Tim Wilkerson moved into the overall NHRA POWERade points lead for Funny Car following a very convincing victory at St. Louis area Gateway International Raceway. Wilkerson, who lives nearby (Springfield, IL) denied JFR team member Mike Neff his first career victory when he topped that rookie driver in a close final round: 4.874 secs 317.27 mph to 4.886 secs 321.58 mph.

Wilkerson’s win was his second of the season driving the surging Levi-Ray-Shoup Chevy Impala, complimenting his big win at Las Vegas on April 13th. He won the event from the pole position after he recorded a superb 4.744 secs during qualifying, an effort which stood up for low ET of the meet. He is the first FC driver this season to win from the pole. Prior to the final he had handled fellow Chevrolet racers Tony Bartone, Del Worsham and Cruz Pedregon.

FC class racing included a very significant moment in history when drag racing’s most prolific driver, John Force, reached the 1000 round win mark. He is the first driver ever to do that. Force accomplished that when he beat Ron Capps during the first round. Force’s first ever career round win had come back in June of 1979 over Tom McEwen at Baton Rouge Louisiana.

Rod Fuller beat overall NHRA POWERade points leader Tony Schumacher to the stripe during a highly anticipated Top Fuel final round. Fuller’s win, driving the Rob Flynn-tuned Caterpillar-sponsored dragster, was his first of the season. Fuller overcame a slight starting line disadvantage to win at 4.525 secs 328.70 mph compared to Schumacher’s U.S. Army car which went 4.583 secs at 325.45 mph.

TF racing was paced by Australian David Grubnic who recorded the quickest run of the season so far driving for car owner Connie Kalitta. Grubnic ran a track record 4.467 secs to take the pole, but lost out to Fuller in the 2nd round.

Antron Brown, who is teammate to Fuller, sped to top speed of the meet at 331.94 mph driving the Matco Tools dragster.

The event’s Pro Stock title went to ACDelco Chevrolet driver Kurt Johnson who scored his first circuit victory since Phoenix 2007. Johnson ran a final round 6.631 secs at 209.30 mph to topple David Connolly who had a strong event finish despite it being only his 2nd start of the season. Connolly had a clutch issue which resulted in a tardy .144 RT and the loss.

Johnson’s trek to the PS victory lane also included round wins over Todd Hoerner, Jeg Coughlin and V. Gaines. His second round win over Coughlin caused a big crowd buzz because it was decided by only .0001 of a second – technically a dead heat – and the closest race of the ’08 season.

Jason Line, the overall NHRA POWERade points leader in PS ran a track record 6.571 secs to earn the pole. Jason’s run driving the Summit Racing Pontiac GXP was the quickest run of the season so far in NHRA Pro Stock racing.

Andrew Hines, who had won at NHRA Atlanta the weekend before, duplicated that winning effort in Pro Stock Motorcycle. Hines drove the Vance & Hines Screamin’ Eagle to a final round 6.882 secs at 194.13 mph (top speed) to prevail over the Buell of defending POWERade World Champion Matt Smith.

During eliminations Hines recorded a spectacular 6.875 secs to also gather low ET of the event. That run is the second quickest in PSM class history behind only Angelle Sampey’s 6.871 secs set at E-Town last season.

The highly popular Jegs Pro Mod Challenge presented it’s 4th event of the season at St. Louis. Texan class stalwart Josh Hernandez defeated Canadian Tony Pontieri in the Can-Am final round. Hernandez’s “Dr. Moons Rage” Chevy Camaro rolled to a superb 5.934 secs at 242.36 mph to win while Pontieri, who made a motor swap before the final round, slowed to a 6.318 secs at 193.88 mph driving his fan favorite ’57 Chevy.

Hernandez’s victory (his 9th NHRA title but first since Bristol 07) also included round wins over Brad Personnett, Jay Payne and Danny Rowe.

Rowe’s semi-final round finish did represent a solid comeback for his team. Danny was involved in a rather serious crash during Friday’s qualifying which resulted in him using a back up car borrowed from Mike Ashley for the rest of the event. Rowe in fact set top speed of the meet for the Pro Mod class at 242.54 mph.

Jay Payne set low ET for PM running his Valvoline-sponsored ’68 Camaro to a 5.920 secs.