Indiana’s J.R. Todd, who wowed the drag racing scene when he won at NHRA’s Mopar Mile-High Nationals two weeks ago, does it again. Driving the Skull Shine/Torco Race Fuels dragster owned by Dexter Tuttle, Todd proves that he is certainly for real when he scoots to victory lane and earn bookend wins for NHRA’s famous annual 3-race “Western Swing”. Like he did a Denver, Todd again outperforms defending NHRA World Champion Tony Schumacher in the championship final round winning decisively 4.619 secs 309.27 mph to 4.679 secs 316.01 mph.

Todd had using the expertise of his crew chief Jimmy Walsh, entered eliminations after qualifying #6 with a 4.586 secs run. Prior to beating Schumacher in the final he outgunned Alan Bradshaw, David Grubnic and Hillary Will. Todd’s win over Hillary was particularly exciting as it came by a narrow 4.678 ses to 4.673 secs holeshot margin.

Tony Schumacher’s strong runner-up performance marked his fourth straight final round and moved the surging defending POWERade World Champ up to third in points – 126 behind overall leader Doug Kalitta, who Schumacher beat in the semi-final round. The driver of the U.S. Army backed dragster ran low ET of the event at 4.486 secs while pacing the TF program.

Funny Car eliminator saw John Force Racing team driver Eric Medlen win for the first time this season driving the Castrol Syntec Ford Mustang. Medlen drove to a final round 4.854 secs at 316.30 mph to beat out the strong running Q Racing Chevrolet of Tony Pedrgeon.

Medlen’s first victory since Memphis last season also included round wins over Cruz Pedregon, his boss John Force and last week’s Seattle winner, Whit Bazemore.

Medlen’s racing teammate Robert Hight was credited with both low ET and top speed in FC at the event with a run of 4.738 secs at 325.30 mph during qualifying. Hight’s ET was a new track record for Infineon Raceway.

Points leader Ron Capps did lose some ground at the event when he was beaten in round one by Bazemore while John Force won over Gary Densham. Capps leads Force by 70 points as the summer tour now heads to Brainerd Minnesota.

Pro Stock racing was a spectacular program featuring for only the second time in NHRA class history a 16-car bump spot quicker then 6.70 -- at 6.693 secs.

Jason Line enhanced his first place points standing when he won for the 11th time in his career driving the Summit Racing Equipment Pontiac GTO. Line used a better starting line RT in the final (.045 to .076) to handle the strong running Kendall-sponsored Dodge Stratus driven by Colorado’s V. Gaines. Line won an exciting 6.672 secs 207.15 mph to 6.668 secs 207.05 mph finale.

Jason Line’s racing teammate, 3X and defending POWERade Champion Greg Anderson, made big noise in Pro Stock at the event when he established a new NHRA national ET record for the class at 6.631 secs during qualifying. Anderson used an equally impressive 6.651 secs to back up the mark officially before rudely being gunned down by Team Mopar driver Allen Johnson in round two. Johnson, who won at Seattle last week, had a sparking .010 RT which made his 6.696 secs a winner over Anderson’s much quicker 6.659 secs.

George Bryce’s team rider Chip Ellis won in Pro Stock Bike, taking the Drag Specialties Buell to victory lane for the 2nd time this season. Ellis got an easy final round victory when his opponent, U.S. Army Suzuki rider Anton Brown went .009 red. Ellis in fact had problems in the final and labored through with a winning 8.863 secs at 88.41 mph.

During round one of eliminations Ellis was credited with the quickest run ever in the category when he rode to a spectacular 6.911 secs at 193.21 mph while defeating Karen Stoffer. Chip followed up that victory with wins over Matt Smith and Craig Treble to advance to the final round.

PSB qualifying produced two new members of the prestigious Mickey Thompson 6-Second Club for the class with Antron Brown (6.981 secs) and Tom Bradford (6.981) both earning entry into the elite group.

Top Alcohol racing at Sonoma featured ferocious competition with wins going to Clint Thompson in TAFC and Morgan Lucas in TAD.

Thompson’s win in TAFC was the 2nd of his career and came after a dramatic final round come-from-behind win over Canada’s Roger Bateman. Bateman had a better starting line RT in the final (.049 to .074) but had Thompson nip him right in the lights at 5.628 secs 255.00 mph to 5.682 secs 249.39 mph.

California’s Jay Payne was the performance star in the TAFC class setting both low ET 5.577 secs and top speed 262.39 mph driving his Valvoline-sponsored Chevy Camaro. Payne’s 262.39 mph was a new NHRA national record and the fastest speed ever recorded in the TAFC category.

Morgan Lucas, who also ran in Top Fuel at the event, earned victory in TAD when he used a holeshot to beat Duane Shields in the all injected-nitro final round pairing. Lucas won a close 5.400 to 5.396 secs decision in that match after beating Brandon Johnson, Mark Niver and Sean O’Bannon in earlier competition.

The best performance marks in TAD also went to injected nitro machines with Garrett Bateman setting low ET at 5.243 secs and Mark Niver earning top speed at 273.11 mph.

Following the conclusion of the Fram-Autolite Nationals, parent company Honeywell Consumer Products Group announced it would be extending its title sponsorship of the event at Infineon Raceway. In the multi-year agreement extension, FRAM automotive filters and Autolite spark plugs will sponsor the event, annually the third and final stop of the grueling three-race NHRA Western Swing, and NHRA’s only tour stop in scenic Northern California.