win the 2009 Funny Car world championship title with an amazing three-win playoff effort. They’ve also had an incredible 2010 title defense so far, winning three straight races in the spring and currently holding down the second place position in the point standings.

This season Hight and his team are talking playoff strategy once again. However, this time it is about how to put the team in the best position to win another championship crown, rather than simply how to make the playoffs.

The Super Chevy Show has visited some of the bigger drag strips in the country this season, including stops at the palaces of The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and the Texas Motorplex near Dallas.

But no event on the series' 10-race tour, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary, promises to be as big as the upcoming Maple Grove Raceway Super Chevy Show, scheduled for the famed facility on Friday, July 16 to Sunday, July 18.

A year ago, Maple Grove produced the largest Chevy happening in the country with an event that featured 560 drag race entries, 420 show cars and 250 entries to the event's flea market.

In the final results from Mid-Michigan Motorplex and the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series, a pair of Michigan racers took home the wins as Charley Downing and Rock Haas each visited the winner’s circle.

Downing, Britton, Mich., faced off against Ryan Haag, Memphis, Ind., in Super Stock and posted a winning run of 9.401 seconds, 145.34 mph in his '10 Mustang. Haag drove to a 9.830 second, 133.96 mph lap for his runner up finish.  Haas, of White Lake, Mich., took on Richard Kurth, Walnut, Ill., in the Super Gas category and drive his ’05 Corvette to victory in 9.959 seconds at 160.05 mph.

Spiro Kontos’ Kon Rodz Racing Ontario, Canada based Top Alcohol Funny Car team will race the remainder of their 2010 NHRA schedule focusing on the development their rookie driver Cassie Simonton and are returning to a one-car team for the remainder of this season.

Following the recently completed Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals contested in Norwalk, Ohio, Kontos’ met with his team to announce a restructuring in order to focus on building a winning one-car operation and provide Simonton with a good training vehicle in which to learn. Team driver Jason McKnight and Kontos mutually agreed to part ways, allowing McKnight a chance to explore future employment opportunities.

The National Hot Rod Ass'n. has confirmed that Top Alcohol Dragster racer Mark Niver, 60, of Scottsdale, Ariz., died from a top-end accident Sunday during the semifinal round of eliminations at the NHRA Northwest Nationals at Pacific Raceways.
 
The King County Sheriff's Department, ruling the facility a crime scene, suspended all racing activities for about an hour and a half, pending an investigation. However, it permitted racing to finish and extended the 5:30 p.m. noise curfew to 7 p.m.
 
The NHRA canceled winners circle activities, save for photos that fulfilled business and contractual obligations and said its officials are investigating the accident.
 
A prepared statement also stated, “NHRA and Pacific Raceways officials extend their deepest sympathies to the entire Niver family.”
 
Niver was married and had two daughters.

Ron Krisher vividly remembers his fiery crash in the 2005 Northwest Nationals, and it flashed through his consciousness Sunday as he ran against Warren Johnson in the second pairing of eliminations.
 
Krisher eliminated Johnson, but he swears it's only by grace that neither one of them crashed. Rookie-of-the-year Shane Gray started the class' opening round by defeating V Gaines, but winning to him was less the issue than escaping without injury.
 
“Don't put the rest of them cars down that frickin' racetrack without doing something. It's just not right. You're going to hurt somebody. I won, but it's not right. I promise you -- you're going to hurt somebody,” Krisher pleaded. “Stop what you're doing. Stop the race. Do something with the racetrack.
 
“The first two cars were really in trouble,” he said, and continuing added, “was beyond dumb.” The track, he said, “looks like a hole-y road of some kind. The tires are just slappin' and bouncin' and spinnin' -- it's stupid. They need to spray the track. Don't just say there's nothing' wrong with the track. You put four cars down it, and everybody almost killed themselves.”
 
After top-end protests and calls for a halt to racing, starter Rick Stewart ordered Kurt Johnson and Jason Line, the next drivers in line, to shut off their engines. The remainder of the Pro Stock qualifiers towed back to the pits and waited until the Top Alcohol Funny Cars and Top Alcohol Dragsters ran and slipped into the program after the nitro classes' quarterfinal runoffs.

When Cory McClenathan brought his Fram Top Fuel dragster to face Antron Brown to the line Sunday in the finals of the NHRA Northwest Nationals, winning wasn’t the only thing on his mind.

McClenathan also was coping with the death of his friend and fellow racer Mark Niver.

Earlier in the afternoon, Niver, a Top Alchohol driver, died when his dragster crashed into the safety net at the end of the Pacific Raceways track, buckling the chassis into the driver cockpit. Niver, a 30-year NHRA veteran, was 60.

McClenathan did his job by just edging Brown, his Don Schumacher Racing teammate, for the victory. McClenathan clocked a 3.887-second time at 311.70 mph to defeat Brown’s 3.909-second effort at 308.92 mph.

“To win today is great for the Fram team and great for all of the guys and myself, but it is really very hard to sit back and be real excited right now to be honest with you,” McClenathan said.

McClenathan admitted Niver’s death left him stunned.

For much of the 2010 NHRA Full Throttle season to date, Tim Wilkerson has been almost as invisible as the invisible man. Headlines have dealt with his attempts to help the NHRA find ways to make Funny Cars safer without slowing them down dramatically.

Over the past three races, Wilkerson has become the man to beat in the Funny Car ranks.

Wilkerson advanced to his third consecutive final round, won his second race in a row, and completely solidified his spot in the Countdown playoffs by moving his record to 21-11 while moving up to the No. 5 spot in the Full Throttle standings.   Rather than exhibiting an exultant Winner's Circle celebration, however, the team paid its respects to Top Alcohol Dragster driver Mark Niver, who succumbed to his injuries after a high speed wreck during eliminations.

“When something happens like that, your first instinct is to just want to go home,” Wilkerson said. “But we're racers, and Mark was a racer, and this is what we do. I raced with him and knew him well, and the best way to be respectful for all he's done was to go out there and win the darn thing.  Our motivation wasn't for us, and it wasn't to have a big celebration. Our motivation was really just about representing our sport well, and all of the racers, officials, and fans who love it so much. We love drag racing, and we're here to do our best every time we race.  In that regard, today was a very good day. Today went just about as good as it can go, when you're talking about the action on the track.”