NHRA’s 2008 POWERade drag racing season kicks off in high gear and under mid-winter Chamber of Commerce perfect weather at fabled Auto Club Raceway Pomona. The event featured marquee Professional class winners with Tony Schumacher (TF), Robert Hight (FC) and Greg Anderson (PS) all emerging victorious.

Tony Schumacher’s U.S. Army dragster was once again dominating with crew chief Alan Johnson tuning things to perfection. In the final round Schumacher (who had also won the AAA Auto Club Finals here last November) outgunned the resurgent Fram-sponsored dragster driven by Cory McClenathan. Schumacher ran a winning 4.499 secs at 331.28 mph compared to McClenathan’s close 4.536 secs at 329.26 mph. The runner-up for McClenathan came during his debut within his team’s new association with DSR Racing.

Tony Schumacher, who had qualified 3rd, had used steady low 4.5’s while beating Doug Kalitta, Doug Herbert and Larry Dixon in earlier competition.

The event featured a low ET effort from Rod Fuller and his Canadian tuner Rob Flynn, as they ran 4.494 secs while winning in round one. Fuller’s new teammate, Antron Brown, also had a remarkable performance in his debut event in the TF class. The former Pro Stock Bike rider qualified #1 with a 4.495 secs effort driving the David Powers owned and Matco Tools-sponsored dragster. Brown also won his first ever round in TF competition, defeating Switzerland’s Urs Erbacher.

Top speed of the meet was set by lady driver Hillary Will who sped to a career fast 334.64 mph during Saturday’s final qualifying session.

Robert Hight, who like Schumacher also won the 2007 season closer at Pomona, scored in Funny Car driving one of four great looking new 2008 Ford Mustangs which debuted from John Force Racing at the event. Hight edged out Cruz Pedregon in a great final round dash, as his AAA Auto Club Mustang beat Pedregon’s Advance Auto Parts Chevy; 4.861 secs 284.39 mph to 4.879 secs 322.50 mph.

Hight, who had qualified 9th, beat Ron Capps, Gary Densham and John Force in earlier action.

John Force’s strong semi-final round finish marked his official return and first action in NHRA FC class racing since his serious crash at Dallas last October. Force qualified 5th (4.823 secs) and beat defending POWERade Champion Tony Pedregon in round one.

Force’s win over Pedregon was a very exciting affair to say the least, as Pedregon’s Q-Racing Chevy Impala suffered a major engine explosion right in the lights alongside. With only the nose of the body remaining on the chassis, he skid along the left side guardwall at very high speed and on fire. Thankfully NHRA’s high safety standards preformed well and Pedregon eventually got the machine stopped suffering only minor burns.

Unlike Top Fuel eliminator which surprisingly only drew 17 entries for the Pomona event (a record low), FC class racing was a well attended affair with 23 different drivers making qualifying attempts.

Class new comers Melanie Troxel and Bob Tasca III both had impressive class debuts. Melanie, who last year raced in Top Fuel, qualified her new Pro-Care RX Dodge Charger #3 and set top speed of the meet at 327.90 mph. Tasca’s slick new Ford Mustang however beat her in round one before he lost out to Ashley Force in the 2nd round.

Greg Anderson, who won NHRA POWERade titles in 2003-05, got his ’08 season off to a positive and rapid start by winning in Pro Stock driving his all new Pontiac GXP. Anderson was dominating throughout the event but still saved his best performance of the weekend for the final round when he unloaded low ET of the race at 6.616 secs at 209.23 mph to turn back defending POWERade Champion Jeg Coughlin who ran 6.638 secs at 208.42 mph. The two drivers had left the starting line with almost identical reaction times (.027 to .025).

Pro Stock racing also featured strong semi-final round performances from ACDelco Chevy Racer Kurt Johnson and Mopar-sponsored driver Allen Johnson.

Pro Stock’s final qualified 16-car field also included a few surprises with the names Johnny Gray, Matt Hartford and Bill Glidden all making the cut. Gray, a former NHRA Fuel FC driver ran well in his first Pro Stock race, driving a new Dodge Stratus. Hartford and Glidden are former Sports Compact and Fast Street car circuit drivers.

Top Alcohol Dragster racing featured the perfect NHRA desired A/FD vs B/AD final round confrontation. Duane Shields, who is from Nevada, rode his injected-nitro car to an event winning 5.377 secs at 270.00 mph while Severance’s supercharged machine developed problems.

Morgan Lucas, who had a strong semi-final round placing in Top Fuel was also the quickest and fastest TAD at Pomona. Lucas ran a 5.280 secs at 271.08 mph to pace the field driving his team’s 2nd injected nitro car.

Defending NHRA Lucas Oil World Champion Frank Manzo covered the TAFC field once again driving his Lucas Oil-sponsored Chevy Monte Carlo. Manzo ran a final round 5.558 secs at 260.26 mph to beat Oregon’s Brian Hough who ran 5.779 secs at 250.27 mph.

Manzo ran the table in TAFC by qualifying #1 and also setting low ET and top speed at 5.509 secs 262.69 mph.

Sportsman racing was highlighted a big victory in Competition eliminator from Arizona’s Jim Cowan who drive his all new Chevy Colbalt to victory. Cowan’s machine had earlier gathered the event’s very prestigious Hedman Headers Best Engineered Award.

Fans attending the Carquest Winternationals were also treated to a number of exhibition runs by Nostalgia Top Fuel and Nostalgia Funny Cars in a preview to the much-anticipated 50th Anniversary “March Meet” at Bakersfield. Canadian drag racing legend Terry Capp was just one of the featured cars. As a side note – DragRaceCanada will be in attendance for that event (March 7-9th) so watch out for our coverage – coming soon.