Pro Stock racer Dave Connolly won his third NHRA national event in a row Sunday at the 20th annual O'Reilly NHRA Mid-South Nationals presented by Pennzoil at Memphis Motorsports Park to take command of the Countdown to the Championship. Connolly once again outran former points leader Greg Anderson in the final for his sixth victory of the year to join Melanie Troxel (Top Fuel), Gary Scelzi (Funny Car), and Andrew Hines (Pro Stock Motorcycle) in a raucous winner's circle celebration.

Just as he did two weeks ago in Indianapolis, Connolly got the better of three-time POWERade world champion Anderson in an exciting final that was decided by just .0187-second, 6.648 to 6.658. Scelzi and teammate "Fast Jack" Beckman's Funny Car capper was even closer as the two title contenders were separated by a mere .0013-second at the other end. Troxel was overjoyed to score her second victory of the season even though she's not not part of the Countdown field that is eligible for this year's title, and Hines won his third straight race in Memphis.

Melanie Troxel

A Troxel versus Doug Herbert Top Fuel final probably wasn't one anyone would have predicted at the start of the day, but the two racers certainly earned their berths in the title round by taking out tough competitors. Troxel had the hardest road to the trophy stand as she had to take out three of the men in the Countdown to Four field: Bob Vandergriff Jr., Brandon Bernstein, and Herbert.

The money round was thrilling for a few hundred feet before Herbert puffed his tires and was forced to pedal his Snap-on Tools dragster. That's when Troxel zoomed away in her Vietnam Veterans/POW-MIA dragster to win with a 4.728 at 313.22 mph against Herbert's 4.901 at 290.57 mph.

"I'm becoming more and more disappointed with not making the Countdown and it's been tough, but I stand by my decision to not ask my teammate to take a dive for me," Troxel said. "You have to earn your way in, and at the time we weren't running well. We just didn't quite get it turned around in time to make the field. All we can do is make the best of the situation and try to win as many races as we can down the stretch.

"When we didn't make the Countdown, we made the goal of winning a race as a team, especially with the changes coming for me next year moving over to Funny Car, so it's very satisfying to get it done. These guys certainly deserve the win, and my leaving the team, as I told them, is not a reflection of them at all. They're a great group, and they were overdue for this win."

Herbert, who beat Doug Kalitta, Whit Bazemore, and giant killer Doug Foley to reach his fourth final of the year and 25th of his career, jumped to fifth place in the standings and now needs to make up just 43 more points to make the next phase of the playoffs.

Gary Scelzi

The Funny Car final was arguably the best trophy round of the year for the class, with Don Schumacher Racing stablemates Scelzi and Beckman leaving within five-thousandths of a second of one another before virtually staying glued together all the way down the strip. In the end, Scelzi's Mopar/Oakley Dodge Charger barely inched ahead of Beckman's Mail Terminal Services Dodge to take the closest race of eliminations, 4.886 at 314.61 mph to 4.892 at 310.55 mph.

It was a day both men needed as Scelzi went from seventh to fourth in the Countdown to Four standings. Beckman's runner-up finish lifted him from fifth to second place, just 53 off the lead held by Robert Hight.

"We came into this race thinking we'd better go to the final or win if we want to stay alive in the Countdown," Scelzi said. "The first step was to get into the top four. Now we need to build on that. We're in fourth, but it's very bunched up. This is exactly what NHRA wanted, and right now it's pretty damn exciting.

"This car's been running really, really well, but stupid things have been happening. This breaks or that breaks, and we've been chasing it. We won first round today, then go to round two and the car is vibrating again and we shear off all the blower studs. Thank God Del [Worsham] had problems in the other lane, or we were done. That was our lucky round. Then we beat Tommy [Johnson Jr.] and Jack in the final, and he has an identical tune-up to ours, so it was a battle the whole way."

This was Scelzi's 36th win and third of the 2007 season. Beckman dropped to 2-1 this year and 3-2 lifetime.

Dave Connolly

Connolly and his Torco/Seelye Wright Chevrolet Cobalt Pro Stock crew have picked the perfect time to go on a winning streak, and there's no denying he has the best car in the class at the moment. Averaging a .025-second reaction time for the day, he defeated non-Countdown racers Craig Hankinson, Richie Stevens Jr., and Jim Yates before extending his points lead over nearest pursuer Anderson in the final with a 6.648 at 207.59 mph to Anderson's 6.658 at 208.65 mph in his Summit Racing Pontiac GTO.

Andrew Hines

Hines collected his third win in a row at Memphis Motorsports Park and surged into the POWERade lead by 24 points after posting the quickest quarter-mile pass of eliminations in a final-round trouncing of Steve Johnson, who broke just off the starting line. Hines would have been tough to catch anyway, even with Johnson's huge .042-second starting-line advantage, as his Screamin' Eagle Harley-Davidson V-Rod crossed the stripe in 6.917 at 192.91 mph.

"There was no way I was going to red-light in the final, especially after doing it in Indy," Hines said. "I've been hating myself for two weeks, so I made sure I saw yellow and let the clutch out and pretty soon after that I didn't hear Steve anymore, so I was feeling good. Once these V-Rods get out front, they're hard to catch.

"To win here three years in a row doesn't get much better. I guess the Countdown deal is working in our favor now but if I had it my way I'd leave it the way it was, even though I probably wouldn't have the points lead right now. We're pretty secure in the Countdown to One now, so hopefully we can roll this win over to Dallas and just keep rolling."

This is the first time this season that Hines has been atop the points. With one Pro Stock Motorcycle race to go in the Countdown to Four, Hines will clinch a spot in the final four-bike field of the Countdown to One by simply qualifying for the Dallas event.

Hines, the three-time and reigning world champion, improved to 4-1 in final rounds this season and 12-8 overall. Johnson has won three times in 11 finals on his Snap-on Tools Suzuki.

E-mail this article   Print this article