K&N Filters Winternationals
Pomona
(Feb. 6-9)
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43rd annual |
| Sunday |
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Pedregon, W.J. also claim wins |
Reigning Top Fuel champion Larry Dixon made team owner and drag racing legend Don "the Snake" Prudhomme's 40th wedding anniversary one to remember as he powered to the title of the 43rd annual K&N Filters Winternationals, becoming the first back-to-back Top Fuel winner in the history of this event.
Another driver showing no signs of slowing down from last season is Funny Car winner Tony Pedregon, who already has an 83-point lead over current series champ John Force, after dismissing Johnny Gray in the final.
In Pro Stock, GM's Warren Johnson set a national speed record of 204.91 mph in the opening round and never looked back, defeating the gallant charge of Mopar pro Allen Johnson with his fourth 6.7-second, 204-mph pass of the day.
Dixon's convincing victory made for a very lucrative weekend. When combined with Saturday's Budweiser Shootout win and the "Double-up" bonus awarded by the NHRA for any driver that wins both the Shootout and the race itself, Dixon pocketed a whopping $190,000 in prize money alone
 Larry Dixon
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After giving up a .033 to .047-second staring line edge to final-round foe Cory McClenathan, Dixon's Dick LaHaie-tuned rocketship roared to life and streaked by the 2002 Auto Club NHRA Finals winner to take the win by a relatively big four-hundredths of a second. The final numbers showed Dixon crossing in 4.541 seconds at 322.04 mph to McClenathan's 4.597 at 309.42 mph.
"About a year an a half ago [Prudhomme] told me to take advantage of the opportunities when they present themselves and try to run with them," said Dixon, who won nine races in 14 finals last year. "Right now we're on such a great run and the chemistry of the team and amongst the guys is just right, we're all just trying to go along for the ride.
"This is the perfect way to start the season. From the way we ran in qualifying to the way we won rounds today, believe me I appreciate the car I have so much. Forty-two years and no one has ever won back-to-back Winternationals. You start to wonder if there's something to that but the guys kept it together, and even though I didn't have great lights today I was able to ride a great horse."
Dixon's Miller Lite rail was the quickest of every round by at least three-hundredths of a second and he handily beat Robert Reehl, Tony Schumacher, and Clay Millican.
It appears the alliance between McClenathan and Darrell Gwynn is working well. The N.Y. Yankees/Berryman Products dragster ran a pair of 4.59s in the early rounds, trailering the cars of Brandon Bernstein and Dave Grubnic. He then beat surprise semifinalist Melanie Troxel with a steady 4.68.
McClenathan's rail went into the sand trap after his win over Grubnic when he had trouble with his parachutes and brakes. But, with help from the Amato Racing crew, he managed to make the quick turnaround in time to make it to the line and have his chance to beat Troxel. Top Fuel results
Coming off a career year in which he won six events in eight final rounds and chased the championship down to the second to last elimination round of the year, Pedregon picked up right where he left off with a resounding 4.765 to 4.912-second win over Gray. This was Pedregon's 20th career win and third at his home track. It was also the fourth time in the last five years he has raced to the finals of this event.
 Tony Pedregon
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"We learned a lot from last year and we came into this year with higher expectations," said Pedregon, who moves into the points lead for just the second time in his 11-year career. "You look at the way the car performed and that really tells the story. We struggled early and came into the last day of qualifying outside the field of 16. Then we go out and run a 4.7-second pass like it was nothing. That just goes to show you what kind of horsepower these cars make. I felt like we had a better than good chance to win every race today. That's a good feeling to have.
"I guess I could've earned a little more points over John [Force] if he hadn't qualified but it's not just him we're racing this year. I know with the way last season ended that people want to talk about that but you know they'll be there all year. So will [Gary] Scelzi, Whit [Bazemore], the CSK guys, lots of teams out there can win races. We were just the lucky ones to do it today."
Pedregon's Castrol Syntec machine was the quickest in every round, carrying the Chino Hills, Calif., resident to effortless victories over Dean Skuza, Del Worsham, Tommy Johnson Jr., and Gray. His 4.739-second elapsed time, which he posted against Skuza, was the fourth quickest pass ever in the category.
Checker Schuck's Kragen pro Gray raced to his first career Pro-class final with a pair of relatively simple victories over Bruce Sarver and low qualifier Tim Wilkerson, who both went up in smoke. The three-time alcohol-class winner then needed every bit of a .009-second holeshot over semifinal foe Ron Capps to take the victory at the stripe by a few feet.
For the first time since 1994, 12-time champion John Force is not a part of the top 10. Force lost in the first round to Tommy Johnson Jr. leaving him 11th in the POWERade standings. Funny Car results
Johnson added another win to his class-leading total with his 89th national event title Sunday, denying Dodge its first Pro Stock victory here since 1995. "The Professor of Pro Stock" had the best car at the racetrack Sunday and he slammed the door on any thoughts of a holeshot win by Allen Johnson with a near-perfect .003-second reaction time. At the other end of the track, W.J. took the win with a 6.788 at 204.01 mph in front of A.J.'s 6.802 at 204.73 mph.
 Warren Johnson
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"We came out here a little greedy and were way too aggressive," said Johnson, who had just one full pass in qualifying. "So we actually backed it way down for today and just found the right combination for what we needed to do to get the car from one end to the other. After a few rounds the crew begins to feel more confident in what they're doing, the driver starts to feel more confident, and it all feeds on itself in a very positive manner.
"The times and numbers we saw from so many different drivers are due in large part to this racetrack and the conditions. I don't know if we'll see these kind of numbers again until the end of the year when we come back here. So many factors play into that and unless we get an anomaly with the weather somewhere I don't see us having too many weekends like this. I'm glad we were able to take advantage of it and set the record, but it'll be broken one day."
Driving his bright yellow GM Performance Parts Pontiac Grand Am, W.J. dismissed Troy Coughlin, son Kurt Johnson, who briefly held the national speed record during the first round, and fellow former champion Darrell Alderman to reach his 139th career final round.
Proving to his new sponsor DaimlerChrysler that they made a good choice in picking him to lead the company's 2003 campaign, Allen Johnson looked sharp all day, easily out-pacing V. Gaines, Randy Daniels, and Greg Anderson in his Mopar Parts Dodge Neon R/T. Pro Stock results
In Top Alcohol Dragster, Tony Bartone, who set the national e.t. record at 5.22 in the semifinals, backed up by an earlier 5.25, defeated Morgan Lucas in a thrilling 5.26 to 5.29 final round. Bartone also still holds the national record in Top Alcohol Funny Car, set two and half years ago when he was competing in that class.
Doug Gordon scored his third career win Top Alcohol Funny Car, using a 5.62 at 255 mph to defeat low qualifier Cy Chesterman's Coca-Cola Trans Am, 6.687, 146-mph effort in the final.
Randy Jones, the 1998 Winternationals Comp champ, scored his second win at the season opener when Brandon Huhtala red-lighted in the final round. In a battle of doorslammer veterans, Jeff Lane drove his SS/CM entry to the Super Stock victory over Fred Moreno while Mike Loge netted Stock honors on Curtis Coulter's final-round red-light. Jack Beckman scored in Super Comp with an 8.914 after Geoff Hughes broke out by five-thousandths of a second with an 8.895 while Brad Pierce collected his first career win in Super Gas, driving his Corvette to a final-round 9.874 to defeat veteran Ed Olpin's 9.863 in a double-breakout finale.
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