Underdogs can't close deal at Houston Raceway Park
Underdogs had the upper hand in the O'Reilly Spring Nationals at Houston Raceway Park on Sunday -- until the final round, writes Bill Stephens.
Joe Hartley never had advanced further than the second round in his entire Top Fuel career, let alone a final round. His father, Alan, who briefly raced in the Top Fuel class before Joe, never accumulated a noteworthy round win record following a much more productive stretch in a Top Alcohol dragster.
Cruz Pedregon's 1992 rookie world championship in Funny Car remains one of the NHRA's most remarkable achievements, but he has tallied only an additional 16 national event wins in the past 15 years, his most recent coming almost exactly a year ago.
Allen Johnson's last victory in Pro Stock was in Seattle last summer, giving him a grand total of four since he made his professional debut in 1996.
Craig Treble picked up his ninth national event win in Pomona, Calif., last November, but prior to that had not made a trip to an NHRA winner's circle since August 2004.
On April Fools' Day 2007, those four racers nearly played the ultimate trick on their respective final-round opponents -- all of whom have amassed much greater statistical success -- at the 20th O'Reilly Spring Nationals at Hosuton Raceway Park in Baytown, Texas.
In Top Fuel, Hartley enjoyed far and away his best day in the category after picking up his first career round win three races ago at the season-opening Carquest Winternationals in Pomona. After getting past Hillary Will in the first round, Hartley stunned the sellout crowd packed into the HRP grandstands when he picked off No. 1 qualifier Whit Bazemore in Round 2. He then dumped David Grubnic in the semifinals, sending him to his first career final round against last year's rookie of the year, J.R. Todd.
Todd, still rebounding from the emotional duress of the passing of one of his best racing friends, Eric Medlen, was ready for Hartley and nailed down his second win out of four races in '07 in a thrilling drag race decided by four-hundredths of a second. The win was the sixth for Todd since moving to the NHRA's quickest and fastest category last season for owner Dexter Tuttle.
It was following the race in Phoenix last month that Todd's team was rocked by the unexpected resignation of tuner Jimmy Walsh, who was hired away to turn wrenches on Kenny Bernstein's Monster Energy Funny Car.
"I'm so glad March is over because it was the worst month of my life," Todd said. "I lost my crew chief and I lost one of my best friends, but at least I have this trophy to give to his family. I want to win every race I'm in but this one more than ever. I was wondering how long it would take me to win a trophy and give it to his family. I guess Eric was watching over me today."
Pedregon appeared to be on his way to his first win since last year's victory at the spring Las Vegas event by smoking Jim Head, Bob Gilbertson and local racer Todd Simpson in the first three rounds. Ron Capps, however, was the picture of consistency all day long with a volley of passes in the 4.80s, and after dispatching Pedregon handily in the final, last year's No. 3 points finisher racked up his second consecutive win of the year and opened up an 83-point lead over Tony Pedregon in the POWERade standings.
"We're not mourning Eric's loss, we're celebrating his life today," Capps said as he choked back tears. "I miss him so badly. I didn't even want to race this weekend but Eric wouldn't have wanted it any other way. This trophy is going straight to [his father] John Medlen and I'm gonna have another one made for his mom."
In Pro Stock, Johnson put on a veritable clinic of starting-line quickness in his Mopar Hemi Stratus with reaction times of .021, .020 and .006 in the day's first three round wins over Erica Enders, Richie Stevens Jr., and Dave Connolly, respectively. In the final, facing reigning POWERade champion Jason Line, Johnson uncorked another great reaction time, .010, but Line's notorious horsepower was the deciding factor, giving him his first win of '07.
"It's been a really tough week," recounted Line. "I told my wife on Thursday before we were getting ready to come here I just really didn't feel like going. It's just a tough thing for everybody. It wasn't like I knew Eric that well, just enough to say 'hi' to, but he was a great guy and he was always happy. I always think that something good can come out of everything, but right now it's hard to figure what good is going to come out of this. I just can't imagine. He was a nice, bright young man and certainly it shouldn't have been his time."
Treble is one of Pro Stock Motorcycle's most experienced veterans and has earned an impressive reputation as an accomplished holeshot artist. Starting-line prowess was definitely an ongoing issue in bike eliminations with no less than nine of the first 14 matchups in PSM eliminations decided by red lights. Even more surprising, in two of those races, both riders left too soon, with the win going to the racer with the less flagrant head start.
But Treble was steady on the Tree all day, gunning down Matt Guidera, Steve Johnson and Chris Rivas on his Team Tigue Suzuki GSXR before meeting up with three-time POWERade champion Angelle Sampey in the final. It was no contest as Sampey's U.S. Army Suzuki -- two weeks after its national record-setting performance in Gainesville -- scampered away and carried Sampey to her first win of the season.
Treble left the starting line first (.015), but encountered a mechanical problem. Sampey's reaction time (.084) might have cost her the race had Treble's bike not lost power.
"I knew my light was bad," Sampey said. "I just wanted to make sure it was green. There were what, nine red lights today, and I sure didn't want to give it up like that. I wore green underwear today and now I guess I better wear them every race because it looks like they worked."
Undergarments notwithstanding, this year's edition of the O'Reilly Spring Nationals surely will be remembered for a national event in which April Fool's Day could have pulled a fast one on four of the sport's biggest favorites.
Bill Stephens covers NHRA for ESPN.com.
