Mac Tools U.S. Nationals
Indianapolis, Ind.
(Sept. 1-6)
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50th annual |
| Monday |
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13th; Shoe, Brown also Indy winners |
Gary Densham topped a big day for his boss, John Force, collecting the Funny Car championship over Cruz Pedregon at the 50th Anniversary Mac Tools U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis Raceway Park to go with Sunday's Skoal Showdown win to earn a $50,000 double-up bonus from NHRA. A few minutes earlier, Force's daughter, Ashley, had scored her first career win in Alcohol Dragster.
Joining Densham in the IRP winner's circle at the historic event were Tony Schumacher, who won Top Fuel for the fourth time in five years, defeating Doug Kalitta in the final; Greg Anderson, whose 13th Pro Stock victory, taken over Ken Koretsky, is a class record; and Antron Brown, who won for the second time at Indianapolis and handed Shawn Gann his fourth straight Indy runner-up.
Schumacher remains the master of Indianapolis Raceway Park, scoring his third Indy win in a row and fourth in the last five years to quickly move into second place on the all-time Indy Top Fuel win list behind only "Big Daddy" Don Garlits. He also joins Garlits as the only Top Fuel driver to win Indy three years in a row. Garlits did it from 1984-'86.
 Tony Schumacher
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Adding to the glory of the moment, Schumacher took out the closest man to him in the points, Doug Kalitta, in a thrilling finale that allowed Schumacher to pad his points lead to 160, or eight elimination rounds of action with 20 left in the season. Schumacher used a strong 4.597 at 323.66 mph against Kalitta's 4.621 at 316.45 mph to get the job done.
"I don't know what it is but sometimes you go into a race and you have this feeling that you're going to win," Schumacher said. "This Thursday a friend of mine gave me a photo of Darrell Russell and it said, 'Only God knows why,' and right then I thought, 'I'm gonna win this race for my buddy Darrell.' So this trophy is going back to Houston and it's going to be on Julie Russell's shelf right next to all of Darrell's trophies because that's where I think it belongs. Being able to do this means more to me than anything else.
"This is a huge win. Garlits won Indy eight times and we've won it four times now. Of course, he did it back when there were 100 cars in the field. Now we race every pass and the margin of victory is measured in thousandths of a second. I don't know how you compare the two eras but I know Don Garlits was my hero and to even be mentioned with him is something. I'm in shock, to be honest."
Schumacher showed that he and his U.S. Army team meant business from the opening round, running a huge 4.55 against Mike Strasburg. He followed that with the quickest pass of the quarterfinal round as well when he dismissed a red-lighting Morgan Lucas with a 4.60. He then used up a little race day luck against Scott Kalitta in the semi's when he won with a 4.74 as his engine billowed smoke. His win over Kalitta in the final was Schumacher's seventh of the year and 18th of his career.
Starting from the No. 1 qualifying position, Kalitta got progressively quicker as the day wore on. He opened with a 4.78 against Bruce Litton, posted a 4.65 versus Clay Millican, and dipped to a 4.62 opposite Larry Dixon. This was Kalitta's seventh final of the year and the 39th of his career. Top Fuel results
Densham's emotional win in Funny Car was worth a whopping $225,000 as he added the U.S. Nationals trophy to his Skoal Showdown plaque from Sunday, a feat worth an additional $50,000 "double-up" bonus from the NHRA.
 Gary Densham
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Twenty-five years after attending his first U.S. Nationals on a shoestring budget, Densham wasn't about to let this opportunity to win slip away, riding crew chief Jimmy Prock's expert tune-up to a 4.890 at 317.64 mph, well ahead of Pedregon's resigned 6.497 at 147.15 mph.
"I came to this race 25 years ago with $20 in my pocket and absolutely no business being here," Densham said. "Now I've come back here and won the U.S. Nationals. This is what drag racing is all about. I don't care about that money; it'll all go to the team anyway and if they gave it all to me I'd spend it on drag racing, so it doesn't mean a thing to me. A trophy from the U.S. Nationals, the 50th annual one no less, is the thing.
"My son Steven has never seen me win a race before and now he comes out this weekend and sees me win two times. He's gonna think it's easy. Believe me, it's anything but easy. You know, the fact it's taken me so long to get it though probably makes it all the more sweeter. If this is a dream and I'm sleeping, please don't wake me up."
Densham's Automobile Club of Southern California Ford Mustang was rock-steady Monday despite the ever-increasing temperatures at the racetrack. He started with a 4.85 win over Tony Bartone, used a 4.92 against Phil Burkart Jr., and trailered Whit Bazemore with a 4.93 before running the 4.89 versus Pedregon. This marked Densham's second win in three final-round showings this year and marked his eighth win in 18 career money rounds.
Pedregon's Advance Auto Parts Monte Carlo was solid against Del Worsham and Tim Wilkerson, posting a 4.91 and a 4.89 in those two wins, but he needed a break when his car labored through a 5.37 against Gary Scelzi in the semifinals and got it when Scelzi found a little less traction than Pedregon did and could only muster a 5.55. Pedregon, a three-time runner-up this year, last won at the 2000 Englishtown event. Funny Car results
Anderson got a month-old monkey off his back with his 13th victory of the season and first in the last three races. Anderson is now the sole owner of the Pro Stock class record for victories in a single season and has tied Force for the all-time pro-level record.
 Greg Anderson
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Final-round foe Koretsky gave him a run for his money, leaving with a superior .037-second light to Anderson's .051-second launch. But the season-long POWERade points leader soon caught and passed his friend to win fairly easily with a 6.839 at 202.09 mph to Koretsky's 6.870 at 201.37 mph.
"This is where I wanted to get this win," Anderson said. "We just tied John Force's record with our 13th win of the year. That's history baby. Our Pontiac beat that Mopar's butt and we did it at the 50th anniversary of our biggest race. It's awesome.
"To be next to John Force in the record books is mind-boggling. To actually have five chances to go ahead of him is too hard to get my arms around. This is one of the major records in our sport and we've got a shot at it.
"This team of mine gets all the credit. From top to bottom we've got the best guys in the business and that's why I'm able to go out and win 13 races. It's unbelievable."
Just as he has for most of the season, Anderson had to guide his Summit Racing Equipment Pontiac Grand Am through a gauntlet of veteran racers to reach his 42nd trophy round. Monday it was Steve Schmidt, Bruce Allen, and Jeg Coughlin who stood in his way but he managed to handle them all, even surviving a miniscule .006-second win over Coughlin, the closest Pro race of the day.
Koretsky reached his first career final in 159 NHRA starts by beating Allen Johnson, a red-lighting Larry Morgan, and Mike Edwards in his Nitro Fish Wear Dodge Stratus R/T. His memorable day was capped by the fact he made it into the POWERade top 10 rankings. Pro Stock results
Brown added a second win for the U.S. Army team with his second career Indy win and second season victory in a row by beating Shawn Gann in a close final. Brown and Gann both had great lights, Brown with a .020, Gann with a .010, but Brown's bike had a little more horsepower, which he rode to a clocking of 7.213 seconds at 185.77 mph ahead of Gann's 7.238 at 185.74 mph.
 Antron Brown
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The Pro Stock Bike title chase is now the tightest in the Pro ranks as Brown moves to within 153 markers of Andrew Hines. But the Bikes have just three national events left on their abbreviated schedule, meaning Brown has to make up seven and a half rounds on Hines with just 12 left to be run.
"All those troops doing all that hard work overseas, this one is for you," Brown said. "If this has given us some momentum to win more races and maybe even get us closer to the championship then I'm all for it. We're not looking that far ahead. We're just gonna keep racing with this awesome team we have put together and not look up until they tell us the season's over."
The red-hot Brown, who has raced his U.S. Army Suzuki to three final in last four races, breezed by Karen Stoffer, Craig Treble, and surprise semifinalist Chris Bostick to earn a chance at his 13th victory in 23 career final-round appearances.
The sole survivor of the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals Tribute Team from Round 1 forward, Gann marched through the field with wins over Steve Johnson, Kurt Matte, and POWERade points leader Andrew Hines. He just didn't have enough for Brown and was relegated to his fourth Indy runner-up in a row. Pro Stock Bike results
Jim Halsey recorded his first career AMS Pro Modified Challenge victory by defeating ACDelco-sponsored Harold Martin in the final round. The all-nitrous final round featured the top two qualifiers.
Halsey, who started from the second position, scored the quicker reaction time and coupled it with a 6.271, 223.76 for the win. Martin suffered parts attrition and coasted through.
The nitrous cars remain undefeated at Indy since 2001 when the AMS Pro Modifieds joined the tour.
History was made in Alcohol Dragster with the event's first all-female final. Ashley Force, daughter of 12-time NHRA champion John Force, made her first career national event a big one when she defeated Shelly Howard, 5.32 to .5.38. Force is just the third woman to win the U.S. Nationals. Bob Newberry, Alcohol Funny Car winner in 1998 and runner-up in 2002, collected his second Indy win when he bested Chuck Cheeseman, 5.67 to 5.79, while David Rampy parlayed a .006 reaction time into his third Indy title and the 56th win of his career.
Joe Locicero pulled an upset in the Super Stock final when he defeated four-time U.S. Nationals champ Peter Biondo, who broke out by just .004-second, and Stock featured a rematch of last year's final with Lee Zane and Dan Fletcher, with Zane, the national points leader, scoring his second straight victory. Rick Beckstrom defeated Tommy Costales in the Super Comp final when Costales broke out while Ron Erks and Cajun SPORTSnationals winner Ross Laris locked horns in an all-Corvette roadster double-breakout Super Gas final that went to Erks, 9.889 to 9.888.
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