NHRA Newsmakers: Aug. 7, 2006
NHRA Newsmakers Your inside glimpse at the world's fastest motorsport WHO'S HOT! * AS THEY TURN FOR HOME, SCHUMACHER GATHERS STEAM: On the verge of having the second-half of his season reduced to R&D and playing spoiler, Tony Schumacher (and crew chief Alan Johnson) circled the wagons in St. Louis and four consecutive final rounds and two wins later they're right back in the Top Fuel championship points race. The three-time and defending POWERade Series world champion emerged from Chicago where he was the No. 1 qualifier - after a first-round loss to No. 16 qualifier Alan Bradshaw - a distant 336 points behind then-points leader Melanie Troxel. Over the next five events, beginning with a quarterfinal finish at Englishtown, he plowed his way up from eighth place to third place and he's only 126 points behind current points leader Doug Kalitta. And Tony's just 44 points behind Troxel, having gained 292 points on Troxel in five events. There are eight events remaining in the 23-event, $50 million POWERade Series season. NEWS NUGGETS * HOLDING A MIRROR UP TO ITSELF: Diversity has been such a part of the fabric at NHRA for so long, it almost becomes passé to longtime followers of the sport. But to those either unfamiliar with NHRA or who prefer hard numbers, a recent examination of the demographics of the 2006 NHRA POWERade winners' circles provides a tangible illustration that NHRA is the premier motorsport with regard to diversity: 1. Victories by Females: 5 (Angelle Sampey 3, Melanie Troxel 2) 2. Victories by Hispanics: 4 (Tony Pedregon 3, Cruz Pedregon 1) 3. Victories by African-Americans: 3 (J.R. Todd 2, Antron Brown 1) * NHRA MATRIARCH HONORED BY LYN ST. JAMES FOUNDATION: The Lyn St. James Foundation recognized the late Barbara Parks' achievements in the world of NHRA drag racing by presenting the Mildred Marcum Pioneer Award in her honor during the fourth annual Women in the Winner's Circle luncheon at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Thursday, Aug. 3. Her husband, NHRA founder Wally Parks, said in a statement: "She was a trooper - totally dedicated to a very special sport's advancements in which the ladies have been active in important roles since day one." Ms. Parks succumbed to cancer in late January. * MORE NHRA RECOGNITION AT WOMEN IN THE WINNER'S CIRCLE LUNCHEON: Melanie Troxel, driver of the Skull Shine/Knoll Gas-Torco Race Fuels Top Fuel dragster for Don Schumacher Racing, was awarded the USAC Kara Hendrick Spirit Award on Thursday, Aug. 3 at the fourth annual Women in the Winner's Circle 2006 luncheon, benefiting the Lyn St. James Foundation. "This was totally unexpected and I am extremely honored to receive this very special award." Troxel's team owner, Don Schumacher Racing, as well as Frank Pedregon Racing also received Opportunity Awards at the luncheon for "creating racing opportunities for female drivers." * THE COUNTDOWN TO CROWNING BEGINS: As we enter the final third of the 2006 POWERade Series season, there are a number of compelling Series championship storylines and chief among them are those of Melanie Troxel and Ron Capps. Troxel is 82 points behind Doug Kalitta and seeking to become the first female in a quarter century, since Shirley Muldowney in 1982, to win a Top Fuel world championship. Capps, meanwhile, is a three-time Series runner-up and his five wins this year make him the winningest Funny Car driver ever to have not won a Series championship. He's been so close - he finished second in 2005 by just eight points - but never hoisted the trophy ... and to get over the top in 2006 all he's going to have to do is scale the tallest mountain in the sport in NHRA's all-time event (120) and Series (13) champion John Force. Force has been shadowing Capps all season long and he currently sits just 70 points off of Capps' pace. Capps' crew chief, Ed 'Ace' McCulloch, has also never won a Series championship as a driver or crew chief and he has twice in the last year scheduled cancer treatments around the POWERade Series schedule so he wouldn't miss any races. INSIDE THE NUMBERS * 6.631: Greg Anderson, the gold standard in his category, has made it clear that 2006 has been a struggle. The three-time defending Pro Stock world champion opened the season with a win at Pomona and, other than winning the King Demon Crown in Chicago, he's been kept out of the winner's circle by a hungry group of competitors who haven't sniffed a championship since his reign began in 2003. Still, if you think the sky is falling around Greg Anderson, it's not. With eight events left in 2006, he's only 64 points behind teammate Jason Line and he made a statement at the just-completed FRAM Autolite Nationals that he is not waving any white towels by resetting his own national record for elapsed time with a Friday night run of 6.631 seconds at 207.82 mph in his Summit Racing Pontiac GTO. COMING ATTRACTIONS * LUCAS OIL NHRA NATIONALS, BRAINERD, MINN., AUG. 10-13: Last year at Brainerd International Raceway Tony Schumacher powered his U.S. Army dragster to the fastest quarter-mile speed ever recorded at 337.58 mph. * O'REILLY NHRA MID-SOUTH NATIONALS, MEMPHIS, TENN., AUG. 18-20: Funny Car legend John Force claims to have seen Elvis at 1,000 feet down the quarter-mile track at Memphis Motorsports Park during this popular event. * PALM BEACH NHRA SPORT COMPACT NATIONALS, JUPITER, FLA., AUG. 19-20: The world's quickest and fastest sport compact cars battle for the prestigious NHRA Xplod Sport Compact Racing Series world championship titles. * MAC TOOLS U.S. NATIONALS, INDIANAPOLIS, AUG. 30-SEPT. 4: The world's most prestigious, richest and longest running drag race is a Labor Day weekend tradition at O'Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis. Every driver wants to win the super bowl of drag racing and join eight-time winner "Big Daddy" Don Garlits in the NHRA record book. DRIVERS TELL ALL * MEDLEN MOWS DOWN MURDERER'S ROW FOR FRAM WIN: After his win at the FRAM Autolite NHRA Nationals to snap an 11-month winless streak that dated back to Memphis in Aug. 2005, a relieved Eric Medlen said: "Man, it's hard to win these things; that's the deal. It's not for a lack of trying." He was speaking in general terms about how competitive the Funny Car class is and a further examination of the specific path he took to win at Sonoma certainly supports his thinking. His four opponents - Cruz Pedregon, John Force, Whit Bazemore and Tony Pedregon - all were 2006 event winners and three of the four were POWERade Series world champions. Just a routine day of final eliminations in Funny Car. NHRA POWERADE SERIES POINTS UPDATE * GUNS BLAZIN' AT THE TOP OF THE POWERADE SERIES POINTS RACES: The famed Western Swing through Denver, Seattle and Sonoma produced some dramatic shootouts that yielded lead changes in three of the four POWERade Series categories. Ron Capps, driver of the Brut Dodge Charger, managed to post a runner-up finish at Seattle, and increased his lead over John Force by 26 points during the grueling three-race span. Capps now leads 13-time Funny Car champ Force by 70, but he was the exception. In the other three categories, new series leaders emerged during the Western Swing, including Doug Kalitta in Top Fuel, who now holds an 82-point advantage over season-long leader Melanie Troxel and a 126-point lead on hard-charging two-time defending champion Tony Schumacher; Jason Line in Pro Stock, who holds a 64 point lead over teammate and three-time defending champ Greg Anderson; and two-time defending champ Andrew Hines in Pro Stock Motorcycle, who moved 33 ahead of Angelle Sampey with a victory at Denver and second round finish at Sonoma. -30- For more information, contact the NHRA Communications Dept. at (626) 914-4761. 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