Mike Edwards believes one of the great things about the NHRA Winternationals is its ability for teams to see where they stack up after an off-season chock full of relentless work. The defending NHRA Pro Stock champion could only smile to see that not much has changed since the last time he raced in Pomona.

He’s still an arm and a leg ahead of the competition.

“Ran a really good run the first run today,” said Edwards, who was .013 seconds ahead of second-ranked Jeg Coughlin. “We kinda tried some things tonight but didn't feel like we got what we needed. I am just really, extremely really proud of guys and the effort they put in. It feels real good to come out here and run good starting out the year.”

Robert Hight, 2009 NHRA Funny Car world champion, understands that being the champion has its privileges. Case in point, when you’re sitting in your

Funny Car, you can look up and see an airplane towing a banner of your likeness across the Southern California sky.

“That was pretty cool,” Hight said of the sponsor AAA Auto Club of Southern California’s sponsorship/championship activation. “Flying banners around and buying USA Today ads. All of the big papers on Thanksgiving.”

It’s called a slingshot and Top Fuel racer Cory McClenathan plans to perfect it this season.

Trailing behind Tony Schumacher and Larry Dixon, two drivers apparently running at peak power, McClenathan pulled out of line to slingshot past them for the 34^th No. 1 qualifying effort of his career.

“We saw the air getting better and better as time went on, and then we just figured, ‘what did we have to lose?'” McClenathan admitted. “We knew Tony would run good, just a tick above us, and we knew that Larry would too.”

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.