NHRA Newsmakers: June 12, 2006
NHRA Newsmakers Your inside glimpse at the world's fastest motorsport NEWS NUGGETS * DIXON GOES FOR FATHER'S DAY SIX-PACK: Miller Lite Top Fuel driver Larry Dixon will try to keep his incredible streak of winning on Father's Day going during this weekend's K&N Filters SuperNationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park. Since becoming a father for the first time in the fall of 2000, Dixon has celebrated each of the last five Father's Day holidays by winning an NHRA POWERade Series event. He started the streak by winning at National Trail Raceway near Columbus, Ohio in 2001, '02 and '03. Once the Columbus and Englishtown dates were switched, he kept the streak alive by winning at Englishtown in '04 and '05. After he won last year, children Donovan and Alanna covered him and his Wally trophy in "silly string" during the Winner's Circle celebration. Dixon can't explain his Father's Day fortunes. "I don't know what it is, divine intervention or something, I don't know," he said. "If it was something we were doing, I promise you we'd do it at every race." * ANDERSON WINS $50,000 NHRA KING DEMON CROWN: At Route 66 Raceway near Chicago over the weekend Greg Anderson raced to his second victory in the lucrative NHRA King Demon Crown, a special bonus event for the eight quickest Pro Stock drivers from the last year. Anderson, who also won the King Demon Crown in 2004, defeated teammate Jason Line in the final round. Anderson earned $50,000 for the victory but fell one round win short of earning an additional $25,000 'Double Up' bonus from NHRA for winning the King Demon Crown and Pro Stock eliminations at the CARQUEST Auto Parts NHRA Nationals. He posted a runner-up finish to Kurt Johnson in Sunday's eliminations. * ELLIS JOINS MT PSB 6-SECOND CLUB: Chip Ellis became only the second Pro Stock Motorcycle rider in NHRA history to break the seven-second barrier when he rode his Drag Specialties Buell to a 6.988-second run during the third round of qualifying at the ninth annual CARQUEST Auto Parts NHRA Nationals last Saturday at Route 66 Raceway near Chicago. For his effort, Ellis joins inaugural member Andrew Hines in the Mickey Thompson Six-Second Pro Stock Bike Club. He earned $3,000 for becoming the second member of the club, which is open to eight riders. Hines earned $10,000 for being the club's first member, with his historic pass of 6.991 seconds last year at Gainesville (Fla.) Raceway. * MCCLUNG NAMED TO NHRA MUSEUM BOARD: Veteran hot rodder Dick McClung, who has donated race helmets and Indy 500 badges and other artifacts to the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum presented by Automobile Club of Southern California, has been elected to the museum's board of directors. NHRA founder and museum board chairman Wally Parks made the announcement June 7 during the museum's Twilight Cruise Night. "We are lucky to have a guy like Dick McClung on the museum board," said Parks. "Besides being a former racer and successful businessman, Dick's been a true friend to the museum for many years. His insights will help take the museum to a new level." McClung, of Rancho Mirage, Calif., joins Parks, Peter Clifford, Dick Wells, Steve Gibbs, Gary Darcy, and Alex Xydias as board members. "It's an honor to serve on the museum board," McClung said. "I'm very passionate about the museum because it preserves our racing heritage. I look forward to continuing its legacy." * DIVISION 1 TAKES TEAM HONORS AT JEG'S ALLSTARS: The team from NHRA Division 1, which won two of the first five Jeg's Allstars team championships and a third in 1995, broke a long winless drought in the special Sportsman-only competition with a dominating performance in the 22nd annual classic, contested Saturday at the CARQUEST Auto Parts NHRA Nationals at Route 66 Raceway near Chicago. Led by defending Allstars Top Alcohol Funny Car champion Frank Manzo, Bob Lang's Northeast Division troops piled it on to win their fourth team title and the $10,000 team bonus on the strength of additional wins by Don Pires Jr. in Stock and Lynn Hoosigan in Super Street. Other Jeg's Allstars winners included Marty Thacker (Top Alcohol Dragster); Jeff Taylor (Comp Eliminator); Don Duke (Super Stock); Shawn Langdon (Super Comp); and Rock Haas (Super Gas). * POWERADE FAN NATIONALS CHAMP FROM ROUTE 66: Matt Sackman, 13, of Channahon, Ill., beat out hundreds of participants to become the local POWERade Fan Nationals event champion at the CARQUEST Auto Parts NHRA Nationals. Sackman, a student at Holy Family and an NHRA Jr. Dragster competitor, will ultimately be one of 23 event champions from drag strips across the country to compete to become the series champion. He and one guest will travel to the 42nd annual Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA Finals in Pomona Nov. 9-12. There, Sackman will compete in a series of qualifying rounds for the chance to claim the title of POWERade Fan Nationals series champion. INSIDE THE NUMBERS * 20: John Force raced to his first Funny Car victory of the season and an NHRA-record 120th career victory at Route 66 Raceway over the weekend, and in the process increased his incredible streak of winning at least one NHRA POWERade Series event per season to 20 consecutive years. The last season that the 13-time world champ didn't drive his Castrol GTX Ford Mustang to at least one visit to the Winner's Circle was 1986. COMING ATTRACTIONS * K&N FILTERS SUPERNATIONALS, ENGLISHTOWN, N.J., JUNE 15-18: All eyes will be on Larry Dixon as the Miller Lite Top Fuel driver tries to win on Father's Day for the sixth consecutive year. * HOLLEY NHRA NATIONAL HOT ROD REUNION PRESENTED BY DUPONT AUTOMOTIVE FINISHES, BOWLING GREEN, KY., JUNE 16-18: Among the nostalgic drag racing classes showcased at the fan-favorite event at Beech Bend Raceway Park are Top Fuel, Junior Fuel, Supercharged Gassers, classic Funny Cars, Fuel Altereds, classic Super Stocks, and a variety of exhibition entries. * O'REILLY NHRA MIDWEST NATIONALS PRESENTED BY CASTROL, ST. LOUIS, JUNE 23-25: NHRA teams will compete under the lights in three spectacular nights of racing at Gateway International Raceway. HE SAID, SHE SAID * FORCE NETS WIN NO. 120: With an eye toward NASCAR legend Richard Petty's career mark of 200 victories, NHRA kingpin John Force inched one more victory closer to that mythical number by going four rounds at Route 66 Raceway over the weekend. Force, 57, would need to average eight victories a season over the next decade to make it happen. While that may be a longshot at best, the 13-time Funny Car champ still holds the win record in the NHRA, with Pro Stock driver Warren Johnson a distant second with 96 career victories. While his 120th career victory was nice, more importantly the effort moved Force closer to season-long points leader Ron Capps in the POWERade Series standings. "It's a lot of wins," said Force, who now trails Capps by 48 points, "but no one cares what you did in the past. We've won one race this year, and we gained some big points, so that's important. We've had a good car all year, but [Ron] Capps has been very consistent, and we haven't been able to gain on him." WHO'S HOT! * KALITTA WINS FOUR OF LAST FIVE: Doug Kalitta, driver of the red hot Mac Tools dragster, has won four of the last five NHRA POWERade Series events, and cut into Melanie Troxel's season-long Top Fuel points lead. Kalitta's most recent victory came this past weekend at Route 66 Raceway near Chicago, when he defeated Troxel in a high-stakes final round. The 40-point swing cut Troxel's lead to 71 as the series heads to the season's mid-point. "It's been a very nice stretch," said Kalitta, who also posted victories at Bristol, Atlanta and Topeka. "We've been fortunate, and Rahn [Tobler], my crew chief, has this car running strong. We're trying to catch up, and we've been making up ground. Of course, there's still a long way to go, but we're sure hoping this will be our year." DRIVERS TELL ALL * ANDERSON CALLS IT HIS BEST DRAG RACE: The NHRA King Demon Crown final between the Summit Racing Pontiac GTOs of Greg Anderson and Jason Line was a performance spectacle. Line shot out to an early lead with a .017 reaction time ahead of Anderson's .031. But Anderson's car tracked Line down and passed him just before the finish line to give Anderson his second King Demon Crown title in the last three years by just .003-second. Anderson's car posted a 6.620 second time, while Line finished with a 6.637. "That was the best drag race I've ever been a part of," Anderson said. "I shoved it in high gear and peeked over, and we were dead even. I thought there was no way I could do anything else to get ahead because he has the exact same stuff as we do. Somehow, I crept ahead by an inch or two in the last hundred feet. For Jason to have a light like that and run a 6.63 and still not win is cruel. He's become quite a driver, and he always races me tough. I think he just relaxes and has fun when we race one another, and that's what it's all about. We've got work to do tomorrow, but we're going out as a team and celebrating this race tonight. We're gonna spend some of that King Demon money." Anderson's time was unofficially the quickest ever, but it will not be logged in the NHRA record book since it was not posted during qualifying or eliminations. -30- For more information, contact the NHRA Communications Dept. at (626) 914-4761. To access the latest NHRA news, statistics and photos, please visit http://media.nhra.com <http://media.nhra.com/> .