Earlier in the day, Top Alcohol Dragster racer Mark Niver, 60, from Phoenix, was involved in a fatal incident when his dragster crashed in the shutdown area during the semifinals. Niver’s most recent NHRA national event victory came at this event two years ago, a season in which he also won the national event in Topeka. Niver was runner-up earlier this year in Topeka in his last final-round appearance.

The Pro winners were all quick to salute Niver in their post-race comments. “I want to make sure everybody realizes that Mark Niver was a great competitor," said McClenathan. "He built every component in his race cars. I raced against Mark 20 years ago in Top Alcohol Dragster. This has to be about the family and what they’re going through and not about us, because this whole circle of people that travels around is our family. He’s a great individual, he always had a smile on his face, and he was a fantastic person.”

Added Wilkerson, “When we were waiting for news about Mark Niver and found out about it, the focus just turned into leaving, to be real truthful. I raced alcohol cars with him for years. He’s a super-great guy. You try to take your mind off of it when you race, but you really can’t. The atmosphere ruins your heart. God bless Mark’s family, and I hope the Lord can take care of them somehow.”

“I’ve known Mark Niver forever, and I’ve watched him race on his own by making his own equipment,” said Anderson. “Obviously he was a great engineer, a great fabricator, and he stayed at it. I was so proud of him when he won his first race because I remember how much he struggled by doing everything himself. When I heard what had happened, my heart just stopped.”

The Top Fuel final featured two drivers who have swept the three-race Western Swing in their career, both Xceldyne Valvetrain powered Antron Brown last season and McClenathan 13 years ago, and this year it was Cory Mac’s turn to kick off the three-race affair with a victory as he defeated Brown, 3.88 to 3.90, to collect his 34th Top Fuel victory and 38th overall, and vault into second place in the standings.

“Before the final, I thought, ‘Antron and I have both won this thing [the Western Swing], and I wanted to be the first to do it two times,’ ” said McClenathan. “It’s a lot to ask for, and you can’t get there unless you win this one, which is what we did. [Crew chief] Todd [Okuhara], Phil [Shuler], and the guys did a great job getting it down the track all day.

“I knew from all these years to put on the darkest shield [helmet visor] that you can at this time of day. I put it down and thought, ‘This is so bright, I can’t believe it.’ That’s Seattle for you. You go up there and try to cut the best light you can."

McClenathan, who also won this event in the Alcohol Dragster class in 1990, reached his 62nd Top Fuel final by trailering Mike Strasburg, David Grubnic, and Shawn Langdon with a pair of mid-3.8-second passes and earned lane choice for the final with a 4.13 after Langdon’s cursed season with the Lucas Oil digger continued with a starting-line blower backfire at the green.

Brown, who won this race last year as the middle leg to his Western Swing sweep, reached the final again, his 21st in the class and sixth this year, by defeating Steve Chrisman, teammate Tony Schumacher, and low qualifier Doug Kalitta. Brown opened with a 3.90 but won his next two rounds with passes of just 4.16 and 4.15.

Wilkerson, runner-up in Bristol and a winner two weeks ago in Norwalk, reached his third straight final for the first time in his career and collected his second victory when he defeated Ron Capps, 4.22 to 4.24 in the final round to score his 16th career win. Wilkerson moved into fifth place with the win.

“We seem like we’ve kind of come into our own in this kind of weather,” said Wilkerson, who has scored more wins since the beginning of the 2008 season (11) than any other driver in the Funny Car division. “I looked stupid on Saturday. I got back to the pits, and my guys had glum faces, saying, ‘I can’t believe we smoked the tires two times in a row. We’re going to get our butts kicked tomorrow.’ I had to tell them we were trying something.

“The cooler race track came back to me and helped us. You make so much power at this place, that it’s hard to pull enough back to make it go without smoking the tires in the middle. I think running an alcohol car for years taught me about these things: you tune it up when you go the Midwest and tune it down when you go to the good air."

Wilkerson wheeled the Levi, Ray & Shoup Mustang past technology partner Bob Tasca III, Cruz Pedregon, and Matt Hagan to reach the 27th final of his Funny Car career.

Capps, who collected the first win of his career at this event in Top Fuel in 1995, also won it in Funny Car in 1998, but had been relegated to runner-up in his next three Seattle finals (2001, ‘06, and ‘08). He reached his third final here in the last five years and the 62nd of his Funny Car career by racing his NAPA Auto Parts Dodge past Paul Lee (with low e.t. of the meet at 4.098), Ashley Force Hood, and teammate Jack Beckman.

Anderson, hot off a sweep of the Norwalk event where he not only won the K&N Horsepower Challenge but also Sunday’s Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals, continued to remain red hot by collecting career win No. 62 on a 6.59 to 6.62 count against Johnny Gray.

“The addition of Tommy Utt has obviously worked out great, and his biggest contribution has been to calm us down, to keep us from making moves or changes that were too big,” said Anderson. “We were doing that in the past because we were behind and we were trying too hard to catch up too soon. We had all the ingredients with a great team owner, great team sponsors, and all the resources that we need. We’re just doing a better job of utilizing them. Tommy and Rob Downing are absolutely in sync working together in their roles as co-crew chiefs. They see everything eye to eye. The changes that have been  made were very small, but they were enough to get the car calmed down. And that has me get my confidence back. When you regain your trust in the car, you become a better driver again.

“We haven’t operated this smoothly in about three or four years. We’re looking forward to the rest of the year and certainly for the rest of the Western Swing. I guess I’m the only one left who has a chance to sweep the Swing because everybody else lost today. That would be an awesome accomplishment because each of the race tracks are so different with their conditions, and that’s what makes the Swing such a challenge.”

Anderson defeated Greg Stanfield and Rodger Brogdon in the opening rounds then used a holeshot to defeat favored points leader Mike Edwards in the semifinals by just .007-second, 6.60 to 6.59. Anderson’s weekend moved him up to third in points.

Gray, a semifinalist earlier this year in Atlanta and Englishtown, remains winless in the pro ranks in six finals, three each in Pro Stock and Funny Car. Paradoxically, he was a perfect three-for-three in three alcohol-class final rounds. To reach the final this weekend, Gray defeated Larry Morgan, Ron Krisher, and Kurt Johnson.

Source: NHRA.com

Seattle winners Cory McClenathan in Top Fuel and Greg Anderson in Pro Stock had their bids cut short for what would have been the middle leg of an unprecedented second sweep of the Western Swing. McClenathan reached the semifinals of his sponsor’s event, and Anderson was knocked out a round earlier. Seattle Funny Car champ Tim Wilkerson, who won two of the three Swing races last year, was defeated in round one. The teams head now to Denver for the Swing’s conclusion at the Mopar Mile-High NHRA Nationals, the second-to-last event before the Countdown to 1 playoffs begin Labor Day weekend in Indianapolis, but a number of drivers clinched their playoff berths in Sonoma.

The Top Fuel final featured Xceldyne Valvetrain powered duo Dixon and archrival Tony Schumacher, two guys who not only have dominated the winner’s circle this season, but in the last decade as well. Dixon remained perfect in final rounds this season, collecting his eighth win of 2010 and expanding  his points lead to 211 over Schumacher with a 3.87 to 4.00 victory. The win is the 56th of Dixon’s career; only Schumacher, with 64 victories, owns more Top Fuel Wallys.

"The car was flawless," said Dixon. "It was just an unbelievable job by Alan Johnson and Jason McCulloch and everybody on the Al-Anabi team. You’re seeing the numbers up there, and being around the sport and the cars for a long period of time and seeing those numbers, that was, to me, a little humbling. They were on their game. They weren’t leaving anything in their back pocket, that’s for sure.

"You just know when you’re racing Tony — he’s obviously won a lot of races and the last six championships — he’s going to keep you honest. That team doesn’t stumble very often, so you’ve got to go up there and fire your best shot and hope it’s enough. I’m cool with it. I enjoy racing him because when you win, you know you earned it. There’s no backing into it or blower belt coming off or anything. You know he’s going to make you earn it, so when you do win, it makes it that much more gratifying."

Dixon, a Sonoma winner in 2003, reached his milestone 100th Top Fuel final by racing the Al-Anabi dragster from the No. 1 qualifying position with a pair of 3.84s that sandwiched a 3.87. He defeated Steve Chrisman and Steve Torrence in the first two rounds, then ended McClenathan’s bid for a Western Swing sweep in the semifinals.

Schumacher, who won this event back to back in 2007 and 2008, raced the U.S. Army dragster past Morgan Lucas, Terry McMillen, and Brandon Bernstein with passes of 3.88, 3.94, and 3.91 to reach his 101st Top Fuel final.

Don Schumacher Racing teammates Capps and Jack Beckman squared off in the Funny Car final, each looking for his first win at this event after both had clinched their spots in the Countdown to 1 earlier in the day. Capps scored his first win of the season and the 31st of his career, 4.16 to 4.19. He jumped from seventh to fifth place with his day’s actions.

"I feel like I can conquer the world in the car right now," said Capps. "It’s all confidence, and confidence is built on success. We’ve been testing a lot of things all season long. Obviously, when John [Medlen] went over to Matt Hagan’s car, we saw what happened over there. Matt won two races and set the national record. I’ve always wanted to work with John, and it has been such a pleasure with the confidence that I’ve been given in the car. I now go up there without really being afraid of the Tree and really worrying about the car.

"It’s great for Don [having an all-DSR final and three of the four semifinalists]. One thing I’ve learned about Don Schumacher is you never doubt him. He’s always two steps ahead of what everybody is thinking. His passion could be elsewhere, but his passion is the racing, and he loves nothing more than to win racing."

Capps, runner-up a week earlier in Seattle, earned lane choice for his 65th final by beating DSR teammate Hagan in the semifinals, 4.16 to 4.19. Prior to that, he had powered his NAPA Auto Parts Dodge to runs of 4.18 and 4.23 to get past Wilkerson, avenging his final-round loss in Seattle and ending Wilkerson’s two-race winning streak at eight rounds, and Melanie Troxel.

Beckman had wheeled the Valvoline/MTS Charger past Jeff Diehl and world champ Robert Hight with a pair of 4.25s, then eked out an ultraclose win over Bob Tasca III’s Mustang, scoring on a holeshot by just .0004-second, 4.221 to 4.220. The final round was Beckman’s third of the season and the 20th of his Funny Car career.

Phillips, a winner this year in Madison and Englishtown, added another title with a seesaw victory over Andrew Hines in a Pro Stock Motorcycle final that both led twice before Phillips took the win light, 6.886, 196.76 to 6.909, 194.16. Phillips closed up the points gap on third-place Hines to just three markers and trails second-place Matt Smith by just five points. Arana leads Smith by 141 points.

"I’ve been working with some NASCAR guys on just playing with the carburetor, and that’s actually where my bike picked up," said Phillips. "We started working with the guys last year [starting with] Memphis. There were a couple of other things we did with the bike that they looked over and found that should have been done to the bike, and ever since then, the bike’s just been running crazy mph.

"Andrew had been whooping me pretty good. I don’t know what the winning record was, but that was the first time I had ever beat him on that bike. I bought the bike from him in ’03, and I just never could get him. I raced him maybe 10, 15 times, and he just kept beating me. I’d holeshot him, and he’d find some way to get around me. Pomona last year, I holeshotted him, and the carburetor jumped off my bike. I just finally got the monkey off my back."

Phillips and his Racers Edge Suzuki displayed top-end prowess early in producing a trio of mid-190-mph victories over Karen Stoffer, Smith, and Eddie Krawiec. After an opening 7.00 at 194 mph, Phillips improved to 6.89, 195 before bashing Krawiec’s Harley in the semifinals with a 6.871, 197.65, which set a new track record and new NHRA national speed record.

Hines, the defending event champ who also won at this stop in 2005 aboard his Screamin' Eagle Vance & Hines Harley, set down a trio of Buell riders -- Shawn Gann, David Hope, and Arana -- with a pair of 6.89s that bookended a 6.93 to reach his 34th final.

In the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series classes, Jimmy DeFrank Jr. nearly grabbed a rare double victory, winning in Stock but falling in the Super Stock final to Tony Mandella. Mike DePalma Jr. scored in Comp, Kyle Seipel in Super Comp, Top Fuel pilot Shawn Langdon in Super Gas, and Mike Ferderer in Top Sportsman.

Source: NHRA.com

During the course of the event – the final leg of the three-race Western Swing and the second to last in the Countdown to the Championship’s 17-event regular season – nine drivers locked up berths in the playoff fields that will pit the top 10 drivers in all four classes in a six-race fight to the finish that begins Labor Day weekend at the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals.

One thing was certain in the Top Fuel final: One driver would finally find salvation, the other continued frustration as Kalitta, winless in four finals this year and without a victory since the 2009 Winternationals, paired off with Bernstein, 0-2 in finals this year for new sponsor Copart and without a tour victory since last fall’s Virginia event. Kalitta joined his uncle Connie, a two-time winner here, and late cousin Scott, a three-time Denver champ, as king of the hill, taking the victory, the 32nd of his career, 3.96 to 4.00.

“When I saw the win light come on down there it was real special, a great relief,” said Kalitta. “They do a great job here and each year the facility gets better and better, and I’m just glad to finally get a win here. I’ve been close a lot of times and fortunately we got it done today.”

“This is really going to help motivate our team and give us the confidence that we can run with these guys going into the Countdown, and hopefully we can prove it. I’m just really proud of Jim Oberhofer, my crew chief, and all the guys today. It was great team effort.”

Kalitta, who had been runner-up four times at this event, rode a trio of 3.9-second passes to reach his fifth final of the season and 63rd of his career en route to defeating Terry McMillen, Steve Torrence, and 2007 Denver winner “Hot Rod” Fuller.

Bernstein pounded out passes of 3.96 and 3.97 in the first two rounds to best Cory McClenathan and defending event champ Antron Brown, then took down points leader and former “beer wars” rival Larry Dixon in the semifinals to take a narrow 18-17 edge in their lifetime meetings. Bernstein slowed to a 4.00, but it was enough to cover the tire-hazing 4.44 of Dixon’s Al-Anabi machine to reach his 35th career Top Fuel final.

Hight, the defending world champ, closed the gap ever-so-slightly on his boss, John Force, by defeating the points leader, 4.21 to 4.38, for his fourth victory of year and the 17th of his career. Hight now trails Force by just 28 points.

“I’ve been in a couple of finals before with John and never been able to get the job done, but today was our turn,” said Hight. “You know when you go up there against John that you better give it your all because he’s going to be ready. Our cars are set up real similar, so we know what they can run and we had to go up there and give it our all.”

“It’s nice to get back on the winning side here in Denver. My crew chief, Jimmy Prock, has never had a problem making horsepower, but with racetrack being so good last year with the cooling system and everything, we just didn’t have enough horsepower, and that bothered Jimmy. He came in here with a game plan – new parts and different things – and he definitely found the horsepower that he needed.”

Hight, who won this event in his 2005 rookie season, raced back to the final, the 31st of his career and fifth this year after defeating James Day in round, defending event champ Ron Capps on a holeshot in round two, and low qualifier Matt Hagan in the semifinals.

Force, a five-time winner in Denver, assured that he’d leave the mountain with the points lead by reaching the final to face his hard-charging employee, who is chasing him in the points. Force, the all-time NHRA record holder for wins and final rounds, reached the 209th final of his career and seventh this season in pursuit of win No. 131 by defeating Paul Lee, Bob Tasca III, and fellow former world champ Cruz Pedregon, ending Pedregon’s best season outing.

Three of Johnson’s eight career national event wins have come at his sponsor’s event, and his victory this year was his first of the season and first since he won this race last year. Johnson, who also won in Denver in 2007 and was runner-up in 2008, was never challenged in the final, cutting a .004 light and racing to a 6.97 to easily beat Jeg Coughlin Jr., who had to abort his final-round pass.

“We wouldn’t mind having all 23 races here,” said Johnson. “We really have an awesome setup for here. The engine guys, the car guys, and everyone else did their job can’t say enough about them. We just made a perfect run every run. To go up against Greg in the second round, and of course against Jeg in the final, I knew that I had to be on my game.  Fortunately I was able to do that. I had a .073 light in the first round and knew that I had to pick it up after that. I was tickled with the .004 that I had against Jeg in the final. We’re just going to have to keep getting after it, be aggressive in trying to win the championship and hopefully pull it off.

“It was great having all the Mopar folks here. They’re not just sponsors to us. They’re like family. This was the perfect place to get my first win of the year.”

En route to the 20th final of his career, Johnson’s Mopar Avenger raced past Bob Yonke, Greg Anderson, and Johnny Gray with a trio of six-second passes -- 6.973, 6.998, and 6.997, all of which were low for the round – to earn the right to face Coughlin.

Coughlin, who won last weekend in Sonoma, reached his second straight final, his fifth this season, and the 82nd of his career with a pair of six-second passes sandwiching a solid 7-flat in trailering Erica Enders, Vinnie Deceglie, and rookie Shane Gray, who red-lighted in the semifinals.

The final round in Pro Stock Motorcycle pitted two riders whose last win came in Atlanta; for Hines that was earlier this year, for Karen Stoffer three long years ago in 2007. Hines kept her winless streak alive with a convincing 7.34 to 7.40 victory, the 21st of his career and his second in Denver. With the win, Hines pulled to within 60 points of leader Hector Arana.

“Today I was playing with fire all day long with .00 lights [.006, .004, and .007] in the first three rounds,” said Hines, who was runner-up here last year. “We backed it off for the final to make sure that we wouldn’t red-light. We wanted to have a .030 and got a .029. We know that Karen [Stoffer] is a very tough competitor, and we didn’t want to make any mistakes.

“I grew up three hours south of here in Trinidad, Colorado, so it’s good to win here on The Mountain. This place is my home. We didn’t have the best motorcycle this weekend, just like we didn’t have the best motorcycle [when we won] at Sonoma, but we were able to get the job done. That says a lot about our team. I’ve also been stressing out all weekend because we’ve got a baby coming. I was waiting for a phone call all weekend, but we never got one.”

Hines, a winner earlier this season also in Houston, reached his 35th career final round by defeating a trio of Suzukis, setting down rookie of the year hopeful LE Tonglet, Jim Underdahl, and low qualifier Michael Phillips to reach the final. In a rematch of their final round in Sonoma last weekend, Phillips red-lighted to Hines’ Harley. Prior to that race, Hines had beaten Phillips nine straight times.

Stoffer, who had yet to reach even the semifinals this season, went that much better by reaching the final round aboard her GEICO Suzuki. On the heels of a great qualifying effort, Stoffer defeated red-lighting Angie Smith and fellow Suzuki riders Craig Treble and Steve Johnson to reach the 12th final round of her career and her first since last fall’s Charlotte event.

In Lucas Oil Series action, David Bogner in Super Stock, Brad Burton in Stock, and John Dexter in Super Street each collected their second Mile-High Nationals trophy and were joined in victory by Terry Edwards in Super Comp and Mike Wiblishouser in Super Gas.

Winners using Xceldyne Valvetrain:

Source: www.NHRA.com

During the course of the NHRA Unleashed presented by Lucas Oil event, fans will be treated to some of the wildest and fastest Pro Mods that are the true definition of doorslammer racing.   The field will consist of ’63 Corvettes, ’68 Camaros, ’67 Mustangs, ’68 Firebirds as well as late model cars.  Each time down the quarter mile these cars are on the fine line of out of control and the fans in the stands will be on the edge of their seats each round of competition. 

Troxel is anxious to race during the course of the weekend and put on a great show for the fans.

“The great thing about the Pro Mod class is you never know what you are going to get each time these cars take to the track.  They have a lot of horsepower for such a short wheel base and these cars can get crossed up and sideways on each pass.  I think they are the most exciting class to watch,” she said.  “The professional nitro cars have incredible horsepower but I think the Pro Mods are true fan favorites.  Fans are very lucky that they will be able to see these cars in a non NHRA national event weekend and it will be very exciting.”

Also the opportunity to race on the O’Reilly Raceway Park surface, home of the Mac Tools U. S. Nationals presented by Lucas Oil, is always special for Troxel no matter what the event.

“Obviously the Mac Tools U. S. Nationals presented by Lucas Oil is the premier event and it is the one you hear about,” said Troxel.  “Living in Indy allows us to come out and race here more than once a year and that is great.

NHRA Unleashed presented by Lucas Oil is a celebration of Pure American Horse Power and will feature some of the fastest street cars on the planet racing for a shot at immortality and a coveted NHRA Wally trophy. 

Classes featured during the day of racing range from an 8.5 second class to 13.0 class, Outlaw 10.5, Limited Street, EZ Street and Modified Street.

The schedule for the two days will feature one round of qualifying on Friday night with two more qualifying sessions taking place on Saturday during the course of the day.  Following the three rounds of qualifying it will be time for the drivers to prove what they have under the lights that will shine brightly during the course of the nights racing activity. 

The NHRA Unleashed presented by Lucas Oil tickets are $10 for Friday, on Saturday they will be $20, with a two day pass being offered for $30.  Families with children 12 and under will be able to bring them to the NHRA Unleashed presented by Lucas Oil event for free with paid adult. 

Tickets are currently on sale for the NHRA Unleashed presented by Lucas Oil event at O’Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis as well as racer registration.

NHRA Unleashed presented by Lucas Oil will be featured nationwide on Fox Sports Net in a series airing on consecutive weeks in November and December 2010. Two half-hour shows will be produced from each of the four NHRA Unleashed presented by Lucas Oil events, including the one at O’Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis and the events taking place at National Trail Raceway near Columbus, Ohio (Sept. 10-11), Gainesville Raceway in Gainesville, Fla. (Nov. 5-6), and the recently completed event at Atlanta Dragway in Commerce, Ga.  The shows will be hosted by Steve Watson and Sarah Karges and produced by Disrupt/ive Studios, producers of Pinks, Pinks All Outtakes and Pinks All Out.

The NHRA Unleashed presented by Lucas Oil events also will provide casting auditions for Who Wants to be a Race Car Driver? a new reality television show that will identify America’s next great race car driver. Interested participants attending the event will be ushered through interviews and on-camera auditions for the new show that is currently in the developmental stages. Those selected for the show will prove that they have the drive, ambition and desire to become the next great race car driver. Signage will be clearly posted throughout the event to direct candidates to the staging areas.

Source: NHRA.com

As the final event of the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series regular season, the event was packed with Countdown drama all the way to the final rounds. A number of drivers clinched positions in qualifying, and although the last spots were claimed in Sunday's first round -- in which Dave Grubnic outlasted Terry McMillen in Top Fuel, Tony Pedregon held off Jeff Arend in Funny Car, Rodger Brogdon denied Kurt Johnson in Pro Stock, and Karen Stoffer and Craig Treble beat out Shawn Gann in Pro Stock Motorcycle – the battle for top seeds and positions raged all the way to the bike final, where Hines took the top spot from Hector Arana with his victory. Earlier, John Force held on by one point for the top seed in Funny Car.

Bode, a former national-championship boat racer, enjoyed his finest day on dry land when he powered his Arbee.com/Alard Machine Products Impala to the Funny Car winner's circle, upsetting heavily favored Jack Beckman in the final when Beckman's machine lost traction just off the starting line.

“All of this is kind of like a dream I’m afraid I’m gonna wake up from,” said Bode. “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.

“[Against Beckman] I went up to the line going, 'Well, we’re in the final. If [Beckman] runs another .00, we’re going to be in trouble.' We were trying to run a .14 or maybe something a little bit better. There were no teeth left on the belt, I get up to the finish line, and there were little flames going out, and I’m going, 'I ain’t liftin’,' and I never saw him. But we would have tried for a .12, and we knew that maybe if I had a decent light, I coulda outrun him if he floundered and ran a .10. But we were just going to lay down our number and hopefully he made a mistake, and someone did."

Bode reached the final, the first of his career, on a trio of victories over past national event winners with a series of mid-4-teen passes: former world champ Cruz Pedregon, Englishtown winner Bob Tasca III, and three-time season winner Tim Wilkerson.

Beckman, runner-up here in 2008, didn’t win the event, but he did climb past teammate Matt Hagan and into third place in the standings. Although he only qualified sixth at 4.141, Beckman's special-edition Freightliner Dodge came on like a semi truck Sunday, rattling off passes of 4.057 (low e.t.), 4.080, and 4.089 to reach the final, the 21st of his career and his fourth this season. In his wake, he left Del Worsham, Robert Hight, and 1985 Brainerd winner Jim Head.

Dixon remained perfect in 2010 Top Fuel final rounds, winning his ninth straight in a titanic battle between the top drivers in the standings. Dixon scored in dramatic fashion, running 3.78 to beat McClenathan's 3.81 in one of the quickest side-by-side races in NHRA history. Dixon, who won this race in 1999 and 2001 but since has suffered four final-round defeats (2002, 2005, 2007, and last year) collected victory No. 56.

"I feel fortunate," said Dixon, whose engine suffered damage right as he hit the finish line. "When I lifted, it popped, but I saw the win light and the .78 on the board, and so I knew they weren't taking Cory and the Schumacher team lightly. I got heat-treated a little bit.

"We've won finals so many different ways this year, and there are so many variables that if you have just one hiccup, someone else wins. I've had seasons where I haven't won one race, so to win nine is overwhelming. These races are so hard to win; to win nine period let alone to win nine straight in finals is something."

Dixon, who reached his 100th final in winning the Sonoma event, didn't take long to begin working on his second hundred as he raced the Al-Anabi machine to a steadily improving trio of passes, from a cylinder-dropping 3.91 against Steve Torrence in round one to a 3.82 to defeat Shawn Langdon to a dazzling 3.79 in the semifinals to beat low qualifier Doug Kalitta's 3.83.

Like Beckman, McClenathan improved his Countdown position, eking past Tony Schumacher for the No. 2 seed. McClenathan, a three-time winner this season, reached his sixth final of the year and the 63rd of his Top Fuel career with the Fram dragster by racing past Chris Karamesines, Schumacher, and Grubnic with passes of 3.84, 3.83, and 3.80.

Hines clearly was on a mission in Brainerd, leading Pro Stock Motorcycle qualifying from the first session as he worked diligently to chase down reigning season and event champ Arana, who led by 60 points entering the event. He chopped off a small chunk with his outstanding qualifying effort, then finished the job with his win – his second straight and fourth of the year -- against first-time finalist Jim Underdahl, 6.94 to 7.01, for his 22nd win. It's Hines' second win here, having scored in 2007. Older brother Matt won the race three times.

"Big win," said Hines. "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 points, 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.

"Hungry guys like Jim Underdahl, you can't take them for granted because you never know what's going to happen. He improved a bit in the final and we slowed down, so I wasn't about to go out there and miss the Tree. They've got Vance & Hines power in that bike, and we're proud of it. They're doing a lot with what they have."

Hines had the bike to beat all weekend, putting the Screamin' Eagle Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson on the pole with a track-record 6.915 and running a flurry of low 6.90s to reach the final, the 36th of his career and his third straight. He opened with low e.t. of the meet, 6.904, to beat local Buddy Robinson, then took a crucial victory when Arana fouled in the second round. Hines advanced to the final with a 6.92 by defeating Angie Smith in the semifinals.

Underdahl may not have made the Countdown to 1 playoffs, but the Forest Lake, Minn., hero showed the partial home-state crowd what his Suzuki Extended Care machine was capable of, racing past Craig Treble, Joe DeSantis, and Mike Berry with a pair of six-second runs and a 7.03 in the semi's. The fact that DeSantis and Berry were among Underdahl's late-round conquests bore out the upset-laden nature of the eliminator; three of the four semifinalists had not won a Wally.

In Lucas Oil action, Frank Manzo and Rick Johnson, who scored respective wins in Top Alcohol Funny Car and Super Stock at the inaugural Brainerd event in 1982, reached the winner's circle again. Manzo, the defending world and event champ, beat Tom Carter this year for his 90th victory, and Johnson beat reigning world champ Jimmy DeFrank Jr.

Top Alcohol Dragster honors went to Chris Demke, who defeated Duane Shields, and Dan Fletcher collected win No. 68 in Stock by defeating Ben Line, brother of Pro Stock ace Jason Line. Comp gold went home with points leader Al Ackerman, who defeated Lou Ficco Jr. for his second win this season. Former world champ Gary Stinnett beat Topeka winner Dustin Long in a double-breakout final in Super Comp, and Lance Trujillo scored his first win in Super Gas, turning back Stan Moulzolf in the final round. 

In other competition, Adam Fricke took Pro Stock Snowmobile honors over Louie Wirbel.

Source: NHRA.com

“I remember seeing and working on John’s championship cars so to have my own Full Throttle championship funny car is pretty neat. I have to thank Auto Club and Tom McKernan as well as all our sponsors like Castrol, Ford, Mac Tools and BrandSource for making my championship possible. This is also more than just my car. This is a representation of all the hard work my crew chief Jimmy Prock and my crew guys put into making a great run in the Countdown last year,” said Hight, the No. 2 seed in the 2010 Countdown.

“Last year in Indy we barely made the Countdown and then we won three races to get the championship. This season I wanted to be a dominant car and we have won four races so far. I would never guarantee a championship or a race win. They are too hard to earn. I have been in the past four Mac Tools U.S. Nationals finals and I would love to get this Full Throttle World Championship Auto Club Mustang into the winner’s circle this year and start the Countdown with a lot of momentum,” said Hight.

This is the third specialty Mustang Funny Car for Hight. He raced a Rookie of the Year Mustang in 2006, the year after he won the Auto Club Road to the Future award, winning the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals that year and in 2008 he raced a Los Angeles Dodgers commemorative Mustang the last two races of the season.