Don Schumacher Racing Takes Top Honors in Delayed NHRA Arizona Nationals

From NHRA.com, by Phil Burgess, National DRAGSTER Editor

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Cory McClenathan and Jack Beckman completed a Don Schumacher Racing sweep of the delayed final rounds Monday at the NHRA Arizona Nationals. McClenathan’s win gives him the Full Throttle points lead in Top Fuel.

Weather delays Sunday had moved racing into the early evening, and deteriorating conditions forced the postponement of action. NHRA officials called a halt to Sunday’s racing after three rounds of Top Fuel and Funny Car and one round of Pro Stock and scheduled completion for Monday morning. More rain Monday delayed the final outcome, and the nitro cars didn’t hit the track until 2:45 p.m. local time.

The quarterfinal, semifinal, and final rounds of Pro Stock will be run during qualifying at the 41st annual Tire Kingdom NHRA Gatornationals at Gainesville Raceway. The unfinished rounds will be completed during the second, third, and fourth rounds of qualifying for the event in two weeks at the historic Florida dragstrip. Lucas Oil Sportsman eliminations will be completed Friday, Feb. 26, during the Division 7 Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series event.

Despite a cool racing surface (82 degrees) that had not been run on since the previous day, McClenathan collected his 32nd Top Fuel victory with a strong 3.813 at 316.67 to defeat Doug Kalitta, who shook and smoked the tires before recovering to a 4.73, 219.47 runner-up.

McClenathan powered his Fram dragster past Mike Strasburg, Troy Buff, and a broken Steve Torrence with consecutively quicker blasts of 3.84, 3.82, and 3.81 to reach the final, the 58th of his Top Fuel career.

Kalitta, runner-up at the season-opening Kragen O’Reilly NHRA Winternationals presented by Valvoline in Pomona, reached his second straight Top Fuel final of the season by defeating Chris Karamesines, teammate Dave Grubnic, and Morgan Lucas with a 3.99 and two 3.98s.

Eliminations in Top Fuel were full of upsets. Independent runner Steve Chrisman notched a win against tire-shake-plagued Larry Dixon in the opening round, and Torrence put away No. 1 qualifier Tony Schumacher in the second round by virtue of a holeshot.

Sunday got off to a rough start in Top Fuel with rain interrupting the first round, which concluded with a crash involving Antron Brown. Brown was not injured in the accident, but a woman who was struck by a tire from Brown’s dragster was pronounced dead at Good Samaritan Hospital that evening. NHRA is investigating the incident. The entire NHRA community is deeply saddened by the incident and sends its thoughts and prayers to the woman’s family and friends.

Beckman got back into the win column in Funny Car for the first time since last summer when he drove his MTS/Valvoline Charger to a 4.12, 301.13 to defeat John Force, who shook to a 6.13. The two drivers engaged in a mini burndown before fully lighting the Tree, but neither got a substantial advanatge from it at the green.

With the exception of a semifinal pedalfest win against Tony Pedregon, past Phoenix champ Beckman wore out his opposition Sunday with remarkable consistency. Tuner Rahn Tobler dialed in the car with a pair of 4.13s to start eliminations after running a 4.13 during qualifying. Beckman turned away Bob Tasca III and teammate Matt Hagan before using his cunning in the cockpit to survive a tire-smoking affair against Pedregon.

Force opened his eliminations account Sunday by escaping with a narrow .001-second victory against Cruz Pedregon, then powered to low e.t. and a career-best 4.044 blast in round two to defeat Jim Head. Force reached the final by defeating his teammate, reigning world champ Robert Hight, with a 4.08 in the semifinals.

Second-round pairings in Pro Stock — Mike Edwards vs. Greg Anderson, Allen Johnson vs. Jason Line, Ron Krisher vs. Greg Stanfield, and Bob Yonke vs. Rodger Brogdon — will be contested during the second round of qualifying in Gainesville Friday, March 12; the semifinal pairs will run during the third round of qualifying Saturday, March 13; and the final round will be held during the final round of qualifying Saturday. The runs will occur during the scheduled qualifying sessions of the event, and the times posted on those runs will count toward qualifying for the event.