NHRA: Dixon, Force And Edwards Win In Vegas

NHRA

NHRA: Dixon, Force And Edwards Win In Vegas

The trio of this season's Winternationals victors once again celebrated in the winner's circle.

Kelly Wade | Posted April 18, 2010 Las Vegas, NV

John Force's comeback tour has been kicked into high gear. (Go2Geiger.com)

The SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway was good practice for the looming summer months of drag racing as tuners had their hands full throughout the weekend, including Sunday, when traction issues were a common theme.

The trio of this season's Winternationals victors once again celebrated in the winner's circle: Larry Dixon (Top Fuel), John Force (Funny Car), and Mike Edwards (Pro Stock) claimed the victories in their respective categories.

Dixon entered the event second in the standings, trailing then-points leader Cory McClenathan. The final round pitted the two against one another, and it was Dixon who emerged victorious and skirted around his opponent to move to the top of the points when McClenathan smoked the tires and Dixon pedaled through early tire shake to log a 4.016 to 5.113 win.

No. 4 qualifier McClenathan, who has two wins so far this season -- Phoenix and Charlotte -- was quickest in the opening round with a 3.906, but Dixon, who started from the No. 2 spot, was quickest in the remaining three rounds of eliminations in his Al-Anabi Racing rail.

"I love it when a plan comes together," said Dixon, who is now 3-0 in final rounds this year. "We had a great car all weekend; it was unbelievable all through qualifying. The car was very strong, we made up a bunch of points in qualifying on Cory, and we knew that if we beat him the final we'd get the points lead.

"I like racing Cory, and he likes racing me. Nobody plays any games, we just go up there and do our thing, try our best on the line, and hopefully, let the cars do the talking. It's nice to race somebody like that, I have respect for him. He is one of the guys I looked at when I first started driving.

Dixon had the car to beat with the Jason McCulloch on the wrenches, and his own fine-tuned wheeling abilities completed the package. He carefully pedaled through tire shake early in the final-round winning run and was better off the starting line than two of his opponents during eliminations.

"Last week I did a poor job and was really lucky to get the win, but this week, I did it a little better," Dixon said. "For every round, we got the win light, and we sink or swim all together. We're all going to do it together as a team. Today, we got the win and I'm really thankful. A lot of times, those guys walk on water, and when they don't, hopefully I can help them."

Force, who basically clinched the 2002 Funny Car championship when he won in Las Vegas at the fall race that season, entered the event 52-24 against Pedregon in round wins and 12-10 in finals. He extended his final-round lead over his longtime rival with a 4.33 to Pedregon's tire-smoking effort. The 14-time world champion had only won from outside the top eight twice before and entered raceday starting from the No. 11 spot.

"My Mustang knows how to run at night, but it doesn't like the heat," Force said. "We started in Pomona with Mike Neff (helping tune next to Austin Coil), and everywhere we've run good. In Houston we ran good, but when the sun came out, we were toast. Here, we came out with the attitude of, 'Just make it go A to B.' We've learned a lot, and I dedicate this trophy to Mike Neff.

"We all want a championship in the end, but what I work for right now is to be able to compete and show my kids that I can still do it. I want to show them how much I love it and what it really means to me."

The final was the first of the year for Force's final-round opponent Pedregon, and his first since his runner-up in Memphis last season. Raceday in Las Vegas was eerily reminiscent of that Memphis Sunday, when he popped the supercharger in the second round, launched the body in the air and had to come back for the next round with a new one. In the Las Vegas semifinals, Pedregon got the win over a tire-smoking Del Worsham, but not without a bit of drama; his Herzog-branded Chevy Impala body was damaged down track when a massive fire brewed beneath it after dropping cylinders, forcing the two-time Full Throttle series champion to arrive at the starting line in the final round with a muted back-up body.

Pro Stock's Stanfield, the No. 11 qualifier, was two-hundredths better out of the gate in his Nitro Fish Pontiac GXP but just didn't have enough for Edwards, who got the win light, 6.751 to 6.813. As per the norm, Edwards had low e.t. every round, clicking off a 6.721, 6.743, and 6.735 en route to his fifth money round and fourth win of the season and the 24th victory of his career.

"My team is outrageously dependable," Edwards said. "They're awesome. To come out here and run in conditions that were 180 degrees different than Houston, to make the adjustments and make this car do what it did here, these guys are awesome.

"You look back last year, when we got in these conditions when the summer came around, we felt like we could get back to our form. We really run good in the summertime when tracks get worse, we have a pretty good handle on those conditions. Hopefully, it can stay hot, but maybe not this hot. It feels good to come out here and win in Vegas. I've been coming a long time and running really well but never could close the deal."

After Rickie Jones tree'd the reigning world champ in the opening stanza but couldn't follow through at the top end, Edwards clicked off a pair of teen lights in the second and third rounds and ran quicker than Warren Johnson and Greg Anderson on his way to the final round meeting with Stanfield.

"I've struggled (with my driving), and it seems like when you get that big old bullseye on you, you tense up and can't do the things you need to do," Edwards said. "I'm happy with our performance, and I drove good a couple runs, and hopefully we can take this and run with it. It's a long season, but I sure like the way our team is jelling together, and I feel really good about this year."

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Kelly Wade

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