Antron Brown became the first NHRA driver to win in both Top Fuel and Pro Stock Motorcycle with his first Top Fuel victory at the O’Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals presented by Pennzoil at Houston Raceway Park, the fourth stop in the 24-race NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series. The Top Fuel rookie is the 10th driver whom crew chief Lee Beard has tuned to victory.

Brown made history, but Funny Car winner Del Worsham thwarted it by preventing Ashley Force from becoming the first female winner in the flopper class. Worsham posted a 4.93 to Force’s 4.97 to bust a slump that dated back to the 2005 Mac Tools U.S. Nationals. Greg Anderson scored his second Pro Stock win of the season by defeating tire-shaking No. 1 qualifier Kurt Johnson in the final. 2007 NHRA POWERade Pro Stock Motorcycle world champion Matt Smith completed a wire-to-wire victory when he defeated Gainesville champ Matt Guidera in the final.

Antron Brown

Brown advanced to the final in the Matco Tools dragster in only his fourth Top Fuel race from the No. 12 spot, the lowest starting position in his brief Top Fuel career, with four consistent runs ranging from 4.541 to 4.605. Brown survived exceptionally close races against Doug Foley and Cory McClenathan in the first two rounds before running down Doug Kalitta in the semifinals and squeaking out a narrow 4.60 to 4.62 final-round victory over Phoenix winner Larry Dixon by a mere .0044-second. Brown accomplished the feat at the home track of team owner David Powers; Brown was runner-up here to Karen Stoffer in Pro Stock Motorcycle in 2004.

“Being able to live this dream is unreal,” said Brown. “I was a little kid going to the Summernationals watching guys like [Don] Garlits, Kenny Bernstein, John Force, and Don Prudhomme, and now I have to stop and ask myself, ‘Am I really here?’

“This team has been plagued in the second round all year, but we knew we were capable of winning. We had some really close races today. The margins of victory were so tight that it felt like Pro Stock Motorcycle racing at a faster speed.”

Dixon nearly nabbed the 43rd win of his career, which would have tied him with Tony Schumacher for second on the all-time Top Fuel win list behind Joe Amato. Dixon’s U.S. Smokeless rail led Brown all the way down the track, and they were dead even at the 1,000-foot mark before Brown nudged past him at the finish. Dixon entered eliminations from the third spot and easily put away Morgan Lucas, Bruce Litton, and Doug Herbert despite blowing up an engine during his second-round matchup with Litton. Dixon, who won this event in 1999 and 2000, has made a semifinal appearance at every event this season and pulled to within eight points of leader Schumacher.

Del Worsham

Worsham ended his victory drought at 55 events in the K&N Filters/Checker Schuck’s Kragen Chevy Impala with a hard-earned Funny Car win over Force. Worsham began eliminations from the No. 4 qualifying spot and had the most consistent car on the grounds despite battling a slew of mechanical gremlins throughout the day. After running 4.92 and 4.91 in wins against Jerry Toliver and Tim Wilkerson in the first two rounds, Worsham had a tall order with two members of the John Force Racing stable standing between him and the coveted Wally. Worsham spoiled a father-daughter final by beating John in the semifinals by a count of 4.91 to 5.00. In the final, Ashley’s potential history-making day was derailed when Worsham took a giant starting-line advantage and stretched his lead in a 4.93 to 4.97 win. This isn’t the first time that Worsham prevented a Force from making history — his 2002 final-round win in Phoenix was at the expense of John, who was seeking his milestone 100th win.

“We had a great day,” said Worsham, who celebrated his 22nd win. “We had a lot of problems that tried to bite us, but we kept up with them. We had problems in the pits, on a warm-up, and with a timer box, but we got them handled, and my dad made great calls on the starting line.

“As bad as I felt after not qualifying at the first two races this year, I knew we had a car that could run well. It’s been a long time since our last win, and here it finally is. Nobody on the crew was with us during the last win except for my dad. We have a bunch of young kids who are hungry and really excited.”

Ashley competed in the second final round of her career in the Castrol GTX Ford Mustang. She started in the No. 6 position and took a close win against Bob Gilbertson in the first round. She and her dad faced Pedregon brothers Tony and Cruz in round two; she took care of Tony, and John handed a loss to No. 1 qualifier Cruz. Ashley drew cheers from the crowd when she won her semifinal race against a tire-smoking Tony Bartone. Although her first win eludes her, she moved up to fifth in the standings. Her father — the winningest driver in NHRA history — had to wait until his 10th final-round appearance to collect a Wally.

Greg Anderson

Three-time NHRA POWERade Pro Stock world champion Anderson won in the Summit Racing Equipment Pontiac GXP for the second time this season, and his two wins contrast each other drastically. As opposed to his season-opening win in Pomona where he qualified No. 1 and ran the quickest time of each round, Anderson started from the No. 6 position and struggled to master the racing surface in Houston. Anderson survived a tough opening round against Greg Stanfield, 6.666 to 6.686, but he won with more sizable margins against Matt Hartford in round two and Allen Johnson in the semifinals. The semifinal round was key as Anderson ran better than No. 1 qualifier Kurt Johnson in the same round for the first time since the opening qualifying session, earning him lane choice and confidence heading into the final. Anderson collected the 53rd win of his career, moving him past Amato and into sole possession of fifth place on the NHRA all-time win list, when Johnson shook the tires and Anderson blistered the quarter-mile with a 6.692, 207.37.

"This was definitely a completely different win than Pomona,” said Anderson, who holds a three-point lead over Jeg Coughlin in the world championship standings. “In Pomona, we qualified No. 1 and it was smooth sailing, but we were sixth here and couldn’t make it down the racetrack. We made some big changes last night and made some gains, but all hell broke loose again after that.

“It’s a special feeling to win a race this way, but it’s sure hard on the heart. I’m proud of my guys who fought and fought to get this thing figured out.”

Despite losing in the final round, Johnson and his ACDelco Chevy Cobalt put fear in the hearts of the opposition as he made the quickest Pro Stock runs from the second qualifying session until the second round of eliminations, setting a track record of 6.638 in the process. The No. 1 qualifier had a turbulent weekend after watching father Warren hit the wall in his GM Performance Parts Pontiac GXP from the opposite lane during Friday qualifying, but K.J. shrugged it off and scored round-wins over John Nobile, Warren, and V. Gaines. Johnson's first final round since Reading last season is the 68th of his career.

Matt Smith

Smith entered the gates of HRP to prove a point to the Pro Stock Motorcycle class, and he followed through on the Nitro Fish Wear Buell with an exclamation mark. Despite dealing with an extra 10 pounds that were added to the Buells to increase parity in the class, the reigning NHRA POWERade world champ worked hard to score a wire-to-wire win for the first time since Madison last season with a weight-breaks-be-damned mentality. Smith qualified No. 1 and outran opponents Junior Pippin, Angelle Sampey, three-time world champ Andrew Hines, and Gainesville winner Guidera by eight-hundredths or more in each encounter.

“This has been an awesome experience,” said Smith. “I was embarrassed by the way we got dominated in Gainesville. We found more power, and it shows. It was great to win for [sponsor] Kenny Koretsky on his 50th birthday. He helped us out, and we want to give him a championship in return.

“We wanted to prove a point. The extra weight slows us down, so we worked hard to speed back up without griping about the rules. The Buells, Harleys, and Suzukis were all pretty close. Chip Ellis was running great on a Suzuki, but I think they just missed the tune-up in the semi’s.”

The semifinals featured the same cast as in Gainesville: Smith, Guidera, Hines, and Ellis. Guidera rode the Mohegan Sun/Rocklin Motorsports Buell to his second straight final round after a dominating all-six-second performance in Gainesville. Guidera handily scored wins in the first two rounds against Craig Treble and Ed Krawiec before using a holeshot advantage to pad his bike’s performance in a 7.06 to 7.08 win against Ellis in the semifinals. Guidera’s streak of seven round-wins gives him a slim points lead over Smith.

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