Pontiac Excitement Nationals
Columbus, Ohio
(June 13-16)
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38th Annual |
| Sunday |
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Anderson, Treble net Pro Stock wins |
Multi-car team owner and former driving legend Don "the Snake" Prudhomme is having the Father's Day of a lifetime as two of his three drivers celebrate victory in the winner's circle of National Trail Raceway.
Runaway Top Fuel points leader Larry Dixon and his Snake Racing Funny Car teammate Ron Capps both raced to nitro-powered glory today at the 38th annual Pontiac Excitement NHRA Nationals presented by Summit Racing. Joining them on the podium was Pro Stock upstart Greg Anderson and Pro Stock Bike 2002 wins leader Craig Treble.
Dixon streaked to his seventh win of the year by dismissing Doug Herbert in the Top Fuel finale. Capps survived a tire-smoking duel against Bruce Sarver and won with a 6.027-second elapsed time. Anderson got a break when fellow Pro Stock finalist Darrell Alderman got loose during his run, while former points leader Treble had a victory-lap final round when Antron Brown red-lighted.
"I know how hard it is to win these things," Prudhomme said. "What Larry is doing is just phenomenal. And with Ron winning today also, man, life is good. I'll tell you what, I'm going to play golf this week with the guys from U.S. Tobacco and to be able to show up and say, 'Yeah, we won,' will be very sweet.
"I've seen lots of drivers and crew chiefs work together but Dixon and LaHaie are the absolute best I've ever seen. And the deal with Capps and Ed McCulloch is working out too. Capps came to me a few weeks back and said he needed 'Ace' fulltime and he was right. I should've made that move a long time ago."
Dixon's incredible season raged on mid-Ohio with the defending event champion bagging his seventh victory of the season in his 10th final-round appearance. Dixon now has an astonishing 37-4 record in eliminations and has already surpassed his career-best total of victories in a single season.
 Larry Dixon
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"This is great for 'Snake,' he gets to go home with the most money," Dixon said. "This is my second Father's Day and both times I've been lucky enough to win. Now that I'm a father it makes it special for me, and I know what it means now to guys like 'Snake' and even [crew chief] Dick LaHaie, who's been over there working hard and getting all frustrated all day.
"Throughout the years I know I've made a lot of deposits in the luck bank and now it's time to take some out. Of course, running good in the first place has a lot to do with it. I tell you, it's not easy winning. It may look like it from a distance but we're working hard every lap.
"To have seven wins and we're not even halfway through the season is pretty incredible. But a strong start means nothing if you don't finish the job. This thing's a long way from over."
This easy 4.619-second, 319.14-mph win over a tire-smoking Herbert extended Dixon's POWERade championship points lead over beer rival Bernstein to 259 points. "He's having the kind of year I wish I could've had when I was driving," Prudhomme said.
Dixon and his Miller Lite race team tied an NHRA record just by reaching the their sixth consecutive final. After a sluggish 4.80-second start against Scott Weis, the "blue car" returned to form with a 4.65 against Cory McClenathan and a 4.70 opposite Tony Schumacher.
Herbert raced to his second final of the year with plenty of good fortune shining on his Snap-on Tools team. He won with a tire-smoking 14.115 in Round 1 when opponent Chris "the Golden Greek" Karamesines red-lighted. He then beat Doug Kalitta straight up, 4.78 to 4.79, before advancing to the money round on a free pass when semifinal foe Shirley Muldowney failed to show up for the race.
Always making news, Muldowney had improved her head-to-head record against fellow legend Kenny Bernstein to 2-1 when she beat Bernstein in Round 2 and advanced to her first semifinal since 1990. The four-time Columbus winner then threw a little salt in Bernstein's wound when she replied to track announcer Alan Reinhart's question "How does it feel to beat the King of Speed," with a salty, "King of what?"
Exacerbating the problem further, Muldowney couldn't answer the bell for her race against Herbert after pushing out the head gasket during both of her earlier runs and running out of parts. During his career, Bernstein has an unlikely 17-18 record against female competitors. Top Fuel results
Capps denied Toyota its first Funny Car title by outlasting Sarver in a crowd-pleasing pedalfest of a final round. Both cars struggled mightily to find traction several times during the race but Sarver's car had broken free first and the slight bit of momentum Capps got at that point was enough to keep him out front.
 Ron Capps
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This was the first final-round of the year for Capps and the second final in four races for Sarver. Capps now has 13 wins to his credit, while Sarver is 2-6 in final-round tilts.
"Making 'Ace' [Ed McCulloch] just the crew chief of the Green car was a great move," Capps said. "We're within one race of that happening and here we are. Look at [Force Racing crew chief Austin] Coil. He doesn't tune all those cars over there. He just concentrates on John's car. That's why they win. It's too much work for one guy to try and do more than one car.
"It's funny because a week from now I won't be able to tell you what I did to win these races today. But the trickle-down advice I constantly get from 'Ace' and 'Snake' makes it where you react instinctively to what's happening and you end up winning some tough rounds.
"When your car breaks loose it's like someone stole your kid. You're just in there like, 'Oh my gosh, I can't believe this is happening in front of all these people.' Then your brain just takes over somehow and you're pedaling and looking out the window and listening for the other guy all at the same time. Then you hook back up and everything's good again. It's a trip."
Starting out of the bottom half of the field, Skoal Racing driver Capps reached his first final of the season by taking out heavyweights Tony Pedregon, Whit Bazemore, and his own teammate, Tommy Johnson Jr. The lap against T.J. had both drivers losing traction early and getting on and off the throttle several times as they tried to get to the other end first, prompting team owner Don "the Snake" Prudhomme to proclaim he was "really glad they didn't run into each other."
Sarver's White Cap Celica was one of the most consistent cars today and carried two-time national event winner to fairly easy victories over Frank Pedregon, Scotty Cannon, and Johnny Gray.
Of note, Gray's first career victory over 10-time champion John Force in the second round kept Force teammate Gary Densham in the points lead by one point. Densham has now held the No. 1 slot in the POWERade championship standings for four races. Funny Car results
The Pro Stock finale was a stunner as Alderman shot out to an early lead and appeared to be well ahead of Anderson only to suddenly slow near the 330-foot timer and allow Anderson to streak by for a runaway win.
 Greg Anderson
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"I'm gonna have to build a trophy case pretty soon and I'm sure going to enjoy that project," Anderson said. "The track really went away today but my guys stayed on top of it and we ended up making eight great passes this weekend. I'm just on top of the world and to do this with my father here is great.
"I've got a fast car now and I'm starting to see what [former boss Warren Johnson] went through all those years. It's a different mindset when you know you have a fast car. You know you have to stay in the game. It's tough to do, especially with the way this class is. We're all gonna need straight jackets before this year's over."
Both drivers have already tasted victory this season but Anderson emerges as the class' second repeat champion of the year. He now has four "Wally" trophies in his collection. Alderman drops to 28-20 in final rounds.
Three-time series champion Alderman was slightly slower than Anderson all day but he was quick enough to beat George Marnell, Allen Johnson, and Mark Whisnant. The race against Johnson looked to be over early for Alderman when he spotted his fellow Dodge driver a .419 to .485 headstart at the Christmas Tree, but Johnson got out of shape in the middle of the track and Alderman was able to drive by and take the win.
Anderson cruised his Vegas General Construction Chevrolet Cavalier past Larry Nance with a 6.900, top gun Ron Krisher with a 6.917, and current points leader and low qualifier Jim Yates with a 6.915 to reach his ninth career final round.
Despite having not won a race this year, Yates extended his POWERade championship points lead to 86 over Warren Johnson by surviving one more round than Johnson during today's action. Pro Stock results
Racing in his sponsor's back yard, Matco Tools rider Treble took his third win of the year when final-round opponent Brown jumped the start with a .371-second red-light foul. Treble would have been tough to beat anyway as he went on to post a 7.212 at 184.04 mph.
 Craig Treble
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"It's pretty awesome but we're still not back in the points lead," said Treble, who topped the standings for the first two races of the year. "The girl [Angelle Savoie] has a great bike and she's going out there and winning rounds at every race. That's what it takes.
"I'm not too surprised [that Brown red-lighted] because [Brown crew chief] Mark Peiser and I were swapping information on our tune-ups all day so he knew what I had and I pretty much knew what he had. I was running low 7.20s and he was running high 7.20s so I figured he'd push it. I still knew I needed to be ready and it all worked out for me anyway so I'm really happy, especially with my boss [Matco's Eric Mullenmeister] standing right there."
Treble has now won more races this year than any other rider in the class and closes to within 36 points of POWERade leader Angelle Savoie. Brown, who was racing in his third successive final round despite his lack of major sponsorship, falls to 1-2 this year when the trophy is on the line.
The much-anticipated Matt Hines versus Angelle Savoie tilt fizzled in the semifinals when Hines lost to Treble and Savoie red-lighted with a .399 against Brown. With the last five series championships between them, Hines (1997-99) and Savoie (2000 and 2001) had traded barbs in the media after Hines cast dispersions on Savoie's success this season during a Saturday evening session with the media. Everyone in attendance seemed to know about the rivalry and were hoping for it to be settled on the race track but Treble and Brown had other ideas. Pro Stock Bike results
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