A fast and dramatic Winternationals

Before the first engines were fired for the 1997 season, NHRA already was expecting big things for this season. The return of the Winston Drag Racing Series and the addition of the new Federal-Mogul program generated excitement off the track, and it was only a matter of time before the racers created the excitement on the track.

The 1997 Chief Auto Parts Winternationals at Pomona Raceway likely will never be forgotten by Southern California racing fans, even though the faces and scenarios eerily mirrored last year's Winternationals and season-ending Winston Finals at the fabled raceplant.

Again, as at last year's Winternationals, the Johnson family posed proudly in the Top Fuel winner's circle, though this year the spotlight shone brightly on their new driver, longtime family friend Gary Scelzi, who replaced Blaine Johnson, who was killed last August. Scelzi defeated Joe Amato, who three months earlier had won the Winston Finals at the track.

"It was an extremely emotional moment for all of us," said Scelzi, his voice thick with emotion. "I've got a picture of Blaine in the car and every time I went to put both fuel pumps on that was the last thing I looked at, and I'd give it a rub for luck. I gotta believe he was riding with me tonight."

In Funny Car, John Force once again locked horns in the final round with arch-rival Al Hofmann, but this time Force took home the win when Hofmann smoked the tires, as Force had done in his embarrassing final-round solo at the Finals.

Scelzi, a former national-event winning Alcohol Dragster racer, had qualified No. 1 in his Pro debut in the Johnson family's Team Winston dragster, matching Amato's track record of 4.620. Defending Winston champ Kenny Bernstein was a few ticks behind at 4.628, followed a thousandth back by Amato at 4.629.

Amato, the first driver to record a 4.5-second elapsed time, then shocked everyone in Sunday's first round with a 4.587, the quickest pass in history, to dismantle Dave Promnitz's 4.84. Amato's earlier 4.62 backed up the .58 for the new NHRA National Record -- breaking Johnson's 4.592 mark, set last July --and a $35,000 bonus from the MBNA World Record Club, but Amato wasn't done yet.

Just one pair after Bernstein had defeated another nitro newcomer, the impressive 17-year-old Cristen Powell in the quickest side-by-side race in history, 4.623 to 4.644, Amatomade 'em all forget that match up with a thundering 4.564 to defeat Shelly Anderson's 4.656 in the new quickest side-by-side race. Anderson did gain some solace by resetting her own 316.23-mph national speed record on the pass with a speed of 316.90.

Amato then made it three straight 4.5-second blast, a 4.587 to beat Bernstein's 4.617 in the -- all together now -- new quickest side-by-side race in history and enter his 76th career final round against Scelzi, who was making a bid to become the first Pro driver to win an event in his debut since K.C. Spurlock won Funny Car at the 1990 Winternationals.

Scelzi's emotional path to the final was not as easy as Amato's. With deft driving belying his less than 20 runs in the car, Scelzi expertly drove out of a potentially devastating wheelstand in round one against Spike Gorr, then eked out a 4.64 to 4.68 victory over Connie Kalitta by about five feet. Scelzi then benefited from Cory McClenathan's midtrack wheelstand in the semifinals to take a 4.69 victory and a place in the final in his first race.

The final was wild one, as both drivers up in smoke off the line, lifted and got back into the gas. Something in Amato's engine must have let go because his engine went silent. Scelzi got very sideways, pedaled again, lifted, and nailed it again for the 7.71 to 11.93 in a race that was more exciting than the numbers attest.

"When you get to the final, you just want to win," said a thrilled Scelzi, "and I was on the throttle so hard that when it smoked the tires I was late getting off the throttle -- adrenaline overtook brains I guess -- but I never heard Amato, so I jumped back on it, but it smoked the tires again. I just tried to ease the throttle down but it kept blowing the tires off. I guess his blower belt came off -- thank God.

Force and Hofmann finished the race as they began, first and second. Force led qualifying, 4.957 to 4.972, and Hofmann's 308.00 was a new track speed record.

Both drivers squeezed out scary first-round wins and just as easily could have been headed home than to the starting line in the final.

Force kicked the rods out on a 5.32 victory over Wyatt Radke, who suffered a worse fate when he blew his supercharger at 800 feet and tossed his Olds Cutlass body into the air.

Hofmann smoked the tires to a 5.23, but opponent Ray Higley also did and could not recover as well as the seasoned pro.

More drama followed Force in round two when opponent Chuck Etchells' Kendall Dodge caught fire on a losing run. That drama somewhat distracted from Force's dazzling winning run, a track-record 4.91 that also overshadowed Hofmann's unspectacular 5.08 to 5.05 holeshot victory over Tom Hoover later in the round.

But Hofmann surprised everyone with a 4.907 at 311.85 in the semifinals to reset both ends of the track record against Richard Hartman, who held the track record at 4.93 entering the event.

Force's 4.922 defeat of tire-smoking Castrol GTX teammate Tony Pedregon in the other half of the semifinals left him short of lane choice and appeared to set Hofmann up as the favorite to repeat last year's win.

Hofmann, however, went up in smoke just off the line in the final, allowing Force to win with an engine-wounding 5.95, the 62nd title of his career. He is now tied with Pat Austin for second place on the all-time NHRA win list.

Pro Stock also was a family affair in the final as Warren Johnson, the 53-year-old "Professor of Pro Stock" staged his GM Performance Parts Pontiac against his son, Kurt, 33,

in the ACDelco Pontiac. The race also had a familiar ring to Pomona fans, who saw the duo slug it out in the final of the 1993 Winston Finals.

W.J. had qualified No. 2 with a 6.967, more than a hundred behind Winston champ Jim Yates' 6.952. Both shared the new track marks, with Yates holding the E.T. title and Johnson the speed mark with a run of 198.67. Troy Coughlin was third with a 6.972 with a Johnson-powered Pontiac, and became the 11th member of the Holley 6-Second Club. Kurt was fifth with a 6.99 -- his first six since becoming the first driver to run in the sixes nearly two years ago! -- sandwiching fourth-seeded Jerry Eckman. The five drivers set a record for the most drivers to qualify in the sixes at one event.

Kurt gunned down Finals champ Mike Edwards, 7.01 to 7.02 in round one, then ran another 6.99 to beat George Marnell before squaring off with Yates, who had run a pair of 6.96s in the first two rounds.

Kurt used a .457 to .478 holeshot and a 6.987 to beat Yates' quicker 6.969 to the finish line by just .003-second.

"No excuses," said Yates, "I got beat off the line. We could have run better, but we were too complacent ... we were running good and didn't feel like we needed to take any chances. Obviously, we were wrong. We'll be more aggressive next time."

Warren had opened his account with a 6.99 victory over Allen Johnson's Dodge -- the only Dodge in the field after the long-awaited comebacks of Scott Geoffrion and Darrell Alderman resulted in non-qualifying efforts -- then beat Rickie Smith, 6.96 to 7.03, before laying down a booming 6.927 to defeat Mark Pawuk in the semifinals and set a new National Record -- he eclipsed the 6.947 record set by Yates in September 1996 -- with the quickest official pass in history; the record was worth a bonus of $12,500 from the MBNA World Record Club.

"Halfway through low gear I knew this baby was on a lap!" Johnson enthused. "It didn't quiver, it didn't move around -- a run like that is almost boring because there's nothing to do! We thought if we got everything right we'd run close to the record, but had no idea that we'd better the record -- especially by two hundredths. We amaze ourselves sometimes! "

Father and son had raced each other 22 times in NHRA national event competition, with the edge going to dad, 15-7. In six previous final round meetings, Warren had four wins to two for Kurt, and the three-time Winternationals champ improved on all of those marks in the final, the 97th of his career.

Kurt left first again, .449 to .476, but W.J. powered around at the top end to earn his milestone 60th win, 6.96 to 7.00.

"It was a straight-up race," W.J. told anyone who thought fix might have been on. "He was out to cut my eyes out and I was out to beat him; you know how those kids are."