Antron Brown kept alive his hopes of a rare Western Swing sweep with a Top Fuel victory Sunday at the 22nd annual NHRA Northwest Nationals at Pacific Raceways outside of Seattle. Tim Wilkerson and Mike Edwards scored in Funny Car and Pro Stock, respectively, to end a couple of droughts.
With a victory next weekend in Sonoma, Brown, who won last weekend in Denver, can join an elite lineup of drivers to have won all three events in the three-weekend summer sweep through the Western states. Fellow Top Fuel racers Joe Amato (1991), Cory McClenathan (1997), Larry Dixon (2003), and Tony Schumacher (2008); Funny Car racer John Force (1994); Pro Stock driver Greg Anderson (2004); and Sportsman ace Dan Fletcher (1994) are the only drivers to have accomplished the feat.
Antron Brown
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Brown scored his sixth Top Fuel win and fourth of the season by denying Schumacher a second straight Seattle victory and a chance to narrow points leader Brown's edge. Brown raced to a tight 3.985 to 3.990 decision -- his margin of victory was just .008-second -- to collect the win and increase his points lead to 137 markers.
“We were at the bottom half of the field, but we just had to race to the best of our ability, and that’s what we did today,” said Brown, who qualified just 10th. “That first round was a close race, but we still spun on the big end, and we just kept backing it up. We backed it up a little bit more, went out there, got from A to B. Our car was just so on point the whole day. The track got hot, and Mark [Oswald] and Brian [Corradi, co crew chiefs] knew what they wanted to do.
“It’s great when you race Tony Schumacher, a six-time world champ, and you get the better of him in the final by eight-thousandths. That’s a close drag race, and if I would have lost, I would still be happy because we went out there and did the best we could. But we got that win, and it felt really good. That was a sensational, phenomenal drag race. Now I’m looking forward to going to Sonoma and taking it one round at a time.”
Brown, in the Mike Ashley Racing/Matco Tools dragster, opened his eliminations run with a 4.07 conquest of Clay Millican, then followed with passes of 3.98 and 4.00 to beat tire-smoking Morgan Lucas' GEICO Powersports and Spencer Massey's U.S. Smokeless dragsters to reach his 12th final in Top Fuel (45 career, including Pro Stock Motorcycle) and his third in the last four races.
Schumacher was going for his 60th win in his fourth final of the year but his first since the Bristol event in May. After clipping off a 3.935, his best run of the weekend, in round one to defeat Brandon Bernstein, Schumacher's Mike Green-tuned U.S. Army dragster nearly duplicated that pass with a 3.937 in round two to trailer low qualifier Larry Dixon and take second place in the standings from his longtime rival. Schumacher and team then got a real scare in the semifinals against the Cinderella effort of Troy Buff, who was attempting to reach his first Pro final. Both cars smoked the tires, but Buff's Bill Miller Engineering digger backfired the blower, and Schumacher advanced with a smoky 5.11 that surrendered lane choice to Brown. The final round was the 92nd of Schumacher's impressive career.
Tim Wilkerson
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Wilkerson, who came into the event off back-to-back first-round losses and hadn’t been to a Funny Car final since last September in Memphis, got well quick and took full advantage of his first title-round appearance this season by defeating low qualifier Tony Pedregon, 4.21 to 4.28, for his 12th win.
“We’ve had a struggling year,” said Wilkerson. “We’ve had a decent car; we just have bad racing luck in my opinion. We race the wrong guy on race day, and I just don’t do a good enough job tuning it up or driving it. But we’ve finally got it all together, and I’m pretty happy with my team and my car, and you can’t hardly complain about it. I think we were low e.t. of every round except for one, and [Ron] Capps was just a few thousandths faster than us that round. When you can do that and win the race, it’s been a pretty good day.
“We have to be a little bit better car when it’s cool out, and I think we have that in us. We have another car we may bring out next weekend and try it and see how it acts. I really believe this one is getting a little tired. Or you may even see us go back to last year’s car. I’m not sure. You may see that happen because I know that car a little bit better, and it’s not quite as cantankerous when the track gets as hot as this one is, and I’m not really sure that we have any big problems outside of that. Maybe we can sneak up on them a little bit.”
Wilkerson showed early Sunday that he would be a force to be reckoned with after powering his Levi, Ray & Shoup Mustang to low e.t. of the first round, a 4.18, to defeat Robert Hight. "Wilk" followed with a 4.26 to send Hight's teammate, Mike Neff, home early as well, then bested points leader Capps in the semifinals, 4.24 to 4.29, to earn final-round lane choice. The final was Wilkerson's 25th, including four in Top Alcohol Funny Car, where he scored one win before moving into the nitro ranks in 1996.
Pedregon's run to his 72nd Funny Car final was fraught with peril as he got loose but held on to escape a potential first-round upset against Grant Downing, then needed a holeshot to take out Ashley Force Hood in round two, 4.30 to 4.28. Pedregon reached his fifth final of the year by denying former boss John Force his first of the year on a 4.26 to 4.30 count.
Mike Edwards
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Edwards' final-round defeat of Jason Line ended a frustrating streak of runner-ups in his last four final-round appearances and gave the veteran his first win since Bristol in May, his third of the year, the 18th of his Pro Stock career, and his 20th overall. Edwards, who twice this year has been runner-up to Line, turned the tables this time for a 6.58, 211.03 to 6.601, 210 victory. Edwards' final-round speed was the fastest of the weekend in Pro Stock, and his win moved him to within 20 points of front-runner Jeg Coughlin.
“We’ve had three really good days all year; anytime you win a race it’s a good day,” said Edwards. “Hats off to my guys who prepared this car. It was just flawless, and the car is a joy to drive. It does everything right, and it’s all because of them. I feel like in the last four or five races I’ve let them down; I’ve been the weak link in this team, and hopefully I can build on this and get a little confidence in myself.
“Today I just tried to be as relaxed as I possibly could knowing that I have the car to win. Allan [Lindsey, crewmember] kept telling me all weekend, I have the horse; I just need to be the rider. I was trying to be the rider today. You just pull up there and try to clear your mind as much as you can and just relax because if you start thinking, you’re in trouble. But this is a great feeling, a great team, and I’m blessed to be a part of it.”
Edwards looked solid in every round, opening his Sunday account with a stunning 6.55, 210.67-mph blast to eclipse both ends of the track record and send Ben Watson packing. Edwards' ART/Young Life Pontiac followed with low e.t. of the next two rounds as well, running a pair of 6.58s to erase Greg Stanfield and Houston champ Ron Krisher to reach his 37th Pro Stock final and sixth in the last seven events.
After defeating V. Gaines with a 6.58 in round one, Line, the defending event champ, ran a pair of 6.60s to advance to his 40th career and third straight final, trailering Coughlin, who got loose, to even their record at 13 wins apiece, then ended Denver winner Allen Johnson's hopes of a swing sweep. Johnson's Dodge, the low qualifier, shook hard and had to abort the run.
Related stories:
Friday: Dixon, T. Pedregon, Edwards opening-day leaders in Seattle
Saturday: A.J. takes Pro Stock pole while Dixon, Pedregon hold their leads