Brandon Bernstein wins his first race of the season when he outguns current NHRA POWERade points leader and season sensation Melanie Troxel in the Top Fuel final round. Driving his Budweiser/Lucas Oil-sponsored dragster, Brandon is the quickest car during every round of eliminations including the final, beating Melanie to the stripe at 4.534 secs at 329.83 mph (top speed of the meet) to 4.580 secs at 323.35 mph.

Bernstein had run a superb 4.510 secs in round one which was also low ET of the meet, slightly quicker then the 4.531 secs posted by Cory McClenathan who had earned the event pole position.

Troxel’s runner-up finish increased her overall first place position in points. She now appeared in 5 straight NHRA final rounds dating back to the AAA Auto Club Finals at Pomona last season.

Top Fuel racing at Houston was hardly for the meek as it featured one of the quickest bump spots on record at 4.669 secs.

FC racing saw Ron Capps combine some good fortune with consistency to post his 2nd straight NHRA national event win and enhance his first place standing in POWERade points. Driving his Brut-sponsored Stratus, Capps won an all Dodge final round over Bob Gilbertson. Capps won the event despite an engine failure at half track, winning the title at only 5.005 secs 293.47 mph. Gilbertson, whose only other career NHRA FC win had come at this event back in 2000, smoked the tires immediately in the final round driving the Autolite XP/Prestone car.

Going into Sunday’s final eliminations the event did appear to be for the taking for John Force who had reset both ends of the Houston Raceway Park track record during qualifying at 4.695 secs and 328.06 mph. Force was however denied again for 2006 when his Castol Ford Mustang spun its tires, crossed the centerline and then blew its engine while racing Capps in the semi final round.

The event also included a true oddity when defending NHRA POWERade World Champion spent Sunday on the sidelines after he was a shocking DNQ driving the Oakley/Mopar Dodge Charger. Scelzi’s highly uncharacteristic 5.307 secs best was well off the 4.887 secs bump.

Pro Stock racing produced the 4th different winner in 4 races so far this season with Oklahoma’s Mike Edwards prevailing. Edwards, driving his Young Life-sponsored GTO won an all Pontiac final round over Jim Yates. Edwards used a better final round RT to beat Yates’s quicker 6.726 secs with a 6.731 secs.

Edwards first NHRA event title since Denver 2002 did include top speed of the meet (206.95 mph) and other round wins over Allen Johnson, Dave Connolly and Jason Line. Line, driving his Summit Racing Pontiac had paced the PS field with a track record 6.686 secs during qualifying.

The AMS Pro Mod cars made their second NHRA event appearance of the season and that title went to homestate racer Joshua Hernandez driving the “Dr. Moon’s Rage” Chevy Camaro.

Hernandez showed terrific consistency as his consecutive runs of 6.11, 6.16, 6.16, and 6.12 (secs) earned him round wins over Harold Laird, Matt Hagan, Burton Auxier, and Rowe. It was only one year ago at this race, during his rookie season, and in only his second competitive outing behind the wheel of a Pro Mod car, that Hernandez had earned his first victory.

Pro Mod qualifying was paced by Australian Troy Critchley who ran his spectacular new ’71 Barracuda to both low ET and top speed at 6.094 secs and 237.75 mph. Critchley’s speed is reported to be the fastest yet for a supercharged Pro Mod car at 20% supercharger overdrive. Unfortunately for Critchley, that fast run had consequences when his parachutes failed and he rubbed the guardwall and ended up in the top end catch net. The damage forced his team to withdraw from competition.

Angelle Sampey kept her undefeated season going in Pro Stock Motorcycle when she dominated action riding the U.S. Army-sponsored Suzuki. Angelle collected her 39th career “Wally” when he gunned down defending NHRA POWERade World Champion Andrew Hines in the final round 7.144 secs 190.11 mph to 7.200 secs 188.04 mph.

Angelle’s event win came from the pole after she reset the track record at 7.038 secs during qualifying time trials.

Top Alcohol racing produced a first time NHRA national event title for Kebin Kinsley who upset the TAFC field driving his Texas-based Chevy Camaro. Kinsley won an exciting final round decision over Indiana’s Mick Snyder, 5.653 secs to 5.668 secs. The event’s TAD title went to the Bars Leak-sponsored injected nitro car driven by Bill Reichert. Reichert won his 7th career NHRA national event title when he beat out defending Lucas Oil World Champion Steve Torrence in the final; 5.309 secs 274.16 mph (top speed) to 5.325 secs 263.00 mph.

Sportsman class racing was highlighted by the first ever NHRA national event win for Canadian Jason Kenny (from Kingston, ON). Kenny won a very competitive 9.951 to 9.955 secs decision over Donnie Burnside in the Super Gas final round trophy dash.