By Rob Geiger, NHRA.com
Melanie Troxel made drag racing history Sunday by opening the season with her fifth straight final-round appearance. Then she added an exclamation point by capturing the title of the seventh annual NHRA SummitRacing.com Nationals with a labored, but winning 4.834 at 285.65 mph to push her POWERade points lead in Top Fuel to a whopping 156 markers over runner-up Dave Grubnic, who closed with a 4.987 at 319.60 mph.
Cruz Pedregon won his first Funny Car race in 126 events, which dates back to the 2000 Englishtown tilt. Like Troxel, Pedregon's final-round pass wasn't pretty, but the 5.417 at 266.16 mph that he posted was more than enough to take out points leader Ron Capps, who smoked his tires at the hit of the throttle. Kurt Johnson hadn't won a round all season but he collected four here, winning Pro Stock by 10 inches with a come-from-behind 6.842 against Dave Connolly's 6.874.
When combined with teammate and reigning Top Fuel champion Tony Schumacher's spectacular finish to the 2005 season, Schumacher Racing has now put a dragster in the final round of 12 consecutive Top Fuel races. This day belonged to Troxel, who breezed by David Baca, Morgan Lucas, and Doug Kalitta with another string of 4.5-second passes before her fortunate final-round race against Grubnic.
"It seems like we can do no wrong," Troxel said. "Richard Hogan [crew chief] seems to have the ability to adapt the car to whatever conditions we face, and the guys are doing a great job of getting the car back together the same way every time. We're not making many mistakes.
"I don't want to wake up from this. No matter how good a team you have, you just can't think that you'll continue to go to the finals every week. I'm surprised as anybody. We're on a team that has all the resources and is enjoying a lot of success and that motivates you to go out there and perform at your best.
"That U.S. Army group has really set the standard high and we just try to follow their lead. As much good fortune as we've had, they've struggled, But they've been so helpful to us whenever they go out they all come over and help so we all win these deals together."
Troxel is now just one race away from tying Schumacher with seven consecutive final-round appearances. She closed 2005 with a runner-up showing in Pomona. Grubnic moved around "Hot Rod" Fuller and Larry Dixon to reach second place in the standings.
Pedregon may have been the happiest winner in the Las Vegas Motor Speedway Victory Circle as he finally gets to cut his shaggy hair, which has been growing wild since last June when he promised to not cut it again until he wins. He had to earn this one, the 23rd of his Funny Car career, by taking out rock-steady Capps who inexplicably smoked the tires in the final.
"You can say I had a gorilla on my back because it was definitely bigger than a monkey," said Pedregon, who moved from 10th to fifth in the points. "My feeling in the final when I started smoking the tires out there was, 'Oh well, Ron's gonna go by me.' But when I didn't see him I just started driving off adrenaline and instinct. I've never been so glad to see a win light come on.
"I think we're getting some respect out here. People saw that we ran some 4.80s in the heat and when you race a car like that you have to run on the edge.
"This is one of the races I've always wanted to win. The location, the whole Sin City thing, it seems pretty cool. The winner's circle with the six-foot tall showgirls is cool. I've always looked at those photos in National DRAGSTER and thought I'd like to be a part of that."
This was Pedregon's 50th career final. He beat Jim Head, Tony Bartone, and Tommy Johnson Jr. along the way. Capps' third final in a row -- he was coming off back-to-back win -- pushed his lead in the rankings to 105 over John Force.
An 18-1 underdog with the local bookmakers, Johnson washed away the worst start of his career with a big win over Connolly, who was a 30-1 dog on the casinos' betting sheets. This was his second straight win at this facility as he took the fall event title here in 2005.
Connolly reached his 14th career final with three straight holeshot wins. It looked as though he might get a fourth against Johnson as he left the starting line with a stellar .006-second light, but Johnson was able to barely track him down and win by the closest margin of the day, .0031-second.
"We've been slumping, no doubt," Johnson said. "I was just glad the car started this morning. We've had some success here and we were able to look in the recipe book and figured out what to do. Everybody has periods where they're not running so well. You just have to fight through it.
"I came here in 2002 and I was an 18-1 underdog so I bet on myself. I got drilled in the second round so I said the heck with that, I'm not gonna bet on myself any more. I guess some people made money on me today but not me. I guarantee you I'm happier with this trophy."
Johnson, the fifth different winner in the season's first five events, now has 62 finals on his resume and is 33-29 with a trophy on the line. He moved from 16th to 10th in the standings. Connolly moved up to 11th, four points shy of Johnson. Connolly's last win was at this event one year ago.
