"I was just amped-up, I was ready to race," said a red-eyed Wilkerson, 45. "But, hey, what are you going to do about it? It's been a great year."
That left Hight as Pedregon's last challenger for the title. But Tony Pedregon eliminated Hight, whose Yorba Linda home barely escaped the fires Saturday.
That gave the championship to Cruz Pedregon, who ultimately finished 93 points ahead of second-place Wilkerson. Jack Beckman of North Hills, Calif., was third in the standings, Hight was fourth and Tony Pedregon fifth.
Hight, 39, said that he "was choked up" after seeing his title hopes vanish after only one round. The championship battle was "all consuming," he said. "You get down to the last race and your hopes are so high. We couldn't pull it off this year, but I guarantee you we'll start next week for the Winternationals," the season opener that's also in Pomona, he said.
Although Schumacher was eliminated in the second round of top-fuel racing by Rod Fuller, Schumacher still tied Greg Anderson for most wins in a season (15) and most round victories (76).
The race with Fuller "was just decided by a few inches, you got your money's worth right there," said Schumacher, whose crew chief Alan Johnson is leaving next year to form his own team.
Although Fuller lost to Dixon in the final round, Fuller took note of the remarkable winning streak of the Schumacher-Johnson team and said, "I can say I was the last person to ever beat them."
The top fuel and funny car races were 1,000 feet long, not the traditional quarter mile, or 1,320 feet. After two fatal accidents, the National Hot Rod Assn. this summer shortened the races indefinitely to slow the cars' top speeds and provide extra slowing distance in case of accidents.
In the pro stock class, Greg Anderson won when Kurt Johnson red-lighted. Jeg Coughlin Jr. already had clinched the pro stock title.
And in pro stock motorcycles, Chris Rivas of Fresno won the race while Eddie Krawiec of Englishtown, N.J., won his first championship after Matt Smith was eliminated in the second round.
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james.peltz@latimes.com
