Tony Schumacher ran his Top Fuel win streak to an unheard of seven races with a convincing win over Antron Brown at the inaugural NHRA Carolinas Nationals at the all-new zMax Dragway and in the process became the sport’s winningest Top Fuel driver with 53 victories. Jack Beckman also gained the upper hand in the first race in the Countdown to 1 by driving the Valvoline/MTS Dodge to his third Funny Car win of the season.

In Pro Stock, Justin Humphreys stunned the capacity crowd with an upset victory over a broken Kurt Johnson, and Steve Johnson backed up his Indy win two weeks ago by riding his Snap-on Tools Suzuki past Ringers Gloves Pro Bike Battle winner Eddie Krawiec to win Pro Stock Motorcycle.

Tony Schumacher

Another capacity crowd was on hand in NHRA’s newest market as the stars of the NHRA POWERade Series began the six-race playoff that will ultimately decide the world champions. Schumacher, who hasn’t been beaten since the second round of the Norwalk race in late June, a record 28 rounds ago, reached the final round for the 84th time in his career and the 14th time this year, tying Larry Dixon’s single-season record set in 2002.

Schumacher’s 53rd victory gives him one more title than five-time NHRA world champion and Hall of Famer Joe Amato. He entered the event with a 30-point lead over Brown and extended it to 46 points with the victory.

During qualifying, Schumacher and his U.S. Army team actually appeared vulnerable, struggling Friday before eventually landing in the No. 9 spot with a 3.879. "The Sarge” returned to form on race day with a string of high-three-second runs, including a 3.88 in the final round against Brown, who wasn’t far behind with a 3.92.

Said Schumacher, “Starting ninth, you’re thinking, ‘You’ve got no lane choice. This is a brand-new track. You’ve got your work cut out for you.’ A.J. [crew chief Alan Johnson] is thinking, ‘Let’s get past the first round so we can go get Dixon in the second.’ He’s like that. That’s how he thinks."

Of breaking Amato’s record, Schumacher added, "It will hit me later. I am very aware of it. I know how difficult it is, and I know how great Joe Amato is, but I also thought that I need to keep winning races so we can get another championship. As for the points, we knew that no matter how many we had, they were going to take them away when the [Countdown to 1] started. We knew we had to keep winning in these last six races, but I know I have a team that’s capable of doing that."

Brown, who entered the Countdown to 1 as the second seed, kept Schumacher within striking distance after wheeling his Matco Tools dragster to the final round for the fifth time this season. The former Pro Stock Motorcycle rider had a tough road to the final round that included wins against his teammate, Rod Fuller, and Schumacher’s teammate, Cory McClenathan. In the semifinals, both Brown and McClenathan lost traction, but Brown recovered sooner to take a narrow 4.243 to 4.258 victory. Of the 10 drivers in the Countdown to 1, seven advanced to the second round of eliminations, making sure that the battle for the POWERade world championship won’t be decided anytime soon.

Jack Beckman

Beckman, who was appearing in his fourth straight Funny Car final round, enjoyed one of his best days as a driver with a narrow final-round win over 1992 NHRA world champ Cruz Pedregon. The former Super Comp national champion was trailing for most of the 1,000-foot course but rallied to win by .0018-second when he poked the nose of his Valvoline/MTS Dodge ahead of Pedregon’s Advance Auto Parts Toyota entry at the finish line, 4.130 to 4.162. Beckman also made a huge move in the points standings, from sixth to second, following his sixth Funny Car victory. Pedregon took over the lead with his runner-up finish.

“We’ve tried to race smart lately," said Beckman. "Last race in Indy and first round here, we tried to stage shallow because we thought lane choice could be a difference, and if it was, we wanted to maintain lane choice. I think now you’re seeing a little more strategy because every round is technically a little more important. Cruz had a really tough hot rod out there; they’re going to win one yet this year. There’s a litany of drivers who could win out here, so it’s going to be interesting. There’s only 10 of us who can run for the championship, but there’s sure a lot of spoilers out there.

"We’ve got 24 rounds [in the Countdown to 1], and we just won four of them. I’m thinking if you can go to the semi’s every race, it’s going to be very tough for cars to go around you, but you know you’re going to get popped first round once or twice; it’s just the nature of nitro Funny Car. If you are in a position to win a race, it’s huge. It’s huge for points, and it’s huge for the guys who have busted their butts. This year, it may not necessarily go down to the last round of the last race, but I think at least now you could stumble and still be a factor in the chase. John Force isn’t out of this deal by a long shot."

Two weeks after losing a heartbreaking final round to Robert Hight in Indy, Beckman beat Hight in the semifinals on a holeshot, leaving with an admittedly lucky .002 reaction time and running a 4.15 to hold off Hight’s 4.10, the quickest pass of eliminations. Beckman also defeated Jim Head and Del Worsham on race day.

Pedregon grabbed the points lead for the first time since the Houston race in March after reaching his 57th final. He was in the 4.1s in every round, including a 4.11 in his first-round win over Bob Tasca III and a 4.15 that defeated Ashley Force’s quicker 4.11. In the semifinal round, Pedregon defeated his brother Tony.

With five races remaining, Pedregon holds a slim two-point advantage over Beckman. The top five Funny Car drivers are separated by just 13 points.

Justin Humphreys

Humphreys became the sixth different NHRA Pro to claim his first win this season as he drove his Warren Johnson-powered Pontiac to the Pro Stock victory after Kurt Johnson was unable to get his ACDelco Cobalt started for the final. Humphreys’ car shook violently as soon as he let the clutch out, but by then he had already turned on the win light.

“That’s not the way we wanted to get our first win," said Humphreys, "but I came up six-thousandths short at Pomona last year, and that has been on my mind ever since. I saw Kurt was having problems, so I was moving as slow as I could. Kurt is my teammate now, and I was hoping that he could get his car started. Kurt was quicker than I was, so we knew we had to get after it a bit. My car was also hot, and when we knew we had a single, I really didn’t worry about the leave. That’s why it shook pretty hard in the final.

"As far as my deal with Warren, I talked to him back in Las Vegas, and I had planned to run with him in 2009. When we got to Indy, Bob Glidden went over and kind of egged him on, and whatever he said, it must have worked because Warren came over and told me to bring my car to his shop. It’s been an up-and-down year, but this is awesome. A Wally is a Wally, and a win is a win. We’ll take it."

Humphreys qualified 11th and got progressively quicker during eliminations with runs of 6.74, 6.71, and 6.70 in his wins over Rob Mansfield, Jim Yates, and Jeg Coughlin.

Johnson’s crew got his car started by push-starting it in the staging lanes, but NHRA officials quickly stepped in to remind Johnson and his crew that push-starts are not legal in Pro Stock. Johnson shut off the engine and attempted to refire it with the starter but was unable to get it started and had to watch from the starting line as Humphreys made a single for the win.

The early rounds of Pro Stock featured several marquee matchups, including an opening-round battle between Greg Anderson and Dave Connolly, which went to Anderson, and a second-round race that pitted current POWERade world champ Coughlin against former champ Jason Line, with Coughlin taking the win. Despite the loss, K.J. took over the top spot in the points, opening up a 15-point edge over Anderson.

Steve Johnson

The Pro Stock Motorcycle final ended on the starting line as Eddie Krawiec, who was looking to join Humphreys as a first-time NHRA Pro champion, fouled by two-thousandths of a second. Krawiec’s foul allowed Indy winner Johnson to extend his win streak to eight consecutive rounds.

"I’ve been racing longer than any of the motorcycle guys, but I’ve been trying a little different routine the last three races," he said. "I’m ready for whatever they throw at me now. Confidence is a scary thing. I am so proud of my lights. I’m proud of the team, but I can cut lights good.

"I didn’t know that he red-lighted. I was tucked under the paint and looked over, and he was ahead of me. I thought, ‘How the hell did he do that?’ Then I saw my win light, and I figured out that he’d red-lighted. I was so excited that I didn’t get the bike stopped in time and ran into the sand."

Johnson began the Countdown to 1 as the No. 8 seed but moved to second following his second consecutive victory. Using the same hot-weather tune-up that allowed him to win in Indy, Johnson battled past Angie McBride, Wes Wells, and Hector Arana to reach his 14th final.

The opening round of Pro Stock Motorcycle eliminations was filled with upsets as Countdown qualifiers Craig Treble, Andrew Hines, Chris Rivas, Karen Stoffer, and Chip Ellis fell by the wayside. Krawiec, the winner of the Ringers Gloves Pro Bike Battle in Indy, reached his first final of the season with a close 7.01 to 7.03 win over Angelle Sampey in the semifinals.

Sportsman racers who earned victories at the inaugural Charlotte event were Bill Reichert (Top Alcohol Dragster), Frank Manzo (Top Alcohol Funny Car), Arnie Martel (Comp), Bryan Worner (Super Stock), Ronnie Clayton (Super Comp), and Billy Leber (Super Gas).

E-mail this article   Print this article