Perennial bridesmaid Cory McClenathan stated his championship case with a stout 3.787-second pass in the next-to-last pair Saturday night to claim the No. 1 qualifying position in Top Fuel at the season-opening Kragen O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Winternationals presented by Valvoline.

The other No. 1 qualifiers at the 50th annual Winternationals were Robert Hight (Funny Car) and Mike Edwards (Pro Stock), each of whom celebrated his first career NHRA Full Throttle Series championship just three months earlier at this track when the curtain fell on the 2009 season.

McClenathan (FRAM dragster) was followed in the final pair by defending champion Tony Schumacher (U.S. Army) and runner-up Larry Dixon (Al-Anabi) and his run held up by a thousandth-of-a-second when Dixon just missed with his time of 3.788.

Pro Stock team owner Victor Cagnazzi, who lives in and headquarters his JEGS.com-sponsored team in NASCAR-crazy Charlotte, N.C., said he gives a thumbs-up to IndyCar regular Danica Patrick for dabbling in stock-car competition. In Saturday's Nationwide Series race at Daytona International Speedway, her JR Motorsports-owned No. 7 GoDaddy.com Chevy will carry the yellow and black JEGS logo that's so familiar to drag-racing fans. It's part of the as part of JEGS contingency sponsorship program.

The NHRA drag racing community rallied around Cagnazzi Racing fabrication manager Todd Bevis last year with prayers, encouragement and fund raisers as he underwent treatment for head and neck cancer. Cagnazzi was proud Friday to report that doctors have given Bevis a cancer-free diagnosis.

“What a blessing!” Cagnazzi said. Bevis, he said, has started working again. “He came back slowly, starting at the end of September. By the end of October, he was storming.”

For the last three years John Force has been funding the Mustang driven by Mike Neff largely out of his own pocket.  While Ford Motor Company did provide some support, it wasn’t enough to keep the operation going by itself, and despite some involvement from the Southern California Auto Club and a one-year deal with Old Spice, something had to give.  Force just could not keep paying the bills himself, and had to make the hard decision to at least temporarily park Neff’s car.  Although Neff is not a member of the Force family as are the other drivers (Ashley Force-Hood and son-in-law Robert Hight), Force has a reputation for treating all of his employees as members of his extended family.  This was not an easy decision to make.

As time passes people tend to forget that before he was a driver Mike Neff was a highly respected crew chief, most recently at Don Schumacher Racing before he got the JFR driving opportunity.  Force was not about to let someone with his talent and skills get away.  In truth, while it probably doesn’t seem like it to Neff, parking his car may have a long-term and very positive impact on the whole race team – and on Neff’s career.  Force has officially named him co-crew chief on his own car, where he’ll work hand-in-hand with Austin Coil and at least part of the time with Bernie Fedderly.

Tony Ruscetta worked for thirty long years in the retail industry and when he decided it was time to retire, he didn’t have to look too hard for something to pass the time.

Ruscetta, of Cranston, RI, chose being a drag racing super fan as the time filler.

For the last three seasons, Ruscetta has crisscrossed the United States, traveling to every NHRA Full Throttle event. He doesn’t get in on a free pass and doesn’t work for a team. Ruscetta pays his way into each and every event, like a true fan.

Troy Buff's official opening Top Fuel pass of the season Thursday certainly looked outstanding on paper. It put him and the Bill Miller Engineering/Okuma Dragster fourth in the provisional order at 3.950 seconds and 286.01 mph. He clicked off the engine early, though, saying Friday, “I knew something was wrong. It showed it has power. But things just break.” By the time he pulled up to the starting line Friday afternoon, Buff was 12th. He stayed there after turning in a 4.108-second run at 223.73 mph.
 
For the unassuming Texan from the Houston-area city of Spring, driving Miller's Don Long-built rail is a bit non-traditional. He said Miller told him in the beginning of their three-year agreement, “This is a test vehicle. We test my rods and pistons. We're never going to win a championship.”

In the past we’ve referred to the NHRA U. S. Nationals as a marathon instead of a sprint because of the sheer number of days and qualifying sessions involved.  In many ways both the Winternationals and Finals at Pomona are also marathons because pro qualifying extends over four days.  The Pomona races are the only ones on the tour that include single qualifying sessions on both Thursday and Friday, and just in case you’ve never understood why, it’s because of the proximity of a nearby school.  It’s not like you’re going to be teaching the kids math or geography when 8,000 horsepower dragsters and Funny Cars are pegging the decibel meters just a few blocks away.

The second day of the 50^th Anniversary Winternationals demonstrated that the competitors are getting back in the groove after a short off-season.  Things seem to be going smoothly, at least for most teams, and now the question of conquering the track seems to have taken precedence over the little things that slowed some operations down yesterday.  That’s not to say, of course, that everyone ran quicker and faster than 24 hours earlier, but you could see in the demeanor of mechanics and tuners that they were ready to get after it.  If the running was good today, it’s going to be even better tomorrow, when there’ll be two pro sessions.  Twenty-four hours from now there are going to be some very disappointed DNQs, but even more excited qualifiers.

In one day John Force crashed a pit bike, nearly got beat up by a fan, shuttled his daughter via scooter through traffic leading into the track in time for her to get low elapsed time and managed enough gumption to run the quickest Funny Car time in Friday’s qualifications. It’s a good thing that downsizing his team to three cars has allowed him to slow down some.

Force’s 4.066 elapsed time on Friday at the NHRA Winternationals was enough to place him third in the field, and well ahead of where he was 24 hours earlier. His Thursday qualifying attempt was disallowed when it was discovered his Castrol Ford had experienced a rear-wheel start.

Larry Dixon qualified No. 1, at least provisionally at the 50th anniversary of the NHRA Winternationals, and this was a special moment for him.

Dixon, a second-generation Top Fuel driver, who along with his father Larry Sr., has won this event. As long as he’s been alive, he’s been at the Pomona season-opener in one capacity or another.

“I’m 43, and I can honestly say that every year of my life … I’ve been at the Winternationals,” Dixon revealed. “That’s cool. There’s years that I haven’t been home to the Valley, but every year I’ve been to the Winternationals in some capacity, sitting in the stands, helping my dad or working for Larry Minor. I was here and it was a part of my life. To compete at the 50th and know I have a chance to win, is an honor.”

Just as he did in his first Arabian Drag Racing League appearance, Alex Hossler (left) employed a holeshot in the Pro Extreme final to win Round 6 of the Arabian 2009-10 season over Sheikh Khalid Al Thani in the right lane at the Qatar Race Club.

Despite learning to drive the unpredictable, supercharged Pro Extreme cars just a few months ago, Al Thani already has earned a reputation as a great “leaver” and he posted another solid .036 reaction time against Hossler, but an unreal .004 reaction in the Illinois racer’s lane spelled victory 3.72 seconds later at 206.32 mph as he nipped the quicker and faster 3.70 at 209.30 put together by the Sheikh.

“Man did we ever earn that one,” an excited Hossler stated later. “I have the best bunch of people surrounding me on this team. It’s all about the perseverance. We tore up a lot of parts during the last race here, but to get it all back together and run like we did says everything.”