by Phil Burgess, National DRAGSTER Editor

For full ladders, be sure to visit NHRA.com

Persistent afternoon rain at zMax Dragway has forced NHRA officials to postpone the conclusion of the inaugural NHRA Four-Wide Nationals until Monday. The Top Fuel and Funny Car finals are set while Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle still have two rounds to go.

Racing will resume Monday morning at 10 a.m. with Sportsman competition, followed the final rounds in Top Fuel and Funny Car, the balance of Pro Stock eliminations, and more Sportsman eliminations.

Don Schumacher Racing will be represented twice in the Top Fuel final with low qualifier Cory McClenathan and Antron Brown going off against a pair of Dougs, Kalitta and Herbert, for the first four-wide win.

The Funny Car final, appropriately enough in the class balance of power, will feature two cars from John Force Racing (John Force and Ashley Force Hood) and two from Don Schumacher Racing (Ron Capps and Matt Hagan).

McClenathan won his first-round foursome with Rhonda Hartman-Smith, Morgan Lucas, and Brandon Bernstein with a 3.799 that was punctuated by a blown left-rear slick just past the finish line. The team repaired damage to the chassis and body panels to get him to round two, where he finished second to Doug Kalitta after both ran 3.809.

Kalitta finished second to Tony Schumacher in round one, 3.81 to 4.02, ahead of Doug Foley and Pat Dakin; even though Foley’s 4.00 was quicker, Kalitta got the ticket to round two thanks to a .064 to .117 holeshot on Foley.

When eliminations have concluded, Brown and Herbert will have raced each other three times on race day, including both of the first two rounds. Brown won their first-round go, 3.85 to 3.96 (Terry McMillen and Dave Grubnic made up the rest of that foursome) and again in round two, where Brown’s 3.84 and Herbert’s 3.85 both beat Larry Dixon’s 3.81 on a holeshot. Langdon and Dixon, in that order, had advanced to round two over Steve Torrence and Bobby Lagana Jr.

Hagan, who destroyed a DieHard Dodge body in a wild blower explosion in qualifying, shook off the after effects of that blast to work his way to the final. He won his first-round pairing with Paul Lee, low qualifier Robert Hight, and Jeff Arend on a 4.04 and finished second to Force Hood in the second round, 4.06 to 4.10. Hight’s loss was especially scary as his Auto Club Ford drifted into Arend’s lane in the shutdown area, and the two traded paint but little else.

Force Hood raced out of round one with a 4.06 win over second-place Cruz Pedregon, Del Worsham, and Bob Gilbertson, then beat Hagan on a holeshot in the second round, 4.12 to 4.10, as both advanced over Paul Lee and Cruz Pedregon.

Force, who always was the last to stage in his pairings, finished second to Jack Beckman in their first-round foursome, 4.06 to 4.09, and first over Capps in round two (both ran 4.064) – but made the final. Force came out of the toughest first-round foursome – him, Beckman, Bob Tasca III, and Tony Pedregon – and then, with Capps, advanced past Tim Wilkerson and Beckman in the second round. Wilkerson had the quickest pass of that second round with a 4.061, but his .080 light was behind the .041 of Force and the .068 of Capps.

Capps finished second in both of his preliminary-round pairings – on a holeshot to Wilkerson in round one, 4.07 to 4.03, and to Force in the second round. Capps’ first-round pod also included Melanie Troxel and Jeff Diehl.

The second round of Pro Stock will feature the four-car pairings of Rodger Brogdon, Bob Yonke, Greg Stanfield, and Rickie Jones. The other foursome will pit world champ Mike Edwards against John Nobile, Allen Johnson, and Jason Line.

Upsets marked the first round as low qualifier Jeg Coughlin Jr. fell, as did former world champ Greg Anderson.

Pro Stock Motorcycle second-round foursomes will be Matt Smith, Hector Arana, David Hope, and Junior Pippin. The second foursome is the result of some serious upsets: LE Tonglet, Mike Berry, Steve Johnson, and Michael Phillips. Screamin’ Eagle/Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson teammates Andrew Hines and Eddie Krawiec both lost in round one, as did Gainesville runner-up Shawn Gann.

ESPN2’s continuation of coverage of the rain-delayed NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at zMax Dragway has been scheduled for Monday at 12:30 p.m. (ET). The 30-minute show will feature the final rounds in Top Fuel and Funny Car and the second round and final of Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle competition at the first NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series event to feature racing in four lanes instead of two.