Matt Smith, who shared the winner’s circle a week ago in Brainerd with Schumacher, did it again after scoring in Pro Stock Motorcycle with his second straight final-round victory over Angelle Sampey. Jack Beckman and Jeg Coughlin each earned their second wins of the season and first since early spring with their respective Funny Car and Pro Stock final-round conquests of Frank Hawley and Dave Connolly.

Schumacher and Dixon began the season tied with 41 wins apiece, and both were in their 82nd Top Fuel final round in Reading, but that’s where the duality ended as Schumacher continued his roll by earning his fifth straight Wally and record-tying 10th of the season and Dixon suffered his fourth straight final-round loss of the season, 3.84 to 3.89.

“It’s definitely been incredible,” said Schumacher. “There really are no words. I could stand up here all day long and try to explain it, but it’s been a gift of a year. We’ve been together for five years, and this year has been the most dominant that we’ve ever been. It’s just an awesome car, and it hasn’t been one of those cars that’s run a tenth faster than everyone. That [final] there, it was a tenth of a second — good race. The driver had to do his job, and I think I’m driving good because it’s tight racing. It’s constant suck-it-up moments.”

Looking toward the playoffs, where his huge lead will be reset to just 30, Schumacher said, “They’re going to take all the points away, and I’m going to show up at the last race and try and win the race. If someone else wins the championship, I’m going to walk over there and shake their hand. We know the rules. We read the Rulebook. I knew coming in that if we won every race coming up here, they were going to take all the points away. We’ve been doing it this way for a year now, and I’m not going to be a hypocrite and say it was only good last year because it helped us. As good as we’re running, if we can’t close the deal at the end of the year, so be it, and someone else is going to be the POWERade champ. We have a great team, no matter what happens. If we didn’t show up at the last six races, we still have had a great season.”

Schumacher, who qualified his Alan Johnson-tuned Army dragster No. 1 for the third time in the last four races, earned a first-round bye for the second straight event and followed with victories over Brandon Bernstein and returning vet Clay Millican. Millican, appearing at just his second NHRA event this season and first since

Dixon, the winner earlier this year in Phoenix and runner-up in Houston, Bristol, and

The Funny Car final pitted two racers who previously worked together to teach the fine art of driving at Hawley’s NHRA Drag Racing School, and come the final exam, the teacher, Beckman, beat the headmaster, Hawley, with a 4.18 after Hawley had to abort his pass. The win was the fifth of Beckman’s career in Funny Car and came just a week after he red-lighted in the final round in Brainerd.“I screwed up last week,” admitted Beckman. “I had a car that could win the race, but I gave it away in the final. You never want to do that, so this is a little bit of redemption. Getting that trophy for the crew means everything.

“Racing Frank Hawley was huge. Like I said, it’s like a Little League pitcher that’s just a huge fan of the sport, and they bring up Mickey Mantle to play ball with you. Frank’s meant so much to this sport, and having him back in this sport is only going to make it better. Of course, the last thing we needed was another tough Funny Car out here. I was so happy for him when he won his rounds, and he was happy for me up until the final round, so that was cool. It was just a fairy-tale weekend.”

Beckman, like Dixon a winner earlier this season in Phoenix and winless since, reached his second straight final round and his third in the last five races after a disappointing string of events where he failed to reach the second round in six events and did not qualify at three others. Beckman, who clinched his spot in the Countdown playoffs in eliminations, powered his Tommy Delago- and Johnny West-tuned Valvoline/Mail Terminal Services Dodge past points leader Tim Wilkerson, 14-time world champ John Force, and 1992 champ and low qualifier Cruz Pedregon in the semifinals.

“Closing out a spot in the top 10 is good,” added Beckman. “We go into Indy a little bit more relaxed. The crew gave me such a great, consistent race car. A couple of times, it wanted to move over toward the centerline, but it was a pretty smooth car all weekend long. We just stunk in the middle part of the season — nine races without a round-win. We had to kind of take a couple of steps backward to kind of start picking away at this. We’ve been consistent for a few races. Now, I think we’re starting to get quick, and I think if we can take that into cold-weather tracks, we will be contending for the championship.”

Hawley, who last reached an NHRA final round in Top Fuel in

Teammates Coughlin and Connolly squared off for the Pro Stock bragging rights, but the race was over before it even started when Connolly left the starting line .005-second too quick, drawing a red-light, his first of the season. Coughlin, the reigning world champ, made it official with a 6.650-second pass. The win was Coughlin’s 40th in the class and 53rd overall.Coughlin skipped past first-round loser Jason Line and into third place in points by defeating V. Gaines, Jim Yates, and red-lighting Kurt Johnson with three passes from his Jegs.com Cobalt that were within almost one-hundredth of a second of one another to reach his 65th Pro Stock final.

“We did a good job today, but we were also pretty fortunate. You don’t expect Kurt Johnson and Dave Connolly to go red against you, but we’ll take it,” Coughlin said. “Our car was struggling, we qualified 11th, and we knew we’d have our work cut out for us. The last couple of weeks, we’ve kind of been on that end of the qualifying, but we’ve been real strong on race day, so my hopes were still high. I have a lot of confidence in this team, and I felt we’d be a top-five team on Sunday.

“We need to carry this momentum into the Countdown. Indy is the biggest race of the year, no question about it, but come Charlotte [the inaugural NHRA Carolinas Nationals], we’re running for the POWERade world championship, and we want to win a fifth championship. We’ve got all the ingredients to make that happen, even against the likes of Allen Johnson, KB Racing, and Warren Johnson and that group. We’re poised, and we’re ready to fire. We’re getting that look back in our eye.”

Connolly, who began the season five races late while pursuing sponsorship, moved his Charter Communications Cobalt past Gaines and Mike Edwards in points, leapfrogging from eighth place to sixth. He put a dagger into the heart of longtime rival Warren Johnson’s playoff hopes by beating “the Professor” in round one, then defeated low qualifier and points leader Greg Anderson on a holeshot, the 42nd such driver-crucial victory in his career. In the semifinals, Connolly aced Dodge runner Allen Johnson to reach his 35th Pro Stock final.

The Pro Stock Motorcycle final round was a rematch of Smith’s and Sampey’s clash in Brainerd, where Sampey’s bike refused to fire due to a faulty cam sensor and Smith soloed to victory. Though she made it to the line this time, the results were the same, with Smith flashing to victory, the 10th of his career, 6.98 to 7.06.Defending world champ Smith, who moved past points leader Andrew Hines when the latter fouled in round one, rode his Nitro Fish Buell past Paul Gast, Craig Treble, and Steve Johnson to reach his 19th final round.

“We had the fastest bike every round today,” said Smith. “We got over our tranny problems shifting that we had on Saturday. We had a good bike today. Taking over the points lead is huge because somebody told me that you get 30 extra points for being No. 1. I was like, ‘Man, we didn’t get that last year.’ That’ll be good. We’re peaking at the right time. That’s why we brought the new bike out: to try and get some data on it and run it.

“I’m just glad to be able to run for a championship again. We’re going to try and win every race that we can. If we can get far enough ahead of everybody, then it’s going to be hard for them all to catch us. Hopefully, we can get out there ahead as far as we can and let them catch up.”

Sampey, who scored the first win of her career at this event in 1996 but has not won a national event in more than two years, since she beat Smith in the final in Columbus, Ohio, in 2006, raced from seventh place to fourth in points, rebounding from her Brainerd disappointment to reach the final again – her 10th in 12 appearances at this event — with her Rush Racing Buell. She trailered Wes Wells, Chris Rivas, and Karen Stoffer to make it to the money round, the 68th of her career. Stoffer did herself a huge favor by reaching the semifinals with her GEICO Suzuki, crashing into a provisional playoff berth and moving Hector Arana to the outside with one race to go.

Lucas Oil Sportsman titles were won by Marty Thacker (Top Alcohol Dragster), Frank Manzo (Top Alcohol Funny Car, the 77th win of his career and ninth straight at this event), Dan Fletcher (Super Stock, his 53rd win), Anthony Fetch (Stock), Jeff Strickland (Super Comp), and Iggie Boicesco (Super Gas).

After claiming his 50th win, Schumacher is just two wins away from tying Joe Amato’s record for career Top Fuel victories and the way his U.S. Army car is running, he’s likely to get there this season. The reigning POWERade champ has now reached the final round in nine of the last 11 races, winning seven times. After receiving a single run in the final, Schumacher once again took car of his arch rival, Rod Fuller, 3.92 to 3.98, and then earned a spot in the final with a 3.88 win over Doug Kalitta’s Mac Tools dragster. “I’m quite aware of how good this team is; It’s the best team I’ve ever seen,” said Schumacher. “We’re racing against great teams. It’s a lot of pressure but I love those situations. It’s amazing to be a part of these moments. I feel like I’m driving my best. I feel like I’m doing a good job keeping the car in the center [of the lane] I feel like I’m part of the team right now.”

McClenathan, who along with Schumacher, Antron Brown, Fuller, Larry Dixon, and Brandon Bernstein, has secured his spot in the Countdown to One, reached the final for the 53rd time in his career with a semifinal win over No. 2 qualifier Steve Torrence in the semifinals. McClenathan ran as quick as 3.89 in eliminations, but couldn’t match the Army dragster in the final. 

Pedregon, who began the year with a fiery explosion in Pomona and suffered a similar incident in

Although disappointed at losing the final, Beckman had a get healthy weekend in Brainerd as he moved past Mike Neff and into the ninth spot in the Countdown to the Championship. After qualifying eighth, the former Super Comp national champion and driving school instructor used a string of low 4.2s to defeat Gary Densham, Ron Capps, and points leader Tim Wilkerson to reach the final for the eighth time in his professional career. The Funny Car field for the Countdown to the Championship has also begun to take shape as Wilkerson, Pedregon, Robert Hight, and Cruz Pedregon have secured their starting spots.

After a disappointing round one loss in

Five drivers in Pro Stock are confirmed for the Countdown; Greg Anderson, Kurt Johnson, Jason Line, Jeg Coughlin, and Allen Johnson. Connolly, who missed the first five races of the season, has climbed to eighth after reaching back-to-back finals.

The opening round of Pro Stock Motorcycle was wildly unpredictable as bottom-half qualifiers Craig Treble, David Hope, Mike Berry, and Wes Wells all won on holeshots. Smith, who was riding in pain after being diagnosed with kidney stones earlier in the weekend, somehow maintained his focus and cruised through the field, running in the sixes on three of four runs, including a 6.954 in the opening round and a 6.973 on his final round single. He also received a single run in the opening round when Jim Underdahl broke. “This is amazing,” said Smith. “For us to come here with a new bike, qualify No. 1 and win the race is unreal. When we brought this new bike out, we thought we might have to give up a race or two while we were getting it sorted out. We figured that we’d be in good shape for the start of the Countdown in

“I was in a lot of pain this weekend and last night I went to the hospital and they told me I have 10 kidney stones,” said Smith. “It really hurts, but it helps to get the win. In the third round, I was really in a lot of pain and maybe that’s why I had a late [.110 reaction time] but now I’m just going to go home and get well before

Although he lost in the semifinals, Chip Ellis joined Smith and Andrew Hines as the three riders have locked up their Countdown to One berths in the battle for the 10 spots.

In Lucas Oil Sportsman action, Brina Splingaire won her second national event title of the year in Super Gas, and then returned a few minutes later for the Super Comp, final where she lost to Rick Bowman. Other winners were Brandon Lewis (Top Alcohol Dragster), Mick Snyder (Top Alcohol Funny Car), Arnie Martel (Comp), and Brett Speer (Stock).

Schumacher, who is seeking to win his fourth consecutive race and ninth overall in 2008, backed up Friday’s 3.864 with a best of 3.871 on Saturday. He has now qualified in the top spot five times this season and 52 times in his career, tying him with Hall of Famer Don “the Snake” Prudhomme. After running a best of 3.869 on Friday, Steve Torrence and his Vis Viva team elected to sit out both of Saturday’s qualifying runs in order to prepare for Sunday’s opening round. Cory McClenathan (3.877), Larry Dixon (3.899), and Doug Herbert (3.901) are also seeded into the top half of the field.“This is a great spot to be in but more importantly, my car is running great,” said Schumacher. “We have a single in the first round tomorrow but that doesn’t matter; we still have to go four rounds. The key is to let the past be the past. We have to focus on the round and forget about winning four in a row or five races in a row. If we win the race, you can tell us about all the hoopla then.”

With 15 Top Fuel cars on the grounds, Schumacher will receive a round one bye during tomorrow’s opening round. Torrence will be paired with No. 15 qualifier Hillary Will, who never made a full pass and qualified with a 4.546 best.

Morgan Lucas and Bob Vandergriff, who are currently ranked 11th and 12th in the POWERade standings and are trying to qualify for the Countdown to One, will have their work cut out for them in Brainerd. Lucas is paired with No. 7 qualifier and four-time Brainerd winner Antron Brown while Vandergriff will face off against No. 6 qualifier Dave Grubnic.

Force qualified in the top spot in Funny Car for the second consecutive event as her 4.110 from Friday remained the quickest elapsed time of the weekend. Force’s teammates are all qualified in the top half of the field as her father, John, is second with a 4.112, followed by Robert Hight (4.119) and Mike Neff, who is fifth with a 4.176. Del Worsham prevented a clean sweep of the top spots by putting his Check Schuck’s Kragen Impala into the No. 4 spot with a 4.152. Force will be paired with No. 16 qualifier Ron Capps in tomorrow’s opening round. ”This is great but we really hope to win some rounds tomorrow,” said Force. “We’ve struggled at the last few races even though we’ve been qualifying well. We just haven’t had any luck. I’m happy about being No. 1 but I’m trying not to get too excited. This is the best qualifying performance we’ve had at John Force Racing in a while. We’re all in the top half of the field so hopefully we won’t run each other until the late rounds.”

“Someone asked me if I was going to the Zoo [the infamous Brainerd campground] tonight but, no, I’m more concerned with winning the race tomorrow. However, I would encourage all of my competitors to go there tonight.”

In the final qualifying session, Tommy Johnson Jr. drove the Monster Dodge to a 4.39 to bump his wife, Melanie Troxel from the field. Troxel returned the favor one pair later, running a 4.276 in Roger Burgess’ ProCare RX entry to knock Johnson from the field.

In addition to Johnson,

Anderson remained atop the Pro Stock field with Friday’s 6.679 blast from his Summit Racing Equipment Pontiac and has secured the top spot for the 66th time in his career but fellow

Smith, debuting a new Nitro Fish Buell that was completed just days before the start of the event, broke the BIR track record with a 6.958 on Saturday, knocking Chris Rivas to the No. 2 spot. Although he was suffering from the painful effects of a kidney stone, Smith managed to claim the top spot for the third time this season. Rivas improved his performance by a couple of thousandths and finished second with a 6.977 while Angelle Sampey joined the short list of six-second qualifiers with a 6.984.

Jim Underdahl, the son of former rider and current Karen Stoffer crew member Greg Underdahl, bumped his way into the field with a 7.274 and will be a part of final eliminations on Sunday for the first time in his career. Joe DeSantis actually matched Underdahl’s elapsed time to the thousandth of a second late in the final qualifying round, but the second-generation rider claimed the No. 16 spot based on his faster speed, 185.10 to 184.83.

Just my observation but what about Tommy Johnson jr.?  Will he have a ride next year?  What is the deal?  Is it the competition? 

Tony Bartone, what happened?  Wins his first in Nitro now 2 DNQ’s…

Just my thoughts, what about yours.

Nitro Dogs will be finally updating our web site, we have just not had the talent to do what we needed so keep on the look out for the new launch. 

Also we will be unvailing our new race program in the near future so stay tuned…

Fresh off a sweep of the annual Western Swing, Schumacher continues to set the pace in Top Fuel with a 3.864 from his Alan Johnson-tuned U.S. Army Dragster. There are currently just 15 Top Fuel cars on the grounds of BIR, so Schumacher will receive a bye run in Sunday’s first round should he hang on to the top spot through tomorrow’s qualifying rounds. “I know the other teams don’t want to see us get a break but we could use one,” said Schumacher, who has won eight times this season. “The few times there have been 15 cars, we haven’t been there to take advantage of it. Getting that single run on Sunday could be huge especially if the sun is out and the track is hot.

“That [3.864] was a really great run. We had an .830 60-foot time and when the car got to half-track, I knew we were going to the top spot,” Schumacher continued. “I didn’t know if it would hold because [Steve] Torrence and Cory Mac were right behind us but I knew it was a good run.”

Torrence entered the round as the top qualifier after posting a 3.919 in Dexter Tuttle’s Vis Viva dragster earlier in the day. Dave Grubnic, Doug Herbert and Larry Dixon all surpassed Torrence’s time before Schumacher took the No. 1 spot. Torrence improved from his earlier 3.919 with a 3.869 for the No. 2 spot and McClenathan is currently third with a 3.877 in his Fram entry. Although every Top Fuel driver in Brainerd will make the field, Doug Kalitta, Hillary Will and J.R. Todd will have to do so on Saturday as they are currently not among the 12 drivers that are seeded into the field on Friday.

Two weeks after earning her first low qualifier award in Sonoma, Ashley Force is half-way to her second pole as the former Automobile Club of Southern California Road to the Future award winner posted the quickest time of the day in her Castrol Mustang. After smoking the tires in the opening round, Force suffered no such problems on her second run, posting a 4.110 to lead all qualifiers including her father, John, who is just a couple of thousandths behind in second with a 4.112, and teammate Robert Hight, who is third with a 4.119.“We were really happy with that run,” said Force. “Now, we can really push it tomorrow because we can’t get bumped from the field. At this time of the year, every round, even in qualifying is critical. Everything counts for something. It’s going to come down to who wins rounds at the end of the year so it really helps to know that we have a good car.

“I was surprise it ran that fast because it felt so smooth,” she said. “That was the clearest view I’ve ever had on any run that I’ve made.”

With 19 nitro Funny Car cars on the grounds, the battle to make the 16-car field should intensify tomorrow. Currently, Cruz Pedregon sits 10th with a 4.231 followed by current POWERade points leader Tim Wilkerson (4.354) and Gary Scelzi (4.370), who sits 12th after posting a 4.370 in his Mopar Oakley Dodge. Those who must bump their way into the field tomorrow include Tommy Johnson Jr., Ron Capps, Bob Tasca III, Jim Head, Seattle champ Tony Bartone, Melanie Troxel and Bob Bode.

Anderson made two of the quickest runs of the day in Pro Stock, driving his Summit Pontiac to a 6.703 in the opening session before returning late in the afternoon to steal the top spot with a 6.679. Line is also looking solid after notching a pair of 6.69 runs.“On the first pass, Jason and I were both a little heavy on the clutch but on the second run, I got just about all of it,” said

Rivas, who is seeking to claim the top spot for the third time this season, closed out Friday’s second Pro Stock Motorcycle session with a 6.979 to claim the provisional pole. Rivas was also the top qualifier in Joliet and Englishtown, two races where he reached the final round. The field’s only other six-second qualifier is reigning NHRA POWERade champ Matt Smith, who rode his brand new Nitro Fish Buell to a 6.985 the second spot.“We’ve been trying to solidify our spot in the Ringers [Pro Bike Battle] so we’re counting every point,” said Rivas. “That’s been a high priority for us lately but it looks like we’ve got it squared away. Now, our objective needs to be winning rounds on Sunday so we can get another Wally. It is great to be No. 1 but I won’t lose any sleep over it if I’m not.

“We made a good run in the first session but we’ve also been having a lot of little mechanical issues so we completely pulled the bike apart between the two runs,” said Rivas. “We changed a lot of parts; in fact, we changed some parts twice because we weren’t comfortable with them. This is a testament to the effort that our crew puts into this.”

Karen Stoffer, who was the surprise low qualifier at the most recent event in