NHRA NEWS: Newsmakers, Sept. 5, 2006

NHRA Newsmakers

Your inside glimpse at the world's fastest motorsport

 

NEWS NUGGETS

*	SIX-TIME CHAMP BERNSTEIN LEADS HEAVY-HITTING CONTINGENT BACK
INTO COCKPIT FOR 2007: An exciting week of announcements regarding the
strength of NHRA heading into the 2007 season and beyond ended with the
blockbuster announcement that six-time world champion Kenny Bernstein,
two-time champion Jeg Coughlin and former NBA player Tom Hammonds will
all be returning to the NHRA POWERade Series in 2007. Bernstein will
compete in Funny Car, where he's won 30 of his 69 career events (and
last competed in 1989), with new sponsor Monster energy drink; Coughlin,
who has 34 career wins, will drive for Victor Cagnazzi in the Slammers
Milk Chevy Cobalt; and Hammonds, who last raced at the 2003
Gatornationals, will drive a Chevy Cobalt. "Sitting on the outside
looking in, the class has changed dramatically (and) we'll have to be
ready," said Hammonds, who was a two-time all-ACC basketball player and
retired from the NBA in 2001.

 

*	POWERADE 'COUNTDOWN TO THE CHAMPIONSHIP': NHRA announced last
week a new points format beginning in 2007 that will add enormous value
to the end of the NHRA POWERade Series season. Historically, points
leaders after Indy have gone on to win championships 83 percent of the
time (see details below). Under the new format, championships will be
anything but guaranteed entering the final quarter of the season as the
new format essentially levels the playing field for the top 8 drivers
heading to Indy and the top 4 drivers going into Las Vegas 2. Click here
<http://www.nhra.com/content/news.asp?articleid=15469&zoneid=8>  for
complete details on the Countdown to the Championship.

 

*	CROWN THEM NOW???: It's not likely to be a stat that carries
much weight with the new Countdown format, but for 2006 it certainly
does. You have to go back to 2001 to find a driver - in any of the
POWERade Series categories - who won a championship without having the
lead after Indy (Kenny Bernstein caught and passed Larry Dixon in 2001).
The numbers don't lie: In NHRA history, 83 percent of the drivers who've
led after Indy have gone on to win the POWERade Series world
championship. To follow is a class-by-class look at the number of times
a driver NOT leading after Indy has come back to win a championship:

	*	Top Fuel: 7 times in 32 years (with 4 of the passes
coming in the last 10 years).
	*	Funny Car: 4 times in 32 years (but only once since 1982
- when Cruz Pedregon went by John Force in 1992).
	*	Pro Stock: 7 times in 32 years (but is hasn't happened
once since 1990)
	*	Pro Stock Motorcycle: 2 times in 18 years.

NOTE: The four POWERade Series points leaders after Indy in 2006 are
Doug Kalitta, Ron Capps, Jason Line and Andrew Hines.

 

*	SCHU' ESCHEWS JINX: The season-long jinx hanging over the
collective head of Nitro No. 1 qualifiers was put to bed at the U.S.
Nationals Monday when Tony Schumacher parlayed his No. 1 qualifying run
aboard his U.S. Army dragster to another U.S. Nationals victory. Through
the first 17 events, no Nitro No. 1 qualifier had won an event. The
other winners at the prestigious Mac Tools U.S. Nationals were Robert
Hight, Greg Anderson and Matt Smith.

 

*	FORCE, HINES COLLECT VALUABLE BONUS HARDWARE: NHRA icon John
Force won his sixth career Skoal Showdown, the bonus Series for Funny
Car drivers, and the $100,000 check that goes with it. Also contested at
the U.S. Nationals is the Ringers Gloves bonus Series and the winner of
the $25,000 bonus was two-time defending Pro Stock Motorcycle world
champ Andrew Hines.

 

*        NINE-YEAR OLD IS YOUNGEST FAN NATIONALS WINNER : Tyler Hall, 9,
of Amelia, Ohio, became the youngest winner of the POWERade Fan
Nationals series when he won the Fan Nationals title at the Mac Tools
U.S. Nationals. Hall defeated hundreds of area fans to claim the victory
by driving realistic Funny Car simulators. With the win, Hall will race
for the ultimate title of 2006 POWERade Fan Nationals Series champion in
November at the 42nd annual Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA
Finals.

 


COMING ATTRACTIONS


*        TOYO TIRES NHRA NATIONALS, READING, PA., SEPT. 14-17: Top Fuel
driver Tony Schumacher looks to continue his winning streak, consecutive
wins in the last three years, in the beautiful Amish countryside of
Pennsylvania.

*        O'REILLY NHRA FALL NATIONALS presented by Castrol Syntec,
ENNIS, TEXAS, SEPT. 21-24: Top Fuel drivers and crew will fight to earn
valuable bonus points as the race to qualify for the 22nd annual
Budweiser Shootout, a lucrative all-star race-within-a-race held during
the ACDelco Las Vegas NHRA Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor
Speedway, heats up. 

*        TORCO RACE FUELS NHRA NATIONALS, RICHMOND, VA., OCT., 6-8: The
premier drag racing series returns to Richmond for the first time since
the 2000 season with a late-season race that will be critical in
deterimining the 2006 NHRA POWERade Series world champions. John Force,
locked in a tight duel with Ron Capps in Funny Car, will no doubt be
looking forward to the return to Richmond as the NHRA icon has won four
of the six NHRA races held there.

 

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

*	.0023: The remarkably close margin of victory for Brandon
Bernstein in his semifinal win over Cory McClenathan at Monday's Mac
Tools U.S. Nationals final eliminations. Bernstein's Bud dragster was
.064 quicker (4.524 to 4.588) than McClenathan's Fram Boost2 dragster
and he needed every thousandth as McClenathan held a .062 margin at the
light (.047 to .109). It all added up to a photo finish for eventual
runner-up Bernstein, whose narrow victory over McClenathan earned him
the Motel 6 Who Got the Light award. 

 

WHO'S HOT!

*	TONY SCHUMACHER, driver of the U.S. Army dragster, who continued
his remarkable resurgence in 2006 with a win at the prestigious Mac
Tools U.S. Nationals (he now has five wins and seven final rounds in 10
starts at Indy). Schumacher had been as much as 336 points out of first
place after Chicago (the 10th of 23 events) and he is now just 54 points
back of Doug Kalitta with five events remaining. And if history means
anything, don't expect Schumacher to back off now: the three-time and
defending POWERade Series champion advanced to an NHRA record seven
straight final rounds to end the 2005 season and he advanced to five of
the last six final rounds in 2004.

 

DRIVERS TELL ALL

*	FORCE ON FORCE: John Force won the Skoal Showdown and was the
No. 1 qualifier heading into Monday's Labor Day Final Eliminations at
the prestigious U.S. Nationals, and he had just one event earlier (at
Memphis) regained the points lead from Ron Capps. With momentum on his
side, the NHRA icon unexpectedly red-lighted in the first round to lose
his points lead (he's now 19 back of Capps): "I have the best car here
and I failed. This is Indy. It's not where you make mistakes. I'm the
best there is and I forgot how to race. If you lose like this at Indy
you deserve to have your (butt) kicked."

 

*	BERNSTEIN ON THE RETURN TO FUNNY CAR: Kenny Bernstein on his
return to Funny Car where he won four of his six POWERade Series world
championships. Bernstein won four straight Funny Car titles from 1985-88
and he won Top Fuel titles in 1996 and 2001: "I thrive on competition,
and I still love the sport. I've been searching for the perfect
opportunity and the perfect sponsor to field a competitive team to get
back into the sport, and Monster Energy drinks provided the ideal
scenario. I'm as excited as I was the first time I ever sat in a Funny
Car."

 

For more information, contact NHRA Media Relations at (626) 914-4761 or
visit the NHRA MEDIA CENTER online at http://media.nhra.com
<http://media.nhra.com/> .

 

- 30 -