Winternationals Automobile Race

The two key words in National Hot Rod Assn. tend to conjure up visions of speed-crazed youngsters hopping up their cars to squeeze the last ounce of speed out of them. Demographics of motor racing's fastest moving sport show that 64% of its fans are under 34. It doesn't apply to the racers, however. What once may have been a young man's sport has turned into one for senior citizens--or ones about to be.

Even after winning an unprecedented six consecutive NHRA top-fuel championships, Tony Schumacher still is driving scared -- much to his rivals' chagrin. "I'm afraid to lose right now," he said Friday. "[My title streak is] going to end at some point, I just don't want it to end this year." This year starts this weekend with the 50th Winternationals at Auto Club Raceway in Pomona, the season opener for the National Hot Rod Assn.'s Full Throttle Series. The series' fastest class is top fuel -- dragsters that reach 320 mph -- and Schumacher, 40, is top fuel's preeminent driver and reigning champion.

Veteran funny car driver Al Hofmann lost his sponsor and his crew chief last year, but he didn't lose his ability to go fast. Driving a 5,500-horsepower Dodge Avenger with last year's paint job--but no sponsor decals--Hofmann blistered Pomona Raceway's quarter-mile drag strip with a track-record 308-mph run Friday during qualifying for the Chief Auto Parts Winternationals. The old record of 307.06 was set last year by Cruz Pedregon.

Funny car driver Ron Capps is a familiar face to many drag racing fans because of his funny television commercials with NASCAR driver Michael Waltrip. But when it comes to winning championships, Capps would seem more closely aligned with NASCAR's Mark Martin. Just as Martin has been a runner-up five times in his quest for the NASCAR Sprint Cup title, Capps has been the bridesmaid in the NHRA funny car championship three times -- leaving him with a reputation as perhaps the best funny car driver never to have captured a title.

Shelly Anderson finished on a rim and a prayer in her father's top-fuel dragster, but it was enough for the former cheerleader from Royal Oak High in Covina to win the Chief Auto Parts Winternationals, opening event of the National Hot Rod Assn. season Sunday. Anderson, 28-year-old daughter of former racer Brad Anderson, was past the halfway mark in the finals against Rance McDaniel when her left rear tire exploded, sending the wheel over a retaining wall at Pomona Raceway.

Still carrying the psychic pain of a teammate's death three years ago and the physical pain from his own injuries from a racing crash six months later, John Force now faces another curve that life has thrown at the celebrated drag racer. The leader of John Force Racing arrives at this year's season-opening NHRA Winternationals in Pomona with only three funny cars on his team instead of four, the woeful economy having recently forced him to park one dragster to save money. The remaining three cars are driven by Force, his daughter Ashley Force Hood and his son-in-law Robert Hight.

A convergence of old and new occurred Thursday as the National Hot Rod Assn. opened its 56th season with the 47th version of its annual Winternationals sponsored by Carquest Auto Parts. Ashley Force, 24, daughter of legendary funny car driver John Force, made the first professional run of her career with a solo pass down the quarter-mile at Pomona Raceway. She was followed by Kenny Bernstein, 60, who is racing a funny car for the first time since 1989.

Don "Snake" Prudhomme won his first Winternationals as a driver in 1965 and added five more victories, but he may have had his most satisfying day Sunday at Pomona Raceway when his two drivers, Larry Dixon Jr. and Ron Capps, scored a double in the 38th Chief Auto Parts Winternationals. The way the two won provided quite a contrast in side-by-side racing.

You can see a bit of Kenny Bernstein in his son's face. Brandon Bernstein has his father's laugh, his father's twinkle, and now his father's job. Whether he has his father's talent could be revealed this weekend at the NHRA Powerade Series' season-opening event, the K&N Filters Winternationals at Pomona Raceway. The King of Speed's progeny will be steering one of the most famous cars in professional motor sports. Can he possibly be ready?

Irrepressible John Force will make his first official start today as motor racing's American driver of the year when time trials begin at the Pomona Raceway for the 37th annual Chief Auto Parts Winternationals, opening event of the National Hot Rod Assn. drag racing season. Force, the first drag racer to be named to racing's highest honor after winning a record 13 of 19 events last year, will be looking for a fast start in quest of a seventh NHRA funny car championship.

Still carrying the psychic pain of a teammate's death three years ago and the physical pain from his own injuries from a racing crash six months later, John Force now faces another curve that life has thrown at the celebrated drag racer. The leader of John Force Racing arrives at this year's season-opening NHRA Winternationals in Pomona with only three funny cars on his team instead of four, the woeful economy having recently forced him to park one dragster to save money. The remaining three cars are driven by Force, his daughter Ashley Force Hood and his son-in-law Robert Hight.

Can Tony Schumacher possibly win a seventh consecutive series title? Will Ashley Force Hood or Antron Brown win their first? And can Larry Dixon bounce back from losing last year's title by the narrowest margin on record? As the new season of the National Hot Rod Assn.'s premier Full Throttle Series gets underway with the 50th running of the Winternationals at Auto Club Raceway Thursday through Sunday in Pomona, here's a preview of the competition in the sport's four leading divisions: Top fuel A key architect behind Schumacher's five consecutive season-long titles from 2004 to 2008 was Alan Johnson, his crew chief.

They had colorful nicknames like "The Mongoose" and "The Snake," initially raced mostly for glory in light of skimpy prize money and became legends as professional drag racing's popularity expanded nationwide. As the National Hot Rod Assn. holds the 50th anniversary of the Winternationals this week, here's a look at some of drag racing's most notable drivers over the decades in the premier top-fuel and funny car classes, some of whom will appear to help celebrate this year's Winternationals in Pomona: 1960s "Big Daddy" Don Garlits In the Winternationals' first 10 years, and for decades after that, Garlits was the driver even casual fans knew as being synonymous with drag racing.

The National Hot Rod Assn.'s season opener in Pomona, normally a four-day affair, will now drag into a sixth day -- pun fully intended. Heavy rain again soaked Auto Club Raceway on Monday, forcing the remainder of the Kragen O'Reilly Winternationals to be postponed until today, when clearer skies are forecast. Only the first round of final eliminations in drag racing's two premier classes, top-fuel and funny cars, were completed Sunday in the NHRA's Full Throttle Series.

The winter played more havoc with the NHRA's Kragen O'Reilly Winternationals in Pomona as periodic rain Sunday forced the drag races' final rounds to be postponed until today. Only the first round of eliminations in the sport's two premier classes, top-fuel dragsters and funny cars, could be completed in between the showers at Auto Club Raceway. The season opener in the National Hot Rod Assn.'s Full Throttle Series is scheduled to resume at 10:30 a.m., although more rain is in the forecast.

NHRA officials hope to squeeze in two rounds of qualifying today ahead of Sunday's drag races in Pomona after Friday's qualifying was rained out. The original schedule for the Kragen O'Reilly Winternationals, the opening race in the NHRA's Full Throttle Series, called for three days of qualifying and final eliminations Sunday at Auto Club Raceway.

The winter played more havoc with the NHRA's Kragen O'Reilly Winternationals in Pomona as periodic rain Sunday forced the drag races' final rounds to be postponed until today. Only the first round of eliminations in the sport's two premier classes, top-fuel dragsters and funny cars, could be completed in between the showers at Auto Club Raceway. The season opener in the National Hot Rod Assn.'s Full Throttle Series is scheduled to resume at 10:30 a.m., although more rain is in the forecast.

Gary Scelzi and John Force stand atop the drag racing world going into the opening event of the National Hot Rod Assn. season, the 39th annual AutoZone Winternationals today through Sunday at Pomona Raceway. Scelzi, who lives in Fresno, is the two-time defending Winston series champion in top fuel. Force, from Yorba Linda, has won eight funny-car championships, the last six in a row.

Change has been a constant for veteran top-fuel drag racer Cory McClenathan, and this season is no exception. "Cory Mac" has driven for several teams, endured an up-and-down career and, at the start of this year, found himself surrounded by a new crew. McClenathan joked that during preseason test runs, "I needed name tags because I didn't know anyone on the team." But none of that has dissuaded McClenathan, 46, from believing he'll again be strong in the National Hot Rod Assn.'

The death of Eric Medlen and his own crash last season had a profound emotional impact on John Force, the National Hot Rod Assn.'s biggest star. The team owner and driver said his focus was on building a safe race car that would go down the track. After that, his team would work on trying to win races. In the season-opening Carquest Auto Parts Winternationals on Sunday, Force's team won sooner rather than later.