amanda_brahler 's avatar
Author:
Amanda Brahler
Login For More
Rate this article:
  • 0/5 Stars
SPEEDtv.com Store
Grand National:America's Golden Age of Motorcycle Racing, by Joe Scalzo
Joe Scalzo’s book captures the spirit of the Golden Age of motorcycle racing.
Our Price: $39.95
Visit Button
Buy Button
Man-Made Thunder
The book examines the sport of stock car racing through the eyes and ears of the men behind the wheel and the wrenches.
Our Price: $49.00
Visit Button
Buy Button
Unisex Sandwich Cap
Unisex Velcro back hat with SPEED logo on front. PINKS logo embroidered on left and PAO logo on right. One size fits all.
Our Price: $24.95
Visit Button
Buy Button
Speedway T-shirt
Men's 6 oz. 100% Cotton Jersey Short Sleeve Tee. SPEED logo imprinted on the front center chest.
Our Price: $24.99
Visit Button
Buy Button
Ferrari Red Classic Hat
100% cotton twill. Ferrari shield embroidered on front, piping on the peak and Ferrari logo embroidered on back strap adjuster.
Our Price: $30.00 ($27.00 Member)
Visit Button
Buy Button
Footer Bg
  • Zoom More Photos Button
  • Camera Icon
NHRA: Two Straight For Dixon With Summit Win
Written by: Amanda Brahler
Go2Geiger.com   http://www.go2geiger.com
06/29/2009
Norwalk, OH
 
Larry Dixon walked away with his second straight Wally, his third in the last four races, knocking out Brandon Bernstein in the Top Fuel finals of the Third Annual Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals at Summit Motorsports Park.

Jack Beckman, Jason Line and Andrew Hines also went home victorious, taking the wins in their respective classes.
Dixon moved into second behind Brown in the standings over Tony Schumacher after the reigning champion smoked his tires in the quarterfinals against Spencer Massey. (Go2Geiger.com) ยป More Photos

“Four win lights. At the end of the day, that’s what counts. There were certain rounds that were not pretty but at the same time, we were a good car, every pair,” Dixon said.

It’s the third time this season that Bernstein has fallen to Dixon’s Al-Anabi-backed machine in the finals. Dixon now has 47 career Top Fuel wins.

Adding to his recent success with the newly formed Alan Johnson team after DNQ'ing at the season-opening Pomona, Dixon said,"They were a good team. The biggest thing that they were working on was clutches and blowers and trying to find the personality of all of the parts they have. For me, it was trying to find my comfort zone within the team. I was underneath one camp for a long period of time and then you switch. They like things a lot different. It’s taken me a little while of adapting."

Bernstein spun the tires on his Budweiser rail halfway down the track, leaving Dixon a runaway for the win in 3.981 at 294.05 mph.
Dixon paired off against points leader Antron Brown’s in the semis, easily riding into the finals after Brown broke loose, shutting off his Matco Tools dragster before finishing his run.

Dixon moved into second behind Brown in the standings over Tony Schumacher after the reigning champion smoked his tires in the quarterfinals against Spencer Massey.

Jack Beckman was the man of the day in Funny Car class, gift-wrapping himself a win on his 43rd birthday in the Valvoline sponsored Charger. The win was the 130th event victory for Don Schumacher Racing.

Like Dixon, Beckman’s competitor, Bob Tasca, smoked the tires on his Ford Motorcraft Mustang off the line in his run.

Clearly, luck was on Beckman’s side on his big day having peeled off of the line in .001, followed by a pass in 4.315 at 277.54 mph.

“I think only on my birthday I could get away with what I got away with. In the final, I made a mistake and got away with it, pure and simple,” Beckman said.

Prior to the NHRA event weekend at the Summit Motorsports Park, track officials opted to repave the lanes. Temperatures were high throughout the weekend and despite a rain shower setting the start of competition back a bit on Sunday, the sun came out and temperatures again soared, giving Beckman reason to be on guard.

“Because of the track conditions here, I am not sure if this was the hottest track that we’ve raced on all year but we were at 132. With the new asphalt, it was slippery down there. I don’t think you were going to see somebody dominate. You’re strapped in the car and you see somebody smoke the tires in front of you, I felt like I would be ready to catch it.”

In getting to the finals, Tasca paired off against points leader Ashley Force Hood in the Castrol GTX Ford Mustang. Force Hood reached the semis by beating Ron Capps' NAPA Dodge Charger in the quarterfinals, putting on a driving display after saving her Mustang from a 90-degree turn, nearly off the line. The car broke sideways but she straightened it out and steered it down track, edging out Capps.

Beckman reached the finals after taking out John Force in the Castrol High Mileage Ford Mustang.

Jason Line kept with the Summit Racing theme of the weekend, taking the win in Pro Stock in his Summit-sponsored Pontiac GXP over Mike Edwards' Young Life GXP.

“This is absolutely the biggest win for me. This is a great time to do it. We’re tired of watching that yellow car win races. We need to get out there too. (We) haven’t done a good job lately,” Line said.

Line gave a lot of credit to his win on he decision to swap out his cars, replacing his original ride for a new one this weekend.

“There was really nothing wrong with the other car. We made some changes and obviously it paid off,” he said. “I think we’d be pretty foolish to give up this thing. They’re going to have to pry my hands off of it.”

Though falling short at the finish, Edwards had a big win earlier in the day, knocking out points leader and growing nemesis Jeg Coughlin Jr. in the Jegs.com Chevy Cobalt to earn his place in the semis.

Despite the recently added weight to their Screamin' Eagle Harley V-Rods, Vance & Hines teammates Andrew Hines and Eddie Krawiec made the best of it with the two facing off in the Pro Stock Motorcycle finals. The
two had a classic drag race with Hines beating Krawiec, who made his fifth consecutive final round appearance, in 7.024 compared to Krawiec’s time of 7.032.

“It sure feels nice to get back in the Winner’s Circle and to do it against my teammate when we qualified first and third, it makes it that much better.

We were going into the final round in a win-win situation. I obviously wanted to win because Eddie has been kicking my butt lately,” Hines said.

The win was his first since last summer in St. Louis.

SUNDAY'S RESULTS

TOP FUEL

ROUND ONE: Clay Millican, 4.054, 287.41 def. Doug Kalitta, 4.332, 244.12; Tony Schumacher, 3.991, 286.01 def. Morgan Lucas, 4.388, 236.13; Cory McClenathan, 3.949, 292.14 def. Rod Fuller, 4.006, 288.95; Spencer Massey, 4.072, 269.51 def. Pat Dakin, 4.126, 280.31; Larry Dixon, 3.983, 295.92 def. Steven Chrisman, 4.185, 248.29; Troy Buff, 4.127, 277.54 def. Shawn Langdon, 4.206, 238.01; Antron Brown, 3.945, 295.40 def. Joe Hartley, 4.122, 284.75; Brandon Bernstein, 4.096, 279.79 def. Tim Cullinan, 5.133, 127.93; QUARTERFINALS: Bernstein, 4.310, 249.12 def. Buff, 10.359, 76.35; Massey, 4.052, 279.38 def. Schumacher, 8.392, 72.76; Dixon, 4.174, 251.81 def. Millican, 8.717, 72.75; Brown, 3.982, 291.45 def. McClenathan, 4.066, 278.00; SEMIFINALS: Bernstein, 4.172, 260.56 def. Massey, 4.449, 195.39; Dixon, 4.117, 256.16 def. Brown, 6.966, 74.16; FINAL: Dixon, 3.981, 294.05 def. Bernstein, 7.257, 94.06.

FUNNY CAR

ROUND ONE: Jack Beckman, Dodge Charger, 4.344, 272.01 def. Bob Bode, Chevy Impala SS, 5.617, 130.83; Ashley Force Hood, Ford Mustang, 4.279, 276.41 def. Del Worsham, Toyota Solara, 4.356, 268.12; Robert Hight, Mustang, 4.279, 279.67 def. Cruz Pedregon, Solara, 4.397, 266.90; Mike Neff, Mustang, 4.250, 278.75 def. Tim Wilkerson, Mustang, 4.322, 273.83; Jim Head, Solara, 4.300, 253.95 def. Tony Pedregon, Impala, 4.661, 184.62; Ron Capps, Charger, 4.273, 275.45 def. Jeff Arend, Solara, 4.756, 180.57; John Force, Mustang, 4.268, 280.89 def. Jerry Toliver, Chevy Monte Carlo, 4.583, 201.61; Bob Tasca III, Mustang, 4.405, 266.69 def. Matt Hagan, Charger, 4.382, 269.35; QUARTERFINALS: Beckman, 4.821, 196.24 def. Head, broke; Force Hood, 4.703, 205.72 def. Capps, 4.795, 174.23; Tasca III, 4.497, 248.43 def. Neff, 4.994, 172.83; Force, 4.303, 274.94 def. Hight, 4.326, 272.45; SEMIFINALS: Tasca III, 4.435, 269.08 def. Force Hood, 4.489, 239.23; Beckman, 4.322, 271.41 def. Force, 4.441, 246.80; FINAL: Beckman, 4.315, 277.54 def. Tasca III, 6.470, 149.93.

PRO STOCK

ROUND ONE: Greg Stanfield, Pontiac GXP, 6.741, 204.79 def. Kurt Johnson, Chevy Cobalt, 6.735, 205.47; Ron Krisher, Cobalt, 6.733, 205.57 def. David Beckley, Dodge Stratus, 6.718, 204.85; Warren Johnson, GXP, 6.726, 205.98 def. Rodger Brogdon, GXP, 6.726, 205.26; Jeg Coughlin, Cobalt, 6.693, 206.04 def. Rickie Jones, Stratus, 6.759, 204.35; Jason Line, GXP, 6.682, 206.35 def. Johnny Gray, Stratus, 6.737, 204.85; Mike Edwards, GXP, 6.659, 207.34 def. Justin Humphreys, GXP, 6.736, 204.91; Greg Anderson, GXP, 6.681, 206.83 def. Ryan Ondrejko, GXP, 6.744, 203.86; Allen Johnson, Stratus, 6.692, 205.66 def. Larry Morgan, Stratus, 6.740, 204.91; QUARTERFINALS: Krisher, 6.964, 202.70 def. A. Johnson, 16.440, 50.07; Line, 6.702, 206.13 def. W. Johnson, 6.708, 206.73; Stanfield, 6.742, 205.16 def. Anderson, 6.705, 206.10; Edwards, 6.666, 207.15 def. Coughlin, 10.141, 91.38; SEMIFINALS: Line, 6.697, 206.16 def. Krisher, 6.730, 205.66; Edwards, 6.702, 207.21 def. Stanfield, 6.742, 205.07; FINAL: Line, 6.665, 207.30 def. Edwards, 6.747, 203.71.

PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE

ROUND ONE: Douglas Horne, Buell, 7.116, 185.77 def. Michael Phillips, Suzuki, foul; Shawn Gann, Buell, 7.103, 186.95 def. Steve Johnson, Suzuki, 8.868, 98.75; Karen Stoffer, Suzuki, 7.087, 188.38 def. Craig Treble, Suzuki, 7.137, 188.91; Matt Guidera, Buell, 7.118, 182.18 def. David Hope, Buell, 29.128, no speed; Matt Smith, Suzuki, 7.049, 189.04 def. Junior Pippin, Buell, 7.144, 183.17; Eddie Krawiec, Harley-Davidson, 7.034, 189.07 def. Jim Underdahl, Suzuki, 7.161, 188.15; Angie McBride, Buell, 7.057, 188.81 def. Hector Arana, Buell, foul; Andrew Hines, Harley-Davidson, 7.044, 190.62 def. Mike Berry, Buell, 7.152, 185.15; QUARTERFINALS: McBride, 7.135, 182.01 def. Gann, 7.197, 184.22; Guidera, 7.797, 127.76 def. Smith, foul; Hines, 6.992, 191.32 def. Horne, 7.130, 186.12; Krawiec, 7.013, 190.51 def. Stoffer, 7.105, 188.02; SEMIFINALS: Krawiec, 7.069, 187.57 def. McBride, 7.142, 184.75; Hines, 7.033, 189.04 def. Guidera, broke; FINAL: Hines, 7.024, 189.98 def. Krawiec, 7.032, 190.78.
View All Comments