The 2007 edition of the Toyo Tires Nationals is a true “tester” for everyone involved. After the completion of all qualifying some relentless rain delays move into the Maple Grove Raceway. The trouble first begins on Sunday disrupting things after 3 pairs in Funny Car eliminator. NHRA tries hard to conclude things on Monday and again on Tuesday but Mother Nature is uncooperative. In fact the event does not wrap up until early afternoon on Wednesday.

The event is however filled with high drama as the first portion of NHRA’s new 3-tier season is completed. The regular season ending event includes some serious scrambling for the final playoff positions.

North Carolina’s Doug Herbert earned by far the most dramatic win of his career. Coming into the event his had to outright win at the Reading race in order to secure the 8th and final slot in the Countdown to the Championship Top Fuel points chase. Herbert, who qualified 11th, did exactly that in a most timely matter. In the final round he recorded his quickest run of the event at a sensational 4.526 secs at 323.43 mph driving his Snap-On Tools dragster to upset overall POWERade points leader Rod Fuller. Fuller’s dragster, which had earned the pole at 4.521 secs, slipped to a losing 4.709 secs at 324.98 mph.

Herbert had in earlier competition eliminated Doug Kalitta, Cory McClenthan and Doug Foley running 3 more consistent mid 4.5 secs elapsed times.

Top Fuel racing featured a surprise entry when Rit Pustari (from Connecticut) was pegged as a last minute fill in driver for Brandon Bernstein in the Budweiser/Lucas Oil dragster. Bernstein was forced to the sidelines because of kidney stones. Pustari qualified 13th before fouling out to David Grubnic in round one.

Top Fuel racing on Sunday (before the rain struck) provided a remarkable occurrence. During that fantastic round of competition 15 of the 16 runs in the round were all in the 4.5 secs zone. Only Larry Dixon’s losing 4.702 secs was not a 4.5 secs run.

Tony Pedregon earned his 2nd win of the 2007 racing season driving his Q-Horse Power Chevy Impala to victory. Pedregon benefited from a surprising red-light foul start by John Force in the Wednesday afternoon class finale. Force wasted a far superior 4.792 secs at 320.13 mph on a -.038 foul start.

Pedregon beat Jim Head, Ron Capps and Del Worsham in earlier rounds of racing.

Del Worsham, who qualified on the pole (4.800 secs) had his dreams of making the Countdown to the Championship ended in the semifinals when he was beaten by Pedregon, 4.789 at 318.99 mph to 5.772 at 200.38 mph. The end result was that Jim Head barely held onto the 8th and final playoff spot in Funny Car.

Low ET of the meet was set by John Force in round two when he sped to a 4.782 secs driving the Castrol Ford Mustang. His final round appearance was in fact his 200th career NHRA final.

FC class racing included a return to competition for Phil Burkhart who ran a Chevy Monte Carlo in conjunction with Paul Smith. Burkhart qualified very solidly (7th – 4.854 secs) and beat Ashley Force in round one before losing out in round two to John Force’s low ET mark.

David Connolly scored his 4th victory of the season driving the Tommy Utt-tuned Torco Race Fuels Colbalt. Connolly scored in an exciting all Chevrolet final round topping the ACDelco Colbalt driven by Kurt Johnson.

After eliminating V. Gaines from Countdown consideration in the semifinals, Connolly powered to his 13th career victory by defeating Johnson in the Pro Stock final. Connolly was sharp at the starting line, leaving with a .005 to .050 second advantage, before racing away from a tire-shaking Johnson to win with a 6.643 at 207.43 mph in his Chevrolet Cobalt to Johnson’s 6.857 at 206.80 mph in his Chevrolet Cobalt.

Connolly’s win moved him around teammate Jeg Coughlin into second in the final regular season standings. He’ll join Greg Anderson, Coughlin, Allen Johnson, Jason Line, Kurt Johnson, Warren Johnson, and Larry Morgan in the chase for the championship which begins at Indianapolis.

Pro Stock racing was paced by Greg Anderson who cracked both ends of the track record with a remarkable 6.583 secs at 209.88 mph run in the Summit Racing GTO. Anderson was however gunned down by “KJ” in the semis – losing a 6.611 to 6.639 secs decision.

Pro Stock Motorcycle competition featured a first time winner when California’s Matt Guidera scored riding his Mohegan Sun-sponsored Buell.

In the final round Guidera and opponent Angelle Sampey were side-by-side for most of the way down the track before Sampey’s U.S. Army Suzuki drifted towards the centerline and she ultimately clipped the 1,000-foot cone, an automatic disqualification. Guidera’s first NHRA win came with a time of 6.971 secs at 188.02 mph.

Sampey had entered the championship round as a favorite. She qualified on the pole at 6.901 secs and had set low ET of the meet at 6.897 secs while winning in the semi-final round.

Beginning at Indy, Matt Smith, Andrew Hines, Angelle Sampey, Karen Stoffer, Chip Ellis, Eddie Krawiec, Peggy Llewellyn, Craig Treble are the eight riders who will continue the fight for the 2007 title.

Top Alcohol Funny Car racing featured yet another milestone victory for Frank Manzo. The New Jersey driver of the Lucas Oil Chevy Monte Carlo beat Bob Tasca III for the title when he ran a 5.517 secs at 261.52 mph. That was Manzo’s 70th career national event title which ties him with Pat Austin for the most Sportsman wins ever. Remarkably the victory was also Manzo’s 8th straight title at Maple Grove Raceway and his 10th overall at the facility.

The TAD final was an all injected nitro affair with Aaron Olivarez defeating John Finke. Olivarez got a big break in the final when Finke left before the tree was activated. Ironically his car lost traction immediately but still recorded the victory.

Finke had recorded low ET of the meet for the TAD class when he hit a superb 5.203 secs while winning in the semi final round. Shawn Langdon (also in an injected nitro car) set top speed at 273.55 mph.