When you cover any kind of event, you hope for a lot of things. Drama. Emotion. A chance at seeing history broken and records set.

Sometimes you get lucky and get one; sometimes you get none. At the 2009 Mac Tools U.S. Nationals presented by Lucas Oil, we got all four. Lucky us.

I mean, can you believe the Countdown drama? O-M-G.

Robert Hight needs all of the planets to align to get past Matt Hagan and Cruz Pedregon and jump from 12th to 10th place, and darned if he didn't do it. Teammate Ashley Force Hood took out Hagan in round one and darned if Hight's boss, the long-suffering John Force – who hadn't qualified at this event the last two years – took out Pedregon in round two, then lost traction against his driver in the semifinals to allow Hight to pass Pedregon.

Heated words are exchanged between Force and Tony Pedregon in the shutdown area after the semifinals, the tiff shown in all its glory on the big screen. Good lip readers here got an earful; the TV audience got better. Emotions were (and right now, still are) high. OMG.

All of this, of course, comes on a weekend that the JFR powerhouse was having to make do without Austin Coil on this most crucial of weekends. How'd they do? Four carsin the top five qualifiers, two cars in the final, Hight in the Countdown. Pretty darned good. Regardless, I bet Coil will be allowed in the pits in Charlotte.

In Top Fuel, qualifying got shortened so Joe Hartley and Clay Millican have one shot to continue their dream. Millican succeeds, Hartley does not. Major heartbreak.

Pro Stock Motorcycle on Monday is a four-way cluster with multiple scenarios that all get cleared up in one sad red-light by two-time and defending Indy champ Steve Johnson, who will sit out the final dance.

Pro stock Motorcycle features two guys – Hector Arana and Michael Phillips -- who have never been to an Indy final let alone won it, while Pro Stock has won guy (Greg Stanfield) looking for his first U.S. Nationals Wally. Very cool!

And Top Fuel? How fitting that the final Indy Top Fuel final of the decade features the two guys who have dominated the class this decade. And with a shot at history on the line for one of them. OMG!

Schumacher did as expected – well, at least as I expected (and predicted before the event, he said, patting himself the back) – and not only won the race and tied the record, but did it by beating the only driver of this era with a record at this event anywhere approaching his,

"I wouldn’t have wanted anyone else in the other lane," he said frankly, and I believe him.

"People pay a lot of money to come out and see this, and I don’t think anyone will be asking for a refund after that," he added. And I believe him. It was that kind of race. It was that good.