They are revving up

Can Tony Schumacher possibly win a seventh consecutive seriestitle? Will Ashley Force Hood or Antron Brown win their first? And can Larry Dixon bounce back from losing last year’s title by the narrowest margin on record? As the new season of the National Hot Rod Assn.’s premier Full Throttle Series gets underway with the 50th running of the Winternationals at Auto Club Raceway Thursday through Sunday in Pomona, here’s a preview of the competition in the sport’s four leading divisions:

Top fuel

A key architect behind Schumacher’s five consecutive season-long titles from 2004 to 2008 was Alan Johnson, his crew chief. Then last year Johnson left to form a team that hired Dixon as its driver.

More than a few drag-racing observers figured Schumacher wouldn’t win the championship again without Johnson. But Schumacher did, prevailing by a mere two points over Dixon, the closest margin ever, with new crew chief Mike Green.

Those two drivers clearly expect to be in the hunt again this season, but so does Brown, who led top-fuel drivers in event victories last year with six and elimination-round wins with 51.

Brown, a former motorcycle drag racer who later switched to top-fuel dragsters, also finished third in the series’ late-season title playoff called the “Countdown to 1.”

Other top-fuel drivers hoping for another shot at the championship include Cory McClenathan and Brandon Bernstein, who finished fourth and fifth, respectively, in last year’s Countdown.

Funny car

John Force, the 14-time funny car champion who’s 60, didn’t win an event last year, ending a streak of consecutive seasons with a victory at 22. But his teammates at John Force Racing in Yorba Linda made up for it.

Force’s son-in-law, Robert Hight, made a remarkable late-season charge to win his first championship last year, and daughter, Force Hood, finished second in the point standings with two victories during the year.

They’ll probably be contenders this season along with Ron Capps, who led funny car drivers with five event victories last year, including the Winternationals, and 39 round wins but finished third in the title fight.

Other multiple winners last year who are expected to vie for the championship include Tim Wilkerson, Jack Beckman, Tony Pedregon, Del Worsham and Bob Tasca III.

Pro stock

Four-time champion Jeg Coughlin Jr. led pro stock drivers with seven event wins last season, and Mike Edwards and Jason Line, who won last year’s Winternationals, each had five. But it was Edwards who amassed the most points to win the series title, the Oklahoman’s first.

All are expected to contend for this year’s championship, as is Greg Anderson, who won pro stock titles in 2003-05. Anderson won three events last year but finished second in the title chase, 110 points behind Edwards.

Pro stock motorcycle

Schumacher wasn’t the only NHRA drag racer to win a championship by only two points last year. So did motorcycle racer Hector Arana, who beat challenger Eddie Krawiec to win his first title.

Arana and Krawiec, the series champion in 2008, are expected to resume their title duel while also battling Andrew Hines, a Californian who won the motorcycle championship in 2004-06 and finished third in last year’s standings.

james.peltz@latimes.com