NHRA : LAS VEGAS RESULTS

[josnroh]

NHRA Full Throttle Series star Robert Hight on Sunday continued John Force Racing's domination of the Funny Car category, racing to victory at the SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Antron Brown (Top Fuel) and Mike Edwards (Pro Stock) also claimed wins at the event.

Hight's victory, his second of the season, was the fifth in a row for the team, which included two wins to close the 2010 season by John Force and last month's Tire Kingdom Gatornationals win by Mike Neff. Hight, who also won the season-opening Kragen O'Reilly Winternationals, moved into the series points lead with the win, his second at this event and the 20th of his career.

Hight, who beat Jim Head, Jack Beckman and Cruz Pedregon in earlier rounds, held off Johnny Gray in the final round. Hight's Auto Club Ford Mustang covered the distance in 4.149 seconds at 307.79 mph to edge Gray's Service Central Dodge Charger at the finish line. Gray ran a 4.169 at 301.81 mph.

In the Top Fuel final, Brown defeated Brandon Bernstein. It was Brown's 26th career victory (10th in Top Fuel) and his first ever at this track. Brown posted a 3.887 at 318.84 mph in his Aaron's/Matco Tools dragster to cross the finish line in front of Bernstein's Copart dragster, which trailed with a 3.947 at 311.13 mph.

Series leader Del Worsham lost in the semifinals and now leads Brown by eight points. Multitime world champs Tony Schumacher and Larry Dixon both lost in the second round and are third and fourth in points, respectively.

In Pro Stock, Edwards claimed his first win of the season and his second straight at Las Vegas by defeating rookie and first-time finalist Vincent Nobile. Edwards ran 6.695 at 205.98 mph in his Penhall/Interstate Batteries Pontiac GXP to take his 29th career victory and hold off Nobile, who finished in 6.713 at 205.69 mph in his Mount View Tire Dodge Avenger.

The victory moved Edwards to fourth place in the standings and helped erase a slow start to the season, which included a DNQ at Pomona.

Edwards, who was the event's top qualifier, defeated Richard Freeman, Erica Enders and V. Gaines in the first three rounds. He said his car slowed a bit in the final and he was lucky to take the win.

Pro Stock points leader Jason Line saw his early-season winning streak end in the second round when he lost to Greg Stanfield. Line now leads Stanfield by 69 points.

The NHRA now heads to the second-annual VisitMyrtleBeach.com NHRA Four-Wide Nationals, April 14-17 at zMAX Dragway near Charlotte, N.C.

[Wannabe]

The Mike Strasburg deal is the lowest I have ever seen the NHRA stoop to. This is the dirtiest, most under-minded filth I have ever before seen in any scope of any organized crime. I hope Tommy hangs by the end of a rope over this deal.
May the brass at the NHRA rot in hell!

[josnroh]

The Mike Strasburg deal is the lowest I have ever seen the NHRA stoop to. This is the dirtiest, most under-minded filth I have ever before seen in any scope of any organized crime. I hope Tommy hangs by the end of a rope over this deal.
May the brass at the NHRA rot in hell!

Didn't one of the prostock motorcycle guys have a similar incident a couple of years ago? Is this a no exception rule now? I'm sure we will be hearing much more on this issue.

[Wannabe]

Allen Johnson. The pro stock racer. Came in and his BAC was through the roof. So they suspended him. A quick call from the MOPAR brass and the suspension became a one week deal.
Strasburg filled one vile, then made a run and came back and filled another. (Two were required) They stated that they threw the first one out because he did not fill two out at the time. They then threw the new one out. (It was hot and dry at vegas.) The NHRA rulebook said they could do a blood test as well, so Mike offered to give blood as he was having a tough time filling both viles. They said they were not prepared to do blood, so they would not accept it. He then went and filled one more after tuning a TAFC for it's last pass, but they said that the time was up and released the media report that he "failed" a drug test, and would be suspended from stepping foot on any NHRA soil for one full year. The good word is that the NHRA was hoping to find someone so they could get some "hot red press."
What about when Top Compton drove an NHRA paid for rental car into the side of someones home while on NHRA's dime and drunk as could be? He didn't even miss a day of work!

[josnroh]

They're asking for a drug check during qualifying? That's just stupid.Mike should get legal help ASAP,he does have the right to an appeal.Side note on Allen Johnson;I was at a hotel bar a couple of years ago the night before the K&N challenge,and old AJ was wasted at 2AM.I think the race started at 11AM,so he was probably still over the limit right there.

[Wannabe]

When Allen Johnson says he had a few drinks the night before with a few friends, he may be under estimating. The man puts it away with the best of them.
He has cleaned up his act on the weekend of the race, but the guy is a drinker.

As for Mike Strasburg, he does not have the money to get legal help. He is just a simple guy that runs a family machine shop and races with every spare dime he has.
But he called and said everything he owns is up for sale. Car, truck, trailer, spares, fuel, oil, and the miniscule sponsorships go with the car.
Sad to see him leave, but he is fully retired.

[josnroh]

I'm truly sorry to hear about this.