Tony Schumacher rocks the drag racing world at Brainerd when he guides the U.S. Army-sponsored dragster to the fastest speed ever recorded in drag racing history. During the third round of qualifying Tony clocks in at a numbing 337.58 mph which eclipsed the previous all time fastest recording of 335.57 mph set by Doug Kalitta at Las Vegas in 2004. Schumacher also recorded low ET of the meet during the run – a track record 4.446 secs.

Schumacher was however unable to back up that milestone speed for a new NHRA national record and was also not able to turn the performance into final victory -- when he loses out to Doug Kalitta in round two. Kalitta, driving his Mac Tools dragster goes on to the event win -- his second straight NHRA victory – to build on his points margin over Schumacher. Kalitta ran a final round 4.593 secs at 325.92 mph to defeat a tire-smoking Larry Dixon.

Top Fuel round one included an unfortunate massive engine explosion and oil down from Luigi Novelli. The incident delayed resumption of action by nearly an hour as NHRA officials were faced with a major clean up. In fact the affected lane was never returned to it’s previous status which effected the outcome of many races throughout the balance of eliminations.

John Force understudy driver Eric Medlen recorded his second win of the ’05 season in FC driving the Castrol Syntec Ford Mustang. Medlen won the final round over Force himself when he used a holeshot to take a 4.826 secs 315.42 mph to 4.787 secs 321.12 mph victory. Medlen, who had also won at NHRA Seattle just a few weeks before, scored from the FC pole position after resetting the track ET record during qualifying a 4.730 secs.

John Force, who had been dogged with a rash of first round loses in recent events ran well at BIR. His runner-up finish driving the Castrol GTX Start Up Mustang, tightened things up again in POWERade FC points as he moved to with 8 points of Gary Scelzi. Scelzi, who set top speed of the meet during qualifying at 328.70 mph (track record), was knocked out in round one by Tony Bartone. Overall points leader Robert Hight, also suffered a first round defeat courtesy of Cruz Pedregon.

Kurt Johnson, driving for ACDelco continued his rise in the Pro Stock standings by recording his 3rd win of the season. Johnson drove his Chevy Cobalt past the Chevy Cavalier of Greg Stanfield in the championship round, winning a 6.726 secs 204.57 mph to 6.778 secs 203.71 mph decision.

Johnson’s legendary father Warren debuted his all new (and 2nd ever) 2006 Pontiac GTO at the event. Johnson wowed the crowd by re-setting both ends of the PS track record during qualifying with a terrific 6.698 secs at 206.57 mph. WJ was however denied the championship round when #13 qualifier Greg Stanfield whipped him on a holeshot in the semi-finals, (.033 to .089) to win 6.768 secs 204.08 mph to 6.749 secs 205.44 mph.

Pro Stock Motorcycle racing at BIR was one of total domination for the Vance & Hines Screamin’ Eagle Harley Davidson team. Not only did the final round feature a pairing between teammates GT Tonglet and Andrew Hines, the duo was also credited with both low ET and top speed of the meet.

Tonglet beat Hines in the final round as his run of 7.179 secs and 187.68 mph gave him his 2nd win of the year. He had in earlier action roared to the 3rd quickest run in class history while qualifying #1 with a spectacular 7.011 secs. R/U Hines rode out a tremendous 196.82 mph (while qualifying #2 at 7.024 secs) for top MPH.

Shortly after the event’s Pro Stock Motorcycle racing was concluded NHRA rules makers responded to try to maintain class parity by granting class rival Suzuki riders a weight break of 10 lbs – from 600 to 590 (lbs minimum).

TAD class racing was highlighted by a very swift field (5.555 secs bump) and the second career win for Texan Steve Torrence. Torrence won an all A/FD final round over 2003 NHRA World Champion Art Gallant. Gallant built an early lead but his 5.475 secs at 267.53 mph could not hold back Torrence’s low ET of the meet effort at 5.231 secs 265.01 mph.

Torrence’s event win came from the pole (5.249 secs) and included round wins over Robin Samsel, Marty Thacker and Jeff Hamelink.

The event’s TAD program included three Canadian entries, the supercharged cars from Ontario driven by Ken Perry and Jeff Veale and the nitro-injected car owned by Manitoba’s Doug Doucette and driven by Scott Murray. Perry and Veale both qualified but lost out in round one.

Bob Newberry racked up another impressive win in the TAFC category driving his Valvoline-sponsored Chevy Monte Carlo. Newberry saw opponent Mick Snyder jump out on him in the final round with a stout .008 RT however was able to reel him in to take a 5.636 secs 256.80 mph to 5.729 secs 253.71 mph decision.

Newberry had set low ET of the meet at 5.602 secs while taking the pole. Newberry’s top Division One rival Frank Manzo set top speed a 258.91 mph driving the Lucas Oil-sponsored Firebird.