2011 NHRA Full Throttle Countdown to the Championship
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Countdown to the Championship 2011 NHRA Full Throttle Countdown to the Championship he Countdown to the Championship, NHRA’s playoff system, reached maturity in its fourth year of Texistence in 2010. From drivers to crew chiefs to ESPN to, especially, the fans – for everyone in the NHRA community – the Countdown became a household name in 2010. Everyone understood the format and everyone was dialed into it from the first staging of cars at the season-opening 50th annual Kragen O’Reilly NHRA Winternationals to the dramatic finish at the 46th annual Auto Club NHRA Finals. All of which helped to contribute to a 51 percent spike in ‘fan avidity’ for NHRA in the 2010 ESPN Sports Poll. It was the largest move by any one of the 31 Major Sports in the poll and it vaulted NHRA all the way up to 11th overall and just a tenth of a percentage point behind the NHL in the poll that asked ‘avid sports fans’ which sports they were ‘very interested’ in. On the track, drivers began talking about Countdown strategy early in the year – do you keep the pedal down and create a winning culture in your pits or do you stalk the lead and pounce during the six-race playoff? Some (Larry Dixon) effectively implemented the former strategy while others (Greg Anderson and LE Tonglet) effectively implemented the latter strategy. In between was Funny Car icon John Force, who had an up-and-down year that he was either lucky enough or good enough to time just right. After his lowest low at Reading, a first-round failure to stage in Race 4 in the six-race playoff, Force rebounded with back-to-back wins at the NHRA Las Vegas Nationals and the Auto Club NHRA Finals to win his NHRA-record 15th championship. While Force did lead the Funny Car class with six wins, his slip-up at the Toyo Tires NHRA Nationals at Reading culminated a nine-race winless stretch that ended with falling out of first place for only the second time all season. While he was sidelined, 27-year-old Matt Hagan powered his DieHard Dodge Charger into the finals and into first place. Hagan reached the final at Las Vegas to keep the pressure – and a 37-point lead – on Force heading into the finale, but Force and the veteran Castrol GTX High-Mileage team proved too much. Hagan spun the wheels just enough to allow longtime Force ally Bob Tasca to upset him in the first round at the Finals and that proved to be more than enough of an opening for Force, who proceeded to put an exclamation point on the championship by doubling up and winning the race. The ending was not quite so dramatic for Dixon and the Al-Anabi team led by manager Alan Johnson and crew chief Jason McCulloch as they dominated the sport from the first green light to the last to end Tony Schumacher and the U.S. Army team’s reign on the Top Fuel class at six years. 325 Countdown to the Championship In 2010, the Al-Anabi team led all of NHRA in: • Wins (12) • Round wins (62) • Winning percentage (.849) • Average qualifying position (2.52) • Points (2,684) Dixon was a perfect 12-for-12 in final rounds, including nine regular season wins and three in the Countdown and while Schumacher and Cory McClenathan kept him honest, he was simply too consistent to be caught. In Pro Stock, defending champion Mike Edwards seemed to be on a similar path as Dixon throughout most of the regular season, but something happened in the Summer. After winning eight of the first 12 events, including Chicago, Englishtown and Bristol in succession, Edwards didn’t win again the rest of the season. He still finished the regular season in first place, but a guy who had been bitten by the Countdown more than once – Greg Anderson – was suddenly gaining steam. Anderson won two of the last five events in the regular season, and three of the six in the playoffs, to catch and pass Edwards and win his fourth championship and first since winning back-to-back-to-back titles from 2003-05. For Anderson, it snapped a four-year streak – including the first three years of the Countdown era – in which he had finished second in the final point standings. And in two of those first three years in the Countdown era he had finished the regular season in first place; this year, he finished the regular season in fourth place. Coming from off the pack has become a theme in Pro Stock where in the four-year history of the Countdown no driver has been able to finish the regular season in first place (or second place, for that matter) and go on to win a championship. The Pro Stock Motorcycle season saw the biggest move from off the pack as 20-year-old LE Tonglet, the Auto Club Road to the Future winner, won four races in the six-race Countdown to move up from seventh place to win the championship, his first. So on its fourth birthday, the NHRA Countdown to the Championship saw three repeat champions and for the first time more than one regular season points leader (Dixon and Force) was able to go on to celebrate a Series championship. What does that mean for 2011, Year 5 of the Countdown? Stay tuned. Historic Change The historic change in the NHRA championship point structure made its debut in 2007 and it created significantly increased excitement for fans and media not only at the end of the season when championships are decided, but particularly in the mid-to-late summer as drivers competed for the last playoff spots. It’s a move that was precipitated by the overwhelming response from fans and media to the thrilling Funny Car race of 2005 and the historic ending to the 2006 Top Fuel season, which saw Tony Schumacher win and set a national record on that memorable Sunday at the Auto Club Finals to pass Doug Kalitta and win what was then his third straight world championship. Viewing the enormous fan interest sparked by those two finishes against the backdrop of the historical unlikelihood of it occurring, the dramatic endings in 2005 and 2006 made a strong argument for altering the points system to ensure that those incredible finishes would be the rule rather than the exception. To illustrate that point, consider that the average margins of victory in the NHRA Full Throttle Series’ three classes that ran full schedules from 2000-06: Top Fuel, 256.5; Funny Car, 221.3; Pro Stock, 378.7. The NHRA Full Throttle Series world champion in Top Fuel and Funny Car will earn $500,000 each; the Pro Stock world champion will earn $250,000; and the Pro Stock Motorcycle world champion will earn $75,000. 326 Countdown to the Championship NHRA Full Throttle Series: Earning Points The NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series consists of races run from February through November. Contestants compete for NHRA Full Throttle Series world championships on the basis of total points earned during 16 “Regular Season” races plus six “Playoff” races (PS Motorcycle competes at 10 plus 6). Points at individual races are awarded as follows: Winner 100 Runner-up 80 Third-round loser 60 Second-round loser 40 First-round loser 20 Additional points are awarded at races as follows: 10 points to all entrants (one qualifying run required) 20 points for establishing an official ET record. Points for qualifying position: 1st 8 2nd 7 3rd 6 4th 5 5th & 6th 4 7th & 8th 3 9th thru 12th 2 13th thru 16th 1 Points for quickest ETs in each of the four qualifying sessions: 1st 3 2nd 2 3rd 1 Regular Season The regular season is made up of the first 16 races in the 22-race schedule, beginning with the 51st annual Kragen O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Winternationals and concluding at the world’s most prestigious drag race, the 57th annual Mac Tools U.S. Nationals at Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis. At the conclusion of the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals, the top 10 drivers in each class will have their accumulated aggregate points total reset in 10-point increments from 2,090 to 2,000 with the regular season champion being awarded an additional 20-point bonus: Standings at Adjusted conclusion of aggregate Regular Season point total 1 2110 (2,090 + 20) 2 2080 3 2070 4 2060 5 2050 6 2040 7 2030 8 2020 9 2010 10 2000 Countdown to the Championship Playoffs The playoffs are made up of the final six races in the 22-race schedule, beginning with the Fourth annual O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Nationals in Concord, N.C. Sept. 15-18 and culminating at the 47th annual Auto Club NHRA Finals at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona, Nov. 10-13. The top 10 drivers in each category will accumulate points throughout the six-race playoff and the points leaders at the conclusion of the Auto Club NHRA Finals will be crowned 2011 NHRA Full Throttle Series world champions. 327 Countdown to the Championship Earning points at the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals: · Qualifying and record bonus points for this event will remain the same as a traditional two-lane race · The eight first round losers will earn 20 points · The four second round losers will earn 40 points · The third and fourth finishers in the final round will earn 60 points · The runner-up in the final round will earn 80 points · The winner of the final round will earn 100 points NHRA Bonus Event Point System separate qualifying point system is used to determine the eight-competitor field for the K&N A Horsepower Challenge for Pro Stock in Norwalk, Ohio.