The new NHRA era for former IHRA track Norwalk Raceway Park (now known as Summit Motorsports Park) began under ideal chamber of commerce weather. NHRA’s first ever stop at the Bader Family owned facility featured spectacular racing, spectacular amenities and jam-packed grandstands.

New York’s Mike Ashley rebounded from two consecutive event DNQs with a major league victory in Funny Car eliminator. Driving the Evan Knoll-edition Skull Gear/Torco Race Fuels Dodge Charger, Ashley won for the second time in his career (and this season) in a very impressive and consistent fashion. Ashley won a marquee all Mopar final round when his quickest run during eliminations (a 4.823 secs at 321.88 mph) defeated the tire-smoking Monster Energy Drink Dodge Charger driven by Kenny Bernstein. The runner-up finish for Bernstein was his best showing so far since his return to the category this season.

Ashley qualified 8th (4.778 secs) and then his crew chief Brian Corradi served up three consecutive mid 4.8 secs runs during Sunday’s first three rounds to beat Jim Head, Robert Hight and Cruz Pedregon. Ashley was also credited with top speed overall of the event – a 329.58 mph run which flashed up during qualifying.

FC eliminator was paced by two JFR team cars with Robert Hight earning the pole (4.713 secs/low ET) and John Force’s daughter Ashley qualifying a career high second at 4.734 secs (career best). All three JFR team cars (including Force himself) were on the sidelines however after round two.

FC qualifying on Saturday included a spectacular incident when Del Worsham’s C.S.K. Chevy Impala shredded itself in the lights after an apparent blower explosion. Del got the chassis stopped safely however very little of the expensive carbon fiber body remained on the car.

Tony Schumacher scored in Top Fuel driving the U.S. Army sponsored dragster to its 2nd win of the 2007 season. Schumacher stopped overall POWERade points leader Rod Fuller in the championship final round as his 4.537 secs at 322.04 mph easily handled Fuller’s car which smoked the tires.

Schumacher’s victory came from the 14th qualified position and included rather telling round wins over Brandon Bernstein, JR Todd and Whit Bazemore.

Top Fuel qualifying did include some highlight reel footage from independent and veteran racer Luigi Novelli who is from Illinois. Novelli ran a career best 4.598 secs to qualify 9th during Friday’s first session but then blew it up nuclear style on a subsequent run. Novelli lost out in round one on a blatant foul start.

Pro Stock racing featured a popular victory for a hometown driver, David Connolly, who scored his second win of the season driving the Torco Race Fuels Chevy Colbalt. Connolly, who is from nearby Elyria, OH, ended the strong event bid by another Ohio driver, Larry Morgan in the final round.

Connolly won when his 6.660 secs at 207.11 mph ran down Morgan’s Lucas Oil-sponsored Dodge Stratus which lost at 6.718 secs 205.54 mph. Connolly had beaten Warren Johnson, Greg Stanfield and his teammate Jeg Coughlin in earlier rounds. He set low ET of the event while winning in round one at 6.628 secs.

The Summit Racing sponsored event featured a surprisingly poor performance from its flagship Pro Stocker -- the Summit Pontiac driven by Greg Anderson. In a real oddity – Anderson only made it down the race track once the entire event – but still qualified on the pole at 6.654 secs. He aborted all three of his other qualifying runs. Then in round one he was timed out on the starting line and was thus beaten by #16 qualifier Mopar racer Erica Enders.

Pro Stock racing featured two former NBA basketball players in competition with Tom Hammonds being joined for the first time in 5 years by Larry Nance. Hammonds qualified superbly at a career high 5th driving his Chevy Colbalt to a 6.664 secs run but lost out in round one on a holeshot to Greg Stanfield. Nance, also in a Chevy, managed a 6.786 secs best during time trials but that fell well short of the 6.705 secs bump.

Pro Stock Motorcycle racing featured an impressive win by defending POWERade World Champion Andrew Hines. Hines rode his feared Vance & Hines Screamin’ Eagle V-Rod past overall points leader Matt Smith in the final round – hitting a winning 6.988 secs at 190.46 mph. Hines in fact ran four straight “sixes” to win the eliminator after qualifying 3rd at 6.995 secs.

PSM runner-up Matt Smith qualified on the pole when he ran low ET of the meet at 6.965 secs on his Buell. Craig Treble, who won last week’s NHRA event at Englishtown, set top speed at 192.60 mph on his Suzuki.

Defending NHRA World Champion Bill Reichert won in TAD. Reichert’s victory was however not a typical one as he did benefit from some good fortune including a red-light foul start by opponent Kate Harker in the final round. Kate wasted a low ET of the meet 5.268 secs effort on a -.006 RT compared to Reichert’s winning 5.366 secs. Reichert did run top speed of the meet at 272.72 mph during qualifying.

The TAFC title went to third generation driver Bob Tasca III who won driving his 2007 Ford Mustang. Tasca also got a big break in the final when his opponent Von Smith also fouled out with a red-light start. For Tasca the victory was the 2nd of his career and his second in a week. (He also won at NHRA E-Town).

Competition eliminator featured a first time circuit winner with Florida’s David Eaton scoring driving his popular A/AP ’23 T. Eaton ran down the D/EA Chevy of Sal Biondo in the final round.

Comp round one produced the event’s scariest moment when defending NHRA World Champion Bo Butner had a spectacular crash driving his “formally awesome” AA/SM ’07 Colbalt. Butner got out of the groove at very high speed and crashed hard with the car bursting into flames. Thankfully and rather incredibly – he emerged uninjured.