41st NHRA Supernationals
June 10-13th, 2010
Englishtown, NJ

NHRA SUPERNATIONALS WRAP UP

Larry Dixon raced to his sixth Top Fuel victory of the season Monday afternoon at the rain-delayed NHRA SuperNationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park.

Bob Tasca, Mike Edwards and Michael Phillips also were winners at the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series event.

Dixon posted a performance of 3.824 seconds at 320.05 mph in his Al-Anabi Racing dragster to take his 54th career victory by defeating Antron Brown, who finished runner-up at this event for the second straight time as his Matco Tools dragster lost traction near mid-track.

“Trophies like these – what I call the majors – always shine a little brighter for me,” Dixon said about winning for the sixth time in his career at the historic track. “This race, Indy, Pomona, Gainesville, and even Columbus back then, you want to do well. I feel blessed to be able to race well on tracks like these.”

Low ET of the event was set by Cory McClenathan who while driving the Fram-sponsored dragster, ran an amazing 3.752 secs on Friday night – the quickest run ever within NHRA’s new 1000 foot era.

Tasca claimed his first win of the season and third of his career by defeating Del Worsham in the Funny Car final. Initially the electronic timers showed Worsham’s Al-Anabi Racing Toyota as the winner, but the timing data later revealed Tasca actually crossed the finish line at the 1,000-foot mark first in his special themed Ford Parts.com Shelby Ford Mustang and NHRA officials overturned the outcome.

“It’s hard to put words together right now,” said an emotional Tasca said after winning at his longtime home track. “This is a special place for my family and to win here with all of my family here is just unbelievable. These are the moments you dream about as a kid laying in bed. This is a moment I’ll treasure forever. I know that my grandfather’s not here, but he’s looking on from above.”

Edwards took his seventh Pro Stock win of the season and third in a row by outrunning rookie Shane Gray in the final round. Edwards posted a 6.596 at 209.39 in his Penhall/Interstate Batteries Pontiac GXP, while Gray’s Tire Kingdom GXP trailed with a 6.634 at 209.07.

“Last year was a dream season with the championship, but this year is truly a dream come true,” Edwards said. “I’ve done this a long, long time and to experience this kind of success, I just praise the Lord for his blessings. We have a great team and committed ourselves to doing this, and it’s good to see the results.”

In Pro Stock Motorcycle, Phillips used a holeshot start on his Suzuki to defeat Steve Johnson for his second victory of the season and fifth of his career. Phillips covered the distance in 6.911 at 194.32 and just edged Johnson’s quicker Suzuki at the finish line, which ran a quicker, but losing, 6.886 at 194.63. With the victory, Phillips moves to second in the point standings.

“It’s been a great weekend to set the track record now that we’ve finally gotten a handle on the clutch, which has always been my biggest problem,” Phillips said. “I can’t thank Craig Treble enough for coming over and showing me some things.”

Smith Scores in Get Screened Pro Mod

Von Smith was able to fight off Mother Nature and a tough field in the NHRA Get Screened America Pro Mod Drag Racing Series at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park to get his second win of the season and in his career in the series.

In the finals, which were held on Monday due to rain postponing action on Sunday, Smith was paired up with Mike Castellana, who was in his first final round appearance of the year. At the start Smith held an early advantage and never looked back on his way to the end of the quarter mile. Smith posted a winning pass of 5.890 seconds at 247.52 mph to a losing run of 6.182 seconds at 196.87mph.

Smith qualified near the bottom of the ladder in 13th, but was able to string together four solid passes during the event to get the win. He defeated Troy Coughlin, Scott Ray and Raymond Commisso prior to making it to the final round.

Commisso, who is from Toronto, ON, set both top speed and low ET of the event during PM qualifying when he ran the R2B2 Racing Chevy Camaro to a thundering 5.815 secs at 250.64 mph.

Smith’s win came over a history making and first ever all-five seconds field that featured a sparkling quick bump spot of 5.980 secs.

Sport Loses Neil Parker

The Englishtown event also included an ultimate tragedy when TAFC class racer Neal Parker was fatally injured during a crash during the opening of qualifying on Friday.

In an incident eerily similar to that of Scott Kalitta here during 2008, Parker ran off the end of the race track at a high rate of speed.

NHRA and New Jersey State Police officials are continuing their investigation of the accident.

Everyone at DragRaceCanada.com on behalf of all Canadian drag racing fans expresses their sincere condolences to the entire Parker family and racing team.

Funny Car Winner: Bob Tasca III
(Click on image to view event photo gallery)