15th O’Reilly Spring Nationals
(April 11-14th, 2002) Houston, TX
Notes |
Results | Photos
NATIONALS NOTEBOOK:
Superstar John Force gives NHRA Drag Racing some well deserved world wide motorsports headlines by recording drag racing’s milestone first ever 100th career National event win! The 11X NHRA Funny Car World Champion seals the prestigious mark when he guns down a tire-smoking Tommy Johnson Jr. in the final round. Force wins the event after qualifying 4th and taking out his archrival Whit Bazemore in a crucial semi final round clash. Force drives his Castrol GTX Mustang past Bazemore’s Matco Tools Pontiac at 5.06 secs 300.13 mph to 5.20 secs at 295.46 mph. Bazemore had paced the field in FC with a titanic 4.800 secs in qualifying. For the 5th consecutive race this season, John Force’s teamate Gary Densham sets top speed of the meet -- this time at 319.82 mph.
Kenny Bernstein is able to close the gap behind Larry Dixon in Top Fuel when he wins for the 62nd time in his career. Bernstein beats out Tony Schumacher in the final round and with that takes full advantage of Larry Dixon’s absolutely shocking first round loss to rookie driver Mitch King. King, who was competing for the first time ever in NHRA Top Fuel, beat the points leader Dixon when he smoked his tires hard in round one. Bernstein win, which was in fact his 108th career final round appearance moves him to within 65 points of Dixon.
Pro Stock racing is a very quick affair featuring a swift bump spot of 6.871 secs. Oklahoma’s Mike Edwards wins a final round battle of Chevy Cavaliers when he tops Kurt Johnson. Jim Yates had paced the field with a 6.822 secs run in the Splitfire Pontiac while last week’s winner at Las Vegas Ron Krisher grabbed Top Speed at 202.30 mph.
The Pro Stock Bike class returns to action with Houston hosting it’s second event of the season. Craig Treble keeps his undefeated 2002 season intact by recording his second consecutive win riding the Matco Tools Suzuki. Treble is able to hold off the Kawasaki ridden by Geno Scali in the final round. Shawn Gann has both low ET and top speed in PSB at 7.185 secs and 192.96 mph.
Houston event is also the second stop of the season for the 10-event AMS Pro Modified class. 17 cars show for battle and it is North Carolina’s Chip King that paces the field after qualifying driving his Hem-powered supercharged Dodge Avenger. King manages to make the final round too but is outgunned by savvy Shannon “Iceman” Jenkins who scores driving his nitrous-injected Chevy Camaro. Jenkins had beaten the supercharged cars of Mitch Stott and Tommy Gray in earlier competition.
O’Reilly Spring Nationals is a “full Monty” event as far as NHRA classes go. With Top Alcohol classes and Pro Mod included, the event features no less then 13 eliminators - resembling an IHRA national event. The 13 classes are a record number for a NHRA national event race.
Texan Mark Kinsella shows well in front of his homestate fans by running a career best 4.738 secs and 308.07 mph in qualifying. Kinsella then rudely shoots down Doug Herbert in round one winning at 4.777 secs and 306.81 mph. In round two Kinsella gets out first against Cory McClenathan before trouble sets in and his day is ended.
Gary Scelzi provides the event’s most spectacular incident when he lights up the new White Cap Toyota Funny Car during Friday night’s qualifying. Scelzi taps the guardwall in the shutdown area while getting the car stopped. The Alan Johnson team is forced to miss Saturday’s 3rd session while they make repairs to the unique machine. On Sunday Scelzi has a second round finish in the patched up car -- losing to Whit Bazemore.
Top Alcohol racing sees wins go to Duane Shields and Steve Gasparrelli. Shields beats surprising finalist Alan Bradshaw for the TAD title while Gasparrelli drives his Pontiac Firebird past Jay Payne in the TAFC final round. Unfortunately for Payne, he oils down the track while losing in the final round, which is his second violation of the event. That makes him the dubious recipient of NHRA’s first ever fine to a Top Alcohol racer. NHRA had recently announced a penalty system for it’s Top Alcohol racing classes in an effort to curtail oil down problems.
