NHRA NEWS: SATURDAY RESULTS CHICAGO 1
CONNOLLY RACES TO KING DEMON CROWN VICTORY AT ROUTE 66 RACEWAY
Schumacher, Hight, Johnson and Hines claim No. 1 qualifying positions at
CARQUEST Auto Parts NHRA Nationals
JOLIET, Ill. - Dave Connolly raced to the $50,000 King Demon Crown
victory Saturday at the CARQUEST Auto Parts NHRA Nationals at Route 66
Raceway.
In other racing Saturday, Tony Schumacher, Robert Hight, Warren Johnson
and Andrew Hines earned No. 1 qualifying honors in their respective
categories at the $1.8 million race, the 10th of 23 events in the $50
million NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series.
Connolly claimed his first victory in the special bonus event for the
season's eight-quickest Pro Stock cars when final round opponent Jason
Line fouled at the start.
Connolly, who qualified fifth for Sunday's 11 a.m. eliminations, drove
his Torco Gear Chevy Cobalt to round wins over Mike Edwards and Kurt
Johnson to make it to his second-straight Demon Crown final. The win
avenged Connolly's runner-up effort in last year's King Demon Crown. He
lost to Greg Anderson in that race by a very narrow margin.
"It's good to get a little revenge," said Connolly, who added the feat
to his list of accomplishments at Route 66 Raceway. "There's definitely
a horseshoe above our heads at this track. I love coming here."
In the final, Connolly had the slower car (6.823 to Line's 6.775), but
Line left the starting line before the green light flashed, resulting in
instant disqualification.
"I thought I was beat," Connolly said. "I thought I hit the tree good
for once the whole day and then I hit fifth gear and I looked over and
he was already around us by a lot. I looked up at the scoreboard and saw
the win light and about shut it off and pulled the parachute and started
celebrating."
With a victory tomorrow, Connolly can pocket a $25,000 'Double-Up' bonus
from NHRA, bringing his total weekend earnings to more than $100,000.
"With what this team has been through in the last two weeks, to perform
the way they did at Topeka and now win the King Demon Crown, what a
great team," said Connolly, whose team faced an uncertain future before
it was purchased by Evan Knoll prior to this event. "I can't ask for a
better weekend, unless we win Sunday and take home the Double Up bonus
from NHRA."
Schumacher raced to his fourth No. 1 position of the season and the 14th
of his career in Top Fuel with a 4.508 second run at 329.58 mph in his
U.S. Army dragster.
"It's nice to start number one, especially on the occasion of the U.S.
Army's 230th birthday celebration," said local favorite Schumacher, from
nearby Long Grove, Ill. "Now, we have to deliver the real present to our
soldiers on race day - a win."
Rookie Hight claimed his fourth top qualifying effort in Funny Car by
clocking a 4.726 at 328.86 in his Auto Club Ford Mustang.
"It's good for everybody's ego to be No. 1," Hight said. "But qualifying
is over now and we have to work hard to win the race tomorrow. There's a
lot of really good cars in the field and there are no easy rounds."
Hight teammates John Force (4.744, 326.24) and Eric Medlen (4.771,
324.51) were second and third respectively in their Castrol Mustangs. It
is the fifth time Force Racing has claimed the top three spots in the
qualifying order and the second time at this track.
"We've never won and capitalized on (being 1-2-3)," said Hight, who will
face veteran driver Jim Head in the first round. "We've got to get this
car into the winner's circle and the way it ran today I like our
chances."
Johnson earned the 135th No. 1 qualifying effort of his career and his
fifth of the season by posting a 6.762 at 204.08 in his GM Performance
Parts Pontiac.
"We felt like we could run relatively close to what we ran this morning
based on the fact that was a new engine," Johnson said. "We made some
tune-up adjustments, but we didn't expect it to pick up that much.
We're just trying as hard as we can."
Hines claimed his third top qualifying effort of the season and 11th of
his career by riding his Screamin' Eagle Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson
with a performance of 7.123 at 183.10.
"We had a consistent bike all weekend and we're happy to get another No.
1 qualifying effort for this Screamin' Eagle Vance & Hines team," Hines
said. "We weren't the quickest today and a few teams threw out a few
runs during that last session, but we were able to hold on to the top
spot."
JOLIET, Ill. - Saturday's final round-by-round results from the 21st
annual King Demon Crown at Route 66 Raceway, a $151,000 bonus event for
qualified Pro Stock competitors:
KING DEMON CROWN:
ROUND ONE -- Dave Connolly, Chevy Cobalt, 6.799, 202.73 def. Mike
Edwards, Pontiac Grand Am, 6.826, 201.97; Jeg Coughlin, Dodge Stratus,
6.814, 201.97 def. Larry Morgan, Stratus, foul; Jason Line, Grand Am,
6.784, 202.42 def. Kenny Koretsky, Stratus, 6.862, 201.58; Kurt Johnson,
Cobalt, 6.769, 204.08 def. Greg Anderson, Grand Am, 6.773, 203.34;
SEMIFINALS -- Line, 6.797, 202.97 def. Coughlin, 6.811, 203.03;
Connolly, 6.819, 202.24 def. Johnson, 6.835, 203.58;
FINAL -- Connolly, 6.823, 202.55 def. Line, foul.
First-round pairings for professional eliminations Sunday for the Eighth
annual CARQUEST Auto Parts NHRA Nationals at Route 66 Raceway, the tenth
of 23 events in the $50 million NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series.
Pairings based on results in qualifying, which ended Saturday.
Top Fuel -- 1. Tony Schumacher, 4.508 seconds, 329.58 mph vs.
16. Scott Weis, 4.709, 313.88; 2. Doug Kalitta, 4.516, 329.83 vs. 15.
Bobby Lagana Jr., 4.706, 317.12; 3. Brandon Bernstein, 4.527, 328.94
vs. 14. Tim Cullinan, 4.701, 309.20; 4. Cory McClenathan, 4.527, 325.14
vs. 13. David Baca, 4.699, 309.42; 5. Doug Herbert, 4.530, 321.12 vs.
12. John Smith, 4.640, 314.97; 6. Larry Dixon, 4.533, 327.43 vs. 11.
Jack Beckman, 4.638, 286.32; 7. Morgan Lucas, 4.548, 327.90 vs. 10.
Scott Kalitta, 4.595, 323.74; 8. David Grubnic, 4.566, 326.87 vs. 9.
Rod Fuller, 4.592, 326.71.
Funny Car -- 1. Robert Hight, Ford Mustang, 4.726, 328.86 vs.
16. Bob Bode, Pontiac Firebird, 4.906, 300.40; 2. John Force, Mustang,
4.744, 326.24 vs. 15. Dale Creasy Jr., Chevy Monte Carlo, 4.890,
309.84; 3. Eric Medlen, Mustang, 4.771, 324.51 vs. 14. Gary Densham,
Monte Carlo, 4.887, 314.02; 4. Tim Wilkerson, Monte Carlo, 4.775, 322.96
vs. 13. Tommy Johnson Jr., Monte Carlo, 4.842, 319.60; 5. Tony Pedregon,
Monte Carlo, 4.780, 323.50 vs. 12. Cruz Pedregon, Monte Carlo, 4.840,
323.19; 6. Del Worsham, Monte Carlo, 4.791, 322.73 vs. 11. Ron Capps,
Dodge Stratus, 4.826, 322.04; 7. Phil Burkart, Toyota Celica, 4.795,
318.02 vs. 10. Jeff Arend, Monte Carlo, 4.823, 310.27; 8. Bob
Gilbertson, Monte Carlo, 4.801, 324.59 vs. 9. Gary Scelzi, Stratus,
4.816, 324.12.
Pro Stock -- 1. Warren Johnson, Pontiac Grand Am, 6.762, 204.08
vs. 16. Bruce Allen, Grand Am, 6.817, 202.00; 2. Kurt Johnson, Chevy
Cobalt, 6.769, 204.08 vs. 15. Mike Edwards, Grand Am, 6.815, 202.55; 3.
Greg Anderson, Grand Am, 6.769, 203.55 vs. 14. Jim Yates, Grand Am,
6.815, 202.21; 4. Jason Line, Grand Am, 6.784, 202.97 vs. 13. Greg
Stanfield, Chevy Cavalier, 6.813, 201.97; 5. Dave Connolly, Cobalt,
6.789, 202.91 vs. 12. V. Gaines, Dodge Stratus, 6.812, 202.61; 6. Ron
Krisher, Cobalt, 6.795, 202.42 vs. 11. Kenny Koretsky, Stratus, 6.809,
202.48; 7. Jeg Coughlin, Stratus, 6.799, 203.03 vs. 10. Rickie Smith,
Cavalier, 6.803, 202.58; 8. Allen Johnson, Stratus, 6.800, 201.97 vs.
9. Richie Stevens, Stratus, 6.802, 203.31.
Pro Stock Motorcycle -- 1. Andrew Hines, Harley-Davidson, 7.123,
188.36 vs. 16. Michael Phillips, Suzuki, 7.265, 188.57; 2. Antron
Brown, Suzuki, 7.126, 188.75 vs. 15. Karen Stoffer, Suzuki, 7.264,
184.55; 3. Chip Ellis, Buell, 7.150, 185.66 vs. 14. Matt Guidera,
Buell, 7.260, 184.25; 4. Matt Smith, Suzuki, 7.168, 186.36 vs. 13. Mike
Berry, Suzuki, 7.246, 184.60; 5. GT Tonglet, Harley-Davidson, 7.173,
190.65 vs. 12. Geno Scali, Suzuki, 7.238, 184.52; 6. Ryan Schnitz,
Buell, 7.202, 183.74 vs. 11. Craig Treble, Suzuki, 7.224, 184.22; 7.
Angelle Sampey, Suzuki, 7.203, 184.25 vs. 10. Shawn Gann, Suzuki,
7.220, 185.79; 8. Steve Johnson, Suzuki, 7.204,
185.21 vs. 9. Chris Rivas, Buell, 7.205, 185.13.
