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Tony Schumacher

Greg Anderson

Reigning POWERade champions Tony Schumacher, John Force, and Greg Anderson lead the 2004 class of drag racing nominees for the American Auto Racing Writers and Broadcasters Association (AARWBA) All-America Team. The three straight-line champs are joined on the ballot by Rookie of the Year Jason Line, three-time Top Fuel champion turned Funny Car pro Gary Scelzi, and IHRA standout Clay Millican.

Nearly 300 accredited members of the motorsports media will select the All-America Team from seven different categories of racing – Drag Racing, Open Wheel, Stock Car, Road Racing, Short Track, Touring Series, and At Large. First team, second team, and honorable mention groups will be named from the candidates.

Two drivers from each category will be honored as first team members at the annual AARWBA banquet Jan. 15 in Pomona, Calif. The winner of the Jerry Titus Award will also be announced at the banquet. The Titus Award honors the team's top driver – the one earning the most votes in the balloting regardless of category.

The balloting will also determine a second team of drivers placing third and fourth in each category, and honorable mentions to all other drivers receiving at least five percent of the vote. AARWBA members have chosen an All-America Auto Racing Team each year since 1970.

Jason Line

John Force

This year's banquet also kicks off AARWBA's 50th anniversary, which is sponsored in part by NHRA. The event is open to the public and ticket information is available from AARWBA, 922 N. Pass Ave., Burbank, Calif. 91505, or by calling 818-842-7005.

Second-time nominee Anderson scored 15 victories in 19 final-round appearances, 16 No. 1 qualifiers, 76 elimination-round wins, and won Pro Stock by a 742-point margin in the POWERade points – all NHRA records for any class – in capturing his second straight title. A wire-to-wire points leader in his Summit Racing Equipment Pontiac Grand Am, Anderson had streaks of five wins and four wins in a row during the year.

Anderson's 15 wins is second on the entire list of All-America Team nominees to World of Outlaw star Steve Kinser, who collected 17 trophies in 2004. The difference is Anderson had 23 races to win 15 times, while Kinser needed 63 starts to win 17.

"It's quite an honor to be nominated," Anderson said. "Just seeing your name next to John Force, Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and all the others is a reward in itself. We're very proud of the year we had and I consider this nomination a tribute to the entire KB Racing organization."

Clay Millican

Gary Scelzi

Four-time Titus Award winner Force, who was named the All-America Team's top vote getter in 1996, 1999, 2000, and 2002, won his 13th NHRA title of the last 15 years in 2004. Force earned five race wins in 12 final-round showings in his Castrol GTX Start Up Ford Mustang to raise his all-time record to 114 national event titles. He also reset both ends of the national record for Funny Cars in early October with numbers of 4.665 seconds at 333.58 mph.

Flying the colors of the United States Army, Schumacher drove his dad's Top Fuel rail to a career season that featured a class record 10 national event victories. The two-time series champion, who also won it all in 1999, won six of the last 10 races to regain the points lead he held early in the year and power away for title No. 2 by the second largest margin in Top Fuel history.

Following in his mentor's footsteps, former Stock world champion Line mopped up four of the eight Pro Stock races Anderson didn't win this year with a strong second-place finish in the championship points that left him as the clear choice for Rookie of the Year. The KB Framers-backed professional is under consideration for the All-America Auto Racing Team for the first time, joining 15 other "rookies" on AARWBA's 2004 list.

In just his second full season behind the wheel of a Funny Car, Scelzi guided his Hemi-powered Oakley Dodge Stratus onto the ballot with a third-place finish in the points highlighted by three wins in six final-round showings. The three-time AARWBA First Team honoree pushed his all-time victory total to 29, including the 25 he earned in a digger. He also became the first Funny Car pro to break the 330-mph barrier in May.

Millican continued his dominance of the IHRA circuit with a fourth straight series title. He won seven events, including five in a row, and was in the finals at nine of the circuit's 12 races. A part-timer on the NHRA tour, Millican reached the final round three times in nine NHRA starts in his 104+ Octane Boost dragster, collecting second-place each time.

The drivers listed below are on the 2004 All-America ballot. Numbers in parentheses indicate previous times elected to first team/second team/honorable mention; # indicates the driver's first time on the ballot.

Drag Racing