Robert Hight was quickly reminded how important it is to spend the off season refining a team's combination.

Hight thundered past Del Worsham for the top qualifying position during
the NHRA Kragen O'Reilly Winternationals with a 4.037 second pass.

“It just shows how hard we worked over the winter,” Hight said, in a
post-qualifying press conference. “The last few winters we have focused
on safety and new cars. We went back before the season and looked at
what we had lost mostly with. We tried to refine that and put in a few
new ideas. We’re hoping for consistency because I don’t think you will
see one team dominate in the Funny Car class.”

Suppose you’re a crew chief and
you haven’t tested during the off-season. Couple that with two days of
rain and a third one with iffy conditions, where would you start?

For Rahn Tobler the answer lies in experience.

Someone pulled a prank on the ultra-conservative Top Fuel team owner and manufacturer Bill Miller at Pomona.

Miller showed up at last year's NHRA World Finals with a sticker on the scoop of his dragster proclaiming, "NoBama".

John Force’s Funny Cars were the subject of scrutiny during Wednesday’s technical inspections. The source of the problem was a 45-degree wicker used by Funny Cars to channel air around the unique injector scoop.

According to our source, the same wicker approved by NHRA tech
officials during the National Time Trials test session in Phoenix, Az.,
was deemed illegal by officials in Pomona.

If misery loves company, then Larry Dixon’s failure to qualify has company in Tim Wilkerson.

Dixon, in his national event debut for Alan Johnson Al-Anabi Racing,
missed the sixteen-car field at the NHRA Kragen O'Reilly Winternationals when he shook the tires, leading to a
broken ignition. This marked the former world champions first DNQ since 2006.

“To say we’re disappointed might be the biggest understatement ever,”
Dixon said. “Sheik Khalid was here and we really wanted to put on a
good show for him. We came to Pomona with the same high expectations as
everyone else, but sometimes parts break; there’s nothing we could have
done differently. It’s unfortunate, but NHRA awards the same number of
points at Phoenix, and we’ll be ready to go.”

Greg Anderson admitted that starting the lone Pro Stock session during
the NHRA Kragen O'Reilly Winternationals only to have rain suspend it,
was more than he was prepared to endure.

“You sit around all winter and we were anxious to get a shot at that
track, if only to see how we stacked up against everyone else,”
Anderson said.

Anderson drove his way to the No. 1 spot with a 6.588 elapsed time at 209.59 MPH.

Early in the only nitro Funny Car qualifying session during the NHRA
Kragen O'Reilly Winternationals in Pomona, Ca, the left lane began
showing bogus speeds on the scoreboard before going out completely. 

The NHRA made a decision to race ahead instead of halting action, which would have likely forced postponement due to rain.

In checking the incremental elapsed times of low qualifier Antron Brown
and Joe Hartley, the NHRA decided their runs, although obviously quick,
could not be counted as legit runs.

BROWN, HIGHT AND ANDERSON EARN TOP QUALIFYING POSITIONS AT KRAGEN O’REILLY NHRA WINTERNATIONALS

Antron Brown raced to the No. 1 qualifying position in Top Fuel Saturday at the Kragen O’Reilly NHRA Winternationals.

After waiting out two days of rain delays, race teams were able to
complete a round of qualifying at historic Auto Club Raceway at Pomona.
Rain showers late in the day kept the final qualifying order to a
single session.

Robert Hight and Greg Anderson also will lead their respective
categories into Sunday’s 11 a.m. eliminations at the first of 24 events
in the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series.

Antron Brown (Top Fuel), Robert Hight (Funny Car) and Greg Anderson
(Pro Stock) were the early leaders in qualifying for the NHRA Kragen
O’Reilly Winternationals in Pomona, Ca.

The unbelievable became the believable shortly before Noon. Pro Stock
was called to the lanes after the NHRA successfully completed a round
of eliminations for Stock eliminator and one round of Top Alcohol
Dragster.

Four pairs of Pro Stockers ran before a rain shower halted the session.

With new crew chief Rob Flynn making the tune-up calls on the Kenny Bernstein-owned Budweiser/Lucas Oil dragster for the 2009
season, the team is motivated and fighting for a seventh family
championship, the first for second-generation driver Brandon.

Team owner Kenny Bernstein dominated Funny Car competition in the
1980s, racking up four consecutive NHRA championships (1985-1988)
during a decade in which his team’s technological advances changed the
face of competition.  He scored two more championships in Top Fuel
(1996, 2001), becoming the first driver in NHRA history to win
championships in both nitro categories.  But above his championships,
Kenny calls his greatest and most memorable achievement becoming the
first in history to surpass the 300 mile-per-hour barrier (1992).