NHRA’s Top Fuel and Funny Car classes are on fire as two veteran drivers seem to be running away from the pack in an unprecedented streak of wins and with points lead strangle-holds as teams prepare for the western swing. As of mid-season following the NHRA Summit Racing Equipment Nationals in Norwalk, Larry Dixon is seven out of seven for title round wins and holding strong. John Force has reached his 208^th career final dominating the points lead all season in a big time come back. It’s unusual for a single team to dominate in a sport so competitive let alone two with so many top notch seasoned entries.

Going into the western swing, will Dixon and team Al-Anabi hold their lead or will Cory McClenathan come back to take the lead he started with this season? Will Dixon be able to break the six consecutive winning streak for seven time champion Tony Schumacher? Will team Force continue to monopolize the points lead or will Matt Hagan win only in his second year, sneaking up on the fourteen-time NHRA Full Throttle world champ? The western swing composed of Seattle, Sonoma, and Denver will mark the final push for teams to make a run at the top 10, which will be set in Brainerd in the final event of the summer.

John Force Racing, Dixon and team Al-Anabi, and both Schumacher teams have already clinched positions in the top 10 for the 2010 season. However, the western swing will undoubtedly be a blood bath as other teams turn up the heat in a battle to make the cutoff. It could well take its toll by impacting the season outcome if top players take a hit. Typically teams that are able to ace the western swing have an advantage going into the countdown and seasons finals, but this does not necessarily predict the Championship. In this article, we take a look at NHRA’s Full Throttle Drag Series in Top Fuel and Funny Car, examine the season before the Western Swing, and take a guess at who will be on top come November.

For prediction purposes, here is the basic run down for the 2010 season – starting with Top Fuel. Dixon has a healthy lead of 176 points over Schumacher, making it appear that he will be hard to catch as long the team continues to go rounds. There is a lesser margin of 50 points between Schumacher and McClenathan in third, however they have been holding in the top ranks as a team for a better part of the season. McClenathan led the points for several events as the season got underway before being overtaken by Dixon in Las Vegas by a margin of one point during the SummitRacing.com Nationals. Dixon has been actually holding the points lead for eight events.

McClenathan held strong to the second point’s position for another four events. Schumacher who had been working his way up grabbed the second position in Chi-town, bumping teammate McClenathan to third, which is where they both have continued to be positioned for the last four events through Norwalk. In order of position, Antron Brown, Doug Kalitta, and Brandon Bernstein are currently the mid top ten point’s players with 86 points between them and with Brown sitting 100 points back in the fourth position. Jumping another full 200 points back in order are Shawn Langdon and Morgan Lucas of the Lucas Oil team, and Steve Torrence. Terry McMillian a relative newcomer and David Grubnic of Kalitta Motorsports are sharing sides of the tenth position bump with Grubnic sitting on the outside.

In Funny car, the legend himself John Force stayed on the points lead for the first eight straight events of the season before giving the lead to team mate Robert Hight in Chi-town. At the same event Ashley Force Hood was tied for third with Matt Hagen giving team Force a strangle hold in the top three positions for a second time this season. Hight held the lead for two events and then passed it back to his boss in Bristol keeping it in the family. Force has remained in the number one point’s position with a 73 point lead over Hight. Though Hagen has been knocking on the door, so to speak, just waiting for an opportunity holding the number three position. In fact he has held the third position for three subsequent events following the tie with Force Hood and is 100 points behind Hight.

The line up for Funny Car is a much tighter field than Top Fuel. Fast Jack Beckman is just 14 points behind Hagen in the fourth position and Force Hood is just 22 point’s behind Beckman rounding out the top five. No one is safe however and fans could see wild shifts in the points chase as the season continues to unfold. Bob Tasca III is a close 21 points behind Force Hood in sixth and Tim Wilkerson in the seventh position is on Tasca’s heals with a 15 point gap having just won the event in Norwalk over Force. Ron Capps holding the eight position is only 26 points behind Wilkerson with Del Worsham in the ninth spot breathing down his neck in a 10 point difference. Tony Pedregon is currently sitting on the top ten bump.

The 2010 season started out with NHRA honoring their history, longevity, and success with a tribute to the 50th running of the Kragen O’Reilly NHRA Winternationals. Fourteen time Champion John Force finally broke a career down cycle with his first win since Topeka in 2008. It marked the end of a 40 event drought. Force demonstrated to fans that he still has it, taking a hole shot win over Capps to win the first race of the year. The last time Force had a season with no final round wins was in 1986. He has not led the points since November of 2006 where he clinched his 14th championship. Some were probably wondering if Force would ever make a come back.

Dixon appeared to perform in a near flawless string of runs to the win the season opener although was nearly taken out in the semi final round by fellow rival Tony Schumacher. Both drivers ran identical elapsed time and speeds with a twin 3.836 @ 317 mph. The round was awarded to Dixon based on a quicker reaction time. Dixon lost the Championship to Schumacher last year by just a few points. It remains to be seen if the same battle will play out for 2010, however the possibility seems like a good bet.

The Phoenix rain wreaked havoc on the second event of the season. Controversy ignited over track conditions and preparation compounds with wrecks in Pro Stock. The weekend turned into a disaster when the wheel and brake assembly broke from Antron Brown’s car and was propelled into the crowd tragically killing a spectator. The rain delayed race was completed post weekend on Monday and marked significant upsets for Top Fuel. Dixon was taken out in the first round by Chrisman and Schumacher lost to Torrence who took a hole shot advantage. When it was all over, McClenathan collected his 32nd Top Fuel victory against Doug Kalitta and seized the point lead as Dixon fell to third place. Force squeaked by with a narrow margin of victory of .001 seconds in round one against Cruz Pedregon.  Then he ran a career best of 4.044 in round two, and took out team mate Robert Hight in the final. It seemed everyone was glad to see the weekend come to a close and sights were set on Gainsville and hope for sunshine.

Gainsville did prove to be better and new speed records were set in both nitro classes; Schumacher with 324.98 mph and Hagan, who had the previous best speed in Funny Car, trapped 316.15 mph. Schumacher took the victory moving him into the points lead by 11 points over McClenathan. In Funny Car, Wilkerson earned his 14th title win and his first ever victory at the historic Gatornationals event.

The fourth event of the season in Charlotte marked the first time for racers to run on a four wide track. Drivers spent the first two days of qualifying getting used to running against more than one opponent and adjusting to the extra bulbs on the Christmas Tree. Debate erupted in the news as racers and spectators questioned the format following the event. In April the NHRA announced that the Four Wide Nationals will be scheduled in 2011 and will be the only race on the 2011 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series schedule that will showcase four-wide racing. Improvements are being planned with consideration of feedback from fans, teams, and sponsors. McClenathan and Force were the first to win an event in this format.

Houston marked a final of pedal fests. Hagan was on the hunt for his first win and Jeff Arend for team Kalitta. Scott Kalitta won his only nitro Funny Car race in Houston, in 1989. In the end Hagan was able to out pedal Arend with a 4.390 to 4.714. Dixon also found himself in a skirmish to get down the track against Brown making a long-shot run from a having to recover the car early in the track. It marked Dixon’s 50th in Top Fuel. At this point in the game, Dixon slid into a comfortable second in the points, McClenathan was still holding the lead, and Schumacher had slipped down to fifth. Force had already won twice in three final-round appearances at the first four remaining in the lead.

Odds makers in Las Vegas got their money’s worth predicting Dixon 5 to 2 and Force 2 to 1 favored to win. Sure enough Dixon claimed his third win of the season and the event marked an important changing of the guard with Dixon taking over the lead. The final round came down to a battle between McClenathan and Dixon respectively in the first and second position. Dixon simply out ran the McClenathan after he lost traction mid-track. The two drivers left Vegas headed for Madison having swapped spots. Force also came out victorious having widened his lead over Hagen by 120 points. By this time Hight had slipped down to the 9th position.

While there were no significant changes for the point leaders, Madison marked the started of a comeback for both Hight and Schumacher. Hight was actually off to a rough start of season with just four round wins in the first six events Hight defeated Beckman in the event for the Wally, the 15th of his career. Schumacher who entered the event still in fifth place with only one title win for the season made large strides in the point’s battle. In the final round he easily walked away from Doug Kalitta with a 3.84 to 4.04 and landed himself just 92 point short of the points lead.

Atlanta brought more good luck for team Force. Hight earned a second Funny car win in an all Force final against team mate Force Hood giving the team a monopoly of the first, second, and third positions in the point battle. Team patriarch John Force is still holding the number one position at this point seeming unstoppable. Atlanta is actually a good luck charm for Force Hood who scored her breakthrough Funny Car win here in 2008 and it seems fitting location for team Force to be on top. Dixon was not letting up either taking his fourth win of the season marking 4 and 0 in final round wins. In the final round of Top Fuel Bernstein gave the match up with a .003 red light allowing Dixon easy passage. Dixon also defeated Schumacher in the semi’s keeping him at bay in the fourth position.

Things really started to heat up in Topeka with Hight taking his third straight Funny Car win in a row. Hight is on a hot roll at this point moving past teammate Ashley Force Hood into second place just 49 points behind his boss, John Force. Schumacher is as well on the move at this point. In the final round teammates Schumacher and McClenathan each were aiming for their third win of the season. McClenathan is still in the second position hoping to catch Dixon, but Schumacher gets the win with a hole shot. By the end of the event McClenathan is 97 points behind leader Larry Dixon, and Schumacher is just 11 points behind his team mate. It’s a sure bet that the seven time champion is gunning forDixon with a clear shot in sight.

The vision was however short lived as Dixon came back in Chi-town with his fifth win and in Englishtown with a sixth win putting a 199 point lead on Schumacher still in second place. Things were less than eventful for team Force as Hagan broke Hight’s winning streak and set a new record with a 4.035 @ 312.78 mph picking up 20 valuable points. Despite the break for Hight, Force was bumped off the lead position for the first time in the season moving Hight to number one where each remained until the conclusion of Bristol.

Bristol marked the third event of a grueling four races scheduled in June. Schumacher had to make a move on Dixon who was running further and further ahead. The two had met seven times in 11 races with Dixon holding a 4-3 advantage giving Schumacher a difficult challenge in attempting to hold on to his world-championship streak. Schumacher in true form pulled it off marking his fourth victory of the season, following wins in Gainesville, Madison, and Topeka. Force also reclaimed his lead from team mate Robert Hight. Although Force managed to hold the points lead for most of the season, he was at risk with not having won an event since Las Vegas in April. It was actually his second round victory over Hagan that gave Force back the season-long points lead he had lost two events earlier. The clock is running short at this point as racers pack up to head to Norwalk for the 13th of 17 events in the Countdown’s regular season leading up to the playoffs with Dixon and Force in the lead.

Finishing Norwalk, Schumacher can’t catch a break as Dixon wins yet another race making a perfect 7 and 0 for title round wins in the season. Team Al-Anabi is definitely hot this year as Dixon continues to elude the seven time champion and damper the U.S. Army team’s hopes of winning the 2010 Championship. Looking back at the season thus far it seems the two racers have been trading off the wins. However Dixon is not leaving anything on the table and he seems the most likely candidate for the 2010 season championship.

Team Force has had a strangle hold on the lead position all season long. It more than fair to say John is back with a vengeance and that the 60 year old veteran is enjoying one of his finest seasons in years. Norwalk marked the sixth time this season Force has been to a final round. With team mate Robert Hight positioned by his side in second place and daughter Ashley Force Hood rounding out the top five, there is a great chance fans will see team Force in the final come November.