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Shoe regains points lead; Force, A. Johnson also win

Reigning Top Fuel champion Tony Schumacher has quickly regained the POWERade points lead with a convincing win in the Arizona desert at the 21st Checker Schuck's Kragen NHRA Nationals at Firebird Int'l Raceway outside of Phoenix. Schumacher (pictured) used a steady diet of 4.4-second passes throughout the weekend to qualify No. 1 and then finish the job on Sunday against a game Morgan Lucas, who has now been to three finals in the last four races.

Funny Car and Pro Stock are currently led by two men who never have had the No. 1 by their names before. Phil Burkart Jr. leads the flopper category even though John Force beat Ron Capps in the final of this race. With the Pro Stock points lead on the line, Allen Johnson took out Ron Krisher in the trophy round of the factory hot rod class. Tony Schumacher

Just as it was at the season opener in Pomona, Calif., Schumacher's Alan Johnson-tuned U.S. Army dragster was the car to beat in Top Fuel. After succumbing to what he termed as "driver error" two weeks ago, two-time series champ Schumacher redeemed himself with an end-to-end job on Lucas, who puffed his tires and gave up at 1,000 feet.

Schumacher now has 22 wins in his career. This one came by the official numbers of 4.485 seconds at 329.50 mph to Lucas' 4.967 at 207.53 mph. Schumacher now leads Pomona winner Scott Kalitta by five points and Lucas by seven.

"It's so cool to drive a car for the best Top Fuel team I've ever seen, from either the inside or across the pit with someone else," Schumacher said. "Alan is at a level that's better than anything he's ever done before. The car is perfect. I screwed up in Pomona. It's tough because you know that if the driver does his job you should win the race. I can't make mistakes. I started the day so nervous, but Alan just said I shouldn't be nervous because I'd never screwed up at two races in a row before.

"I feel a little sorry for Morgan. He's been to three finals now and hasn't won yet. I know what that's like. I went to nine before I won, so I know you start thinking things like, 'What do I need to do to win one of these things?' He'll get his. That's a great car, and he's a good driver."

Schumacher's powerful U.S. Army team returned to the final round after a one-race hiatus following nifty elimination-round victories over Bruce Litton, Cory McClenathan, and Brandon Bernstein. His runs against Litton, Bernstein, and Lucas were all in the 4.4-second range, a feat no one else accomplished on the day.

Lucas' third final-round visit of the last four national events came at the expense of Rit Pustari, Doug Herbert, and Dave Grubnic. The best pass of the day for the Lucas Oil rail was against Herbert when Lucas posted a 4.51. John Force

Force's all-time record for national event wins moves further away from his very distant rivals after he notched No. 115 Sunday. Eight of those victories have come here at Firebird Int'l Raceway. This time, Capps took the loss by .01-second, which drops the revitalized pro to 14-17 in money rounds.

"I'm glad to see Capps back in the mix because he's been down for a while," Force said. "I gave him a big ol' kiss down there cuz I was happy for him. He said, 'What's that?' and I told him it was that cologne he's wearing; I couldn't resist. He's running good now, and that's another car to worry about.

"My hot rod started running 4.60s last year like magic. When we saw [Tony] Pedregon run a 4.60 in Pomona a couple weeks ago, we stopped reading the track and started running on ego. [Crew chief Austin] Coil said he was going to fix it, and we ended up winning the Full Throttle award for having the most consistent car this weekend, so we're back on track.

"I've been trying to get up here [to the pressroom] all weekend. I needed to say thanks to Checker Schuck's Kragen because for the first time in 30 years I missed a deal they had the other day for a family situation. Everything's okay, but I needed to let them know I appreciate them."

Capps tried his best to beat the champ, leaving with a great .060-second light to Force's .095-second start. But Force's Ford had too much steam and he caught and passed Capps by halftrack, winning with a 4.802 at 324.12 mph to Capps' 4.856 at 321.27 mph. Capps' last win came here in 2003.

The performance of Force's Castrol GTX Start Up Ford Mustang was slightly erratic in the first three rounds, but all of his opponents were lost in either tire smoke or shake, so his path to his 181st final looked relatively easy. He started with a 4.74 next to Frank Pedregon, then slowed to a 4.91 versus Gary Scelzi before picking up slightly against teammate Eric Medlen with a 4.81, which gave him lane choice in the final.

Brut's Capps had a 4.8-second car most of the weekend, including during round-wins over former stablemate Tommy Johnson Jr. and new POWERade points leader Burkart. His big break came in the second round when he and rookie Robert Hight pedaled too many times to count as they fought to get down the track. Capps finally won that quarterfinal feud by an 8.97 to 9.81 margin.

Burkart's semifinal showing here combined with his runner-up finish at the season-opening CARQUEST Auto Parts NHRA Winternationals puts him on top of the points for the first time in his career. He currently leads Force by 12 markers. Allen Johnson

The last time Allen Johnson and Krisher made it to a final round was at the same race, the 2003 Sears Craftsman NHRA Nationals in Madison, Ill. On that occasion, Krisher took the win on a holeshot. This time, though, Johnson was leaving nothing to chance as he dropped the clutch with a reaction time of .021-second, ahead of Krisher's .040-second start, and went on to win by an easy margin of 6.801 at 202.36 mph to 6.887 at 190.65 mph.

The victory put Johnson into the POWERade points lead for the first time in his nine-year career. Krisher moved into second place, just two points behind Johnson. A.J.'s last win came in Atlanta in 2002. He now has three victories in eight final-round appearances.

"I think the parity is back in Pro Stock," Johnson said. "We've been dominated by Greg [Anderson] for the last two years, so the rest of us are pretty anxious to get some wins ourselves. He's been two- or three-hundredths ahead of everyone, but I don't think there were many races today decided by more than a thousandth of a second. We'll probably see 12, 14 winners this year, like we did in 2002.

"This was a big win for our program and for Mopar. It's been a while since Mopar has won a race in Pro Stock, so it's nice to put them back in the winner's circle. Maybe between all of us Mopar drivers now we can start adding some up for them."

Johnson and his J&J Racing/Team Mopar crew were rock steady on the day, running a 6.76 against V. Gaines and a pair of 6.67s opposite Jason Line and Jeg Coughlin. His semifinal win over Coughlin came by .01-second.

Valvoline's Krisher was involved in the two closest races of the entire day en route to the final. First he beat opening-round foe Dave Connolly by just .0035-second, then he took out semifinal opponent Jim Yates by.0056-second. Between, Krisher caught and passed Warren Johnson during their round-two race when W.J.'s engine sprung an oil leak midway down the track.