NHRA: Gilbertson, Dixon, Couglin and Daniels all victorious at Houtston Raceway Park
17 April 2000
Posted By Terry CallahanMotorsports Editor, The Auto Channel
BAYTOWN, Texas - Bob Gilbertson won his first career Funny Car race Sunday at the O'Reilly Nationals presented by Pennzoil at Houston Raceway Park.
The upstart Gilbertson, from Gastonia, N.C., covered the quarter mile in his Trick Tank Pontiac Firebird in 5.067 seconds at 304.25 mph to defeat Jerry Toliver, who left the line early and fouled, in the Funny Car finale. Gilbertson had a bit of luck working for him on his way to his first win in his first final round appearance. The No. 16 qualifier Gilbertson drove past John Force, Jim Epler had a red light in the second round and Ron Capps hit the center line and was disqualified in the semifinals prior to Toliver's foul at the line in the final.
"Unbelievable, that's the only word I got," said Gilbertson. "Everybody did a good job and the crew worked hard all day. We just had some Lady Luck going for us as John Force would say, and we were glad to be there to beat him. When you got it going it doesn't matter who is over (in the other lane). I did see Capps come over in to my lane but I didn't want to rear end him. I thought I saw him touch the center but I just took my chances and kept driving. If we can take a win this way we will do it every race if we have to."
Toliver's runner-up finish in his WWF Racing Chevrolet Camaro increased his points lead to 56 over Tony Pedregon. With the win Gilbertson jumped to sixth in the NHRA Winston championship points standings. Gilbertson has been the No. 16 qualifier at each event this year and had not advanced past the first round prior to Sunday's action.
"I'm thinking we're going to kick some but here the rest of the year," said Gilbertson. "We are going to go to Richmond (Va.) next. Maybe we can go up there and be the No. 16 qualifier again and do the same thing all over. That's all we can hope for. Take a round at a time and just give it everything we got."
Larry Dixon, Jeg Coughlin Jr. and Randy Daniels were also winners in their respective categories at the $1.8 million race, the fifth of 23 events in the $45 million NHRA Winston Drag Racing Series. Dixon, from Indianapolis, won his first event of the year as he blasted his Don "The Snake" Prudhomme-owned Miller Lite dragster to a pass of 4.665 at 316.90 to hold off Tony Schumacher and his run of 4.761 at 309.98. It was the fifth different Top Fuel winner in as many races this season and the second straight victory for Dixon at HRP, the same track where he ran the first sub 4.5 second pass in NHRA history when he recorded a 4.486 pass.
It was also quite a reward for the legendary Prudhomme who earlier in the week was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame.
"It's anybody's ballgame," said Prudhomme. "The trick is to have a tune up that lets you get up and down the track and put some good numbers on the board. Just keep running consistent. The name of the game is consistency. This will be a battle right to the end. Everybody has pretty much the same stuff now. It's just he who has the right setup at the right given time. Being consistent."
Dixon defeated Bruce Litton, Don Lampus, and Doug Herbert on his way to his final round showdown with Schumacher and the Exide Batteries dragster. The victory moved Dixon into third place in the Winston Top Fuel points standings, 86 behind Schumacher. Schumacher increased his points lead over Gary Scelzi to 66.
"This (trophy) is going to Snake," said Dixon. "It has been a great week all the way around for our racing team. With Snake going to the Hall of Fame and I got to go to it. That was a real special deal. I grew up on The Snake. Our car hauled all weekend long. The slowest we ran was a 4.67 and the quickest we ran was a 4.62. We also ran 320 mph this week. (Crew chief) Dick LaHaie should be up here. He won this race a year ago when he was tuning for Doug Herbert and then he came to our team and we won here in October. Now we come back here again and win. It helped us out points-wise too. It was a great, great weekend."
Columbus, Ohio's, Coughlin continued his dominant season as he sped down the track in his JEG's Mail Order Oldsmobile Cutlass in 6.905 at 199.29 for his fourth Pro Stock victory of the season. Coughlin defeated Jim Yates in the final who ran a 6.926 at 199.55 in his Splitfire/Peak Pontiac Firebird. Coughlin was able to defeat Mike Thomas, Kurt Johnson, Darrel Alderman and Yates on his road to the winner's circle. Coughlin has been nothing but impressive in his early season performance.
"This is all certainly flattering," said Coughlin. "Our group has been working real hard. We just have great harmony right now and we are reading the track and air really well. We are extremely optimistic and we are obviously realistic too. We will take everything home and prepare everything as best as we can again and go to Richmond for the next race and hopefully we will be prepared. Our goal is turn the win light on and that is my rush."
Daniels, from Grantsboro, N.C., made a pass of 7.538 at 179.59 but earned his second victory of the season behind the wheel of his Daniels Racing/Bailey Trucking Chevy S-10 when final round opponent Bob Panella fouled at the line. Daniels drove past Larry Seay, Rick Jones, Tim Freeman and Panella on his way to the win.
Daniels also set a national record for speed at 180.02. He is the first Pro Stock Truck driver to eclipse the 180 mph barrier.
"This was quite a surprise," said Daniels. "We didn't think we had the truck to win. We were fast but not quite fast enough to win the race. I saw my win light as soon as we left the line. Man, I couldn't believe he really did it, but we'll take it. That little Chevy S-10 was really dynamite."
The next event in the $45 million NHRA Winston Drag Racing Series is the sixth annual Moto1.net NHRA Nationals, April 27-30, at Virginia Motorsports Park.
Text provided by R. Vizcarra
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