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.”

Qualifying No. 1 always is memorable, but Brittany Force had several reasons Friday her feat in the Top Alcohol Dragster class will stand out. The December graduate from Cal State Fullerton, armed with a Bachelors degree in English, started her day at Valadez Middle School in nearby Placentia, where she is about to embark on her student teaching assignment.
 
She became stuck in traffic as she headed out to Auto Club Raceway for her afternoon run and phoned her family. Dad John Force promised to come and rescue her on his scooter. Younger sister Courtney laid out her firesuit and gear so she could jump into it once she arrived at the track.

Larry Dixon joined Robert Hight and Mike Edwards as the provisional pole-sitters after the second of three days of qualifying at the season-opening Kragen O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Winternationals presented by Valvoline on Friday.

Dixon assumed the provisional No. 1 qualifying position in Top Fuel from Thursday pace-setter Cory McClenathan with a 3.795-second pass at 317.79 mph. The run all but ensures that Dixon will be in the show a year after the eventual Series runner-up DNQ’d at last year’s rain-soaked Winternationals, his first race for Al-Anabi Racing.

“We’re going to race this year so I’m thrilled about that…” Dixon said. “Today’s probably more realistic of what we’ll see during the weekend. Alan (Johnson) and Jason (McCulloch) made the adjustments (after the car smoked the tires Thursday) and it stuck so that’s nice.”

Bob Glidden admitted that he was enjoying a perfectly boring life of retirement. The ten-time NHRA Pro Stock champion had been cleared by his doctor to play golf following a rather routine heart procedure, and he was headed to Florida to play a couple of rounds.

Then the phone rang, and on the other line, Glidden said, “It was that little s***.”

That little s***, as Glidden so affectionately nicknames him, is Justin Humphreys, a low-budgeted Pro Stock driver who Glidden believes is a younger version of himself.

Rickie Jones, driver of the Elite Performance Pontiac GXP, sees only positives when assessing the 2010 season.

“The sun is shining, so we are already ahead of where we were last season,” said Rickie Jones, who finished in the top ten of NHRA Pro Stock point earners last year.

“We went to Vegas and did some testing,” said Jones. “It was cold and rainy so, it was kind of hard to tell where we were at. We still have a lot of learning to do for this season.”

Jones has switched engine builders and auto manufacturers, going from Morgan to Elite Performance, and Mopar to GM.  

“We have turned out a lot of cars this season and ours was actually the last one we finished before this race,” Jones explained. “There’s a lot of excitement in kicking off our new engine program with Elite Performance and Jimmy Oliver.”