O'Reilly Mid-South Nationals
Memphis, Tenn.
(Aug. 20-22)
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17th annual |
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Funny Car legend John Force extended his own NHRA record by capturing the title of the O'Reilly Mid-South NHRA Nationals for his 113th career victory Sunday at Memphis Motorsports Park. Reigning Top Fuel champion Larry Dixon, Rookie of the Year candidate Jason Line, and Pro Stock Bike rider Antron Brown also scored big wins here, adding plenty of drama to the various points battles raging in the standings.
Force powered by a swerving Tim Wilkerson, who had to abort his run to avoid hitting the wall. Dixon streaked away from Scott Kalitta, who was lost in a cloud of smoke. Line grabbed his third win of the season to counter fellow Rookie of the Year hopeful Eric Medlen's victory last weekend in Minnesota, while Brown pushed his win total to an even dozen.
Dixon was certainly mentally prepared for his second win of the year, leaving with a sharp .054-second reaction time, well ahead of Kalitta's .115 launch. He then streaked away from his foe, who lost traction very early in the run, and posted a winning 4.660 at 311.70 mph.
 Larry Dixon
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Adding special significance to Dixon's win, which was the 35th of his career, is the fact it ties him with "Big Daddy" Don Garlits on Top Fuel's all-time victory list. Only Kenny Bernstein (39) and Joe Amato (52) won more Top Fuel races.
"It's overwhelming," Dixon said of matching Garlits' mark. "It's like tying Michael Jordan for one of his records. When I grew up I didn't know much about any other sport. All I followed was drag racing and all I knew was that 'Big Daddy' ruled the earth. It's a big deal to me, without question.
"This is the fifth year in a row that we've been to the final here and I don't have a clue why. I wish I knew so we could talk that knowledge and apply it to other racetracks. Maybe it's Elvis. I know we won every time we ran that special Elvis body before.
"I didn't feel quite as dominant as I have in the past. We got a break in Round 1 when we got in a pedaling contest and came out on top. The last two rounds the belt came off before the finish line and when that happens it's such a helpless feeling because you don't know where your opponent is and you just assume they're gonna fly by. The finish line seems so far away. But it worked out for us today."
The Miller Lite camp once again looked like the same group that won the last two POWERade championships with Dixon marching past Brady Kalivoda, a broken Scott Weis, Morgan Lucas, and Kalitta. This was Dixon's 63rd career final.
Until the final, Kalitta's Jesse James/Mac Tools rail got quicker as the day progressed. He started with a 4.75 against Joe Hartley, posted a 4.70 versus Brandon Bernstein, and used a 4.66 to put away Clay Millican before his shutoff 7.055 against Dixon.
Despite a quarterfinal loss to Lucas, Tony Schumacher still added 19 points to his lead in the POWERade points after Doug Kalitta lost in the first frame. Schumacher now leads by 141 markers with six races left on the schedule. Top Fuel results
The handful of drivers with designs on catching Force in the Funny Car points will have to re-think their strategy after he scored his fourth win of the year in convincing style. Force, who has been to five finals in the last seven races, used the second-best pass of the day in the title round to drive around Wilkerson for the win. The final numbers had Force crossing with a 4.907 at 308.00 mph, well ahead of Wilkerson's 5.105 at 252.33 mph. Wilkerson got very close to the retaining wall at about 1,000 feet and had to lift off the accelerator to avoid an accident.
 John Force
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"This points chase, I've heard all the talk on TV – the young guys are the future, Force is done, all that noise – it hurts but I'll be okay," Force said. "All these other guys are up for the fight. I saw the lights people were cutting early on. They're all in the game and I know it. But I had to let them know we're still in there to. We're up for it.
"Guys like [Gary] Scelzi, they know how to win. He got me on a holeshot last week. I had Wilkerson awhile back and I red-lit against him. We're all pushing each other. My car's been good because we've been able to adapt well to the 85-percent nitro deal. But everyone is right there with us. It's a fight."
The class-leading Castrol GTX Start Up crew came to life for Force Sunday after a mid-pack qualifying effort. He beat former series champion Cruz Pedregon, three-time Top Fuel champion Gary Scelzi on a holeshot, teammate Gary Densham with a 4.906, the quickest pass of the day, and Wilkerson.
Wilkerson's Levi, Ray, & Shoup Chevrolet Monte Carlo wasn't spectacular but it did carry him to his third final of the season and 12th overall. On the day, Wilkerson beat Jeff Arend, defending series champion Tony Pedregon, and Del Worsham.
His win helped Force extend his lead in the POWERade standings to 220 points, a 56 improvement from the start of the weekend. He helped himself by taking out his nearest challenge Scelzi in Round 2. Funny Car results
The Pro Stock final was a thriller with Line taking out his boss Greg Anderson's newest tormentor by a big 6.806 to 6.878-second advantage. Line handled the No. 1 qualifier from start to finish, leaving with a .042 to Connolly's .070 and clicking every incremental timer before his rival.
 Jason Line
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The victory was timely as it answered Medlen's Funny Car from Brainerd, which had tightened the head-to-head statistics between the two Rookie of the Year leaders.
"Eric was nice enough to come by our pits before the final and wish me good luck," Line said. "I had done the same for him last week in Brainerd. He's a good guy and we're becoming friends. This chase for the rookie award is not personal between us. It's kind of out of our hands. All I can do is wish him good luck and we'll see what happens.
"[Connolly's team] is doing very well. I have a lot of respect for those guys because a lot of teams complained about us earlier in the year when we were dominating but those guys never did. They just went to work and now that extra work is paying off for them. That's all we did from the start -- work hard."
Line took his KB Framers Pontiac Grand Am to his fifth final of the year with victories over Ken Koretsky, Larry Morgan, and two-time series champion Jeg Coughlin. He then finished off the day with the win over Connolly. Line is now 3-2 with a trophy on the line.
Piloting his Bullet Motorsports Chevrolet Cavalier, Connolly powered past Steve Johns, "Tricky Rickie" Smith, and POWERade point leader Anderson with a .011- to .040-second reaction time. It was the second week in a row that Connolly took out the defending series champion. Last week he beat him in the final at Brainerd, Minn.
Anderson's semifinal loss not only denied him his second chance at equaling Force's record for national event wins in a single season, but it also eliminated his chance to clinch the 2004 title in Indianapolis, something that seemed like a lock just a few weeks ago. Pro Stock results
Brown scored his first Pro Stock Bike win in just over a year when final-round foe Matt Smith, a first-time finalist competing in just his 13th NHRA event, jumped the Christmas Tree by a hundredth of a second. Considering Brown went on to post a 7.264 at 182.60 mph to Smith's 7.421 at 175.75 mph, it was probably worth Smith taking a shot at the Tree just to see if he could steal the victory against a bike with a clear performance advantage.
 Antron Brown
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This was the third final of the year for Brown and the 22nd of his career. The last time he tasted victory was at the 2003 Brainerd event. This victory moved Brown into second place in the championship points, 186 off the lead.
"Our team's been so awesome," Brown said. "The bike's been there but we haven't gotten the wins. I've doubted myself a little bit. I get to the final and then either red-light or I'm sleeping. I'm like, what can I do? I needed to get like a bracket racer and just hammer out .020 lights.
"We stayed poised today. I think it's because I didn't sleep well so I've been tired all day. When it's like that I tend not to get too amped up and make mistakes. We just wanted to try and run mid-7.20s and go heads up, may the best man or woman win."
Brown's U.S. Army Suzuki carried him past Kurt Matte, Shawn Gann, teammate Angelle Savoie, and Smith. Riding hard, Brown averaged a .015 reaction time on the day.
Smith was a longshot to make the money round at the start, beginning from the No. 12 spot, but the Red Line Oil racer took care of business against Karen Stoffer, Geno Scali, and top qualifier Andrew Hines. Smith and Hines had a lengthy duel at the starting line with each rider reluctant to stage first. Hines finally went in at his brother Matt's urging but was distracted enough to post a regrettable .238 reaction time, finishing his day sooner than he had hoped. Pro Stock Bike results
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