NHRA 4th round 2009

has been quite different in all 4 classes this year...statistically through the years, in the final round, both drivers are full throttle, heads up and neither goes up in smoke. And usually the quickest wins (not holeshots or redlights).
The race at Etown proved this out and got me to checking the stats...All pro rounds at Etown were decided by lights..3 holeshot 1 redlight.
Here is a recap of final rounds in 2009 decided by lights:
Top fuel - Antron Brown redlights at Etown; Tony Schumacher wins on a hole shot over Cory Mac at Houston.
Funny car - Del Worsham beats Ron Capps on a holeshot at St. Louis and Tony Pedregon beats Ashley Force at Etown; Mike Neff losses on a redlight to Ron Capps at Phoenix
Pro stock car - 3 redlight win/losses this year...Jeg on the upside of those...self-inflicted victims being Mike Edwards at Chicago, Jason Line at St. Louis, and Greg Stanfield at Vegas. 3 holeshot win/losses this year...Jeg over Edwards at Etown, Jason Line over Allen Johnson at Gainesville, and Allen Johnson over Mike Edwards at Topeka
Pro stock bike - Craig Treble winning on a holeshot over Eddie Krawiec at Etown.

Another Drought Broken

No, not the one in Denver (after our 2 feet of snow we got last weekend)! I'm talking about Morgan Lucas' win at Atlanta.

When a driver of this caliber and funding wins for the first time, I go back and double check the stats to see for sure if this is their first win or not. It's hard to believe and I'm sure harder for the team and driver.

It happened last year when Tony Bartone won in Seattle and Greg Statnfield won in Dallas for the first time in the pro ranks. Both had won previously in the sportsman ranks...although Greg had won in the defunct PST category.

Now, Morgan Lucas has broken his win-less streak!

Previously, Morgan's stats were:
54-42 first round
26-28 second round
5-21 third round
0-5 final round
85-96 overall...96 events qualifying until a win!

Who we pullin' for now to break that win-less streak?
Bob Vandergriff 189 qualified events without a win.
Here are some other top fuel drivers that are still waiting for their first NHRA win and how many qualified events since...
Rhonda Hartman-Smith 116, John Smith 92, Scott Weis 90, Clay Millican 82.

Meet the Smiths

When I saw that Mike Smith qualified at Gainesville, I couldn't remember if he had qualified in a funny car before...the answer, no. I now have two Smiths in my funny car database, Paul and Mike. Believe it or not, the last time Paul qualified for a national event was at St. Louis in 1997 #15...in funny car. Lest you forget, Paul drove a top fuel car (owned by Chuck Etchells for a while from 1988 - 1990) qualifying at 13 events during those 3 years.

Back to Mike again, he's compiled a 13.5 qualifying average and gone 5-30 in topfuel from 1990 to 2003.

Now, back to keeping the Smith's all straight...easy in funny car, Paul and Mike...easy in pro stock, Rickie and Pete...bikes, Matt, CJ, and John...but top fuel (see if you can name them before reading futher)...Craig, John, Mike, Paul, Ron, and Steve!

Short Fields

With 15 top fuel cars at Reading, we now have tied
the 2000 record (4) of short fields for a given year.
Adding Denver, Topeka and Brainerd makes four for
2008.  My guess is we haven't seen the end of the
short TF fields this year...

and what about that other fuel class called funny
car?  last short field was Brainerd in 1993 (15 cars)
where Jon Reich's '88 Trans Am held the 15th spot
with a 7.930.

and what is the worst TF short field since 1987? It
was Montreal in 1991, where Frank Hawley was #1
and Wayne Bailey shored up the 13th spot.

Tony Bartone Wins on His 88th Try!

seattle made the 88th
event tony has qualified
as a pro...he started
nitro racing in 2001...he's
compiled a 39-87 record
in those years...his previous
and only final round appearance
was against whit bazemore at
the first vegas race in
2005...on the way to winner's
circle at seattle, tony beat
the other tony making his career
record 6-7 against t. pedregon
(that's not too shabby)...

Mark Oswald is Driving again

Obviously Mark Oswald hasn't raced at NHRA events since
losing in the first round to Ron Capps at the last
Pomona race in 1997.  You probably thought Mark hadn't
been in fours before, since it was sooooooooooo long
ago...you'd be wrong.  Mark's prior best et was a 4.981,
qualifying 5th at Etown in 1997.  His prior best mph was
a 308.64 at Indy in 1997, in a qualifying run.  He's
going  20 mph faster now, qualifying #2 at Chicago with
a 4.757/328.46.

In eliminations at Chicago, Mark met up with another racer
he hadn't seen in 11 years, Tony P.  Which led me to
research how many other drivers he has raced in the past
that are still racing today.  From 1987 to 2008, Mark has
raced 71 different drivers.  Only 9 are still racing today.
Listed below are who they are and Mark's record against
each (since 1987).

Capps 0-2
Densham 5-2
Force 18-21
Head 6-1
Kalitta 3-2
Pedregon, C 3-11
Pedregon, T 2-2
Wilkerson 4-2
Worsham 2-4

KJ is Hot!

Kurt Johnson is red hot in Pro Stock, now #1
in points and he raced against his dad for
the 63rd time, this past Sunday.  They have
faced each other at least once since 1993,
EXCEPT for 2006, which in that year they did
not race against each other.

KJ has a 21-42 record against WJ.
A 8-5 holeshot  record, 1-2 redlight record
and a 3-10 final round record.