Dixon, Tasca, Edwards, Phillips win rain-delayed NHRA SuperNationals titles
NHRA Story » Dixon, Tasca, Edwards, Phillips win rain-delayed NHRA SuperNationals titles
Larry Dixon, Bob Tasca III, Mike Edwards, and Michael Phillips claimed Monday victories at the rain-delayed 41st annual NHRA SuperNationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in New Jersey.
The long-awaited conclusion Monday came after fans and racers waited patiently Sunday night for five hours through a series of rainshowers that hit after the semifinals, but, despite the best efforts of the NHRA Safety Safari presented by AAA, time and more bad weather prevented an under-the-lights finish.
Dixon and Brown had shared the Old Bridge winner's circle before, in 2005 when Dixon won his third of five Top Fuel titles here and Brown the second of his Pro Stock Motorcycle event crowns, but this time Dixon will be going to the trophy presentation solo after winning the rematch of last year's final, which also went to Dixon, who's now a perfect 6-for-6 in final rounds this year after blasting to a 3.824, 320.05 to beat Brown, who went up in smoke to a 6.314, 101.94. Dixon collected career win No. 54 and now owns a 199-point lead on second-place Tony Schumacher.
Dixon and his Jason McCulloch-led Al-Anabi team locked up their spot in the Countdown to the Championship playoffs in round two, did that with a big win over archrival Tony Schumacher, 3.91 to 3.95, which was sandwiched by wins over Steve Chrisman, who broke on his burnout, and No. 2 qualifier Brandon Bernstein, who reached at least the semifinals for the fifth time in the last six races with his Copart dragster. The final round was the 98th of Dixon's fine career.
After an offpace 4.04 in round one -- his 500th career round of racing -- that nonetheless got him by Scott Palmer, Brown's Brain Corradi- and Mark Oswald-tuned Matco Tools digger ran 3.88 and 3.86 to beat terry McMillen and Doug Kalitta to reach the final, his fourth at this event and the 51st of his combined-class career.
Old Bridge Township Raceway Park will always hold a special place in Tasca's heart as it was here, in 2007 that he collected his first NHRA Wally, in Alcohol Funny Car., but he'll never forget this one either. The win light cames on for Del Worsham – and his crew went crazy -- but that's only because the win light was triggered at the quarter-mile and not the 1,000-foot mark. E.T.s of 4.71 and 4.73 came up on the scoreboards, indications that something was amiss.
After a few seconds, the announcement was made that Tasca had reached the 1,000-foot mark first and his sullen crew suddenly has a 180-degree emotion flip and goes crazy. True e.t.s were 4.117 for Tasca, winning his third career nitro title and fifth overall a on a holeshot over Worsham's 4.107. Tasca had a .027 light to Worsham's .104.
Tasca, runner-up earlier this year in Gainesville, drove his special-edition FordParts.com Mustang to his fifth career nitro Funny Car final with victories over a pair of fellow Ford pilots, Ashley Force Hood and her father, John, then ran low e.t. of eliminations in the semifinals with a 4.154 to end Chicago winner matt Hagan's win streak at six rounds.
Worsham, who scored his second career win at this event way back in 1991 and won it again in 2005, reached his first final round of the season and his first since his victory at last year's Richmond, Va., event with his Dickie Venables-tuned Al-Anabi Toyota. Worsham worked his way past a pair of world champs in Cruz Pedregon and No. 1 qualifier Robert Hight with a pair of low 4.2-second passes, then turned up the wick to a 4.180 in the semifinals to defeat Jack Beckman's close 4.185 to reach his 39th career final round.
Edwards, who already had won six of the season's first 10 races, added No. 7 and also completed his first hat trick of three straight wins. Edwards cut a clutch .012 reaction time which pretty much meant the end to Shane Gray's hopes. Edwards blasted to a 6.596, 209.39 to beat Gray's 6.634, 209.07 to collect career win No. 27. Edwards, who had never won this event, settling for runner-up honors last year and also in 1998, owns an impressive 34-4 win-loss record this season.
Edwards and his Penhall/Interstate/K&N Pontiac reached career Pro Stock final No. 47 with relative ease from the No. 1 qualifying position, defeating Justin Humphreys, Greg Anderson, and Jeg Coughlin Jr., the latter with low e.t of eliminations to that point, a 6.591, in what was a rematch of last year's final. Counting his Sportsman racing, Edwards has now reached 49 NHRA national event final rounds,
Hot off his career-best semifinal showing in Chicago, Gray reached his first final round with his Tire Kingdom Pro Stocker by defeating Warren Johnson, Bob Yonke, and his father, Johnny Gray, in the pair's first-ever head-to-head eliminations run. Son defeated father, 6.65 to 6.66, to earn the berth in his first money round.
Phillips took home career win No. 5 and his first in Englishtown on a holeshot to cap a career weekend. Phillips slapped a .012 light on Johnson and rode to a holeshot win, 6.911, 194.32 to Johnson's .057-launched career-best 6.886, 194.63. With the win, Phillips moved up to second place in points; Johnson now sits fifth.
Phillips qualified No. 1 for the first time in his career and had little problem reaching the final, the 10th of his career, with three straight six-second passes aboard his Racers Edge Suzuki. Phillips dispatched Tom Micelli, Shawn Gann, and Matt Smith, the latter two each sitting up early and not making it to the finish line under power.
Johnson, defeated in the final round a week ago in Chicago, wasted no time getting back to the money round with his Suzuki, running through the first three rounds with victories over Redell Harris, red-lighting Andrew Hines, and, in a rematch of the Chicago final, LE Tonglet to reach his 16th career final round. Johnson's second-round 6.91 was low e.t. of eliminations.
NHRA Story » Dixon, Tasca, Edwards, Phillips win rain-delayed NHRA SuperNationals titles
Larry Dixon, Bob Tasca III, Mike Edwards, and Michael Phillips claimed Monday victories at the rain-delayed 41st annual NHRA SuperNationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in New Jersey.
The long-awaited conclusion Monday came after fans and racers waited patiently Sunday night for five hours through a series of rainshowers that hit after the semifinals, but, despite the best efforts of the NHRA Safety Safari presented by AAA, time and more bad weather prevented an under-the-lights finish.
Dixon and Brown had shared the Old Bridge winner's circle before, in 2005 when Dixon won his third of five Top Fuel titles here and Brown the second of his Pro Stock Motorcycle event crowns, but this time Dixon will be going to the trophy presentation solo after winning the rematch of last year's final, which also went to Dixon, who's now a perfect 6-for-6 in final rounds this year after blasting to a 3.824, 320.05 to beat Brown, who went up in smoke to a 6.314, 101.94. Dixon collected career win No. 54 and now owns a 199-point lead on second-place Tony Schumacher.
Dixon and his Jason McCulloch-led Al-Anabi team locked up their spot in the Countdown to the Championship playoffs in round two, did that with a big win over archrival Tony Schumacher, 3.91 to 3.95, which was sandwiched by wins over Steve Chrisman, who broke on his burnout, and No. 2 qualifier Brandon Bernstein, who reached at least the semifinals for the fifth time in the last six races with his Copart dragster. The final round was the 98th of Dixon's fine career.
After an offpace 4.04 in round one -- his 500th career round of racing -- that nonetheless got him by Scott Palmer, Brown's Brain Corradi- and Mark Oswald-tuned Matco Tools digger ran 3.88 and 3.86 to beat terry McMillen and Doug Kalitta to reach the final, his fourth at this event and the 51st of his combined-class career.
Old Bridge Township Raceway Park will always hold a special place in Tasca's heart as it was here, in 2007 that he collected his first NHRA Wally, in Alcohol Funny Car., but he'll never forget this one either. The win light cames on for Del Worsham – and his crew went crazy -- but that's only because the win light was triggered at the quarter-mile and not the 1,000-foot mark. E.T.s of 4.71 and 4.73 came up on the scoreboards, indications that something was amiss.
After a few seconds, the announcement was made that Tasca had reached the 1,000-foot mark first and his sullen crew suddenly has a 180-degree emotion flip and goes crazy. True e.t.s were 4.117 for Tasca, winning his third career nitro title and fifth overall a on a holeshot over Worsham's 4.107. Tasca had a .027 light to Worsham's .104.
Tasca, runner-up earlier this year in Gainesville, drove his special-edition FordParts.com Mustang to his fifth career nitro Funny Car final with victories over a pair of fellow Ford pilots, Ashley Force Hood and her father, John, then ran low e.t. of eliminations in the semifinals with a 4.154 to end Chicago winner matt Hagan's win streak at six rounds.
Worsham, who scored his second career win at this event way back in 1991 and won it again in 2005, reached his first final round of the season and his first since his victory at last year's Richmond, Va., event with his Dickie Venables-tuned Al-Anabi Toyota. Worsham worked his way past a pair of world champs in Cruz Pedregon and No. 1 qualifier Robert Hight with a pair of low 4.2-second passes, then turned up the wick to a 4.180 in the semifinals to defeat Jack Beckman's close 4.185 to reach his 39th career final round.
Edwards, who already had won six of the season's first 10 races, added No. 7 and also completed his first hat trick of three straight wins. Edwards cut a clutch .012 reaction time which pretty much meant the end to Shane Gray's hopes. Edwards blasted to a 6.596, 209.39 to beat Gray's 6.634, 209.07 to collect career win No. 27. Edwards, who had never won this event, settling for runner-up honors last year and also in 1998, owns an impressive 34-4 win-loss record this season.
Edwards and his Penhall/Interstate/K&N Pontiac reached career Pro Stock final No. 47 with relative ease from the No. 1 qualifying position, defeating Justin Humphreys, Greg Anderson, and Jeg Coughlin Jr., the latter with low e.t of eliminations to that point, a 6.591, in what was a rematch of last year's final. Counting his Sportsman racing, Edwards has now reached 49 NHRA national event final rounds,
Hot off his career-best semifinal showing in Chicago, Gray reached his first final round with his Tire Kingdom Pro Stocker by defeating Warren Johnson, Bob Yonke, and his father, Johnny Gray, in the pair's first-ever head-to-head eliminations run. Son defeated father, 6.65 to 6.66, to earn the berth in his first money round.
Phillips took home career win No. 5 and his first in Englishtown on a holeshot to cap a career weekend. Phillips slapped a .012 light on Johnson and rode to a holeshot win, 6.911, 194.32 to Johnson's .057-launched career-best 6.886, 194.63. With the win, Phillips moved up to second place in points; Johnson now sits fifth.
Phillips qualified No. 1 for the first time in his career and had little problem reaching the final, the 10th of his career, with three straight six-second passes aboard his Racers Edge Suzuki. Phillips dispatched Tom Micelli, Shawn Gann, and Matt Smith, the latter two each sitting up early and not making it to the finish line under power.
Johnson, defeated in the final round a week ago in Chicago, wasted no time getting back to the money round with his Suzuki, running through the first three rounds with victories over Redell Harris, red-lighting Andrew Hines, and, in a rematch of the Chicago final, LE Tonglet to reach his 16th career final round. Johnson's second-round 6.91 was low e.t. of eliminations.
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