Cory McClenathan

At the start of the race weekend, Cory McClenathan declared that if he didn't have a strong showing, his Joe Gibbs-owned MBNA team should give up on the 1999 championship title hunt and start testing theories for the 2000 season. Gripping his second U.S. Nationals championship trophy in his hands Monday evening just 62 points out of first place, McClenathan was singing a different tune.

"The consistent numbers we posted this weekend in the MBNA hot rod show we're a contender again," McClenathan said. "(Team advisor) Wes Cerny, (co-crew chiefs) Jim Brissette and Rick Cassel decided that this was no time to be shy. We were going for it all weekend and it paid off.

"The guys in the crew worked their butts off to get through today. It was hot and humid and everyone was dying. But they kept it together and gave me a winning car. I also credit the Safety Safari for the way they kept this track together. The fact that I ran a 4.59 in the semis is a real tribute to the work those guys did on the track today.

"The first U.S. Nationals win was a huge deal. We had a different sponsor then and they really had fun with it. This one was the first big thing we've done for MBNA and the rest of our new sponsors. But I feel like I won this one for me. This has been a rough, rough year and it feels awesome to rebound like this at the biggest race of the year.

"My only regret is that in all of my 24 national event wins, my daughter has never been with me to celebrate. I've had her travelling with me all summer long and she just returned to school last week. I take back what I said a minute ago, this one wasn't for me, it's for her."

McClenathan beat Australian Andrew Cowin in the finals. The 19-year-old reached the first final round of his career by beating No. 1 qualifier Joe Amato, Randy Parks and Bob Vandergriff. Cory Mac downed Steve Smith, Eddie Hill and Schumacher before squaring off against Cowin.

The two top 10 drivers that failed to qualify were Bud King Kenny Bernstein and Miller Lite pilot Larry Dixon. Bernstein started the day in second place in the points standings and fell all the way to fifth. Dixon slipped from sixth place to eighth. Top Fuel results

Frank Pedregon

Flying the colors of Penthouse Magazine, Funny Car winner Pedregon earned his third national event win over a red-lighting Jim Epler. It was the first U.S. National win for Pedregon and Penthouse team owner Jim Dunn, who had runner-upped here as a driver in 1981 and as an owner in 1994.

"This is such a huge deal for me and for Jim," Pedregon said. "It hasn't even sunk in yet how good I feel. This is the highlight of my career. Winning back-to-back races last year was unique and I was definitely on Cloud 9 then, but this is Indy. Call me back in two or three days and I'll be able to describe it. Right now, I'm numb."

Pedregon opened with a win over John Force before downing No. 1 qualifier Tommy Johnson Jr. and Scotty Cannon to reach the finals.

"We raced some tough guys today no doubt," he said. "And that makes this win even more special. I feel so invincible right now I might just jump off a building."

The World Wrestling Federation certainly got its money's worth out of Epler with the runner-up finish. The WWF signed the veteran to Jerry Tolliver's newly expanded two-car team at the start of weekend. He beat Cristen Powell, Dean Skuza and Gilbertson before bowing to Pedregon in the finals.

As mentioned, crowd-pleaser Force lost to Pedregon in the day's first session. Force, who struggled all weekend and earned his No. 8 starting spot in the last qualifying session, could only produce a 5.14-second lap at 286 mph against Pedregon's 4.99-second pass at 302 mph.

"We got it in the show and that protected our points lead," Force said. "But today the conditions changed. The Castrol car dropped a hole (one of the cylinders didn't fire) and Frankie whipped us."

Capps' bid to duplicate Cope team owner Don "the Snake" Prudhomme's miraculous double win in 1989 when Prudhomme won both the Big Bud Shootout and the U.S. Nationals fell short when privateer Bob Gilbertson upset the 1999 Shootout champ in Round 1 with a 5.26 to 5.33 win. Funny Car results

Warren Johnson

Known as the Professor of Pro Stock, Johnson had an easy lap against his former crew chief Anderson in the finals en route to his sixth U.S. Nationals win and 78th career victory. Anderson, who beat Troy Coughlin, Bruce Allen, and Mike Edwards to reach his first career final round, experienced severe tire shake in the finals and watched helplessly as W.J. posted a 6.94 at 198.61 mph in his special-edition, black Superman car.

"Old Blackie's a bad hot rod," Johnson said. "Everything is dimensionially identical to our other car, but when I sit in this one, I'm just more comfortable. I have already obtained permission from the folks at Pontiac to run whatever paint scheme I want for the remainder of the year so the Superman sticker will be coming off but we'll be staying with this black car.

"Indy being the race that it is makes this so special to me. Every win here feels just as special as the first one. This is the event to win. Every team out here is burning the midnight oil all year to win this one race. To come out on top is pretty special. It doesn't matter how many times you win it."

The best race of the day in Pro Stock came in the semifinals when Jeg Coughlin left on W.J. -- .469 to .494 - and then was tracked down and barely passed at the finish line. The final margin of victory was one-thousandths of a second with Johnson crossing in 6.957 seconds at 198.67 mph against Coughlin's 6.983-second pass at 196.79 mph.

Jim Yates gets the Humanitarian Award for lending first-round opponent Mike Thomas his back-up car to compete with. Thomas crashed his Pennzoil machine in qualifying and didn't have a back up with him when Yates offered his son Jamie's car as a replacement. The good karma paid off when Yates beat Thomas 7.05 to 7.08. Pro Stock results

Matt Hines

Although he gained just 20 points in the year-long Pro Stock Bike points chase on rival Seeling, Hines' double win in Indy should provide the 1998 champ with a mountain of confidence as the season sprints to its finish.

Hines flat-out beat Seeling in the Duel and then, adding insult to injury, used a hole-shot to better her in the National's finals. The exciting lap saw Hines launch in .446 seconds and card a 7.348-second lap at 179.35 mph against Seeling's .473-second start and 7.344-second, 176.21-mph finish.

"If I can keep this kind of pressure on her it'll help," Hines said. "We've got four races left and we're less than four rounds behind her now. If we can get a few more wins and a few national records we'll be right there.

"We had the fastest bike out here this weekend. Before this race we had been struggling a bit and Angelle has been qualifying ahead of us and collecting all the Holley money. Well some of it came our way this weekend." Pro Stock Bike results

Mike Coughlin

With the big guns watching on the sidelines, the Pro Stock Truck finals came down to two bottom-half qualifiers, Mike Coughlin, who started from the 13th spot, and Scott Perin, who qualified 10th.

When the lights flashed it was Mike Coughlin who was ready for action, reacting to the lights in .401 seconds against Perin's .485 launch. The Columbus, Ohio, driver never looked back, recording his best lap of the weekend -- 7.64 at 175 mph - to take his first U.S. Nationals win and second career victory.

"We switched back to our old engine and it seemed to run a lot better than the other one," Coughlin said. "I guess we saved our best for last. It just sort of worked out that way.

"The entire Jeg's team should be here with me accepting the glory. We all work together and play together and I sure couldn't have done this without the help of everyone on our crew.

"I guess 13 is not unlucky for me. I've won two events and both of them came when I qualified in 13th place."

Coughlin beat Craig Eaton in the semifinals earlier today after bettering Brian Self and Jeter in the quarterfinals and first round, respectively, during Sunday's first two rounds of action. Pro Stock Truck results

Rick Santos, of San Leandro, Calif., finally broke Indy's 19-year jinx against repeat winners in the alcohol dragster class when he defeated defending event champ Darren Nicholson in the final round of Federal-Mogul Dragster, 5.49 to 5.56. Santos, the 1993 winner, defeated Rick Henkelman in the semifinals and Nicholson assured it that the jinx would be snapped when he beat No. 2 qualifier Keith Stark in the semifinals. Federal-Mogul Dragster results

A pair of former U.S. Nationals champs squared off in the final round of Federal-Mogul Funny Car, and it was Manhasset, N.Y.'s Tony Bartone who gathered in his second Indy title by defeating Frank Manzo, 5.64, 250.88 to 5.65, 254.33. Federal-Mogul Funny Car results

David Rampy, who finally won Indy last year in Super Comp, added a second straight Indy title, this time in Comp eliminator, as he powered his Woodland, Ala.-based Winnebago B/ED to a final-round (-.51) 7.04 to defeat relative unknown Frank Affronti's (-.38) 7.84. It was Rampy's 31st career win. Comp results

Second-generation California Super Stock racer Doug Lambeck nailed his 9.23 dial-under in the final with his SS/BS '92 Camaro to defeat Rick Brown, whose GT/CA '86 Camaro ran a 993 on a 9.92 target. Super Stock results

Kevin Helms, of Byers, Colo., drove his B/S '69 Camaro to his second straight U.S. Nationals Stock title on an easy pass after Texas triplet Jerry Emmons fouled away his chances in his H/SA '69 Camaro in the final round. Stock results

Doug Doll, an 18-year-old high school student from Ephrata, Pa., was the surprise winner in Super Comp as he defeated Brian Forrester in the final round, 8.921 to a breakout 8.882. Super Comp results

Brian Folk and John Pavey survived seven rounds of Super Gas to face off in the final round, where Folk's .408 to .435 reaction-time edge allowed him to control the race and score a double breakout victory, 9.888 to 9.870. Super Gas results