K&N Filters Winternationals
Pomona
(Feb. 27-29)
EVENT HOME
Tickets
Event schedule
Results
Star Tracks
Audio Broadcast
Photo Galleries
Video highlights
Preview
44th Annual |
| Thursday |
|
Schumacher, Anderson also No. 1 |
NHRA rookie Eric Medlen has made just one pass as a professional Funny Car driver, yet the former John Force Racing crewmember finds himself on top of the provisional field after the opening day of Pro qualifying for the K&N Filters Winternationals. Medlen was joined by NHRA champions Tony Schumacher and Greg Anderson at the top of the charts with three time trials yet to be run.
Medlen's 4.84 at 319 mph did the trick in Funny Car, while Schumacher opened what's expected to be a ferocious Top Fuel battle with a 4.51 at 326 mph. Pro Stock's reigning champ, Anderson, might look awful as he continues to shake off the affects of a flu bug that hospitalized him earlier in the week, but his opening pass of 6.74 at 205 mph was picture perfect.
The two best Top Fuel passes of opening day came during a single side-by-side race between good friends Schumacher and Darrell Russell. Shoe's U.S. Army rail was slightly quicker, with a 4.514 at 326.32 mph, with Russell's Keystone/DeeZee dragster close behind with a 4.520 at 321.73 mph, a career-best E.T. for the 2001 Rookie of the Year.
 Tony Schumacher
|
Since crew chief Alan Johnson joined his team, Schumacher has accumulated more POWERade points than any driver in the class.
"People keep telling me that we're the frontrunners to win the title," Schumacher said. "I tell them, 'Yes, we're good. But so are the Kalittas [Doug and Scott]. Darrell Russell is going to be excellent, [Brandon] Bernstein, [Larry] Dixon, the list goes on and on. We're in for a hell of a fight all year.
"There hasn't been any changes to the rules for us and with all these smart crew chiefs working on these cars I know we'll see 335 mph before long and maybe even a 4.3-second pass. It'll just take the right conditions.
"I'll stack Alan up against any one. He's like a chessmaster in that he's always thinking seven or eight moves ahead of everyone else. Our car has been so consistent, which I'll take any day over big numbers. I'd rather have a string of 4.50s than a 4.45 one lap and a 4.55 the next."
Doug Kalitta, who finished second in the points to Larry Dixon last year, is third after a 4.530 at 323.35 mph in the Mac Tool dragster. Kalitta's new teammate, Dave Grubnic, had the other 4.5-second pass, a 4.572 at 296.31 mph.
Reigning two-time champion Dixon ended the day a distant seventh on the provisional ladder with a 4.662 at 316.82 mph in the Miller Lite hot rod. Top Fuel results
Driving the Castrol Syntec Ford Mustang that won the 2003 title, Medlen posted his class-leading 4.840 at 319.07 mph at the start of the session due to his rookie status. But none of the other 22 drivers could better his mark, leaving the 30-year-old newcomer as a surprised No. 1 qualifier.
 Eric Medlen
|
"I don't know what to think," Medlen said. "Force took a chance on a young hick like me and I'm glad I was able to show him I could drive today. He told me, 'Good job junior, you saved my life,' and I said, 'That's okay because you made mine.' It's the car, believe me. And the crew chief, my dad [John Medlen] and the guys. It takes all the pressure off me because I know I have a bad ride.
"I got a lot of learning to do. I'll make plenty of mistakes. I might make one tomorrow. I hope not, but I might. It just helps so much to know I can screw up but still look good because of the team behind me."
With just a one-race sponsorship deal in place, Cory Lee drove his Pandemonium 13 Firebird to second place after a 4.844 at 318.02 mph. Medlen mentor Gary Densham was next in the Auto Club Ford with a 4.847 at 321.42 mph, while Lee's pseudo-teammate, Phil Burkart Jr. of the Checker, Schuck's, and Kragen camp posted the only other 4.8-second pass when he was clocked at 4.854 and 314.09 mph.
Twelve-time champion John Force did not make the field Thursday. Funny Car results
The Pro Stock class picked up exactly where it left off with new champ Anderson easily pacing the field with a 6.743 at 205.19 mph, a full two-hundredths of a second quicker than his closest rival. Anderson wasn't far off his Pomona Raceway record numbers of 6.733 at 205.51 mph, which he set last November in his Vegas General Construction Pontiac Grand Am.
 Greg Anderson
|
"For us to maintain a two-hundredths of a second advantage on the field is beyond my expectations, especially with these new beadlock tires," Anderson said. "I'm very, very happy right now. I want to go to Disneyland.
"You never know where you stand until you actually get here to Pomona and run your car down the track. It was a longer off-season then we've had recently, which I was in favor of, so everyone had more time to work on stuff. You do think about the other teams and you wonder what they're up to. Now we all get to see."
It looks as though Team Mopar driver Larry Morgan, who had a great second half of the season last year, stayed focused over the winter, as he ran the day's second-quickest pass of 6.765 at 204.05 mph. Morgan continues to benefit from the experience of crew chief Bob Glidden, a 10-time NHRA champion.
The man many expected to seriously challenge Anderson this season, six-time champion Warren Johnson, powered to third place on the Day 1 ladder with a 6.781 at 204.23 mph in the GM Performance Parts Pontiac.
"Tricky Rickie" Smith wound up fourth in his Richard Maskin-powered DART Chevrolet Cavalier, and two-time champ Jim Yates represents the bump spot with a 6.843.
Big guns Kurt Johnson and Jeg Coughlin Jr. are not qualified after the first day. Pro Stock results
Preview