Alan Johnson may have a way to go to pass Austin Coil as the most prolific fuel tuner in drag racing history, but is there any doubt that he'll end up on top in the end? Johnson, who won three Top Fuel championships (1997, 1998, and 2000) with driver Gary Scelzi and the Winston team a decade ago, another five with Tony Schumacher's Army dragsters in the 2000s (2004-08), and his first of who knows how many with Larry Dixon and the Al-Anabi team last year, is still in his early 50s.

And just how many Top Fuel championships would Johnson's late brother Blaine have by now if his life hadn't been cut short by a crash during qualifying for the 1996 U.S. Nationals? No one questions whether Blaine, then in just his third year in Top Fuel, would have won that 1996 title. Even Kenny Bernstein, who won a tainted title that year said so, graciously handing the championship trophy to the Johnson family during the awards ceremony in perhaps the classiest move of his long career. "I know this will have an asterisk next to it," Bernstein said at the time. "It will always be there."

"I think Blaine definitely would have a lot of Top Fuel championships by now," Johnson has said of his younger brother, who set the Indianapolis Raceway Park track record (4.61) on that fateful run. "I've had a lot of great drivers over the years, and I mean great drivers, but to me, Blaine is the best of them all."

As the newly appointed President of John Force Racing, Robert Hight knows a thing or two about the computer process of cut and paste. Now, if he could just apply the process to the 2011 NHRA Full Throttle season,  the veteran driven and son-in-law of John Force could be enjoying a second NHRA Full Throttle Championship come November.

“If I’m looking at the past two seasons; if I could put together the first half of last year with the last half of 2009 then it’s a season like John Force had in 2010,” Hight said. “When you have a season like that you’re going to win championships so that’s what our main goal is this year; to be steady all year long.”

Not that his title defense was a slug, there were some impressive moments as Hight won four out of five finals and qualified No. 1 six times. However, as important as these feats were, in the championship picture, they didn’t mean a whole lot outside of an invitation to the dance.

Halfway through the 2010 NHRA Full Throttle season one could have hardly faulted Top Fuel dragster driver Morgan Lucas if he was looking forward to the end. By the time the end arrived, Lucas wasn't nearly ready.

In a few short months, Lucas and his team were having fun again.

“I really love what I do and I wouldn’t trade anything for the world but it makes it easier to love what you do when you go to the starting line and think you’re going to win,” explained Lucas, who was one of ten NHRA Top Fuel drivers to qualify for the Countdown to 1 playoffs.

“At Pomona I really felt good, especially after first round. We made that great run on Saturday night and we go in the first round and I felt like we made a really good run then too. It just gave us so much more to go into the winter based on. It’s like now seeing all the little things that are going on around here and the stuff that’s being approached in a common sense light. It makes me look for the long term in this whole deal.”

When team owner George Bryce left NHRA’s Pro Stock Motorcycle ranks following the 2008 season, it was on his own terms.

Now, Bryce, a six-time world champion owner, is ready to get back in the class in 2011.

“Last weekend, the activity to buzz again, and the juices started flowing again (about getting back into racing),” the 56-year-old Bryce said. “We never quit doing research and development. We still do Suzuki engines for customers and the S&S Buell engines like Hector Arana runs. We have all that stuff and we a great 18-wheeler and a good team, and all we lack is a little bit of a budget to go (racing).”

This is certainly unfamiliar territory for Cory McClenathan.

Cory Mac, with the exception of 2001, has been competing full-time on the NHRA’s Top Fuel circuit since 1991.

Presently, the standout driver is trying to put together a deal, part-time or full-time, so he can go racing again in 2011. The upcoming season begins Feb. 24-27 at the Winternationals in Pomona.

To say Allen Johnson is on the “chip” is a major understatement.

“Yeah I’m mad,” Johnson, the veteran Pro Stock driver from Greeneville, Tenn., admits.  “I guess that makes you fired up don’t it?”  

The source of his ire, or new found determination, is a 2010 season chock full of missed opportunities.

Johnson has taken inventory of his arsenal, including new cars and a new team driver with Vincent Nobile, and he’s hit the testing circuit so hard that he plans for the reverberations to be felt from Pomona to Englishtown with every stop on the tour bearing the brunt of his hunger for redemption.

At their core, NHRA Full Throttle Series national events are entertainment.

Thus, to improve the quality of their races for the fans, the sanctioning body announced Wednesday it is implementing stiffer penalties to reduce lengthy downtime because of oildowns and improve track preparation.

In 2011, when Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle drivers oildown the track, they will be subject to fines and championship point deductions.

For its part, the NHRA is increasing its track prep and oildown clean-up capabilities by adding additional equipment to the Safety Safari, including a second drag tractor.

Lee Beard, a championship crew chief and team manager, applauded the NHRA for taking action. Beard is returning to his familiar role as a crew chief in 2011 as the wrench boss for the new Funny Car team with driver Johnny Gray at Don Schumacher Racing. Beard also will remain in his position as DSR’s team manager.