Schumacher, Hood, Johnson, Krawiec Top Pomona

Tony Schumacher

Tony Schumacher, Ashley Force Hood, Allen Johnson and Eddie Krawiec captured the no.1 spots in their respective divisions on Saturday as the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series Countdown to the Championship entered the final event at the 46th Annual Auto Club Finals at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona.

Greg Anderson clinched his fourth NHRA title in the Pro Stock division, while the remaining three championship battles come down to Sunday’s finals with all the contenders solidly in the top-five qualifying spots.

In the Top Fuel division, Tony Schumacher roared to the top of the charts with a 3.794 on the final run of the session – against points leader Larry Dixon – to keep his slim hopes of an eighth title alive.

Schumacher trailed Dixon since Friday’s session, but wasn’t able to make up any ground until the final run, when the two faced of head-to-head with Schumacher moving ahead of Dixon, who smoked his tires at the line and never had a shot to challenge Schumacher.

“What a great effort that was by my U.S. Army team," said Schumacher. “We were actually trying to go out and set the elapsed time world record, but we came up a bit short. Tomorrow is another day."
Dixon, who dropped to the no. 2 qualifying spot with a 3.813, would now have to fall in the opening round for Schumacher to have any stake on the title. Schumacher would then have to not only win the event, but also beat his own National Record of 3.771, just as he did to win the title in 2006.

"It's really out of our hands," said Schumacher of the title chase. “The facts are Larry has to go out first round and we have to set the record, and we’re not the ones that get to race him so we can’t set that stage. We’ve just got to sit and watch it happen. If he goes out and win first round, he’s the champ, and I’ll walk over and congratulate him. They’ve had a miraculous year."

Doug Kalitta qualified third at 3.822, followed by Morgan Lucas (3.829) and Cory McClenathan (3.848). Dom Lagana took the bump spot.

Ashley Force Hood held onto the no. 1 spot in Funny Car with a 4.076 from Friday’s session to score her 16th career top qualifier position, while her father John Force came back in the final session and just missed the pole with a 4.077 to take the second position and make up a little bit of ground on points leader Matt Hagan, who leads by 38 points heading into Sunday’s finals. Hagan took the fourth position with a 4.094 behind Robert Hight, who posted a 4.080. Cruz Pedregon rounded out the top five with a 4.100.

“These are those moments that I remember from growing up," said Force Hood, who grew up around the sport in the shadow of her 14-time champion father. “The sun is going down and you are at your home track. The stands are packed. That was always really cool. I am a competitor now but I am still a fan at heart. I love those kinds of moments.

“It was a good session for us. It is always good to get down the track in those good perfect conditions. We were happy to go A to B. It hurt itself at the end again. We’ll get it figured out and we’ll be ready for tomorrow,"

Greg Anderson locked up the Pro Stock division title with a fourth-place qualifying effort behind no. 1 qualifier Allen Johnson, who scored his fourth straight top-qualifier spot and the 15th of his career with a run of 6.551. V Gaines held the top spot from Friday’s sessions with a 6.551 of his own, but wasn’t able to back up his time on Saturday and watched as Johnson rallied from the no. 2 spot to post a 6.551 at 211.43 mph and steal the pole from Gaines.

Jason Line was third with a 6.553, followed by Anderson (6.554) and Rodger Brogdon (6.561).
“This has certainly been the most trying and absolutely the most rewarding season that I have ever had in drag racing, and one I will certainly never forget," said Anderson, who clinched his fourth series title. “I know they say your first championship is always the most special, but considering how hard this Summit Racing team had to fight and claw to get back to where we could win races on a consistent basis, and that we had to do it for most of the season without our team leader Ken Black puts this one right at the top."

“A few months ago you couldn’t have bet me any amount of money in the world that this would happen, but it did, and it’s because this Summit Racing team refused to give up. Our performance over these last few races was not a fluke or because we got lucky. We made some moves to make ourselves better, including switching cars around, and they paid off.

“I know Mike Edwards was the dominant car for the last year and a half, but he had a couple of miscues during the Countdown and we were able to take full advantage of them."

Eddie Krawiec held onto the pole in the Pro Stock Motorcycle class after backing up his time from Friday with a 6.847 in the final session for his sixth no. 1 qualifying effort of the season. Krawiec faced no. 2 qualifier Hector Arana on the final run of the day and denied the defending series champion a shot at the pole, with Arana posting a 6.851. Karen Stoffer was third at 6.861.

The points battle remained all but unchanged as LE Tonglet notched one point with a fourth-place run of 6.863 over points-leader Andrew Hines, who ran 6.874 to take a 36-point lead into Sunday’s finals.