|
|
 |
Incoming points: 1. Rod Fuller, 3,135; 2. Larry Dixon, 3,083 (-52);
3. Brandon Bernstein, 3,074 (-61); 4. Tony Schumacher, 3,068 (-67)
|
Rod Fuller leads the Countdown to 1 field into Pomona with a lead of more than two rounds, with former two-time champ Larry Dixon right behind him and Brandon Bernstein, seeking his first career POWERade title, in third. Four-time and reigning NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series Top Fuel champ Tony Schumacher sits in fourth place, three rounds out of the lead. This NHRA.com POWERade Top Fuel Countdown to the Championship Notebook will keep fans abreast of the latest developments, quotes, and stats during the season finale.
|
|
|
| Sunday, November 04, 2007 (5:30 p.m.)
Top Fuel final points Schumacher: 3186 Fuller: 3167 Bernstein: 3149 Dixon: 3135 |
|
| Sunday, November 04, 2007 (5:25 p.m.)
Top Fuel final Remember one year ago? How Tony Schumacher needed to win the final round and reset the national record to winthe championship? And how few people thought he could do both? This year, it's quite the opposite opinion and almost seemed pre-ordained in some people's minds that the Army team is going to do it to them again. This time, of course, he just needs to win the final round. he can do it in 4.5 seconds of 15.5 seconds; it doesn't matter. If he wins, he's the champ by 19 points. If he doesn't, Rob Fuller will have hung on to the title by one point. Vandergriff, of course, would love to spoil his run and finally, finally, FINALLY get his first career Top Fuel event win. Fuller is on the starting line, standing behind Schumacher's right lane, the cameras focused on him. Team owner David Powers sidles up to him. They both try to smile. In the dark, it's obvious to everyone early as the flames on Vandergriff's UPS car go up and down real quick with a pedal job -- a nice one at that -- but Schumacher is off and gone to a 4.48, 328.30 to clinch the championship again. Vandergriff is second though with a brokenhearted 4.68, 317.19. |
|
| Sunday, November 04, 2007 (3:20 p.m.)
Top Fuel semifinals The Safety Safari is scraping the starting line again, with a lot of work concentrated on the right lane. The championship scenario comes down to this: If Bernstein beats Schumacher, he joins his dad as a Top Fuel champion. If Schumacher beats Dixon, he then needs to win the final round to pass Fuller. Right now, Fuller looks to be in the worst position of the three. Stand by. As has been the case all day, the drama is at the end of the round. Vandergriff will take on Todd in the first semifinal to see who may or may not have a hand in deciding the championship in the final. Todd takes the right lane, which has been the best for the fuel cars this day. Schumacher owns the other lane choice chit and looks like he will take the right as well. In addition to having better traction, the driver doesn't have to look into the sun like the left lane driver does. Vandergriff makes it to his 12th career final with a 4.58, setting the stage for one of the biggest Top Fuel rounds of the year. After side-by-side burnouts, the two inch into the stage beams ... Schumacher all the way ... 4.520, 325.55 to B-Squared's distant 4.63, 319.14. Deja vu ... Schumacher comes to the final round with the chance to win the championship. Schumacher, on "only" having to winthe final round and not reset the record like last year: "Nothing's a piece of cake out here. It's my dad's birthday and more than anything I want to get this for him. This is just a bad-ass team. It seems like every year people don’t remember it but we’re right on the edge of another championship. I know Vandergriff is hungry and he's never won a race, we've still got work to do." |
|
| Sunday, November 04, 2007 (1:25 p.m.)
Top Fuel round two  |
The Countdown drama will wait one pair as Bob Vandergriff will square off with Doug Herbert to open the second round. The winner will face Dixon if he beats J.R. Todd.The Safety Safari is scraping the track after a great round of alcohol racing, including a 5.20 by Bill Reichert in the right lane. First up after them will be Brandon Bernstein in the left lane and Dave Grubnic in the right. Bernstein needs to go to the final to catch Fuller. The Motel 6 Vision is showing Fuller in the pits signing autographs, apparently not wanting to watch from the starting line. Vandergriff runs 4.57 in the right lane but in a ball of fire, so the Safari trucks roll and the drama builds. If Bernstein wins, he'll face the winner of the Tony Schumacher-Morgan Lucas tiff that follows him. Despite having a cylinder out in the right bank at the top end, BB advances easily with a 4.54 as Grubnic's mount puffs the tires at 300 feet. Bernstein: "There's pressure definitely increasing now we have the champ and it's up to us to take him down. This is how is should be with the the chance to contreol your own destiny." Schumacher, with lane choice, saddles up in the right lane, Lucas in the left.Lucas gets the jump off the line by three-hundredths, but the Army car marches by at the top end to win, 4.50 to 4.55. Schumacher: "We're a great crunch team. Alan Johnson's got a handle on things out there today; that's tow .50s in a row, It's a great day to be racing and this is huge." Dixon, in the left lane, tries to keep his hopes alive, too, against Todd, but Todd takes him out, 4.50 to 4.54. Dixon won't win a third championship.Dixon: "It put a hole out on the step and that was pretty much it. I'm disappointed that we lost the round but it was still a great year. I like the points system; we had a chance today that we wouldn't have had and thats all we could ever ask for. It was there for the taking; we just didn't get it done." If Bernstein wins the next round, he'll be the champ; Schuamcher still needs to go to the final to pass Fuller, so it's a good bet Fuller is a big Shumacher fan right now ... ironic, huh? Schumacher has lane choice. Current points: Fuller: 3167 Bernstein: 3149 (-18) Schumacher: 3146 (-21) Dixon: 3135 |
|
| Sunday, November 04, 2007 (11:25 a.m.)
Top Fuel, round one Larry Dixon is in the left lane in the second pair lined up next to Hillary Will and then watch a pair of mid 4.50s rolled out before them by Doug Foley and Morgan Lucas. Dixon needs to win three more rounds than Rod Fuller or two more rounds and the reset the national record, a virtual impossibility.Dixon and Will both run 4.52, but Dixon leaves first keeps alive his hopes. Larry Dixon: "Every run we've been picking up a little, so we still have a shot at it, and we'll see what we can do with it." Right behind them, Brandon Bernstein gets an easy 4.54 victory in the right lane, when Cory Mac lights 'em right at the hit.Bernstein: "This what NHRA POWERade Drag Racing is all about. The Budweiser/Lucas car went right down there, and we're looking for a consistent car, 4.50s all day long." Tony Schumacher and the Army team fire it up in the right lane after watching J.R. Todd set low e.t. of the meet, 4.49, in the pair just ahead of them. His speed of 334 is the ninth fastest in history, so Schumacher knows the track is there.Schumacher makes it three for three as Bradshaw goes up in smoke at the hit. Schuamcher exactly matches his qualifying time of 4.508. He'll face Morgan Lucas in round two, with lane choice. Schumacher: "Three really good cars won and the pressure is on [Fuller]; he's facing a good car in Vandegrff. If you're going to be the champion, you're going to have to prove it today, and now's his chance." Dixon will face J.R. Todd in round two without lane choice.Fuller is in the final pair, in the left lane, kind of a curious choice after how many people have smoked the tires in that lane already, but Dave Grubnic right ahead of him runs 4.53. If Fuller wins, he'll face Doug Herbert. Grubnic's win will pit him against Bernstein in round two. Fuller is up in smoke almost immediately, Vandergriff wins with a 4.54, and all of the sudden it's a wide-open affair and the calcualtors are busted out facility wide. Fuller: "Nothing's a given in this Countdown. Now we'll just have to watch and wait. We just weren't up to par this weekend. Hey, I've got 20 years to win championships if it doesn’t work out today. This is a great team and we've had a great season. I'll tell ya what: losing in the first round feels a lot better than when you lose in the Sportsman ranks and you don’t have enough gas money to go home." Records nothwithstanding, Dixon, Bernstein, and Schumacher all need to get to at least the final to pass Fuller; Schumacher needs to win the race. Current points: Fuller: 3167 Dixon: 3135 (-32) Bernstein: 3129 (-38) Schumacher: 3126 (-41) |
|
| Page 1 :: Next Page >> |
|
|
|
|
|
|