Darrell Russell delivers a special 60th birthday present to his team owner Joe Amato when he wins his first Top Fuel title since 2002. Driving Amato’s Keystone/DeeZee Dragster, Russell is able to fend off current NHRA POWERade points leader Tony Schumacher in the final round winning a 4.596 secs 326.00 mph to 4.602 secs 320.13 mph decision.

Russell’s 6th win of the season includes an electronic oddity in the semi final round. He had beaten Larry Dixon in that match but did not receive an ET or mph thus lost what could have been crucial lane choice to Schumacher for the final round.

Top Fuel racing at Columbus was paced by Brandon Bernstein to rewrote the National Trail Raceway track ET record during qualifying. Brandon wheeled the Budweiser dragster to a swift 4.489 secs (the track’s first sub-4.50) at 328.86 mph to take the pole. Bernstein was however on the receiving end of a major round one upset when he smoked the tires and lost out to #16 qualifier Mitch King.

Former IHRA World Champion Don Lampus, from Texas, returned to Top Fuel class racing at Columbus. Don qualified 13th, but then fire-balled the car while racing Scott Kalitta in round one. Kalitta had during qualifying recorded the first ever 330-mph speed at the facility. Scott took the Jesse James-sponsored dragster to a run of 330.39 mph which held up for top speed of the event.

Del Worsham climbed back into serious FC points contention when he notched his third win of the ’04 season driving the C.S.K. Chevy Monte Carlo. Del won an exciting tire-smoking final round decision over Gary Scelzi, driver of the Oakley/Hemi Dodge Stratus. Del peddled his way to the stripe first recording a winning 5.487 secs at 254.62 mph.

Another Chevy Monte Carlo, the Advance Auto Parts car driven by Cruz Pedregon, paced FC class racing. Cruz recorded a dazzling track record 4.769 secs to take the pole, but like Bernstein in Top Fuel, smoked the tires in round one and lost out to Jerry Toliver. Toliver was behind the wheel of a special edition “The Dead Zone” Schick Toyota at the event.

In Pro Stock, Greg Anderson won for the 8th time in 9 final round appearances so far this season to further expand his already significant points lead margin over the rest of the class. Anderson’s win was typical, including the pole, low ET (6.790 secs) and top speed (203.06 mph) driving the Vegas General Construction Pontiac Grand-Am. Anderson turned back the Bullet Motorsports Chevy Cavalier driven by Dave Connolly in the final round. Anderson’s win was his third consecutive win at National Trail.

Pro Stock racing at Columbus drew 25 entries and produced a bump spot of 6.862 secs. The event included the debut of a new Kendall-sponsored Dodge Stratus car for Colorado’s V. Gaines. Gaines ran a decent 6.900 with the car but missed the cut.

Andrew Hines gave the Harley Davidson brand it’s 3rd Pro Stock Bike title. The Mac Tools Gatornationals winner easily outran the Suzuki of Steve Johnson in the final round, 7.131 secs 185.56 mph to 7.447 secs at 180.16 mph. Hines had set low ET of 7.081 secs to pace the field in qualifying.

Top Speed in Pro Stock Bike went to Craig Treble who rode the Matco Tools Suzuki to a 191.76-mph terminal speed in qualifying. Treble however lost out in a close match to Shawn Gann in round one.

Don Schumacher’s U.S. Army-sponsored team ran a special paint scheme to help recognize the recent selection by Time Magazine of the U.S. Army soldier as the “Person of the Year”. Tony Schumacher’s Top Fuel car, as well as the Pro Stock Bikes ridden by Angelle Savoie and Anton Brown displayed the theme.

The Top Alcohol Funny Car final round featured a match-up between Team Valvoline drivers Bob Newberry and Jay Payne. In a championship battle of similar looking Chevy Camaros, Newberry took the title running a 5.684 secs at 252.24 mph to beat Payne’s troubled 6.393 secs at 188.20 mph. Payne had earlier recorded both low ET and top speed for the breed at 5.626 secs and 256.89 mph. Only 8 entries showed for the TAFC eliminator at Columbus.

The TAD title went to Jeff Bohr who rode the Bars Leaks dragster to a significant circuit win. Bohr held back the injected-nitro car driven by Art Gallant in the final round. Gallant had been the pole sitter with a 5.372 secs run.

Due to rainstorms earlier at the event, which disrupted much of the schedule, both TAD and TAFC class racers were limited to only two qualifiers, both of which came on Saturday.

Michigan’s Ed Bennett III won his first career national event title in Competition eliminator. Bennett drove his B/A Dodge Neon (the former Larry Morgan Pro Stock car) to the title beating David Eaton’s A/AP roadster in the final round. Eaton and Bennett had qualified 1-2 entering final eliminations.