NHRA Summit Racing Equipment Nationals
June 24-27^th, 2010  Norwalk, Ohio

Nationals Notebook:

 A PRO STOCK SWEEP FOR ANDERSON                   (By: NHRA Communications)

Greg Anderson raced to his first Pro Stock victory of the season Sunday at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals held at Norwalk Ohio’s Summit Racing Equipment Motorsport Park.

In winning the Pro Stock final, three-time world champ Anderson pocketed more than $125,000 for the weekend by sweeping today’s eliminations and Saturday’s K&N Horsepower Challenge all-star event, which includes a $25,000 double-up bonus from NHRA.

Anderson outran Allen Johnson in the final round for his 61^st career victory. Anderson’s Summit Racing Pontiac GXP posted a winning performance of 6.722 seconds at 204.54 mph to hold off Johnson’s Team Mopar Dodge Avenger, which slowed at mid-track and finished in 6.982 at 159.38.

“This is beyond a dream weekend,” said Anderson, who also swept both races in 2004. “I couldn’t have even have dreamed anything this big before we came here this week. I just hoped and prayed that we came here with a good performance and functioned properly throughout the weekend and just had a slight chance of sneaking a few round-wins and maybe a lucky victory away, and we ended up sweeping the weekend and taking every doggone nickel they had to give. It’s been a long time since we’ve had a weekend like this. I guess I’ve got to go back three or four years when we had a car that could do these things.”

Anderson outran Johnny Gray, Jeg Coughlin and Jason Line to advance to his first final since the 50^th Winternationals at Pomona in February. He was happy to take his first win of the season in front of his sponsor Summit Racing Equipment, who also sponsors the event and the track.

Mike Edwards continues to lead the Pro Stock standings by a wide margin despite a rare first round exit.

Dixon claimed his seventh victory of the season in Top Fuel, beating Antron Brown in the final round. Dixon finished in 3.880 at 313.29 in his Al-Anabi Racing dragster while Brown trailed with a 3.907 at 307.65 in his Matco Tools dragster. It was Dixon’s second consecutive win at this event and the 55^th of his career.

“Seven for seven, I feel fortunate,” said Dixon, who defeated Troy Buff, Doug Foley and rival Tony Schumacher in the first three rounds and extended his series lead with the win. “There’s been a lot of tight races (this year). Out of this four race swing, to have three wins out of four that’s huge. That’s the only way you can stay ahead in the points. Nobody can catch you if you’re winning rounds. We got four more races before the Countdown starts, and we’ll go from there.”

In Funny Car, Wilkerson took his second win of the season and 15^th of his career by getting revenge over John Force, who beat him last weekend in Bristol, Tenn. Wilkerson’s Levi, Ray & Shoup Ford Mustang posted a 4.191 at 300.40 to hold off Force, who finished in 4.272 at 290.88 in his Castrol GTX High-Mileage Mustang. Wilkerson beat Bob Tasca, Jeff Arend and Del Worsham to make the final and defeat Force.

“It was great to win over John because he’s so good, and he’s coming into his own again,” Wilkerson said. “After one bad year, he’s making us all look like we don’t know what we’re doing again, so we’re happy to have that win over John. Last weekend, we let him off the hook. We need to do our deal and keep going down the track run after run after run. There’s still four races left [in the regular season], so we have to keep on our game.”

With the runner-up finish Force increased his series lead to 73 over teammate Robert Hight.

Smith raced to his second victory of the season and 12^th overall in Pro Stock Motorcycle, beating defending world champion Hector Arana in the final. Smith clocked a 7.076 at 188.36 on his Al-Anabi Racing Buell, to hold off Arana’s Lucas Oil Buell, which finished in 7.080 at 188.52.

Defending world champ Arana continues to lead the series standings, despite not winning a race this season in four final round appearances.

MUSI EARNS FIRST GSA SERIES VICTORY

 Veteran drag racer Pat Musi raced to his first NHRA Get Screened America Pro Mod Drag Racing Series victory Sunday at Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park.

Musi, who outran Troy Coughlin, Ed Hoover and top qualifier Raymond Commisso in the first three rounds, defeated Brad Personett in the final round. It was Musi’s first victory in NHRA competition since 1981, when the New Jersey driver won a Wally in Pro Stock competition at the Gatornationals in Gainesville, Fla.

Musi’s Dodge Stratus, which features EFI, posted a 5.981 at 239.44 to hold off Personett’s hard-charging ’68 Camaro, which trailed with a 5.996 at 251.02.

Series points leader Von Smith, winner of three events this season, was upset in the first round by Rickie Smith. Smith leads Danny Rowe by 85 points with three races remaining in the 10 event series.

The GSA feature included two serious incidents both which occurred during Friday’s 2^nd qualifying session.  Both Tony Pontieri (Toronto ON) and Roger Burgess (Duluth GA) lost race cars under similar but unrelated circumstances.  Pontieri suffered a neck injury while Roger Burgess was thankfully not injured.

K&N Horsepower Challenge to Anderson

Greg Anderson won $50,000 by racing to victory during Saturday’s K&N Horsepower Challenge, a special bonus event for Pro Stock competitors at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals.

Anderson used a quicker reaction at the start to upset the special event’s top seed Mike Edwards. In a battle between Pontiac GXPs, Anderson crossed the finish line first in the final round with a 6.685 second run at 206.23 mph in his Summit Racing GXP before Edwards could catch him with his quicker performance of 6.677 at 207.11 in his Penhall/Interstate Batteries machine.

It was Anderson’s third victory in the bonus race for the eight best Pro Stock performers from the last year.  Because he also won during the Summit Racing Equipment Nationals the following day Anderson collected an additional $25,000 bonus from NHRA for sweeping both events.  His weekend payday was more than $100,000.

Pro Stock Winner - Greg Anderson

(Photo by:  Steve Embling)