NHRA “Regular Season” Wraps Up at BIR

by editor on Aug.16, 2010, under Mopar Canada - National News

EVENT ESSENTIALS: Lucas Oil Nationals Aug. 12-15, 2010 Brainerd MN

TOP FUEL	Name	ET	MPH	Career Win

Winner:	Larry Dixon	3.786	312.28	57th
R/UP:	Cory McClenathan	3.810	314.17

Low ET:	Larry Dixon	3.786
Top Speed:	Doug Kalitta		320.13
Bump Spot:		5.956

FUNNY CAR	Name	ET	MPH	Career Win

Winner:	Bob Bode	4.248	253.66	1st
R/UP:	Jack Beckman	8.338	86.32

Low ET:	Jack Beckman	4.057
Top Speed:	Jack Beckman		306.33
Bump Spot:		5.154

PRO STOCK	Name	ET	MPH	Career Win

Winner:	Jeg Coughlin	6.614	208.04	52nd
R/UP:	Shane Gray	6.654	207.21

Low ET:	Mike Edwards	6.593
Top Speed:	Mike Edwards		209.04
Bump Spot:		6.692

PRO STOCK BIKE	Name	ET	MPH	Career Win

Winner:	Andrew Hines	6.941	191.00	22nd
R/UP:	Jim Underdahl	7.012	188.52

Low ET:	Andrew Hines	6.904
Top Speed:	Andrew Hines		193.40
Bump Spot:		7.181
LUCAS OIL
Sportsman Class Winners:	Name	ET	MPH

TA Dragster	Chris Demke	5.281	269.40
TA Funny Car	Frank Manzo	5.584	258.37
Competition	Al Ackerman	8.004	164.03
Super Stock	Rick Johnson	9.638	134.71
Stock	Dan Fletcher	11.18	108.89
Super Comp	Gary Stinnett	8.893	180.91
Super Gas	Lance Trujillo	9.885	158.37
PS Snowmobile	Adam Fricke	8.560	148.79

Regular Season Wraps Up

The regular season for the 2010 NHRA Full Throttle campaign wrapped up at Brainerd Minnesota. The last event before Countdown playoff round featured a first ever NHRA Funny Car winner with Bob Bode (from Illinois) emerging victorious.

(Pro Racing Summary courtesy of Michael Padian – NHRA Communications)

Three different drivers had a shot at their first career NHRA Full Throttle Series win on Sunday at the 29th annual Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals at Brainerd International Raceway and Funny Car veteran Bob Bode was the lucky one who struck paydirt.

Bode defeated Cruz Pedregon, Bob Tasca and Tim Wilkerson to reach the final where he proceeded to celebrate a surprisingly easy win when Jack Beckman struck the wheels on his Freightliner Dodge Charger R/T early and slowed to a 8.338 at 86.32. Bode’s official winning run in the Alard Machine Chevy Impala was a 4.248 at 253.66.

“All of this is kind of like a dream I’m afraid I’m gonna wake up from,” Bode said. “I didn’t know if it would ever happen, but now that it did, I can’t believe it happened. It’s the best thing that ever happened to me in my entire life in the racing world. I have a wife and kid, wonderful things there, but the racing world, this is it.”

The other winners at the 17th of 23 events in the NHRA Full Throttle Series season – and final race in the Countdown to 10 regular season – were Larry Dixon (Top Fuel), Jeg Coughlin (Pro Stock) and Andrew Hines (Pro Stock Motorcycle).

Also on Sunday, the final five spots in the Countdown to 1 NHRA Playoffs were determined as Dave Grubnic (Top Fuel), Tony Pedregon (Funny Car), Rodger Brogdon (Pro Stock) and Karen Stoffer and Craig Treble (Pro Stock Motorcycle) clinched berths. The final two No. 1 seeds were also settled with John Force (Funny Car) and Andrew Hines (Pro Stock Motorcycle) joining Dixon (Top Fuel) and Mike Edwards (Pro Stock) as top seeds.

Dixon improved to 9-0 in final rounds in the Al-Anabi dragster and 4-0 vs. second-place Cory McClenathan this season with a blistering 3.786-second pass at 312.28 mph to McClenathan’s 3.810 at 314.17.

“I feel fortunate,” said Dixon, whose engine suffered damage as he crossed the finish line. “When I lifted (off the throttle), it popped … I got heat-treated a little bit … but I saw the win light.”

In Pro Stock, the red-hot Coughlin (6.614 at 208.04) was appearing in his third straight final round in the JEGS.com Chevy Cobalt and he celebrated victory for the second time in that stretch when Auto Club Road to the Future candidate Shane Gray red-lighted in the Tire Kingdom Pontiac GXP to end his bid for his first career win before he got out of first gear.

“This is as close as we’ve been to the points leader all year,” said Coughlin, who will trail Mike Edwards by 40 points when the points reset for the Countdown to 1. “That’s the way the playoff and the Countdown to 1 works. We’ve had that work to our advantage for a couple of years and had that work against us last year. This year, we were probably no way shape or form going to contend for our sixth world title, but we are.”

It was Coughlin’s 52nd career win, which tied him with Joe Amato for eighth place on the all-time NHRA Full Throttle Series wins list.

In Pro Stock Motorcycle, Hines (6.941 at 191.00) completed an impressive weekend hat trick aboard the Screamin’ Eagle Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson with his win over first-time finalist Jim Underdahl (7.012 at 188.52) – he was the No. 1 qualifier, he won the race, and he moved around season-long points-leader Hector Arana to clinch the No. 1 seed entering the Countdown to 1 playoffs.

“Big win,” Hines said. “I’ve never been No. 1 going into the playoffs so it’s nice to be in this position. Three or four races ago we were looking at the point and Hector had something like a 160-point lead and we just wrote it off that we wouldn’t make it there. Luck turned to our side, the motorcycle started performing better and Hector faltered a little bit and we capitalized on it.”

The six-race Countdown to 1 playoffs begin in two weeks with the Labor Day weekend running of the world’s most prestigious drag race, the 56th annual Mac Tools U.S. Nationals at O’Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis.