Larry Dixon remained the hottest driver in drag racing Monday when he scored his 10th win of the season by capturing the Top Fuel division at the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals presented by Lucas Oil at O’Reilly Raceway Park.
While Dixon showed the way in Top Fuel and the other class winners included Ashley Force Hood, Greg Stanfield and LE Tonglet as the first of six playoff races got started.
Dixon earned his fourth Indy win and 58th of his career when he topped Cory McClenathan in the final round after beating Bruce Litton, Steve Torrence and Shawn Langdon in the earlier rounds. AHN | All Headline News
Tony Schumacher’s bid to win the NHRA’s premier event for the fifth year in a row and record-tying ninth time overall ended in the Top Fuel semifinals when he lost to Don Schumacher Racing teammate Cory McClenathan.
McClenathan then became the latest victim of the Larry Dixon steamroller as the Avon, Ind., resident improved to 10-for-10 in final rounds this season with his fourth career U.S. Nationals title and first since 2005.
The longest Indy winning streak now belongs to Ashley Force Hood, who won the Funny Car title for the second year in a row. Making it even sweeter, she claimed the $100,000 prize by beating her legendary father, John, in the final.
“Cory made a great run,” said Dixon, who increased his lead in the standings to 46 points over McClenathan and 87 over Schumacher. “We weren’t going to back into it. When Tony wins every year, it doesn’t leave much for (the rest of us), so we’re going to enjoy the day—and the night.”
For the second year in a row, Force Hood beat a teammate in the final. Last year, it was Robert Hight. This year, it was the winningest driver in NHRA history (130 and counting). Asked what her father told her afterward, she joked, “I couldn’t really understand what he said.”
With Ashley Force Hood first win of the season, she jumped from eighth to fourth in the standings, 69 points behind her father, with five races left in the championship Countdown.
“This win is even bigger than last year because we’ve struggled so much,” she said.
“Who knows what the next few months will bring?” Indianapolis Star
“We were hating this point system last year, but we’re loving it this year because you can turn your season around,” she added. “It shows when you are positive about things and believe in yourself, you can turn it around. Today we didn’t have any luck—we had hard races and tough conditions, but we worked hard and came out on top.”
By winning at Indianapolis for the second year in a row, Force Hood managed to accomplish something her 14-time Funny Car champion father has never done.
“Dad never won back-to-back Indys, but there’s plenty of other records he’s set that would take me a lifetime to achieve,” she laughed. “I’ve probably been to every Indy for 27 years since I was a kid. I was a kid in Victory Circle with my dad and to be racing him in the finals is kind of surreal.”
“Maybe people won’t believe this, but the pressure is off when you race your teammates, especially in the later rounds,” she said. “The tough part for me was the semis—I was so excited to win that round and to have Dad get into the finals behind us.
“Jack was my teacher back when I was 16, going to drag racing school in a Super Comp Car,” she continued. “The Schumacher team [Don Schumacher Racing] is our archrival, so to have him and [Matt] Hagan race me and Dad in the semis was really big for us.” ESPN
The wild, upset-filled nature of this year’s U.S. Nationals definitely spilled over to Pro Stock where Stanfield upset low qualifier Mike Edwards on a final-round holeshot, 6.665 to 6.627, thanks to a .020 to .084 holeshot. The victory is Stanfield’s fourth in the class and moved Stanfield to third place in points, 82 points behind Edwards.
“This is just a huge win for me, especially after coming so close here last year [in a.001-second loss to Jeg Coughlin in the final],” said Stanfield. “And it was really exciting for our Nitro Fish Gear team owner, Kenny Koretsky, who was the Pro Stock runner-up at the 2004 Indy [which was the 50th anniversary of the event].
Tonglet, who is tuned by his older brother, GT—who used to ride a Vance & Hines Harley – qualified his Suzuki No. 2 behind Hines and raced his way past Joe DeSantis, Chip Ellis, and Hines’ teammate, Eddie Krawiec, to reach the final, his third of the season. Tonglet had a best run of 6.87 in round two, but his semifinal 6.90 just missed lane choice against Hines. NHRA.com
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