NHRA's truly dramatic chase for the 2005 POWERade Funny Car title comes to a conclusion at fabled Pomona Raceway. The title is decided in round number two of eliminations when all three contenders -- Ron Capps, Gary Scelzi and John Force -- lose out which gives Gary Scelzi his 4th career NHRA World Championship title however his first in a Funny Car.

Following the consecutive loses of Capps (to Cruz Pedregon) and Scelzi (to Tommy Johnson) John Force did have a very real chance to come from behind in points and defend his title. Force however fully staged his car prematurely while racing Tony Pedregon and was then beat out on a holeshot -- 4.778 secs 316.75 mph to a quicker 4.752 secs at 323.27 mph.

Tony Pedregon goes on to win the event driving the Q-Racing Chevy Monte Carlo -- earning his second event victory of the season. Tony tops his brother, and racing teammate Cruz in the semi-final round, and faces off against Eric Medlen for the event's title which he wins easily at 4.751 secs 319.22 mph.

Medlen's final round appearance driving John Force's Castrol Syntec Ford Mustang is a story of true grit. Medlen's machine is badly damaged during his semi-final round win over Tommy Johnson Jr when the car explodes a supercharger and Medlen hits the top end sand trap a high speed breaking the chassis. His team however manages to patch things up and install a spare body for the final – however the reality is that for safety reasons Medlen's instructions were to stage the car only and then shut if off.

Gary Scelzi's POWERade Championship winning event did include the event pole -- a terrific 4.696 secs effort driving the Oakley/Mopar Dodge Stratus -- which was low ET of the event. Top Speed in FC was by Gary Densham who's 331.36 mph effort in the Racebricks Chevy was in fact top speed of the entire event -- faster then David Grubnic's 330.96 best in Top Fuel.

FC class racing was a record setting affair as it produced the quickest 16-car field in drag racing history at a 4.828 secs bump spot. Qualifying action included strong efforts from independent class racers Terry Haddock (4.840 secs), Bob Bode (4.845 secs) and Jack Wyatt (4.847 secs) which were all career bests times only to miss the cut.

Top Fuel racing saw Tony Schumacher cap off his record smashing season with his 9th win in 12 final round appearances this year. Schumacher, driving for the U.S. Army-sponsored team beat out his racing stable mate Melanie Troxel in the final round winning decisively at 4.496 secs 324.36 mph. Schumacher’s win marked his 5th straight event victory and his 20th straight round win – both NHRA records for the class.

Schumacher’s win was one of his typical dominance. He qualified on the pole with a 4.466 secs (low ET) before beating out John Smith, Larry Dixon and Brandon Bernstein.

Melanie Troxel’s R/UP finish was her best finish of the season driving the Skull Gear/Torco Race Fuels dragster. Troxel, who is wife to FC driver Tommy Johnson, produced the 2nd quickest run of the event during qualifying, a 4.473 secs which was just behind Schumacher.

Top Fuel racing at Pomona was also a truly swift affair with a very stout bump spot of 4.621 secs. A total of 23 machines made qualifying attempts at NHRA’s exciting season finale.

Pro Stock racing produced a rare all Mopar brand final round as Jeg Coughlin faced off against Tom Martino in a battle of Dodge Stratus cars. Coughlin earned his first win since Joliet in 2003 when he powered the Jegs Mail Order car past Martino who had a -.014 foul start. Shortly after his win Coughlin did affirm the he would be exiting the Don Schumacher-owned racing camp.

Coughlin’s event victory (the 34th of his career – but first in a Dodge) included round wins over Allen Johnson, Greg Anderson and Jason Line. Coughlin had consecutive .004 and .001 reaction times while beating both the rival and favored Summit Racing Equipment team drivers.

Tom Martino’s runner-up experience in the class was truly an unexpected event development. Martino, who had not raced in the class for a few seasons, was brought in as a test driver for Larry Morgan’s all new 2006 Z-Max Dodge Stratus. Martino qualified #15 and then eliminated Erica Enders, Richie Stevens and a red-lighting Kurt Johnson.

The NHRA POWERade Pro Stock Motorcycle Championship title was decided at Pomona during round one of competition when Andrew Hines won and his teammate GT Tonglet lost. That development clinched a 2nd straight NHRA World Crown for Hines who is only 22-years old.

Andrew did try to close out his season with an event win riding the Screamin’ Eagle Vance & Hines Harley Davidson, however he was denied that in the final round following a -.011 red-light start while racing Ryan Schnitz. For Schnitz, riding Rob Muzzy Buell, it was his second victory of the 2005 racing season.

Matt Smith just missed becoming only the second Pro Stock Motorcycle rider in the 6-secs zone when he ran a superb 7.000 secs to pace the field which was low ET of the meet. Smith, riding for team owner George Bryce, was then the victim of a huge upset in round one by #16 qualifier Michael Phillips.

Top Alcohol racing featured impressive wins by Bill Reichert and Steve Gasparrelli. Reichert, driving his Bars Leaks-sponsored machine won the nitro-injected dominated TAD program when he beat out newly crowned Steve Torrence in the championship final – 5.270 secs 274.33 mph to 5.304 secs 270.92 mph. Reichert’s final round speed was the fastest of the event, He had also set low ET at 5.236 secs during eliminations.

Gasparrelli’s win in TAFC was his second of the season driving his all new Chevy Monte Carlo. The California-based racer turned back a spirited event effort from Northeastern-based racer David Ray who after upsetting some big names during earlier round had a blatant foul start in the final round.

Gasparrelli’s win came over a very well attended TAFC class program which saw 29 machines make qualifying attempts and which produced a bump spot of 5.767 secs. His victory included both low ET and top speed in the category – 5.598 secs and 260.41 mph.

Sportsman class racing was highlighted by the first ever NHRA national event title for Washington’s Chuck Smithfield who won in Competition eliminator driving his BB/A Chevy Beretta. Smithfield beat out the BB/AM of Canada’s Jirka Kaplan in the final round. Competition eliminator had been paced by the fan favorite BB/AT 2002 Ford Cougar driven by John Mihovetz. That turbocharged 282 CID car ran a (.679 under) 6.711 secs to lead the way during time trials.

The Pomona AAA Auto Club Finals also included the prestigious Summit National ET Series finals -- which brought together the top rated ET Bracket racers from across North America in 2005. Those titles were won by Jackie Jones (Super Pro), Mark Simonian (Pro), Kyle Roberts (Sportsman) and Roy Nealy Jr. (Bike).