AREND, TEAM KALITTA CELEBRATE EMOTIONAL WIN
Lucas, Line and Phillips claim wins at rain-delayed race; Ashley Force
Hood assumes points lead in Funny Car
MEMPHIS -- Jeff Arend and Funny Car team owner and NHRA icon Connie
Kalitta celebrated an emotional, tearful victory Monday at the
rain-delayed O'Reilly NHRA Mid-South Nationals at Memphis
Motorsports Park.
Joining Arend in the winner's circle at the 21st of 24 races in the
NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series were Morgan Lucas (Top Fuel), Jason
Line (Pro Stock) and Michael Phillips (Pro Stock Motorcycle).
Arend, who replaced Connie's late son Scott Kalitta in the DHL
Toyota Solara, turned in a blistering 4.091 at 310.41 in the final round
to easily outrun Tony Pedregon's trailing 16.659 at 37.81 in the
Quaker State Chevy Impala. The speed was the fifth fastest 1000-foot
Funny Car speed recorded.
"Everyone had tears in their eyes at the end of the track, myself
included," said an emotional Arend, who won for only the second
time in his career and first time since Reading, 1996. "I know how
big this is for Connie (Kalitta, team owner) after continuing to run this
Funny Car after going through the ultimate tragedy (his son Scott's
death at Englishtown, N.J. in June 2008). He did it, because what he and
Scott wanted to do was to have a competitive Funny Car. I think we proved
today that we have one now."
Meanwhile, by reaching the semifinals, Ashley Force Hood ascended into
first place in Funny Car at the halfway point of NHRA's six-race
playoff, the Countdown to 1. The 26-year old daughter of John Force is
seeking to become the first woman in history to win a championship in
NHRA's ultra-competitive Funny Car division.
Force Hood leads teammate Robert Hight by three points and Pedregon by 26
points.
In Top Fuel, Lucas (5.133 at 251.44) claimed his third victory of the
season -- and third of his career after a five-year drought --
in the GEICO Powersports/Lucas Oil dragster with his tire-spinning win
over first-place Tony Schumacher (8.216 at 75.19) and the U.S. Army Team,
which extended their points lead over Larry Dixon and the Al-Anabi team
to 54; Lucas moved into fifth place (133 points behind Schumacher).
"It's funny how wins happen," said Lucas.
"Sometimes the car is on; sometimes you're on; sometimes
you're both on. I felt like everything was working today. The last
thing I thought about in the final was the car shaking, smoking the
tires, or doing anything stupid. When it did, it was awesome, because it
got sideways, got out of it, and thought I was going to go over the
centerline for a second. It's so intense and emotional for only
happening within a couple seconds."
"The championship isn't something I even considered at the
beginning of the year, but we hope this is the momentum change that we
needed," Lucas said.
In Pro Stock, Line jumped from fifth place to second place with his 6.576
at 210.05 in his Summit Racing Pontiac against Ron Krisher, who
red-lighted. Line trails points leader Mike Edwards and the A.R.T./Young
Life Pontiac team by 78 points with three races to go and Summit Racing
teammate Greg Anderson is 81 points back.
"It was a lucky win in a lot of ways. We didn't have the
performance advantage by any means; Mike Edwards was crushing us. Greg
(Anderson) and I still have a great shot at winning the championship. We
need to be perfect from here on out, but it's still
possible."
In Pro Stock Motorcycle, Michael Phillips won for the first time in six
years aboard the Phillips Racing Suzuki when he clipped defending Series
champ Eddie Krawiec aboard the Screamin' Eagle Vance & Hines
Harley-Davidson, 6.935 at 193.54 to 6.948 at 192.22.
"I didn't know I had so many fans, but they all came over and
told me they like to cheer for the little guy. I won two divisionals here
in Memphis, so this track has been good to me," Phillips said.
The Countdown to 1 continues next weekend in Richmond with the fourth
race in the six-race playoff, the NHRA Virginia Nationals, Oct. 9-11, at
Virginia Motorsports Park.
-credit: nhra
