Demke Locks Up TAD Title, Battle Now is for 2nd Place

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

Like 2014 Top Alcohol Funny Car world champ Steve Harker, Top Alcohol Dragster champion Chris Demke was a multi-time championship runner-up who finally won it all with an unbelievable second-half run. Like Harker, he swept Charlotte and Reading in one unforgettable weekend, walking away with three Wallys and turning the 2014 points race into a race for second place.

Demke, who finished second to Bill Reichert in the 2010 standings and to nemesis Jim Whiteley in 2012 and 2013, won a career-high nine races in 2014 – five national events and four regionals. He began the season with a barrage of 5.20s in a Winternationals rout, was gone by the second round at the next five in a row, then raced just once in a three-month span from March to June as rival Joey Severance took control of the class.

Everything changed June 22 at the West regional at Yellowstone Dragstrip in Acton, Mont., when Demke outran Severance, who had lane choice, in the final. Over the next 11 races, Demke's Adam Rhoades-tuned dragster reached nine finals, won eight (including the big one, the U.S. Nationals), and went four-for-four in regional competition, scoring at Acton, Columbus, Seattle, and Topeka to win the West Region championship in a landslide. He won 35 of 38 rounds aboard Jerry Maddern's Peen Rite dragster and his overall season win-loss record was 43-8 after the Reading double, which included the quickest run of his career (5.217) and the fastest run of any blown-alcohol driver's career (277.94 mph).

Severance, son of '70s Pro Comp great Joe Severance, enjoyed an otherwise outstanding season, winning two regional events in three finals and two national events in three finals, including one over Demke at Seattle that seemed crucial at the time. He took the early season lead and was the midseason title favorite after scoring back to back to back at the Phoenix regional, Las Vegas regional, and Las Vegas national.

Severance's championship hopes were dashed by two disastrous DNQs – one at Norwalk, a race Demke skipped, and another at the Topeka regional that Demke eventually won. His focus now turns to locking down second place and fighting off a determined group of challengers led by Kansas veteran Randy Meyer, the top-ranked A/Fuel driver of 2014.

Meyer's team has excelled with three different drivers at the controls this year. Meyer himself has won three times in five finals, including twice at the national level – Houston and Brainerd. In four starts in Meyer's car, Shayne Lawson won three of them, including two national events (Topeka and Dallas) and the Tulsa regional, where he topped teammate Chase Copeland in an all-Randy Meyer Racing final.

Fourth-ranked Rich McPhillips is on pace to tie his highest finish ever in the national standings and a lock for his third Top 10 in a row. The Gatornationals and U.S. Nationals runner-up scored twice on the regional level (at his home tracks, Maple Grove and Atco) and narrowly missed a second East Region championship in three years when he came out on the wrong end of a tiebreaker with Jackie Fricke.

If Reichert hangs onto fifth place, and he probably will, it'll be his 11th Top 5 in a row, unprecedented in Top Alcohol Dragster history. The retiring five-time national champ didn't claim a national event win for the first time in a decade but did rack up a pair of North Central regional victories (Indy and Chicago) and winds up his distinguished career tied with Rick Santos (1997-2001) for the most championships in class history.

2011 national champ Duane Shields emerged victorious three times this year – all in Gainesville, despite the fact that that track hosts only two races, the Gatornationals and an East Regional. He won the rain-delayed Houston regional that was completed at Gainesville, swept that weekend by doubling up at the Gatornationals, and completed his points-earning season earlier this month with a win at the regularly scheduled Gainesville regional. Seventh in the standings with no more races to claim, he'll finish in the Top 10 for the eighth time in nine years.

Fricke, currently ranked number 7, truly had a breakout year in 2014. Runner-up at the East Region opener in Richmond, she drove Joe Cantrell's Tom Conway-tuned A/Fueler to her first NHRA title at the Lebanon Valley regional and scored again at the very next East Region race, at New England Dragway, to open a sizable lead in the East standings that she never relinquished. The many-time IHRA Super Comp national event winner also earned her first semifinal finish in national competition at the 4-Wide Nationals in Charlotte.

Without attracting much attention, transplanted Englishman and former World Finals winner Michael Manners quietly holds down eighth place. For him, it's been all or nothing all year. Manners opened his 2014 campaign with seven first-round losses in a row and nine in the first 10 races, but went all the way to the final at the other two, finishing second to Demke at the Route 66 Nationals in Chicago and winning two weeks ago at Noble, Okla.

Mike Strasburg and Mark Taliaferro are still in the Top 10 despite running just seven races this year and being sidelined for months. In an odd twist, neither will compete again in the cars that carried them to Top 10 status. Strasburg, who now is Top Alcohol Funny Car star Annie Whiteley's crew chief, hasn't competed since earning his first national event win at Norwalk in Jim Whiteley's 2013 championship car that has since been sold. Taliaferro, who reached three finals in seven starts with crew chief Norm Grimes, has been out of action since a violent crash in the second round of the Northwest Nationals in Seattle.

Canadian Jeff Veale, rookie Mia Tedesco, and veteran Shawn Cowie sit just outside the current Top 10. Veale, 11th in the standings, completed the finest season of his nine-year driving career in 2014, running in excess of 280 mph numerous times, winning his first NHRA title at Richmond, and becoming the last driver ever to race his friend, Reichert. Tedesco, a heavy hitter in the Super classes completing her first year in an A/Fueler, collected her first alcohol win at the Bowling Green regional at the wheel of Dave Hirata's car and backed it up a week later with a strong semifinal showing at the U.S. Nationals. Cowie, always at his best at Las Vegas, where he's earned three of his career four national event victories, will crack the Top 10 if he qualifies at either Las Vegas or Pomona and will overtake Strasburg for ninth place if he wins a round at either one.

TAFC Title Decided But Top 10 Still Wide Open

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

With a Manzo-like late-season charge, Steve Harker clinched the 2014 Top Alcohol Funny Car championship with a month left in the season and became the first driver from outside North American ever to win an NHRA championship in any category.

The Australian veteran, who barely raced last year, didn't race at all the two years before that, and insisted all along that 2014 was just a "test year," got faster and faster as the year wore on and claimed a championship that once seemed destined to go to Dale Brand. A Top 5 driver in each of his last three full seasons (2008-10), and the number 2 driver of 2008 and 2009, Harker reached the final at six of his last seven starts (all but the U.S. Nationals) and won all six – Norwalk, St. Louis, Bowling Green, Dallas, Charlotte, and Reading.

Brand topped the rankings almost all year but dropped crucial head-to-head showdowns with Harker at Reading on the last weekend of his season. Both came in semifinal matchups, and Brand drilled the Tree both times with clutch .022 and .019 reaction times, but both times – in the rescheduled Charlotte race held in conjunction with Reading and in the Reading event itself – he had to fight just to keep his car in his lane while Harker streaked to near-perfect runs. Brand's once insurmountable lead was down to a single point by the time they staged in the Reading semi's, and Harker, for the third of four times that weekend, established a new career best (5.51, 5.48, 5.45). His amazing Speed City Monte Carlo then picked up another three-hundredths to a 5.42 in the final, the third-quickest run of all time behind only Manzo's consecutive 5.41s in the last two rounds of his title-clinching win at this race in 2011.

Brand's title bid began to unravel when he dropped final-round decisions he was favored to win on back-to-back days last month – both against upstart Scott McVey, who won his first national event title at the rain-delayed Brainerd race that was completed at Earlville then at the Earlville regional itself. Brand reached at least the semifinals in 13 of 15 starts this year, claimed his first national event victory in Topeka, and lost two other winnable finals – in Gainesville, where he narrowly red-lighted against Dan Pomponio, and in the rescheduled Brainerd final against McVey. He didn't lose in the first round all year, won four events in eight final-round appearances overall, and amassed a 35-11 win-loss mark.

Brand might have a stranglehold on the number 2 spot, but the battle for position throughout the rest of the Top 10 remains wide-open; drivers not even in the Top 10 can still end up as high as third place, which is currently held by all-time great Jay Payne. 2014 was another solid season for Payne, highlighted by a second career U.S. Nationals title. Out of races to claim, he'll finish no better than third but is guaranteed to make the Top 10 for the 15th year in a row – every year except his rookie year in Top Alcohol Funny Car, 1999 – and likely to make the Top 5.

Four rounds behind Payne is Shane Westerfield, who was third last year. He's fourth now, with a national event victory (Houston) and a regional victory (Las Vegas), and one round ahead of a four-way logjam of drivers separated by just two points: Lombardo, Pomponio, Kris Hool, and Clint Thompson.

Lombardo, runner-up for the 2013 championship and a Top 5 driver the past two years, currently is fifth with 498 points but is out of races to claim and can only go down from there. Pomponio, who backed up his 2013 Gainesville and Charlotte victories by repeating at both, is sixth, and though he still has two more national events to claim, the New Jersey driver won't be making the cross-country trek to Las Vegas and Pomona to lock down another Top 5 finish.

Hool, a two-time winner on the regional tour this year, including at his most recent stop, in Noble, Okla., will pass both Pomponio and Lombardo if he wins a single round at either of the two remaining national events. Thompson, tied with Hool at 496 and a three-time finalist this year in regional competition, also will pass Pomponio and Lombardo with a round-win at either Las Vegas or Pomona.

Doug Gordon, who swept the national and regional events at Seattle this year, might be in a better position than anyone but Harker and Brand. With 466 points in just nine starts, he'll almost certainly make the Top 5 and probably the top three. Perennial Top 10 driver Chris Foster, who won the Norwalk regional for the third year in a row, is one point behind Gordon but, because he's not heading west next month, is in danger of missing out on what would be his fourth appearance in the Top 10.

Just outside the Top 10 loom several drivers with an excellent shot at passing Foster, particularly Brian Hough, Sean Bellemeur, and Annie Whiteley. All three should be at the last three races of the year – the national events at Pomona and Las Vegas and the always brutal Vegas regional.

Hough, the early points leader with victories at the Winternationals and the Phoenix regional, will overtake Foster by just qualifying for either national event and he, like Gordon, can finish as high as third. Bellemeur, probably the most overdue driver in Top Alcohol Funny Car, will be at the wheel of Spiro Kontos' car at the Vegas regional and his own car at both national events. Whiteley, who won nine races in 12 final-round appearances and made not just the Top 10 but the Top 5 in each of her first two years in Top Alcohol Funny Car, surprisingly has been shut out this year. She has three runner-ups, including one at a national event, but has been upset in the first round in five of her last six outings despite qualifying in the top half every time.

Manzo Wins Final Race, Ahten Stops Whiteley

Courtesy of Todd Veney/Pro Sportsman Association

Frank Manzo went out on top, winning his final race in Top Alcohol Funny Car, the AAA Finals at Pomona, with low e.t. and top speed, and Jim Whiteley narrowly missed doing the same in Top Alcohol Dragster, uncharacteristically faltering in the final against first-time winner Johnny Ahten after dominating all weekend.

Manzo, who has said all year that he would retire after the season, ran the only 5.4 all weekend and parlayed consistent low .50s, including a 5.53 in the final against Clint Thompson, into his 105^th and last national event victory. "You don't know you're going to win 220-some races – however many it is – when you start racing," said Manzo, 61, who also has 125 divisional/regional wins in his unparalleled career. "You just start, you keep going, and this is where you end up."

The only thing Manzo didn't do in his final race as a driver was qualify No. 1 for the record field (5.63 bump). He was third, behind championship runner-up John Lombardo and Annie Whiteley, but quickly established control in eliminations with low e.t. of all four rounds. His 5.50 in a first-round win over Kris Hool took low e.t. from Lombardo, and he dropped it to 5.49 in round two against Von Smith. "The track was awesome," said Manzo, who had won at Pomona but never at the Finals. "You just don't believe it could really be that good, but that's the smoothest run I've made in a couple months."

Every driver in the second round was in the 5.50s except Manzo and Shane Westerfield, who just missed in a 5.62 loss to Cody Perkins. Good reaction times and 5.50s as a sub for ailing Terry Ruckman carried Perkins to wins over Top 10 drivers Steve Gasparrelli and Westerfield and into the semifinals, where he went up in smoke the one time Thompson was vulnerable. Thompson's engine faded at the end of a 5.64 and he crossed the finish line at just 247 mph, trailing smoke.

In the other semifinal bout, Annie Whiteley, who qualified No. 2 with a 5.53 and never ran slower than that in eliminations, came closer than anyone to beating Manzo, leaving right with him in a 5.52 to 5.53 race. "That's probably the best car out here," he said. "She's my pick to win the championship next year."

Thompson and crew completed repairs in time to face Manzo in a national event final for the second time. Unlike the 2010 Charlotte race, which was decided by two feet, this one was over early when Thompson's car lost traction and Manzo had the track to himself on the last run he'll ever make, a 5.53 at 265 mph.

"This is a dream," said Manzo, who was emotional before the final, very aware of the situation. "To win my final race like this is incredible." The championship that was at least still a mathematical possibility for other drivers just a month ago ended up a 150-point landslide, and Manzo walks away with a record 17 championships, including the last eight.

Jim Whiteley, who also had the championship locked up weeks ago and also won by more than 100 points, was denied a win in his final race when he shook and lost the blower belt against Ahten, who scored with a 5.42. "That was our lucky round," said Ahten, who was solidly in the 5.30s in every other round. "The track was getting cold, and we were nervous about shaking the tires and hoped [Whiteley's crew chief] Norm [Grimes] would try to rotate the earth. It left good, started to chatter, and I said, 'Come on – don't shake. The car was going 221 at half-track, but I kept waiting for him to blow past me the whole time. I couldn't believe he didn't."

It was the first win of Ahten's nine-year career after three runner-ups in divisional/regional competition, including one this year in Seattle. "I've let it slip through my fingers and really tried not to focus on 'If I win this round I get a Wally' and treated the final like any other run," said Ahten, who had good lights in every round and his best, .012 and .016, in the last two. "The car was marching to half-track all weekend, but we could never keep all the cylinders lit to the end like we did in Vegas. We couldn't get any wheel speed in air that good on a track that tight. But I guess it doesn't matter now."

Until the Tree came on in the final, everything pointed toward another Whiteley whitewash. He had 17 mph on Ahten all weekend – 275-276 mph to 258-259 – and low e.t. and top speed. He owned qualifying (5.22 and 5.21) and, knowing that each run could be his last, unleashed another barrage of low 5.20s in eliminations: 5.24, 5.27, and 5.22, all at more than 275 mph, against Bill Litton, Ray Martin, and Garrett Bateman.

Ahten was just as consistent but about a tenth back with a 5.39, 5.35, and 5.36 against a Murderer's Row of past national event champs: Shawn Cowie, Joey Severance, and Mark Taliaferro, who lost on a semifinal holeshot, 5.36 to 5.30. "That was the big one, the round we really had to have," said Ahten, a Los Angeles County firefighter. "He and Cowie both flew past me going 270-something, and I didn't know who won either time. I didn't catch the win-light against Whiteley, either, and for a second I was afraid I red-lighted. I couldn't believe it when everybody was waving at me and it hit me that I beat him in his last race, in Manzo's last race. If you're from here, Pomona is your Indy. I was a kid in the stands when the Finals was at Orange County, and standing up there with Manzo at the end of the race was incredible."

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.

Whiteley, Manzo Clinch Championships with Toyota Nationals Wins

Courtesy of Todd Veney/Pro Sportsman Association

Reigning national champions Jim Whiteley and Frank Manzo, who have said for months that this will be their last season, clinched championships with victories at the Toyota Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Whiteley his second straight in Top Alcohol Dragster and Manzo his eighth in a row and 17^th overall in Top Alcohol Funny Car.

Whiteley and archrival Chris Demke finished 1-2 in last year's final standings, again in this year's standings, at Indy, at this race, and even in qualifying for this race, which was the only time Whiteley didn't come out on top. He was second to Demke, 5.29 to 5.30, but quicker in all four rounds, starting with a 5.28 (low e.t.) against Las Vegas' Duane Shields in round one. Demke beat Jeff Ashwell in that round with a 5.32 and kept his deteriorating championship prospects alive with a 5.40 second-round win over Dan Mercier, who, unbeknownst to Demke, who thought he got left on, had red-lighted.

"There was only a remote chance anyway," Demke said. "I knew it was a slim-to-none-deal coming in." Whiteley's 5.32 win over Don St. Arnaud one pair later made official what to many was already a foregone conclusion.

With another championship secured and only a few runs left in his Alcohol Dragster career, Whiteley maintained his focus in the semifinals against Mark Taliaferro, 5.34 to 5.41, and especially in his latest final-round showdown with Demke. "Races like that are what it's all about," said Whiteley, who prevailed, 5.33 to 5.34. "Demke and those guys pushed us all year."

Demke's Operation Solutions/Peen Rite dragster ran a 5.36, 268 in a semifinal win over Ray Martin and picked up a couple of hundredths to a 5.34 at 269 in the final, matching Whiteley's semifinal numbers. Unfortunately for him, Whiteley picked up a hundredth from the semi's for an eight-foot margin in the lights. "I couldn't see him the whole way down and thought there was a chance, but we're going home with our tails between our legs again," said Demke, who has two wins in seven career finals against Whiteley. "But it's still been a great rivalry."

Whiteley enters the final weeks of his TA/D career with 24 career victories in 30 finals, seven straight Top 5s in the national standings, championship runner-ups in 2008 and 2009, and the 2012 and 2013 titles. In just seven full seasons, he has become the fourth-winningest driver in class history. "There isn't anybody better than [crew chief] Norm Grimes and this group I've had," Whiteley said. "This is a great way to go out, but this is it. I'm done."

So is Manzo. Like Whiteley, he had the title all but mathematically clinched before the race but slammed the door on it with a decisive win. Manzo, who had tested at Las Vegas but never raced there, had low e.t. of every round but the first, when he made his best run of the weekend, 5.53, a tick behind Tony Bartone's 5.52.

"The last few months, whatever this new car tells me to do, I do," he said. After making it to August without a national event win for the first time since 2004, he's won four of six, this one with a 5.63 in the final against No. 16 qualifier Bret Williamson, who was up in smoke early.

The championship was still technically in doubt when eliminations began, and contenders Shane Westerfield, John Lombardo, Bartone, and Manzo all survived the first round. Just making the show was an accomplishment; the bump was an event-record 5.69, and the first four alternates, including returning veteran Steve Harker, all ran 5.70-flats.

Bartone beat Westerfield with a 5.68 in round two to eliminate Westerfield from championship contention, and Jay Payne did the same to Lombardo two pairs later with a blower-banging 5.61. In between, Williamson, who had upset No. 1 qualifier Annie Whiteley in the first round, beat Von Smith, interim driver for Rick Jackson's Centre Pointe team, who won the last two times he raced in Alcohol Funny Car – five years ago at Indy and Dallas.

By the time Manzo closed the round against Steve Gasparrelli, the only driver with even an outside shot was Bartone. The only 5.5 of the day, a 5.58, dispatched Gasparrelli and a 5.62-5.66 semifinal win over Bartone locked up number 17. "Normally, we'd have it wrapped up by June or July," Manzo said. "But this wasn't just about the championship – we came here to win a race."

Williamson won a wild one over Payne in the other semi, 6.39 to 10.63, to reach his first final since the 2001 Winternationals and the fourth of his career, including one in the '80s, one in the '90s, and one in the '00s. Opposite Manzo's consistent 5.63, he didn't get away with a second tire-smoking leave in the final.

"We made a few good runs and a few OK ones," said Manzo, who, though he threatens to quit every year, really seems to be doing it this time. "I've only been here in January and never raced here in the heat, but this place is great. I wish I'd come here years ago."

Samsel, Noakes Win First NHRA Titles at Maple Grove

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

At the Auto-Plus NHRA Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway, veteran Robin Samsel won his first NHRA title of any kind in Top Alcohol Dragster and Canadian Paul Noakes did likewise in Top Alcohol Funny Car.

Samsel, a soft-spoken 64-year-old great-grandfather from Marion, Ind., who has been racing Top Alcohol Dragsters since 1996, had two previous final-round appearances, both runner-ups in regional/divisional competition, including one earlier this year. In his first national event final, Samsel produced one of the best reaction times of his career, a .020, to get the drop on Brandon Booher, who is known for his lights but had just a .083 that time. Any other light Booher had all weekend – or any other run with that .083 reaction time – would have been enough to win, but he slowed from his earlier 5.30s to a 5.51 and fell short of Samsel's 5.56 by seven-thousandths of a second as both drivers made by far their slowest runs of eliminations.

Booher qualified No. 1 with a 5.30 that held up all weekend for low e.t. With a 5.37, Samsel wasn't far behind and qualified a career-high third behind Booher's 5.30 and defending event champ Bill Reichert's 5.31.

Heading into the final, Booher, who ran nothing but 5.30s and had a worst reaction time of .059, clearly had the upper hand. Booher, who won his first national event title in Charlotte and is third in the national standings, erased 2011 world champ Duane Shields, Canadian Jeff Veale (who set top speed with an outstanding 274.11-mph charge), and 2013 East Region champion Dan Page with times of 5.33, 5.30, and 5.36.

Samsel was just as consistent but about a tenth back with 5.47, 5.44, and 5.49 wins over Doug Foley, Richard Bourke, and friend Rich McPhillips, respectively. Bourke's full-tenth holeshot in round two made Samsel's margin of victory just two-thousandths of a second.

"This is unbelievable," Samsel said after winning the final in a race nearly as tight as the second-round match with Bourke. "I owe it to my kid [Tony]. He's always there and he's the one who makes it all happen."

In Top Alcohol Funny Car, Noakes also earned his first NHRA win, also on a final-round holeshot, with a close 5.61 to 5.59 win over Mickey Ferro, who had taken out Frank Manzo in the semifinals. Ferro had a decent .076 reaction time, but Noakes had him all the way with a .035.

"I actually saw a lot of yellow that time," Noakes said. "I didn't think it was that good."  It's his seventh major win, including six IHRA titles in 10 career final-round appearances, highlighted by a 2007 win in Grand Bend, Ont. "That probably meant a little more to me because my whole family and everybody's family there," he said, "but this is big."

With a 5.62 in the final qualifying session, Noakes qualified No. 2 behind Manzo, who had won 12 of the past 13 national events at Maple Grove and who paced the field by nearly a tenth with a 5.53. Noakes, who came within a few thousandths of beating Manzo in the final here last year, put away John Fiorini, who was making his first appearance all year, in with a 5.72 in round one. His Les Mellows-tuned Meritor/Euclid Mustang was the picture of consistency on Sunday with times of 5.62, 5.60, and 5.61 against Fred Tigges in round two, Todd Veney in the semi's, and Ferro in the final.

Ferro, who was runner-up to Manzo in Charlotte in his only other start since May, picked up from 5.60s on Friday and Saturday to three consecutive .50s on Sunday. A 5.57 took out 2013 East Region champion John Anderika in round two, a 5.58 upset nemesis Manzo in the semi's, and a 5.59 left him 28-thousandths of a second short of Noakes in the final.

"A .076 light?" Ferro said. "That sucks. You need to be in the .030s or .040s in the final. I knew I had to cut a light that time, and that's what I was thinking about going up there. You shouldn't be thinking about anything. I never saw him, but I had a feeling I lost on a holeshot. I never saw my win-light on, but when I went around the corner, they waved me over to the side where the winners go to be interviewed, and I thought, 'Thank God.' Then they pointed me back over to the other side and it was just a kick in the gut."