Zak Elcock, NHRA Publicist, introduced Pro Stock driver Mike Edwards to the assembled media at the NHRA Auto Club Finals in Pomona, Ca. As he said, “The 2009 NHRA Pro Stock champion Mr. Mike Edwards”, the newly crown champion smiled.

“Doesn’t that sound good?” Edwards said.

Edwards didn’t just clinch a championship; he did it with an exclamation point.

Nothing could erase the smile off of Hector Arana’s face on Saturday at the NHRA Auto Club Finals, not even his closest challenger seeking a long-shot way to successfully retain his title.

“Hopefully Hector goes out first round and I win the championship,” said Eddie Krawiec with a smile, glancing over at Arana. “Hector is deserving of this championship and he’s done a great job. I was fortunate when I raced for the title last year that I had a great five race series. Hector has had a great season.”

Tony Schumacher scored his second low qualifying effort of 2009 and the timing couldn’t have been better.

Schumacher heads into the final day of the season with a one point lead thanks to a low elapsed time effort on his final nitro qualifying run of 2009. He scored a back-up for a potential new world record with a 3.772 elapsed time at 320.58 miles per hour.

Dixon, the second quickest Top Fuel qualifier, also has a back-up for a new record. The current record is 3.771 seconds held by Schumacher.

Former Jet Dragster pilot Jesse Harris plans to race Top Fuel in 2010.

Harris, of Rome, NY, will drive the Dote Racing Top Fuel dragster in at least five races next season.

“I’m ecstatic,” a jubilant Harris told CompetitionPlus.com. “This is what I’ve been working night and day for – for the last three years. My dream, since 6, was to drive one of these things.”

The Dote family, Len, Mike and Connie, decided they wanted to run a Top Fuel team in 2010 and selected Harris as not only their driver but manager as well.

Team owner Don Schumacher said Saturday that Antron Brown and his Matco Tools Dragster would remain part of his seven-team organization in 2010. However, other than saying he might add "possibly something in the bikes," Schumacher was coy about his plans for next season.
 
He did say that he expects to make an announcement this coming Monday or Tuesday.  
 
Addressing two rumors that have him negotiating with an Abu Dhabi-related fuel-car team and that have him hiring two-time Funny Car champion Tony Pedregon, Schumacher said, "There's so much conversation and so much B.S."

John Force jokes about all the spectacular fires he has had in his Funny Car career that began in 1978. But none burns as intensely as his desire to win. And neither heartache nor broken bones nor a stretch almost as bleak as his 12th-place 1984 season has extinguished it. 

Force, expecting to see three of his longstanding records end this weekend in his worst finish since 1984, found a glimmer of hope in his provisional No. 1 qualifying performance Friday.
 
His 4.060-second pass held up as low elapsed time through Saturday's first session. But daughter Ashley Force Hood dropped him to No. 2 in the final session -- by one mile an hour. She eclipsed his low E.T. with  4.059-second run at 310.20 mph. In the following pairing, he matched her time but clocked a 309.20 -- one mph slower -- as she led the field for the sixth time this year.

By safely qualifying into tomorrow’s 45th annual Auto Club NHRA Finals, Funny Car’s Robert Hight and Pro Stock’s Mike Edwards clinched their first respective NHRA Full Throttle Series world championships on Saturday.

Meanwhile, in the dramatic Top Fuel race, after Larry Dixon took the points lead with the quickest pass in the third qualifying session, Tony Schumacher stole it back in the fourth session with the second-quickest pass in Top Fuel history, a 3.772 second run at 320.58 mph, to take a two-point lead into Sunday’s final eliminations, which start at 11 a.m. (PT).

“That was exactly what we needed. I couldn’t ask for anything more. That’s Army strong,” said Schumacher, who will meet Mike Strasburg in the first round Sunday.

While Tony Schumacher and Larry Dixon battles for the 2009 NHRA Full Throttle Top Fuel championship, third place Cory McClenathan lies in wait. McClenathan is 48 points out of first, a little over two rounds, but that deficit only serves as motivation.

While the media focuses their attention on Schumacher and Dixon, McClenathan carefully plots his path to slip by them both.

“We can be very dangerous because we have a car that’s capable of going A to B 98-percent of the time and it does it very quick,” said McClenathan, a four-time series runner-up.