Indiana’s Tommy Johnson Jr., earned his second NHRA FC title of the season when he drove Don Prudhomme’s Skoal-sponsored Chevy Monte Carlo to victory. “TJ” saved his best effort of the weekend for the championship final as he recorded low ET of the event at 4.741 secs at 321.73 mph to turn back defending NHRA POWERade FC World Champion Gary Scelzi.

Johnson JR., who is husband to NHRA Top Fuel racer Melanie Troxel, was consistently quick at the Brainerd event while winning for the 8th time in his career. After beating opponent Gary Densham in round one his team got progressively faster while topping opponents Eric Medlen and Del Worsham.

John Force was the pole qualifier in FC driving his Castrol GTX Ford Mustang with a 4.773 secs effort. That was Force’s fifth No. 1 qualifier this season and the 130th career of his career. Force lost out in the second round of competition, but with that finish did manage to narrow the points deficit by 22 behind overall leader Ron Capps who lost out in round one to Bob Gilbertson.

FC class racing did include an inspiring performance from Ohio’s Jim Head who after sitting out the NHRA last few events returned with a slick new look for his Dodge Stratus. Head qualified 10th and then rudely upset Robert Hight and Tim Wilkerson in rounds one and two. Head gave opponent Gary Scelzi all he could handle in the semi final round but lost a 4.787 secs 323.81 mph to 4.839 secs 311.49 mph tussle.

California-based 2nd generation driver Brandon Bernstein earned his 11th career Top Fuel title when he managed to upset the surging Tony Schumacher in the final round. Like Johnson Jr., was in FC, Bernstein’s Budweiser-sponsored dragster was also consistently quick while earning round wins over Scott Weis, David Grubnic and Morgan Lucas. In the final round his crew chief Tim Richards focus on consistency paid off. He delivered a 4.510 secs at 329.34 mph to beat out Schumacher’s U.S. Army dragster which rather unexpectedly smoked its tires.

The final was Schumacher’s fifth in the last five NHRA events and moved him into a 2nd place tie in POWERade TF points with his teammate Melanie Troxel. Schumacher qualified on the pole for the 8th time this season with a 4.499 secs run however he ran an even quicker 4.476 secs in round one for low ET of the meet.

Bernstein’s 3rd win of the season also included top speed of the meet at 332.10 mph and it moved him to within 116 points of leader Doug Kalitta in the POWERade Series point standings. Kalitta fell in a rather titanic round two match-up head-to-head with Schumacher – smoking the tires compared to Schumacher’s winning 4.565 secs at 322.27 mph.

In Pro Stock Ohio’s Dave Connolly became this year’s first 4X winner when he wheeled the Skull Gear Chevy Colbalt to victory. The reputed driver once gain used a final round holeshot to win the event as he combined a .013 RT with a time of 6.743 secs at 204.17 mph to turn back the event bid of POWERade points leader Jason Line. That victory moved him to within 108 points and striking distance of Line.

Connolly’s event march included round wins over Tom Martino, Greg Stanfield and pole qualifier Greg Anderson (who went .006 red) racing him.

Class racing included the welcomed return to action for Pennsylvania’s Kenny Koretsky who made his first circuit appearance as a driver since that spectacular collision with Bruce Allen at Dallas last autumn. Driving his “Nitro Fish” Dodge Stratus, Koretsky qualified #15 before losing out to Jason Line in round one.

Jason Line’s event R/UP finish driving the Summit Racing Equipment GTO did include both low ET and top speed of the event at 6.725 secs and 205.22 mph.

Antron Brown earned his second victory of the season and regained the overall POWERade series points lead when he won in Pro Stock Motorcycle aboard the U.S. Army-based Suzuki. Brown beat out the Snap-On Tools/Wyotech Suzuki driven by Alabama’s Steve Johnson in the final round, winning a 7.108 secs 186.85 mph to 7.159 secs 187.60 decision.

The win allowed Brown to edge ahead of Andrew Hines by 15 points for the overall lead. Hines suffered a surprising first round loss. After qualifying his Harley Davidson V-Rod #2 he went .006 red while racing against Marco Andreano.

Pro Stock Motorcycle racing in round one did include some controversy when Angelle Sampey was disqualified. Just moments after her apparent first round victory over Ryan Schnitz her U.S. Army-sponsored motorcycle was determined to be 5 lbs too light then the minimum 615 lbs allowed.

Brown’s PSB class win included one of the most memorable match-ups of the season when he beat Chip Ellis in round two. Ellis had a perfect .000 RT and Antron had an equally spectacular .002 RT (!!) Brown won it 7.104 secs 186.05 mph to 7.111 secs 184.85 mph. Ellis had entered Sunday’s eliminations as the low qualifier at 7.086 secs.

The Top Alcohol Dragster final round at Brainerd featured a battle between what is arguably the two top rated injected-nitro cars on the circuit, Bill Reichert and Art Gallant. Reichart, driving his Michigan-based Bars Leaks machine jumped to an early lead and then rattled off both low ET and top speed of the meet at 5.244 secs at 275.00 mph to dwarf Gallant’s 5.331 secs at 272.23 mph and take the title.

The TAFC crown went to Frank Manzo who drove his Lucas Oil-sponsored Chevy Monte Carlo to NHRA career national event win #64. Manzo dominated the event qualifying #1 (5.637 secs) and set low ET and top speed at 5.603 secs 259.71 mph. The New Jersey-based racer carded a final round 5.625 secs to easily handle Iowa’s Cy Chesterman who’s car failed him at half track.

The Brainerd event included a number of strong performances by Canadian teams. Regina Saskatchewan’s Abe Loewen, driving his Grand-Am just missed in the Super Stock final narrowly losing out the Dan Fletcher in a terrific drag race which saw a true win margin of only .0007 of a second (!!)

Racing in TAFC, Calgary’s Roger Bateman came close to making his second consecutive NHRA national event final round driving the Manitoba-based car owned by Brian Friesen. Bateman qualified #4 at 5.704 secs and won two rounds before fouling out to eventual winner Manzo in the semis: 5.603 secs 259.16 to 5.703 252.24 mph.

The Lucas Oils Nationals included a demonstration Snowmobile eliminator which was won by Michigan’s Edwin Wirbel. Wirbel, on a SkiDoo, ran 8.641 secs at 140.20 mph in the final round to beat Bryan Bellman’s 9.079 secs at 140.25 mph.

Wirbel was credited with top speed of the meet at 150.50 mph while Bellman (from Indiana) set low ET during qualifying at 8.608 secs.