Defending NHRA POWERade World Champion Tony Schumacher rides a national speed setting record effort to ultimate victory at NHRA Houston. Tony wins for the 2nd time this season following a super-exciting final round decision over Cory McClenathan. Schumacher runs 4.503 secs at 335.32 mph driving the U.S. Army dragster to just edge out McClenathan’s 4.511 secs at 327.74 mph in the Fram Air Hog car. Tony had run 334.15 mph in the semi-final round, which backed up the 335.32 mark as official.

Top Fuel racing at the event includes a couple of harrowing incidents during qualifying. New York’s Bobby Lagana Jr, driving for car owner Bill Miller for the first time in competition, has a big fire during Friday’s qualifying action and that burns off his brake lines. Lagana Jr clips the guardwall and also the car driven by Tony Zizzo and the damage prevents him from returning to competition. Oregon’s Joe Hartley has a rear wheel shear off his dragster during Saturday’s qualifying action and his dragster spins around contacting both guardwalls in another rather spectacular site. Thankfully neither driver was injured.

John Force’s understudy/son-in-law Robert Hight proves to be an excellent student as the rookie driver wins in what was only his 4th career start in the FC class. Hight wheels Force’s AAA Auto Club Ford Mustang past the Advance Auto Parts Chevy Monte Carlo driven by Cruz Pedregon in the final round, winning a 4.786 secs 326.16 mph to 4.818 secs 321.12 mph joust. Hight’s win came from the pole after he led all qualifiers with a 4.767 secs effort. He also set stop speed at 326.16 mph. Hight beat out is boss in the semi-final round winning at 4.790 secs 316.08 mph while Force spun his tires.

The “Professor of Pro Stock” delivered a masterful lesson at Houston as he won for the first time this season. Johnson, who has announced that he will retire as a driver at the end of this season, was dominating as he qualified low, set low ET (6.696 secs) and top speed (205.63 mph) while taking the GM Performance Parts Pontiac to victory. Warren benefited from a red light foul start by fellow Pontiac driver Jason Line in the championship final. The victory made Johnson the oldest (61) Pro winner in NHRA history and moved him into a first place standing in NHRA POWERade season points.

Lady racer Karen Stoffer won in the highly competitive Pro Stock Motorcycle class. Stoffer, who had earned her first career win at this race in 2004, rode her Geico-sponsored Suzuki past surprise finalist Kurt Matte (also on a Suzuki) in the final round.

Another lady rider, Angelle Sampy was the performance star of the event as she recorded low ET for the category at 7.055 secs during qualifying. Sampy fell well off that pace in round one however and her U.S. Army machine was eliminated by independent rider Mike Berry 7.287 secs to 7.275 secs.

Pro Stock Motorcycle racing at the event produced the second quickest field in NHRA history, featuring a bump spot of 7.179 secs. At total of 30 riders made qualifying attempts.

NHRA’s AMS/TLR Pro Mod series hosted round #2 at Houston and that win went to hometown racer Josh Hernandez driving the supercharged ’57 Chevy campaigned by series co-sponsor Tommy Lipar. Hernandez beat out recent IHRA event winner Ed Hoover in the final round as both drivers experienced tire shake problems.

The AMS Staff Leasing/TLR program was a swift show with a bump spot dipping to 6.304 secs, the quickest so far since NHRA went to a 16-car field. Canada’s Al Billes paced the field with a 6.101 secs at 236.01 mph driving the Summit Racing Equipment ’53 Corvette, which was low ET/top speed. Billes however shook the tires hard in round one and was upset by Texan Frankie Taylor.

Nitro FC class racing included an unexpected switch to a Toyota Celica body for Phil Burkhart Jr., driver of the C.S.K. “Blue Team” car. Burkhart, who had previously run both Pontiac and Chevrolet bodies, ran the Toyota to the #2 qualified position at 4.813 secs 320.36 mph. The promising debut however ended in round one when Burkhart was edged out on a holeshot by Tony Pedregon’s Quaker State Chevrolet, 4.865 secs to 4.849 secs.

Top Alcohol Funny Car racing produced an upset winner as David Ray won driving his “Follow The Dream” Dodge Avenger. Ray’s first career NHRA national event title came over recent NHRA Gainesville winner Bob Newberry. Newberry had been the odds on favorite going into the final round after setting both low ET (5.592 secs) and top speed (257.63 mph) in earlier competition.

The TAD title went to Duane Shields who won driving the “Shortline Express” injected nitro car. Shields, who is from Nevada, beat out the supercharged machine driven by Missouri’s Jeff Wilson in the final round, 5.372 secs 265.64 mph to 5.500 secs 252.99 mph.

Texas-based racers set the event performance standards in TAD. Veteran driver Gene Snow notched low ET at 5.278 secs while James Thompson had high MPH at 271.41 mph.