2010 NHRA FRAM NATIONALS - EVENT RESULTS
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SUNDAY FINAL - RON CAPPS BREAKS WINLESS SREAK WITH SONOMA VICTORY
The other winners at the 15th race in the 23-race NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series season were Larry Dixon (Top Fuel), Jeg Coughlin (Pro Stock) and Michael Phillips (Pro Stock Motorcycle).
The owner of the NAPA Dodge Charger team, Don Schumacher, switched crew chiefs – bringing in John Medlen to replace Ed “Ace” McCulloch – in June and in the three races since the move Capps reached the quarterfinals in Norwalk, the final round in Seattle, and the Winner’s Circle in Sonoma.
“It’s all confidence and confidence is built on success,” said Capps (4.169, 296.44), who defeated teammate Jack Beckman (4.210, 298.93) and the Valvoline/MTS Dodge Charger team in the final round for his first win since the Mopar Mile-High Nationals in July 2009. “It’s really a pleasure working with (John Medlen). His approach to racing is let’s have fun. Let’s win, but let’s have fun, too. I can’t even tell you how exciting that is for me.”
The win was the 31st for Capps, who moved up from seventh to fifth place in the Funny Car standings and clinched a berth in the Countdown to 1 NHRA Playoffs. Also clinching berths in Funny Car were Matt Hagan, Beckman and Tim Wilkerson.
In Top Fuel, Dixon (3.879, 317.12) and the Al-Anabi team defeated arch-rival Tony Schumacher (4.006, 300.73) and the U.S. Army team to remain perfect in final rounds this season, winning for the eighth time in eight trips there including twice against Schumacher.
“You know when you’re racing Tony, he’s won a lot of races and the last six championships so you know he’s going to keep you honest,” Dixon said. “You’ve got to go up there and fire your best shot and hope it’s enough. I enjoy racing him. When you (beat the U.S. Army team), there’s no blower belt coming off, you know he’s going to make you earn it so when you do win it makes it that much more gratifying.”
The win capped off a weekend sweep for Dixon, who qualified No. 1 and was competing in his 100th career final round.
“The car was flawless, unbelievable job by Alan Johnson just pulling everyone on the team. You see those numbers, running 84 a couple of times, to me that humbling. They were on their game. They weren’t leaving anything in their back pocket,” Dixon said.
In Pro Stock, Coughlin delivered a stout 6.590 at 209.52 in the JEGS.com Chevy Cobalt to defeat Jason Line (6.502, 209.39) in his Summit Racing Pontiac GXP. Like Dixon, Coughlin was also in his 100th career NHRA Full Throttle Series final round and the win was his 51st, one shy of Joe Amato for eighth place on the all-time NHRA Full Throttle Series wins list.
“It was a good race car and that’s exactly what you need in Pro Stock when you’re separated by literally 10-thousandths of a second. There is no room for error,” Coughlin said.
Coughlin also defeated the other half of the Summit team, Greg Anderson, who had won the previous two races, in the second round.
“They are multi-time world champions so any time you get by them it’s awesome, to get by both of them in the same day, that’s a tough feat,” Coughlin said.
Line did clinch a berth in the Countdown to 1.
In Pro Stock Motorcycle, Phillips set a national record for speed aboard the Racers Edge Suzuki with his 6.886-second pass at 196.76 mph in the final round and he needed every bit of the power to defeat Andrew Hines’ 6.909 at 194.16.
“We’ve been playing with different carburetors and that’s where we picked up. We’ve been running crazy mile-per-hour,” Phillips said. 
Phillips, Matt Smith and Andrew Hines all clinched berths in the Countdown to 1.
None of the three winners from Seattle repeated so there will be no chance for a sweep of the Western Swing, which will conclude next weekend, July 23-25, with the 31st running of the Mopar Mile-High Nationals at Bandimere Speedway outside Denver.
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SATURDAY QUALIFYING - BECKMAN RECORDS FIRST NO. 1 OF 2010, THIRD OF CAREER
Dixon, Allen Johnson and Hector Arana also pace respective fields 
Funny Car driver Jack Beckman set both ends of the Infineon Raceway track record en route to his first No. 1 qualifier of 2010 at the 23rd annual FRAM-Autolite NHRA Nationals Saturday.
The other No. 1 qualifiers at the 15th of 23 events in the NHRA Full Throttle Series season were Larry Dixon (Top Fuel), Allen Johnson (Pro Stock) and Hector Arana (Pro Stock Motorcycle).
Beckman paced the Funny Car field with a 4.063-second pass at 311.56 mph on Friday night in his Valvoline/MTS Dodge Charger and the time held up on a warmer afternoon on Saturday. The No. 1 was the third of Beckman’s career.
“I signed a visor this morning for a cancer fundraiser and I started to write, and this was this morning, No. 1 qualifier and I thought, ‘I cannot do that,’” Beckman said. “It was going to be pretty tough for anybody to run anything better than a 4.12 but I still didn’t sign (No. 1). I told the guy to bring it back at the end of the day and hopefully I could add No. 1 to it.”
Also in Funny Car, Robert Hight clinched his berth in the Countdown to 1 NHRA Playoffs
The No. 1 qualifier for Dixon (3.839 at a track record 317.79 mph) was his fifth this season in the Al-Anabi dragster and the 45th of his career, moving him into a tie with Angelle Sampey for ninth place on the all-time list of No. 1 qualifiers (all classes) in NHRA Full Throttle Series history.
“Really, today was a good day just being able to get two runs in in the sun which is what we’ll be racing in (Sunday),” Dixon said. “We were fourth quick in the first session (Saturday) and second quick in the second session. So overall there were some things (Alan Johnson and Jason McCulloch were) working on, some good and some bad, and hopefully it will pay off tomorrow.”
In Pro Stock, Allen Johnson led the field with a 6.545 at 210.77 (both track records) in his Team Mopar Dodge Avenger on Friday and it held up on Saturday for his third No. 1 of 2010 and the 10th of his career.
“I think the conditions this afternoon will be like the conditions we’ll see in the first round tomorrow, may be even a little warmer,” Johnson said. “We didn’t do too good of a job tuning for tomorrow on that last run, but we’ve got a good car and a veteran team.”
In Pro Stock Motorcycle, defending NHRA Full Throttle Series champion and current points leader Hector Arana (6.876 at 192.69) set the track record for elapsed time en route to his fourth No. 1 of 2010 aboard the Lucas Oil Buell.
“The bike left good, I knew I was on a good run, it drifted a little bit to the left and I corrected it and to my surprise it was an 87 so I was pleased and happy with it,” Arana said.
Final eliminations at the 23rd annual FRAM-Autolite NHRA Nationals will begin at 11 a.m. PT on Sunday.
SATURDAY FIRST SESSION -
SPORTSMAN RESULTS
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FRIDAY SECOND ROUND QUALIFYING - BECKMAN IN POSITION FOR FIRST NO. 1 OF 2010
Dixon, Allen Johnson and Matt Smith also pace respective fields
Jack Beckman is in position to earn his first No. 1 qualifier of the season at the halfway point of qualifying at the 23rd annual FRAM-Autolite NHRA Nationals.
The other provisional No. 1 qualifiers at the 15th of 23 events in the NHRA Full Throttle Series season were Larry Dixon (Top Fuel), Allen Johnson (Pro Stock) and Matt Smith (Pro Stock Motorcycle).
Because of a late delay in the night qualifying session, the second Top Fuel qualifying session was cancelled due to curfew and that left Dixon, who paced the field with a 3.839-second pass at 317.79 mph in the first session, as the overnight leader.
“We only got that one session in, but I’m glad it was a good one for us. It was a great run (but) gosh, I was disappointed we didn’t get another shot at it. Bummer,” said Dixon, who drives the Al-Anabi dragster.
Beckman paced the Funny Car field early with a 4.063-second pass at 311.56 mph in his Valvoline/MTS Dodge Charger and he had to wait out five pairs before it was official. It would be just the third No. 1 of his career.
“I told the crew guys, ‘I try never to get emotionally wrapped up in this deal, but man would it be cool if everybody else smoked the tires and we ended up No. 1,” Beckman said. “I was very surprised that we outlasted those 10 cars (and) I think tomorrow it’s going to be extremely difficult for someone to get in under that.”
In Pro Stock, Allen Johnson led the field with a 6.545 at 210.77 in his Team Mopar Dodge Avenger that set both ends of the track record. If it holds up, it would be his third No. 1 of 2010 and the 10th of his career.
“The conditions to 300 feet … that was the best conditions we’ve seen in awhile,” Johnson said. “The track’s awesome. The air’s awesome and I made a ‘decent’ run. Hopefully that’ll hold.”
In Pro Stock Motorcycle, Matt Smith claimed the provisional pole on the Al-Anabi Buell with a 6.912-second pass at 191.32 mph.
“Right now I’m happy. Our Al-Anabi V-Twin is running awesome and I can’t say enough for it,” Smith said. “The morning will be a fast session because we usually have a tailwind. If we have a tailwind and the air is this good, you’ll see some 87s or 88s.”
Qualifying at the 23 annual FRAM-Autolite NHRA Nationals concludes with the third and fourth sessions on Saturday when the fields will be set for Sunday’s final eliminations.
FRIDAY FIRST ROUND QUALIFYING -
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