NHRA O'Reilly
Spring Nationals
Houston, Texas
(April 10-13)
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| Sunday |
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Pedregon, K.J., Savoie also take wins |
A thrilling series of final rounds put the exclamation point on a spectacular weekend of drag racing as the 16th annual O'Reilly Spring Nationals presented by Pennzoil crowned a worthy group of champions at Houston Raceway Park.
After five No. 1 qualifiers in a row, the sport's fastest driver, Doug Kalitta, finally put four round wins together on Race Day for his first victory of the season. Tony Pedregon made it back-to-back wins in Funny Car with an eyelash victory over Del Worsham and moved into a tie with brother Cruz for fourth place on the all-time wins list for his class.
It took photographic proof to determine the winners in Pro Stock and Pro Stock Bike. Kurt Johnson barely took the stripe ahead of Scott Geoffrion in the first Chevy/Ford final since 1990, while Angelle Savoie carded her 30th win in Pro Stock Bike.
Kalitta finally parlayed his impressive qualifying efforts into a victory. Spooking all of his opponents into making mistakes and failing to get down the track under power, Kalitta stayed steady and straight right through the finals, which ended up being an easy victory pass against a tire-smoking Cory McClenathan.
 Doug Kalitta
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In the second final of the year for both drivers, Kalitta left little in doubt with a 4.580 at 323.43 mph against McClenathan's resigned 6.832 at 123.27 mph.
"There was just too much pressure from [the media] to turn one of these low qualifiers into a win so I just had to get it done," Kalitta said. "Really, the guys have been working so hard on a consistent race day tune-up and set-up. It was sure going down the track today, even when it got super hot, so it appears they've found the right combo.
"It was good to see the beer cars out earlier than normal. We needed to gain ground on them both and we did a little bit. Our car deserves to be up front, I think. We know we can't win every race and we don't expect to, but we should be up near the front with the way we've been performing. This win will definitely give us some nice momentum heading into a stretch where the races really start stacking up."
Kalitta took a conservative tack to his 12th win in 26 final-round appearances, guiding his Mac Tools machine through quick but not mindbending victories over Scott Weis, Melanie Troxel, Brandon Bernstein, who smoked his tires, and McClenathan.
McClenathan's N.Y. Yankees/Berryman Products dragster slowed each round as the Texas heat beat down on the racetrack, but he still managed wins over Tony Schumacher, Clay Millican, and Doug "Zilla" Herbert.
Despite losing in the quarterfinals to Herbert, defending series champion Larry Dixon remains the POWERade points leader for the 28th consecutive race. Top Fuel results
The tilt between Pedregon and Worsham was one for the ages as incremental timers indicated that the two drivers swapped the lead a stunning four times during their race. Fortunately for Pedregon, he was slightly ahead when they crossed the finish line, winning with a 4.963 at 313 mph inches in front of Worsham's 4.969 at 302.96 mph.
 Tony Pedregon
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This was Pedregon's 22nd career victory, which moves him into a tie for fourth place on the all-time Funny Car list with his brother Cruz. This was also the third win of the year for Pedregon as well as his second victory in a row.
"I didn't know if I had won or lost," Pedregon said. "There must be some guy wandering around in the pits with the win light in his pocket because it sure isn't down there on the wall where it's supposed to be. I got out and for a minute no one was coming over to me and I was like, 'would someone please tell me who won?'
"I knew it was going to be close. You look at the day and it's plain to see his car was outperforming us. I mean, it's the same thing as last week. We have three wins now but we're still not dominating anything, but we're not complaining. This is actually a good sign for our team to be even in contention at hot racetracks because I'm usually the one begging for the cold.
"Texas is a great place to tie Cruz in the wins column. There are lots of Hispanics here that root for our family. They know my mom is from San Antonio and my dad is from El Paso. It's cool to have their support and to give them something big to cheer about."
Pedregon had some close calls Sunday in his Castrol Syntec Ford Mustang. After beating Tim Wilkerson with a 4.93, he managed to beat John Force despite a laboring 5.269, and No. 2 qualifier Whit Bazemore with a beatable 5.019 to reach his third final of the year and the 43rd money round of his career.
Worsham's second final-round appearance of the year came after impressive, low 4.9-second victories over Scotty Cannon, Dean Skuza, and Gary Densham. The Checker Schuck's Kragen pro was the runner-up in Gainesville.
Force did manage to claw his way back into the top 10 of the POWERade points standings with his quarterfinal showing. He is now in ninth place, 257 points out of the lead. Funny Car results
Appearing in his third consecutive Pro Stock final, Kurt Johnson bagged his second win of the season by just a few inches over surprise finalist Scott Geoffrion, who is just three races removed from a scary accident in Phoenix. The win puts K.J. into the POWERade points lead for just the third time in his career. The last time he briefly led the points was after the Winternationals in 2001.
 Kurt Johnson
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This was a close race with Johnson posting a 6.780 at 204.79 mph against Geoffrion's 6.795 at 204.14 mph. Overall, Johnson now has 25 wins to his credit.
"I'm the new points leader? So what?" Johnson said. "It isn't the right time of the year to be the points leader. I want to be the points leader in November. Greg Anderson is ungodly fast. Dad [Warren Johnson] is a contender. You have to look at the Ford I just raced. Allen Johnson and his Stratus. It all feels good, winning and being in the points lead, but we know there is too much ahead of us to get too excited.
"This is the best start I've had since 1999, the last time I won here. But after that I fell on my face. Hopefully we've learned a lot since then and we can hang around the front until the end of the season. Like I said, I want the points lead in November.
"It was fun racing Scotty. I figured that Escort would be a pain in the ass when I first saw it but I didn't expect him to be in the final after three races. Those guys will be tough all year. What saved me is a totally new combo I tried with the suspension this morning. The car was silky smooth all day. I guess I made the right call."
Johnson's ACDelco Chevrolet Cavalier somehow overcame the heat and posted 6.7-second passes in round wins over Terry Adams, Ron Krisher, and Jim Yates.
Geoffrion ran a gauntlet of seasoned professionals in his Nitro Fish Ford Escort ZX2 to reach his first final round since the 2000 Memphis event. He took out Mark "Cowboy" Pawuk with a huge .035 to .106-second holeshot, inched by No. 1 qualifier Warren Johnson by two-ten-thousandths of a second after another holeshot, and caught and passed Mike Edwards in the semis.
Ford fans were hopeful that Geoffrion would close out the first Ford win since Bob Glidden's victory at the 1995 Englishtown, N.J. Pro Stock results
Any talk that Savoie's Gainesville win was a fluke were dismissed here as she dominated the Pro Stock Bike field for her 30th career victory. After a mediocre qualifying effort, Savoie turned on the jets Sunday, never running slower than 7.17 seconds despite increasingly hot temperatures.
 Angelle Savoie
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Her final-round win was indicative of her day as she left before opponent Craig Treble, .017 to .021, and arrived at the other end first with a 7.138 at 188.89 mph ahead of 7.146 at 188.20 mph.
"People were saying after the last race I better not expect to have days like Gainesville very often so it's pretty darn satisfying to answer back with another win here," Savoie said. "I know we have a long way to go and all the races are ahead of us but they can't take away this start.
"We started from the No. 8 spot and had to race three heavy hitters and I needed some luck because my lights weren't great until I got to the final. Still, this team found a way to win. I bet I'm the only rider in Pro Stock Bike not complaining about the new lights because they're definitely helping me.
"It doesn't look like it but we're still struggling. We need a big sponsor really bad. We have Bonewear but they aren't a title deal and we're short of money. This win will really help in that department. Once we get funding we should really be something."
Savoie began the day from the No. 8 position but still raced to her 45th career final round by beating Steve Johnson, low qualifier Geno Scali, and Karen Stoffer. Her elapsed time against Stoffer, a remarkable 7.132, reset the Houston Raceway Park record.
Defending event champion Treble raced his Matco Tools Suzuki to his 11th career final by outpacing John Smith, Reggie Showers, and Antron Brown. Like Savoie, Treble stayed in the teens all day. Pro Stock Bike results
Brothers Mitch and Quain Stott turned the final round of the AMS Staff leasing pro Mod Challenge into a family feud with younger brother Mitch taking out his sibling on a holeshot. Mitch left with a .063-second reaction time to Quain's .084-second start and then held on to take the win in his Radiac Abrasives 'Vette with a 6.218 at 230.76 mph, barely ahead of Quain's quicker 6.205 at 231.68 mph in the LeeBoy Paving Equipment Chevy.
"We have been beating at this thing for three years now," Mitch said. "We have missed so many golden opportunities and we always felt that we had a car capable of winning one of these. The little things have always gotten in the way and our team motto is to never give up and we will persevere. Today we did.
"Quain and I have matched up over the last couple of years and I swear, honest to God, I don't know who has won more. It doesn't really matter. It's an emotional rollercoaster. I want to outrun him as much or as more than anyone out here. If he beats me, I'm happy too. He's my brother and we grew up together and built our racing teams together. We have watched one another evolve and develop. He is my toughest competition out there and to beat him really sweetens the victory."
Duane Shields scored his fourth career win in Alcohol Dragster, where he defeated tire-smoking Alan Bradshaw for the title while longtime friends and rivals Bob Newberry and Frank Manzo squared off in the Alcohol Funny Car final, their 14th career meeting in the money round. Manzo, winning of 11 of 13 of those previous meetings, hit a rare red-light to hand the win, the 42nd of his career, to Newberry.
Mike Trumble Jr. captured Comp eliminator with a (-.59) 8.38 to turn back Brian Self's (-.54) 8.08 while Kevin Helms earned Super Stock honors in a double-breakout final round versus Jimmy DeFrank, winning with a 10.47 on a 10.49 dial-under to DeFrank's further-out 10.20 on a 10.24. In a rematch of last year's Stock final here, Peter Biondo made it two straight victories when Jeff Hefler turned on the red-light in the final.
Roger Warren took home Super Comp honors in a double-breakout shootout in the final round, winning with an 8.891 to turn back the effort of Lonnie Grim's further-under 8.878. Super Gas also was decided on a double-breakout as Tommy Phillips survived the math with a 9.898 against Jeff Franklin's 9.889. Delbert Hemby took home the gold in Super Street with a final-round 10.950 to easily handle Melvin Harris' off-pace 11.42.
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