Pedregon, Fuller and Johnson Earn Victories at Checker Schuck's Kragen NHRA Nationals

CHANDLER, Ariz. -- Former NHRA POWERade Series Funny Car champion Tony Pedregon set a national elapsed time record en route to his 33rd career victory Sunday to highlight a record-setting weekend at Firebird International Raceway.

Rod Fuller and Kurt Johnson also scored victories at the Checker Schuck's Kragen NHRA Nationals presented by Castrol, the second of 23 events in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series Countdown to the Championship.

Pedregon's opening-round run of 4.701 seconds certified his 4.659-second qualifying time within the required 1 percent, making it an official NHRA record worth 20 bonus points in the POWERade standings. He then defeated Robert Hight in the final round to add the race trophy to his collection.

"This weekend was just a little reminder that when conditions are good and with the way (NHRA) prepares the tracks these days that just about any place can hold a national record," said Pedregon, who became the first Funny Car driver to set a national performance elapsed time record at the quarter-mile track near Phoenix.  "Anytime you can qualify well, set a national record, and win the race with the two quickest cars in the class going at it in the final, I'd say it's a great weekend. The fans sure got their money's worth."

Pedregon's memorable weekend in the Q-Racing Chevy Monte Carlo helped him move up to second place, just six points behind Hight, who took over the top spot from Pomona winner Gary Scelzi with his second straight runner-up finish.

Fuller raced to his second straight Top Fuel victory at this event, once again defeating Melanie Troxel in a rematch of last year's final round. He powered his Valvoline/David Powers Homes dragster to a 4.490-second run at 327.19 mph to claim his fourth career victory and take the series points lead for the first time in his career.

"I got to the final and we're in the same lane as last year against Melanie again and I was thinking how much I love Arizona," Fuller said. "Then I thought about the streak and you know streaks are gonna end at some point. But in the end it all worked out for us. I feel really blessed and lucky, especially when they told me we were in the points lead. I've never had that before."

Johnson claimed his 36th Pro Stock victory by driving his ACDelco Chevrolet Cobalt to a performance of 6.694 seconds at 206.67 mph. Runner-up Jason Line's Summit Racing Pontiac GTO was quicker with a 6.676 at 207.85 mph, but he came up one hundredth of a second short at the finish line due to Johnson's quicker reaction time at the start.

The victory extends Johnson's NHRA streak of winning at least one race per year to 13 seasons.

"It's a relief," said Johnson, a three-time winner at this event. "If nothing happens for the rest of the year I can say I won Phoenix and remember I enjoyed a cold beer afterwards. Some times you work just as hard as always but you don't get the wins. It's a tough class."

Johnson's win catapulted him up to third in point standings. Line moved into the series lead, 1 point in front of teammate Greg Anderson.

The NHRA POWERade Series Countdown to the Championship continues with the 38th annual ACDelco NHRA Gatornationals, March 15-18 at historic Gainesville Raceway in Florida.

CHANDLER, Ariz. -- Final finish order (1-16) for professional categories at the 23rd annual Checker Schuck's Kragen NHRA Nationals presented by Castrol at Firebird International Raceway.  The race is the second of 23 events in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series.

TOP FUEL:

1.  Rod Fuller; 2.  Melanie Troxel; 3.  Tony Schumacher; 4.  Whit Bazemore; 5.  Clay Millican; 6. Cory McClenathan; 7.  Bob Vandergriff; 8.  Brandon Bernstein; 9.  Hillary Will; 10.  Doug Kalitta; 11.  Doug Foley; 12.  Doug Herbert; 13.  Morgan Lucas; 14.  David Grubnic; 15.  J.R. Todd; 16. Larry Dixon.

FUNNY CAR:

1.  Tony Pedregon, Chevy Monte Carlo; 2.  Robert Hight, Ford Mustang; 3.  Ron Capps, Dodge Charger; 4.  Gary Densham, Monte Carlo; 5.  Tim Wilkerson, Monte Carlo; 6.  Jim Head, Toyota Solara; 7.  Bob Gilbertson, Dodge Stratus; 8.  Eric Medlen, Mustang; 9.  John Force, Mustang; 10.  Jeff Arend, Monte Carlo; 11.  Gary Scelzi, Charger; 12.  Jack Beckman, Charger; 13.  Tommy Johnson Jr., Chevy Impala; 14.  Scott Kalitta, Solara; 15.  Ashley Force, Mustang; 16.  Mike Ashley, Charger.

PRO STOCK:

1.  Kurt Johnson, Chevy Cobalt; 2.  Jason Line, Pontiac GTO; 3.  Erica Enders, Dodge Stratus; 4. Jim Yates, GTO; 5.  Mike Edwards, GTO; 6.  Dave Connolly, Cobalt; 7.  Richie Stevens, Stratus; 8. Greg Anderson, GTO; 9.  Warren Johnson, GTO; 10.  Roger Brogdon, Stratus; 11.  V. Gaines, Stratus; 12.  Greg Stanfield, GTO; 13.  Max Naylor, Stratus; 14.  Kenny Koretsky, Cobalt; 15.  Jeg Coughlin, Cobalt; 16.  Tom Martino, GTO.

CHANDLER, Ariz. -- Sunday's final results from the 23rd annual Checker Schuck's Kragen NHRA Nationals presented by Castrol at Firebird International Raceway.  The race is the second of 23 in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series:

Top Fuel -- Rod Fuller, 4.490 seconds, 327.19 mph def. Melanie Troxel, 4.536 seconds, 325.61 mph.

Funny Car -- Tony Pedregon, Chevy Monte Carlo, 4.803, 326.32 def. Robert Hight, Ford Mustang, 9.723, 84.75.

Pro Stock -- Kurt Johnson, Chevy Cobalt, 6.694, 206.67 def. Jason Line, Pontiac GTO, 6.676, 207.85.

Competition Eliminator -- Alan Ellis, '23-T Ford, 6.710, 199.40 def. Wayne Ramay, Dragster, 7.094, 187.31.

Super Stock -- Brad Plourd, Calais, 9.241, 140.04 def. Jody Lang, Malibu, 10.949, 119.84.

Super Comp -- Shawn Langdon, Dragster, 8.892, 165.15 def. Rock Haas, Dragster, 8.871, 161.56.

Super Gas -- Matthew Constant, S-10, 9.902, 157.54 def. Kevin Klineweber, Corvette, 9.888, 152.28.

Super Street -- Jeff Jackson, Mustang, 10.892, 148.62 def. A.J. Percival, Dart, 10.862, 138.24.

CHANDLER, Ariz. -- Final round-by-round results from the 23rd annual Checker Schuck's Kragen NHRA Nationals presented by Castrol at Firebird International Raceway, the second of 23 events in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series:

TOP FUEL:

ROUND ONE -- Cory McClenathan, 4.528, 322.65 def. Larry Dixon, 9.998, 92.65; Bob Vandergriff, 4.853, 323.81 def. J.R. Todd, 9.715, 96.45; Whit Bazemore, 4.513, 326.95 def. Hillary Will, 4.589, 321.88; Clay Millican, 4.802, 247.84 def. Doug Foley, 5.353, 178.85; Rod Fuller, 4.466, 329.91 def. David Grubnic, 9.553, 79.98; Tony Schumacher, 4.498, 328.70 def. Doug Herbert, 6.879, 118.56; Brandon Bernstein, 4.457, 329.67 def. Doug Kalitta, 4.595, 326.63; Melanie Troxel, 4.492, 330.07 def. Morgan Lucas, 7.576, 105.27;

QUARTERFINALS -- Bazemore, 4.582, 321.73 def. Millican, 4.650, 253.71; Schumacher, 4.461, 324.90 def. McClenathan, 5.223, 164.33; Fuller, 4.476, 328.14 def. Vandergriff, 5.253, 194.32; Troxel, 6.712, 172.54 def. Bernstein, 6.815, 115.33;

SEMIFINALS -- Fuller, 4.525, 326.87 def. Bazemore, 4.808, 246.66; Troxel, 4.539, 328.46 def. Schumacher, 4.660, 292.33;

FINAL -- Fuller, 4.490, 327.19 def. Troxel, 4.536, 325.61.

FUNNY CAR:

ROUND ONE -- Bob Gilbertson, Dodge Stratus, broke def. Ashley Force, Ford Mustang, broke; Tim Wilkerson, Chevy Monte Carlo, 5.013, 260.36 def. Mike Ashley, Dodge Charger, broke; Tony Pedregon, Monte Carlo, 4.701, 326.71 def. Scott Kalitta, Toyota Solara, 7.767, 106.51; Robert Hight, Mustang, 5.104, 221.82 def. Jeff Arend, Monte Carlo, 5.506, 214.04; Gary Densham, Monte Carlo, 5.737, 231.56 def. Gary Scelzi, Charger, 5.760, 215.07; Ron Capps, Charger, 4.837, 305.22 def. John Force, Mustang, 4.862, 303.09; Jim Head, Solara, 4.777, 326.87 def. Tommy Johnson Jr., Chevy Impala, 7.514, 118.16; Eric Medlen, Mustang, 5.814, 207.05 def. Jack Beckman, Charger, 6.866, 136.55;

QUARTERFINALS -- Densham, 4.890, 288.33 def. Gilbertson, 9.622, 87.31; Hight, 4.908, 310.77 def. Medlen, 12.008, 77.28; Capps, 4.766, 318.69 def. Wilkerson, 5.247, 222.66; T. Pedregon, 4.924, 254.95 def. Head, 5.729, 168.09;

SEMIFINALS -- T. Pedregon, 5.077, 233.84 def. Densham, 9.650, 96.53; Hight, 4.783, 312.78 def. Capps, foul;

FINAL -- T. Pedregon, 4.803, 326.32 def. Hight, 9.723, 84.75.

PRO STOCK:

ROUND ONE -- Dave Connolly, Chevy Cobalt, 6.668, 207.78 def. Kenny Koretsky, Cobalt, 6.736, 205.51; Kurt Johnson, Cobalt, 6.676, 206.83 def. Jeg Coughlin, Cobalt, 7.048, 202.58; Erica Enders, Dodge Stratus, 6.668, 206.54 def. Roger Brogdon, Stratus, 6.675, 207.82; Greg Anderson, Pontiac GTO, 6.640, 208.20 def. Tom Martino, GTO, foul; Richie Stevens, Stratus, 6.671, 206.99 def. V. Gaines, Stratus, 6.683, 207.08; Jim Yates, GTO, 6.692, 206.35 def. Warren Johnson, GTO, 6.659, 207.30; Jason Line, GTO, 6.634, 208.33 def. Max Naylor, Stratus, foul; Mike Edwards, GTO, 6.694, 206.45 def. Greg Stanfield, GTO, 6.693, 207.08;

QUARTERFINALS -- K. Johnson, 6.688, 206.99 def. Stevens, 13.886, 61.51; Enders, 6.677, 206.23 def. Edwards, 6.706, 206.04; Yates, 6.705, 206.23 def. Anderson, broke; Line, 6.701, 207.56 def. Connolly, 10.732, 83.19;

SEMIFINALS -- Line, 6.699, 207.05 def. Yates, 6.723, 205.79; K. Johnson, 6.698, 206.48 def. Enders, 6.687, 205.72;

FINAL -- K. Johnson, 6.694, 206.67 def. Line, 6.676, 207.85.

CHANDLER, Ariz. -- Point standings (top 10) for NHRA professional categories following the 23rd annual Checker Schuck's Kragen NHRA Nationals presented by Castrol at Firebird International Raceway, the second of 23 events in the  NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series Countdown to the Championship -

Top Fuel

1.  Rod Fuller, 194; 2.  Brandon Bernstein, 151; 3.  J.R. Todd, 147; 4.  Whit Bazemore, 127; 5. Melanie Troxel, 126; 6.  Tony Schumacher, 116; 7.  David Grubnic, 104; 8.  Bob Vandergriff, 89; 9. Doug Kalitta, 86; 10.  Cory McClenathan, 84.

Funny Car

1.  Robert Hight, 195; 2.  Tony Pedregon, 189; 3.  Gary Scelzi, 154; 4.  Ron Capps, 131; 5.  (tie) Mike Ashley, 106; Eric Medlen, 106; 7.  Jeff Arend, 103; 8.  Tim Wilkerson, 86; 9.  (tie) Bob Gilbertson, 83; Jim Head, 83.

Pro Stock

1.  Jason Line, 174; 2.  Greg Anderson, 173; 3.  Kurt Johnson, 146; 4.  Dave Connolly, 127; 5. Greg Stanfield, 126; 6.  Mike Edwards, 105; 7.  Jim Yates, 104; 8.  Richie Stevens, 88; 9.  (tie) Jeg Coughlin, 86; Erica Enders, 86.