The Mopar brand has a great showing in Pro Stock eliminator at the C.S.K. Nationals with five Dodge Stratus drivers making the swift field. Richie Stevens Jr., who is on the class comeback trail in 2005, paces the program driving Don Schumacher’s Mopar/Valspar-sponsored car at 6.735 secs and 205.35 mph (top speed). V. Gaines, Larry Morgan and Jeg Couglin Jr also get in, however it is the slowest qualified Mopar, Allen Johnson (#12) who prevails. Johnson shuts down Ron Krisher in the championship final to win his first race since Atlanta 2002. Johnson wins easily, 6.801 secs to 6.887 secs.

Pro Stock rookie lady driver Erica Enders became just the fourth woman in NHRA history to qualify in the class. The 21-year from Houston drove Victor Cagnazzi’s Chevy Cavalier to a 6.789 secs run to qualify on the bump. The strong effort came in only her second professional start. Erica was however ousted by Richie Stevens Jr in round one.

Jim Yates sets low ET in Pro Stock when he recorded at 6.733 secs during a round one win over Mike Edwards. Yates, who qualified his new Pontiac Grand-Am on the pole during the recent Carquest Winternationals, went to the semi-final round before losing out to Krisher on a holeshot (6.775 secs to 6.781 secs).

After all three of his cars bowed out in round one at Pomona, defending POWERade FC World Champion John Force rebounds in grand style a Firebird Raceway. Force wins for a record 115th time in his career when he out powers Ron Capps in the final round. Force wheels the Castrol GTX Start Up Mustang to a winning 4.802 secs at 324.12 mph to topple the all new Brut-sponsored Dodge Stratus driven by Capps.

Force team drivers Eric Medlen and Robert Hight also show well at the event. Medlen goes to the “final four” and Hight sets top speed of the meet with a track record 329.99 mph.

Low ET of the meet for a second race in a row goes to Tony Pedregon who runs the Quaker State Chevy Monte Carlo to a another track record – 4.703 secs to nail down the pole. Pedregon however loses out in a round one upset to Gary Densham.

Densham’s win over Pedregon driving the new “Racebrick” Chevy Monte Carlo comes with a price. He rides out a huge fire during that win. Following the incident many rival teams chip in to help him make a second round date versus Eric Medlen. Unfortunately for Densham his subsequent “high five” secs elapsed time is no match for his former teammates rampaging 4.782 sec at 325.06 mph.

The Top Fuel final at Phoenix sees defending POWERade World Champion Tony Schumacher win to move into first place in overall points following two races. Schumacher rips a 4.485 secs at 329.50 mph driving the U.S. Army car in the final round to again deny Morgan Lucas his first career TF win. The final round appearance was Morgan’s third in his short Pro career.

Schumacher’s victory includes Low ET of the meet following a stunning 4.474 secs blast in qualifying. He also ran an equally impressive 4.477 secs in round one while handling Bruce Litton. Schumacher also beat Cory McClenathan and Brandon Bernstein on Sunday while notching his 22nd career national event title.

Defending 2004 event champion Brandon Bernstein set top speed of the meet overall at the event. Brandon rode the Budweiser dragster to a 333.74 mph during qualifying for that honor.

There is no Top Alcohol scheduled for the C.S.K. Nationals so racing in Competition eliminator is the top Sportsman racing highlight. Texan Roger Brogdon wins for the first time in his career taking his spectacular A/SMA ’04 Chevy Cavalier to the title. Brogdon handles class super star David Rampy in the final round after Rampy had surrendered a bunch of CIC in earlier action. Brogdon runs .54 under at 7.980 secs 170.54 mph to beat Rampy’s .48 under 7.38 secs at 170.02 mph. Roger Brogdon defeated the Comp field from the pole qualified position.

Canadians Rob Harrison and Al Lougheed are awarded the event’s prestigious “Best Engineered” Award for their one-of-a-kind in-line six powered J/A Chevy Beretta. Harrison, from North Vancouver qualifies 3rd in the 32-car field with a stout 7.948 secs which is .612 under his national index. Harrison wins his first round match over Tony Jackson before falling to the dragster of Daniel Mikel.