NHRA SEASON COMES TO A CLOSE

Source: Mindy Stephens
Date: 11/16/2006

Moorpark, Calif. - (November 16, 2006) I am dedicating this Mindy’s Minute to the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series season finale at the Auto Club Raceway at Pomona and the rundown on where all your favorite Ringers racers finished in the 2006 point standings.

Three titles in NHRA were waiting to be determined until the final race at Pomona over the weekend. Going into the Auto Club NHRA Finals, one title had already been claimed, that being Jason Line in Pro Stock over his boss, teammate and friend, Greg Anderson, which happened in Las Vegas.

Craig Treble was the victor in Pro Stock Motorcycle action in Pomona on Sunday. He defeated Tom Bradford and his Hal’s Speed Shop Buell 7.072/190.81 to 7.301/182.06 mph run. However, Andrew Hines was the overall season champion for the third consecutive year for his Screamin’ Eagle Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson team. Hines red lit in the opening round of eliminations Sunday and had to wait it out until his challenger in the Pro Stock Motorcycle chase Antron Brown lost to eventual race winner Treble in quarterfinals.

The Ringers supporting team of KB Racing and driver Jason Line wrapped up the Pro Stock championship in KB Racing’s hometown of Las Vegas two weeks prior, but there was also a KB Racing face in Winner’s Circle on Sunday and a first time champion a runner-up. Greg Anderson beat out newly crowned Pro Stock champion Line in Pro Stock finals. It was a reverse result from a couple weeks ago in Vegas where Line was the race winner and Anderson the runner-up.

The determining of the 2006 Top Fuel champion was a nail-biter and literally came down to the last pass of the race. Doug Kalitta was the point leader heading into the final race and Tony Schumacher was only points behind Kalitta. Kalitta bowed out in semifinals to Don Schumacher Racing’s Melanie Troxel. In order for Shoe to clinch the championship, he had to advance two more rounds than Kalitta and set a national record. Well, he not only won the race over teammate Troxel, he set a national record that shattered his current record of 4.437. The new national record set by the new 2006 POWERade Top Fuel champion of Tony Schumacher is a 4.428-second pass.

Newlywed and driver of the Matco Tools Funny Car, a Ringers supporting team, Jack Beckman won in Vegas and runner-upped on Sunday to Funny Car champion John Force. Beckman lost on a holeshot to Force, but Beckman also set two NHRA records over the weekend, one for time and the other for speed.

In addition to the POWERade champions, Ringers would like to congratulate Brad Personett and his Titan Motorsports tC (Pro RWD) team who competes in the NHRA Sony Xplod Series; Frank Manzo and his Lucas Oil Top Alcohol Funny Car team, NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series; Peter Biondo, Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series Super Stock and Ron Erks, Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series Super Comp on their respective championships from the 2006 season.

Here are the final 2006 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series points in all categories. Ringers supporting racers will be highlighted in bold. Through our involvement with the Ringers Gloves Pro Bike Battle, we consider all Pro Stock Motorcycle riders Ringers racers.

Top Fuel

1. Tony Schumacher

2. Doug Kalitta

3. Brandon Bernstein

4. Melanie Troxel

5. Rod Fuller

6. David Grubnic

7. Larry Dixon

8. J.R. Todd

9. Cory McClenathan

10. Hillary Will

Funny Car

1. John Force

2. Robert Hight

3. Ron Capps

4. Eric Medlen

5. Tony Pedregon

6. Tommy Johnson Jr.

7. Gary Scelzi

8. Phil Burkart

9. Whit Bazemore

10. Cruz Pedregon

Pro Stock

1. Jason Line

2. Greg Anderson

3. Dave Connolly

4. Mike Edwards

5. Kurt Johnson

6. Allen Johnson

7. Jim Yates

8. Greg Stanfield

9. Richie Stevens Jr.

10. V. Gaines

Pro Stock Motorcycle

1. Andrew Hines

2. Antron Brown

3. Angelle Sampey

4. Chip Ellis

5. Matt Smith

6. Karen Stoffer

7. Ryan Schnitz

8. Tom Bradford

9. Geno Scali

10. Craig Treble

About Ringers Gloves

Ringers Gloves, Official Gloves of NHRA and title sponsor for the Ringers Gloves Pro Bike Battle, is a full-line manufacturer of high-end, task specific gloves, SFI 3.3/1, 3.3/10, 3.3/20 racing gloves, UnderX protective undergarments and rdigs pit boots.

Keep up with your favorite Ringers racers in ‘06 by logging onto www.ringersgloves.com for photos and highlights!

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