By Susan Wade
NSSN Correspondent
JOLIET, Ill. — New Jersey’s Frank Manzo’s Top Alcohol Funny Car victory over Jay Payne gave him his sixth JEGS Allstars title and helped the Division 1 team defend its overall point title in Saturday’s specialty sportsman race that took place during the National Hot Rod Ass’n Torco Racing Fuels Route 66 Nationals.
Manzo was one of four Division 1 winners at the Route 66 Raceway event, which showcases the best racers in the Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series. New Yorkers Sal Biondo (Comp), Michael Iacono (Super Stock) and New Jersey’s Russ Linke (Stock) also contributed to Division 1’s 300-point edge over Division 4. Their team will split a $20,000 bonus from JEGS Mail Order.
Spencer Massey of Fort Worth, Texas, narrowly defeated defending JEGS Allstars champ Marty Thacker in the Top Alcohol Dragster final. Current NHRA champion Ron Erks, of Clinton, Ohio, claimed the lone victory for the Division 3 team, beating red-lighting Johnny Gross in the Super Comp final.
The Division 7 team got a victory from Ed Olpin of Pleasant Grove, Utah, in the Super Gas finale against Allstars champ Rock Haas. Division 4’s Craig Abbott of Strawn, Texas, helped his team finish second by winning the Super Street final against Division 7’s Dwight Downing.

— Ashley Force said the fire “was warm like, well, a sauna.” The 24-year-old rookie was making one of the better runs during Saturday’s tricky early afternoon session when a supercharger explosion and fire slowed her Castrol GTX Ford Mustang from its 4.783-second Friday pace to 4.999 at 267.53 miles per hour. Despite that, she had the fifth-quickest time of the session, although she ended up ninth on the grid of 16.
“I remember thinking that we were getting down the track pretty well,” she said, “(especially) since everyone else was having trouble. We were getting to the end and then, ‘Boom!’ I screamed because it scared me. I wasn’t expecting it.
“There was some fire in the cockpit and I could feel the heat, but I also knew my helmet was sealing me off since I wasn’t getting any hotter. My first instinct was to go for my radio, but then I got on the fire bottles. It was slowing down after that.”

— Pro Stock’s Greg Anderson earned his sixth No. 1 position in nine events this year and the 57th of his career to move to No. 5 on the NHRA’s all-time list. He did it by setting both ends of the track record with a 6.617 elapsed time at 208.94 mph.
“It’s a neat, neat stat. I never thought I’d be anywhere near there,” Anderson said of the No. 5 ranking. “We’ve got a good package. We’ve got a good hot rod. We’re No. 1, but you’ve got to come back (Sunday) and act like it never happened.” It might have seemed like it never happened — Tom Hammonds beat him in the opening round.

—  The Top Fuel class’s No. 1 qualifier jinx continues. Tony Schumacher had the low e.t. in the U.S. Army dragster with his 4.462-second pass from Friday night. In Sunday’s first round, he defeated Doug Kalitta — the Mac Tools dragster driver he aced out for the 2006 title with the national record in the final run of the final race of the season.
But Larry Dixon eliminated Schumacher in the quarterfinal. “I really, really thought we had something for them,” Schumacher said. “We had such a good run in the first round (4.511 seconds), but for some reason we couldn’t duplicate it against Dixon. I feel bad that we couldn’t deliver to the U.S. Army a nice present for their 232nd birthday.”
 
— This event marked the first time since the 2005 Carquest Auto Parts NHRA Winternationals that a John Force Racing-owned Ford Mustang did not advance to the second round. Robert Hight failed to qualify for the first time in his career, and both John and Ashley Force lost in the first round, to Tony Pedregon and Tommy Johnson, Jr., respectively.
For the sixth time in seven races this season, John Force failed to get his Castrol GTX High-Mileage entry past round one. He squandered a No. 5 starting spot, losing traction against Pedregon. He has only eight races in which to make the top eight and salvage at least a shot at a 15th series championship.
“Every race (from now on) is critical,” Force said, “but I’ve been saying that for the last month. We’ve always played the consistency game, and right now we’re just not consistent, and we’re not going to start winning until we get that back. That’s why we’re staying over to test. We’ve got to find some answers and get back in the game.”