For Mike Dunn, the wait was well worth it. The second-generation fuel driver and former Southern Californian broke a jinx of more than two years when he drove Darrell Gwynn's Mopar dragster to the Top Fuel victory in a Monday final round at the 39th annual NHRA AutoZone Winternationals at Pomona Raceway.
Rain Sunday night had forced the postponement of the Professional-class final rounds and the majority of the Sportsman racing until Monday morning, and persistent drizzle pushed that two hours beyond that revised schedule.
The Funny Car final took the track first, at 11:40 a.m., and Tony Pedregon sent Gary Densham down to defeat, making the longtime sentimental SoCal favorite 0-6 in career final rounds. Pedregon led wire to wire and scored the victory, 4.97 to 5.04. It was Pedregon's sixth career victory.
The all-Coughlin brothers Pro Stock final followed, but the excitement that had built overnight was short-lived as Troy's Cutlass veered out of the groove, forcing him to lift and watch younger brother Jeg Jr. roar to a 6.96 and the victory, also his sixth as a Pro.
Former Comp eliminator racer Randy Daniels, who had been repeatedly denied a national-event win despite always having a competitive car, scored his first-ever NHRA title when he defeated Brad Jeter in the Pro Stock Truck final, 7.65 to 7.70.
Following Rick Santos' lopsided 5.51 to 5.79 Federal-Mogul Dragster final-round triumph over Dale Carlson and Bucky Austin's 5.75 to 5.79 title-match win over Pete Swayne, the Top Fuel cars finally pulled out onto the starting-line pad, to the cheers of the small but vocal crowd that had returned.
Dunn, who was spectating at the Winternationals when his father, Jim, raced at the 1963 Winternationals, scored his first Pomona triumph and his first national-event win since the 1996 Mid-south Nationals with a exciting 4.52, 313.88-mph blast after Dixon smoked the tires and had to lift.
Dunn's run, the third quickest in history behind his own 4.50 and 4.51 passes from earlier in the weekend, began with a substantial wheelstand that Dunn controlled with his hand brake and was puncuated by a top-end engine explosion and fire, but the veteran driver hauled his machine down to a safe stop just shy of the sand trap.
