EVENT NEWS EVENT NOTEBOOK POINTS AFTER EVENT ROUND-BY-ROUND RESULTS FINAL ROUND RESULTS			EVENT GALLERY

 

SUNDAY FINAL NOTEBOOK -

COOL IN THE CLUTCH - Sometimes National Hot Rod Association fans and followers forget that Spencer Massey already has won an International Hot Rod Association Top Fuel championship.
 
So although he is just 28 years old and in only his third NHRA season, and in his first year driving for Don Schumacher Racing, in only his 33rd NHRA event, he knows the drag-racing drill well.
 
Therefore, it was no surprise that after beating Bob Vandergriff in Sunday's final round to win the Summer Nationals at Heartland Park Topeka, Massey said, "I remember sitting there in the car, the motor running, about to turn on the top light to stage, thinking it's just another drag race -- go up there and stage it, leave the starting line, and get to the finish line first.
 
"That's the way you have to do it to be a professional, to be a machine," the Fort Worth, Texas, native said after recording the third victory of his NHRA career and earning $40,000. "Don't act like you're in the final round. You're up there, having a good time, driving a race car. That's what I love to do."
 
It showed, as he used a 3.914-second, 312.78-mph pass in the - FRAM/Prestone Dragster to beat Vandergriff's 3.962 / 302.21 clocking.
 
Massey advanced past Luigi Novelli, Terry McMillen, and Tony Schumacher for the right to make his first final-round appearance of the season and first for Don Schumacher Racing.
 
Vandergriff, driving the C&J Energy Services Dragster, reached the final at the expense of three high-powered drivers: Brandon Bernstein, points leader Del Worsham, and Doug Kalitta.
 
He was seeking the first victory of his career in his 13th overall final-round appearance and first of the season -- quite a boost for the 46-year-old Alpharetta, Ga., resident  who entered the event with a 1-5 elimination-round record and started from the No. 10 position. After all, when Vandergriff advanced to the quarterfinals last weekend at Atlanta, that marked the first time he had done so since Oct. 5, 2009, at Memphis.
 
Massey said he was aware of Vandergriff's possible "Lucky 13th" crack at a victory.
 
"He's hungry for it. He's been out here racing for many, many years. I grew up watching him racing," Massey said, adding that "Bob Vandergriff was right there" and that he "was looking up and praying for the win light."
 
But he said he was determined not to lose Sunday. "We've smoked the tires and beaten ourselves. We can't beat ourselves anymore," he said, indicating he relied on crew chiefs Phil Shuler and Todd Okuhara, who gave him a dragster that "went (3.)89 in the heat -- it was spectacular (in rounds 2 and 3 Sunday).
 
"It feels unbelievable," Massey said of the victory, the lone one for DSR Sunday, although stablemates Tony Schumacher and Jack Beckman had earned top-qualifying honors in Top Fuel and Funny Car, respectively. "We have consistency now. It pays to have crew chiefs who mingle with each other. We're here (conducting a winner's interview) because they did a great job."
 
As the tour heads to the SuperNationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park at Englishtown, N.J., Massey improved from fifth to fourth in the standings. Worsham remains the leader, with Schumacher second and Larry Dixon third.
 
NOTHING LIKE 200 - John Force has won 132 National Hot Rod Association Funny Car events, but it was that 21st by his son-in-law, Robert Hight, Sunday in the Summer Nationals at Heartland Park Topeka the cemented the organization's 200-victory milestone.
 
Whether it would come in the final was no mystery, for Hight defeated his John Force Racing mate Mike Neff in a battle of Ford Mustangs between the Nos. 3 and 4 qualifiers while Force paced the sidelines after his opening-round loss to Jim Head.
 
With a 4.284-second pass at 264.86 mph in the Auto Club of Southern California entry -- one of his more forgettable times of the weekend -- Hight won the tire smoking struggle against Neff, who posted a 4.562 / 215.27 in the Castrol GTX Mustang in their first final-round meeting.
 
Jamie Allison, director of Ford North America Motorsports,  said, "John Force Racing reaching 200 wins is such an incredible accomplishment and a milestone that will stand in NHRA history for many, many years.
 
"John Force himself is such an icon of the sport and someone whose success has stood the test of time. This 200-win mark is really a testament to his leadership, and it shows what a team can do when each person involved pulls in the same direction," Allison said. "Every driver in the John Force Racing stable contributed to that number, and they should be proud. I know all of us at Ford Racing are proud of them for reaching that incredible number of wins."
 
Tony Pedregon accounted for 27 of them, Gary Densham eight, Eric Medlen six, Ashley Force Hood four, and Neff two. Fourteen of them came at Topeka, second-most (tied with Brainerd, Minn.) on the impressive list. The Auto Club Raceway at Pomona, Calif., had yielded the most (22) for the organization.
 
The victory was Hight's second straight at Heartland Park Topeka and his third in seven races this season. It represents the first back-to-back victory performances of his career.
 
"We really don't look at anything personally over here at John Force Racing. It is all about team," Hight, who also won this year at Pomona and Las Vegas,” he said.
 
The former JFR clutch specialist said this racetrack carries extra-special sentiment for him.
 
"I came into this race 16 years ago. I flew to this race to be a part of John Force Racing. This is the race I was hired at," Hight said. "I met with (co-crew chiefs) Austin Coil and Bernie Fedderly. I honestly thought then that my dreams had come true. I thought, 'I am on John Force's Funny Car championship team.' I didn't know what my job duties were going to be, and I didn't care. I was just glad to be here -- and to now be a small part of history like this 200 wins is great. I can't even believe it is me.
 
"This is now my dream come true. This is unbelievable," Hight said. "It is really about the team and the people. John has put together a team that is unbelievable from the previous people like (Austin) Coil and Bernie Fedderly. I honestly believe John has set this team up to go for 300 wins. We have sponsorship that is long term.
 
"John has won over half of those (200) races himself with Coil, Bernie, and Eric Medlen,  John Medlen, Gary Densham, Ashley Force (Hood), and all these people that have come before us," Hight said.
 
He gave a special nod to two who helped him win Sunday -- one a crew member, the other Neff.
 
"Neff and (Hight crew chief) Jimmy Prock have been working so close together and that is really how my car got turned around this weekend. Mike Neff has really helped us out. It has been feast or famine for us. Either we do well or we lose first round," Hight said.
 
Hight crew member David Karcanes -- a.k.a "Shafty" -- got his finger caught in the blower belt before the second round was undergoing surgery Sunday afternoon in Topeka.
 
"It has been a crazy day," Hight said. "One of my crew members went down second round. We backed up from the burn-out and they lifted the body. He was trying to fix something on the engine. I am not sure what it was. And he got his finger caught in the blower belt. Right now he is in surgery and he is going to lose some of his thumb. It is tough when you lose a team member. Luckily, we have other teammates than can chip in and help but it is still not the same.
 
"I want to dedicate this win to him," Hight said of  Karcanes. "We can't get to 201 without him. We want him to get well and get back with us quickly."
 
Hight said he just discovered that this victory was Prock's 50th win as a nitro crew chief. Said Hight, "It's kind of ironic that he got it when we got our 200th win. I think I have more wins with him than any of his other drivers. That really makes me proud."
 
Neff said afterward, "Robert's car, when they are on, they are on. It is good to see them running well. It is a win-win."
 
Hight had said of his Auto Club Mustang Saturday after qualifying, "I like our chances. I think we are in good shape. We are running good and we are not hurting anything. .It is definitely going down the track."
 
It did Sunday, against Dale Creasy Jr., Matt Hagan, and Johnny Gray. Meanwhile, Neff advanced past Tony Pedregon, Cruz Pedregon, and Jack Beckman to guarantee JFR its milestone victory.
 
Said Force just before their final-round launch: "These kids have worked real hard. They're going to give me my 200th, and I'm real proud of that."
 
Neff, the Gainesville winner making his fourth final-round appearance in seven races, remains the Funny Car points leader as the tour heads to Old Bridge Township Raceway Park at Englishtown, N.J., for the NHRA SuperNationals. Beckman is 36 points off the pace, and Hight is third, trailing Neff by 64 points.
 
In other JFR news, Funny Car driver-in-training Courtney Force was graduated from Cal State Fullerton this past weekend.

A WELCOME BOOST - Shane Gray knew he hadn't lost his ability to drive a Pro Stock car after making a strong bid for the 2010 rookie of the year award. He still was eye-blink-quick at the Christmas Tree. And he knew he was surrounded by an excellent drag-racing crew for his Service Central Pontiac GXP.
 
But he had won only two rounds this National Hot Rod Association season and entered this weekend's Summer Nationals in 11th place in the standings.
 
"We had some car issues," he said. "We dissected the car, dissected the motor, dissected the people, and started over. We probably made 100 test runs."
 
It all paid off Sunday at Heartland Park Topeka, as he regained his confidence and beat Greg Stanfield in his first final-round appearance of the year for the second victory of his career.
 
Dad Johnny Gray was at the starting line, watching, after missing out on a chance to reach the final round himself in the Funny Car class. He lost to eventual winner Robert Hight in their semifinal.
 
The former Pro Stock driver and teammate (who remains team owner) gave his son some advice. It wasn't technical but it was time-tested: "Have fun, Bud. It's just a drag race."
 
Shane Gray, grateful for the victory because he figured he has "struggled since the year started," nevertheless said, "Drag racing is very important to us, but there's a lot more important things in life. We're just blessed to be here. There's lots of people who would love to be in our shoes. So you need to just be proud of what you've got, no matter what it is."
 
What Shane Gray had Sunday was a car that ran well. Though harsh on himself, Gray at least admitted that his Pontiac "did run down some heavy hitters."
 
He said, "The driver didn't do such a good job. I'm not too pleased with my performance. I'd been late on the tree all day. I don’t usually get left on, but I did pretty much all day today. But the Service Central car ran well. This win goes to Ian (Landies) and Craig (Hankinson) and the entire Service Central team. They're the ones who earned this win today."
 
After defeating Erica Enders, Gray knocked out both Jason Line and Greg Anderson, who have grabbed the majority of Pro Stock victories this season, to reach the final round.
 
"The Summit team didn't run up to par today," Gray said, "but they're still the team to beat. I think we're closing in on them a little bit at a time. We're not in their league yet, but we're hoping to be someday."
 
He said neither he nor Stanfield was stellar on the tree in the final round.
 
"Greg and I both were uncharacteristically late. It was just Service Central's time to win," Gray said. "The team provided me a car that can win."    
 
Gray took the lead at about half-track on the 1,320-foot course and defeated Stanfield for the first time in their four encounters. He won with a 6.679-second elapsed time at 206.95 mph to Stanfield's 6.693, 206.29, by a margin of .007 of a second, or about two feet.
 
Said Hankinson, waiting for Gray to get out of his car and get his helmet off, "We were due. We were due."
 
Gray said, "It's the hardest thing I've ever tried to do, being competitive in Pro Stock. It's a very unpredictable class." To be a standout, he said, "you've got to be sharp on the tree."
 
Stanfield, driving the J&T Racing / Coffman Tank Trucks/ Nitro Fish /Indicom Electric /Yonke Motorsports Pontiac GXP, was making his third trip to the final round this season. He did so at Pomona and Charlotte.He was seeking his fifth overall victory and first of the year.
 
He had been irritated the weekend before at Atlanta that Allen Johnson handed him his first opening-round defeat in 12 races. Stanfield had been second or third for most of the season but came to Heartland Park Topeka tied with Vincent Nobile for fourth place.
 
And he said Saturday night that "There's a win coming -- I can feel it."

Eddie Guarnaccia, Stanfield's crew chief, said, "I thought we made two nice runs in the second and third rounds and, honestly, in the final we didn't make a bad run. Everybody on the team worked real hard together as a unit.  We made good runs and I felt good about the stuff we did."
 
All Shane Gray said, looking ahead, was "We just go to the next race and see what it brings."
 
Both will have to wait two weeks, until the SuperNationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park at Englishtown, N.J.

QUICK HITS - RACE DAY REPORTING IN RAPID FASHION

TOP FUEL

FIRST ROUND

GOOD STUFF - Antron Brown faced a familiar foe in the first round of eliminations winning easily with a 3.855 / 320.81 mph while McClenathan's time we DQ'd after the NHRA found oil in his line following the run.  

“Cory Mac is one of the best drivers to step back into the car,” Brown said following their first round meeting. “When you race him it’s like a final round in the first round. That’s how tough this sport is. It doesn’t get much better than that, racing Cory and Big Daddy [Don Garlits] starting us up.”

Actually it did get better. Sunday was the first day back for crew chief Brian Corradi, who was hospitalized for the first two days of the event with an undisclosed illness.

“God blessed us and gave us Brian back,” Brown confirmed.

NO MO MONKEY – A year ago at this same race Terry McMillen extracted the monkey from his back, the monkey being an inability to win a round win. Just one week after reaching his first semi-final round, McMillen is still throwing down on the proverbial primate.

McMillen ran his best round of the weekend, a 3.898, 311.05, to beat Shawn Langdon in their first round match.

“We struggled all weekend but to stomp that monkey the way we have, it might as well have been a gorilla,” McMillen admitted. “Shawn Langdon is the toughest dude to race at getting off of the line.”

MARCHING AGAIN – Seven races into the season Larry Dixon realizes he’s going to need to win a race if only to stop people from asking when he’s going to win a race.

“The great thing about having this Al-Anabi, Toyota team with Jason McCulloch and Alan Johnson, this team doesn’t go on losing streaks for too long,” Dixon said. “We just keep working our tails off and firing shots. Sooner or later that win light is coming on late in the day.”

Terry Sainty became Dixon's 82nd different opponent in their first round race and also went home a first round runner-up.

REVENGE ON THE HORIZON? – Tony Schumacher beat David Grubnic to advance to the second round of only one of two races he’s yet to win in his career. Last week in Atlanta he could have narrowed the number to one but lost a close final round match up to teammate Antron Brown.

As it turns out, the first round victory set up a second round rematch of the Atlanta final.

“Antron has beat us and we’ve beat him a lot of times,” Schumacher said. “We race fair. The fans will get their money’s worth. We do owe them one from last week and Las Vegas.”

THE LOSING STREAK IS BROKEN – Okay, so it’s just one first round loss but the Atlanta shortcoming was enough to inspire Del Worsham in his runaway first round victory over Steve Chrisman.

Worsham laid down low elapsed time in the win with a 3.826, 319.67.

“We didn’t get picked off this week,” Worsham admitted. “You could tell Alan wasn’t taking any chances this week.”

DÉJÀ VU, ONE ROUND EARLY – The same four cars to comprise the top half of the quarter-final ladder was the same quartet who raced in the Atlanta semis albeit with different dance partners. In the second round, Schumacher and Brown were paired along with Massey and McMillen.

GOOD MOVE – A last minute lane swap put Doug Kalitta in the right lane and it worked to his favor. Kalitta ran a 3.873, 307.42 to beat Morgan Lucas.

QUARTER-FINALS

THAT WAS UGLY – Tony Schumacher characterized his win over Antron Brown as ugly. Although he will be the first to admit beating a driver of Brown’s talents is a beautiful thing, the manner in which he gained the triumph wasn’t one of his more memorable moments.

“We got pretty sideways,” Schumacher said of his 4.298 second win. “The fans paid good money to come out and see us race, not shut off and coast because it’s dangerous. Someone had to get the finish line first and the U.S. Army car did it.”

A sideways dragster, as Schumacher confirmed, is good sponsor exposure.

“The race fans probably saw it head on,” Schumacher chuckled. “I was looking at the wall. It was one of those uncomfortable second stabs at it.”

DOESN’T MATTER TO ME – Spencer Massey stopped Terry McMillen’s Cinderella bid to advance to a second consecutive final four. As a reward, he earned a race with either Tony Schumacher or Antron Brown. Schumacher’s victory ensured a rematch from Atlanta where Massey lost a tight race.

He had no preference of semi-final opponent.

“They are both fast running cars so it doesn’t matter,” Massey said. “As long as we can get up there and run our race A to B, and go to the next round, that’s all that really matters.”

ON A ROLL – First round wins have been few and far in between for Bob Vandergriff Jr. But advancing to the semi-finals are something to talk about with pride. He defeated Brandon Bernstein in the first round and recovered first in a tire-smoking battle against point leader Del Worsham to advance to his first semi-final finish of the season.

“I guess you have to make your own luck,” Vandergriff said. “By getting aggressive the car is winning the round. I don’t care how it does it. The driver had a brain cramp on the starting line but we got away with it.”

AL ANABI ELIMINATED – Doug Kalitta eliminated the final Al Anabi dragster from Top Fuel competition when he beat Larry Dixon.


SEMI-FINALS

FINALS SET - Spencer Massey defeated teammate Tony Schumacher to advance to his first final round since joining Don Schumacher Racing in 2011. He scored the victory with a strong 3.892, 313.44 as Schumacher fell from his pace with a 4.026.

On the other side of the ladder, the magic continued for Bob Vandergriff Jr. as Doug Kalitta smoked the tires.

In a tale of two finalists, Massey won in his first final round appearance while Vandergriff has reached 13 without a win.


FINALS

MASSEY WINS, FRUSTRATION CONTINUES FOR VANDERGRIFF – Spencer Massey’s team backed down their Fram-sponsored dragster for the final round against a Bob Vandergriff Jr., who had thrived throughout race day on team’s overpowering the race track.

Massey was first out of the gates by .035 seconds and never looked back en route to a 3.914, 312.78 victory. Vandergriff, in his C&J Energy Services dragster, fell short with a respectable 3.963, 302.21.

The victory moved Massey into the fourth spot in points while Vandergriff goes to 0-13 in final round appearances.



FUNNY CAR

FIRST ROUND

UPON FURTHER INSPECTION – The video looked like a disqualification. So did the photo. However, a closer inspection of the white line known as the center-line showed a tire mark with two inches to spare.

This was the tale of the tape in the first round race where Mike Neff was declared the winner over Tony Pedregon in a match where the optical data was deceiving. Neff won with a 4.726, 189.60 in a dual tire-smoking match.

“Tire did not cross the line,” confirmed NHRA VP of Operations Graham Light. “Track side official said two inches to spare.”

DON’T FORGET THE BRAKES! – Prior to the first round of eliminations, No. 1 qualifier Jack Beckman’s crew made the decision to change the rearend before his match against Jeff Arend. As a result, the brakes were not bled completely as Beckman found out on the burnout.

“Sometimes on the burnout you can’t get the brakes scrubbed in,” Beckman explained. “The brake handle comes all the way out, your elbow bottoms out into your ribs and its tough to stage the car. A win light came out and I’m happy about the way it turned out in the end.”

Beckman advanced with a 4.171, 294.01.

A DIFFERENT APPROACH – Robert Hight has fallen off of the torrid pace which put him into the winner’s circle twice earlier in the season. The weather has gotten warm inspiring tuner Jimmy Prock to step outside of his norm.

“Jimmy Prock didn’t make a change to the car after Matt Hagan ran,” said Hight of his second round opponent who ran in the pair ahead of him. “We are definitely on the other side of this thing [tune-up]. We’ve been smoking the tires [this season], trying to back it off. This weekend we took a different approach. We went down the track on all five of our runs. We’re sneaking up on the right direction.”

FLATTERY WILL GET YOU TO THE NEXT ROUND – How can you get angry about losing to a racer who floods you with compliments?

Matt Hagan ran a 4.112, 304.12 to get the best of Tim Wilkerson, who smoked the tires and lost early.

“We have a great hot weather race car but that guy Tim Wilkerson, I have a lot of respect for him – he’s one of those guys you model yourself after. He does the right thing,” said Hagan.

THAT LEFT LANE IS A DOOZIE – Since missing the cut in Houston, Johnny Gray’s Mopar has been a strong runner. He entered eliminations as the second quickest qualifier and ran a 4.176 to beat Paul Lee.

But, the win had the potential to get ugly.

“It dumped a cylinder and the left lane is bad about sucking you over into the wall,” Gray said. “As much as stuff as happened lately I figured I had better stay off of the wall.”

WHAT’S GOING ON? – After two days of yielding a nearly perfect race track, Heartland Park – Topeka’s racing surface turned into a heated crapshoot. Cruz Pedregon found this out as he smoked, pedaled and steered his way to a tough first round win over Melanie Troxel.

His winning lap was a 4.539, 226.70 which demanded every ounce of his driving talents.

“We’re just really trying to go faster than the track will allow right now,” Pedregon admitted. “We ran good down low but just started spinning the tires. The track is changing and we need to change with it. I was careful to not go bowling for dollars on that one. I had to get out of the throttle to keep from taking cones out.”

CONGRATS RON – Overshadowed in the middle of the tough 2011 season was the fact Ron Capps scored his 400th career round win in defeating Bob Tasca III during the first round.

Capps beat Joe Amato in 1995 during the Phoenix event while racing in Top Fuel.

NO. 8 QUALIFIERS CAN’T BE CHOOSERS – Jim Head doesn’t mince words in his lack of love for racing at the end of the first round.

“I hate it,” Head said. “If I had my choice, I’d take first pair every time. It’s not that you over-think yourself; the track deteriorates.”

The positioning didn’t hurt Head as he knocked off John Force in the opening round.

QUARTER-FINALS

LESS IS BETTER – After nearly skating himself to a first round disqualification, tuner/driver Mike Neff decided the way to get more out of his run against Cruz Pedregon was in having less … horsepower.

“I had to back the engine off and in the first round it caught us and had more horsepower,” Neff explained. “We backed it off and that was an okay run.”

Neff was the only second round winner to reach the finish line under power, producing a 4.148 second pass at 303.23.

LOST COUNT – Johnny Gray lost count of how many times he was on and off the throttle in his victory over Ron Capps in a battle of DSR teammates.

“I was trying to get it hooked up and it wouldn’t,” Gray explained. “I kept looking out the side window and I kept stepping on it and easing on it. I just said if it blows up, I’m glad Don’s not here.”

FOLLOWING THE TREND – Robert Hight was nearly sideways at times in his win over Matt Hagan.

“It was sideways but I was prepared for it,” said Hight who won with a 4.731, 214.21. “A lot of good dragsters got sideways too. You know you have to be on your game when you race Hagan.”

YOU TOO? – Not one to be left out of the pedaling fun, No. 1 qualifier Jack Beckman pedaled his way to victory over Jim Head.

“I guess it’s like a rental car, they, in this sense, being the crew will give you a perfectly good car and you go out there and tear it up,” Beckman lamented. “We have plenty of parts to fix it. It’s awesome, even when we don’t make the good runs we can get the wins.”

SEMI-FINALS

MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU – One round after filling his role as one of the trio of tire-smoking winners, Robert Hight kept the slicks glued to the track as he beat a traction-challenged Johnny Gray. Hight won with a 4.172, 303.50 in what has proven to be an inconsistent race day.

Meanwhile Mike Neff backed his Mustang down to a 4.179 while No. 1 seeded Jack Beckman went up in smoke.

There was a tense moment prior to the semi-finals when a John Force Racing crew member, David Karcanes, suffered a hand injury on the starting line.

The Hight versus Neff final marks the 35th all JFR final since the team became a multi-car effort in 1992.

FINALS

HIGHT WINS THE BIG ONE FOR JFR – Team owner John Force could only smile when his team cars rolled to the starting line. The only question in his mind was which driver, Robert Hight or Mike Neff, would hand him his 200th career team victory.

Force’s son-in-law, Hight, would pull off the feat in his 21st career victory and successfully defended his NHRA Summer Nationals crown. He used an .010 reaction time and a 4.284, 264.86 run to get the best of Neff, who lifted early and slowed to a 4.562.

This is Hight’s third 2011 victory and the fifth of the seven-race old season for JFR.



PRO STOCK

FIRST ROUND

NOW THAT’S A FIRE! – Pro Stock icon Greg Anderson had to be asking himself whether he was running a factory hot rod or a nitro car following his first round win over brother-in-law/teammate Ronnie Humphrey.

Flames began licking out from underneath the hood and then engulfed the driver’s compartment. He was able to crank the car and choke the fire out. The cause of the fire was racing gas in the headers.

Anderson is familiar with fire having lost his home in a 2010 fire prior to the start of the season and had his transporter burn to the ground days after clinching the series championship.

DOWN GOES EDWARDS – Lowly No. 16 qualifier Richard Freeman performed the Pro Stock version of David versus Goliath in his first round match with No. 1 qualifier Mike Edwards. When Edwards stumbled on the burnout, Freeman used the snafu to beat Edwards, 6.753 to 6.760.

LIVE BY THE SWORD – Young Vincent Nobile has developed a reputation of using quick reactions to bring the most seasoned drag racing veterans to their knees. In round one, Greg Stanfield turned the table on the Rookie of the Year front-runner.

Stanfield blistered Nobile with a perfect reaction time and a 6.725 to 6.718 decision.

TURNAROUND – After losing two engines in one week, Mopar runner V. Gaines scored an impressive holeshot win to start race day. Gaines grabbed .051 of a starting line advantage as he and Ron Krisher passed the tree. He held on for a 6.700 to 6.690 victory.

QUARTER-FINALS

WON IT BY THAT MUCH – Rodger Brogdon has been on the losing end of too many close races. In the second round, he dished out a bit of his own revenge.

The Houston runner-up beat V. Gaines on a holeshot, 6.707 to 6.688 for a true margin of victory of .001.

“I’m just glad to come out on the right side of one of those,” Brogdon quipped.

NOT TO BE OUTDONE – Shane Gray continued his strong run by knocking off Atlanta winner Jason Line, 6.673 to a 6.690. Line was quicker off of the line but Gray’s exhibition of horsepower was enough to secure the victory by .002 of a second.

NO FIRE THIS TIME, BUT… – Greg Anderson didn’t have to escape the flames in his second round victory over Allen Johnson. But, in preparing for the round against the Mopar flagship, he did have to replace a fair amount of damaged plastic parts and wires.

He wasn’t apologizing.

“Not trying to steal John Force’s thunder but if we can steal a little thunder,” Anderson said.

IN CASE YOU WERE WONDERING – Greg Stanfield made it a point to let the race fans know why he’s not as aggressive in qualifying and becomes a monster on race day. Stanfield beat Richard Freeman to advance to the semis.

“We really don’t have the budget to test like some of these teams do,” Stanfield said. “If you see our numbers slow down in qualifying, that’s just being boneheads testing in qualifying. On raceday, we put it all together.”


SEMI-FINALS

STANFIELD VERSUS GRAY – Greg Stanfield, who has been brutal on his starting line reaction times throughout eliminations, used his reputation to force Rodger Brogdon into a -.027 foul.

On the other side, Shane Gray ended his 5 – 0 dry spell against Greg Anderson, 6.710 to 6.799.


FINALS

TIME FOR A SECOND – Shane Gray used horsepower as his primary weapon in order to score his second career Pro Stock victory by beating Greg Stanfield.

Stanfield, who had been lightning quick on the tree all day long, allowed Gray to leave within .007 of a second. Gray drove by for a 6.679, 206.95 to 6.693, 206.29 win.

The win marked Gray’s second since winning last year’s AAA Finals in Pomona.

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SATURDAY NOTEBOOK - INDEED A STRANGE DAY IN TOPEKA

BECKMAN, F.C.'S NO. 1, NEARS HOT SUMMER TUNE-UP - Jack Beckman stole even more thunder Saturday from the John Force Racing organization in securing the No. 1 Funny Car starting position for Sunday's eliminations of the Summer Nationals at Heartland Park Topeka.
 
Beckman reset Robert Hight's 1,000-foot track records Friday to 4.054 seconds and 313.66 mph while taking the provisional No. 1 spot in the Don Schumacher Racing-owned Aaron’s Dream Machine /Valvoline Dodge Charger. When that held up Saturday, Beckman halted Force's NHRA record-tying string of  four consecutive top-qualifying performances.
 
However, Beckman didn't dwell on that after recording his first No. 1 start of the season. Instead, he expressed satisfaction that Rahn Tobler and his crew were getting closer to perfecting the car's best hot-weather set-up.
 
He called the qualifying scenario "typical summer schedule night sessison -- one run that's not at all representative of Sunday('s racing conditions)."
 
He said when he grabbed the early lead Friday, "we knew that unless we got a cold front with clouds (Saturday) it won't give us any data for tomorrow. But it’s still awesome to have bragging rights -- and to get more points, that certainly doesn't hurt.
 
"We ran decent in the heat," Beckman said. "But more important, we got to the finish line (under full power) both times.
 
"We're still finessing our hot-track tune-up. Q4 was the only really hot-track run that everybody got," he said.
 
Last week's Atlanta Dragway winner said, "We've got another good hot rod for Sunday. We seem to rise to the occasion. Starting from the pole position enhances our chances."
 
But Beckman, who trails standings leader Mike Neff by just one round of racing, must face No. 6 Jeff Arend, the winner two weeks ago at Houston, in Sunday's first round.
 
"I leaned in his car before he made that (final qualifying) run, and I said, 'You need to get your you-know-what together so we don't race first round.' He didn't listen. That's not my fault!"
 
Beckman laughed and said of Arend and his DHL team, "We know they can run great in the heat. And they know that we can run great in the heat."
 
He said Friday, "I believe we were really safe. There's more to this car."
 
If so and he coaxes that from the Charger, Beckman could make a sweep of spoiling JFR's weekend by taking the points lead from Neff.
 
"It would be cool to take the lead, but we're not thinking about that right now," Beckman said. "Points are a by-product of performance, and we can't look ahead."
 
Just like Beckman said he's "getting a rhythm going, and like Tony Schumacher says becoming like a machine," Neff, too is on that wavelength.
 
Said Neff, "I'll tell you, this race track here in Topeka is really surprising how good it is. You saw a lot of great runs out there. The track was pretty warm. But it is a great facility. There are a lot of cars going down the track. Every week it always seems that the tracks are a little different. You adapt to the conditions of the track. You look at how your car is running and how your engine is running.
 
"Anytime you are going to the final round you are getting more experience. Your guys are getting in the groove of going rounds. When you are going to the finals all the time . . . you get used to it. It is still a big deal, but you handle it better. You get conditioned for it," Neff said.
 
Among those itching to spoil Beckman's run at the Summer Nationals and his quest fro back-to-back victories is No. 5 qualifier Cruz Pedregon, the only driver to dip into the 4.0s during any of the day-time sessions (with a 4.08 Friday afternoon and a 4.072 Saturday) in the Snap-on Toyota.
 
DSR had another bright spot, with Johnny Gray, who struggled all weekend at Atlanta, taking the No. 2 slot in the lineup, just four-thousandths of a second slower than Beckman with a 4.058-second elapsed time. Hight wasn't far behind in third at 4.067. Hight's JFR mate Neff will start fourth with a best time so far of 4.070, just two-thousandths quicker than Pedregon's time.
 
Ron Capps, with Tim Richards at the tuning helm for the first time, made the top half of the ladder at No. 7 and is long overdue, even if it comes at his DSR mate's expense.

DSR HITS MILESTONE - John Force Racing continues to seek its 200th event victory, but Don Schumacher Racing already has reached a milestone this weekend. Tony Schumacher's Top Fuel qualifying feat gave the organization its 150th top-qualifying position. Jack Beckman followed minutes later, nailing down the low elapsed time in Funny Car qualifying to extend the number to 151.

SEVERE WEATHER -       Nearly an hour after the final professional cars completed professional qualifying, a severe storm cell, including tornadoes, brought to an abrupt end the day's activities. A large gathering of race officials and race teams gathered outside of the Heartland Park Topeka media center to watch as many as three funnel clouds develop simultaneously.

While no twisters landed on track property, local news reported a tornado touched down as close as five miles from the track. Sunday's forecast calls for mid-80 degree weather with only thunderstorms expected to arrive late afternoon.

SCHUMACHER HOLDS ONTO TOP POSITION - Tony Schumacher missed meeting U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates during his visit Thursday to Fort Riley, Kansas.
 
But the  U.S. Army Dragster driver didn't miss a beat Saturday, on Armed Forces Day, in carrying out his National Hot Rod Association Top Fuel mission.
 
He will lead the field in Sunday's eliminations of the Summer Nationals with his Friday performance of 3.798 seconds at 324.12 mph on the 1,000-foot Heartland Park Topeka course.
 
This No. 1 qualifying feat, the 64th of his career, puts him within two of Kenny Bernstein and cracking the top five on that all-time, all-classes list. While Schumacher said that was and honor in itself, he was especially proud of what it said of his loyal Mike Green-led U.S. Army-sponsored team.
 
He said that when crew chief Alan Johnson left Don Schumacher Racing to form his own team with driver Larry Dixon and funding from the sheikh of Qatar, "everybody in this (press) room wrote me off." He accused the media of predicting he never would win another race or championship.
 
"But No. 1 today means my guy did better than his (Johnson's) guy at this particular moment in time," he said. "We're way ahead of what the expectations were when somebody like Alan Johnson leaves your team."
 
Said Schumacher, "I spent all not last year but the year before hearing how HE had a whole new team. Well, baloney -- he had everybody but me -- all my guys were there. WE had a new team. I hadn't met any of my guys but Mike Green before we warmed up the car the first time. That's a new team. It's funny how it rolled into we beat him because he had a new team and a new driver. And they didn't have a new driver -- they had world champ.
 
"So this is cool," he said. "What we did today, what we've done several times already this year, means we have a great car. We haven't fallen off the face of the Earth. We will get those wins. What carries us to championships is working through the adversity. We're great at that."
 
He said the Army Dragster "is fantastic. It's doing everything we want. But so is everybody else('s car)."  He said with hotter temperatures expected, "It's going to come down to who digs the most Sunday."
 
Saying he isn't spending any money prematurely, Schumacher said he and his team "know we have a hellacious battle" ahead of them on race day.
 
"We have good data. But who doesn't have good data here? There are very few rookies. We've all been at this a long time. This track's prepared nicely. Most of us made it down the track. It's not one-lane. You've got to go out and run good."  
 
Del Worsham was the jackpot winner with qualifying bonus points this weekend, accumulating a class-best nine. Schumacher earned seven and Dixon 6. Although the bottom half of the field had some position-swapping from Saturday's first session to the final one, the top half of the field remained in order -- and that includes Cory McClenathan in a one-time return from the sidelines in the No. 8 spot.
 
Schumacher said he was inspired by visiting soldiers, including a World War II veteran in a wheelchair Saturday who "was just lovin' life. To meet the gusy who did so much for us and hear those great stories, that's what it's all about."
 
Schumacher was at Fort Riley to sign autographs and visit with soldiers Thursday in advance of the race. And he said he felt a buzz on the grounds. It wasn't until later that he learned Gates was on post for the groundbreaking of a new elementary school.
 
"Man, that would have been so cool to cross paths with him," Schumacher said. "It would have been a tremendous honor to meet him. Given I drive for the U.S. Army, I'm fairly certain he would have enjoyed chatting. Maybe we'll have another opportunity somewhere else."
 
He has no other opportunities this year than Sunday to win a race between Armed Forces Day and Memorial Day. His time is now.
 
"Winning the Topeka race would be particularly nice, " he said. "We always love giving trophies to our brave Army Strong Soldiers."
 
He'll start Sunday's assignment against No. 16 Dave Grubnic.

THREES ABOUND FOR EDWARDS - If the third time is the charm, then the Pro Stock contingent at the NHRA Summer Nationals ought to plan on a jockeying for second place at Heartland Park Topeka for Sunday’s final eliminations.

Mike Edwards fended off the competition to score his third No. 1 qualifying effort of 2011. The feat also represents his third consecutive pole position at the facility closest to his Coweta, Ok, home. If he reached the finals on Sunday, it will also be his third consecutive.

“Lots of threes,” said Edwards with a smile following Saturday’s qualifying, whose car number is three.

Edwards ran a 6.640, 207.05 during Friday’s qualifying and the time held throughout Saturday’s warmer qualifying. Even though Edwards knew the final day of qualifying was going to be warmer and less advantageous, he wasn’t counting on the run to hold.

“Nothing is for sure in the class,” Edwards said. “We might have slipped up a little today. We didn’t quite keep up with the conditions as well as we did yesterday. Tomorrow will be hotter – and will be more challenging.”

If anyone is up to the challenge, it’s Edwards.

“We’ve got a few runs here. It’s like any other track when it gets hot – it gets greasy. We stumped our toe in Atlanta third round, that’s in the back of our mind. We feel like we are headed in the right direction.”

Last season Edwards carried a nearly 350 point lead into the sixth race of the season. This year he’s third with momentum to challenge for first. He’s not worried about getting on a roll too early in the season and peaking before the playoffs as he appeared to do in 2010.

“It’s one race at a time and one round at a time,” Edwards said. “We had a great opportunity to win another championship but we didn’t. Greg [Anderson] did a better job than we did and he won. We just failed at the wrong time. There’s a long way to go and you have to get in before you have a chance to win.”

And with his 37th career pole position, Edwards feels the momentum is working in his favor at the right time of the season.

“We’re feeling our groove. I can't wait until summer when it’s hot and lots of humidity. Our combination loves those conditions.”

TRIPLE DUTY FOR NEFF? - Mike Neff certainly recognizes that his dual job of driving and tuning the John Force-owned Castol GTX Ford Mustang is not new in drag racing. Neff earned 2008 Rookie of the Year honors with the Auto Club of Southern California Road to the Future Award, then reverted back to being a crew chief when funding for the third JFR car fizzled. This year he's driving again to fill in for pregnant Ashley Force Hood. Neff, who won at Gainesville and has advanced to the finals at both Houston and Atlanta, remarked that he has been so busy that's he worn out and hasn't attended to his nutrition properly. Quipped Force to ESPN's Dave Rieff, "He thinks he's on overload now? Wait till Ashley has a baby. Then he'll be babysitting, too!"

ROGER RICHARDS’ SPECTACULAR MOMENT - At the time, the racing on the track wasn’t good, in fact it was non-existent.

CompetitionPlus.com photographer Roger Richards found this the perfect time to be spectacular.

Now he’s looking for any race fan who might have been able to capture on video or digital image his scooter mishap in front of the Heartland Park Topeka grandstands Friday morning. Richards was uninjured for the most part, save for an elbow strawberry and a bruised buttock. We witnessed the former but will be content to take his word on the latter.

“We’re trying to analyze exactly what happened,” he confirmed. “The mud was so deep we weren’t able to locate the black box [in reference to a similar black box data recorder used on airplanes] and use it to find out what happened.”

Realistically, we don’t need to find a data logger to piece the details together.

Richards was headed towards the finish line while a golf cart of three photographers (none of which captured an image of the incident) were headed to the starting line. In a bad game of chicken, the cart went left and Roger went right.

Roger went right, alright – right into mud and crossed paths with a discarded water bottle which threw him to the ground at 5 mph.

He did a power slide and came to a stop.

“There was no damage to the scooter because it landed on me,” Roger recalled. “I was able to save the scooter and the camera. I did lose the lens hood.”

In addition to the physical injuries, his other serious injury was a bruised ego.

“That was pretty tough,” he lamented.

The bruised ego came when those fans in the audience offered seal claps and 8 style points for his performance.

“That’s bull,” Richards contended. “A crash like that was certainly worth a 9.5.”

BACK WITH A PLAN - Cory McClenathan is back to the basics, back to the start-up style of getting on the phone and rounding up smaller sponsors, back to the roll-up-your-sleeves way of pitching in to help prep the car. But for the displaced Don Schumacher Racing driver, the best part is he simply is back. After Saturday's first qualifying session and third overall, McClenathan is not simply making an appearance. He's qualified in the top half of the Top Fuel field.
 
Driving in a hastily arranged deal for Tuttle Motorsports, McClenathan proved he can throw a scare into the frontrunners despite sitting on the sidelines for the firsty six races of the season. His feat is even more remarkable, considering he did it in a dragster that blew up last Saturday at Atlanta, for an operation that doesn't have shelves full of brand-new parts and pieces and doesn't machine its own stock, with only a few familiar faces surrounding him.
 
Overnight McClenathan was ninth in the order -- a brilliant performance, even if he did leak some oil onto the racing surface after registering a 3.898-second, 308.99-mph pass in the Friday evening session. "Let's fix this right," he and Tuttle agreed, and they returned Saturday around noon to improve one position in the order with a 3.855, 317.87 effort.
 
It's the result, he said, of "working 12 hours non-stop every day" this past week. And it's a demonstration of McClenathan's joy to be back in the cockpit.
 
"I'm not afraid of hard work," McClenathan said, especially "if you see the fruit that will come your way when you work hard at anything. Nothing happens overnight. We know that."
 
His ride at Don Schumacher Racing went to the equally aggressive but younger Spencer Massey in a move that neither driver controlled. With Steve Torrence's departure after last week's race at Atlanta to start his own family-operated team, Tuttle offered the chance to the popular veteran who finished third in the 2010 standings and gave Larry Dixon a monstrous battle for the title that neither will forget and the fans will remember long from now.
 
In just a six-race absence, McClenathan has had to adjust to changes in this return. One new phenomenon is the use of blue LED lights on the Christmas tree. They debuted at the Charlotte race and have been in use ever since. Helping service the car was another tweak in his routine. "I wasn't doing anything but putting on a driving suit and getting in the car at the last team. Now I'm back to mixing the fuel and the whole deal," McClenathan said.
 
He wasn't complaining. It's not the arrangement to which he had gotten accustomed, but it certainly wasn't a routine all that unfamiliar to him. McClenathan always was a do-what-you-have-to-do kind of racer.
 
He has engaged in talks recently with a New York group about driving for a brand-new Funny Car team but said, "Haven't heard a whole lot back from it. It was laid on the table about three weeks ago. It would be a full factory-funded deal, a three-year deal. But you know what? When I see it on paper and get that first check, I'll believe it."
 
NHRA racers and fans alike can believe one thing: when "Cory Mac" gets on the Heartland Park Topeka track, he won't be lost in dreamy sentiment. He'll be gunning for his 35th NHRA victory this weekend. "If I can work hard this weekend, have a little bit of luck on Sunday, and go some rounds," McClenathan said, "I'll walk away thinking this was good weekend."     

GAINES AND GREMLINS CROSS PATHS - V. Gaines is down to one bullet for the event but refuses to throw in the towel at the NHRA Summer Nationals title in Topeka. At the beginning of the week he had three engines ready to do battle.

Gaines lost one in a midweek test session in nearby Tulsa, Ok, and a second during Friday’s first session of qualifying.

“Yesterday was certainly interesting,” Gaines said. “Everything that could break or go wrong did break and did go wrong. We got through it and got another motor in the car yesterday. We made a decent run with an engine we have no data on.”

Gaines said his Kendall-sponsored team has tested a significant amount in the past two weeks with a test prior to Atlanta and another, this past Tuesday.

“We have used up pretty much all of our equipment,” said Gaines. “We need to get some fresh engines and regroup a bit.”

Gaines believes the team has an undiagnosed issue that isn’t necessarily going to fix itself.

“We have a problem with the car and haven’t been able to get it to respond since last year,” said Gaines. “We’ve been trying to do a lot of testing in trying to find out what it wants and how to get it down the track.”

The term gremlins is one many racers loosely use to describe unexplainable wrongdoing with their race cars. If there’s a perfect scenario, Gaines believes this season epitomizes gremlins.

“We were  so good last year and put it away, and to get it out and all of a sudden it’s not the same car,” he admitted. "For the life of us, we can’t figure out why it’s doing what it’s doing and what is causing it to do it.”

Gaines isn’t about to give up any time soon and figuring out problems is just the nature of the beast in Pro Stock.

“We are perplexed in knowing we have the horsepower, have the intelligence and experience to make it work. We are kind of failing on that right now but we are working on it.

“We’ll get it, that’s what Pro Stock is all about. These cars are finicky. When the cars are working right, the engines aren’t. There’s always something to work on and make better. Pro Stock is all about trying to make it better.”

And better sounds just right to a man with one engine in a demanding class.

 

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FRIDAY NOTEBOOK - WE'RE RACING AFTER WET MORNING

THE "M" WORD - NHRA Pro Stock racer Mike Edwards has learned about the intricacies of momentum.

Have it, Edwards will attest, and you can win eight races in a regular season. Lose it, and you’ll just lose, as Edwards did race after race in 2010’s six-race playoff season.

Edwards has been careful about proclaiming the “m” word but after a provisional No. 1 qualifying effort at the NHRA Summer Nationals following a top effort last weekend in Commerce, he’s starting to hint a little.

“We’re building momentum, we really are,” Edwards said. “We’ve been running a lot – testing. We feel like we are getting better. We still need to work some more on certain areas. We’re definitely making gains.”

Edwards ran a 6.640, 207.05 to drive around Allen Johnson’s 6.651, 206.67 to climb atop the field with two sessions remaining on Saturday at Heartland Park Topeka in Kansas.

While the losses were ugly in the latter part of 2010, Edwards admitted the shortcomings only inspired his crew for 2011.

“I think it just goes to show how good of a team we have,” Edwards said. “We had a good season but stomped our toe when it came time for the Countdown. We rebounded after Pomona and that is a sign of a good team. I think we have to stay buckled down and keep working hard. The season is young and if I learned anything last year, it’s not how you start but how you finished that counts.”

Heartland Park Topeka has been especially kind to Edwards with back-to-back No. 1 qualifiers and final round appearances.

“I guess the key is that we’re close to Oklahoma,” Edwards said. “There are some tracks you go to where you just feel comfortable. This is one of those strips where we feel like we have a pretty good handle.”

Just to think, he had some performance in reserve on a run which could be categorized as impressive.

“I feel like we left a little out there,” Edwards admitted. “But it was still good enough to run No. 1. I’m proud of my guys.”

SUPER PRO ET FUNNY CAR - Jack Beckman used to bracket race and on Friday evening during Funny Car qualifying, he showed his prowess at picking a dial in.

“I told the crew guy filming the run, when I leave the starting line focus on the scoreboard,” Beckman revealed during Friday’s post-qualifying press conference at the NHRA Summer Nationals.

“It’s either going to run a 4.05 or a 10.05,” he continued. “I think the car was really safe on that run. You can feel when they rattle or shake the tires when the clutch applies. I believe we were really safe, there’s more to this car.”  

Beckman was safe and nearly dead-on with his estimation. The Aaron’s-sponsored driver jumped out to the provisional No. 1 qualifying spot with a 4.054, 313.66 during the season’s first true night qualifying session. If the run holds, it will mark his first pole position of the season and end John Force’s run of four consecutive top qualifying efforts.

Beckman offered nothing but praise to those who prepared the racing surface after nearly six hours of consecutive rain limited Friday qualifying for sportsman racers and presented a challenge at the onset for the professional race teams. Extended periods of rain often washes away a fair amount of the rubber accumulated on concrete racing surfaces.

“The track was going to be great and the real stars of the day was the Safety Safari crew,” Beckman said. “As much rain as was out here, there wasn’t a crew chief on the property that was bashful about throwing the kitchen sink at it. The track was that good. I appreciate the fact the NHRA and the Safety Safari made every effort to make it that good. It was just too warm and too humid. The track temperature was there but I don’t think the air conditions were there for a three second run.”

Maybe they weren’t there for a three-second run, but this didn’t prevent the tuning combination of Rahn Tobler and John Collins from flexing their muscles early in the day.

“When we ran good out of the trailer, which is a typical Tobler and Collins approach, we knew we could throw things at it with 16 cars here. We were confident that we weren’t going to get bumped out, so we took one of those rare swings at it. The interesting part of it is that’s where it puts us into our comfort zone when conditions get wicked quick.”

If the run holds, it will be his first No. 1 qualifier of the year and fourth of the season

 “We are pretty darn good on cool race tracks. I had a lot of confidence going up there for that run. I don’t think that run will be made again this weekend unless some cloud cover stays in. It’s awesome and very cool to have those extra points. Now we have to go about getting some data for Sunday’s race.”

Beckman’s DSR teammate Johnny Gray was second in the field with a 4.058 while Robert Hight was third at 4.067.

ON A MISSION - Top Fuel driver Tony Schumacher knows exactly what he wants to do this weekend at Heartland Park Topeka. He has no confusion about that. He wants to win this NHRA Summer Nationals and finally earn that 60th Anniversary pewter Wally trophy.
 
But he has two more reasons for wanting -- one as part of his proud duty as driver of the U.S. Army Dragster, another as a do-it-yourself home-improvement suburban guy with a big honey-do list.
 
Calling Saturday -- Armed Forces Day -- "a serious day for us" and alluding to Memorial Day the following week, Schumacher said, "This is our time to go out and try to win this one -- FOR the people who allow us to race."
 
Then, speaking as if he's one of those millions of guys who don't drive 320-plus miles an hour for a living, Schumacher said he has a garage and kitchen-remodeling project going at home in Long Grove, Ill.
 
"I want to win that race, put the trophy on the shelf and go home and do that stuff," he said.
 
It's hard to say which chore might be harder to accomplish. But at the racetrack, Schumacher is on the right path, registering a 3.798-second elapsed time at a track-record 324.12-mph speed in Friday's second qualifying session to secure the provisional No. 1 position.
 
"It's kind of dark out here. I was moving around a lot," he said after becoming the lone driver in the 3.7-second range all day. "I've always prided myself on keeping the car straight, but you kind of lose your whereabouts on the track when you can't see clearly. When it's dark I get a quarter-second behind the car."
 
Nothing was easy Friday. Everybody sat through the rain delay, but only Schumacher had to wrestle his dragster to a halt without parachutes. He drove to third in the order during the first session with a 3.871-second, 317.34-mph clocking, but the parachutes on his car didn't deploy as he crossed the finish line. He brought the car to a safe stop without incident.
 
By the time he pulled to the starting line for his second qualifying pass, he had slipped to eighth place. But he said that crew chief Mike Green and assistant Neil Strausbaugh led a team he called "flawless" to make him the leader overnight ahead of Larry Dixon (3.817 / 320.43) and his own Don Schumacher Racing mate, Spencer Massey (3.829 / 321.65).
 
He said sitting at the rear of the line in the second session this time was encouraging.
 
"When half the guys are smoking the tires, you're nervous in the back. But when everyone's going down it, that's twofold. You're feeling confident and you'll go right down it. On the other side, you say, 'Gee -- if we don’t we'll be 12th with a great race car.' You've just got to let that go," he said.
 
"As a driver, all you can do is push that pedal down, keep that car in the middle, stage shallow, and go for that spot. And that's exactly what we did. So it was perfect, and we're No. 1," Schumacher said.
 
His speed erased fellow DSR driver Antron Brown's 321.96-mph speed from last May. Brown still owns the Heartland Park E.T. mark at 3.785 seconds, .013 seconds quicker than Schumacher's time Friday.
 
Heading into the weekend, he said, "We're going to win our share of races. It's just a matter of time before we'll be hoisting a trophy in the winner's circle."
 
Whether this is his weekend to do it -- on a weekend and a stretch of time almost sacred to the U.S. Army team that races not to hawk consumer products but freedom and a way of life -- remains to be seen.
 
But Tony Schumacher has been hard to stop when he's on a mission -- and he took a big first leap Friday.

NHRA PS RACER KENT FACES FLOODS - As NHRA Pro Stock racer Steve Kent stood on his property, he couldn’t do much more than shake his head at the irony of his situation.

The sun was shining and the day was a typical 95-degree day in Lottie, La.; yet Kent was worried about a potential flood which threatens to wipe out his home and business at any moment.

“As long as we don’t have a levee breach, we are fine,” said Kent. “It’s just disrupted business a lot. Some of my wells had to shut down and we had to move some equipment.”

The greatest threat to Kent's property and organization is the Morganza floodgates, located eight miles from his business and home.

Federal engineers began opening gates upstream last Sunday effectively sacrificing some of the smaller towns in order to protect the big cities according to the Wall Street Journal [Floodway Forces Sacrifice]  http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703421204576325200368129610.html .

Kent’s home is only a half-mile from the basin.

“My biggest fear is that if we have a breach of the Mississippi River, or the Morganza, we are in big trouble,” Kent explained. “We sit on the low side of the flood plain. If it all fails, we are between the two and it will be like a big funnel. Unless we have a levee breach we should be fine. I’ve had family who live elsewhere who have had to evacuate.”

The Mississippi River’s crest is presently north of Lottie and Kent says once the river drops some of the pressure off of the levees, about a three foot drop in water level, then he will breathe a sigh of relief.

“It will be good to go to bed without the worry that a tidal wave will wash you away in the middle of the night,” Kent admitted.

Until then, Kent has already taken steps to prepare in the event of disaster. He’s already relocated crucial personnel and office equipment to his secondary office in Baton Rouge.

“The big part is to keep the business running and everyone employed and working,” Kent added.

As for him and wife Trudy, he’s got a foolproof plan in place for their escape. As of Friday morning, the water was at the 52 foot mark of the 60-foot wall and rising.

“I have two boats tied to a tree outside,” said the often comedic Kent. “I have made it clear to ignore the trucks and jump in the boats. We’ll just ease on down with the river in his and her boats.”

YATES CLIMBS BEHIND THE WHEEL AGAIN - Walking through the pits, it wasn't hard to locate past NHRA Pro Stock champion Jim Yates laboring away' fine-tuning a carburetor on Mark Martino’s Pro Stocker.

However, on this occasion Yates was preparing the carburetor for a car he’s driving.

Yates, most recently crew chief for Shane Gray, who was released following the NHRA Spring Nationals in Houston, is eager to remain in the game; which is why he volunteered to help out the Martino team in the interim.

The last time he drove a car was in June 2009 when he filled in for Mark Carr at the Maryland International Raceway Pro Stock Open. His last national event was 2009 when he drove to a semi-final finish at the NHRA Spring Nationals in Houston.

“For every door that closes, another opens and this is like a journey,” Yates said, adding “you never know what is coming down the pike; with the way it ended up leaving Shane Gray’s team and coming over here to help Mark Martino.”

Yates was tabbed to drive this weekend when Martino opted to sit out this weekend and stay home, because his wife is expecting to give birth very soon. Since the team was already planning on racing Topeka, Yates was the logical replacement driver.

“He’s got his priorities in order, I give him that,” Yates added. “They had plans to race here and asked me if I would drive. It didn’t take a half second to say yes. My reaction times aren’t what they used to be but they were still quick enough for that.”

Yates brings a wealth of experience and success to the Martino cockpit with 25 career victories in 58 final rounds. He’s won two series championships and completed 14 seasons in the top ten in the point standings.

This weekend’s event marks the first time since a non-sanctioned Pro Stock race in late 2009 Yates has driven in competition. His last NHRA event was the 2009 Spring Nationals where he drove to a semi-final finish before parking his race team due to lack of sponsorship.

“From being a crew chief and to driver again, is a good thing because sometimes you lose touch with what the car feels like again,” Yates explained. “It gives me the opportunity to get back behind the wheel again and see what it feels like from inside the car again.”

Yates has no illusions of returning as a full-time driver and doesn’t wish to project this image. He wants to be a crew chief and for now he’s prepared to play the waiting game.

“This is just a stopping point on the way to where we are going, I’m sure,” Yates said. “This is not a permanent thing with me driving the car. It’s not what I intend to do. I’m not looking for a sponsor or a car to drive. I’m looking for a job as a crew chief on a Pro Stock car.”

After two sessions of Friday qualifying, Yates was the 18th quickest with a 6.767.

TEAMWORK KEEPING HIM GOING - "This might be it. This might be the last year I drive. So I'm going to give it everything I've got," admitted Mike Neff, who is filling in as the driver of the Castrol GTX Ford Mustang, while John Force runs Ashley Force Hood's car in her absence.

Even though Neff said he was "gun-shy" at Atlanta following a mistake at Houston, he's not as vulnerable as he sounds. He's leading the standings and has raced to three final rounds in the season's first six events.
 
So despite his own assessment that "I definitely was mental last week," Neff is regaining his confidence.
 
"I was feeling pretty good about my driving until my little hiccup at Houston," the driver-crew chief said, recalling a red-light disqualification in the final which cost him what could have been his second victory of 2011. "As a result, last week at Atlanta I was gun-shy. Everybody said. 'Put it out of your mind. Don't think about it.' But that's easier said than done. The first time I rolled up there to stage on the first qualifying run, I thought my whole body was going to lock up.  It was like re-living a terrible nightmare.
 
"So I have to try to work my way through that – and I will. But that definitely set me back. I definitely was mental last week." However, he added, "My team's great. That's what's making this even possible. They're so good at what they do I don't even have to worry about the car and the maintenance or anything like that.
 
"It's  pretty much the same team as we had last year, which is why I think we got up to speed so fast, getting to the finals in three of the first six races. We kind of knew each other's program. Bernie (Fedderly)'s still a big part of it," he said. "We lost (Austin) Coil, but Danny Hood's doing a lot of things that Coil did: the fuel data and keeping up with the weather. He's been great, real helpful. John Schaffer is my right-hand man. He takes care of everything on the car. He's very good at what he does – as well as everyone else."

READY FOR TURNAROUND - Brandon Bernstein, ninth in the standings, said, "In this class, you're surrounded by some pretty intimidating talent. About half of the starting field on a given Sunday has a great chance to win." But, he thinks he's on the verge of a breakout with his Copart Dragster that would put him in the books with Del Worsham, Antron Brown, and Morgan Lucas as a winner early this season.
 
"I think we're really close to turning the corner," Bernstein said. "Our numbers in qualifying in Houston particularly showed that we could run with anybody. Mechanically, the car shows a tremendous amount of promise."
 
The mastermind of the operation, his dad Kenny Bernstein, said crew chiefs Todd Smith and Donnie Bender are "showing progress. We're getting new data on every run, and we're learning every time we go down the track. We are going through a learning curve, which is a necessary step, but sometimes our decisions bite us. We have to find out what we can get away with. Once you get enough runs under different conditions then you have a dictionary that can help you. It becomes easier to make a good run without stepping off the edge.
 
"The break through comes when you accumulate a lot of knowledge," he said. "Then when you win a race, it gives you the opportunity to win more. And it doesn't hurt to have a little luck every once in a while. But the key is being consistent, the driver included."
 
 Brandon Bernstein won here in 2004 and 2007 and was runner-up in 2006. "We've been to the final round three of the seven years I've competed at Heartland Park," the 18-time winner said. "Those are great odds. It boosts your confidence when you have made that drive to victory circle at a track."
 
In 2007, Bernstein finished third in the standings for the third time in his career. Before that, he earned nine victories in 14 finals. Since then he has won just once -- at Dinwiddie, Va., in 2009 -- in 14 final-round appearances. But he was runner-up at Las Vegas in April. So he's headed in the right direction and in no worse company so far this year than Tony Schumacher and Larry Dixon, who also are winless.

 

 

 
AIMING FOR NO. 30 - Mike Edwards doesn't do everything by himself, for sure. However, he does drive and tune the Penhall/K&N/Interstate Batteries Pontiac GXP, interpret computer data, and even steer the hauler down the highway to every race. For once, though, he didn't have to work all week then drive clear across the country from his Coweta, Okla., home. He had to drive just a couple of hours north. Heartland Park Topeka is the one of the NHRA's 19 venues the Edwards team calls home.
 
"That makes the Topeka stop a special place for all of us because it allows us to be surrounded by those who love and support us, which I think takes some of the pressure away in some regard because of the comfort you have," Edwards said. "It also adds a bit of pressure because you do not want to disappoint everyone who took time away from their lives to watch you race."
 
He and his crew also would like to remember it as not only the place Edwards wins for a second straight time or even for the third time overall. They'd like this to be the racetrack where he earns his milestone 30th Wally statue.
 
In 1999, he won from the No. 16 position and last year won from the No. 1 spot. So he has approached race day from just about every angle.
 
"I can say I have won this race from both ends of the spectrum," he said. "In 1999, that was one of those race days you could do no wrong from the starting line to making the right calls on the track. It meant a lot because I did something nobody before did, and that was win from the No. 16 position." He defeated Troy Coughlin in the final on a holeshot.
 
In 2010, Edwards also used a holeshot to defeat Allen Johnson, who had upset him the year before in the final round.
 
"Topeka usually comes down to who does better at the start, because the track is very consistent throughout the weekend," Edwards said. "I just need to do my job like I did in the couple years I've won, and I can even out my Pro Stock trophy collection at No. 30."

 

 

 

 
SITTING IT OUT - Buddy Perkinson and the Cunningham Motorsports team won't be competing at Topeka. Instead, the 19-year-old rookie will be driving his Comp car this weekend in the Lucas Oil Drag Racing series Division 2 points race at Atlanta Dragway.

He skipped the Houston event so the team could work at the shop in Maryland, trying to find some more horsepower and prep the engines.

Perkinson was at Royal Purple Raceway to support his fellow Ford drivers and the Pro Stock class.

"We'll get there. It's early yet," he said of his performance. "We're still working, as a team, trying to get things figured out. We know the car and team both have potential."

He said last weekend's Southern Nationals at Atlanta "was the sixth of our 22 races this year, and to be honest, it's way too soon for us to give up; not that we ever will."

 

 

 LEARNING THE HARD WAY - "I've always believed you can learn more when you fail than when you succeed, but only if you're paying attention and have your eyes wide open," Tim Wilkerson said.

The independent racer probably would rather learn, some other way, what will make his Levi, Ray & Shoup Shelby Mustang run like a top. But after a runner-up finish at Charlotte and a No. 2 start at Houston followed by a rough Atlanta weekend, Wilkerson is trying to figure it out any way he can.
 
"You can stumble onto something that works out here, and all of a sudden you think you're a genius. But that's sort of like being the kid who guesses and gets the right answer in algebra class. The answer was right, but he didn't do the work to figure it out, so it's not really worth that much," said Wilkerson.
 
"If your car is driving you a little nuts, you have to keep your head in the game and use each lap as a lesson. That way, at the very least, you know what doesn't work, or what the car doesn't like. After a while, you ought to be able to figure out what does work and which way the car wants to run," he said. "Believe me, we had a lot of opportunity to learn some stuff in Atlanta, and hopefully we can bounce right back and put all that to good use this weekend in Topeka."
 
Will bad weather factor in this weekend? "They based 'The Wizard of Oz' in Kansas for a reason,” said Wilkerson. “We've seen just about every possible style of weather you can imagine at Heartland Park, from tornadoes that had us running for cover, to huge thunderstorms and wild changes in temperature. The wind is pretty much a constant, too, so you just have to be ready to adjust, all the time. We've also spent a few weekends at Heartland Park when it was just fantastic, so you never know what you're going to get.
 
"The good news is the track is terrific, and the shutdown area is one of the longest on the tour, so if the weather lets you run fast you can throw the kitchen sink at it and run pretty good. Way back in 1993, Chuck Etchells ran the first four-second run in a Funny Car and Jim Epler ran the first 300 mph speed in one of these things, and they both did it on the same weekend on this same Heartland Park track in Topeka. It's a great place, with great fans, and we'll just hope we get some decent weather so we can put on a good show and win some rounds with the LRS Ford." 

 

 

FINALLY UNDERWAY - Sportsman qualifying at the NHRA Summer Nationals was delayed by nearly five hours as rain fell at Heartland Park Topeka on Friday morning and into the afternoon. The professional classes are expected to begin on time at 5 PM, CST.

RAIN, RAIN, GO AWAY - The forecast for the NHRA Summer Nationals has been dismal, at least for Friday. Rain began falling early morning and has been heavy at times putting the racing at Heartland Park Topeka on hold.

IT HAD TO BE YOU - Greg Anderson has lost to KB/Summit Racing teammate Jason Line three times in this year's six completed races, twice in the final.
 
"I have to find a way to beat that guy," Anderson said.
 
That might sound rather greedy to the rest of the Pro Stock class as they open competition for the NHRA Summer Nationals today at Topeka's Heartland Park.
 
After all, as Anderson said, "Between the two of us, we've won four of the first six races and have already had two all-Summit finals. We've also had Ronnie (teammate Humphrey) score his first No. 1 qualifier in Houston, so things are certainly going well."
 
Call them not The Blues Brothers but The Blessed Brothers. Line leads the Pro Stock standings, 50 points ahead of Anderson and is seeking the third back-to-back victory performance of his career -- and second this season (after winning at Pomona and Gainesville to begin the schedule). Anderson, the reigning champion, has a Charlotte victory and three final-round appearances.
 
If Anderson is frustrated that he can't stop Line, imagine how the other contenders feel about not being to solve either and crack the top two spots in the standings.
 
No. 3 Mike Edwards has led the field twice, including at Las Vegas, where he won. Rookie Vincent Nobile was runner-up at Las Vegas and winner at Houston. Rodger Brogdon set the national elapsed-time record (6.495 seconds), has one No. 1 qualifying position, and reached the Houston final. Erica Enders has earned her share of the spotlight this year, capturing the national speed record (213.57 mph), taking the No. 1 spot at Pomona, and giving drag-racing some attention in NASCAR by beating Kurt Busch in the opening round at Gainesville.
 
Greg Stanfield is a two-time finalist in 2011 and is tied for fourth place in the standings. Warren Johnson has won six championships but not a single round this season. Ron Krisher has qualified in the top half at all six races, with only a semifinal finish to highlight his year. Allen Johnson wowed in the preseason with stunning testing numbers but hasn't become the force on-track yet that he was at the end of 2010.
 
So the Pro Stock class has lots of talent and lots of frustration. Anderson, though he hasn't solved Line, is in a pretty envious position.
 
"Seriously, I am very happy for Jason's success," Anderson said. "They have their Summit Racing Pontiac running really well, and he's doing a great job behind the wheel. Although I never like to lose, it's a little easier when it’s your teammate. I'd just like to add another pewter Wally to my collection, and I can't think of a better time or place to get one than this weekend in Topeka."
 
Of course he can't. From 2003-2007, Anderson won four times at Heartland Park Topeka. In that stretch he also was low qualifier three times.
 
But to a racer, 2007 is a long time ago. And in the past three years, the best he has managed there is one semifinal finish. He said he's ready to correct that.
 
"I'm not really sure why, but in the last few years the racing surface in Topeka has not been well-suited to the way we run our cars," Anderson said. "However, we've been going over the data, and I believe we've identified some areas that we needed to change, so I believe you will see a much better product from the Summit Racing team this weekend. One of the strengths of this crew has been their ability to adapt to the situation, so we should be in good shape. After putting both cars in the final last week in Atlanta, I know Jason and I will have targets on our back, so we'll have to be ready for whatever the competition throws at us."
 
Line hasn't had much success in seven previous appearances at Heartland Park Topeka. He has won on 14 different racetracks in Pro Stock but never at this one.
 
"I'm not quite sure why we haven't done better in Topeka," Line said, echoing Anderson's take on it. "It just seems that the last few years, that particular racing surface was not particularly suited to the way we run our cars. I do feel that we have identified and addressed some of the areas that have given us problems in the past, which leads me to believe our performance will improve this year. Of course, our competitors have also been working on their programs, so we'll have our work cut out for us."
 
Said Line, "I've raced at Heartland Park Topeka since the first event there, when I made it to the semis against Al Corda in my stocker. So I think it's about time I left there with the Wally."
 
That's what Edwards, Nobile, Brogdon, Stanfield, Enders, Johnson Krisher, and the rest of the field are saying about themselves, too.

 

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