Tony Pedregon returned to Auto Club Raceway in Pomona, Ca., following a
hospital visit in time to watch his brother Cruz drive to a runner-up
finish. His right hand was bandaged – the after affects of a serious
explosion that annihilated his Quaker State-sponsored Funny Car and
subjected the two-time and defending world champion to one of the worst
fires in drag racing history.

So intense was the fire Pedregon experienced that, on Motel6/ESPN2
video, the lower portion of his firesuit appeared burned away.

"A lot of times when something happens to your car, like when you drop
a cylinder, you feel it, and I would have reacted,” Pedregon said. “But
it blew up, and I had instant flames, like a flame-thrower in my face
and the scary part was I didn't know where I was. I hit the wall very
hard and I feel very lucky. I knew that my hands were burned and I knew
that I got beat up a little. When I got out of the car I thought, ' I
can't believe the car finally stopped and I'm going to get out of it.'
I got out of it slowly because I wanted to make sure the car was
completely stopped.

Defending
Top Fuel world champion Tony Schumacher raced to his 42nd career
victory Sunday at the CARQUEST Auto Parts NHRA Winternationals.

Robert Hight and Greg Anderson also were winners in their respective
categories at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series event, the first of
24 races in 2008.

Schumacher, who with the victory moved to second on the Top Fuel
all-time wins list behind legend Joe Amato (52 wins), covered the Auto
Club Raceway at Pomona quarter-mile dragstrip in 4.499 seconds at
331.28 mph in his U.S. Army dragster, while final round opponent Cory
McClenathan trailed in his FRAM dragster at 4.536 at 329.26.

Sunday's final results from the 48th annual CARQUEST Auto Parts
Winternationals at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona. The race is the first
of 24 in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series:

Point standings (top 10) for NHRA professional categories following the
48th annual CARQUEST Auto Parts Winternationals at Auto Club Raceway at
Pomona, the first of 24 events in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series -

Final round-by-round results from the 48th annual CARQUEST Auto
Parts Winternationals at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona, the first of 24
events in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series:

There’s been considerable confusion
regarding the new qualifying procedure which some believe “locks in”
the quickest 12 cars in each pro category at the conclusion of Friday’s
second session.  Many at the Winternationals were under the mistaken
impression that those 12 cars couldn’t be bumped from their respective
fields regardless of how they performed on Saturday, and this is not
the case.

The new procedure was really put into effect for races later in the
season, when an under-ideal-running-conditions-Friday evening followed
by a 20 degrees and 15 humidity percentage points higher Saturday could
effectively end all hopes of outsiders making the field.

Unquestionably this has been a major problem.  We can recall more than
one U.S. Nationals when there was but a single night session on Friday,
and if you didn’t make it into the show then you would be making
useless “demonstration runs” for the remainder of the weekend.  The
same situation has occurred at other venues, with this new plan
designed to enhance qualifying prospects for the competitors while at
the same time insuring the spectators of a better show.

The first round of Funny Car eliminations during the NHRA
Winternationals in Pomona, Ca., produced more excitement than one could
imagine as Tony Pedregon suffered a devastating explosion and John
Force ran off the end of the track.

Neither driver was apparently seriously injured in the accident, although Pedregon is being tended to by medical staff.

“I broke every rule you can break as a driver. It’s called brain fade,”
Force said. “I was worried about the reaction times because I was late
off of the line because of my foot.”

NASCAR
fans often refer to their favorites by their numbers rather than by
name or sponsors.  That’s never been the case in drag racing, where the
car numbers are almost downplayed. But, when Mike Ashley and Melanie
Troxel’s cars came to the starting line yesterday one couldn’t help but
notice the massive car numbers that were on display on the back of
everyone’s uniforms as well as on the leading edge of the two Dodge’s
roofs.  We caught up with Ashley to ask him about it.

“I’ve never been like a follow-the-leader guy.  I’ve always been like
the leader and then hoped people would follow me.  I like to do things
the way I see them.  I think our sport fell into these paradigms, these
habits that that’s the way it is.  You get these uniforms, and you go
up (to the starting line) with skulls or whatever’s on them and that’s
it.  I kind of felt like this is a sport and it takes a team to win or
lose these things.  If you look at other sports you see jerseys in
those sports, and I felt like I wanted to unite or people into a real
team.

BROWN ENTERS FIRST TOP FUEL RACE IN NO. 1 SPOT; WILKERSON, ANDERSON ALSO NO.1 AT CARQUEST AUTO PARTS WINTERNATIONALS

Antron Brown finished the day with a solid pass of 4.526 at 331.61 mph, resetting a career-best speed for the Indiana resident.

Former Pro Stock Motorcycle rider Antron Brown raced to his first No. 1
qualifying position Saturday at the CARQUEST Auto Parts NHRA
Winternationals at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona.

Tim Wilkerson and Greg Anderson also were the No. 1 qualifiers in their
respective categories at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series event,
the first of 24 events in the 2008 season.

Brown, who earned 11 No. 1 qualifying awards in nearly a decade of
racing on two wheels, was able to stay at the top of the field after a
competitive day of qualifying. His run of 4.495 at 330.07 from Friday
in his Matco Tools dragster was good enough to lead the 16 car field.

Top Fuel driver Clay Millican’s car is not in action at the
Winternationals, but the colorful Tennessee driver is on hand offering
succinct commentary alongside stellar announcer Bob Frey.  Millican’s
car is owned by Evan Knoll who, as everyone knows, has taken a leave of
absence from his drag racing endeavors because of health reasons. 
Since there are a lot of rumors circulating about the status of Knoll’s
teams, we sought out Millican for clarification of the situation.

“All of the guys who have been with me for years and years are still
with me.  The whole team is still intact.  Lance (Larsen) and Johnny
(West) are still working.  Our team is continuing to move forward. 
We’re putting new race cars together literally every day.  We just
signed the lease on a new shop that Even wanted us to move into, so
we’ve kinda spent the last few days as construction workers.  It’s
really going to be a cool shop. It’s got a paved Go Kart track behind
it.  My shins are sore because we’ve been out there crashin’ into each
other!

“The team’s fine.  I don’t know when we’re going to go racing, but
nobody’s frustrated yet.  The majority of those guys have been with me
for years and years, and that’s home for everybody.  We all live there,
and we’ve been as busy as normal.  Now, I don’t know what’ll happen a
few months from now.