Race day coverage of the NHRA O’Reilly Spring Nationals at Houston Raceway Park in Baytown, TX, dated April 18, 2004. A Pro Stock Bike driver wins her first career victory, and an IHRA Top Fuel champion team advance to their first NHRA final. Thanks for watching and enjoy the race!
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Race Chapters:
0:00 Intro / Top Fuel – 1st Round Highlights
4:15 Funny Car – 1st Round Highlights
11:11 Pro Stock – 1st Round Highlights
14:02 Pro Stock Bike – 1st Round Highlights
18:28 Top Fuel – 2nd Round
28:49 Funny Car – 2nd Round
38:24 Pro Stock – 2nd Round
45:34 Pro Stock Bike – 2nd Round Highlights
46:51 Top Fuel – Semi-Final
52:20 Funny Car – Semi-Final
58:41 Pro Stock – Semi-Final
1:02:14 Pro Stock Bike – Semi-Final
1:07:10 Race Recap / Finals Preview
1:10:57 Final Rounds
Qualifying he and his true Chief Wayne they got down the racetrack each and every time all four passes but Mar we’re soon going to find out later today there’s a developing story about the tires that has this team a bit concerned yeah we’re going to delve into that
After first round matchups here we go Cory mclenan takes the win in 4.57 seconds and for Daryl Russell it’s the third time in four years that he’s been eliminated in the first round at his home track unbelievable well I tell you Marty this is a good run first pair out you don’t
Know what the trash going to be like but I’ll tell you Cory mck and that team they stuck that car early in the Run had a cylinder go out just before the finish line but boy that was a great pass let’s watch Daryl Russell here this thing
Started spining the tires a little bit too much tire speed in the tire Shake right at that point up in the Smoke just had too much power too much clutch at that point and their day was done ESPN the worldwide leader in sports presents exclusive coverage of the $50
Million nhh power Ed drag racing series today the chase for the championship continues with the 17th running of the O’Reilly Spring Nationals from Houston Way Park as you can see we’ve got great crowd on hand i’m Marty Reed along with Mike dun M Steven DAV Parker Johnstone there’s Ron caps he signning autographs
Along with do do and everybody’s got to protect their ears even the dogs and the racers are ready for today’s first round action let’s show you what else happened in first round of Top Fuel clay Milligan and Mark canella and it was play going 4.59 seconds in the left Lan
314 mph to take take the win and then Larry Dixon against Brady calota Larry goes 4.60 seconds in the right lane 302 mph Doug Herbert up against Scott Palmer it’s Palmer’s sponsors race but it’s Doug Herbert taking the wind light 4.81 seconds at 296 miles hour and let’s take
Another look at this one Doug Herbert earned his paycheck watch right there he’s going to get out of the throttles a tire start to spin gets back in it gets it to recover gets it the other end did a great job to get that round win next
Up it would be Scott k against his teammate David grck and Scott would get the win this time in that right lane 4.62 to a 463 35 milph Tony Schumacher against Bruce Linton it would be Shu with plenty of room 4.58 seconds 318 mph I tell you crew chief Allen Johnson’s liking the
Cloud cover not much wrong with this run right down the middle of the track into the next round that would bring us to defending event winner Doug Keta in the right lane he takes care of business with David B of 4.56 seconds 316 mph and finally Brandon Bernstein number two in
The points as John Smith goes red it would be Brandon 4.60 seconds 313 mph take a look at the matchups and you can see that Cory Mack has the lane Choice as does Scott Keta in round number two Doug Keta over on the right side along with Tony Schumacher so as we
Get ready to look back and look ahead were you impressed with some of the numbers that we saw based on all the qualifying numbers that we had seen well I was be but the conditions were very similar to what we saw in the F in the Friday night session where it was very
Cool once the sun came out they definitely struggled first round they had the cloud cover cool track temperatures the teams definitely stepped up did a good job the key though is in the later rounds if that sun comes out they’re going to have to make a tremendous amount of changes to adjust
For that and hopefully get them round wins well can the performance continue cuz it’s time for funny car and yes that means we even get to see the 12-time champ John Forest that’s nice I actually have a few of those 1 z n look at me what I’m talking
To you pay attention have a little respect can you tell we’re in Texas absolutely at Houston Raceway Park at the O’Reilly Spring Nationals it’s time for funny car upsets of Plenty this season in funny car at pona Jerry toer barely qualified but walked away with an unexpected Victory Del worship qualified
10th and 11th but came back to take Phoenix and Gainesville respectively and in Las Vegas Phil burkard star in the number 12 spot but walked away with his first win since 99 qualifying in the top half of the field this year has been the kiss of
Death so if that holds true the guys numbered one through eight don’t stand a chance or do they we’re going to find out Arrow indicates who has the lane Choice as the top eight qualifiers and that last pair they wor him Whit BAS that’s where we’re focusing our
Attention first a rematch from round number one just two weeks ago when Whit basemore took out the points leader now Dell still has the points lead but can he afford to lose twice in a row to win boy he definitely can’t afford to do this both these both of these teams need
This win right now Parker Marty Del wor has been played by a mechanical Gremlin since Las Vegas a problem the team didn’t identify until late last night with regards to the inner workings that fuel enrichment valve they completed those repairs just moments ago well whatever repair they made partner
It worked just fine and dandy 4.88 seconds 306 mph you saw Whit basemore go up and smoke there’s a frustrated Lee beard boy I’m sure he’s definitely frustrated there the track conditions were definitely good to go basically get after on the combination it looks like he just overpowered the lane with basore
That is got into Tire smoke did a good job D trying to backpedal but Dell worson was long gone now let’s watch here you’re going to see the car Le launch a car nice and smooth goes into a little bit of Tire shape but it drove up into the smoke immediately just flat
Overpowered the racetrack and by then Dell woran was long gone it’s time for us now to focus on this week’s power a power time and I had a chance to talk with Dell Worman and Phil burkart about their surprising start to the season team Worsham has won three of the first
Four races now years of hard work and keeping the team together as a family has brought this team success and it’s no surprise to any of them I’m not surprised by the start I’m surprised I I think we’re lucky that that that it was hot out and the track
Came to us we didn’t make any changes in our team this year we got our stock set up our stock engine combination our body on it uh the trucks the tracks were very hot at the beginning of the year with Sumer like conditions we had our old
Setup people work on new setups and we were able to win a couple race comes from a lot of hard work and uh you know years of the tuneup that uh that worships have worked on so with the tricky racetracks that have been out here and that’s their for T how much did
The two teams really work together uh quite a bit we keep both computers side by side within 6 in of each other inside there so we know what’s going on with each car he might not be tun exactly the same but we do know the changes each guy
Made you can base your your your run off of that if we get down to a close points championship title fight from Indianapolis on will there be team orders I don’t think so you know when I came over here Dell told me that when we pull the line bring your best race car
Bring your best game we racing what will it take for you guys to win this Championship I think we’re just got like maintain consistency also we need to win the close races you know if it’s 100 TI there hopefully you’re you’re lucky and you’re on the the side of winning those
Those hundreds of thousand and take a look at the team combined round wins and yes team Worsham the CSK Group 17 with Team Force 15 and on down through with caps and TJ only at three so far this year now let’s show you what else happen in the rest of
Funny car in first round keep an eye on this one Jerry Tolliver and Phil burkart burkart goes up in smoke toer though doesn’t get the laundry out and in fact it gets to be yeah a bad deal into the far end and Jerry gets a little cranked
About it because can’t even get the gloves to go right but we talked to him about it Jerry toer is pacing around as you might expect after going into the sand you won the round Jerry but you don’t want to do what you just did let me tell
You something things like that shouldn’t happen those parachutes didn’t come out they should come out I whacked them right when through the deal you know these car are dangerous they’re fast stuff like that happens the worst thing about this whole deal is that’s a brand new race car because we blew our race
Car up yesterday we just put it in server that’s her first lap and she goes in the sand and the nose is all broken off I don’t know if I we had time to fix the damn thing darn thing I’m upset we could tell Jerry and let’s take
A look at what happened to Phil Burkhart yeah Phil B burkart looked good coming in this round but not on this particular run it just drove right up into Tire smoke he got the car plenty sideways as he tried to back P to get to recover at
That point point he knew his run was over what was interesting was he went in the left lane Del Worsham went in the right lane wor won he didn’t more on that maybe as we press on but look at this Tim Wilkerson goes in the left lane
And goes low for the round 4.82 seconds 310 mph so who knows then it’s Jim head and Gary Den Jim had had this race one until he went bowling for dollars and took out the blocks and he gets disqualified take another look yeah whenever you cross that Center Line it’s
An automatic disqualification luckily for Gary denum that was the case because he was definitely speed next up seven time winner here in Houston John Force in the left lane Tommy Johnson Jr can’t buy a break he gets a good run but force does him one better 4.84 seconds 308 mph to take the
Wind light then it’s Gary seli against the newcomer Jeff forz and seli takes the win in 503 but we had a chance to talk to Jeff about his new start just catching up with old friend Jeff Rand who I haven’t seen since 1996 and hey
2004 is going to be a good year for you yeah it’s going to be a great year it’s kind of came together as a last minute deal and I got to you know thank Urban kavant who’s got Kant mining cmkx diamonds Paul Smith for putting it all
Together I think we got a record for getting the race team together the fastest in two weeks so we’re just you know we’re learning a little bit we had two full runs on the car going into here so hard to beat the guy with 200 runs in a few
Cars and as we go back to the first round action keep an eye on Eric medin in the left lane because he gets a whole shot win over Cruz pedregon 4.92 seconds to the quicker but losing 4.90 take a look at the margin of victory and you could see how close it
Really was second closest this year in the professional category then it’s Tony pedregon and Ron caps and T pedon goes 489 296 mph and takes the wind light to move on to round number two take a look at the funny car ladder presented by Lucas oy Tony pedon will have Lane
Choice over his former teammate Gary denum John Force over Jerry toer if toer can get a body back put together then it’s Tim Wilkerson over Eric midlin and Dell Worsham with the lane Choice over Gary seli when we come back it’ll be time for Pro Stock and Pro Stock bike as
Uh we’ got cow power in Texas as well as plenty of horsepower stay with us time now for proo for Warren Johnson this weekend’s visit to Houston may be just what he needs to close the gap on point leader Greg Anderson WJ s just one point out of
Fourth in the Pro Stock standings and now he comes to the track where he’s tallying five career victories he’ll look to score a sixth win in Houston and jump start his 2004 season and as we take a look at our Pro Stock ladder presented by Lucas Oil
We’ll point out the the top eight qualifiers are getting the lane Choice as always and there is Warren Johnson he qualified number three can he get healthy today well let’s find out as we take a look at first round Pro Stock highlights and WJ in the far Lane up
Against Allan Johnson and it would be WJ first off the line and first to the strike they both run identical 6.7 6C last at 204 mph but it was the starting line Advantage for Warren then it’s Larry Morgan and Jim Yates and it is Morgan 6.78 seconds 203 mph in the right
Lan taking the windl then watch Dave connley against Daryl Alman Conley for the fourth time this year wins in a hole shot an 013 life 6.81 seconds to a 678 then next up it is Mike Edwards and Ricky Smith Edwards over in the right Lane he goes
6792 Ricky goes 6.7 93 Edwards takes the win then it’s Kirk Johnson number five qualifier up against Braun griser and they finally got going it was Kurt first off the line and first at the other end 6.78 seconds 203 mph let’s go on board this was Kurt John Johson all
The way down from the start to the Finish watch him just pull away from Ron chrisher look at him stuck right down the middle of that racetrack nice job that would bring us to Jason line and Stevie Johns they both leave the line identical reaction times but Jason just
Got too much 6.74 seconds 204 mph to take the win then what about his boss and teammate Greg Anderson well he just goes low for the round 6.73 204 mph is just starting to sound like a broken record well he is setting the records every time out Jake Coughlin and Bruce
Allen round out the first round and Jak goes 6.75 at 20485 mph that’s the best speed of that round and we go on board with Jak not much wrong with this run Marty right down the middle the race track R top speed of the of the round great pass by
The team so let’s take a look at the improved updated ladder and you can see that Greg Anderson and J Coughlin will have Lane Choice as does Jason line and the professor Warren Johnson now it’s time for Pro Stock bike coming into the 2004 season Harley-Davidson had never won a Pro
Stock bike event but at Gainesville they Flex their muscle in an all Harley final Andrew Hines got to the Finish Line first over GT tonglet winning the First wall for team Harley can the Hogs keep up the momentum and make it two in a row and you can see that the Harley are
On the same side of our proo bike ladder presented by Lucas Oil and number one qualifier Andrew hin second time in a row that he’s P that off there is the other side and the arrow of course as off indicates who has the lane choice now let’s uh get to the first round
Highlights of Pro Stock bike and let’s show you Andrew Hines and Fred Camara and it’s Andrew on the Harley in the right lane and he goes 7.13 seconds 188 mph Fred was really never in this one what about his uh super slowmo action here watch look at that front wheel man
You want a wild ride look at him keep picking that front end up as shifting that remember these guys don’t have any seat belts they’re just hanging on for dear life but I’ll tell you what he did a great job to get that thing down to
The other end and end the next round what about the next vrod with GT tonglet well uh a red light by Blaine hail gives him the win it wouldn’t have mattered because a 721 at 186 gives the win easily to GT tongland and then we go to anel sais and Fred
Collis and Fred who had eight red lights last year is 0 for one here this year as he hands the round to anel she goes seven .17 seconds 186 mph what about the defending power R champ closest to you gos C he’s got Steve Johnson over in the
Opposite lane Gino goes 013 on the light then goes 71 at 187 mph to easily out distance Steve Johnson Antron Brown and Josh HBY and look at this HBY goes red and then Antron becomes the 50th guy ever to have a perfect 00 light wins with a
721 Mike Barry and Michael Phillips next up in the right lane it’s Phillips but Mike Barry is going to take the wind light 7.24 seconds to a 726 184 milph for Mike Barry then it’s Karen stoer and Craig treble and Karen Just Nails Craig by 7100s at the starting
Line then runs 7.16 seconds at 187 mph to easily Advance into the second round and then Shawn Gan and Chip Hunter Hunter goes red at the starting line and Shawn gets the win easily he then clicks off the clocks at 7.17 seconds at 188 mph so let’s take a look at the
Updated proo bike ladder and you can see that Andrew Hines and Karen stoer have Lane choice on one side Sean Gan and Gino scall over in the other well it’s time for this week’s track back and the subject is the set back blower here’s Mike and
Parker this track pack brought to you by Yamaha makers of fine motorcycles and ATVs for well over 40 years superchargers have adorned the top of fuel Motors but over the last several seasons there’s been a change and Mike it’s pretty obvious when you look at a standard
Supercharger like the one on top of Scott Palmer’s Top Fuel car versus the new setback blower and that’s right Parker and the reason they call a setback supercharger is because it’s actually set back on the manifold over here you see a standard manifold with a bigger opening and the supercharger sets
Towards the front of the engine over here you can see the superchargers actually set back to help distribute the air more evenly and that’s the big Advantage is that now the tuners can tune a little bit more efficiently with the setback blower with the old manifold normally number one and two cylinders
Ran a little bit too hot number three and seven was always had a chance of dropping by moving it back it gets more air distributed more evenly towards the center and as a results the cylinders run much more even now when the fans come out to the racetracks what’s the
Obvious difference they’re looking for to tell whether they’re looking at a traditional blower or a setback blower well the easiest way is to look at the snout or the blower drive on on a standard blower short here you’d see the blower pulley right here but then on the
Setback supercharger since it’s set back farther the snout or blower Drive is much longer now there’s some discussion as to whether the setback blower produces more horsepower but certainly for the tuners instead of having to tune eight individual cylinders on the engine now they’re just tuning one very powerful
V8 with about 8,000 horsepower thanks guys when we come back it’ll be time for round number two a Top Fuel who’s going to advance come on back and find out and let’s take a look now at our Top Fuel ladder presented by Lucas Oil Arrow shows you that Cory mcclanathan and
Scott Keta have the lane choice on the left side over on the right it’ll be Doug Keta and Tony Schumacher first match Doug Herbert Scott Keta coming to the line and there is Doug coming off his best race of 2004 where he went into the semi-finals losing there yeah Doug
Herbert looked very good got Edie Ace McCulla as his crew chief a former driver as does you know Scott Colette I mean with Jim overhoff over there and Connie Colette good match up here and it is Scott Keta taking the windlight 4.61 seconds a very clean run 312 mph Herbert went four
73 just a nice pass by Scott Colette on that team that’s what they’re looking for Scott had a decent life Doug Herbert had a couple hundreds off the starting line but then basically Scott Keta had the horsepower through the middle was running about 6 mph at the half faster
At the half track that allowed him to get the win 270 mph when he went by the 660 cones look at him hike that left front wheel up as he’s clutch stages are coming in that’s a nice pass good win for the team and this is the first
Semi-final he’s going to this year and what is going on in John forest’s Camp Parker all kinds of things Marty all the funny car competitors have pulled down to the staging lanes for round two elimination action with the exception of John Forest during the warm-up they found a problem with the engine they
Thought it was a rod bearing problem they started to drop the pan to take those Pistons out heads come off then they discovered it was the front main bearing on the crankshaft that necessitated an entire engine change John Force as you saw getting his helmet on his Hans device here he’s going to
Climb into the car so they can tow him down strapped in to those staging lanes and remember he faces Jerry toer who had problems of his own they’ve gotten that car repaired both of these cars are going to come to the staging lanes and up to the line without the thorough
Preparation these teams normally have Marty so in essence they’ve done two complete motor changes in what they normally would have time to do one that’s absolutely right yeah that’s that’s right Mar I mean basically and usually the front main they don’t pull the front main bearing down because
There’s usually no no load so if they service the engine that usually stays up so evidently something must have definitely gone R mechanically from that last run because they normally don’t check that bearing all right let’s go back track side because it is a big matchup now between Tony schacher and
Larry Dixon Dixon has a chance to really put an a statement here and get back into this Championship Chase Tony Schumacher has won three out of the first four races there is Larry he’ll be in the left lane and I’ll tell you they got to be loving
The cloud cover both of these teams I mean obviously Allen Johnson he can run the number when the track conditions are good it’s still not real hot out there so the track’s a little bit tight I talked with dick Le he said he remembers Las Vegas when they didn’t step it up
Enough and Alan Johnson who was struggling a little bit came out and ran that great 452 in the final Nick hay said that’s not going to happen again we’re going to stand on and if it doesn’t get any Tire smoke this should be a great match up cloud cover over the
Track Tailwind Parker Marty but that high cloud cover is a problem a lot of the tuners that I spoke to back in the pits got all their tuning decisions made back here for heat and now it’s cool they may not be able to back it up enough to get it going
Fast you were riding on board with Tony Schumacher as the car went up in Tire smoke and Larry Dixon goes 4.56 seconds at 3177 mph and he is saying to himself and so is his team we’re back in this Championship Chase dick Le did exactly
What he said he was going to do he was going to stand on it and that thing was hauling the mail to half track right there that thing starts pulling away 276 mph in the Eighth Mile good numbers start spinning the tires a little bit towards the finish line but this thing
Was hopped up because he was not taking Allen Johnson lightly like he did in the Final in Las Vegas this was a great pass and a great win for this team let’s check in once again with Parker well Marty still some problems with this second installation this team
Is normally working like clockwork but of course as they’ve rushed and had several Crews now diving into this car they haven’t gotten the pieces back the way they wanted I checked with co- crew chief Bernie federally about the tuning decisions they said there’s no problem there but as you can see they’re working
At the front of the engine trying to get the last minute pieces put back together let’s go up to Bild at the far end Larry Dixon that was about as big a round win as you can have in the month of April yeah well you know how it is when the
Bud guys come over and wish you good luck that’s what kind of day it is the shoem marer team’s certainly a tough team they’ve got off to a great start and um there isn’t anybody in drag R’s going to catch him if he keeps going to
Final rounds so you got to try and knock him out early and and we were fortunate enough to get it done midle light car did a great job and uh Lucas Oil Mac Tools good your tire stuck and uh that’s how our car picked up from first round
Is it just stuck cuz it and the center out of the tires bad so got it done thanks a lot Big Thunder and this is the earliest exit this year for Tony Schumacher now you’re looking at Cory mcclenathan pulling back in the right lane Brandon Bernstein over
In the left more on this matchup but first Dave Reef down with Jerry toer Who’s got his Toyota car all dusted off with a brand new body on top gone our two Quattro cars in favor of Jim head’s backup car now the Punisher body it’s a good thing that Jerry Tolliver
Has a teammate and she goes out and tries to not punish this body but but shoot he may be on a single Parker and Dave Jerry tuliver may be ready to go that is not the case down here in the John Forest pits as you look up the 12
Crewman from the three John fors team Crews have come together to get this engine turn around twice during the turn around period the problem is getting the front main bearing back inside the crank they finally did that the oil pants come on they’re putting on the ballistic
Blanket as you can see John Force is behind the wheel in officials nervously waiting behind this pit they escort this car down to the staging Lanes Marty right now we’re ready for this matchup and you saw both cars go up in smoke but the wind light will go to
Brandon Bernstein and this is very significant he is second in the points Tony Schumacher had his lead has been cut to 78 now with Brandon still in the running well like you said Marty Brandon Bernson really needed this win and I’ll tell you it was a good thing Cory went
Up and smoked right at the hit of the thr that car was running very good they knew they couldn’t take it for Grant take them for granted so the general basically tuned this thing up figured the track conditions were pretty good but just basically over the power of the
Racetrack at about 300t Mark Brandon did a good job getting out of throttle and getting back in it recovered stuck for a little bit and then start hazing the tires again right there putting some cylinders out but he did a good job of getting in and out of that throttle and
Feathering it down to the other end and let’s go back to Parker one more time well things are getting better here Marty there are only six crewmen now working on the car tools going back in the trace just the final adjustments they’re nut and bolting the engine making sure that everything was
Tightened that nothing was overlooked hopefully this car should be down on the ground and be pulling out of this pit area within the next 2 minutes and they don’t have much time to spare and the other thing to remember is no warmup on that motor let’s go back track side
We’ll keep that few John for’s pit up in the upper right of your television screen that’s Doug Keta playay milic coming through the smoke let’s go to the far end of Bill this is going to sound like a wise crack but it isn’t you’re getting better at
This well thanks you know it’s it’s tough you know when those things a car goes like that um and it smokes the tires that hard and uh I mean you just got a split second to try and react to that and um you know it’s been a while
Since I’ve you know been able to be in that situation and pedal that car and uh you know I can’t say enough about my team this Budweiser Lucas oils fresh car still running good and uh we’ll have some next round don’t worry hey Mike done three stars for him that time huh
Yeah he definitely did the job there cuz in Las Vegas went smok the tires he didn’t get back in the thr a little bit tenative but right there he got back in it and did the job and won the round for the team all right clay milikin and Doug
Kida met about a year ago at uh Bristol and Doug fouled out in that one and the reason I bring this up he cut a very close light in the first round I mean it was like an 022 0 0 is perfect so he’s been getting
Real close to that tree and he’s already fou out once this year yeah duck has a tendency to do that you know he gets he gets pretty aggressive on the tree and uh just one of those things that sometimes it can bite you but he’s going
To have to be ready I mean Klay milin ran very good in the first round this this could be a definitely a good match up here too well Doug tetta’s chance to close in on Tony Schumacher just got put on the trailer by a 4.86 second run at 284
Milph by Clay mikin let’s go check in with Parker once again well Marty you’re looking at NH official Chris Hill he was just told by the force crew they will make it to the staging Lanes in time for second round action against Jerry tuliver the crew now about ready to back
This car out the concern as you brought up Marty the lack of warm-up Mike done as sensitive as these cars are and particularly this team always make sure its warm-up is timed perfectly for its arrival up to the start line the Heat and the clutch being so important how
Will it affect this car well just all basically depends on how how much of a warmup they got I mean basically they can do a lot with the burnout sitting there building building heat in the engine as much as the main key with like you said Parker is the heat in the
Clutch that’ll be the key all right let’s set the semifinals for Top Fuel here’s the way it goes it’s going to be Scott Keta with the lane Choice over Brandon Bernstein in one and then in the other Larry Dixon has the lane Choice over Klay milin will John Force make it
To the line will he get down the track or will he be on the trailer well they’re making it towards the staging Lanes come back and find out here at the O’Reilly Spring Nationals all right let’s check our funy car ladder presented by Lucas Oil the
Arrow will show you that Tony Petron and John Force had at the lame Choice Tim Wilkerson Del Worsham over on the other side and the first matchup will be Tim Wilkerson and Eric Medlin and of course Tim was low of the race in the first round with that
482 I’ll tell you Tim’s looked good all week long I think he’s had the car to beat they usually have a problem in eliminations they sometimes they’ll spin the tires and they can’t seem to get all four runs put together but they’ve looked awfully awfully good and you know
What we look at the stats we talked about the bottom half of the field four cars in the semi-finals have advanced from the bottom half of the field once again Tim Wilkerson really loves that left Lan 4.91 seconds 308 mph you see John medin going back he says oops gave
It a little too much as the car went up in smoked for son Eric yeah I mean you’re going to see them smoke the tires uh pretty early in the run it’s one of those those things they they you know Tim Wilkerson ran a 482 the run before they knew they had to
Go for you saw a little bit of Tire Shake there he’s saw Eric pedal the car and lift the front end back up in the air but uh he got out of it this time after he saw Tim Wilkerson was long gone out there at the middle of the
Racetrack and there is John Forest just pulling up as they get ready for that matchup we can tell you Tim Wilkerson just celebrated his 100th round Victory with that last win you’re still here yeah hey one round at a time we you know I drove in a
Little deep there for Eric I I heard him whoop cruise on the starting line last round and didn’t want to become another one of them victims but I guess his car let loose on him out there and as they hit the gas so hey we’re we’re proud for
Our sponsors you know we can’t be here without Levi ran shop and Craftsman and Summit and the folks that are behind this car but uh one round at a time the Sun keeps coming in and out it’s kind of tricky uh I don’t care who we get next
Round Dell’s my favorite of course he’s a Chevrolet guy I owe him about 10 Rounds I don’t think I’ve ever beat that guy thanks let’s go to par bill with amazing Precision the crew of Gary denum left just enough room between their tow vehicle and their car to allow John
For’s tow vehicle and race car to slip through the moment John’s car stopped Gary denon’s crew came up on the rear tires got the wheels torque tire pressures done while John crew went back to those last minute checks to make sure everything was done right during that second engine service on the turnaround
Thank you Parker now it’s time for Dell Worsham the points leader Gary seli the second member of Team Schumacher that he’s had to face today in as many rounds oh my what a drag race Dell worship 4.94 seconds 296 M an hour and the points leader is
Stretching the lead as he continues to go arounds here today in Houston yeah like you said Del wor just continues to go around they know how to race on Race they both cars left the starting line together Del wor him though that car pulled through the middle little bit and
You saw cylinder go out towards the finish line and actually pushed the car over towards the center but early in the run this was a nice clean run and then when he made the transition off the concrete started to get a little bit of Tire spin put a cyl out you see go
Sideways right there shortly after that the cylinder goes out right there and then basically that drove the car over toward the center but he still had enough momentum to get in the next round all right let’s go back and show you what’s been going on in funny car
Because look p toer had damaged to the car after going into the sand trap at the far end then as we’ve documented between rounds a twin engine change and no they don’t run twin engines it’s just something that they had to do because of all the problems that they ran into in
John Force’s camp now these are the guys that are getting ready to race each other and guess what both cars are here all be it with one with a new body another with a new motor who’s going to take the windl this is some high drama
That is the Punisher body from Jim hedar and here comes Force now remember ooh that is the shortest burnout in John Force’s career what do you think well that’s interesting I don’t know the the thought process behind that but obviously you do a shorter burnout you don’t want to get
As much heat in the clutch but if they had a problem with the warmup uh it’ll be interesting to see what happened well you see Austin very animated Parker what’s going on well I just spoke with Austin Coy and asked about the concerns not having a proper warmup and he said
Same clutch no problems but think about it when they first started this motor on the first engine they immediately shut it off as smoke poured out of the exhaust and out of the overflow tank so they never went through a proper warm-up procedure then they started that thrash
Rebuilt the engine a second time with no warm up at all so I can’t believe that they got the heat in the clutch that they’re accustom to well I’ll tell you Marty when I was ever in a position like that that means they may not have got whatever the problem is fixed because
Cuz basically by doing a short burnout and keeping the RPM down whatever’s wrong they didn’t want to hurt it on the burnouts at least give JN a chance to go stage that could very well be a possibility right there Jerry toer I’m sure is aware of all of his problems but
He’s had enough of his own to keep himself busy who’s going to take this round this is a true toss up yeah force is dead and toer is going to survive by the skin of his teeth as he gets it down the racetrack smoking the tires Left Right
Center everywhere but straight but John Force you were right Mike you knew exactly where it was all that experience you had Parker what’s going on now Austin Coyle just a whole host of problems was just that just a matter of getting at stage so you could try to make the pass
I don’t know what happened there look like it dropped the cylinder to me I don’t think we’re getting the whole story guys Austin obviously very upset as he walked away but I have never had a reception from Austin Coyle in the years I’ve been here when I first went up to
Talk to him before they let the engine for the burnout obviously there were more problems than we were aware of he knew that this wasn’t going to go well Marty well let’s go back take another look at it see if I mean it just almost
At the hit of the throttle yeah I think there was definitely a problem because John Forest never does that short of a burnout and he kept the RPM very low on the burnout so obviously whatever problem they had it was not fixed when they went up there but they did the
Smart thing by going up there and staging the car because you never know what’s going to happen Jerry Tolliver you had his turmoil the round before he may have been a little bit off and he might have went out there red light so they did the right thing by going up
There and staging the car hitting the throttle and hoping something happened that they might have got into the next round smart smart racing John Force craziness that was a thrash in the pits uh they had to pull it out tried to get Pistons we thought it had a ring missing wasn’t wasn’t a
Crew air it was just a bottom line and knocked a bearing out of the front main what did it do at the hit of the throttle oh it was Trucking it stayed as long as that uh uh Coyle didn’t think it’d go anywhere I’m amazed that fine
Castro brand took her right out there 3 or 400 ft and and it let go so we just shut her off but uh got no bearings in there than nothing you can do we tried to fix it tried to get it back together and we just couldn’t get the main back
Where it needed to be and uh we did what we could and tried to stay safe that’s most important and get the car right off the track the very minute it it it whacked Cole said put her against the wall I put her against the wall so we
Don’t slow this show down uh congratulations toer toer of course down at the far end hanging out with Bill has anything interesting happened to you today have you been here obviously not everything’s happening here today we put the we put the car in the sand first round that round I don’t know what
Happed for he was late coming up there I never saw him I think I ped this thing 15 I had no idea all I know was they got done the Finish Line my guys did a heck of a job we don’t cuss on N RV no more
We did a heck of a job putting this thing back together it was a mess but we’re going to the what are we going to third round semi something we’re still on the show that’s I can tell you have you been here you going to the semi-finals he certainly is as we go
Back Trackside and get ready for our final matchup with Gary denum in the left lane Tony pedregon in the right the former teammates well they’ve met once before back at Phoenix round two it was Tony winning that one he also beat Eric medin that day the only one he’s lost to
Has been John Force that was round two back at Las Vegas and of course Tony the defending event winner here at Houston Raceway Park there’s John Force we should tell you he was deducted 10 points for oiling the track for his loss a tire smoking Affair and the force
Team is still alive Gary denum will carry the colors into the semi-finals it was a 5.48 second pass at 248 M hour let’s take a look at the semi final matchups and take a look at the numbers not what we normally used to see but denum actually got the lane Choice
Over Jerry toer and there is Wilkerson and worship quickly take a look at the Pro Stock ladder presented by Luke soil all eight top qualifiers Advanced into the second round Arrow indicates who has Lane Choice seven of the top 10 in points are still around here in round
Number two at first up it is Warren Johnson the professor in the right lane there he is against Mike Edwards who will be in the left lane and there’s Mike who picked up his first ever Pro Stock win here back in 1996 of course the professors won here five times almost dead
Even at the strike Mike Edwards 6.80 seconds 203 mil an hour to a 682 for Warren Johnson take a look at the margin of Victory two 100ths of a second and that’s what it looks like at the strike now it’s time for this week’s traction are brought to you by Toyota get the
Feeling let’s talk about density altitude density altitude is also called corrected attitude and as a result of factoring parametric pressure humidity temperature and Grains of water per pound of air to give you the number that what these Ines really feel like they’re running in and What’s our weather
Conditions right now well we’ll pop it in there and show you and the temperature 75° 67% humidity density altitude even though the track is actually only 10 ft above sea level it is corrected out to 1250 ft the higher that number the harder it is to make horsepower and the track temperature
104° and you’re on board now with Kurt Johnson the defending event winner here and he has beat the guy in the other lane Jake coflin twice so far in 2004 back at round two at pona and round two at Las Vegas but J coffin looked awfully good in that first round win
Actually ran top speed of the first round which is something that’s doesn’t happen too often with Greg Anderson he looked very very good who’s going to go in first got a staging duel going Jag’s in the win light to Jake Coughlin six .76 seconds
204. 57 mph so he’s done it two runs in a row now and Kurt was 677 at 203 so they have found something as we go on board with KJ well you saw KJ looking over at the tree and soon as he let the clutch out he’s focused right down the
Middle of that lane keep it in the groove unfortunately he didn’t quite have enough and and he came up a little bit short against Jag dve brief party two Riders the last four championships in Pro Stock bike one big second round race three times a champion it was on jail
She’s getting set to take on the defending champ goo SC who’s got fans and then he’s got fans a fan that so desperately wanted to go out and have dinner with goo scall and his team well she dressed up as I dream of jeie but in
This case it’s I dream of Sasha I just wish I had somebody that would go to Links like that Marty you better be careful you’re a married man Dave reef and she’s probably watching right now true all right back track side time for Dave connley Jason line you know we
Talked about connley having four h shot wins in Pro Stock that’s the most in the class this year remember he didn’t qualify for One race I mean tape Conley’s just been mowing that tree just great reaction times and he had another one in the first round he’s going to
Need it against that guy right there Jason line well the wind light goes to Jason 6 point 76 seconds to a 679 and again look at the mph up in that 204 range let’s check in with Bill he’s with ja Coughlin jagy yesterday in that last qualifying
Session you mentioned that you kind of missed the setup and uh you’re a little concerned but you nailed that one yeah we were uh we were pretty close still got a little bit left in this uh oh own black Chevy and uh you know feels good
To uh get by Curry’s been kind of a thorn on our side here lately so uh you know we just got to take one step at a time keep pecking away at it uh I think that’s been our approach this week weend and so far it’s working out well got more in there
Huh thank you Bill as we come back to the starting line area it is time for Jason Line’s teammate Greg Anderson the guy who has now 10 straight pole positions dating back to last year if you’re wondering what the all-time record is he’s got a ways to go the
Legendary Bob glinton did it 23 times in his career Larry Morgan’s over in the left lane he’s going to try and put the uh Dodge Stratus into the stripe first before gets there again watch the tree here I mean Greg’s performance Advantage Larry’s going to have to take a shot at the tree
Of you don’t you think yeah and Greg just go out got to go out and do his normal thing if he just cuts an old 50 light I mean he’s probably going to be in the game because he’s just got so much horsepower the winner gets Jake Coughlin in the semi-finals
Another staging duel no GRE goes in yeah Larry took a shot at the tree and it’s over and Greg goes 6.73 and look at the mph 205 milph so that’s going to be good enough to give him Lane Choice over Jake Coughlin in the semifinals so take a look at the
Matchups and there is the margin by 3100s Greg has the lane Choice over jeg in one semi-final in Pro Stock in the other it is Jason line his teammate by 4100s over Mike Edwards stay with us we come back in the time for second round of Pro Stock bike here at Houston
Raceway Park at the O’Reilly Spring Nationals party we heard John for say earlier after their first problem of engine service he thought it was a failure of one of these rings that sealed the piston into the cylinder when in fact it was a bearing on the crank
Shelf itself now this is what the crank looks like outside the motor I’ve taken one of John Force’s Top Fuel Motors turned it upside down you can see the crank installed inside the short block this bearing resides underneath this cap the crew Services all the bearings
Except this one because there is a long bolt that runs across the front they don’t take it out because you’d have to take out the oil pump it failed they found it late they had to get this back into the engine in order to get the oil
Pan on and get it started into the line This $3 bearing well it undid the Valiant efforts of John Force’s crew and that happens more times than you might think as we take a look now at Pro Stock bike ladder presented by Lucas Oil it’s Andrew Hines Karen stoer Shan Gan and
Gino scall with the lane Choice let’s show you what happened here in round number two first up it would be the army of well it’s two actually in proo bik Anon Brown and Sean Ganon Antron with a whole shot win goes 7.22 seconds to the
Quicker but losing 72 1 of sha Gan then take a look at the photo finish that’s how close it was at the stripe as Antron took the win then it was Gino scall the defending power a champion in the left lane taking care of business over anel
Sais with air to spare as Bob fry would like to say 7.11 seconds 188 mph this one was never in doubt then watch Karen stoer right lane she takes down one of the Harley GT tonglet goes 718 But Ken goes 7.13 seconds 85 mph that means it
Was up to Andrew hin to carry the banner and he does 7.13 seconds 189 M an hour lot of speed there Mike Barry is on the trailer so now here are the matchups Lane Choice goes to Andrew heines by two 1000 of a second what about the other
One well link Choice goes to Gino scall there when we come back Nitro and yeah it’s time for semi-finals all right let’s get you caught up uh the biggest stories in Top Fuel second round it was Larry Dixon putting Tony schuma the points leader on the trailer when he needed to and then
Kay milikin Deni dou k a chance to gain some ground as well so here are the matchups in the semi-finals it will be Scott Keta with the lane Choice over Brandon Bernstein and Larry Dixon over Kay milikin in the other matchup in fact uh that’s where we’re going to start as
We come back with Brandon Bernstein and Scott ketta on the line right now and Bo we talk about uh some very important rounds for Brandon burn you know we we know it’s early in the season but if he wins this round he cuts the points margin down to
58 Parker you got more big concern for Scott cl’s crew chief Jim Over hoofer the weather no more clouds sun down on the track but there is a big Tailwind he’s looking for a 4.60 or 61 pass he said if Tim Richards and the burd steam
Car go faster SOI it well for Scott Keta he went to his first ever Pro final was back at funny car right here at this track back in 1989 maybe a little deja vu in his return right here oh it was a great drag race till
You saw the smoke in kida’s car 4.64 seconds 38 mph for Brandon bernin as he takes the wind light wow like you said this was a good race Scott Keta was ahead all the way to that point right there where he started spinning the tires that allowed Brandon Berns to
Drive around for the wi I think Tim Richards had a good tune up for that left lane you see a cylinder go out just before the finish line but all in all a good pass little bit of Tire shake when the thing left but it drove right through it and Brandon basically trying
To keep this thing Stuck in the Middle hiking that left front just a little bit remember they got this car considerably softer because when the heat comes out boy these tires really want to spin and he did a good job job to keep that thing hooked even with the cylinder going out
On the other end Brandon going to a second final let’s check in with Dave Reef hey I know that guy hey and I do too very privileged to be standing down with the grandson of the co-founders of Harley-Davidson Willie G Davidson in the house the vice president of styling
Obviously it was a proud moment for you guys in Gainesville for the obvious reasons but also because you have a vested interest in everything we’re looking at well Racing’s a passion uh it’s been an emotional thing as an important part of our life and design is something that obviously
I’m very much involved in with my good team back in Milwaukee who create some of these great graphics and some of the beautiful motorcycles so proud is just just the word I use with capital letters congratulations on a on a fascinating start to the season and who knows what’s
To come yeah we’re we’re excited and uh we’re in there orange and black and it’s good to hear a v twin on that line let’s go back to you mark all right all right thanks a lot it’s great to see you Willie G out here as we get ready for
Larry Dixon and Klay milin you know Clay still looking to go to his first ever NH final he’s won three IH championships guess who’s denied him the opportunity three times in the semi-finals my guess would be Larry Dixon you win the prize oh wizard of Wonder let’s go to the far
End quickly to Bill Brandon we talked about it on nhr today this morning about the adaptability of the crew chiefs timtim Richards gave you the poll and then gave you a race car that go down this racetrack on Sunday afternoon man he really did and you know hats off to
Tim and Kim and the guys I mean that was uh that was pretty uh you know it’s In the Heat of the day and I mean it is it’s tough out there and for him to make that adjustment after smoking the tires the round before you know that’s great
And these guys are are doing a great job and you know Budweiser and Lucas soil man we’re trying to get it one for you here thanks a lot all right we get ready for this matchup now as Dixon trying to gain some more ground on Tony Schumacher the
Points leader who he put on the trailer in the last round there’s Mike Clover the crew chief for clay mil Dixon Goes Up in Smoke first and Kay milikin is going to his first ever NH power eight drag racing series final look at the hand pumping inside the
Cockpit bill you better get ready you may have to tie him down to do the interview at the far end of the racetrack yeah Larry Dix this was one of the things we saw in qualifying The Starting Line left lane when the sun came out a
Lot of cars were smoking the tires of the hit of the throttle dick Le had Lane Choice he ran so good in the left lane previous round but the sun was out there and it did not stick this time well and we talked about the tire situation and
We checked with all the teams as there will be a tire change uh at Bristol in the interest of fairness according to NH they’re going to go with one set Tire the brand new 2096 and as we take a look here Larry Dixon was the only one in Top
Fuel who was running the older Tire the 1486 according to our pit reporters and you got to watch as soon as Larry hit the throttle that thing was basically spinning the tires too much went right up in smoke and I think that is the major problem in that left hand lane
When the sun is out how he got past that point I think he would have been okay I’m sure we’re going to be able to get more into this tire situation as we get closer to Bristol but right now we’re going to turn our attention to funny
Car as you’re looking at Gary denum as he’ll be coming up against Jerry toer and here is our funny car ladder presented by Lucas Oil and it is Gary denum with the lane Choice albe it with a 548 and Tim Wilkerson who has had the baddest hot rod today with Lane Choice
Over Dell worship so here is tfer in the right lane Dum in the left lane but let’s put a period on Top Fuel Bill three-time IH Champion clay milikin takes out two-time power a champion Larry Dixon to go to his first final round in the NH it’s so
Wrong well I don’t really know what to say no you know what this is so cool we finally got to get the thing in the the final round you know what it’s been a good day we got to just get the 104 plus car and uh my guys have done a wonderful
Job you know it probably wasn’t that pretty cuz it sure didn’t feel that good but uh 104 plus Matt Co guys Royal Purple champion champion fart plugs get on ryal purple right go finish your energy drink you’ll need it thanks appreciate it Bill love the enthusiasm Jerry dolliver with the Jim head’s body
On his Toyota looking to go to his second ever final here at Houston and second one of this year what about Gary denum well he’s looking to go his second final of 2004 as well well both cars were in trouble the guys don’t even want to look and it’s
Not pretty but Tolliver gets the job done and just like Pimon he’s living the dream the number 13 qualifier and again it’s a bottom half of the field that seems to be surviving we’re coming back back here at the O’Reilly Spring Nationals we’re getting ready for Tim wierson andell Worsham and that’s Tim
Closest to you but let’s go back to the previous run because Gary denum was the number one qualifier he has never won a race from the pole position and that guy right there Jerry Tolliver has now one five and lost none against Carri Denton let’s go to Bill car toer when you
Announced you were come back to the NH I knew it wasn’t going to be boring but please we’ve had a heck of a day this sh Quattro team has worked their fanes off everything in the world has gone wrong I mean we put in the we put in the weeds
Or the gravel or the sand or whatever you want to call it the beach over there you the thing P got to Pedal it five times I almost three times nothing’s been pretty but you know what we’re going to the next round maybe that’s why they call this thing The Punisher
Because it’s killing me just talk to Chuck wor he says it’s a two-part tuneup for this round got to get off the starting line aggressive enough to not spin but not so soft that you shake and then you have to make the transition same story don’t want to spin
The tires Parker Dave almost every time these two drivers have met it’s been decided by a matter of Interest both drivers and both teams know that they just want to make sure they come out on the winning edch Marty Well’s beat Tim the last six times that these two have
Hooked horns and he is back and Tim’s in that left lane and you think that’s a mistake with this heat well I don’t know if was a mistake he ran this Lane in the Heat yesterday and he moved way over to the left hand side of the groove that’s
Probably what he’s going to do now to try to get down it guess what no mistake 4.6 4.9 64 in a whole shot win Tim Wilkerson puts Dell Worsham on the trailer so the points leader is denied a chance to win four races in a row as
Team owner and three out of four as a driver but boy Wilkerson you’re were right he hugged that left side of the groove hey it worked in the last qualifying session why you know wife Tim fate right there that that thing was definitely stuck and it started to move
Over towards the other end I mean Tim only got 3,000 of a second advant I mean basically they left pretty dead even but boy this was just a great sidebyside drag race take a look at super slow moow of Dell yeah let’s watch Dell I mean he’s doing what everything he’s been doing
Just get that car from A to B right down the midd track don’t run the big numbers but don’t smoke the tires don’t beat yourself they did a good job they just came up a little bit short the margin of Victory 23 10,000th of a second and look
At how snug Tim is to the wall I mean he really knows this left lane at this racetrack they have been thundering all weekend long and he’s going to have Lane choice in the final over Jerry toer here at the O’Reilly Spring Nationals let’s check in with
Bill Tim Wilkerson nobody else said it I will that was one of the best funny car races we’ve seen all year a 1,000th of a second whole shot win man I can’t even believe that I tell you what I seen a lot of red CSK out in front of me there
I thought well it’s over with Dell’s got me again I mean I can’t get by the guy D and I have the best races out there there’s no doubt about it I’ve lost by him by 100 like four times in the last five races so you know what hats off to
Their team but Lev IR in shout Monte car we’re going to the next round and damn D good race man good job D you’ve been in some real squeakers this year that time you’re on the short end of it yeah now I tell you we’ve been lucky you know we’ve
Fortunate come to you know Come Away with most of those squeakers and Tim he’s a great competitor and it was a heck for race you know uh you know the mining C I took so far back and you can’t see the other guy you don’t know
If you win or lost and I wasn’t really sure and I was just hoping we won and uh apparently it you know a small hole shot a tight race I don’t what to say Checker shs CRA you know the two mining C put on a hell
Of a race how about that final round against Force at this track a few years ago that was a big one that was a huge one you know I’d have to say that that was probably the race you know that kind of turned our whole career around you
Know after uh after we won the One race in 1999 but really we hadn’t done much since 1991 and at that race we won the you know we won Houston 2001 went on to win four races after that but uh well hell four that year a lot since then but
N it’s been great it’s been a great ride you’re a little down right now you know losing is no fun you Racing for a championship and you know at the end of the year you know every round matters and a 2000’s loss it’s just like a two-c
Loss yeah believe me this kid will be a contender this year and he’s going to leave here with the points lead stay with us we’ve still got the factory hot rods and Pro Stock bike coming your way here at the oale Spring Nationals time now for the factory hot
Rods as we get ready for Mike Edwards and Jason line that’ll be one of the matchups the other involves Greg Anderson the points leader and Jake copin as there is that matchup and there’s the other one in our Pro Stock both ladder presented by Lucas oy and take a
Look at some of the elapse times you can see where everybody is shaking out and there is Jason line with a third and fifth quickest elapse time and uh this is going to be an interesting little drag race I mean these two are pretty well matched well Jason Lion’s got about
400s of a second on on Mike Edwards right now so Mike Edwards is going to try to pick that up on the tree obviously and Mike Edwards he’s definitely capable of doing one of the best levers in the business Jason’s a good lever but he’s a little bit
Inconsistent cuz he doesn’t have as many laps under his belt as Mike so this could be definitely a very good matchup Edwards coming off the dnq back at Las Vegas has a chance to go to his 24th career final a and Edwards has the advantage off the
Line but can’t hold on to it at the other end Jason Goes 6.76 seconds 203 mil mil an hour he gave up 4 100s at the starting line but just had way too much horsepower and he’s going to his first ever Pro Stock final and could he meet
Up with his teammates more on that as we get ready for Greg Anderson and J cin you’re on board with Jake there for the burnout there’s Greg over in the right lane rematch of the Gainesville final Greg won that one Greg has only one loss this year and
That was to Kurt Johnson back at Phoenix in the semi-finals Parker Marty Jake coplin’s team made some big horsepower games just prior to the Gainesville race but then they went backwards at our last event at Las Vegas crew Roy Simmons told me the reason was they’re having difficulty correlating the gains on the
Dyo with Track Performance but they think they’ve got that worked out Greg Anderson knows that and knows that he doesn’t have the advantage over JY that maybe he would have had earlier in the year puts a lot more pressure on Greg to get a good reaction time at the hit of the
Throttle Jag is already pre-staged as you’re on board who’s going to go in first Greg this race is over and Jak gets out of it as Greg just flies on through 6.73 seconds 204 miles an hour and Greg is going to his 31st career final fourth of the year and
Guess what we now have our first All Team final in proo since Seattle 2001 more on that let’s go to Bill well the man who rolled his car in his first round of prto last year in his ninth Pro start is going to a final round Jason L
Yeah thanks for reminding me yeah FR SPC running great so everybody’s doing a really good job and we’re getting better every week so I’m pretty excited it’s great to race Greg in the final Lu out crazy drivers down here as Greg pulls to a stop these guys
Qualified one and two for the second race in a row we knew this was going to happen let’s go back up to the booth all right we’ll hear from Greg in just a moment or two but first let’s check the Pro Stock bike ladder presented by Lucas
Oil and you can see that Andrew Hines has the L Choice over Karen stoer but don’t count her out she has been riding really well today at Gino scall against Antron Brown and they are already at the Line Andrew in the right lane Karen in the left lane Karen cuts a double1
Light and she’s going to take the win 7.19 seconds 184 milph Andrew and Harley-Davidson is not going to repeat two races in a row Karen going to her third career Final in first of this year and what a great riding performance She Was Won 1000 from perfect Karen stoer
Has just been doing a tremendous job she has been on her game all day long just nailing that tree every run she came up the starting line knowing she needed Advantage off the starting line but as it turns out she not only left first but she outran them and made it into the
Next round take a look at Super slow-mo see if we can pick up something on Andrew’s run little more Tire Shake than what we’ve seen in the in the previous runs and I think that was probably just a little bit too much Tire Spin and that
Probably cost him the the win and as we come back out track side you’re looking at the defending power a champion Gino scall scall will be in the left lane andron Brown the only member left from Team schacher still racing today he’s got a tough task in taking
Out Gino scall Earl de gloer crew chief has just really had this bike running really well and goo’s look very good on the lights today oh anron Nails the tree can he hold on the answer is yes in a hole shot 7.21 seconds to a quicker but losing
7.19 it’s the second time today that Anon has whole shotted his way to Victory job boy boy what a great job by Anon 300s of a second off the starting line you saw him leave just an instant before Gino at that point but then the big problem Gino
Over here goes over towards the wall he is out of the groove getting a little bit too much Tire spin slowed him down a little bit he still ran quicker than anron but I think that right there hurt him even more than the reaction time because he definitely lost a lot of La
Time when that thing went over by the wall and started spinning margin of Victory one 100th of a second there is what it looks like so let’s take a look at the matchup it’s going to be Karen stoer with the lane Choice over Anon Brown in the proo bike final as we go
Back to the far end put a period on proo with Bill well the r in power a champion recently voted the least popular driver by his peers just picked up a few more votes with you and your teammate in the final round I’m telling you this is what
It’s all about the KB racing team what can I say they are so great Joe Hornick builds the best power in the class it’s very obvious and how about these Car Guys on both cars and the drivers Jason did I tell you he was going to be
Special he going to be special but speaking a special I’m going to give a little special tuneup to that car before the final cuz I’m not sure I’m ready for him let’s go to Dave Bill looking forward to our Top Fuel final had a chance just a moment ago to talk to
Peter Layman that’s clay milikan car owner about what this means to this team being in their first NH final ask him if it compares to actually the three IH championships they have already says well if we win it will certainly be right up there but the thing he is most
Proud of is the fact that this team has been in that position with the IH and been in so many final rounds over there he feels that only will Aid this team in their preparation for their first ever NH final against Brandon he says hopefully they’ll win and everything
Will change for them let’s go down to meet the bike finalist with Bill Karen stoer after Gainesville you weren’t sure you were going to be able to race again for a while and here you are in Houston and the beauty beat the Beast oh isn’t
That true you know I had looked at the ladder and I thought oh my gosh there’s parley on both sides this is really rough but you know what this Geico cycle guard I can officially say that sponsored motorcycle Bas leather is just doing this job Gary He’s my crew chief
Doing an awesome job doing the tuneup and and I I don’t know I’m not sure if we’ve met before but I hope to see you a lot more often now nice to see you too let’s go to Antron Brown who had a per perfect reaction time earlier today on a
Hole shot you beat the reigning champ oh you know it’s been awesome this US Army team’s been uh been struggling a little bit but the guys are picking it up and we’re making it day we’ve been hurting some parts but you know what this is for all the troops out there that defend
This country and give us the Free Will out here to race every weekend we love all of them Oakley MCO we love all of our sponsors and uh my crew chief he’s got going on and thanks so much we’ll be going to war in the Pro Stock bike final
It is going to be a great match up in all four professional categories we’ve got to take commercial break here at the O’Reilly Spring Nationals the finals still to come here at Houston Raceway Park now let’s get you caught up on the biggest stories of the day one has to be
Jerry toer here’s first round against Phil burkart wins the round but then the shoots malfunction and he ends up going into the sand trap cutting up the shik quatro body in the semi-finals he’s up against the Dench dchip Goes Up in Smoke and with the Punisher body courtesy of
Jim head yep he’s going to his second final of 2004 in Top Fuel the big story there kay milikin takes out Larry Dixon and the IH champ is going to his first ever NH final let’s go to Dave Reef well Marty when you think of Doug K and Larry
Dixon you think of the players in Top Fuel draxer what do they have in common they both got beat by a guy who’s not looked upon as a player clay milikin despite all of their IH successes but keep in mind they have Mike clober a winner eight times in the NH field and
Lance Larson an 11 time winner a top the tuning ladder they’re going to use those experiences to take a team with virtually no NH experience to a whole new level in about 20 minutes Bill let the record show that over the last 5 years this car has been the winningest
Car and funny car for a single car team Tim lerson won the US Nationals last year he won the rain delay race in reading last year and now he’s on the doorstep of winning the fifth event of the 2004 season look what he’s done today 482 round one lowy t of the race
Then a 92 in the second round a 96 against Del Worsham in the semi-finals this car has the performance and believe me when I tell you Tim Wilkerson definitely has the spirit Parker I believe you Bill and in Pro Stock the GRE Anderson Juggernaut continues another number one qualifying position
More track records and another final but that’s not the big surprise the big surprise in Pro Stock coming into this final is his teammate Jason line he rolled into the pits after a semi final win with a smile as big as a Texas mile it’s his first Pro Stock final but
Here’s what’s Curious notice that Jason is servicing the engine on Greg Anderson’s car the engine being serviced in Jason’s Line’s car well that’s being performed by Greg Anderson really the big question is well either one of these cars start but I guarantee you one thing these guys want to race each other
Really bad it’ll be a great Pro Stock final I have to agree with you as we get ready and oh yeah warm-up going on in Clay milin Pit let’s sit back and listen watch him right there CR Mike Clover revving up that engine to see clutch one more time he’s going to hold
The breake see playay looking down there he almost look like a kamakazi pilot getting ready to drive her into an aircraft carrier though but uh I tell you what they got that dog barking I mean I think they’re going to be ready for that final round and you better
Believe he is amped up you saw him after the semi-finals as the crew finishes the warm up as uh they bring it to a silence we want to talk about Pro Stock bike because the story of the day there has to be Karen stoer not only once but
Twice does she down knock out the Harley she takes care of GT tonglet 7.16 seconds in the second round then in the semi-finals she is one 1,000 from perfect on the tree and then goes 7132 to uh take the wind light as we go to Parker Marty after the Gainesville
Event most people thought the Screaming Eagle v-rods were unst stable well today as you mentioned Karen stoer has done the unthinkable she has taken out both of the Harley and consider this this is from a team that at the beginning of this year thought they could only go to
Several races most people would consider that unbelievable that’s true they were going to be on the trailer permanently but then the sponsor situation got solved and she’s here and in the finals finals coming up when we come back back here at the O’Reilly Spring Nationals Houston Raceway Park we are
Getting ready for the finals in our four professional categories who’s going to take home the walles in Top Fuel will it be clay milikin getting his first ever or will it be Brandon Bernstein picking up his Fifth and Tim Wilkerson in funny car is going to try and deny Jerry
Tolliver his second that guy’s not racing but Jason line and his teammate and boss Greg Anderson are in proo and then there’s Karen stoer against Anon Brown and that’s the one we’re going to focus on right here as Karen will be in the right lane Antron in left both these
Riders have been drill in the tree anon’s first off this time but the wind light goes to Karen 7.15 seconds 186 mph she becomes the second winner as a female in Pro Stock fight the seventh overall in the professional category G Parker I’m with Gary stoer you can see the celebration
Down here this team came into the season with no funding now you’ve signed a deal for nine races with Geico cycle guard tremendous achievement Gary thank you very much I cannot say more for the team owners Doug and Debbie Johnson for sticking with us and I got to thank
Cycle guard for coming on board with us baates Leathers Royal Purple Greg col V and hindes they have a fantastic motor it’s just great I can’t believe we’re finally made it to the final tried so hard and we’re finally there Marty the margin of victory
181,000 of a second take a look at this one boy what a great race Marty andron has a slight Advantage like you said off the starting line but boy Karen stoer she been ride that bike great all day obviously hit those ship points and run those numbers cuz she’s been consistent
And boy she needed it to get around that Army motorcycle at the other end look how close that is there’s the margin of Victory some exclusive company she has joined bill oh boy what a day for Karen stoer last year Columbus losing to Fred Collis in the final then in Reading
Losing to anel seis in the final and now Karen third times the charm you seal the deal oh baby it did take three times I tell you what this Geico cycle guard baits Leathers bright oh it was beautiful Gary Debbie Doug they all tuned it wonderfully my mom and dad at
Home we did it I wish you were here oh this is just too awesome I didn’t know I want to act look at Antron and he’s going you you oh great this is awesome power a this is great O’Reilly I think I’ll just remember this forever O’Reilly
Power yeah we will too Shirley B dowy Lucille Lee ly Johns Shelley Anderson Kristen pow and anel sais the other six females as we get ready for the team final Greg Anderson against Jason line as you look at the road to the final we can tell you the last time that a team
Has gone to the finals was 2001 Seattle David nickens owned the cars run by Mark Osborne and Daryl alderman Parker Marty of course driving a race car is what drivers love to do but there’s an awful lot of pressure for Greg Anderson and Jason line they said if you’re ever just
Going to have pure fun behind the wheel this is the Run both them big smiles Dave and it will be fun the only guy happy to be racing Greg is Jason line who admits he’s been struggling on the tree a little bit and admits it will
Take a very good light to even have a chance here Greg looking to go for his fourth win in five races remember when Jag won six of the first seven as J golin won the 20 thousand Championship that year Dan even off the line and then problems for Jason in the left leg
673 205 miles an hour and I’m sure somebody’s going to say what happened to Jason we’ll have to find out it looked like they both I mean at 60 foot they were dead even also yeah but it looked like Jason L got really loose you see
Him get over to the left of the groove there out in the marbles and I’m sure he got some excessive Tire spin there just knew at that point when he saw Greg start to pull away that his day was done take a look at Greg Anderson in super
Slowmo now this was a pretty run very little tire Shake I think he hit it pretty good but uh you what can you say that thing just makes a lot of horsepower and they are pretty much unbeatable his 20th career win fourth of this year and he is Unstoppable right
Now look at this 156 point margin it’s 20 points per round folks so that’s almost eight rounds of racing already that he leads Kurt Johnson Jake Coughlin Larry Morgan and Warren Johnson oh it’s getting awfully awfully hard to deny this guy anything let’s go to Bill Greg Anderson just received his National
Event trophy from Kevin grievin from O’Reilly Auto Parts and the slaughter continues you know I don’t know that there’s anyone out rather race than Jason in the final out here today he’s probably the toughest car out here this week the other guys did a great job J
And War a they’re coming on me they’re they’re definitely gaining on me and you know it’s time to start looking over our shoulder and dig down deep and and put her in high gear but you know we came out on top today the KB racing team just
An awesome team what can I say you know you got to live it while you’re there right now we’re there and we are living big tonight chess keeps putting more and more pressure on the rest of the category to do something yeah it it is absolutely astounding the performance
That this team has right now all right time to focus in on funny car it has been one of those days for Jerry toer plenty of blows but here he is plenty of highs he’s in the final for the second time this year he won at pona but he’s
Got to go up against the baddest hot rod this weekend Tim Wilkerson and we’re going to get a chance to talk to Tim in just a second here as soon as he gets the car stopped Tim this is Marty Reid can you hear me hi Mary listen we’ve
Noticed you’ve really hugged the left side of the groove you’ve really been successful in that left lane what did you guys see that some of the other teams didn’t yeah the got a terrible C in if you watch I trying to drive it across
The groove as I go by well I’ll tell you what it’s been very successful we’ll let you get back to it good luck it’s one of those things he stayed into the left side of the groove at the starting line and then like he said he’s got to drive
Across the groove to get it back in the center when that thing gets about 300 ft he been doing a fantastic job because that car has been really running well there you see Jerry toer road to the finals it doesn’t tell the half of it running the first body into the sand
Trap here we go fre State both cars and he does it again Tim wierson won another one good job good job good job 4.89 seconds 303 miles an hour it is his fourth career win first this year boy this team deserves that they had the best car without a doubt
All weekend long low E of eliminations low E of the race got the win was going down that racet trck every single time and it was a tricky RAC trck it wasn’t the best conditions in the world but Fred mandolini the rest of the crew Tim Wilkerson definitely did his job and
They got the win let’s look at Jerry Tolliver he got down the racetrack probably had a little bit of Tire Shake early you see it right there but looked like it just kind of drove through it picks the left front wheel up boy that thing started uh moving when the when
The clutch came in but then it just kind of qu right at that point where he starts spinning the tires and that’s when Tim wierson just start pulling away take a look at the points John Force has been bumped down to Fourth by Tim Wilkerson as he moves into third place
Only two behind Gary denum and only 85 behind denum or ahead is Dell worship let’s go to Bill Tim Wilkerson I remember doesn’t seem that long ago when you were just busting your butt in an alcohol funny car in division 3 trying to get into the Nitro classes and look
At you today you beat a heck of a field for this trophy well thank you very much uh well thank O’Reilly for sponsoring the race you know other great group of people but you know what it was a tough day and it’s not often you get to be the
Fast Car of the day and we were my team did a terrific job and I got to tell you we put put together a great group of sponsors with Craftsman and and Summit white KN but you know dick Levi guy that’s behind this car from a couple
Three years ago dick without you we wouldn’t be anywhere buddy so Levi ran shout all the people in that organization what a great group of folks thanks a lot let’s go to Dave Jerry started today awful mad in the sand trap ended up as a runner up which is not all
Bad considering all the struggles this team went through this weekend oh hey Runner up’s not it’s not bad that’s that’s better than every other guy except one so uh but my hats off with Tim wilon he’s had a great weekend that’s they’re tough team you know the uh the Quattro guys they worked
Their buns off The Punisher we brought out and uh and over ever sees the movies it’s just uh like I said hats off to wilon they beat us they beat us straight up good team good car good Dr drag racing Step Houston broken bodies broken everything I’m
Done thank you SC as we get ready now for the last race of the day you’re looking at clay Mikan trying to win his first ever NH National event and Brandon buring a guy who has never lost in four prior finals Parker part I asked Brandon if he realized what kind of statistical
Advantage he had coming into this finally said I don’t even look at that in fact I don’t even look at the ladders I don’t even know who I’m racing and I don’t care Dave Mike lber said the key to this race for him keep the tires from spinning at
The top and he’s shooting for a high 50 for their first NH win bird steam is Baton a thousand he is now five for five in finals he’s won two this year and he cuts the points margin between him and Tony Schumer to just 38 Parker Benny Bernstein your son
Brandon gets in a final he just doesn’t lose boy it’s been unbelievable I tell you that’s a pretty good record but hats off the the team they did a great job Budweiser and Lucas all and the fans man what a deal but Brandon did a nice job
There and this a tough day out here it’s really hard and this has been the team to beat for quite some time Marty I’ll tell you what you take a look at the starting line you’re going to say whoa clay had an advantage by 5100s of a
Second but then the tire smoke came on and it was Brandon Bernstein driving around him as this was not a solid solid soldout deal from the start Bo you’re right Marty almost 600s of a second playay Milan had him on the starting line but then you’re going to see the
Car is going to make a little bit of a move and then it starts spitting the tires a little bit earlier than it had in the previous runs they were having trouble with the spinning down track they spun early this time not the case for Brandon burin he was hooked up maybe
Had a little bit of spit TIR spin down the other end of the track but it didn’t hurt him because watch right here you’re going to see Kay milikin start to spin those big good years no tires shake it all just clutch application and horsepower too much for the track right
There and all he could do is watch Brandon Bernstein drive by there are the points and it has narrowed dramatically as Tony Schumacher’s lead is down to 38 Doug Kida is now third by 101 David grck and Larry Dixon has moved into the top five let’s go to Bo Brandon Bernstein at
This stage of this game last year you had two wins went into Bristol and took the points lead do you know you could do it again this year well thanks um you know we’re we’re fortunate enough to have a little bit of success here early and you know this Budweiser Lucas so
Fresh car you know we brought this out in April and for the month of April for Budweiser and we’re just excited about being here in the final and actually getting a win and we’ll go into Bristol and hopefully you know we can do some good there but um you know I can’t say
Enough about Tim and Kim and my whole team I mean this was a really tough track this weekend and for us to to go out and actually get a win like this you know it’s been awesome and uh I just got to say New Era and Mac Tools you guys
Are the greatest too thanks a lot and BR we’re coming up on another anniversary a year ago it looked like you may not even race again tell us about what the last 12 months has been like it’s been tremendous um you know and it’s been a
Long road to recovery and I just can’t say enough about the fans out there and the support that they gave me through that whole ordeal has just been amazing and I feel 100% And this makes it all the better not bad let’s go to Dave Clin your crew chief thought this race would
Be decided about the thousand foot Mark and that’s about where she started to spin ah I’m a little aggravated at myself cuz I seen him I felt her car spin I mean we we’ve obviously done that the last few rounds but uh I seen him
Drive by and I shut off and I seen the blower come off but I think he was too far out in front anyway but man what a day you know 104 plus guys they did What It Takes and the Warner Enterprises guys they get us here and you know they let
Us all happen mattco Royal Purple right here in Texas we’re going to go see those guys tomorrow I’m looking forward to that those guys do a whole lot for us I’m disappointed yeah I wanted to win but you know what I mean this was a good
Day for the team I mean we made four runs and you know what it’s a good team this team knows how to win and we’re going to win over here and I thought maybe it was today but old Budweiser car he just got it down through there a
Little better and but you know what Mike Clover is good on a tricky Racetrack and uh you know we had a pretty good day I ain’t complain I mean I wish we had won but yeah well sure but the bottom line is this team is one step closer and a
Lot of your guys that you picked up basically in Tennessee or out in washing and have had really no NH success you get them a little taste at least oh I guarantee you I mean you know they’re not new to final rounds I promise you that Mike clober is just he’s whooped
All of us into shave he knows how to get the job done he’s won a lot of these races and uh you know I think you don’t get a lot of credit that deserves cuz Mike Clover and uh you know he knows how to do it and and the great thing is
Peter Leeman giv me the chance to go out here and Terry’s car up every now and then I I love stepping on that gas Pella and making a little noise and and I’ve had fun and I appreciate these guys helping us out and it’s been good just
Wasn’t quite good enough maybe next time let’s here comes the Budweiser crew as they’re heading down to cheer on there driver the horns blasting and here they come to celebrate another victory for Brandon bursty number five we got to take commercial break stay with us we’ll
Wrap things up and we come back here to Houston Raceway Park
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Stats for this race Brandon Bernstein continues the 12 race streak that dated back to Indy of 2003 with Schumacher and both Bernstein’s being the only winners in the class in Top Fuel. Jerry Toliver makes his final appearance in a final round to my knowledge. Greg Anderson picks up his fourth race of the season. Karen Stoffer picks up her first ever NHRA National Event win to become the 7 women to win in the Pro classes . Future Champion Erica Enders picks up her first ever NHRA National Event win and only National Event win in Super Gas. It marked the first time since the 90 GatorNationals that 2 women had won at the same national event.
Jerry Toliver was really pissed with his parachutes in his Toyota. and "The Punisher" car gets punished for hitting the timing blocks.