John Force had a chance to race daughter Ashley and
make it an all Force family final round but his Castrol GTX High Mileage
Ford Mustang was vanquished by Worsham in the semi-final round.

“Worsham is a hell of a racer. He was way overdue and hungry. He had
a car that was just fast. A lot of these cars have been carrying this
weight since last year. They have more runs on them tan us but we’ll
learn,” said winningest driver in Funny Car history.

FX Caprara Kia-sponsored Top Fuel driver Doug Foley's dream of
winning the 21st annual O'Reilly Spring NHRA Nationals disappeared in
13-thousandths of a second when he came out on the short end of the
closest drag race of Sunday's opening round of eliminations at Houston Raceway Park.

The
almost imperceptible amount of time was all if took for rookie Antron
Brown to edge past Foley, as he won with a 4.591 at 322.27 mph to
Foley's 4.606 at 320.13 mph. It was Brown's best quarter-mile effort of
the entire weekend.

"It was a good race. I thought we had won,"
Foley said. "I didn't see him at all and I was starting to celebrate
until I made the turn and they guided me away from the ESPN cameras. My
congratulations to that team; they did what they had to do to beat us.
The race could have gone either way and this time it went his way."

One of drag racing’s top parts manufacturers is returning to the Pro
Modified Racing Association for 2008 as a special award sponsor.
 
Bear's Performance Products will be the posting Consistent Qualifier Bonus award at each PMRA event.
 
“The PMRA has proven to be an elite series and the teams are very
competitive, both in Canada and the US,” said Kevin Zimmer, Marketing
Manager of Bear's Performance Products. “They put on a great show and
have a solid organization. We are looking forward to another great year
with the PMRA."

Joe Baker won his
second JEGS ProMod Challenge race of the season Sunday at Houston Raceway Park
to maintain a firm grip on the JEGS championship points lead after two of 10
races on the 2008 schedule.

Driving the ProCare Rx Corvette borrowed from
fellow racer Roger Burgess, Baker repeated his unlikely Florida victory with a
much more dominant performance in Texas. He had the quickest elapsed time of all
three elimination rounds run on Sunday, including a pair of 5.9s in the
quarterfinals and semifinals, and dismissed Tony Pontieri in the finals with a
6.022 at 239.19 mph to Pontieri's 6.048 at 237.42 mph.

Roger Richards Photos

Del Worsham, Greg Anderson and Matt Smith round out winner's circle

Antron Brown became the first to win in both Top Fuel and Pro Stock Motorcycle.

Antron
Brown capped off an historic Sunday afternoon at the 21st annual
O’Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals presented by Pennzoil when he powered
his Matco Tools dragster past Larry Dixon U.S. Smokeless dragster to
become the first driver in NHRA history to win races in Pro Stock
Motorcycle and Top Fuel.

He followed Del Worsham (Funny Car), Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) and Matt
Smith (Pro Stock Motorcycle) into the winner’s circle at the fourth of
24 races in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series.

Sunday's final results from the 21st annual O'Reilly NHRA Spring
Nationals presented by Pennzoil at Houston Raceway Park. The race is
the fourth of 24 in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series:

Top Fuel -- Antron Brown, 4.605 seconds, 320.28 mph def. Larry Dixon, 4.621 seconds, 309.06 mph.

Point standings (top 10) for NHRA professional categories following
the 21st annual O'Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals presented by Pennzoil at
Houston Raceway Park, the fourth of 24 events in the NHRA POWERade Drag
Racing Series 

Final round-by-round results from the 21st annual O'Reilly NHRA
Spring Nationals presented by Pennzoil at Houston Raceway Park, the
fourth of 24 events in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series:

Famed nitro tuner Richard Hogan has been hired to be the co-crew chief on the
8,000-horspower “Big Red” Mac Tools Top Fuel dragster, driven by Doug Kalitta in
the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series. Hogan will join co-crew chief Jon
Oberhofer to equally share the tuning responsibilities on 335-mph race car that
runs out of the Kalitta Motorsports stable, owned by drag racing icon Connie
“the Bounty Hunter” Kalitta.

“It’s an honor to be given this opportunity at Kalitta Motorsports,” Hogan, a
resident of Ennis, Mont., said. “This organization is one of the best in the
history of drag racing. I’m very excited to see what the future holds for both
of us.”

NO. 1'S FROM FRIDAY HOLD UP AS SUN COMES OUT AT HOUSTON RACEWAY PARK ON SATURDAY

Alan Bradshaw, Cruz Pedregon, Kurt Johnson, Matt Smith top respective classes; Funny Car points leader Hight fails to qualify
 

Alan Bradshaw will open his quest to get into the Top 10 by facing No. 16 qualifier Urs Erbacher in the first round.

Led by Odessa, Tex.-native Alan Bradshaw, the four provisional No. 1
qualifiers from Friday night retained their top spots on Saturday as
qualifying was completed at the 21st annual O’Reilly NHRA Spring
Nationals presented by Pennzoil.

Cruz Pedregon (Funny Car), Kurt Johnson (Pro Stock) and Matt Smith (Pro
Stock Motorcycle) rounded out the No. 1 qualifiers at the fourth of 24
races in the NHRA POWERade Series. The foursome will lead the field
into final eliminations beginning at 11 a.m. Sunday.