Hot rod season ends in Pomona
Pro drag racing caps the first year of its new championship format this weekend with its season finale at Auto Club Raceway in Pomona.
Four racers in each of the four major classes of dragsters in the National Hot Rod Assn.’s Powerade Series have a shot at their division title, under the series’ Countdown to the Championship format.
Qualifying for the Auto Club NHRA Finals starts today and continues Friday and Saturday. The top 16 racers in each class -- top fuel, funny car, pro stock and pro stock motorcycle -- advance to the race’s final eliminations Sunday.
Drivers of top-fuel dragsters and funny cars routinely hurtle down the quarter-mile drag strip in less than five seconds at speeds above 300 mph.
Following in the footsteps of NASCAR’s Chase for the Nextel Cup, the NHRA this year started the Countdown to heighten the series’ year-end excitement.
But while the Chase features a dozen drivers throughout the 10-race playoff, the NHRA’s Countdown was patterned after the elimination format of its races, with the contenders whittled to only four in each class for the last two races at Las Vegas and Pomona.
At last week’s Las Vegas event, Tony Pedregon jumped out to a sizable lead in the funny car division after his three rivals -- Gary Scelzi, Robert Hight and Ron Capps -- all lost in the first round of eliminations. Pedregon, winner of the 2003 title, holds a 91-point lead over Scelzi, the 2005 champion. Hight and Capps are 99 points and 113 points back, respectively.
“A lot of things have to happen for us to have a shot at it,” Capps said Wednesday.
The battles are closer in the other three classes.
In top fuel, Las Vegas native Rod Fuller won the ACDelco Las Vegas NHRA Nationals to take a 52-point lead to Pomona over Larry Dixon. Fuller, 36, is racing for his first championship, and said “a lot of people had almost written us off. I’m not used to being the guy with a bull’s-eye on his back.”
Brandon Bernstein is 61 points behind and Tony Schumacher, who made a dramatic comeback at last year’s Pomona race to win his fourth championship, is 67 points back.
“This year we’re in trouble again,” Schumacher said. “But it’s still open.”
In the pro stock category, Greg Anderson won at Las Vegas to take a 34-point lead over Jeg Coughlin and is 48 points ahead of Dave Connolly. Allen Johnson is 103 points behind.
In pro stock motorcycle, Andrew Hines is shooting for his fourth consecutive championship and, after winning the Las Vegas race, leads the standings by 39 points over Chip Ellis. Matt Smith is 51 points behind and Peggy Llewellyn, the only woman to reach the Countdown finals, is 93 points behind.
Drivers have acknowledged that, for many in drag racing, it has taken time to adapt to the Countdown format.
After 17 of the series’ 23 races, each division’s championship field was pared to the top eight drivers in points for the next four races. Then the contenders were cut again, to four in each class, for the final two events.
“It’s kind of a learning curve, I think, for us and a lot of the other teams, the thing is so new,” Fuller said earlier this month.
Capps agreed, and said some fans are “a little bit old school and they don’t like the Countdown.” But as the format has reached its climax, “a lot of fans loved the excitement,” he said. “I think it’s every bit of what the NHRA wanted.”
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RACE FACTS
* What: Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA Finals.
* Where: Auto Club Raceway at Pomona.
* When: Today-Sunday.
* Tickets: (800) 884-6472.
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