1996 NHRA Winston Drag Racing Series Winston Select Finals At Pomona Fairplex

the following is a special presentation of tnn motorsports sunday morning 38 weeks ago two top fuelers cackling in the california sunshine kicked off the 1996 nhra winston drag racing campaign after crisscrossing the continent to 19 national events in a roller coaster ride of triumph and tragedy the quickest cars on earth return to that same performance playground for the season ending winston select finals only two cars in each category remain in competition and their last act will now be played out on pomona stage live here on the nashville network [Music] the sun is setting on the pomona raceway track as well as on the season on the nhra's winston championship tour for 1996 but for a handful of competitors there's one shot at glory left the winston select finals are coming to you live from pomona california [Music] as always the flag coming down out of the skies they just get set for the finals we've got just a one round left of racing here the 1996 season hi everybody glad to have you here with us it has been a tremendous day of racing so far here at pomona and what a great way to wrap up a tremendous 1996 season but you know if you were with us earlier today live here on nhra today you saw what a department of tourism kind of day it was weather-wise well as you can see as we marched on through the rounds here this afternoon things dramatically changed look at those clouds and trust me even though the temperatures don't look freezing cold it sure feels like it outside and it's going to be a real challenge for the tuners to get these machines ready to go racing now the one thing we need to concentrate on most off here in the beginning is top fuel points don't forget the banquet is tomorrow night the top 10 point people still have a chance to move up or down in the standings and it makes a big difference in the size of the check you get tomorrow night so everybody in the top ten looking to move upwards towards the front where kenny bernstein sits atop the championship now let's show you the top fuel ladder as we got set for round one competition this is our valvoline ladder and here's all the matchups on the top half of that ladder corey mack robert real hill dixon scott coletta busby bernstein and coletta to the bottom side where amato will go up against sarver don and tony schumacher head gibson van de griff and shelly anderson well that would be how they would match up but how would they perform in round one here at pomona let's take you back to earlier today and show it to you robert real and the left side of your screen going up against corey mack this is round one from earlier today reel smokes the tires corey mac tries to fly the front end he gets the wheel stand and the win as he pedaled it all the way to the far end of the racetrack with a 568 but he wasn't happy yeah i was shaking and the front end came up i had to pedal it first thing i thought was get it back down and get to the wind lights we need two rounds to make sure we finish number two in this thing so there's a good look at that tire you can see the front end bent up on the mcdonald's machine kenny bernstein the new champ going up against connie coletta colette in the near league you go on board with kb the bud king blazes down the quarter mile to a 468 at 310 as connie coletta hazes them and shuts it off next up bruce arbor right there the car quest card going up against joe amato and young mr brock doing a great job of tuning this machine a motto of 462 low e.t of round number one on to round number two the top fuel cars would mark shelly anderson going up against jim head alan johnson working his magic on the smoke and joe's car but he was in for a fight with shelly hett gets the win the smoke and joe's machine up 467 and 304 could allen johnson do it again corey mack larry dixon corey mackwood red light dixon would haze the tires is corey kicking himself in the car you bet early vacation to lake havasu for corey mack now the top fuel ladder after round number two there you see how they marched on mclennan dixon coletta bernstein and then it would be dixon going up against scott coletta in the semifinals of top fuel on the bottom side a motto and jim head would get past schumacher and shelly anderson they would match up in the semifinals of top fuel here they are the final four dixon in the near lane scott coletta in the far lane no championship for scott but could he get the bonus money remember he won the bud classic dixon gets beat scott coletta marching on he had a one-tenth of advantage at the start they both run 470 scott kaleta goes to the finals staring at the bonus money jim had joe amato head goes up in smoke and joe amato goes on to the win with a 463 and a blazing 314. let's send you down to my good buddy steve evans down in those nitro pits the beeper's eyes have been joey motto's but he's encouraging the crew giving them neck rubs they have really busted their butts today well steve they worked real hard we had to change one engine a couple rear ends and we got down to about 65 minutes we had to get the car prepared because they're running late in the tv schedule but we're having a lot of fun trust me you were so depressed yesterday afternoon you got beat on a hole shot in the bud classic today the passionate joey motto's back well you know i i went to bed and jimmy proc had a little meeting with the team yesterday and he said today's today and tomorrow is a new day let's all sit down tomorrow regroup come out and then we'll go out and try and win this race to do it for the all the sponsors and all the folks that have been stood by joel motto and our whole team and the team's doing a tremendous job all year and joe motto's you know trying to drive the car to stay up with the team but the keystone key part special all our customers and friends all the people back home we love you we're gonna try and bring one home for the gipper and this will put us in a special league we'll tell you about that if we get to the final he is pumped up right now it gives me great pleasure for the final time this year to introduce to you the third member of our roving broadcast band bob fry i gotta laugh steve we've only talked to joe mata we're already running overtime scott colette is sitting here and scott if i can use the term if you guys could double up and win this thing you could salvage this year yeah that's for sure you know it'd make it a lot easier to uh get through the winter but uh yeah we would like to win it all but uh yeah that'll definitely help we need the money anyway as you can see by the motors laying there both trailers empty are empty well the trailers may be empty but the bank account won't be if they can double up it's a lot of bucks let's go back to the booth bro that's the only way you can go racing it is season finale sorry everything you got in the trailer into the race car and let's take a look at the head-to-head matchup as you can see they have met three times in eliminations amato leaves the series two to one but scott coletta's got a lot of money up for grabs if he could just win the winston select finals k n's exclusive live coverage of the winston select finals is brought to you by mopar chrysler corporation parks and the chrysler plymouth dodge jeep and eagle dealers who sell and install them there's nothing funny about these 6 000 horsepowered sunday bunnies on the nhra tour let's take a look at the funny car point standings as the winston championship has already been handed out to john force i think back here in pomona when we started this thing in january tony pedro got cruz pedragon battling for second let's take a look back to the bottom half of that top ten again everybody fighting for money as this is the last race on the tour and of course those guys are gonna have to find out who they were gonna go up against in round number one so let's show you the latter here as they got set for the first round of eliminations on our valvoline funny car ladder hartman and higley arendt oswald hoffman hoover force and poldy to the other side the bottom half wilkerson and densham scuza okazaki tony and cruz worsham and neely that's how they would stack up but how would they fare in competition round one with the funny cars here at pomona ray higley in the near lane richard hartman in the far lane off the line smoking tires will spell doom for hartman higley the old fuel altered driver to a 5 58 in a win line this was the key match-up of round one cruz and tony fighting for number two in the winston point championship [Music] and younger brother puts it to the old guy tony petragon near the wall he never lifts and he goes on to a 498 win 294. car dropped the cylinder and moved over to the right almost hit the wall but uh you know cruising them we give them all the credit in the world they're a good team to race against they're going to be back next year but this is great for myself and the crew chiefs that made it all happen and casual especially downforce tony pendragon had never been so emotional that's john howell from castrol he said it was the greatest moment in his sporting career he's done everything playing football in high school he's done some boxing as the crew comes over and he said beating his brother for second of the points he congratulates his crew chief john medlen was the most emotional thing he'd ever done didn't even get any sleep last night he spent so much time thinking about it round two kenzie okazaki the moon ice car and tim wilkerson who is having a great weekend here off the line and kenji would make big jim happy guys he would join the four second club that would be wilkerson earlier in the weekend but kimchi with a 519 at 299 would get the win [Music] higley up against the in and out car and the in and out car would go up and smoke but so would higley how about it mark oswald find the throttle there it goes and you get the wind light never ever ever give up oswald moves on [Music] now this is something tricky only tnn can bring you we've got telemetry with a funny car insane you say you bet but that's tnn motorsports and that is a tire temperature on a burnout 640 degrees what does it do when you go race one of these things pretty toasty dell worship providing the heat sensor let's show you the ladder now as they got through as we go back to our valvoline ladder setting ourselves up for our semifinals higley oswell hoffman force oswald enforce would both move on former champs wilkerson and okazaki tony pedragon going up against kenji in the semis down to four funny guards could tony pedragon meet the boss one more time how about kenji he's got a whole contingent from japan over here watching him oh kenji a red light and such a strong run he would have had tony weld it he welded himself unfortunately oswald enforced gotta love the black card john absolutely beautiful don't lose the flames [Music] force up against oswald oswald said my car's possession is close to halloween not enough for the guy who was born on halloween forest gets the win of 497. that's one scary-looking car steve i agree save the flames for us this may not be the bouncy john you're used to seeing he got a bad meatball last night at a reception has a bit of food poisoning but your driving certainly hasn't suffered from it well i really thank the lord today i got a good old hot rod she's just making magic out there steve you were accomplishing this season everything you set out to do and more well the whole trick after indy when we won and locked up the title was to get tony that number two spot and get even for 92 and uh cruz is a great racer but tony got him today and uh we're just really excited that we did that and most importantly the fans are going to see a side-by-side gopher at race here oh yeah if i can get to the start line i'm a little down on tired thing i'm really really trying to do is keep this uh black flamed uh action collectible hot rod alive until i can get her home because she's going to the museum go lay down will you bob fry is well bob fry is about 20 feet that way you see a pattern developing looks like an instant replay over here rover from the force bit over here to tony pedregon and tony i mean after beating your brother finishing number two in the points and everything is this final round ant high climactic well you know we've seen this picture a few times in the final round but i think we've got a real good shot at beating john this time our car ran a couple of fours in the first two rounds and it fell off in the semifinals uh we know why because we were a little bit on the edge but um we've just got a good shot at beating him you know it's been an emotional day a big day for us and uh we can't think of a better way to end this thing we're really going to try and beat john i'm not sure if he's under contract or not if he is he'll probably beat john if not you never can tell ralph oh it should be a tremendous head-to-head fight between these two they've matched up before eight times in eliminations forced leads at seven can tony make it 7-2 he's done well with the number two already taking the second spot in the points championship [Music] tnn's exclusive live coverage of the winston select finals is brought to you by pep boys 26 000 items at the guaranteed low price tires and service too everything but gas and by peerless faucet get more out of your faucet than just water let's take you straight to the factory hot rod point standings for the winston pro stock division jim yates of course clinching the championship in dallas wj came up a little bit short but he's got to fend off the rest of them as they fight for those final positions inside the top ten bob clinton sneaking into the top ten can he make it into ninth we'll have to find out so the pro stock division cars the factory hot rod set for their final run here at pomona let's take it to the valvoline ladder to show you how they would match up in round number one wj against glidden edwards and allen yates and kj marnell and morgan on the top half on the bottom side powek against coughlin ekman martino smith and schmidt thomas and williams so that's how they would stack up how would they perform let's take you to round number one bob glidden and wj mr six seconds this year warren johnson and jim yanks have been dancing all around those six seconds could we get one in round number one not a problem for the professor a 696 197. he hadn't broken those four times in round number one the championship might have turned around kurt johnson and tim yates can yates get a six second pass kj breaks yates wins but not with a six a 7-0 as he wins the battle on to round number two tom martino up against mark pallak now powwick would become a member of the hawley six second club this weekend so did mike edwards in this one martino as you see powick's car dancing all around the lane powek would get the win and suddenly the summit car with a 699 is a player remember he's been working with wj here in the later stages of the season mike edwards up against a professor this one would come down to a whole shot win slick 50 money going out to mike edwards as he gets the win on the whole shot and puts away the professor and finally in round number two pete williams up against ricky smith another whole shot tricky ricky picks up money from slick 50 as well as the win line as he trailers pete williams with a 7.03 and let's take another look at the ladder now so you can see how he worked our way into the semifinals edwards would come through as well with yates on the top half the ladder and on the bottom side pallek and smith would get past martino and williams so let's take you back now and show you the pro stock semifinals the final four here's edwards up against yates and guess what the new champ is not going to be in the finals at pomona edwards who wraps up the slick 50 performer of the year title gets the win a 6.99 ricky smith up against mark smith in the near lane palace in the far lane how good could that summit car be [Music] just not good enough ricky smith gets the win what do you think steve look at this angelic countenance uh you'd never know look at the tricky ricky but you're in the final because of two straight hole shots what is it when you're on is it mental is it physical what is it i guess it's just mental i guess you know steve it definitely ain't physical because i'm doing best i can here you know i'm a grandpa now and hey well troy and ronnie helping me this year carrier i'm just tickled to be in the finals we've had a good year we're fifth in the points if i win this race we're fourth and let me tell you what as bob frywell knows his opponent also got here via whole shots right bob hey steve this guy's a driving fool mike edwards you've had a great day and a great year and mike you're the first one to admit you can't do it alone yeah that's true bob i've got a lot of people be thankful for john and mary lou kite owners of this car give me the greatest opportunity in the world i've dreamed of this opportunity and now i have it and uh it's just been a wonderful year i just thank god for everything because he's made everything possible for me he's had a great season and everything if he wins this here today might even be more exciting than an 81 modified championship that he won in that ford maverick ralph how do you hold shot the whole shot artist i don't know but we're going to find out here shortly when these two have met four times in eliminations we'll go head to head one more time ricky has the lead three to one any holes on him [Music] pro stock bikes a flick of the wrist and it's one rocket ride down the quarter mile [Music] the only class where the points championship was up for grabs as we rolled into the fairplex here at pomona the winston pro stock bike standings looked like this john myers up against dave schultz matt hines out of the championship hunt but could hold on to third john smith rick ward rounding out the top five there's angel ceiling and something tells me by next year at this time he's gonna be a little bit farther up than just eighth in the point standings in fact she'll probably be contending for the title well let's show you the valvoline ladder for the pro stock pikes of course it was going to be very important as to where schultz and myers would start their day hines tonglet johnson scally as you see the top half ladder there's schultz cj smith bartone cook myers and reeves and arana and nyberg well john myers and dave schultz two of the best ever to swing a leg over a bike going at it for a title here at pomona and we would start it off in round one with john myers against stephanie reeves myers out and away [Music] and then dead in the water can you believe it stephanie reeves gets the win no offense to stephanie but this should have been a walk away for john myers another one of those deals i don't know something broke it wouldn't shift wait and find out what happened i don't know the championship went away as did the bike as it would shift into gear so salts would go up against cj smith knowing what he had to do schultz would have to get through two rounds to clinch the title round one handled as he puts away cj smith and you saw it from dave's view on to round number two if schultz could put away cook he would claim the title in the winston pro stock fight category [Music] down the quarter mile they would go and pomona and dave schultz would win the pro stock fight title [Music] congratulations to the champion david schultz thank you i wanted to hear you say that steve i've been waiting for that you were being so careful not to red light it almost cost you there you had the gunning down yeah i know i did but i felt like we've made the changes on the bike and and greg had really gotten a handle on where this bike needed to go all weekend and so i felt like i could run him down i just wanted to be really i wanted to be really safe up there so with the title set now we'd have to fight for the crown here at pomona that highs against steve johnson hines in the near lane getting a good run from steve johnson but heinz would catch him at the far end get the win he would also pick up the nbna bonus of two thousand dollars to matt hines for an e.t record of a 734 with a four here's a look at how they all moved through you would see schultz would go up against the hammer hector arana and on to the semifinals we would go to see how schultz and rhonda and smith and heinz would do schultz to the hammer schultz on your left the hammer on the right and hector red lights and dave takes an easy cruise down the boulevard he's on his way to the finals with a 7-44 matt hines the youngster so strong early on in the season john smith in the far lane with the entire vance hines crew on hand matt heinz would see the trip to the final go away as john smith would get the win with a 740 steve a vision in yellow is john smith already pointed down the pomona quarter mile you have beaten dave shields before in a final round 93 at the gators can you do it once more that was three years ago i think i'm ready to do it again your writing has been absolutely spectacular and this is a difficult race track in some ways well we've never really had that great look at this racetrack and things really came together for us on the last qualifying pass and we're we're hanging on to the combination and eliminations my man from minnesota i'm keeping him loose here his corner man bob fry yeah you might be his corner man but the guy over here is thinking about an oc dick yeah we've already done what we came here to do was win the championship you know this is this is as much fun as i've had in a final you know the pressure's off i'm just out here to race and have fun the one thing about dame schultz is when he's relaxed he's incredibly difficult to beat so dave schultz and smith getting set for the first final for the winston select finals live on tnn for pomona right after this they talk about when they say a sunset out in california they don't get much more spectacular than that the winston selects finals coming your way from pomona well there are four races left to go on the nhra winston championship tour and john smith and dave schultz are going to make up the first one bob and this one i think the edge has got to go because he's so strong and so calm right now yeah it really does he's got the better race bike out here i'll tell you what though the john nord team and john smith and that gang really is very confident they think they can take them out and don't be surprised if something strange goes on in the starting line i think this one's won with a red light by one of the bikes steve very well be you can see how loose thanks to me my man john smith really was he just got a shadow box in there sitting on the seat of that bike he's only won one national event there it might as we said that was against dave schultz well smith runner-up at the slick 50 nationals earlier this year of course dave schultz not only claimed a championship but three wins in 1996. and there is not a bike better prepared on the tour arguably than the one that great coat rolls out for dave schultz the mind games are about to be played out the top two lights are on now what do you do you run them and you go on board with schultz schultz has a problem and smith gets the win smith was done off the line schultz had him all the way down the racetrack till the bike let go and john smith has now won two national events both of them coming against dave schultz you can see how they came off the line it was schultz with a 436 reaction time to a little bit slower 441 for smith and then right there you see the pucks of smoke schultz is done and smith with a big grin makes his way down the track they get to go real time a day oh you heard it it gave it up and you bet buddy you are a winner at pomona and the winners are with steve ah yes congratulations young man you knew you were in big trouble you could see where he was yeah he uh he stuck it out on me pretty good and then uh you know it looked like something happened a little bit to his bike and then also you know because i got a little bit back on him and nelson he was gone this is going to warm up that minnesota winner isn't it absolutely it's coming around the corner man this is an awesome way to end the year with plasti-dip noko ramsay all them guys are doing a great job for us just can't wait till next year we can't either jennifer schrum has the beautiful winston trophy bob fry thank you here's a look at the winston prestok bike point standings this is how they will finish up after 12 events just a top five dave schultz wins another championship john myers comes up just short matt hines what a great year that young sensation has had he will be a player from now on john smith and the hammer around that in the top five there is the pro stock finalists and they are coming up when we come back and remember these guys have been going through the day on hole shots who can hold shot who when we come back tnn's exclusive live coverage of the winston select finals is brought to you by mobar chrysler corporation parks and the chrysler plymouth dodge jeep and eagle dealers who sell and install them [Music] it has been an incredible season for the pro stock fields this year we've seen the quickest fields ever we've seen the most intense competition this division has ever produced we're going to wrap it all up here at commando with ricky smith there you see him sitting inside of troy humphreys carrier car going up against mike edwards ricky smith just having a little uh waiting a little bit to get the car uh set to go maybe this is a part of the mind games what do you think hell bob was just going to go over and take a look at that i'm not really sure if he's playing any mind games or not i thought they might have had a little bit of mechanical problem with the race car you know in the fuel cars they try to jockey back and forth who's going to do the long burnout and who's going to do the short burnout and i don't think there was any mind games there this is going to be a great drag race steve when it comes down to the battle of the old shots do you give it to tricky ricky or you give it to the guy that has won the whole shot award steve i think this is the final that might result in a red light if it does it may well be in ricky smith's lane mike edwards knows he's got a bit of a performance advantage a couple of six second runs he doesn't have to push the tree as hard ricky well ricky's gonna take a chance there you see mike edwards he does have two wins he's been to the finals four times now ricky has only been to the finals once this year that was in indianapolis and he came up the runner-up now we get into the staging goal look at this edwards is all set to go away they go and edwards has got him off the line and he'll get the win line a pair of 701s and the win line goes to mike edwards a 7-0-1 with an o to a losing 7-0-1 with a two edwards brings it to a slow stop at the far end and let's take a look at the replay off the line it was up 439 for edwards to a slower 466 with ricky smith and you saw the battle they played on this starting line might have been just enough ricky gave him a run at the far end but he couldn't match up and mike edwards has his third win of the year steve the quiet man from oklahoma who also is the crew chief on this car very emotional right now trying to get the window netting down get everything unbuckled out he comes tell me about what was going on in the starting line there big mike uh anytime you run the route the trickster there it's uh never know what rick's gonna do he's a heck of a driver so uh awesome day steve awesome day but you were the one with this starting line advantage identical elapsed times but jennifer has this for you thanks jennifer something i've worked awful hard for steve boy hard work doesn't even describe this guy ralph no it doesn't but winner definitely does and he is definitely a winner here today he will finish third in the winston pro stock point standings after 19 races across the country jim yates of course clinching the championship in dallas well we're going to start twisting in some nitro into what we've got coming your way when we come back with the top fuel final there's sis scott coletta he is looking to win a big bonus can he get it here today we'll find out when we come back commercial transportation for this broadcast has been provided by ryder the official transportation company for opryland we are back to pomona where we are bringing you live coverage of the finals from the winston select finals there is joe amano but paul fry where is his competitor well he just made it to the line didn't he they're all set and ready to go i talked to jimmy brock and he said they have used the same set of heads on this race car all day long and that's amazing because this has been like a bracket car albeit a very fast bracket car joe mata has been a real champion here at this race we think back to that great 1990 final with the late gary ormsbeen he knows what to do here at this racetrack scott colette is a little bit more sluggish time wise but then remember scott was the underdog yesterday we know how that came out well you're real tempted to lay your money down on joe amato the 462 the 463 but i'm not going to make that mistake i underestimated scott coletti yesterday afternoon in the budweiser classic as did bob fry and they stepped right up 215 216 miles an hour mid 460 run i think this is a pick em deal i'm going to go ahead and go with scott [Music] galetta i am going to go with scott glitter i think it is his weekend as you take a look at joe armada who was arriving late to the staging lanes i think it's cool at his weekend remember he has got the big bonus that he is shooting for there was a hundred grand winning the bud classic yesterday which he did there's 50 grand for winning the main event here tonight which he could possibly do and then there will be a 50 000 bonus from the nhra if he is able to double up on the weekend and of course there's another 30 grand sitting out there for mbna if he can set an ep record in the process scott with just one national event win this year western auto nationals i just get the funny feeling it is his time to really put a capper to his season has been not exactly the kind of season that he it now joe amato they have been dancing all around with this car and it has been strong since the beginning of the day hosting a 315 mile an hour run in the first round jimmy brock has been throwing everything on they got in the trailer into a motto's car and it's all set to go hot fuel the final run of the 96 season since the mountain down thanks scott here comes 6 000 horsepower [Music] well joe amano made me and steve look a little silly how about a 466 with a four 312 miles an hour as joe amato picks up his second national event win of the 96 season let's go back and take a look at this in our replay a motto quicker out of the lights of 466 to a 511 both cars performing pretty well the majority of the way down the racetrack you see all the flames are lit but amato's car was just a little bit quicker the 466 gets it steve if you're looking for the party tonight just find the nearest good italian restaurant joe amado will be there what a winner we're gonna have steve we're gonna have a big party tonight you know i can't say enough to jimmy proc jim bersett the waltz boys freddy uh my girlfriend diamond sets with me oh i'm going to forget somebody i know i am sal is with us and billy came to help drive the truck home he and he was at english town we won too so maybe there's an omen to that but for all our fans and our keystone key parts customers and and the dynamics and valvoline and the auto light and everybody american racing wheels they all aren't tough with us and they they've been there for us all year and we got a big deal working next year with a sponsor and we may be out here we might have the best deal for money in town if we do trust me we're gonna have a run at that world championship polish up the little gold man here joe he's gonna be hoarse in about an hour boy i hope we got time for the funny card final now bernstein clinches the championship and that is how the top fuel point standings will wrap up as you take a look at the top five and our mopar top performer of the day it will be joe amato our mopar high performer of the weekend here at pomona how exciting this is you know scott colette is a good team there he is he's still talking the only guy that can maybe out talk that guy here's john force and you see it over his shoulder it's black it's white and it comes with flames the castle gtx sixth championship anniversary car [Music] there you see john force getting set the funny cards have just pulled into the staging lane so it's going to be a minute or two before they're ready to go john force walks over to talk to steve gibbs and there's tony pendragon getting strapped into his car well we've already crowned some champions this weekend and we want to take a chance now to salute the champions who have found their way to glory layout [Music] me gets ever closer you are reaching first [Music] is [Music] oh [Music] is you'll hear me [Music] is ah glory land john force has found his way to glory land six times as they get set to light that evil looking black commemorative car with the flames on it john 6 championship great looking car steve could be a winner it could be but don't forget that green and white castro car also knows how to find the winner's circle there's no points at stake here all the money goes in the same bank account we were in their pits we saw everybody had equal parts equal labor i think tony pentagon based on the couple of runs so we're going to throw that when we smoke the tires he has got a very good chance of beating the boss and the bus actually might even enjoy it well what a shame this is a car that had a little bit of trouble tony petragon's car they were struggling a little bit to get it ready to go racing and looking like frustration on the face of the crew bob this car is not going to start boys they had problems back there in the pit area they had a swat mags at the last minute they're down here just now getting set to unstrap tony pedregon it is going to be a single for that car here in the final so they were over there in the pit area they were that's one of the reasons why they were a little late getting these funny cars up into the staging lanes forest was ready tony came in as they were pulling into the lanes they were trying to readjust the ignition and the timing just never did get it to fire over so it's going to be single here in the finals you see kelly pryor taking a look at it and tony climbing out of the car well john force is about to get are you ready for this his 13th national event win in one year and this car take a good look at it because it is the last time you will see this body in competition as you see a dejected tony pedro got what a roller coaster ride he has had today beating his brother crews who frank pedragon told me earlier today that he used to hold tony down so cruz could beat up on him guess what tony beat up on his brother he's not thinking about that right now john force this car destined for a place in the showroom and forces new race shock the only time you'll see it race live in competition oh and it hazed the tires that was not what john forbes wanted to do with that car [Music] john is truly a showman and he wanted to give this pat grandstand here in pomona everything he could and i know when he gets out to talk to steve evans at the far end that'll be exactly what he will tell him [Music] and i think the reason why of course he knew he was going to be going up against tony there you see tony's reaction just a little bit more dejection this poor struggles to get it off the line john came loaded for bear didn't he bob yeah that was some way it ended a couple of great finals coming in you know i just want to take a quick moment there are a lot of big fires here in southern california lately there's two great drag racing fans scott french and william jensen big time fans that were burned badly in those fires they're in the glendale fire district they're watching on tnn we don't normally take moments to say hi to people but we hope they get better soon and they did a great job here and we appreciate all of their efforts some finals here today guys underneath that helmet i think john 4 shares tony's disappointment that's not how you wanted this act to come out nope nope that was uh ruined my day steve we wanted to come in here and run we knew tony back in the pits had problems they tried to start the car three times they had to change motors they lost the motor in the last round when they smoked the tires like i just did and we knew it we and you know we're trying to make tv we pushed it it's not good don't matter me i just i want to race the kid and i'm just aggravated as hell it'll come john it'll come congratulations on a record-setting season if john force could take that car back up to the starting line and do it all over again right now for the fans he would as you look at the winston funny card point standings after 19 events john has got six championships tony comes home in second it's been a great season for the gang so long for pomona

Channel: Michael McIntyre

Views: 570

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: -eK1_QYjb64

Length: 43min 43sec (2623 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 17 2021