Championship Drag Racing

MATCO TOOLS SUPERNATIONALS
HOUSTON (Oct. 26-29)

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4th annual

Sunday

Championships, champions highlight final day of Matco SuperNationals

It was a day for champions and championships Sunday of the 4th annual Matco Tools SuperNationals presented by Racing Champions at Houston Raceway Park. John Force clinched his 10th career Winston championship and Angelle Seeling her first in Pro Stock Bike, though the day and the hearts of the Texas race fans now doubt belonged to Dave Schultz, who made an heroic comeback to the quarter-mile after being diagnosed with cancer earlier this year.

Schultz capped his comeback by defeating Geno Scali, joining in victory five-time Pro Stock champ Warren Johnson, who won't will relinquish his season title this year, but he also returned to the spotlight to collect his 81st career victory. The duo were joined in the winner's circle by Top Fuel winner Cory McClenathan and Funny Car victory Tony Pedregon.

The Top Fuel finals ended up being a victory lap for McClenathan when Bobby Baldwin's dream day ended before his burnout due to a mechanical failure. McClenathan still thrilled the crowd by showing them a spectacular 4.564-second lap at 318.24 mph.

Cory McClenathan

With support from Gary Densham's NEC team as well as several other crews, Baldwin had a terrific underdog run to the finals but his car had to be shut off immediately after it was fired when smoke began to pour from the engine. It was obvious his day was done at that point but the fans still gave him a standing ovation.

McClenathan, meanwhile, showed the championship form that earned him the title of the Winston "No Bull" Showdown earlier this year and the 1999 U.S. Nationals, which was his last national event win.

"Remember me? I used to win races," McClenathan said. "It's just like I said at the other end when I got out of the car; It's about damn time. I was beginning to doubt myself but everyone said to stick with it and I did. I'm very, very relieved and very, very happy.

"They told me Bobby broke and that I had a single. I said, 'Forget all that, let's run a 4.5 and show everyone here we would have won it any way.' So that's what we did.

"Murf McKinney has built one heck of a racecar. It is so smooth and easy that it feels like a 4.70 when it's a 4.50. I wish we had made this switch 15 races ago and then maybe I wouldn't be looking for a job. Who knows, I might be wiping Scelzi's tires next year."

After running the sport's third quickest lap of the year during qualifying -- a 4.540 -- McClenathan kept his brand-new MBNA dragster on a rail today with 4.5-second wins over Army-replacement driver Bill Walsh, Doug Kalitta, and Bob Vandergriff en route to the finals.

Baldwin, who is basically self-funded, knocked off heavyweights Mike Dunn of the N.Y. Yankees, Doug Herbert of Team Snap-on Tools, and Dynomax/Valvoline/Keystone pilot Joe Amato to get to Round 4. His best lap of the day was a 4.860 in the quarterfinals. Top Fuel results

Pedregon bagged his 10th career win and second of the year by beating his boss, John Force, in the finals. It was a fairly easy win for Pedregon as he tripped the timers in 4.906 seconds at 309.27 mph in front of Force's laboring 5.293 at 287.41 mph.

Tony Pedregon

Force had to make a last-minute switch to his "Monster's of the Speedway" Frankenstein body just before the finals when his crew discovered some collapsed struts on his regular Castrol body.

"I'm gonna buy some property here," said Pedregon, who has now won three times in Houston. "My family's from San Antonio and El Paso plus there is a large Hispanic base here so I love to do well at this track. I feel like I let everyone down a bit a few years ago when we had the Selena car and I hope this makes up for it.

"We finally found the consistency we've been looking for and running John in the finals made us all focus even more. John Medlen and Dickie Venables (co-crew chiefs) stuck to their gameplan in this super-tight, super-quick field of cars and we got the win.

"Everyone's already talking about the points and where I can end up. I'm not gonna worry about it. I'm just going to go out and try to win these last two races and let that stuff sort itself out."

Force's Castrol GTX Ford Mustang powered by Cristen Powell, Frank Pedregon, and Bob Gilbertson in the early rounds before being downed by teammate Pedregon in the finals.

On the other side of the ladder, Tony's Castrol Syntec Ford Mustang cruised by Dean Skuza, Johnny Gray, and Whit Bazemore before lining up opposite the boss. Funny Car results

Johnson, "The Professor of Pro Stock," proved he still has a bad hot rod today by winning his second race of the year. Johnson bettered Brad Jeter in the finals by a 6.914 to 6.975-second advantage, despite the fact that Jeter earned a huge .430 to .464 starting line edge.

Warren Johnson

The win ended a long drought, at least by Johnson's standards. The last time the 81-time national event winner visited Victory Lane was early in the year in Gainesville, Fla.

"We've learned quite a lot, especially towards the end of the year," Johnson said. "We're finally back to the power levels we were at before. We really got onto something about mid-jJune and Kurt's won four races since then and I won here so we're pretty happy.

"Where we are now is where we needed to be at the beginning of the season. Now we'll just apply all this to next year and go from there. I really think we have a nice leg up on everyone."

Johnson looked like a five-time champ again today on the way to the finals with steady wins over Robert Patrick, Mark Pawuk, and son Kurt Johnson in his award-winning GM Goodwrench Service Plus Trans Am.

Dynagear pilot Jeter slipped by an out-of-shape Tom Martino and then used huge starting line advantages to beat Ron Krisher and Richie Stevens on his way to the showdown with W.J. Pro Stock results

Schultz's heroic comeback after a two-month medical hiatus while he battled cancer was capped in the finals with a 7.292-second, 178.02-mph win over Scali's 7.306 at 179.80 mph effort. It was one of the best final-round races of the year with Schultz's superior bike pulling away down the back half of the strip.

Dave Schultz

Like W.J., Schultz's last win was in Gainesville, Fla., which was the first race of the year for the two-wheel set.

"When I came here I brought my back-up rider John Smith because I didn't know if I could do this," Schultz said. "To tell you how confident I am, it's still his name on the bike. I'm on a two-week break from chemotherapy and I said, 'I think I can hold on to that thing. Let's try.'

"In Brainerd, when I found out I had cancer, they told me to go out and enjoy this race because it might be my last. We made it to the finals there but came up short. It's a real Cinderella story to come here after my first treatment and get a win. I needed this.

"I'm a little weak but I'm still strong enough to hold on to the bike. I usually do a bunch of push-ups before each run but I only did four here. I figured that's how many rounds I needed to win."

Atop his eye-catching Sunoco Hayabusa, Schultz flashed by Reggie Showers, three-time champ Matt Hines, and Joe DeSantis before squaring off with Scali.

Cope Racing's Scali raced to his second final round by riding his Jonco Suzuki past Craig Treble, Tony Mullen, and Shawn Gann. Pro Stock Bike results