Justin Humphreys reached the quarters and the finals with a first round win at the Las Vegas Pro Stock Showdown.

On a day where team after team withdrew from competition either in the first round or after it, Humphreys beat Johnny Gray in the final round because they were the only two participants to return for the second round.

A win is a win for Humphreys.

Mike Edwards is a humble man, a humble champion and a dedicated racer.

The 2009 NHRA Pro Stock Champion refused to count his chickens before they hatched last year, but now, with the 2010 season just around the corner, Edwards' face beams with joy when someone says, 'hey champ'.

“That sounds good doesn't it?” he says in response to the accolade.

Good enough to sustain him over the winter as the team faced the daily possibility of not being able to defend their title.

To say that Shane Gray was caught unaware when he slid behind the wheel of his 2010 Pontiac GXP would be unfair. To say he might have underestimated the challenge, might be more accurate.

“I ran Comp (Eliminator) for 2 years in a B/Altered and thought it would be somewhat of an easy step but it is not,” admitted Gray after two days of testing, licensing and qualifying for the Pro Stock Showdown at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. “It’s very tough, but I have a lot of support. My mother and my father have supplied me with the best that we can get our hands on and we’re working on it. My wife has supported me 100% and we’re just going to make the best of it and try to improve as the season goes on and just go from there and see how we do.”

It's been sixteen months since Melanie Troxel strapped into a Funny Car and it's not like riding a bicycle – you don't just jump on and ride.

“Oh it’s a little a nerve wracking going out there after that long kind of like starting over,” Troxel said, adding, “especially after spending you know the last six months driving a different type of car.”

Troxel drove a Pro Mod in 2009 while awaiting for the right opportunity to get back into a Funny Car. She will continue to drive the Pro Mod in 2010 while running eight events in the Funny Car, both for R2B2 and both backed by IN-N-OUT Burger.

What struck some as odd with the NHRA and Don Schumacher Racing alignment with Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates was not the Middle East connection. It was the notion that Top Fuel rivals Tony Schumacher and Hot Rod Fuller would become teammates.
 
Neither driver, though, seems to be too exercised about it.
 
"The way my dad hires people, I thought I'd be teammates with everybody right now," Tony Schumacher said with the snappy delivery of a Conan O'Brien.
 

Defending NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series champion Mike Edwards of Coweta, Okla., earned No. 1 Qualifier status Friday for the Pro Stock Showdown at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Cory McClenathan doesn’t mind being the odd man out in the 2010 Top Fuel hype.

The driver of the FRAM Top Fuel driver barely got a mention in the banter following January’s gathering of nitro cars at Palm Beach International Raceway in Jupiter, Fla.

He’s exactly in the same position headed into 2010 as he finished 2009, within striking distance of the leaders Tony Schumacher and Larry Dixon, the one-two finishers in the 2009 NHRA Countdown to 1 championship. Only a last-race victory by teammate Antron Brown kept him from finishing third in the championship battle.

Pete Berner’s Pontiac GXP has never looked better as it now flies the familiar red, white and blue of Summit Racing Equipment in a unique and eye-catching design by Greg Ozubko. With its new look, the GXP is sure to cause a stir with onlookers as well as with opponents.

Painted by SD Enterprises, the car, which features lightening strikes from the top and crushed pavement along the bottom, reflects the attitude of Berner himself, who hopes to create some excitement of his own during the 2010 ADRL and MMPSA series.