NHRA’s 2007 POWERade season came to a dramatic conclusion at the fabled Fairgrounds at Pomona. The season ending event included the crowning of all Professional class World Championships in rather electrifying style.

As he did at this event last season, Chicago’s Tony Schumacher entered the Top Fuel final round with not only the event title, but also the POWERade World Championship title, on the line. The driver of the talent ridden U.S. Army sponsored team car responded once again and when the win-light came on in his lane versus Bob Vandergriff Jr., a 3rd consecutive NHRA championship title was secured. Schumacher in fact did save his best effort of the weekend for the final round; his 4.486 secs at 328.30 mph run was low ET of the entire event. In the end Schumacher edged out Rod Fuller in the final POWERade points tally by 19 points.

Fuller, who had entered the Pomona Finals event as the POWERade points leader suffered a stinging first round loss when his Caterpillar-sponsored dragster went into instant tire-smoke while racing against Bob Vandergriff. That opened the door of opportunity for Schumacher.

Schumacher’s march to the event and World titles also included round wins over Alan Bradshaw, Morgan Lucas and Brandon Bernstein. Tony’s win over Bernstein in the semis was also a super consequential confrontation. If Brandon had won that match-up he would have been the ‘07 POWERade champ. But Schumacher prevailed, winning 4.520 secs to Bernstein’s 4.637 secs.

Top speed in Top Fuel was recorded by J.R. Todd who drove Dexter Tuttle’s dragster for the final time before heading to the TF camp of Forrest Lucas next season. Todd hit a career best 334.24 mph while enroute to a semi-final round event finish.

Funny Car racing saw Robert Hight win for the 3rd time this season and by doing that sew up 2nd place in the final POWERade FC points standings. Hight beat his new teammate Phil Burkhart Jr., in the final round when he too ran low ET of the meet at 4.731 secs and 326.71 mph in the AAA Auto Club Ford Mustang. Burkhart Jr., was driving the Castrol GTX Ford Mustang usually driven by John Force who remained on the sidelines still recovering from injuries from his recent crash.

The all JFR Funny Car final round at Pomona did provide the team and drag racing fans worldwide with some closure and justice following all the team’s problems this past season.

Hight’s win at Pomona did however fall just short of securing the overall POWERade FC championship which was won by Tony Pedregon. As was the case in Top Fuel with Fuller, Pedregon (the points leader coming into the race) lost out in round one (to Canada’s Jeff Arend) and was on the sidelines awaiting the outcome. His championship was secured after the semi-final round however when it became mathematically impossible for Hight to reset the NHRA national ET record which he would have had to do in order to pass Pedregon in POWERade points.

Hight had beaten Gary Scelzi, Jerry Toliver and Mike Ashley in earlier action.

FC racing at Pomona was a very swift and tight affair featuring a bump spot of 4.842 secs. Jeff Arend earned his 2nd career pole at the event riding the C.S.K. “Blue” team car to a swift 4.781 secs during Thursday’s 1st qualifying session.

Pro Stock (car and motorcycle) eliminators also included high drama with the event winners also claiming NHRA POWERade World Championship titles.

Jeg Coughlin, driver of the Jegs Mail Order Chevy Cavalier owned by Victor Cagnazzi, enjoyed a fantastic weekend to claim his 3rd career NHRA POWERade world title. Coughlin defeated the Pontiac GTO of first time finalist Justin Humphreys in the final round when he ran low ET of the meet at 6.638 secs at 207.98 mph to take the win.

Coughlin, who entered the Pomona event trailing Greg Anderson in points, got the break he was looking for when Humphreys knocked Anderson out of competition in round one on a very timely holeshot. Humphreys combined a superior .034 RT with a run of 6.669 secs 207.18 mph which beat Anderson’s 6.658 secs 208.42 mph. Coughlin then took full advantage of that beating Larry Morgan, Richie Stevens and Mike Edwards to make the final round. His win over Richie Stevens in round two (6.646 secs to 6.672 secs) assured him the NHRA ’07 POWERade Pro Stock title.

NHRA’s battle for the Pro Stock Motorcycle title produced another dramatic final round featuring Buell riders Matt Smith and Chip Ellis. In a nutshell whoever won that race also won the NHRA Championship.

North Carolina’s Matt Smith (who is son to Pro Stock racer Rickie Smith) moved first in the final round (.033 to .101) and held on to win it all at 6.944 secs 191.08 mph to 6.947 secs 192.17 mph. The win was Smith’s 4th of the season in 9 final rounds and the NHRA POWERade title is his first.

Smith benefited from an unexpected 2nd round loss by defending and 3X POWERade World Champion Andrew Hines who had a blatant -.341 red-light racing soon to be Top Fuel driver Antron Brown. Hines had been the points leader heading into the AAA Finals event and had qualified #1 at 6.956 secs.

On Sunday, during pre-final round activities the capacity crowd remembered NHRA founder and drag racing icon Wally Parks who passed away recently during a moving tribute that included a fantastic cackle fest. Not only was an impressive series of nostalgia cars started together, they were joined by numerous NHRA class cars; both Pro and Sportsman.

The Top Alcohol titles at Pomona featured a couple of marquee winners with now 2X and defending World Champion Bill Reichert and California’s own Jay Payne emerging victorious.

Reichert sped to low ET of the meet in the TAD final at 5.192 secs to defeat Nevada’s Duane Shields who smoked his tires at the hit. Shields had set top speed for the TAD class at 277.43 mph in earlier action.

Jay Payne won his 33rd NHRA national event title when he beat Von Smith in the TAFC final round. Payne’s Valvoline-sponsored ’07 Mustang sped to a 5.607 secs at 267.24 mph while Smith had a red-light foul start.

Smith was credited with Low ET in TAFC during qualifying at 5.570 secs. Winner Payne went 259.06 mph for top speed in the class.

The season ending event at Pomona also included the Summit Racing ET Championship Finals. Those overall world titles were claimed by David Scigliuto (Super Pro), Dennis Clark (Pro), Greg Dreher (Sportsman) and Micheal Nash (Bike/Sled).

NHRA Sportsman class racing action was highlighted by a milestone 50th career event win by New York’s Dan Fletcher. Fletcher rolled his Valvoline-sponsored Chevy Camaro past Michael Iacono in the Super Stock final round.