It's not taken long for the NHRA's Top Fuel championship battle to turn into a two-horse race at the conclusion of Sunday's AAA Insurance NHRA Nationals at Gateway Motorsports Park.
For the second consecutive race, Antron Brown and the Aaron's dragster beat teammate Spencer Massey and the Prestone rail, and in the process have separated themselves from the rest of class.
"Our team hit a grand slam here this weekend," Brown said. "We qualified No. 1 and took it one round at a time. It was a great weekend, but it's always a struggle.
"This class is very competitive, and these guys aren't playing anymore. You have your struggles here and there, and you have to keep on overcoming them."
Other winners in St. Louis were Jack Backman in Funny Car, Erica Enders in Pro Stock and Eddie Krawiec in Pro Stock Motorcycle.
Brown and Massey went into this weekend's event tied for the lead, with Tony Schumacher close behind in third. Now, Brown leads the field, 21 points ahead of Massey, with Massey 62 points in front of third place.
In the final, Brown was off the line second but was able to overcome the deficit by running a 3.766-second pass at 325.22 mph to Massey's 3.812 at 324.05 mph.
"It was a stressful day where we matched up against some great competition," Brown said. "Matching up against my teammate in the final was big – we've been back and forth in the points.
"We need to go back to the shop and get focused on these last three races. It's just so competitive out here and this points race is going to go down to the last race."
With his win, Beckman pulled the Valvoline Dodge Charger to within 30 points of the Funny Car lead.
"It's nice to know that we have a car that can challenge for the championship," Beckman said. "This wasn't do-or-die, but it's getting pretty close. I'm not saying we counted points, but we had a tablet going with a lot of cross marks and updated math. Losing to (leader Ron) Capps by four-thousandths in Dallas hurt a lot, but today went a long way towards healing that."
In the final, Beckman beat defending class champ Matt Hagan when Hagan went red by a shocking .307 seconds. For the record, Beckman ran a 4.132-second lap at 306.53 mph.
Enders and the KLR Group Chevy won her fourth race of the season, defeating points leader Allen Johnson in the process and moved into third place in the points.
"This is the win I wanted to get in Texas last week, but I'll take it," Enders said. "We were definitely consistent this weekend and that's why we got to the final so I could race my bud (Johnson) and get to the winner's circle."
Enders got a slight jump on Johnson to start the race and held him at bay long enough to earn a holeshot win. Johnson ran a quicker ET, 6.538 at 212.13 mph to Enders' 6.540 at 211.79 mph, but Enders' held a .006 second advantage at the start that proved to be the margin of victory.
Johnson retains his points lead, leaving St. Louis with a 109 point edge on second place Jason Line. Enders moved into third and is 17 behind Line.
A week after his Screamin' Eagle Harley-Davidson team saw its winning streak end at 13 races, Krawiec was back in victory lane. He beat teammate Andrew Hines for his seventh victory of the season and extended his points lead.
"Andrew and I were lucky to take out the Hectors in the semis and that really helped us in the points," Krawiec said. "I lost in Dallas due to rider error. I had a .066 light, which is unacceptable. This week I was good on the Tree and had a good bike which is what it takes to win some rounds.
"Yes, I had three red-lights against me here but I did well and all my runs were good. I pushed it a little in the final but I know the potential of what (Hines) has. He crushed me in Charlotte."
Krawiec won three rounds on red lights: The first round against Steve Johnson, the second against Chip Ellis and the final against Hines. Hines was .036 seconds early, giving Krawiec the victory. He's now 33 points ahead of Hines with three races remaining.
SUNDAY'S RESULTS
Top Fuel
ROUND ONE -- Khalid alBalooshi, 3.830, 322.50 def. Larry Dixon, 3.917, 310.41; Brandon Bernstein, 3.798, 321.50 def. Doug Kalitta, 3.907, 256.36; David Grubnic, 5.136, 276.41 def. Terry McMillen, 6.133, 154.30; Tony Schumacher, 3.784, 320.51 def. Clay Millican, 3.925, 279.04; Antron Brown, 3.839, 320.28 def. Bruce Litton, 10.440, 71.61; Spencer Massey, 3.803, 310.77 def. T.J. Zizzo, 5.015, 144.16; Shawn Langdon, 3.771, 325.69 def. Morgan Lucas, 4.069, 230.33; Steve Torrence, 3.793, 321.27 def. Bob Vandergriff, 3.908, 309.63; QUARTERFINALS -- Massey, 3.782, 311.92 def. alBalooshi, 3.831, 298.40; Brown, 3.787, 321.19 def. Torrence, 3.904, 306.74; Bernstein, 3.795, 318.84 def. Schumacher, 3.795, 324.12; Grubnic, 3.797, 319.22 def. Langdon, 3.920, 286.07; SEMIFINALS -- Brown, 3.812, 317.94 def. Bernstein, 5.149, 137.48; Massey, 3.795, 317.64 def. Grubnic, 10.350, 50.37; FINAL -- Brown, 3.766, 325.22 def. Massey, 3.812, 324.05.
Funny Car
ROUND ONE -- Tony Pedregon, Toyota Camry, 4.111, 308.14 def. Bob Tasca III, Ford Mustang, 10.515, 77.92; Mike Neff, Mustang, 4.397, 239.65 def. Courtney Force, Mustang, DQ; Jack Beckman, Dodge Charger, 4.127, 306.12 def. Alexis DeJoria, Camry, 4.233, 294.37; Dale Creasy Jr., Chevy Impala, 4.606, 189.34 def. John Force, Mustang, 6.921, 103.19; Matt Hagan, Charger, 4.086, 304.32 def. Jim Head, Toyota Solara, foul; Ron Capps, Charger, 4.072, 309.20 def. Johnny Gray, Charger, 4.162, 307.09; Tim Wilkerson, Mustang, 4.125, 305.63 def. Robert Hight, Mustang, 4.272, 258.96; Jeff Arend, Camry, 4.142, 309.13 def. Cruz Pedregon, Camry, 4.657, 204.73; QUARTERFINALS -- T. Pedregon, 4.109, 305.36 def. Neff, 10.472, 75.58; Beckman, 4.093, 306.95 def. Arend, broke; Wilkerson, 4.084, 308.50 def. Creasy Jr., 6.047, 128.74; Hagan, 4.116, 297.35 def. Capps, 4.345, 295.27; SEMIFINALS -- Beckman, 4.093, 302.35 def. T. Pedregon, 5.957, 134.52; Hagan, 4.137, 299.46 def. Wilkerson, 4.197, 291.19; FINAL -- Beckman, 4.132, 306.53 def. Hagan, foul.
Pro Stock
ROUND ONE -- Buddy Perkinson, Pontiac GXP, 6.564, 210.80 def. V. Gaines, Dodge Avenger, 6.551, 210.87; Mike Edwards, GXP, 6.537, 211.63 def. Larry Morgan, Ford Mustang, 6.575, 209.62; Dave Connolly, Chevy Cobalt, 6.563, 209.65 def. Ron Krisher, GXP, 6.601, 210.21; Erica Enders, Cobalt, 6.538, 211.46 def. Shane Gray, GXP, 6.588, 210.05; Greg Anderson, Chevy Camaro, 6.526, 211.96 def. Warren Johnson, GXP, 6.645, 207.43; Allen Johnson, Avenger, 6.535, 211.49 def. Greg Stanfield, Camaro, 6.590, 209.43; Jason Line, Camaro, 6.514, 212.13 def. Jeg Coughlin, Avenger, 6.587, 210.70; Vincent Nobile, Avenger, 6.546, 211.03 def. Chris McGaha, Avenger, 6.579, 210.28; QUARTERFINALS -- Enders, 6.532, 211.73 def. Connolly, 6.566, 210.83; A. Johnson, 6.517, 212.03 def. Edwards, 16.178, 44.22; Nobile, 6.544, 211.36 def. Anderson, 6.535, 211.93; Line, 6.506, 212.66 def. Perkinson, 6.546, 211.39; SEMIFINALS -- A. Johnson, 8.564, 184.60 def. Nobile, 9.392, 145.50; Enders, 6.531, 212.33 def. Line, 11.297, 79.17; FINAL -- Enders, 6.540, 211.79 def. A. Johnson, 6.538, 212.13.
Pro Stock Motorcycle
ROUND ONE -- Scotty Pollacheck, Buell, 6.895, 191.19 def. Michael Ray, Buell, 6.903, 190.38; Chip Ellis, Buell, 7.090, 159.16 def. Jerry Savoie, Suzuki, foul; Andrew Hines, Harley-Davidson, 6.899, 194.04 def. Jim Underdahl, Suzuki, 6.942, 193.27; Eddie Krawiec, Harley-Davidson, 7.222, 156.44 def. Steve Johnson, Suzuki, foul; Hector Arana, Buell, 6.845, 195.73 def. Mike Berry, Buell, 6.959, 191.32; Hector Arana Jr, Buell, 6.881, 193.49 def. John Hall, Buell, foul; Karen Stoffer, Suzuki, 6.907, 193.38 def. Matt Smith, Buell, foul; Shawn Gann, Buell, 6.923, 192.93 def. LE Tonglet, Suzuki, foul; QUARTERFINALS -- Krawiec, 6.810, 197.10 def. Ellis, foul; Hines, 6.850, 194.94 def. Stoffer, foul; Arana Jr, 6.882, 195.34 def. Pollacheck, 6.946, 189.31; Arana, 7.758, 179.73 def. Gann, 8.056, 169.08; SEMIFINALS -- Hines, 6.874, 193.27 def. Arana Jr, 7.013, 192.93; Krawiec, 6.852, 193.96 def. Arana, 6.892, 194.38; FINAL -- Krawiec, 6.851, 193.88 def. Hines, foul.
