NHRA’s O’Reilly Fall Nationals includes a truly frightening incident involving legendary 14X NHRA POWERade Funny Car World Champ John Force. Force is injured in a spectacular wreck on Sunday, suffering a broken left ankle a laceration to his right knee, a dislocated wrist and some broken fingers.

While racing Kenny Bernstein’s Monster Energy Drink Dodge in round two, Force’s Eric Medlen-tribute Castrol Syntec Ford Mustang appeared to blow a rear slick which incredibly cut the chassis of his car in half right at his feet. The remaining front half of his car then crossed lanes and collided with Bernstein while Force himself tumbled in the left lane in the remaining rear portion of his car. Force was airlifted to Baylor University Hospital before undergoing 6 hours of reconstructive surgery Sunday evening. All observers agree that the incident could have been far far worse. While John is expected to make a full recovery, present speculation is that it is unlikely he will see further action this season. Kenny Bernstein, who was disqualified on the run after clipping the cones was not injured in the incident and did a masterful job collecting his car after the impact.

Naturally, the Force incident did make the rest of the O’Reilly Fall Nationals event feel somewhat superfluous.

The FC title ultimately went to Tony Pedregon who beat his brother Cruz Pedregon in an all Chevy Impala final round. The victory was an important and timely one for Tony as it vaulted him and his Q-Racing team into 1st place in ’07 Countdown to the Championship points.

FC class racing was paced by Tim Wilkerson who ran an impressive 4.787 secs in the L.R.S. Chevy for the pole however Ashley Force wrested away the low ET mark by .001 when she recorded a 4.786 secs while winning her first round match. Ashley however withdrew from competition following her father’s semi-final round incident.

A FC class oddity included the DNQ by championship contender Robert Hight.

David Connolly remained “white hot” in Pro Stock by recording his 4th consecutive circuit victory (and 7th of the season) driving the Torco Race Fuels Chevy Colbalt to extend his overall POWERade points lead and also secure a seed in the Countdown to One. Connolly won the title on an easy run when his scheduled opponent Greg Anderson was shutdown on the starting line with an oil leak.

Anderson had recorded both low ET and top speed during Pro Stock class qualifying when he sped to a superb 6.668 secs at 207.05 mph in the Summit Racing Pontiac GTO.

Pro Stock Motorcycle produced a first time winner with home state driver Peggy Llewellyn emerging victorious riding the Rush Racing Products Buell.

Peggy scored a super exciting holeshot upset win in the final round when she combined a .010 RT with a 7.020 secs to topple Andrew Hines who ran a quicker 7.007 secs.

PSM featured a low ET of the meet run of 6.979 secs by Chip Ellis.

Top Fuel racing saw Larry Dixon move to the top in POWERade points when he recorded his 3rd win of the ’07 season driving for car owner Don Prudhomme and sponsor SkyTel. Dixon ran a final round 4.629 secs at 310.91 mph to defeat Bob Vandergriff Jr who had yet another strong event showing in his UPS-sponsored dragster.

Dixon’s 41st career victory included earlier round wins over David Grubnic, Rod Fuller and Clay Millican.

J.R. Todd earned the 2nd pole of his career when he ran a 4.541 secs before being eliminated in round one by Clay Millican.

Texas-based driver Josh Hernandez shinned in the AMS Pro Mod class feature at Dallas winning his 6th event of the 2007 season. Hernandez drove the Dr. Moon’s Rage ’68 Camaro to a final round 6.050 secs at 240.23 mph to defeat recent Mac Tools U.S. Nationals winner Harold Laird. Laird recorded a losing 6.140 secs at 234.39 in the final round.

For Hernandez the event win also clinched the 2007 AMS Pro Mod points championship title. He received the BAE Championship Cup during the event.

Jay Payne set low ET of the meet in PM at 6.011 secs during qualifying. John Russo was credited with top speed in the class at 241.80 mph.