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After 22 races and tens of thousands of miles criss-crossing the nation, the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series season comes down to this: the traditional season finale Auto Club NHRA Finals at Auto Club Raceway in Pomona. The first five races in the Countdown to the Championship have set up an epic battle amongst the Don Schumacher Racing camps, and it will all be decided this weekend as the curtain closes on the 2012 season and the Full Throttle era. Join us all weekend long as we bring you the sights of drag racing’s final hurrah of what’s been an incredible season.
A special thanks to the presenting sponsor of our same day coverage, Mickey Thompson Performance Tires & Wheels. Whether it’s your daily driver, your tow vehicle, or your race car, Mickey Thompson’s rolling hardware has the looks and the competitive edge you’re looking for!
It seems like a problem we can't get away from for the last few years here at Pomona, and that problem is rain. There has been some heads up qualifying shuffling today for Sportsman racers and the Pro classes have been pushed back slightly.
It's historic NHRA announcer Bob Frey's last race behind the mic. Frey got his start announcing at Atco Raceway in 1966 and has been doing it before classes like Top Fuel Funny Car and Pro Stock have even existed. We will all miss hearing that familiar voice, but we are glad he is able to kick back and enjoy the retired lifestyle.
Dragzine sponsored driver and McLeod Racing owner Paul Lee is competing in his second race of the 2012 season. Lee, who secured a two race agreement with Gary Densham, made it to the quarter finals in Vegas where he defeated Robert Hight. Lee lost in the second round to Courtney Force, running a close 4.205 at 283.97 mph to Force's 4.128 at 312.42 mph.
Qualifying Round 1
John Force watches on as the rest of the Funny Car teams try to get down the track during the first round of qualifying. It was a tricky round for Top Fuel as only 6 of the 22 cars actually made it down the track, with 3 being from the JFR camp.
Jack Beckman was the last pass of Funny Car's qualifying round 1 and the run went out with a bang. Less than a hundred feet before Beckman's Valvoline NextGen Dodge Charger R/T reached the finish line, his engine exploded and destroyed the carbon fiber body. Despite that, Beckman recorded an elapsed time of 4.117 seconds at a slowing 273.00 mph that was the fifth best run of the day. Pieces of the body ended up in the stands where fans collected the souvenir pieces. Photo by: David Hakim
After Beckman's crash, it began to rain again. Top Fuel teams began to put rain jackets on their hot rods, and were eventually told to return to the pits. As of 4:53pm PST, the round has been called.
Courtney Force was one of the few that made it down the track under full throttle, which netted her the current number one qualifying position with a 4.032 at 315.93 mph. Team mate Mike Neff sits in second place with a 4.062 at 313.66 mph run.
Pro Stock
Allen Johnson has all but locked up the Pro Stock championship and will officially take the number one spot at the conclusion of Saturday's qualifying round...as long as he doesn't get disqualified. He currently sits in the number one qualifying spot as well by .004 over Jason Line.
Jason Line's teammate Greg Anderson didn't fair so well in his 2012 Camaro by qualifying outside the bump with a 6.969 at 161.87 mph.
Pro Stock Motorcycle
Pro Stock Motorcycle started off the pro rounds for Thursday. They are the only pro class that only runs in Pomona one time a year.
Pro Stock Motorcycle drivers get to be the only class that can safely practice their launches as they wait to race.
It isn't a big surprise for us to announce Harley teammates Andrew Hines (6.872 at 196.04 mph) and Eddie Krawiec (6.874 at 196.19 mph) are currently qualifying one and two.
Qualifying Round 1 Sheets
