California’s Del Worsham has his finest hour in drag racing with an absolute career weekend driving the Checker Schucks Kragen-sponsored Chevy Monte Carlo. Worsham wins both the prestigious $100,000 Skoal Showdown on Sunday and also the overall Mac Tools U.S. Nationals FC crown on Monday. With the double up Del collects close to $225,000 in the huge cash payout.

Del’s Mac Tools U.S. Nationals title comes over the quickest assembly of Funny Cars ever as the 25 cars entered knock the 16th car bump spot to an all time quick 4.852 secs. Del ambushes the field from the 4th qualified position with exciting round wins over Jim Head, Bob Gilbertson and Whit Bazemore. In the final round Del ends a highly impressive bid by Frank Pedregon in a super close clash; 4.874 secs 320.05 mph to 4.904 secs 313.07 mph.

Worsham’s win in the Skoal Showdown came when a final round effort of 4.866 secs at 319.22 mph beat out a tire-smoking Eric Medlen. Worsham had beat Tony Pedregon and Robert Hight in earlier Skoal competition.

Frank Pedregon, driving his now Toyo Tires-sponsored Dodge Stratus, is easily the darkhorse surprise of the event. Frankie qualifies #3 at a career best 4.732 secs 326.08 mph before upsetting defending champion Gary Densham, Eric Medlen and Gary Scelzi enroute to the final round.

Gary Scelzi’s semi-final round placing moves the popular driver of the Oakley/Mopar-sponsored Dodge Stratus into the overall POWERade FC points lead. Scelzi benefited from a shocking round one of competition which included losses by both previous points leader Robert Hight as well as John Force who had qualified on the pole at 4.726 secs.

FC qualifying on Saturday included a super scary moment when Tony Pedregon’s Quaker State sponsored Chevy was involved in a freak starting line accident. Two of Pedregon’s crew members were sent flying and slightly injured when the throttle was inadvertently jammed open and the car lurched forward hitting the event’s A-board.

Larry Dixon denies pre-race favorite Tony Schumacher a 4th straight Mac Tools U.S. Nationals title when he beats the overall points leader in a titanic final round Top Fuel confrontation. Dixon speeds to a winning 4.521 secs at 326.71 mph driving Don Prudhomme’s Miller Lite dragster while Schumacher surprisingly succumbs to tire smoke in the final round. Schumacher had during qualifying reset both ends of the IRP track record at 4.459 secs and 329.18 mph.

Dixon’s Indy title is his third Mac Tools U.S. National crown. After qualifying 6th with a 4.516 secs run, Dixon’s talented crew chief Dick LaHaie has the car running progressively quicker during each round while beating Scott Weis, Cory McClenathan and Doug Herbert.

Schumacher’s runner-up finish, combined with Doug Kalitta’s 2nd round (red-light) loss to David Grubnic, moved the driver of the U.S. Army sponsored dragster back on top in the NHRA POWERade Top Fuel points chase.

Top Fuel racing at Indy attracts 27 machines and includes numerous impressive performances. Doug Herbert, driving his Snap-On Tools dragster qualifies #2 with a career best 4.463 secs and goes to the semi final round. Recent NHRA O’Reilly Mid-South Nationals champion Rod Fuller is also impressive with a series of quick consecutive laps driving the Valvoline-sponsored dragster of David Powers. Oregon’s Joe Hartley is also rewarded with a career best run – 4.623 secs at 321.50 mph – to qualify. The Indy TF class is one car away from being the sport’s all time quickest. The bump was 4.701 secs (Jack Beckman) however the #15 position was 4.623 secs.

Pro Stock Motorcycle racing includes some controversy. In a rarely if ever seen development, the final round which featured a race between Matt Smith and Steve Johnson was in fact reversed. Smith, riding George Bryce’s G-Squared S&S Buell received the win light over Johnson’s Suzuki. However a post race review of the event’s television video clearly showed that Johnson’s machine had in fact crossed the finish line first but for unknown reasons did not trip the clock. NHRA’s made its announcement the next day.

Johnson’s win was the third career NHRA title for the Alabama-based independent racer. His huge victory included round wins over Craig Treble, Joe DeSantis and Angelle Sampey. In the championship final his .026 RT combined with a run of 7.206 secs ultimately was better then Smith’s quicker 7.114 secs.

PSM racing included a top speed low ET of the meet effort by Andrew Hines who rode the Vance & Hines Screamin’ Eagle to a 7.081 secs at 193.85 mph during qualifying. Hines however went .005 red in round one and lost out to DeSantis.

Class racing included a terrific performance by California’s Matt Guidera who rode his Rocklin Motorsports Buell to a shocking “final four” placing in his first ever NHRA Mac Tools U.S. National appearance.

Saturday’s event schedule included the prestigious Ringers Gloves Pro Bike Dash. That race-within-a-race saw the win go to GT Tonglet who beat out Chip Ellis in a Harley Davidson V-Rod versus Buell final round. Tonglet ran a winning 7.288 secs at 176.60 mph to beat Ellis’s 7.345 secs at 177.04 mph and with that collect a first prize of $15,000.

Greg Anderson scored a “natural hat trick” in Pro Stock by winning his third straight Mac Tools U.S. National title. Anderson, driving his Summit Racing Equipment Pontiac GTO, dominated throughout the event including a final round win over the Dodge Status driven by Richie Stevens Jr. Anderson ran a winning 6.718 secs at 205.26 mph compared to Stevens’s 6.779 secs at 203.98 mph.

Anderson’s win over the 34 car field included a pole qualifying effort of 6.689 secs (low ET) as well as top speed of the meet at 205.72 mph.

Pro Stock racing did include strong and inspired semi-final round finishes by two of the class’s most popular racers. Allen Johnson, driving his Mopar-sponsored Dodge Stratus lost out to Anderson and Mark Pawuk, driving his all new Pontiac GTO lost out to Richie Stevens.

The event’s AMS/TLR Pro Mod Challenge event featured a final round confrontation between the number one and two qualified cars driven by Joshua Hernandez and Jay Payne. Payne, who had won his first Pro Mod title at NHRA’s Mac Tools Gatornationals back in March, took the title when his final round 6.102 secs at 234.29 mph effort driving the Valvoline-sponsored Dodge Stratus beat Hernandez’s fan favorite “Dr. Moon’s Rage” ’57 Chevy. Hernandez ran a losing 6.128 secs at 229.94 mph after earlier setting low ET of the meet at 6.085 secs.

Pro Modified racing attracted 26-entries and featured a swift bump spot of 6.269 secs.

The event featured the first ever appearance by Australia’s Ben Bray, son to Aussie PM class legend Victor Bray. Driving a supercharged Corvette, Bray qualified but lost a 6.167 secs to 6.204 secs decision to Payne in round one.

The Mac Tools U.S. Nationals event featured ferocious action in both the Top Alcohol Dragster and Top Alcohol Funny Car categories.

Texan Steve Torrence, using the tuning skills of Tom Conway, won his third TAD title of the season driving his injected nitro car. Torrence hit a final round 5.299 sec at 268.87 mph to edge out California-based star lady racer Hillary Will. Will, who will race in Top Fuel beginning next season, ran a losing 5.365 secs at 267.75 mph.

Torrence’s event win included low ET of the meet – a 5.241 secs which he served up in round one while beating out Art Gallant. Gallant ran top speed of the meet at 271.02 mph while trying to catch him.

New Jersey’s Frank Manzo scored his 7th U.S. National title when he prevailed in TAFC driving the Lucas Oil-sponsored Pontiac Firebird. Manzo was consistently quick while taking out the field with a string of high 5.5 secs elapsed times during final eliminations. In the championship round he benefited from a red light foul start by Washington’s John Weaver. Manzo’s victory included both low ET (5.589 secs) and top speed (259.66 mph).

The Mac Tools U.S. National included a first ever event appearance for Pro RWD Sports Compact class racers. Only six cars showed for that competition and the title went to Brad Personett driving his all new ’05 Toyota Scion. Personett beat Matt Scranton in the final round as his 6.656 secs at 212.43 mph easily covered Scranton’s 7.105 secs at 190.46 mph. Scranton had paced the field with a 6.564 secs at 216.24 mph during time trials which held up for low ET/top speed.

Sportsman racing action at Indy included the 5th running of Mopar Hemi Challenge, arguably the most prestigious Sportsman attraction each calendar year. A total of 27 cars SS/AA cars made the call for round one to battle for that class supremacy. Michigan’s Charlie Westcott Jr prevailed when his final round 8.764 secs at 143.70 mph driving the “Warfish” ’68 Cuda beat out defending 2004 event champion Jeg Coughlin Jr who had a red-light foul start.

Coughlin had low ET for the breed at 8.682 secs while West Virginia’s Bucky Hess set top speed at 151.39 mph.