“Aussie Dave” Grubnic finally broke through in NHRA Top Fuel racing to win his first career national event. Grubnic becomes the first non-North American to win in the NHRA Top Fuel class when he drove the Zantac-3 dragster, owned by Connie Kalitta, to victory past a tire-smoking Larry Dixon in the final round. Grubnic wins with a 4.600 secs at 320.28 mph. The much overdue win came in Grubnic’s 8th Top Fuel final round appearance and moved the driver into a 3rd place tie with Dixon in current NHRA POWERade points.

Grubnic’s victory came from the #5 qualified position and included round wins over John Smith, Tony Schumacher and Doug Herbert. His second round win over Schumacher was of particular importance as it helped to protect the overall points lead of his teammate Doug Kalitta. Kalitta, who qualified #1, was eliminated in a major round one upset when he smoked the tires while opponent Scott Palmer unloaded a career best 4.650 secs at 328.70 mph.

Top Fuel runner-up Larry Dixon set top speed overall of the event. The California-based driver of Don Prudhomme’s Miller Lite dragster ran 331.61 mph.

Funny Car racing produced a “natural hat trick” for superstar icon John Force who won his third straight NHRA national event. Force was rock steady throughout Sunday’s final eliminations while collecting the 118th win of his career – by far the most in drag racing.

Force beat Tommy Johnson Jr. in the championship final round when his 4.809 secs at 320.97 mph driving the Castrol GTX Start-Up Mustang won easily. Force had taken out Jeff Arend, Eric Medlen and Ron Capps in earlier action.

The event’s FC performance star was Force’s teammate Robert Hight who qualified on the pole for the 3rd time this season. Hight drove the AAA Auto Club Ford Mustang to a new track ET record at 4.729 secs and also hit top speed of the meet at 324.75 mph. Hight advanced to the semis before losing out to Tommy Johnson Jr in the Skoal Chevy. But the “final four” finish for Hight moved him into second place in POWERade points ahead of Gary Scelzi who lost out in the 2nd round.

Also winning for the third event in a row was Greg Anderson in Pro Stock. The 2X and defending POWERade World Champ moved to within 13 points of leader Warren Johnson when beat David Connolly in the final round. Greg moved first with a .014 RT and his 6.768 secs at 203.65 mph effort driving the Summit Racing Equipment Pontiac was more then Connolly’s 6.907 secs at 203.68 mph could handle.

Anderson’s win also included low ET of the meet – a stout 6.716 secs which flashed during qualifying action. Kurt Johnson, driving his all new ACDelco Chevy Colbalt, set top speed at 205.10 mph. Both of those marks were new track records for Heartland Park.

David Connolly’s strong r/up finish came falling a week of unrest. Shortly after his 2nd round finish at Columbus the weekend before his team owner Mike Dzurilla announced he was being forced to disband the Chevrolet “Bullet Motorsports” team. But soon thereafter, the Tennessee-based brothers Andy & Mark Carrier, came to the rescue and announced they would finance the team to allow them to continue their POWERade Championship quest. Rumors also did surface that Connolly will shortly be added to Don Schumacher’s Pro Stock team – and will run a 3rd Dodge from that camp?

TAD racing featured a major upset when Texan Steve Torrence won driving his injected nitro car. The victory came in what was in fact Torrence’s first ever NHRA national event in the class. Torrence, after qualifying #2 with a 5.311 secs, ran very consistently to make the final round where he stopped Chris Demke in a marquee A/FD versus B/AD matchup.

Jay Payne won the TAFC program driving his Valvoline-sponsored Chevy Camaro. Payne qualified #1 of the 12 cars entered and set both low ET (5.630 secs) and top speed (256.36 mph). He ran down the similar Chevy Camaro of Oklahoma’s Jackie Stidham in the final round.

The Kansas event also featured continued competition within the now Sony-sponsored Sports Compact series. Action there was highlighted by the Pro Real Wheel Drive class which produced the quickest run in history. Former part time Pro Stock racer, Vince Fourcade, drove the Titan-sponsored turbocharged Toyota to a spectacular 6.478 secs during round one. Fourcade was unable however to repeat that and lost out in the next round to Stephen Papadakis.

The Pro RWD title went to Matt Hartford’s Summit Racing-sponsored Chevy Cavalier. Hartford ran a final round 6.908 secs at 205.60 mph to beat out Papadakis who ran 6.940 secs at 188.50 mph.

Participation in the remaining four Sony Sports Compact classes unfortunately was very poor. Ed Bergenholtz was the only car entered in Pro FWD and was declared the winner. Justin Humphreys (Modified) and Tony Shagday (All Motor) also prevailed. Ron Lummus won over 2 other cars in the Hot Rod division driving his Pontiac Sunfire. Lummus ran the quickest ET ever seen in that class, a 7.837 secs national record, while enroute.