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

 

SUNDAY NOTEBOOK - WINNERS ARE CROWNED IN CHI-TOWN

SHE'S GOT HER PLACE IN HISTORY NOW - Erica Enders knew the moment was going to be huge.

This woman’s intuition was spot on.

Enders defeated Greg Anderson to become the first female driver in drag racing history to win a Pro Stock event, regardless of sanction, as she won the O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Route 66 Nationals.

The parade of positives flowed her way as she first beat the one driver who had repeatedly praised her but also said he didn’t want to be the first to lose to her.

Her crew was screaming in the team’s headsets and lined up the Safety Safari members and members of the NHRA race officials were offering praise.

Then, just moments after giving her ESPN interview following the win, her cell phone rang. It was the godfather of Pro Stock, Bob Glidden, and he was calling to congratulate her.

Just moments after holding the man she’s longed for, the NHRA’s revered Wally trophy, she was presented with another trophy – a marriage proposal from longtime boyfriend and fellow Pro Stock driver Richie Stevens.

“Twenty years, from the time I was eight years old in the Junior Dragster this has been a dream of mine and I have worked my butt off to get here,” Enders said of the historical victory. “For all of the kids who were told they couldn’t do it. You CAN do it.”

Enders, whose rise as a youthful drag racer was portrayed in a Disney movie, was given her big break by Pro Stock team owner Victor Cagnazzi.

“Victor Cagnazzi gave me an opportunity in 2004 to come drive a Pro Stock car knowing I had never let the clutch out on a race car before,” Enders admitted.

Cagnazzi said in not so many words he knew she was a winner before she ever drove for him.

““She’s got focus,” Cagnazzi explained. “She’s got the eye of the tiger. She wants to win. That’s what we want her to do. Greg Anderson, one of the toughest competitors out there, to go toe to toe with him, I couldn’t be happier for the organization.

““This is the culmination of a lot of years of a lot of work. She has been so close so often. She is an unbelievable driver. This is the first time we’ve given her the car she deserves. She took it right to the winner’s circle. I couldn’t be happier.”

Enders began to solidify her march into history in the second round when she ran a 6.607 top beat Vincent Nobile and score low elapsed time of the round. She then eliminated a resurgent V. Gaines and scored lane choice for the final round.

In the final round, she was slightly quicker than Anderson off of the line and crossed the stripe first, winning by a 6.627 to 6.641 margin.

This was the margin Enders had long desired and Anderson considered kryptonite.

“I think if I could have planned it I would have asked to run Greg in the finals,” said Enders. “He made it very clear that he didn’t want to lose to me and he’s a very competitive guy, I love him to death, but I couldn’t wait to beat him.”

They did talk in the shutdown; although, some of it was one-sided.

“I walked over after my TV interview and gave him a hug and he grabbed me by the shoulders and said ‘Well deserved,’ Enders revealed. “It means a lot coming from an eight million time world champion that I’ve been trying to beat since I let the clutch out of one of these cars.”

Enders, who is not shy about her spiritual beliefs, praised God for the opportunity.

“I have to give God the glory because it’s through Him that I can do all things,” said Enders.

An hour after the win, she was still coming to grips with what had just transpired.

“It has and it hasn’t,” said Enders. “I remember my Super Gas win eight years ago it stayed with me for a couple of weeks. You wake up every day and you can’t believe it’s real and you get to look at the Wally and it’s there. For Shirley Muldowney and Shelly Anderson-Payne who were my idols growing up and all the women that paved the way. There are a lot of kids who look up to me and I’m blessed enough to be a role model for them through the Disney movie and I hope they see me win and know that anything’s possible. If you set your mind to it and follow your dreams, anything is possible.

Enders is living proof.

OLD YELLA STILL DELIVERS - Jeff Arend calls his DHL Toyota Camry Funny Car team the Yella Fellas.

Maybe the Kalitta Motorsports gang the Mellow Yella Fellas after their victory Sunday at Route 66 Raceway over Courtney Force, the rookie driver of the Traxxas Ford Mustang who was making her first final round appearance in this class.

With his fourth career triumph in the O'Reilly NHRA Route 66 Nationals and his first since last year's Houston race, Arend grabbed the last berth in the $100,000-to-win Traxxas Shootout that is scheduled for Labor Day weekend at the U.S. Nationals.

And the whole team is feeling extra satisfied with the way the crew and new Toyota and Arend are performing.

"My daughter said to me, 'You'd better get that Traxxas car for me. She didn't care about the Shootout," Arend said with a laugh. "We got it now.

"It feels great to give the new Toyota Camry its first-ever win," he said after turning in a 4.131-second elapsed time at 309.20 mph that narrowly defeated Force's 4.454, 272.67 on the 1,000-foot course.

"We've just gotten better and better since Gainesville," Arend said. "This DHL team was awesome today. We only had 60 minutes between rounds [because of the three-and-a-half-hour rain interruption], and I think our guys had the fastest turn-around between rounds of anyone out here today. That DHL team I have turned my car around faster than some of those Top Fuel cars that go back up there. It gives you a lot of confidence when you can go out there and win like that."

Arend was making his first final round of the season and second in a row at Route 66 Raceway. He was runner-up here last year.

"It was a real team effort today," Arend said, conceding that he "probably didn't do my sharpest driving today on the lights, but everything else was OK."

He called this particular victory a "fantastic win."

And he said he considers driving this car, taking over the wheel following the June 2008 death of Scott Kalitta, a genuine privilege.

"Ever since the day I got to drive for the Kalittas, for Scott, it’s been a big deal. They wanted a safe and competitive car and now they have one. This thing is hauling the mail and running good for DHL, Technicoat, and Red Line. I want to thank Nicky, Jon O, and all of my guys including Del Worsham for working so hard."

Team owner Connie Kalitta, Scott's father, said, "It means a lot to us. It's Scott’s car, and his kids are here."

DHL Toyota crew chief Jon Oberhofer said, "It's all about family with our win. The boys [Scott;' sons] are here, Colin and Cory. It's badass that they are here. It's all about team. We've been working hard to make our Toyota a real good race car here. We've finally gotten some results."

Said Arend, "We have a hot rod and I knew we were going to have a good race in the final with Courtney."

Force was one of four women in the pro semifinals (along with Alexis DeJoria in Funny Car, Hillary Will in Top Fuel, and Erica Enders in Pro Stock) and three in the final rounds. (Enders won, and Cassie Simonton was runner-up in the Top Alcohol Funny Car class.)

Her Funny Car alum sister, Ashley Force Hood, never won here but was provisional No. 1 qualifier in 2008. She lost her grasp on the top spot to Melanie Troxel the next evening.

THIS IS FOR YOU MR. SHOE - No. 1 qualifier and points leader Tony Schumacher went out of Sunday's O'Reilly NHRA Route 66 Nationals in a first-round blaze of glory, and Spencer Massey lost in the next round.

Their Funny Car teammates beat up on each other at Route 66 Raceway, Jack Beckman eliminating Matt Hagan, then Beckman beating Johnny Gray before losing to eventual winner Jeff Arend. Fellow Funny Car racer Ron Capps was an opening-round dropout.

So it fell to Antron Brown, in the Matco Tools/Aaron's/Army/Toyota Dragster to slather the icing on boss Don Schumacher's piece-o-cake day. It was a day which began with his surprise news that he was selected as a member of the International Motorsports Hall of Fame's Class of 2013.

And Brown delivered. He brought Don Schumacher a Top Fuel Wally statue to add to his cigar-celebrated day.

It might not have mattered that final-round opponent Steve Torrence red lit and disqualified himself  by one-hundredth of a second in the Torrence Family/Capco Contractors Dragster. Brown sent a message that he is ready to contend for a championship with his stout 3.784-second, 322.88-mph pass on the 1,000-foot course for the $50,000 winner's share of the purse.

"It feels awesome here in Chicago. We love this race track. It feels good to get this for the boss. Don Schumacher . . . being inducted into the Hall of Fame, this is for you, Boss. We love you," Brown said after earning his third event title here but the first in Top Fuel. He won twice in the Pro Stock Motorcycle category.

"This is incredible, and all of the glory goes to God," he said after climbing from his car. "That is my Christian brother over there,” he said, pointing to Torrence.

"That’s a tough race track there. We're pushing so hard in this class, and it's such tight racing," Brown said. "There are so many cars running strong right now. This might be the toughest year ever for Top Fuel in terms of competition. That match-up against Shawn Langdon (in the semifinal) was like a final round.

"We're running E.T.s neck-and-neck, winning by 10 and 12 inches at 320 miles an hour," he said. "And when you go out and get a race win like this right now and the competition we had to go through, it's just remarkable.

"The team's doing a great job and it’s all worth it, all worth the blood, the sweat, the tears," he said. "This weekend that's what it was -- all the rain, the heat like a sauna . . . I'm 10 pounds lighter. It just feels good to knock one out of the park again."

Brown has made no secret that he has his eyes on the Countdown to the Championship already.

"It feels good to gain some points and get going, because the Countdown is around the corner," he said. "We have six races left, and it feels good to get some momentum going before the Western Swing and Indy and the Countdown. It's crucial right now.

"There are some hot races in the Countdown, and this was a hot one, but yet we still had some good track conditions to put up phenomenal numbers out there. It just feels good to get this win for the team, for all of our boys, Mark and Brian [crew chiefs Oswald and Corradi], I mean my hat's off to them. They did a great job, and I was just a nut behind the steering wheel."

Brown has sliced Tony Schumacher's lead to just three points as the series moves to Norwalk, Ohio, next weekend.

Brown said he understood that Torrence wanted to do the same in his third final round in five races. And he empathized for the Kilgore, Texas, native.

"You have to be right on the tree. I did the same thing a few weeks ago on the tree, so I know what he is going through. He's a great guy with a great team," he said.

This 250th career race for Brown yielded his 33rd overall victory and second this season in five final-round appearances. His previous triumph came in February at Phoenix's Firebird International Raceway.

"All of the Matco Toyota team just worked their tails off. It feels great to get a win out here because they are few and far between. The fans were the real stars out here today. To sit through the [rain] delay of about three and a half hours] and stay out here for us, coming to our transporter after every round. They are what drives us, and they are our fuel."

And his plan is to deliver for them, too.

ON THE RIGHT TRACK - The sight of a seemingly crazed rider ripping wires from his bike had to be a unforgettable moment.

Frustrating race weekends will lead a drag racer to do wild things.

It was totally out of character but necessary for four-time series champion Andrew Hines, whose Screamin’ Eagle Harley-Davidson V-Rod has been mired in mediocrity since winning the season-opening O’Reilly NHRA Route 66 Nationals outside of Chicago.

“When I got back from Englishtown, the first thing I did on that Tuesday when the bike got back to the shop was to rip every wire off of this thing and run to my local O’Reillys and picked up a bunch of 14-gauge and 16-gauge wire and did everything I possibly could to rewire it.”

This was the spark Hines and his bike needed.

Hines was the beneficiary of a foul start opposite of LE Tonglet, who came into the final round as both the underdog and undefeated defending champion with 11 consecutive round wins.

A rejuvenated Hines kept the Harley-Davidson domination of the Pro Stock Bike class intact with his second victory in five races. Teammate Eddie Krawiec has three. The victory marked his second at Route 66 Raceway.

Hines didn’t sweat seeing Tonglet jump out to the early lead. He knew early on the victory was his and became so preoccupied with the win, he let it affect the riding which had been nearly flawless all day.

“As soon as I popped the clutch, I saw the win light come on,” said Hines. “I caught the flash of red on LE’s side. From there on out, it was just a nice comfortable ride down the track, and I’m sure I didn’t ride as good as I could have. I short-shifted one gear and saw LE out in front of me, I knew he red-light and watched as he shut off. I was paying more attention to him and my win light, and my bike almost shifted into high gear.”

Hines admitted this might have been the one opportunity where being preoccupied was acceptable. Considering the team has been preoccupied with chasing gremlins for the last few races, shifting shortcomings was the last thing on his mind following Tonglet’s foul.

“This win is total relief,” said Hines. “It gives me a lot of confidence in my motorcycle now. The effort I put in and my team put in over the last couple of weeks to make sure my bike was going to be perfect is really relieving and to get the victory.”

The victory represents No. 27 for Hines as he creeps into striking distance of his tuner/brother’s 30-wins on the all-time list.

“I’ve been eyeing that for a while. He’s tuned me to my 27. That’s a great collaborate effort we have. I think he wants me to get to 30 as bad as I do. It’s cool to have your brother tuning you. You still butt heads.”

And to hear Andrew talk, his brother has a good handle on the upcoming races should the conditions get unbearable.

“Luckily Matt has a good tune-up for my bike in these hot and muggy conditions,” admitted Hines. “That’s something we didn’t have at this time last year. We were really inconsistent on speeds and ETs.

“We were able to go out and pick away at performance, something we couldn’t do last year. It provides a lot of confidence headed to Norwalk next weekend.”

How crucial is confidence to a team who has won every race this year?

“Confidence means everything,” Hines said. “I have the utmost in my team. They have confidence in me. But every now and then, I didn’t have the greatest confidence in my motorcycle.”

He does now.

QUICK HITS: RACE REPORTING IN RAPID FASHION

TOP FUEL

FIRST ROUND

MORE NASTY WEATHER HALTS RACING - As storm clouds moved just before noon à la Friday's scenario, the NHRA Safety Safari worked feverishly to clean the track following top qualifier and hometown favorite Tony Schumacher's massive engine explosion in the fourth pairing of the day. As soon as they finished their work, Antron Brown sped right down the right lane in Schumacher's path and defeated Morgan Lucas with the quickest pass to that point, a 3.820-second E.T.

Spencer Massey held off Terry McMillen in a close side-by-side race, then Doug Kalitta eliminated Clay Millican by five-thousandths of a second in a hurry-up match as wind gusts propelled paper and debris from the top of the tower.

The wind repeated its eerie whistle that punctuated the ominous stillness Friday night. And the NHRA ordered the grandstands and vendor areas evacuated at 11:58 a.m. because of threatening weather.

As a precaution, all racing activity was postponed, just before the rain came down in sheets and lightning pierced the sky.

MAJOR UPSET OF ARMY DRAGSTER - Tony Schumacher, from the Chicago suburb of Long Grove, said Saturday night he knew his "neighbor" and first-round opponent T.J. Zizzo, of Lincolnshire, was plenty capable of pulling off an upset.

And he was right -- but Schumacher contributed to the No. 16 qualifier's improbable victory against the points leader and seven-time champion with a massive and fiery explosion.

As Schumacher blasted down the right lane, something let go in the U.S. Army Dragster, sending him across the finish line trailing a gigantic fireball.

Public-address announcer Bob Frey expressed it best: "That's about as devastating an explosion as we've seen in Top Fuel this year."

Schumacher was unhurt, and Zizzo, a part-time, low-budget racer, advanced to the quarterfinals for the first time this year in four races and for only the sixth time in his career.

Zizzo, who drives the Peak/Herculiner Dragster, paid tribute to "our all-volunteer team. We try our hearts out." He said his weekend has taken so many sudden twists, from flipping pancakes at the start, now getting his first round-win. "What a great day," he said after posting a 3.872-second elapsed time at 311.20 mph.

The concussion spoiled Schumacher's hope of earning back-to-back victories (after winning at Bristol two weeks ago) and presenting his dad and team owner, Don Schumacher, a Wally statue on the day the elder Schumacher learned he has been elected to the International Motorsports Hall of Fame's Class of 2013.

But Tony Schumacher took the stunning disappointment in stride.

He said that although "I don't want to lose to anybody," he would be content to be a spectator Sunday.

"This is the greatest sport in the world," he said after collecting his thoughts.

Moreover, he said he'll be cheering for Zizzo.

"I hope he wins the race," Schumacher said. "They made a good, commendable run. They did what they had to do to beat us."

STARTING WITH HOLESHOT UPSET - Dave Grubnic dealt Brandon Bernstein another disappointment in the opening pairing of eliminations, upsetting the MAVTV/Lucas Oil Dragster driver on a holeshot. Grubnic ran a 3.842-second elapsed time at 316.45 mph to Bernstein's quicker and faster 3.834, 318.99.

EAGER FOR FIRST VICTORY -Shawn Langdon, in the Al-Anabi/Toyota Dragster, was the first with lane choice to pick the right side. It paid off, as he used a stout 3.829-second pass to knock off Bob Vandergriff. He said

BREAK-OUT ROUND - Hillary Will won her first round in six races this year in the Dote Family Dragster, extending Khalid alBalooshi's winless streak in the Al-Anabi Dragster to 11 races.

QUARTER-FINALS

HE 'BLOWED-UP,' TOO - In another chance to show off in front of the hometown crowd, T.J. Zizzo looked a lot like his first-round opponent Tony Schumacher at the finish line. His Peak-Herculiner Dragster blew up at the top end of the racetrack, and he crossed the left-lane finish line with a rooster tail of flames. Meanwhile, Will -- like Zizzo a former IHRA racer and winner --moved onto the semifinal round with a 3.858-second time at 311.05 mph.

ANTRON MARCHES ON - Doug Kalitta had knocked Antron Brown out of action at the previous three races. But Brown had defeated his Kalitta Motortsports teammate, Dave Grubnic, twice this year before they met in this quarterfinal match-up. Brown made it three victories over Grubnic to earn a meeting with Shawn Langdon. "That was awesome there," Brown said of his 3.801-second, 323.04-mph performance against Grubnic.

TORRENCE BY ABOUT TWO FEET - Spencer Massey and Steve Torrence were 1-1 in head-to-head meetings this year before this pairing. And they were almost even at the finish line, as well, but Torrence nosed out Massey, 3.833, 320.36 to Massey's 3.836, 323.27. "That round right there is probably he biggest round of the day," Torrence said. "We're not messing around. We're trying to get round wins and win this race."

LANGDON BRACKET RACING TO SEMIS? - Al-Anabi/Toyota Dragster driver Shawn Langdon reached the semifinal round for the first time since the Gatornationals, taking advantage of Doug Kalitta's mechanical troubles immediately after the launch.  Langdon has the car running consistently, for he posted a second 3.82-second E.T.

NO REASON WHY ARMY CAR GRENADED - Tony Schumacher still wasn't sure late in the day what caused the engine in his U.S. Army Dragster to explode and catch the car on fire toward the top end of his first-round run against No. 16 T.J. Zizzo.

But he knew it was plenty frightening.

"Man, that was pretty scary," Schumacher said shortly after climbing from his seriously wounded race car. "I can't say that I felt something with the car before the engine let go. To be honest, we seemed to be on a good run. But then it all went bad in a real hurry."

Schumacher was seeking a second straight victory and a chance to make his father Don's day even more memorable after the early-morning surprise announcement that he had been elected to the International Motorsports Hall of Fame's Class of 2013.

The happy news for the seven-time champion driver was that he retained his points lead, despite losing in the first round at his Route 66 Raceway "home track" for the third time in his past four visits.

He is a three-time winner at this facility but not since 2008. He was pragmatic about the startling result and said he isn’t even all that worried about his place in the standings.

"Things like this happen – that’s just racing," Schumacher said. "I'm sure my guys will dissect what took place and then make sure we're good to go for the race in Norwalk (Ohio) next weekend. We just need to turn the page from this weekend and not get caught up with where we're at in the points. That has a way of taking care of itself.

SEMI-FINALS

A TALE OF TWO DREAMS - Just as much as Hillary Will struggled in the Dote Family Dragster, opponent Steve Torrence sailed through the run in his Torrence Family / Capco Contractors Dragster. He posted his third consecutive 3.8-second E.T. to gain a spot in his third final round in five races. This final will be against Antron Brown. He had beaten Tony Schumacher at Atlanta and Brandon Bernstein at Englishtown, so he has won the only two final rounds he has reached. Will had a cylinder out right at the launch and tried to pedal the car. However, Will -- one of four women in the pro semifinal round (along with Courtney Force and Alexis DeJoria in Funny Car an Erica Enders in Pro Stock) -- shut it down early, knowing she could not catch Torrence.

BARELY IN - Antron Brown squeezed into the final round by 22 inches, or four-thousandth of a second, edging Shawn Langdon with a 3.794-second run at 321.04 mph to Langdon's 3.803, 319.37.

FINALS

ANTRON DELIVERS - Antron Brown brought Don Schumacher a Top Fuel Wally statue to add to his cigar-celebrated day.
 
It might not have mattered that final-round opponent Steve Torrence red lit and disqualified himself  by one-hundredth of a second in the Torrence Family/Capco Contractors Dragster. Brown sent a message that he is ready to contend for a championship with his stout 3.784-second, 322.88-mph pass on the 1,000-foot course for the $50,000 winner's share of the purse.
 
"It feels awesome here in Chicago. We love this race track. It feels good to get this for the boss. Don Schumacher . . . being inducted into the Hall of Fame, this is for you, Boss. We love you," Brown said after earning his third event title here but the first in Top Fuel. He won twice in the Pro Stock Motorcycle category.
 
"This is incredible, and all of the glory goes to God," he said after climbing from his car. "That is my Christian brother over there,” he said, pointing to Torrence.

FUNNY CAR

FIRST ROUND

'THAT WAS ME' - No. 1 qualifier John Force reminisced a bit Saturday night when he thought about facing No. 16 qualifier Terry Haddock, who had oiled the track and caused a delay of about 40 minutes in the final qualifying session.

"Sad for a kid like that," Force said, empathizing. "He's on a budget. He really is a good racer. That was me years ago. I know a lot of guys complain: 'You shouldn't let guys like that come in. They got problems.' NHRA always reminds me and a few others that was us a few years ago, learning our trade. It's just sad it cost him money. He made the race, didn't he? He really is a good kid, and he works hard."

BEWARE YAPPY DOG - Points leader Robert Hight got a significant round-win as he beat always-tough Cruz Pedregon to advance. On his mind also was NAPA Dodge driver Ron Capps, his closest challenger in the standings who had advanced to previous six final rounds. Capps entered this event just 73 points behind him. Following his victory, Hight said, "We've got to stop Capps. He's like a little dog, yapping at your heels."

Johnny Gray, Capps' Don Schumacher racing teammate, also talked about dogs after defeating Hight's teammate, Mike Neff. Gray, driver of the NTB/Service Central Dodge, said, "It's a dogfight up there with Neff."

BITTERSWEET VICTORY - In a rematch of the Bristol final two weeks ago, Ron Capps and Alexis DeJoria met -- technically -- for the second consecutive round. This time DeJoria won, ending Capps' final-round streak at six races. But she wasn't entirely happy with her 4.320-second victory as Capps struck his tires early in the run and wound up with a 4.728-second E.T.

"I'm happy I won for the team," she said after exiting her Tequila Patron Toyota Camry and going straight over to Capps to apologize for "double-bulbing" him at the starting line. "I'm really careful about the stuff I do, but I went too far and put it on the high side before he staged. I'm not happy about my actions right now," DeJoria said.

BUMMER - Capps was a bit subdued following the streak-busting run. "It's a bummer. We knew they'd be tough. They gave us a good run in Bristol," he said. Capps said he would simply have to start another streak, adding, "We've got a great hot rod. Life is good."

WILKERSON PREVAILS - A battle of Illinois drivers opened Funny Car eliminations. Tim Wilkerson, of Springfield,  held off Dale Creasy, of nearby Beecher. Wilkerson allowed as how he was lucky to win and carry the Illinois banner. Alluding to Chicago-area resident and No. 1 qualifier Tony Schumacher's stunning first-round Top Fuel loss, Wilkerson -- who's from this state and qualified No. 2, said, "You saw what happened to Tony Schumacher, That could've been my fate."

QUARTER-FINALS

DSR WINS - AND LOSES - Don Schumacher Racing's Dodge Funny Car drivers just kept beating up on one another. Jack Beckman, in a Schumacher Electric-branded car this weekend, handed Matt Hagan and his Die Hard-backed entry his sixth opening-round loss. That meant a DSR racer would advance to the semifinal, but that's because Beckman's quarterfinal opponent was yet another teammate. This time he met Johnny Gray. The envelope, please . . . The DSR driver moving on was . . . Jack Beckman, with a 4.099-second pass that was quickest of the round.

LUCK, REALLY? - Alexis DeJoria said, "I'm definitely lucky to be in the semis." But surely a tune-up from savvy crew chief Del Worsham that's coming around is more the reason than luck. "Kalitta Motorsports is doing it right now," DeJoria said, adding her stock line: "I'm super-stoked."

She had to be extra-super-stoked after finding out that she will face her friend and rookie-of-the-year competition, Courtney Force with a trip to finals at stake.

'DOIN' IT' - DeJoria is correct -- Kalitta Motorsports "is doing it" in the Funny Car class, for Jeff Arend also advanced in the DHL Toyota Camry. His winning 4.162-second E.T. was within six-thousandths -- six-thousandths quicker -- than DeJoria's winning time.  He'll go against Beckman in the semifinals.

IN SEMIS AGAIN - In an all-John Force Racing Ford Mustang quarterfinal match, Courtney Force, in the Traxxas car, beat her brother-in-law and company president, Robert Hight, in the Auto Club entry, to claim her third semifinal berth and second n the past three races. She will face on-track rival and off-track pal Alexis DeJoria. "She's got a great race car right now, but we've got a pretty strong one, too," Force said. "I hate going up against her, but we've got to get our game face on and go out and try to win for our sponsors." Force won their only other meeting, in April, in the first round at Houston.

CURIOUS MIX - Three-fourths of the Funny Car semifinal field Sunday afternoon was composed of drivers who were ranked ninth, 10th, and 13th in the standings entering this weekend. Jack Beckman  and ninth-place Courtney Force.

SEMI-FINALS

HUNCH WAS RIGHT - Courtney Force said this weekend that she thought she had a strong chance to reach a final round before the year was over. She might not have thought it would happen so soon, but she carried the John Force Racing banner to the end of the line -- defeating Alexis DeJoria for the second time in as many meetings and joining Pro Stock's Erica Enders for a sort of Ladies Day final-round showcase. (Cassie Simonton will race for the Top Alcohol Funny Car trophy on the sportsman side of the action.) This marks the second straight Funny Car final round that has featured a female. DeJoria challenged Bristol winner Ron Capps. Courtney Force registered a 4.123-second E.T. at 305.49 against DeJoria's 4.191-second time but faster speed, 306.88 mph.

DHL DELIVERS - DHL Toyota driver Jeff Arend advanced to his first final round of the season for Kalitta Motorsports, knocking off Jack Beckman, DSR's lone hope in the Funny Car class. It also was a close semifinal. Arend won with a 4.106-second E.T. to take lane choice over Courtney Force in the final round. Beckman countered with 4.213, 292.71.

FINAL

OH WHAT A FEELING - Jeff Arend found a way to celebrate Canada Day. He won in America.

Arend defeated first-time finalist Courtney Force.

"It feels great to give the new Toyota Camry its first-ever win," he said after turning in a 4.131-second elapsed time at 309.20 mph that narrowly defeated Force's 4.454, 272.67 on the 1,000-foot course.
 
"We've just gotten better and better since Gainesville," Arend said. "This DHL team was awesome today. We only had 60 minutes between rounds [because of the three-and-a-half-hour rain interruption], and I think our guys had the fastest turn-around between rounds of anyone out here today. That DHL team I have turned my car around faster than some of those Top Fuel cars that go back up there. It gives you a lot of confidence when you can go out there and win like that."
 
Arend was making his first final round of the season and second in a row at Route 66 Raceway. He was runner-up here last year.

PRO STOCK

FIRST ROUND

LINE NOT INVITED TO SECOND ROUND – The higher qualified cars in seven out of eight instances got an invite to the second round party. The lone uninvited guest was point leader Jason Line, who lost on a holeshot to Larry Morgan. Morgan got the best of a tardy Line (.153) and led him to the stripe by a 6.678 to 6.625 margin.

Morgan’s victory was his fifth round win of the season and first since the Houston event back in April when he beat Erica Enders in the first round.

STILL RUBBER CRANKING IT OUT – Qualifying and eliminations might be considered two different procedures but for Allen Johnson they both have the same result. Johnson belted out low elapsed time of the opening round with a 6.618 in beating Jeg Coughlin Jr. AJ was the quickest car in all four qualifying sessions.

YES YOU DID – V. Gaines, the likeable driver of the Kendall Pro Stock Dodge Avenger beat Greg Stanfield on a holeshot in the first round. Said Gaines over his in-car audio, “Whoa” in surprise when told he’d scored a 6.649 to 6.642 victory. Headed into the match, Stanfield held a 10-2 advantage.

THE WINNERS INCLUDE – Those favorites advancing past the first round included Rodger Brogdon (Ronnie Humphrey), Erica Enders (Kurt Johnson), Greg Anderson [Ron Krisher] and Vincent Nobile [Shane Gray].

QUARTER-FINALS

I AM WOMAN, HEAR ME ROAR – Summer might have come in like a lion but it could only whimper next to the roar of Erica Enders and her Chevrolet Cobalt. On a weekend where five female drivers reached the quarter-finals, Enders held her own by scoring low elapsed time of the second round with a 6.607 in beating Vincent Nobile.

Enders credited her performance on the strength of an extensive test session in Rockingham, NC. There the temperatures hovered close to 100-degrees.

“We gained some good experience of what we saw here,” said Enders. “This is a huge payoff for us.”

WHEN RUBBER CRANK MEETS GLUE – Greg Anderson continued his domination over No. 1 qualifier Allen Johnson. Anderson had won four straight races over Johnson before the Mopar won in Topeka. Anderson scored a round win in Englishtown and added another one this weekend with a holeshot victory, 6.634 to 6.612.

V. MEANS VICTORY – V. Gaines entered this weekend having only reached the quarter-finals as a best performance. This weekend has been the exception as Gaines outreacted and outran Larry Morgan to advance to the semis. Gaines reached the quarter-finals in Topeka and Bristol.

THE STREAK CONTINUES – Mike Edwards scored his sixth consecutive round win dating back to two weeks ago in Bristol. Edwards ran a 6.629 which was more than enough to take out a red-lighting Rodger Brogdon.

SEMI-FINALS

HERE WE GO AGAIN … - Greg Anderson has stated publicly dozens of times that he doesn’t want to be the driver who ends up losing against Erica Enders when she scores the first female Pro Stock victory. Guess who he gets in the final?

Anderson ran a 6.637 to upend Mike Edwards in the semis. As fate would have it, Enders ran a 6.622 to not only end Gaines’ Cinderella bid but also gain lane choice in the finals.

“I am cool, calm and collected,” said Enders, who has reached one final round this season and lost it to Anderson. “I’m excited for this to happen.”

FINAL

SHE'S THE FIRST - Erica Enders finally got the best of Greg Anderson, and in doing so, earned her place in drag racing history.

Enders was slightly quicker than Anderson off of the line and crossed the stripe first, winning by a 6.627 to 6.641 margin.

This was the margin Enders had long desired and Anderson considered kryptonite.

“I think if I could have planned it I would have asked to run Greg in the finals,” said Enders. “He made it very clear that he didn’t want to lose to me and he’s a very competitive guy, I love him to death but I couldn’t wait to beat him.”

PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE

FIRST ROUND

SUNDAY IS A NEW DAY – Karen Stoffer had all kinds of issues as she grenaded an engine in her final qualifying attempt on Saturday. As she put it, “We put a hole in the motor and there was oil everywhere.”

There wasn’t even a wisp of smoke as Stoffer thundered to a 6.985, 190.51 to beat fellow Suzuki rider Steve Johnson.

A TALE OF TWO DOMINATORS – This season, if you haven’t been an Arana or a Screamin’ Eagle, chances are you’ve been a distant second sometime or another. Hector Arana Jr. was the top runner in the first round with a low ET of the round 6.921, 191.81 to pull away from Mike Berry. His father, Hector, was the slowest of the quartet with a 7.005 to beat Michael Phillips. The Screamin’ Eagle Harley Davidsons of Andrew Hines [6.934] and Eddie Krawiec [6.944] defeated Scotty Pollacheck and Matt Guidera respectively.

GANN WINS FROM SECOND-HALF – Shawn Gann, who qualified No. 11, advanced to the second round over Michael Ray. Gann used a 7.073 for the win. He was the only second-half qualifier to advance to the second round.

MOVIN’ ON – L.E. Tonglet [Angie Smith] and Chip Ellis [Matt Smith] advanced to the second round.

QUARTER-FINALS

THE KID FLEXES HIS MUSCLES – Hector Arana Jr. was the quickest bike of the second round as 6.954 was more than enough to do away with Shawn Gann. His run barley edged out his dad’s 6.955, a run in which Hector Sr. beat Karen Stoffer.

THE PARITY STATEMENT – The second round featured four Buells, two Suzukis and the two Screamin’ Eagle Harley-Davidsons. When the smoke cleared, it was two Buells, a Harley and a Suzuki.

ONE HARLEY DOWN, ONE TO GO – Andrew Hines will be the one to go forward while defending series champion Eddie Krawiec will go home. Hines took out Chip Ellis while LE Tonglet took out Krawiec on a holeshot, 6.993 to a 6.971.

 SEMI-FINALS

UNBEATABLE – L.E. Tonglet extended his streak of consecutive round wins at Route 66 Raceway to eleven when Hector Arana. Tonglet went through the motions with a winning 7.02.

At this point in the game, Tonglet isn’t getting away from the routine.

“We’re keeping the same routine in the trailer, doing the same things.”

On the other side of the ladder, a resurgent Andrew Hines took out Hector Arana Jr.

FINALS

SLAYING THE UNDERDOG - Andrew Hines spent the days hanging out with Harley-Davidson execs. On Sunday evening, he gave them something to cheer about.

Faced with a seemingly unbeatable opponent Hines didn’t have to beat the perfect Tonglet as he beat himself with a .004 foul start.

Past series champion turned crew chief Matt Hines knew the win was coming following extensive testing last week.

“Made test runs in Indy and we found things,” Hines said. “We made lots of runs, it was the bike and not him.”

With the victory, Harley-Davidson continues its total race day dominance.

SATURDAY NOTEBOOK - FINISHING UP UNDER THE LIGHTS

HOME TEAM DELIVERS - Tony Schumacher often buzzes by his friend T.J. Zizzo's shop on his Harley-Davidson and leads the parade with T.J. and his father Tony Zizzo to La Rosa Pizzeria on Milwaukee Avenue in the Chicago suburb of Vernon Hills. Together they talk NHRA drag racing over mouthfuls of the area's signature deep-dish pizza.
 
After Sunday, the two Top Fuel racers -- Schumacher from Long Grove and Zizzo from Lincolnshire -- will have plenty to gab about. They'll meet each other in the first round of the O'Reilly Route 66 Nationals at nearby Joliet.
 
A few minutes after Zizzo protected his No. 16 starting position Saturday night, Schumacher used a track-record 3.763-second pass on the Route 66 Raceway 1,000-foot course Saturday night to swipe the No. 1 spot from Don Schumacher Racing teammate Antron Brown.
 
As for going head to head against his longtime friend, Schumacher said ordering his racing results isn't nearly as easy as ordering a Four-Way Special or some cannoli from La Rosa's.
 
"I wish I didn't have to. One of us has to lose. I wish it didn't have to be that way," Schumacher said. "We're No. 1, and I wish I were No. 1. So you can't get it both ways. Best wishes to him -- great guy, great family."
 
He said he plans to "go fast" but said without doubt that "that tune-up we had tonight will not be in the car tomorrow morning. It is nine o'clock [Saturday night] and the sun's gone. And we're racing at 11 o'clock [Sunday morning] and the sun's out.
 
"Fortunately, [crew chief] Mike Green and the Army team has more data than they do. But we proved last year that you can go out and get beat first round," he said. "Probably none of us is going to have data for what we're going to see tomorrow morning. We'll take our best shot at it and have fun. If we get beat, I'll just hang out with some of the Chicago Bears I have coming. They've never been to drag race before."
 
And if he happens to beat Zizzo, will he buy lunch?
 
"Actually, he usually buys my lunch more often than I buy his," Schumacher said.
 
The tug-o-war over the lunch check can wait.
 
Right now all Schumacher knows is that Green has confidence in how correctly to read this car that's relatively fresh off the DSR in-house chassis line.
 
Schumacher was unqualified after the first run, thanks to a broken part --"something in the valve train," he said. But he said he and Green and the team were going for it all because "the Army car cannot show up Sunday not qualified at home. That's just not acceptable. So we'll break a few parts -- and we did."
 
But Green learned from that misstep and Schumacher got in the top 12. He improved to seventh in Saturday's first session. But he said Green assured him that is not where he would stay in the line-up.
 
Green leaned over to Schumacher in the cockpit and told him, "There's no reason to end up sixth, seventh, or eighth. We're ninth now. We're either going to go to the top two or we're going to stay ninth."
 
Said Schumacher, "What makes me most comfortable is that he called it. A lot of guys go up there [to the starting line] and say, 'I'm not exactly sure.' When a crew chief starts to get confidence like that [like Green did], watch out."
 
It was just another hot slice of life with the U.S. Army team.

FORCE BACK ON TOP - After John Force held onto his No. 1 Funny Car qualifying position Saturday night for the O'Reilly Route 66 Nationals,  Jack Beckman asked him, "When was the last time you were low qualifier?"
 
For the record, it was last July 31 at Sonoma, Calif.
 
But of course, that's not the answer Beckman got.
 
Replied Force, "Doesn't matter. I'm here now."
 
Thanks to his 4.050-second pass Friday night (at 310.77 mph) on Route 66 Raceway's 1,000-foot course at Joliet, Ill., the Castrol GTX Ford Mustang driver said, "I got a hot rod that's starting to show potential, Ain't sayin' I'm going to win tomorrow. But I want to race with you guys as long as I can. It's all I got. It was never about money."
 
Force said he "figured we'd stay at least third. We weren't really worried about low E.T. You can stay up 1-2-3 and pick up a few points. We knew the boys were coming, Capps and Robert Hight . . . "
 
Hight will start fourth and Capps a distant ninth. Perhaps he didn't see No. 2 qualifier Tim Wilkerson coming or No. 5 Bob Tasca.
 
But he was concerned that he didn't see Mike Neff in the field by the final qualifying session. And he saw daughter Courtney fighting to stay in the field.
 
"I'd rather go home and see her in," the protective dad said.
 
Neff finally made it in, at 11th, and Courtney Force took the No. 12 spot.
 
Force's first-round opponent will be Terry Haddock.

FRIDAY STORM CAUSE INJURIES - Ashton Premer, a 21-year-old NHRA Top Sportsman class racer from Pierce, Neb., was injured in the second of two severe storm fronts Friday that battered Illinois' Will County and Route 66 Raceway.
 
Premer, who was scheduled to compete in the annual JEGS Allstar sportsman bonus races, was transported to an undisclosed area hospital, where he remained Saturday. Injured by airborne debris during the storm, Premer is expected to make a full recovery, according to NHRA Media Relations Representative Alexandra Baca.
 
Federal laws prohibit anyone but a patient and/or family members to discuss the nature and severity of injuries or the treatment or care of the patient.     
 
NHRA racers, as Top Fuel owner-driver Steve Torrence said late Friday night, we were lucky to get their two Friday qualifying sessions in between the double-whammy of nasty weather.
 
The second punch packed winds of 60-80 mph, ripped away awnings, and -- according to Funny Car owner-driver Bob Bode -- flooded many of the race teams' pit and hospitality areas. "All our stuff was floating around here. It was this deep," Bode said, gesturing to show about a half-foot deep surge of rainwater. "It was a mess."   
 
A storm blew into the area before noon, turning a beautiful sunny sky midnight-black and dumping rain like  a monsoon. The NHRA Safety Safari dried the track surface and prepped it for some outstanding that ended in track elapsed-time and speed records for Antron Brown and Spencer Massey, respectively.
 
But, as Competition Plus Photo Editor Roger Richards reported late Friday evening, "Things got a bit rough after the last cars went down the track on Friday night. As fans were filing out of the stands, another huge storm and 80-mph winds struck the track. The still-inflated promotional balloons were ripped from their moorings and sailed towards the departing crowds, striking several and knocking them around. At one point, five ambulances were treating the injured and scared fans. It appeared at least one suffered severe injuries."
 
Richard said Saturday that one inflatable promotional balloon advertising Full Throttle energy drink, the drag-racing series' primary sponsor, flew 20-50 feet into the air, sailed over the entire pit area at Route 66 Raceway and landed in the vacated media / VIP parking lot.
 
The Prestone inflatable chose to land, appropriately, at the Spencer Massey pit. Said Richards, "Several of the team members and spectators sat on it to keep it from further adventures."
 
Sunday's skies never really threatened to interrupt action, although ambient temperatures were in the mid-to-upper 80 degrees and track temperatures soared to more than 120 degrees.

SUSPENDED - The NHRA announced Saturday it has disqualified Pro Stock Motorcycle rider Justin Finley from the O'Reilly Route 66 Nationals and suspended him from competition for one year for failing to comply with the sanctioning body's substance abuse testing policy.
 
In a prepared statement released Saturday afternoon, the NHRA said the Stamford, Conn., racer failed to comply within the required 24-hour time frame. NHRA drivers have 24 hours from the time they receive the testing notification paperwork from the testing lab to comply with the policy during the random testing process.
 
NHRA rules state that Finley is entitled to an appeal.
 
The Suzuki rider was 18th in the order after Friday's two qualifying sessions.

 
HONORING THE REAL HEROES - It's right there in black and white.
 
Two of the Funny Car class' top three drivers and one of the top-four Friday qualifiers in Pro Stock at the O'Reilly Route 66 Nationals are honoring veterans this weekend at Joliet, Ill.'s Route 66 Raceway.
 
With a new back-and-white paint scheme on the Mountain View Racing Dodge Avenger,  Pro Stock's Vincent Nobile is working in conjunction with the NAPA Auto Parts "Get Back and Give Back" program in support of the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund. The fund is an independent, not-for-profit organization serving United States military personnel wounded or injured in service, as well as their families.
 
Nobile, who opened Pro Stock qualifying by taking a fourth-place slot, said, "I have always considered it an honor to drive the Mountain View Dodge, but this weekend I also feel a tremendous amount of pride in being able to show our support for the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund. These brave men and women are true heroes, and we're excited to be able to recognize them."
 
Team owner and crew chief Nick Mitsos agreed that the salute to IFHF is "an honor and a privilege" and said, "This is just one small way in which we can show our appreciation for the U.S. Military and all they do for our country. We'd love nothing more than to be able to win this race with the IFHF on the car."
 
That's what Ron Capps, the early Funny Car leader Friday, said about carrying the logo and information on his NAPA Dodge Charger this weekend.
 
His Honorary Crew Member this weekend is Sgt. Robert James Dickey, 35, of San Antonio, Texas, who suffered a below-the-knee amputation of his right leg and lost part of his left calf . Intrepid has helped Dickey adjust to life after his  surgery to repair damage from a land mine in Afghanistan in September 2010.
 
"It's always special to run a car like that," Capps said, "but to put that car in the winners circle and have Rob there with us would mean more than anything."
 
Dickey is a husband and father of five, and his presence at Route 66 Raceway is courtesy of the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund, which has provided more than $120 million in support for the families of military personnel lost in service to our nation, and for severely wounded military personnel and veterans.
 
NAPA intends to raise up to $500,000 during its July campaign for batteries, starters and alternators in which consumers can turn over product rebates to the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund.

The campaign runs through July to encourage consumers to apply all or part of their rebates from NAPA Battery, Starter or Alternator purchases to Intrepid. Consumers can receive up to a $25 rebate on their purchases. Additionally, NAPA will donate $1 per consumer rebate redeemed.
 
To raise awareness of the fundraising effort, NAPA stores across the country will also be hosting a “Black Out,” where employees will trade their usual blue and yellow uniforms from July 1 – 7 and instead sport a black NAPA t-shirt with the IFHF's logo, along with the phrase, "We Believe In Heroes." Signage will also be placed throughout NAPA stores across the country. Additionally, participating locations among the 13,000-plus nationwide NAPA Auto Care Repair Centers will also be promoting the "Get Back and Give Back" program.
 
"NAPA is proud to support the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund and the important work that they do for the incredible men and women of the Armed forces and their families," Gaylord Spencer, vice-president of marketing strategy for NAPA, said. "As Americans across the country hit the road this July to visit their friends and loved ones, we encourage them to remember our troops, honoring and supporting them in whatever way they can."
 
Martin Truex Jr. and his Michael Waltrip Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup entry will field a similar look on the No. 56 NAPA Toyota in the July 7 Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway.
 
"Our car this weekend will touch a lot of people when they see it and they want to cheer for it because of what it represents," Capps said.
 
For more information about “Get Back and Give Back,” please visit NAPA Auto Parts website (napaonline.com) (Facebook.com/NAPAKNOWHOW). To learn more about the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund, please visit: fallenheroesfund.org.
 
The IFHF most recently opened the National Intrepid Center of Excellence to support the research, diagnosis, and treatment of military personnel and veterans suffering from traumatic brain injury (TBI). The fund is launching a project to build satellite TBI centers at several major military deployment bases around the country, providing more direct care to our wounded heroes in uniform.
 
In a separate but related tribute, Cruz Pedregon, Friday' early No. 3 qualifier, is using his Snap-on Tools Toyota Camry to recognize the Wounded Warriors Project for the second staright visit to Route 66 Raceway.
 
"It is a privilege to drive the Snap-on Funny Car on behalf of the Wounded Warrior Project and host these great men and women this weekend," Pedregon said. "Last year we had a tremendous group of warriors at the race. And the whole Snap-on Funny Car team was inspired by them. We are excited to be hosting another group this year, and we hope to bring home a victory in recognition of these true American heroes."
 
Snap-on Inc. honored the nation's wounded warriors June 14 at its corporate headquarters at Kenosha, Wis. It hosted the annual Chicago-area Soldier Ride for the fourth straight year. The ride-along is an awareness- and confidence-building outreach by the Wounded Warriors Project.
 
Yvette Morrison, vice-president of marketing for Snap-on Tools Group, said, "On behalf of all Snap-on franchisees and associates, it is an honor to host these great servicemen and women at the NHRA race. Snap-on has a long, proud history of supporting our armed services."
 
Pedregon and Snap-on are planning several special activities for the Wounded Warriors at the starting line and in their hospitality area in the pits.

A TERRY WALLBANGER - Nitro veteran Terry Haddock got out of shape and slammed into the wall during Friday's qualifying. Bob Coker captured the intense moments. Haddock was uninjured.

AL-ANABI COMING ON STRONG - Shawn Langdon, in the silver Al-Anabi Racing/Toyota Dragster, got a huge confidence boost Friday afternoon and evening with his No. 2 performances that proved he could run in both hot and cooler conditions. Neither session offered the mineshaft conditions that Route 66 Raceway has seen in past years, that have produced stunning E.T.s. But Langdon said he'll take the benefits from his 3.835-second pass at 320.66 mph during the hottest part of the afternoon and his 3.784, 322.73 in the nightcap.
 
"Those were two excellent runs by the Al-Anabi team, obviously continuing to improve and get our car where we want it to be with strong runs in both hot and cool conditions," Langdon said. "That definitely gives us a lot of confidence heading into [Saturday] to try to make it run even better. This performance is what [team owner] Sheikh Khalid [bin Hamad Al Thani] expects from us, and we are looking forward to doing this more often."
 
Encouraging for the Qatar-owned team, too, was the No. 5 overnight showing of Dubai rookie driver Khalid alBalooshi. He improved from eighth in the first session to fifth Friday night with his 3.825, 318.54 in the gold Al-Anabi car.
 
"I think now, our team is in the right spot," alBalooshi, who'll be seeking a first round-win Sunday in eliminations, said. "From here, I think we will continue to get better. We have two chances to improve our qualifying position [Saturday], and I am happy we are making good runs for Sheikh Khalid."
 
GRAY GETTING BOLD? - Johnny Gray is getting a little frisky. Last year the NTB/Service Central Dodge driver didn't qualify for this race, and that wasn't lost on him or crew chief Rob Wendland. However, despite what he called "playing it safe" Friday night following a tire-smoking debut this weekend, Gray went out and set top speed of the meet so far with a  312.57 mph on a 4.074-second run that put him fourth in the order overnight. Then he said, "Maybe we’ll go out and put this thing on the pole" Saturday.
 
Wendland and assistant crew chief Rip Reynolds tweaked their tune-up and worked, although Gray said, "We were definitely playing it safe that second run."
 
Said Gray, "DNQd here last year, and that sticks in your mind. After it smoked the tires that first run, we put the car back to the base set-up. We really felt like somebody could have run a 4.04 or a 4.05 out there, and we put a 4.09 in there and headed up [to the starting line to try it out].
 
"At the last minute, Rob drew it back to an .07. He was fixin' to draw it back a little quicker, but he looked at me and shook his head. We said, 'OK - let's just go down the racetrack and get in good so we're not under stress tomorrow.' And that's exactly what we did." He predicted Saturday evening conditions would be about as decent as they were Friday, so he got a little bold in his forecast, saying in his playful but warning tone, "Maybe we'll go out and put this thing on the pole."
 
HAPPY TO RUN 3.70 AND GET SESSIONS IN - Top Fuel driver Steve Torrence was fourth in the lineup Friday night, running the last in a string of 3.7-second passes. But the Torrence Racing/Capco Contractors Inc. Dragster owner-driver said he was just "happy to get the qualifying session in." He turned in the car's best 1,000-foot output of 3.795 seconds at 317.42 mph. "We were happy we ran in the 3.70s again," he said. "We had rain in the morning and again in the afternoon, but the track was in good condition. The top four drivers all ran in the 3.70s."
 
SEVERE WEATHER, CONSEQUENCES - Torrence was right about the NHRA and its racers being lucky to get their work done in between two severe storm fronts Friday that battered Illinois' Will County and Route 66 Raceway. A storm blew into the area before noon, turning a beautiful sunny sky midnight black and dumping rain like  monsoon. The Safety Safari dried the track surface and prepped it for some outstanding runs. But, as Competition Plus Photo Editor Roger Richards reported late Friday evening, "Things got a bit rough after the last cars went down the track on Friday night. As fans were filing out of the stands, another huge storm and 80-mph winds struck the track. The still-inflated promotional balloons were ripped from their moorings and sailed towards the departing crowds, striking several and knocking them around. At one point, five ambulances were treating the injured and scared fans. It appeared at least one suffered severe injuries." Competition Plus will try to secure details from authorities regarding injuries. Saturday dawned bright and sunny, as if the Friday storms were all imaginary.
 
FIGHTING BACK - It might have appeared at Bristol that the "old" Tony Schumacher was back in killer form with his victory that vindicated his 0-11 final-round mark and put him back in the points lead. But some inopportune tire spinning -- not that any time would be appropriate for that -- cost him in Friday's first session and left him 17th in a list of 20 drivers. He jumped to the top 12 in the final Friday session with a 3.884-second run at 300.80 mph. Just the same, Schumacher said, "We're not settling for where we're at right now." He said he and crew chief Mike Green "had to make sure we went from A to B in that second session." But Schumacher once said, "I don't want to be 'pretty good.' That's what everybody is, pretty good. If I'm going to risk my life out there, I want to be the best." And that's the same attitude he's taking into Saturday evening sessions. He's taking aim at the numbers of provisional leader (and Don Schumacher Racing teammate and No. 3-ranked) Antron Brown. "We will have a clear shot at moving up in the field," Schumacher said. "There's no reason we can't go out and run as well as Antron did. I know we will definitely be going for it."
 
'AIN'T SMART ENOUGH TO QUIT' - Not even a well-funded team likes the expense of fixing a crashed race car. But a shoestring or low-budget driver such as Funny Car's Terry Haddock rally can ill-afford to have extra work to do. Haddock found his Acme Refining/DiPinto Int'l Toyota fishtailing on him in Friday's second session. It shoved him into the left guard wall, flattening some headers and doing some body damage. Haddock, who was 11th on the grid after the first session, fell to 16th -- still in the field and still ahead of John Force Mustang teammates Courtney Force and Mike Neff. He said he had a fresh body he could switch to while facing a long night of work in stormy conditions at the racetrack. But he said he was determined to come back Saturday. "I'm sure we'll fix it," he said immediately after getting out of his car and apologizing to the Route 66 Raceway officials for "messing up their nice paint job on the wall." Then came Haddock's disclaimer: "We ain't smart enough to quit."
   
SLICE OF FORCE LIFE - Even though John Force was quickest among Funny Car drivers Friday, he talked more about his struggles than about his triumphs.
 
"I have been riding the clutch, which makes it smoke the tires," he said for starters.
 
He called the team he inherited last year when daughter Ashley Force Hood stepped aside for motherhood "a new team," Danny DeGennaro has joined the Dean "Guido" Antonelli-led crew, but the personnel is same -- but they're making some changes this season, and Force indicated he hasn't caught onto all the nuances yet.
 
"They have changed some things around. I am jacking up in the car for roll cage height and seat height. I am higher in the car so they can make certain things fit underneath me. I wish I had Courtney's body weight or Capps'. You take 70 pounds off of me and I'd be a bad son of a gun." Then he smiled and said, "Or I don't know -- maybe I'd be worse."
 
Antonelli said the Castrol GTX Ford Mustang has "been kind of showing the last couple of weeks that it's been wanting to run good." He took his cue and said, "We just kind of set it up similar to how we did in Englishtown, where it ran an .06 and conditions were similar and gave us the same E.T. There's been a lot of hard work from the guys. Danny DeGennaro and I are starting to gel better together, and of course with Jimmy Prock and (John) Medlen and Zippy (Mike Neff) and Ron (Douglas) all working it makes for a knowledgeable team. So we all work together, and it's starting to show."
 
He said the car was running well on the first run, despite Force's No. 14 lot, "but we were a little aggressive."
 
CHAMPS TRY TO FIGURE IT OUT - Force said struggling reigning champion Matt Hagan asked him recently, "What's wrong with us?" Force said he replied, "There ain't nothing wrong with you. You're the champ. Once you are the champ like him or Robert Hight or Shirley (Muldowney) or (Kenny) Bernstein, we know how to fight back. We'll see what happens." Force was provisional No. 1 qualifier. Hagan finished the opening day 11th on the Funny Car list.

FRIDAY NOTEBOOK - WEATHER STRIKES, BUT CAN'T DAMPEN THE ENTHUSIASM

DON'T COUNT OLE FORCE OUT - If anyone knows how to convert failure to a roaring success, it's John Force.
 
He'll tell you so.
 
But he doesn't really have to. His NHRA fans have seen it time and again. He's the modern-day Horaio Alger, rags-to-riches story. And then he became the rags-to-riches-to-rags story. And if that weren't confusing enough, he's working steadily and surely at becoming the ultimate rags-to-riches-to-rags-to-riches-to- . . .  You get the picture.
 
This 63-year-old Comeback Kid came back again late Friday. Like the nasty storm that rolled in with a hit-and-run rain blast midday, Force slammed to the top of the Funny Car order for the O"Reilly Route 66 Nationals in the ominous calm before another severe weather front slapped Joliet, Ill.'s Route 66 Raceway.
 
Force recorded a 4.505-second elapsed time at 310.77 mph on the 1,000-foot course in his Castrol GTX Ford Mustang.
 
It beat Don Schumacher Racing's Jack Beckman by four-thousandths of a second and his own teammate Robert Hight by a hundredth. Not even No. 4 Johnny Gray, who was fastest in the class at 312.57 mph in the DSR-owned NTB/ Service Central Dodge Charger, could match it.
 
And Force, who must hold onto the distinction through Saturday if he is to l;ead the field for Sunday's eliminations, did more than hint the was back.
 
He had that swagger of champion, at least that certainty.
 
However, he built up a crescendo of confidence, staring first rather apologetically for his performance slump since winning the season-opening  Winternationals in February at Pomona, Calif.
 
"I'm a 15-time champ, and I owe my fans and my sponsors better than what I've been --last year and this year," Force said. "I came back from being hurt, won a championship, and now I'm not in the game.
 
"I feel like I'm failing, but failure's where I've always come from. That's where I come from: failure," he said. "I understand it, and I'm going to work my way out of this, out of the hole I'm in."
 
As he spoke, he gained confidence, almost like a runaway semi he might have tried to corral in his truck-driving days decades ago.
 
He said he defines "being in the game" with one simple word: winning.
 
It's a precious concept. It's not all he ever has known, but it's all he wants to know now, after 15 championships as a driver.
 
"If I wasn't low E.T. every other week I was upset. If I didn't win every third or fourth race, it was a bad season. Now I'm just not there."
 
He said crew chiefs Dean Antonelli and Danny DeGennaro have given him a "whole new combination. They'll get it right, and me, I'm learning how to drive they way they want me to drive their race car -- doing the burnout, just things that are different. But nobody knows this game better than me and I'll learn it. It's that simple.    
 
"I just want to be in the game. I love it that much," Force said.
 
"We have been showing the last couple of weeks some consistency. It hasn't been anything to be excited about. We were able to get 10 runs in a row but couldn't win rounds. That 4.05 was OK," he said of Friday's effort, "but let's see what we can do tomorrow. I am sure (Ron) Capps or (Mike) Neff or Hight, one of them will be able to break that. I thought Capps would tonight. He has that kind of magic right now."
 
DSR's Capps, coming off his second victory of the season in his sixth consecutive final-round appearance, took the early lead. He used a 4.121-second E.T. at 303.98 mph in his NAPA Dodge Charger that's designed to recognize the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund for wounded soldiers and their families.

TRACK RECORD - Antron Brown's 3.773-second pass at 322.50 mph in the Matco Tools Dragster on Route 66 Raceway's 1,000-foot course at Joliet, Ill., Friday night was the loudest Top Fuel salvo of these O'Reilly Route 66 Nationals.
 
He beat the day's second severe storm and the rest of an incredibly strong field of dragster drivers to claim the provisional No. 1 qualifying position. And he did it by tying Larry Dixon's two-year-old track mark.
 
Long-overdue Shawn Langdon showed flashes of his Phoenix brilliance, challenging with a second-quick 3.784-second elapsed time at a faster-than-Brown's 322.73 mph pushed Brown to "dig deep."
 
But Brown said he had -- has -- so much tough competition. He named Hillary Will, whose lower-budget team is running a shortened schedule but still managed to be No. 6 overnight.
 
He named No. 8 Clay Millican, who -- like Langdon and so many others -- is a victory waiting to happen. He named No. 9 Terry McMillen, who has shown incredible progress in the past couple of races. His list would go on into the night if he were allowed.
 
But one of the most stout teams to watch out for this weekend is Spencer Massey's FRAM/Prestone team with tuners Todd Okuhara and Phil Shuler.
 
Massey, Brown's Don Schumacher Racing teammate, was strong all day long, even before shattering the track speed record with a run of 326.79. He eclipsed Tony Schumacher's 323.12 mph from June 2010.
 
He teamed with Funny Car colleague Ron Capps seemingly to continue DSR's domination of the nitro classes. The Forth Worth driverswas quickest and fastest of the Top Fuel class in the first session with a 3.818-second pass at 320.74 mph.
 
Of his second-session blast, Brown said the minute he put his foot into the throttle "it got out of Dodge. It didn't stop pulling."
 
He credited every member of his crew and said, "I'm really stoked and pumped. We're starting off this weekend on a good note."

GOING THE DISTANCE - One inch can make a driver go the extra mile.

Allen Johnson came to Route 66 Raceway ready to go a little further.

Johnson, on the strength of a 6.597-second pass during Friday qualifying at the O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Route 66 Nationals, got his Dodge Avenger to the stripe quicker than anyone else. He was .032 quicker than No. 2 qualifier Jason Line.

Johnson could have used the .032 advantage two weekends ago in Bristol when he lost the closest race of his career. Race timers declared a margin of victory of .0000 with the ultimate discrepancy going to the eighth number in the win margin.

Friday, outside of Chicago, Johnson wants more wiggle room.

“We’ve got an awesome team … we’re very fast and consistent,” said Johnson, who gathered six bonus points by leading both sessions. “The Hemi engines are absolutely awesome. Dad [and engine builder Roy Johnson] have made even more power.

“The last race was a heartbreaker at home. Maybe we’ll get a little bit of the good stuff at this race to come our way.”

The impressive part about the first day of qualifying is Johnson wasn’t as aggressive as he could have been even though he put a significant buffer between himself and Line.

“My crew chief [Mark Ingersoll] said there was a bald spot up there [on the track] and backed it down a bit before we run,” explained Johnson. “He shouldn’t have done that. We were very slow in our 60-foot times.”

Johnson said the underestimation probably cost the team a 6.59 in the second session, and as a result he ended the day with a 6.618.

Still, the under estimated combination made his the quickest factory hot rod on the property.

“We gotta take advantage of this while we’ve got it,” said Johnson. “We’re getting all we can while we can, and sticking it in these other guy’s faces. I’ve been fortunate to do my job pretty good this year. Hopefully I can maintain that here [in Chicago]. If I can do my job, and I always say that’s the key, as long as we are running like we are.

“I’m the idiot behind the wheel. I just have to do my job.”

Johnson’s run, if it holds through Saturday’s sessions, will mark his fifth No. 1 qualifier of the season.

DADDY IS HOT TONIGHT - When you’re hot you’re hot.

Friday at Route 66 Raceway, past NHRA Pro Stock Bike series champion Hector Arana Sr. was certifiably hot.

Arana came out of the trailer blazing hot as his 6.915 second elapsed time at 192.22 mph was enough to secure the provisional No. 1 qualifying position during first day qualifying for the O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Route 66 Nationals outside of Chicago. His closest challenger, son Hector Arana Jr., was slightly behind with a 6.939 seconds at 192.49 mph on his Lucas Oil Buell.

"It felt like it was a great pass," Arana said. "At about 1,000 foot, she started slowing down. Suddenly, my leg started getting cold. The feeling went up one leg and down the other.

"It felt good -- nice and cool -- but I know what happened. I looked down and could see I had a fuel leak. Thankfully the engine survived and nothing got hurt."

If his time holds, it will be Arana’s third No. 1 qualifier of the season.

What impressed the elder Arana was not so much qualifying on top as it was getting to do so with his son and watching his offspring’s competitive nature rise to the forefront.

"I can’t ask for anything more," Arana Sr., said. "I'm blessed that we have this opportunity. When Forrest Lucas asked me what I thought Hector would race with me, I was all for it.

"I noticed Hector was a little upset after the run, I think he wanted to beat me and take the pole. I look forward to the challenge. We'll see if he can beat me tomorrow."

HEY, WE WERE THERE, TOO -- Maybe lost in the Don Schumacher Racing double-up hoopla at Bristol that included Tony Schumacher snapping his 32-race winless streak  and Ron Capps winning in his sixth straight final round was the fact that Kalitta Motorsports fielded the runners-up in both nitro classes.
 
Doug Kalitta, in the Kalitta Air Dragster, will try to top Schumacher in the Army Dragster driver's back yard. Kalitta is a three-time winner at Route 66 Raceway (2006, 2004, 2002). Advancing to the final round at Bristol in the Funny Car class was rookie Alexis DeJoria, in the Tequila Patrón Toyota Camry.
 
Only once before did that happen in the long and legendary history of Kalitta Motorsports -- and it happened here last year at Joliet, with Dave Grubnic in Top Fuel and Jeff Arend in Funny Car.

MILLICAN HOARDING POINTS - Top Fuel driver Clay Millican and Route 66 Raceway both made their NHRA national-event debuts in 2008. Millican, the six-time IHRA Top Fuel champion, competed in his first NHRA Top Fuel event, driving a Chicago White Sox-sponsored dragster. And he was the first driver to pull to the starting line for that inaugural event.
 
Now, with Parts Plus sponsorship, Millican is hoping not only to stay in the top 10 to be eligible for the six-race championship playoff but also to move up. He's 10th, 14 points behind No. 9 Dave Grubnic and 48 behind No. 8 Brandon Bernstein. And Millican said he wants to make sure he doesn’t lose any precious points to oildowns.
 
Besides hot and wet weather to contend with, he said, "Our second set of challenges for Chicago will be to maintain our consistency of improvement each week, while keeping all the oil in the car. We're getting better each event. Points are extremely hard to come by, so keeping the oil in the motor is extremely important at this juncture. With only six events left in the first segment of the season, we have to keep the oil in the motor to continue our progress and to improve our position in the points.
 
"We can't buy points. We have to earn them," Millican said. "We're in the top 10 by a slim margin of five points, so our third challenge, not necessarily in that order, the next six events is to improve that margin. We're starting a stretch of races that will put you in the Countdown or take you out."

ADAPTING TO CONDITIONS - When Top Fuel driver Morgan Lucas was compiling his two victories and four No. 1 qualifying positions, he repeatedly said his Aaron Brooks-led crew and his GEICO / Lucas Oil Dragster are the best he ever has had to work with. Nothing has changed his mind lately, despite the dip in his performance that included a DNQ two weeks ago.
 
"You hate to stub your toe here and there, but it's going to happen. It's a part of drag racing," he said. "There's no reason to think we can't start a new hot streak in Chicago. We've been running really strong so far this year and it's definitely something to build on. This is the best car and the best team I've ever worked with, and it's just a matter of time before we zero in on our hot weather tune-up.
 
Brooks said the team's problem at the most recent race, at Bristol, Tenn., was not adapting to wildly variable track conditions.  "We just got behind the track conditions there," Brooks said. "We can't really change our game plan too much, because we've been running well all year. We just need to keep an eye on the track conditions a little better."
 
The Joliet track, with a reputation for yielding record numbers if conditions are cool and otherwise conducive, is trhoing every team a curveball this weekend. What effect Friday morning's showers will have isn't clear, but every drag-racing crew chief  has been developing a strategy for the soaring temperatures. Evening qualifying, which presents characteristics not helpful at all for early Sunday rounds, surely will skew the results. And Brooks knows adapting this weekend is critical, although he might not be in control of the conditions.
 
"Depending on the weather, you can make a lot of power," Brooks said of the suburban-Chicago racetrack. "There have been national records set at this track in the past. There's nothing you can do, other than keep an eye on the forecast and to have a few plans ready to tackle those varying conditions."

HARD CHANGING HATS - Mike Neff continually faces a unique form of separation anxiety -- from himself. That might not make a bit of sense, unless one considers that the driver-crew chief for the Castrol GTX Ford Mustang twin to boss John Force's has to shift gears in the course of a weekend. He needs to make the transition from the creative analysis required of a crew chief to the focus and intense concentration to be a successful driver in a category for no real margin of error.
 
He said he has found it's harder than he might have imagined or than fans might have imagined to get in "driver mode" than one might imagine. "When you're a tuner, you're always second-guessing yourself," Neff said. "So one of the hardest parts for me is making a decision and, when it comes time to drive, living with it. You can go up there thinking about the tuning part and not drive as well as you should. And in the end, if you don't perform as a driver, it doesn't really matter what you did as a tuner."
 
Twice this season, against Force in the final round of the season-opening Winternationals at Pomona, Calif., and against JFR mate Robert Hight in the quarter-finals at Englishtown, N.J., his tune-up was dead-on but a lapse of concentration in the cockpit resulted in a slow reaction time and two holeshot losses.
 
"I think when I'm racing against my teammates, I might relax a little bit because you know one of you is going to the next round – and that’s all it takes, just a little break in your concentration," Neff said. "John has told me that it's hardest for him to get right mentally when he's racing one of us and I think that’s probably what's going on. You just have to do one job at a time and not let them affect one another, and I haven't always been able to do that."

REGROUPING - Since the season's first race at Pomona, Calif., Winternationals Funny Car winner John Force has slipped from first place in the standings to eighth. "We've been struggling. Everybody knows it," Force said. "This (engine/clutch) combination is new to my crew chiefs [Dean Antonelli and Danny DeGennaro], but they're getting a handle on it. We've got the consistency, and now we're getting faster."
 
He said he's "getting ready for the Countdown," because "since they changed it up, it's all about the last six races. You got to be in the top 10 [to make the playoffs], but if you do that, anything can happen." Said Force, "I feel good about the direction we're going."
 
It can't go anywhere but up for the whole JFR operation, which couldn't get any of the four Funny Cars past the first round in the previous race, at Tennessee's Bristol Dragway.
 
For Force, this trip back to Route 66 Raceway brings some memories of winning. His first victory came in 2000 and made him the most successful drag racer in history. Three years later, with the standard racing distance still a quarter-mile, he became the first Funny Car driver to break the 4.70-second barrier with a 4.697-second qualifying elapsed time in his Castrol Ford Mustang.
 
What he remembers most from that race was not later setting the national record  (4.665 seconds at 333.58 mph), but rather losing in the final round to Del Worsham.
 
It has reminded him that, in his words, "Anybody can beat you. There are no freebies anymore."

JOLIET MEMORIES - Barrington resident Bob Bode, who works at his family-owned Ar-Bee Transparent, Inc. plastic-bag factory in the Chicago suburb of Elk Grove Village, was here at Route 66 Raceway for the first NHRA national event, and he said he remembers that he "just stood at the fence" and recalls "walking around the pits the whole time, getting sunburned, and thinking, 'This is the coolest thing.' "
 
The former boat racer had purchased a Funny Car from Tom Hoover and left it sitting in a buddy's garage on the West Coast because, he said, he didn't have the money to prepare it for competition. So one aspect of the weekend irked him.
 
"I remember I didn't like coming in the spectators gate and having to stand in line to buy a ticket. I wanted to come in the participants gate. So here I am -- every time I drive in the gate at Joliet, I like coming in the participants gate. I tell myself, 'You'd better enjoy it.' There was a day when I didn’t do that, and there'll be a day down the road when I won’t get to come in the participants gate. So I enjoy it every time I get to go."
 
Son Bobby, 10, who already has a track championship to his credit but has stepped up to a quicker class of Jr. Dragster, raced here at Route 66 Raceway last weekend and lasted three of six rounds and was among the final 12 in a field of 45.
 
And Bode said this experience in a race car, regardless of whether it leads to a career in the sport, will serve him -- and Dad -- well in the long run. And his reason for saying so points to the alue of the Jr. Dragster program and the notion for older racers to "race the strip and not the street."
 
Said Bob Bode, "He's going 75 mph at 10 years old. I didn't get to go 75 mph till I was 16, and we were getting in trouble doing it. Prior to having my drivers license, I used to take my mom's car at age 14 or 15 and go drive. Even when you got caught, they [the police] just took you home. They were nice back then. Now you could go to jail for doing that, right?
 
"As a parent, I'm looking forward to the day he gets his drivers license, because he'll be a great driver. It's not like he'll be a new driver. He'll already have 2,000 miles under his belt in a race car. I won't be so nervous as a parent," he said. "That's the biggest fear you have as a parent -- give 'em the keys at 16 and let 'em loose . . . You know they're responsible, but you don't know if they'll be distracted. But with five, six, eight years of him driving a little race car, I'll be comfortable, not a parent who's scared to death."

THE STANDARD JOLIET RAIN DELAY - The skies opened up above Route 66 Raceway outside of Chicago, and the result was a severe storm which has halted sportsman qualifying at the O'Reilly NHRA Route 66 Nationals.

The storm packed serious rain, wind and lightning.

Three hours later, we were back racing again.

LOOKING FOR REBOUND - John Force Racing expects excellence.

The Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol (Tenn.) definitely didn’t live up to the team’s high expectations.

John Force, Robert Hight, Mike Neff and Courtney Force all suffered first-round losses at Bristol June 17.

“We all know what we need to do and you can’t panic based on one weekend,” Hight said. “We have four good Ford Mustangs and we just have to go out there and get the job done.”

Hight remains atop the point standings 73 points ahead of the surging Ron Capps and he isn’t about to let Bristol sabotage his season.

“We have as good a car out there as anybody and I have only had one bad race and that was Bristol,” Hight said. “We tried too hard in qualifying and we didn’t get lane choice and you weren’t going to win from the left lane. We weren’t going to beat Johnny Gray or Ron Capps from the left lane. It was our own fault we should have qualified better.”

Hight lost to Gray at Bristol. Gray, the No. 8 qualifier, clocked a 4.091-second lap to beat No. 9 Hight who came in at 5.036 seconds.

Hight is planning to bounce back at NHRA’s Route 66 Nationals Thursday through Sunday in Chicago.

“Chicago is going to be a whole different ballgame they have two night sessions and the field is going to be quick,” Hight said. “Then it is going to totally change and be totally different come Sunday because we will have not faced the heat we are going to have. I still believe I have as good a car out there as anybody. Do I have an advantage? No. But, I do not believe anybody else does either. We can run right up and down the track with Capps and any of those guys. The way this class has been, you have to be perfect to win.”

Hight admitted his team has been trying different combinations on Saturdays.

“We have been doing a little bit of testing on my car on Saturdays, trying to learn things and get better,” Hight said. “Maybe that has hurt our consistency a little bit. We had a pretty good points lead and we had the luxury of doing that. Now that the points lead has dwindled down I think we are probably going to rethink testing a little bit and try to do what Capps is doing and be more consistent. We did some testing Saturday in Bristol and it bit us. We dropped a cylinder on one run because of what we were testing. Had we not been testing and trying things we probably would have made a run near the top of that session and that would have gone a long way in helping our cause Sunday.”

Last Friday, Glen Gray, NHRA’s Vice President, Technical Operations, confirmed to Competition Plus John Force Racing, Alan Johnson Racing, which manages the two-car Top Fuel operation of the Al-Anabi Racing Team, and Bob Tasca III’s Funny Car team were all fined by NHRA for modifying parts without NHRA’s approval.

Gray said Force was fined $10,000 - $2,500 for having unapproved modified parts on each of his team’s four Funny Cars.

According to Gray, he detected the unapproved modified parts right before Bristol.

Hight said the fines levied by NHRA had no impact on JFR’s Bristol performance.

“Nope,” Hight said quickly about whether the NHRA fines were a distraction.

MISS ME? - After sitting out the last two NHRA national events, Greg Stanfield is back racing his Pro Stock Camaro this weekend.

“We are teaming up with Richard Freeman to run his motors at the next two races Chicago and Norwalk (July 5-8),” Stanfield said Tuesday. “We have got these two races with this deal and then we will see where we are at. This would be great if this would work out for both of us.”

Stanfield made some test laps Tuesday at Tulsa (Okla.) Raceway Park with Freeman’s motors in his Camaro.

“Everything looked really good,” said Stanfield about the three full test runs he made. “We made three runs to get an idea of where things are at and I think we should be really good.”

Stanfield said he is not going to be running as a teammate with anybody. Stanfield didn’t compete at Englishtown, N.J., and Bristol, Tenn.

Stanfield has competed at eight national events this season, the last coming at Topeka, Kan., on May 20. Stanfield is 14th in the point standings. He finished seventh in the points last season.

“We have been talking for awhile and he (Freeman) wants us to run his motors,” Stanfield said. “We are under-funded and we really do not have the money to do it right, so this could be a real good deal.”

Veteran engine guru Jimmy Oliver spearheads Freeman’s engine program.

“I have known Richard (Freeman) for a long time, but I have never had the opportunity to work with Jimmy,” Stanfield said.

Stanfield is especially glad to be returning to the track.

“A bad day of racing is better than no racing,” Stanfield said.

THURSDAY NOTEBOOK:

MEMORIES . . .  - Route 66 Raceway is located about 160 miles north of Tim Wilkerson's Springfield, Ill., race shop, so it traditionally draws a sizeable band of his "Wilk's Warriors" cheering section and requires not nearly as much travel as most races on the Full Throttle Drag Racing Series tour. But what the drag-racing veteran has going for him are his sentimental memories here: his first NHRA Funny Car victory and watching son Daniel earn his nitro Funny Car license in 2008, doing so without incident in the minimum number of passes.
 
"We've had some good moments here, for sure, and there's no way you ever forget your first win. So that's always a good reminder when we pull in the gates," Wilkerson said. "When Daniel did his deal, and just drove it right out the back door like he'd been doing it forever, I was the proudest papa you could imagine. So that was good, too. Now we really need to get going in the right direction, so I'm happy we have a chance to do it in Illinois, in front of a lot of great fans.
 
"I'm not getting into the math yet, because with seven races to go in the regular season all sorts of things can still happen," the 12th-ranked Levi, Ray & Shoup Shelby Mustang driver said. "But it's impossible to put it out of your mind that we have to start winning rounds to make the playoffs. Winning races would be a good thing, too, and with the next couple of months taking us to a bunch of tracks where we've done pretty good, I'm optimistic that we at least have a chance to make some positive things happen. We've been running better, and the car is behaving a little better, so I'm feeling positive. Right now, we're just focused on getting qualified and having a good race at Route 66, no matter how hot it gets.
 
"We used to always say that a really hot track and bad air leveled the playing field, because the teams with all those big-power resources couldn't just outrun you anymore," Wilkerson said. "We said that long enough it became something nobody disputed, but the truth is I see all of these teams finding ways to cope with it now. You give those guys enough time, and they'll figure out how to get down a parking lot you could fry eggs on. They're all talented guys.
 
"But I still like to think that we're pretty smart. Too. And the one thing I have going for me is a stack of log books with data on how we did get down some really hot and really slick tracks, over the years," he said. "Route 66 is one of the best facilities in the world, and the track is very good, but if it's going to be 92 with high humidity, it's going to be a challenge. When it's like that, you have to finesse it, not overpower it. We'll see who can do it best."

BE LIKE HANNAH - KB / Summit Racing Pro Stock Jason Line said he's taking his inspiration this weekend from 13-year-old niece Hannah, who earned her first victory this past weekend in Junior Dragster at Grove Creek Raceway in Grove City, Minn. "I just need to find a way to repeat her performance this weekend in my Summit Racing Camaro. Maybe I should call her and ask how she did it," the No. 2 ranked two-time and reigning Pro Stock champion said.
 
"Between her and my brother, I'm not sure who was more excited." Line said. "I look forward to the day when I can see one of my own kids win a race, but Hannah's winning was very cool. We're all so proud of her, and it shows what drag racing is all about. We all started at a similar stage, whether it was bracket racing or some sportsman class, and we did it just to have fun. When I talked to her, all that mattered was that she won and felt really good about it. And it took me back to when I first started racing."
 
Line has three victories in five final-round appearances in 11 visits to Route 66 Raceway. "No matter how my year is going, I always seem to be able to go to Joliet and have a good day," he said. "It's among the best non-Bruton Smith-owned facilities on tour, and I like going to the area to have some good pizza and then see some of my friends from the sportsman classes. It's just a great race to go to. I can't say I'm looking forward to the high temperatures they are forecasting for this weekend, but you’re going to have that at this time of year no matter where you go, and the conditions will be the same for everyone. It will be up to this Summit Racing team to make the best of it."

NOT TOO LATE - White Alligator Racing Pro Stock Motorcycle Jerry Savoie, who's ranked 13th, said, "We dug ourselves a pretty big hole, but it's not too late to climb out of it. One or two good races and everything will be just fine, and I know we’re capable of that. We've had some bad luck as far as parts breakage and a few other things that just haven't gone right. We really just need for our luck to improve over these next few races and we'll be OK."
 
The happy news is he has an option of riding his S&S-powered Buell V-twin that he has ridden at each of the season's first four races or the four-cylinder Suzuki that carried him to an eight-place finish in 2011. He and crew chief and engine builder Mark Peiser are expected to decide at the last minute.
 
"It's always nice to have options, and right now we've got two good ones," Peiser said. "I expect that our Buell is better right now than it has been, but last year’s Suzuki is pretty stout." He said earlier in the week he was leaning toward one but wouldn't say which: "All I can say is I'll know by the time we unload the trailer on Friday morning in Joliet."

K-LOVES JOLIET - Tony Pedregon isn't in the top 10 in the Funny Car class, but the two-time champion is showing signs of improvement. At Bristol, the K-LOVE Toyota Camry driver was one of just two to make four clean qualifying runs. On race day he took out John Force to contribute to JFR's four-car-Round-1 collapse, and he moved up one spot in the standings. Pedregon has won more times at Route 66 than any Funny Car driver: in 2002, 2003, 2008, and 2009. And he was top qualifier here in 2002, 2004, and 2009.
 
WANTS SHOOTOUT SPOT - With extremely hungry Brandon Bernstein lurking 31 points behind him and itching to atone for an uncharacteristic DNQ, Shawn Langdon enters the O’Reilly Route 66 Nationals in seventh place in the Top Fuel standings. He trails sixth-place Doug Kalitta, the Bristol runner-up, by only 70 points. One sign Langdon could make his move soon is that he set low E.T. of the Bristol event (at 3.796 seconds) in the first pairing of eliminations two Sundays ago. He also has his sights set on a berth in the Traxxas Nitro Shootout that will be part of the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis in September. "To do that we need to win a race," Langdon said. "There's only one more spot for a Top Fuel race winner, so we need to win this weekend." He saw Tony Schumacher snap his 32-race winless streak, so he's hoping he, too, can reverse his fortune on race day. "If we can get a win, it’ll get us into the Traxxas Shootout, get the monkey off our back, and let us go attack the rest of the season," he said.
 
HAS GOALS SET - For Robert Hight, this season is starting to be like a tale of two teams for his own Auto Club Ford Mustang group. "The start of the season was unbelievable. I won four races in a row, which only a handful of Funny Car drivers have ever done. My teammates John Force and Mike Neff also won, so in the first six races John Force Racing had six wins. Since then we have reached some finals but haven’t been able to get over the hump," he said. "I don’t think anything is wrong at JFR, but I am ready to start winning races again."
 
He never has won at suburban Chicago, although he has reached the finals here twice.  John Force Racing has six Chicago victories, including the one Neff grabbed in dominating style. The fact that this begins a bit of grueling stretch excites Hight.
 
“Now it is going to get fun," he said. "We race five weekends out of six, including the Western Swing. I love to be at the races and going rounds. I think you could look at this like a mini-Countdown. You want to win as many races as possible here to get ready for the real Countdown. The goal is to be at the top of the points but another goal is to be ready with a solid tune-up and some momentum.
 
"You want to win every race, no doubt about it. I talk with [crew chief] Jimmy Prock all the time about dominating all season long," Hight said." We got on a streak early this season and there are other drivers who are hot right now. We all know you need to also get hot in the Countdown. These races starting Chicago will be big for everyone to get momentum or keep momentum. I love the position we are in now as the points leader. I want to get my first Chicago win and then head to the next race in Norwalk and win there. Neff won both these races last year, so it can be done."
 
Hight also would like to join the Funny Car class' 250-round-win club. He still needs just two more to reach the plateau, after not being able to pick up even one at Bristol in the most recent race. Only a few current drivers who have done so: John Force (1,103), Tony Pedregon (503), Cruz Pedregon (451), Ron Capps (448), and Tim Wilkerson (261).
 
'MY KIND OF TOWN, CHICAGO IS . . . ' - Erica Enders might be humming that old Frank Sinatra song, for this is a place that has been good for the Cagnazzi / GK Motorsports Chevy Pro Stock driver. Last year at Route 66 Raceway, she was No. 3 in the order and beat champions Warren Johnson, Mike Edwards, and Jason Line in eliminations. She met another Pro Stock champion, Greg Anderson, in the finals and lost her bid for that first pro victory. But most memorable was her 2005 performance here as the No. 5 qualifier and the first female to reach the finals of a Pro Stock race. She lost to Line but first she defeated Ron Krisher, Edwards, and Johnson.
 
"It's the race track where I had my first final round in 2005," Enders said. "It was very surreal. It was my first year as a professional, and I don't think I really grasped what was going on. It was just kind of in the moment. If I would've had the experience I have now, it would've been a lot different.
 
"But it was cool.," she said. "We made history that weekend, becoming the first woman to ever get to a final round. We came out on the wrong side of the deal, but it's something that people still talk about."
 
As for why this track brings out her better performances, she said, "I'm really not sure, but I'll take whatever it is. Like Mike Edwards last week at Bristol, that was his fourth year in a row to win that race. It's something that if you ask every driver, you can't really explain it. It's a great facility, the fans are awesome. Maybe it's a little Chi-town luck . . . I don't know, but I like it."
 
CAMARO WILL TAKE TIME - Rodger Brogdon is eight in the Pro Stock standings, but he has qualified in the top half of the field at the last handful of races and said he's happy with his engine program. So it might be with a bit of reluctance that he switches soon from his trusty MAVTV Pontiac GXP to his new Chevy Camaro as the Western Swing looms.
 
"There been some real positive things going on with our engine program in the last couple of weeks," Brogdon said. "I'm anxious to get back on the track and see what happens next. this has been a fast car for us – it's the car we set the national record with. There have already been a few people approach me wanting to buy it, but I'm not sure if I'll want to sell it when the time comes.
 
"We're going to continue with the progress we've made with this car," he said. "We'll try to win some rounds and if we get some breaks, win a race. The key is to have everything together when we reach the time for the Countdown."
 
His MAVTV team will be working double-time thoughout the next few weeks as the team prepares the transition to the new car. But Brogdon said, "I anticipate that it's going to take 25 runs to get the Camaro completely where we want it. You hope it will test well from the get-go. The guys will do a lot of the little stuff in the shop, like aligning the front end, before we even take it out. There are lots of little things, and they take a lot of time. The new car won't run like the (Pontiac) right at first. It's going to take some time to find out what it likes."

GOING AFTER GLIMMER - Pro Stock's Shane Gray debuted his NTB/Service Central Chevy Camaro at Bristol, squeaked into the field and lost in the opening round to red-hot Allen Johnson. Since then, Gray tested and said, "We see a glimmer out there on the horizon, and we're going after it. We tested well – but we always do well when we test. Since then, we've been working away at the shop, and we will continue to dig. What we need to be able to do is race a little bit better. I'm not the type of guy to get really excited, but I am most certainly optimistic about the future of this team and the NTB/Service Central Camaro."

NOW THEY'RE BFFs - Pro Stock points leader Greg Anderson found out the truth last season. "For so many years I went to Route 66 Raceway, thinking there had to be something in the water that just wouldn't allow me to win," he said. "It's a race track with a very good surface and typically good air, so the cars run fast, which normally plays into the Summit Racing team's hand. I liked the track and the city and ran well there but just couldn't seem to win a race. It was almost as if we had a love/hate relationship. Fortunately, that all changed last year, and I was finally able to add it to the list of tracks where I had won. So I'm going back this weekend with a positive attitude, our heads held high as the defending champions. Now that we've finally broken through, there's no reason we can't keep digging and make it multiple wins."
 
LOOKING BOTH WAYS - Two-time Top Fuel winner Steve Torrence is looking backward a bit and forward a bit. "We want to get back to running the way we were before going to Bristol. I’m really looking forward to getting back in the car," he said. He said he and crew chief Richard Hogan also "did spend time preparing for the next five races, as well as this one. We really need to make sure our parts inventory is high, because the only thing certain on the Western Swing is that you will need a lot of parts." The Torrence Racing/Capco Contractors Dragster owner-driver has qualified in the top half of the field eight times, including three times in second place.
 
ON DISPLAY - Auto World, a brand of Round 2, LLC, will provide an interactive display in the Kids Zone tent at Route 66 Raceway this weekend. It will feature drag racing slot car tracks ready for spectators to try out. Auto World will have two 1:64 scale slot-car dragstrip tracks, and participants will have their choices of dozens of NHRA-licensed Funny Cars, Pro Stock cars, and Top Fuel dargsters , along with other special slot cars, including popular movie and TV cars. On display, as well, will be slot-car and die-cast merchandise, including the premiere of Auto World's all-new Legends of the Quarter Mile 1:18 scale die-cast, the Blue Max. Another attraction is the NHRA Thunder promotion, where fans can enter to win an autographed racing helmet or one of the Auto World prize packs valued up to $500.