Whiteley Out in Round Two at Brainerd

Courtesy of YNot Racing

After running not just low e.t. of the meet but low e.t. of all three qualifying sessions at the Lucas Oil Nationals in Brainerd, Annie Whiteley was upset in the second round of eliminations when her car got loose and drifted over the centerline. It was the fifth time in her career that she's qualified No. 1 at a national event and the third time already this season.

"Somewhere before half-track, the car decided to make a left turn," said Whiteley, who reached the first national final event of her career at this event in 2012, her rookie season in Top Alcohol Funny Car. "I have no idea why – it left hard and until that point was running just like it had all weekend."

Whiteley wheeled her J&A Service/YNot Racing Mustang to a 5.61 at 257.63 mph to pace the field and clocked a 5.67 and a 5.64 in the other two qualifying sessions. She earned a first-round bye for being No. 1 in the short field, but following a solid 5.67 on a single that was within .01-second of low e.t. of the round, the car veered toward the centerline in round two not long after she swapped feet.

"Shane Westerfield's car broke the rear end in the pair ahead of us," Whiteley said. "I don't know if that had anything to do with it or if it was because it was misting when I staged – the conditions weren't ideal for any of us – but the car turned left right where his rear end broke. When [crew chief Roger Bateman] looked at the computer, he saw right on the G meter where something upset the tires."

The Brainerd event was the first of back-to-back-to-back events for the busy YNot team. This weekend is the Central Regional at Heartland Park Topeka, and next weekend is the most prestigious event of every season, the U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis, where last year Whiteley fell just short of victory in a close final-round match with Frank Manzo.

Brand Holds the Edge in 2014 TAFC Championship Race

Courtesy of Todd Veney/Pro Sportsman Association

It was a foregone conclusion that 2014 would be wide-open when all-time Alcohol Funny Car king Frank Manzo abdicated his throne late last year, and halfway through it, it absolutely is – the number 1 driver at this point probably isn't going to win the championship. 1995 Top Alcohol Dragster champ and four-time Alcohol Funny Car runner-up Jay Payne has won more rounds than any driver in either alcohol class this year (16) but he's also lost more (9).

It's another sure Top 5 or Top 10 finish for Payne, who has more career victories than any active driver in either Top Alcohol Dragster or Funny Car, but the favorite at midseason is a driver who's never even finished in the Top 10: Dale Brand, who had never run enough races to contend for a title until this year. He's been in the late rounds everywhere he's raced all year and with a little luck could have won all six.

Brand, who once terrorized IHRA Alcohol Funny Car racing, heads for the Allstars race and the Route 66 Nationals in Chicago as the defending Allstars champ. He's as quick – and as quick on the Tree – as anyone. He won the Chicago regional last month, broke through for a long overdue first national event title in Topeka, scored again last weekend at Tulsa, and is second in the standings, just 10 points behind Payne.

Brand has a better win-loss record (16-3, .842) than anyone in either alcohol class and is riding a three-race win streak. Only a red-light in the final kept him from winning in Gainesville; a broken throttle linkage stopped him in the second round in Charlotte after he'd opened a car-length lead; and in Houston, he fell to Annie Whiteley in the semifinals by just 11-thousandths of a second.

Annie Whiteley
 

Payne won the rain-delayed Houston regional final over Shane Westerfield by just eight-thousandths of a second, was runner-up at the regional event in Phoenix and the national event in Las Vegas, and just won again last weekend at the regional in Acton, Montana.

Early season leader Brian Hough stands third, 74 points behind Brand. He's 11-4 for the year and won his first two starts of the season, the Winternationals and the Phoenix regional. Westerfield, who moved into the Top 10 for the first time in 2012 and shot all the way up to third in the national standings last year, is one point behind Hough. He's also a two-time winner this season, at the Spring Nationals in Houston and the Las Vegas regional.

Hot off back-to-back final-round appearances in regional competition, Clint Thompson anchors the Top 5. He won Denver on a slight holeshot over Whiteley, 5.78 to 5.78, and lost the Acton final to Payne the same way, 5.72 to 5.69.

With two wins and three final-round appearances in five starts, Dan Pomponio, who finished a career-high fifth in the national standings in his breakthrough 2013 campaign, is sixth in the standings despite running fewer races than anyone in the Top 10. He's won two national events already this season (Gainesville and Charlotte – same as last year) and came within inches of winning the Lebanon Valley regional.

Kris Hool, Whiteley, Nick Januik and Todd Veney round out the Top 10. Whiteley, who has yet to finish outside the Top 5 in her young Top Alcohol Funny Car career, is the only current Top 10 driver without a win, but she has three final-round appearances in her last four outings, qualified No. 1 at all four, set low e.t. at three of the four, and just missed winning each time.

Under the radar and just outside the Top 10 are perennial Top 10 drivers Steve Harker, Chris Foster, Steve Gasparrelli, John Lombardo, and Doug Gordon, all past national event champs. Foster is 12th and has a win and a runner-up in just four starts. Gasparrelli and Lombardo have finished as high as second in the standings, Lombardo just last year. Gordon is 19th, but he's raced just three times this season and has advanced to at least the semifinals at all three.

The dark horse is Tony Bartone, the only active Top Alcohol Funny Car driver ever to have won a championship. He makes his 2014 debut this weekend with a new Murf McKinney-built Camaro tuned by Steve Boggs, and with a late-season push could still win it all. It would take a winning streak of epic proportions, but if he pulls it off, it won't be the first time: the year he won the championship, 1996, he won 37 rounds in a row.

Whiteley Reaches 3rd Final of 2014 and 3rd in a Row at Tulsa

Courtesy of YNot Racing

Defending event champ Annie Whiteley, who had never lost a round at Tulsa Raceway Park in her Top Alcohol Funny Car career, dropped a close final to fellow championship contender Dale Brand, 5.61 to 5.62. Whiteley, who wheeled the YNot Racing/J&A Service Mustang to victory at the Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series regional here in both 2012 and 2013, ran quicker than anyone had to that point, but Brand outran her by a scant hundredth of a second with low e.t. of the meet, 5.61. Both hit the finish line at 255 mph.

"Dale's always good on the lights," Whiteley said. "He got ahead early, and we stayed pretty much the same distance apart all the way to the finish line."

Whiteley and Brand were locked together in qualifying, too, earning the No. 1 and No. 2 spots, respectively, with matching 5.62s at 257 mph side by side in the final pair of last-shot qualifying. Whiteley was slightly quicker, 5.620 to 5.628, and Brand slightly faster, 257.38 mph to 257.14.

In the opening round, Whiteley got the best of an all-female matchup with No. 6 qualifier Nancy Matter, who was back in competition for the first time in more than five years. She clicked it a hair early and still won comfortably, 5.69, 249 to Matter's shutoff 7.78 at 120 mph.

"The car drove toward the centerline and wouldn't come back," Whiteley said. "One tire was spinning and the other was still in the groove, and I couldn't get it back in the center of the lane no matter what I did. I don't know how close I got to the centerline, but it was close – I was actually afraid I might have crossed it."

Whiteley followed with a strong 5.68 on a semifinal single earned by being the No. 1 qualifier in a short field, but Brand gained the upper hand for the final with a slightly quicker 5.65 in his semifinal win over third-ranked Shane Westerfield. In the final, Brand was four-thousandths of a second quicker to the 60-foot mark, two-thousandths and 0.34 mph faster at half-track, and 12-thousandths quicker at the 1,000-foot mark, and for the second time six days Whiteley came out on the wrong end of a classic final. Last week in Denver, she was nipped by Clint Thompson, 5.78 to 5.78.

Next up for the YNot/J&A Service team is the Route 66 Nationals in Chicago, where last year Whiteley earned her first national event title, followed by the Summit Racing Nationals a week later in Norwalk, Ohio.

Whiteley Reaches First Final of 2014 in Houston

Courtesy of YNot Racing

Under gray, threatening skies at Houston's Royal Purple Raceway, Annie Whiteley lost traction not far off the line in the Spring Nationals Top Alcohol Funny Car final and fell to Shane Westerfield. "It was spitting rain as we were staging," she said. "I could see drops all over the windshield. They'd wipe 'em off, but then more drops would be right back on there. I wasn't sure what was going to happen when we left, and I was kind of thinking they were going to shut us off. I didn't make it very far before the car started shaking, but I got farther than Shane did."

Westerfield, who, like Whiteley, broke through for his first national event victory last season, went up in smoke immediately, but he was able to recover and run a 6.31 for his second career title. Whiteley had no such opportunity when her kill switch vibrated into the "off" position during tire shake between the 1.0- and 1.5-second mark, silencing her engine and bringing a premature end to what had been a storybook weekend.

Whiteley qualified her Roger Bateman-tuned J&A Service/YNot Racing Mustang No. 1 with the only run in the 5.50s, a 5.589, and set low e.t. of all three preliminary rounds of eliminations. She lowered low e.t. to a 5.580 on a first-round single earned by qualifying No. 1 in a field with an odd number of cars, and took out Todd Veney, who red-lighted, in the quarterfinals with a 5.59. After resetting low e.t. for the third time with a semifinal 5.57 win over Gatornationals runner-up Dale Brand, Whiteley lost traction in the final and coasted helplessly down the track as Westerfield sped away.

"That one hurt," she said. "I knew Shane was in trouble too, and I didn't see him for a while. I kept trying to get back in it, but when the engine shuts itself off there's not much you can do."

Whiteley Completes Comeback with Quarterfinal Finish at Gainesville

Courtesy of Todd Veney

After an enormous thrash that most teams wouldn't even have attempted, Annie Whiteley's J&A Service/YNot Racing Top Alcohol Funny Car team was right back at the top at the Amalie Gatornationals in Gainesville, Fla., Whiteley's first national event appearance of the season. Just days before Whiteley and crew pulled into Gainesville, the entire left rear of her Mustang body was obliterated by a tire explosion at the Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series regional event in Houston.

The YNot team, led by veteran crew chief Roger Bateman, got Whiteley's old car from Topeka to the East Coast, where the body from her 2012 car was grafted onto her current chassis. Right out of the box, the car showed its potential when Whiteley stormed to a 5.59 in the first qualifying session, followed by a 5.54 in last-shot qualifying that positioned her No. 4 in the 16-car field. "I still can't believe they got all that work done in such a short amount of time," she said. "It was as good as new, right from the start."

In the opening round of eliminations Saturday evening, Whiteley put away Canadian Paul Noakes, who won the 2013 Auto-Plus NHRA Nationals in Reading, Pa., in his most recent appearance. Whiteley stormed to a 5.54, the second-quickest run of the round, to cover Noakes' 5.66. Everything came to a screeching halt in the quarterfinals Sunday afternoon against Australian Steve Harker when her engine was silenced by, of all things, a broke throttle linkage.

"We left, and I was heading out toward the wall a little," she said. "I was about to shift, and it just quit. I wasn't sure what was going at first because all of a sudden everything just stopped. It's a bad way to lose but it's not like I absolutely had him covered. He ran a 5.58, low e.t. of the round.”

The highlight of the weekend for the YNot team came in Pro Mod, where son Steven advanced to the quarterfinals in his NHRA national event debut. He qualified sixth of nearly 30 entries with a career-best 5.900, just missing the 5.80s, then took out veteran Mike Knowles in the opening round of eliminations before falling to eventual winner Mike Castellana in the quarterfinals despite an outstanding 5.91.

Whiteley Overcomes Houston Tire Explosion to Race in Gainesville

Courtesy of Todd Veney

Annie Whiteley will be in Gainesville this weekend for the Amalie Gatornationals after her team completed a massive rebuild following a tire explosion at the Lucas Oil Series regional event last weekend in Houston. In the first round of eliminations against eventual finalist Jay Payne, severe tire shake caused part of Whiteley's wheelie bar to break off and puncture the left rear tire, setting off a massive explosion that blasted a hole in the entire left rear of her J&A Service/YNot Racing Mustang body.

"I've never been through anything like that," said Whiteley, who has finished in the Top 5 in the NHRA national standings in each of her two seasons in Top Alcohol Funny Car. "It was shaking when I left and I was just trying to make it through low gear, and all of a sudden … BOOM. I didn't know what was happening. Then stuff started raining down on me. It felt like the whole car was coming apart."

Whiteley ended up in Payne's lane but kept the car off both walls and climbed out to discover that the chassis was completely intact. In fact, she'll be at the wheel of the same car days later in Gainesville – just not with the same body, though it, too, eventually will be back.

"The whole left rear of the body is pretty much gone, but that can be repaired," said crew chief Roger Bateman. "They'll stick it back in the mold, redo it, and it'll be as good as new." The Mustang body off her old car will be on the chassis from Houston when qualifying begins Friday in Gainesville.

Whiteley is slightly sore on her left side but otherwise completely uninjured. "It's a good car, and I'm fine," she said. "It was the loudest sound I've ever heard, and it took a minute to figure out what the heck was going on, but we're going to be in Gainesville, and I'll be ready to go."

2014 Top Alcohol Season Preview

Courtesy of Todd Veney/Pro Sportsman Association

When 2013 world champs Jim Whiteley and Frank Manzo peeled off their firesuits for the last time late last year at Pomona, the clouds parted for other Top Alcohol Dragster and Top Alcohol Funny Car racers. Whiteley walked away from Top Alcohol Dragster racing after winning back-to-back championships in 2012 and 2013, and Manzo retired from Top Alcohol Funny Car competition as the hands-down greatest driver in class history with eight straight championships and 17 in all, a record for any driver in any category.

So who'll win it all in 2014, the most wide-open season in years? The consensus picks are Chris Demke in Top Alcohol Dragster and Annie Whiteley in Top Alcohol Funny Car.

Demke, who finished second in both of Whiteley's championship years, likely would have been the favorite regardless of what happened at the 2014 season opener, but he dominated the Winternationals as much as anyone ever dominated any event, pounding out one 5.2 after another for a wire-to-wire victory and the early points lead. Demke, who earned his first Top 10 finish in 2004, has carried the number 2 in three of the past four years and has won at least one national event every year since his long overdue breakthrough at the 2010 Winternationals – two or more every year until last year, when only Whiteley scored more than once.

It's been four years since Bill Reichert, tied with Rick Santos for the most championships in Top Alcohol Dragster history (five), last won a title, but the class' most prolific active driver can never be counted out – especially now that NHRA decreed that A/Fuel teams are allowed an extra percent of nitro. He's been a Top 5 driver for 10 straight years and put up multiple national event victories every year from 2005 to 2012, so nothing he accomplishes this year could come as a surprise.

Joey Severance, who had a shot at what would have been his first championship right down to the final day of the 2011 season, is poised to have the best season of his career this year. Long established as one of the top leavers in the country, now he and father Joe Sr. have power from Whiteley's YNot Racing stable.

Mark Taliaferro has retained the services of master crew chief Norm Grimes, who led both Santos and Whiteley to multiple titles. The 1997 Mile-High Nationals champ, who has been competitive with both A/Fuel and blown-alcohol combinations since his return to racing in 2010, earned a pair of final-round appearances in 2011, and everything is in place for a career year in 2014.

Also expected to mix it up with the top cars in the country this year are Shawn Cowie, who came back from devastating injuries in a 2011 motorcycle accident to take storybook wins at Woodburn and Seattle, perennial contender Randy Meyer, and the converter car of third-ranked Brandon Booher, by far the class' most improved driver in 2013.

Top Alcohol Funny Car is even more wide-open than Top Alcohol Dragster. Just one active driver – Tony Bartone – has ever won the championship. Every other champion in the class' 34-year history has retired since winning the title: Manzo (1981, 1986, 1997-2003, 2006-2013), Bob Gottschalk (1982), Fred Mandoline (1983), Brad Anderson (1984-85, 1989), Pat Austin (1987-88, 1990-91), Bob Newberry (1992, 2005), Randy Anderson (1993-94), Joe Penland (1995), and Cy Chesterman (2004). Bartone, who won it in 1996, when he famously won 37 rounds in a row, since has finished second four times (1997, 1999, 2011, and 2012). He and crew chief Steve Boggs will miss the first few races of the season and start this spring with a new Murf McKinney-built Monte Carlo that will be replaced by a Camaro body as soon as one becomes available.

Another top contender does have championship experience – just not in Top Alcohol Funny Car. Jay Payne, the 1995 Top Alcohol Dragster champ, has made the Top 10 in each of the past 14 years – every year since he switched from dragsters to Funny Cars in 1999. He's come closer to a championship than anyone who hasn't won it, with second-place finishes in 2001, 2004, 2006, and 2007.

Annie Whiteley and crew chief Roger Bateman are considered by many – including Manzo himself – to be the title favorites for 2014. The wife of outgoing TA/D champ Jim Whiteley has put up back-to-back Top 5 finishes in her only two years in the class, claimed her first national event title last summer in Chicago, appeared in multiple national event finals in both 2012 and 2013, and in just 13 career starts in regional competition has made eight final-round appearances and won all eight.

Second-generation driver John Lombardo finished a career-high second last season and topped the standings as late as September. Now teamed with Rick Jackson, whose car, with Bartone at the wheel, finished second to Manzo the previous two years, Lombardo will be a factor right down to the end. Lombardo's crew chief, Jeff Lirones, recently joined forces with Steve Gasparrelli, a Top 10 player year after year and another who has finished as high as second in the national standings.

With five of 2013's top 12 drivers now tuned by a new crew chief, and now that Manzo has finally, mercifully, abdicated the throne, it could be Top Alcohol Funny Car's most interesting season in years.

Both Whiteleys Win Vegas Again, Payne Takes West Region TAFC Title

Courtesy of Todd Veney/Pro Sportsman Association

At the final Lucas Oil Series event anywhere in the country this year, Annie Whiteley, who's undefeated in four career regional starts at Las Vegas, and husband Jim Whiteley swept the alcohol classes for the third time since last year, Annie in Top Alcohol Funny Car and Jim in Top Alcohol Dragster. Both won photo-finish finals, Annie by three-thousandths of a second over Jay Payne, who clinched the West Region championship, and Jim by just one-thousandth over Garrett Bateman.

Jim, who locked up the national championship with his victory at last week's Toyota Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas, clinched the regional title with his fifth final and fourth win of the season. After a final-round loss to Ray Martin at the Phoenix opener, he won the next four – Denver, Tulsa, and now both the spring and fall Las Vegas races.

Whiteley, who set top speed last week with three 271-mph runs, topped 271 in all three rounds of this race, too, including a 272.34-mph blast (top speed of the meet) in a 5.27 (low e.t.) first-round win over two-time 2013 winner Shawn Cowie's otherwise excellent 5.35 at 266.

Whiteley's 5.28 in the semi's stopped incoming West Region points leader Chris Demke, who finished second to Whiteley in both the regional and national standings this year. Demke was off like a shot with a .030 reaction time and was in it until about the 1,000-foot mark, where a blown engine slowed him to a 5.49 at just 212 mph. He had stayed alive for the regional title with a 5.41 first-round win over Martin, who also was in contention for the regional championship on the final day of the season.

Bateman, who got into the field with a last-ditch 5.32, eliminated Johnny Ahten, who was pushed back from the line in round one, and Joey Severance, who qualified No. 1 in his first race with one of Whiteley's engines. Severance reeled off one great run after another, including a 5.28 for the No. 1 spot and another 5.28 to erase Megan McKernan in round one, but smoked the tires at the hit in the semifinals, handing a grateful Bateman a cylinder-dropping 5.51 win.

Bateman, the only A/Fuel driver in the race after round one, got off the line four-thousandths of a second ahead of Whiteley in the final, .049 to .053, but he needed a six-thousandths lead. Whiteley, competing for the second-to-last time in his Alcohol Dragster career, outran him by five-thousandths, 5.317 to 5.322, to get there first by less than a foot.

Nineteen drivers fought for eight qualifying spots, and seven of the qualifiers were at least in the 5.30s. Rookie Ashley Sanford (5.42), former Division 1 champ Dan Mercier (5.43), 2011 world champ Duane Shields (5.44) and Don St. Arnaud (5.46), who was runner-up here last year and at the spring race here, just missed McKernan's 5.42 bump time.

Top Alcohol Funny Car was even tougher, with a 5.66 bump after the first qualifying session and a record 5.62 bump by Clint Thompson when it was all over. Fifteen drivers attempted to qualify, everybody ran at least a 5.76, and three drivers missed the cut despite running 5.60s, including incoming West Region points leader Steve Gasparrelli (5.68), who lost the regional championship by not qualifying.

At that point, Gasparrelli and Payne were tied, but instead of winning on the tie-breaker, Payne went all the way to the final, starting with a 5.70 win over Steve Harker's shutoff 9.03. In the semi's, his 5.73 was enough against Thompson, who had run at least a 5.63 in all three sessions and a 5.60 in the first round but didn't make it five feet that time.

Whiteley qualified No. 2 in what has to be the toughest divisional/regional field of all time. Six of the eight qualifiers – Whiteley, Payne, Tony Bartone, Shane Westerfield, John Lombardo, and Thompson – have won national events in the past year, and the other two – Sweden's Ulf Leanders and Australia's Steve Harker – were making their first NHRA appearances of the season. Leanders qualified No. 3 behind Bartone (5.56) and Whiteley (5.57) with a 5.58 at 261.88 mph, top speed to that point. He upped that mark to 263.26 mph in a first-round win over Westerfield, who broke behind the line. Whiteley beat Lombardo in the next pair, 5.63 to 5.77, and Bartone, who ran two 5.57s and a 5.56 in qualifying, slipped to a 5.67 and fell to Thompson.

Whiteley brought Leanders' outstanding weekend to a close with a holeshot win in the semi's, 5.596 to 5.595. In the final, she ran her career record in regional competition at her favorite track to a perfect 12-0 with an even closer win over Payne, who got away first and made by far his best run of eliminations, 5.63, but fell a few feet short of Whiteley's second straight 5.59.

2012 National Champs Whiteley, Manzo Reign at Indy

Courtesy of Todd Veney/Pro Sportsman Association
Photos courtesy of David Smith

Reigning national champions Jim Whiteley and Frank Manzo ruled the most prestigious race of any season, the Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals, Whiteley in Top Alcohol Dragster and Manzo in Top Alcohol Funny Car.

In the Top Alcohol Dragster final, Whiteley beat Chris Demke, the number two driver in the nation behind him last season, the number two driver behind him in points this season, and No. 1 qualifier for this race, 5.35 to 5.37. "That was a lot of pressure," Whiteley said. "Winning Indy is something I really wanted to get done before I stop racing in Alcohol Dragster, and points-wise, this is just huge." With the final-round victory, he passed Demke to take the lead in the national championship by less than one round, 668 points to 649.

"I really wanted that one," Demke said. "The first time this team came back here, in 1998, when Darren Nicholson was driving and I was on the crew, we won, and we almost won it the next year, too." Demke had a solid reaction time, .041, but Whiteley's was even quicker, .025, his best of the event. "We'd been in the left lane all day, but when he outran us in the semi's, I knew we'd be over in the right for the final, and I just didn't want to give it away by shaking the tires because we almost did in the semi's," Demke said.

Whiteley, who was knocked down to No. 2 in the final qualifying session when Demke stepped up to a 5.33, was unerringly consistent throughout eliminations, with winning times of 5.33 over Paul Fishburn, 5.32 over Randy Meyer, and 5.34 in the semi's against Aaron Olivarez. Demke was just a few ticks behind in every round, with a 5.42 against Dave Heitzman, 5.33 against Rich McPhillips, and 5.36 in the semifinals against 2010 U.S. Nationals runner-up Shawn Cowie.

"I always get up to race Chris," Whiteley said. "It was a great race – when we run each other, it usually is – and to me, it was just what it should have been. The final round of the U.S. Nationals ought to be side-by-side with both cars running great. This is just about the biggest win I've ever had. The only one I ever liked more was in Topeka [in 2009] against Tom Conway in the final."

In Top Alcohol Funny Car, as in Top Alcohol Dragster, eliminations distilled into a match between the No. 1 and No. 2 qualifiers. Manzo, who never ran slower than 5.63 all weekend, got the jump on Annie Whiteley, who hadn't run slower than 5.61, and maintained the lead for a tight 5.56 to 5.57 win.

"I really wanted to run a .54 or .55 that time, but a .56 was enough," Manzo said. "I just didn't want to beat myself – I've done way too much of that lately. She's going to win a lot of races and probably a lot of championships down the road. That's just a really good team over there, and I was plenty concerned."

Manzo paced the field in qualifying with a 5.53 in the final session, and Whiteley ended up No. 2 with increasingly quicker runs of 5.61, 5.59, 5.58, and 5.55. Both were just as consistent in eliminations, Manzo with times of 5.55, 5.52 (low e.t.), and 5.55 against Wayne Butler, Todd Robertson, and national points leader John Lombardo, and Whiteley with a string of 5.61, 5.57, and 5.58 against early season points leader Dan Pomponio, two-time Indy winner Tony Bartone, and 2010 U.S. Nationals champ Jay Payne.

"It was still an unbelievable weekend, even though we didn't win," said Whiteley, who earned her first national event title earlier this season in Chicago. "I was happier just to have been in the final than I was bummed about not winning it. I would love to beat Manzo one time before he's done, but this was a lot different than the last time I raced him in a final, last year at Brainerd. I wasn't thinking, 'That's Frank Manzo over there, and this is the final' or staring at the back of his car the whole way down the track."

Manzo was, for once, very aware of what was at stake. "I was thinking, 'This is it – the last time I'm ever going to stage at the U.S. Nationals,' as I was pulling to the line for the final round," said Manzo, who has hinted about retiring all season. "There's still a long way to go if I'm going to win one last championship, but this was a big one. It's Indy, and it means a lot."

 

Demke, A. Whiteley Win Route 66 Nationals

Courtesy of Todd Veney/Pro Sportsman Association

At the Route 66 Nationals in Chicago, overdue Chris Demke picked up his first win of the season in Top Alcohol Dragster, and Annie Whiteley prevailed at a national event for the first time in her career in Top Alcohol Funny Car.

Demke led Rishi Kanick wire to wire in the final for a 5.31 to 5.44 victory, his first in six 2013 finals, including the Jegs Allstars race the previous day, which he lost by just 12-thousandths of a second. "This kind of took the edge off the Allstars race," he said. "And it really helps us in the points, too. Going to all those finals and not winning makes you kind of give up on the points chase after a while, but now it looks like we're right back in it."

National points leader Jim Whiteley was upset by Matt Cummings in the first round, and perennial contender Bill Reichert was the first alternate, joining a star-studded cast of non-qualifiers that included Duane Shields, Randy Meyer, and John Finke, among others. Demke ran a 5.32 against Aaron Olivarez in round one, a 5.30 against Marty Thacker in round two, and a backpedaling  5.37 in the semifinals opposite Topeka winner Alan Bradshaw, who set low e.t. and top speed with a 5.22 at 273.11 mph.

Kanick, whose rookie season also includes a runner-up at the 4-Wide Nationals in Charlotte, got around early qualifying leader Dan Page, Chicago regional winner Brandon Booher, and Cummings, who turned in the best effort of his career. He picked up from low 5.50s in the middle rounds of eliminations to a 5.44 in the final but was well short of Demke's steady 5.31.

"We were pretty consistent all weekend," said Demke, who scored for the 10^th time in his career, all in the past four years. "The track was a little slippery about 100 feet out in the last few rounds, but we tuned around it for the final. When you get to the final and lose, you did just as much work as the guy who beat you, so it's a relief to finally get the job done."

Whiteley, who was winless in two previous national event finals but undefeated in seven career finals in regional competition, beat Fred Hagen Jr. for the Top Alcohol Funny Car title, 5.60 to a shutoff 5.96. "The first time I was in a national event final, last year at Brainerd, it really hit me as I was backing up from the burnout," she said. "I was like, 'Oh my God, I'm in the final round of a national event. That's Frank Manzo over there.' I had a bad light, short-shifted, and he was way out in front of me all the way. I had the best seat in the house for that one. This time was different. Fred was running better than we were, but I just did my own thing, and it worked."

Whiteley beat Kris Hool, who red-lighted, with a 5.56, her best run of the weekend, in round one. "I didn't know he red-lighted – I never pay attention to that kind of stuff – and I couldn't believe I was so far behind him," she said. She then ran 5.60-flat three times in a row, against 2012 event runner-up Cassie Simonton, No. 1 qualifier Tony Bartone, and Hagen, to reach her third career national event final.

Hagen had the edge going into the final, dominating eliminations with a 5.53 against Wayne Butler in round one, a 5.52 (low e.t.) against Todd Veney in round two, and another  5.53 against Shane Westerfield in the semifinals – all at 260 mph. His slowest run was better than any other driver's best, but in the final, he was loose right from the hit.

"I don't know what happened," he said. "It didn't want to go straight from the time I left. It started shaking really hard right at the top of low gear, when I was getting over by the centerline. I probably should have shifted earlier, but I really didn't want to because we'd been running so good. She was way out there, and I just stayed with it over by the centerline until I could tell there was no way I was going to get her."

Whiteley's Sweep Tulsa - Again

Courtesy of YNot Racing
Photos courtesy of Robert Grice

Jim and Annie Whiteley dominated the Lucas Oil Series race at Tulsa for the second year in a row, Jim in Top Alcohol Dragster, and Annie in Top Alcohol Funny Car. Jim won for the fourth time this season and the second week in a row, including Denver, and Annie remains undefeated at the Tulsa track and now has a lifetime record of 22-4 in regional competition.

"Those were tough, tough conditions," said Jim, whose third regional victory of the season (including Las Vegas and Denver) gives him a perfect score on that side of the ledger – 255 points. "100 degrees makes for some pretty miserable weather to race in, but all the guys on both teams worked their butts off and we got it done."

Whiteley qualified No. 1 with a 5.38 and set low e.t. with a 5.37 but may have left a little on the table. "We ran a 5.32 here last year, and we might have been able to run a little quicker this year than we did, but it wasn't worth the risk. When it's that hot, it's not hard to smoke the tires."

Whiteley drove his J&A Service/YNot Racing dragster to a 5.43 in the first round to cover David Brounkowski and a 5.37 in the semifinals opposite Randy Meyer in a rematch of last year's final. The final against Brandon Pierce was over early when Pierce smoked the tires immediately, leaving Whiteley to a long-gone 5.44.

Annie remained undefeated at Tulsa in her young Alcohol Funny Car career, qualifying No. 1 with a 5.66 that held up all weekend for low e.t. and cruising through the first two rounds of eliminations. Her 5.69 in the new Texas J&A Service Mustang, the only run in eliminations in the 5.60s, covered Bryan Brown in round one. She blew through the clutch in semifinals and slipped to a 5.78 but still got around Kirk Williams and entered the final against Scott McVey as a prohibitive favorite.

All appeared lost when Annie's car blew the tires off not far off the line, but when McVey's engine blew, she recovered to post a winning 6.17 at 241 mph. "I was just starting to push the clutch in, and thought, 'Oh, wait – he's not there,' " she said. "I've short-shifted my way out of shake before, but I've never won a round like that. The car was in second gear for a long time – I didn't think that shift-light was ever going to come on – and it seemed to take forever for the finish line to get there."