After a long day at historic Thunder Valley, Melanie Troxel, Tony Schumacher and Dave Connolly finally were crowned the winners of the 8th annual O'Reilly NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals presented by Q on Sunday night. Rain throughout the day led to delays and a dramatic nighttime finish at Bristol Dragway.
After having gone seven races without winning a round in her Funny Car career, Troxel, a four-time winner in Top Fuel, won four in a row and became the 14th different driver, and the first woman, to win in both nitro classes. Troxel also became the first woman in Bristol Dragway history to capture a Funny Car title and only the second in NHRA history to win in the class (Ashley Force did it at Atlanta three weeks ago).
Troxel squared off in the final with rookie Mike Neff, both looking for a first national event win, and after some starting line drama, Neff's Mustang (6.47 at 146.21) fireballed at 400 feet to give the win to Troxel's backpedaling 5.06 at 310.27 mph. Schumacher (4.555 at 306.81 mph) defeated Larry Dixon (4.958 at 253.37) in the Top Fuel final round to score his third win of the season, while Connolly (6.731 at 204.70) defeated Greg Stanfield (6.717 at 204.42) on a final round holeshot in Pro Stock.
"We shook the tires like that in the semifinals, too, and when I looked at the computer I saw that the track was so tight that I probably could have pedaled it quicker, so I filed that away for the final," said Troxel. "I knew he was having troubles over there [before staging] and the only thing that crossed my mind was that I didn't win on a bye. I saw him out there on me but I was reeling him in when he just disappeared.
"We were just so focused on getting some rounds and we really needed to have it happen soon if we wanted to catch up to that top 10. We've been saying for a few races that we had to do it soon, because we struggled so much this season. I struggled as a driver, then we struggled with the tune-up and the car, so we've been putting in a lot of effort to get our new chassis out that we have to run in July, so we don't have to struggle again in July."
The final was the first between two drivers without a previous win in the class since Gary Clapshaw defeated Gary Densham in the 1995 Memphis final.
Troxel also had a wild road to the final in her ProCare RX Dodge. On-again, off-again rain haunted the first round, which took about four and half hours to complete after four separate stoppages, two of which came as Troxel and Tony Pedregon were just preparing to stage. After the first try was waved off, the teams went to their pits to cool their clutches and engines; after the second no-go, both teams retreated to their pits to change clutches, and, with more delays in between, actually made it back around in time to run at the tail end of the round.
She also won an historic matchup with Ashley Force, the first-ever pairing of females in Funny Car eliminations. Although the victorious Troxel downplayed that angle, the history was not lost on those in attendance. In the semifinals, she defeated Jim Head, who smoked the tires at the hit.
Neff, the No. 1 qualifier for the first time, drove his Old Spice Mustang past Tony Bartone with a 4.87 and Ron Capps with a 4.82 before besting teammate Robert Hight in a tight semifinal battle, 4.81 to 4.88. Neff's appearance in the final, his second straight, marked the seventh time in eight events that the final round has included a John Force Racing Mustang.
Schumacher, who was appearing in his fifth final of the year and the third straight, made up for his last two runner-up finishes with a strong pass in the final round. Dixon had to pedal the U.S. Smokeless rail early and Schumacher marched away to career win number 44.
"We were disappointed to lose those last two finals because we hadn't been beaten in the seven before that, so it plays a little bit in your mind," said Schumacher, "but those are the kind of races I like to win. You know that Dixon, like Doug Kalitta, is one of the best out there on the starting line so you've got to sit up in the seat. He's also one of the bad hombres out there who can pedal it, so I was very prepared for anything going on.
"As cold as it was, there was a lot of concern we'd fog up and after seeing the two [Funny Car semifinalists] ahead of us blow the tires off by the tree, it made it exciting. Bruton Smith built us a wonderful track here and to have a Safety Safari who can prepare a racetrack after all of the rain we had and to run a number like we did, that's saying something."
Schumacher crested a personal milestone with his 400th round win when he beat up-in-smoke Hillary Will in the semifinals to reach his 75th career final round, and did it in convincing fashion with a 4.501, low e.t. of the meet, and a thousandth quicker than his low qualifying berth. Prior to Will, the U.S. Army dragster had defeated red-lighting Alan Bradshaw and J.R. Todd with back-to-back 4.51s.
Dixon would have tied Schumacher at 43 wins had he claimed the title and closed the points gap, but was handed his second runner-up of the season in his third final of the year. The Phoenix winner and Houston runner-up ran 4.62 to best Doug Herbert and 4.63 to turn back upset-minded Troy Buff. Then, tuner Donnie Bender found the handle and served up a 4.55 to defeat long-time rival Brandon Bernstein in the semifinals.
Connolly, who missed the first five races of the season due to lack of sponsorship, reached the final round for the second straight race with his Charter Communications Cobalt and made it stick this time on a holeshot, 6.73 to 6.71. The win was the 18th of his career and the 150th for Chevrolet in Pro Stock. Connolly's win boosted him to 14th in points.
"We're just thankful to have Charter and Lifelock or we'd still be on the sidelines," said Connolly. "It makes you appreciate it a bit more. This is the same team we had last year and we have such good chemistry. We might have brought the car out a little premature because it wasn't running as fast as we thought it should, but we did some testing and now it seems as good as our car last year.
"I'm just excited to be back out here with the folks and having a good time, and it's wonderful to pick up points and have a good shot at making the Countdown to the Championship."
Connolly reached the final with victories over Tom Hammonds, Greg Anderson, and, again on a holeshot in the semifinals, Ron Krisher, 6.75 to 6.72.
Stanfield, a former Sportsman world champ and winner in Pro Stock Truck, had been denied in five previous final-round appearances in Pro Stock. To reach the money round, Stanfield wheeled his Attitude Apparel Pontiac GXP past Jason Line, Mike Edwards, and, on a 6.75 to 6.74 holeshot, V. Gaines in the semifinals.
Pro Stock in Bristol was filled with upsets from qualifying, where world champ, defending event winner, and number-two points man Jeg Coughlin failed to qualify for the first time in 70 events. In the opening round, the trio of Johnsons - No. 1 qualifier Warren, son Kurt, the No. 2 man, and No. 4 qualifier Allen Johnson all exited in the opening stanza, all to tire shake. Summit Racing teammates Line and Anderson both fell to red-lights, in the first and second rounds, respectively, leaving Stanfield, Gaines, Krisher, and Connolly as an unlikely final foursome.