Losing a first round race is always tough, but when it takes you out of championship contention, the sting is magnified.

FRAM Top Fuel dragster driver Cory McClenathan lost a crucial first
round race in eliminations that put the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing
Series Top Fuel championship out of reach for the 17-year Top Fuel
veteran, who dropped from No. 2 to No. 4 in the Countdown to 1 points
chase.

No. 4 qualifier McClenathan was matched up against No. 13 Morgan Lucas
in the opening round. McClenathan left the starting line first with a
.068 to .095 reaction time (.000 is perfect), but tire shake forced him
to pedal the throttle early in the run, slowing him to a 3.970-second
elapsed time at 307.37 mph. Lucas drove past him to take the win with a
3.881/309.77.

Reigning series titlist  Jeg Coughlin Jr. more than doubled his lead in the POWERade championship chase from 32 to 74 points with a runner-up finish Sunday at the third annual Virginia NHRA Nationals at Virginia Motorsports Park.

Racing in his seventh final of the season, the 38-year-old Coughlin
drove past John Nobile, Mike Edwards, and Johnny Gray before being
nipped in the money round by Dave Connolly, his teammate at Victor
Cagnazzi Racing. Coughlin's JEGS.com Chevrolet Cobalt was the quickest
car in the first and third rounds on the day.

"We're definitely excited with the weekend," Coughlin said. "Of course,
we wanted to seal the deal in the final but it was good to see Dave win
and move right up to third in the points. We kept it in the Victor
Cagnazzi Racing family so it's all good.

The world’s fastest female Hillary Will, driving the 8,000-horsepower
Palm Beach Int’l Raceway Top Fuel dragster for KB Racing, LLC, came up
just one round short of her second win of the 2008 NHRA POWERade Drag
Racing Series Sunday during final eliminations of the Virginia NHRA
Nationals at Virginia Motorsports Park in Richmond, Va. However, with
her final-round appearance, Will moved up from 5th to 2nd place in
POWERade championship points.

Will, the No. 2 qualifier (3.799 sec., 315.49 mph), dispatched of No.
15 qualifier T.J. Zizzo in round one of Sunday’s eliminations. In the
quarterfinals, Will defeated her Kalitta Motorsports teammate Dave
Grubnic, driver of the DHL Top Fuel dragster, in a great side-by-side
drag race, 3.877 seconds, 306.12 mph to 3.882 sec., 302.14 mph. Will
made her third final-round trip of the 2008 NHRA season after
vanquishing Doug Herbert in the semifinals, 3.837 sec., 302.96 mph to
5.604 sec., 142.97 mph.

Veteran racer Jay Payne became the seventh winner of the JEGS ProMod Challenge season Sunday by beating
first-time finalist Scott Ray in the money round of the third annual
Virginia NHRA Nationals at Virginia Motorsports Park.

It was the first win of the season for the 2006 series champion and it
stole some of the attention away from a nip-and-tuck championship
battle between reigning titlist Josh Hernandez and Tony Pontieri, who
are now just 20 points apart in the JEGS points with one race left.

In a race unique to O'Reilly Farmington Dragway's normal program, fans turned out heavily to enjoy Saturday's open field Quick-8,
featuring nitrous as well as blower car entries. Fan appeal and
performance combos were diverse, and with weather as close to perfect
as you can imagine, Farmington's special event didn't disappoint. In
the end, Todd Tutterow was victorious over Dale Brinsfield.
 
Fans came out of their seats in the opening round of qualifying when
Todd Tutterow guided his C-5 Corvette down Farmington's concrete lane,
posting a 200mph lap across the scoreboard. Tutterow's 3.923 instantly
shot him to the top of the qualifying sheet, lowering that time to a
3.922 @ 199mph in round two.

Yes, Tony Schumacher won again.

Yes, he won the first round for the 24th consecutive time.

No, he didn’t clinch the championship.

Huh?

Schumacher won Don Schumacher Racing’s 121st national event at the NHRA Virginia Nationals in Richmond by stopping
Hillary Will, the second place runner who trails by 212 points.

Technically that’s still not enough to seal the deal. Fourteen wins in seventeen final rounds and the deal still wasn’t sealed.

CRUZ PEDREGON, CONNOLLY DRIVE WAY INTO CHAMPIONSHIP CONTENTION

Schumacher continues record-setting season with 14th win

Funny
Car driver Cruz Pedregon and Pro Stocker Dave Connolly closed out
clutch wins on Sunday at the Virginia NHRA Nationals to go from
afterthought to legitimate challenger in the race for the 2008 NHRA
POWERade Series championships.

The other winner at the fourth of six races in the NHRA Playoff, the
Countdown to 1, was Top Fuel ace Tony Schumacher, who continued his
record-breaking season with his 14th win and first at Virginia
Motorsports Park (the only two remaining tracks where Schumacher has
yet to win are Topeka and Atlanta).

Pedregon, the 1992 POWERade Series world champion, defeated first-place
Tim Wilkerson in the semifinals and second-place Jack Beckman in the
finals – Pedregon running a 4.113 at 296.44 in his Advance Auto Parts
Toyota Solara to Beckman’s 7.503 at 88.14 in his Valvoline/MTS Dodge
Charger – en route to his first win in more than two years (Las Vegas 1
in April 2006).

Point standings (top 10) for NHRA professional categories following
the Third annual Virginia NHRA Nationals at Virginia Motorsports Park,
the 22nd of 24 events in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series -

Top Fuel

1.  Tony Schumacher, 2,527; 2.  Hillary Will, 2,315; 3.  Antron Brown,
2,283; 4.  Cory McClenathan, 2,278; 5.  Larry Dixon, 2,253; 6.  Doug
Herbert, 2,245; 7.  Brandon Bernstein, 2,240; 8.  Rod Fuller, 2,179;
9.  Doug Kalitta, 2,145; 10.  David Grubnic, 2,110.

Sunday's final results from the Third annual Virginia NHRA Nationals at
Virginia Motorsports Park.  The  race is the 22nd of 24 in the NHRA
POWERade Drag Racing Series:

Top Fuel -- Tony Schumacher, 3.811 seconds, 316.08 mph  def. Hillary Will, 3.847 seconds, 307.09 mph.

Final round-by-round results from the Third annual Virginia NHRA
Nationals at Virginia Motorsports Park, the 22nd of 24 events in the
NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series:

TOP FUEL:

ROUND ONE -- Antron Brown, 3.803, 314.90 def. Brandon Bernstein,
3.832, 312.93; David Grubnic, 3.848, 313.00 def. Rod Fuller, 3.836,
314.24; Doug Herbert, 3.789, 317.27 def. Tim Boychuk, 3.957, 283.07;
J.R. Todd, 3.822, 315.27 def. Larry Dixon, 3.820, 312.93; Tony
Schumacher, 3.783, 317.42 def. Scott Palmer, 4.033, 291.45; Hillary
Will, 3.850, 310.27 def. T.J. Zizzo, 4.658, 161.36; Morgan Lucas,
3.881, 309.70 def. Cory McClenathan, 3.970, 307.37; Bob Vandergriff,
3.885, 309.77 def. Doug Kalitta, 3.905, 295.27;

QUARTERFINALS --
Lucas, 3.861, 308.85 def. Vandergriff, 6.608, 88.70; Will, 3.877,
306.12 def. Grubnic, 3.882, 302.14; Herbert, 3.831, 302.55 def. Todd,
3.845, 312.42; Schumacher, 3.779, 318.54 def. Brown, 3.847, 300.20;

SEMIFINALS -- Will, 3.837, 302.96 def. Herbert, 5.604, 142.97; Schumacher, 3.795, 314.68 def. Lucas, 3.885, 308.21;

FINAL -- Schumacher, 3.811, 316.08 def. Will, 3.847, 307.09.