Volume IX, Issue 7, Page 24
Compiled by Ian Tocher - Photos by James Drew
7/31/07

t the end of a grueling six-weekends-in-a-row racing marathon, the NHRA made its annual stop July 27-29, at Infineon Raceway near Sonoma, CA, for the 20th annual FRAM Autolite Nationals. Tony Schumacher came out on top in Top Fuel for the fourth time this year, John Force scored his second Funny Car event title in ‘07, Greg Anderson hit the milestone of 50 career wins in Pro Stock, and Matt Smith strengthened his grip on Pro Stock Motorcycle with his third win of the season.

The race was not without its controversy, though. Friday night’s Top Fuel qualifying was cut short after several cars oiled the track and the ensuing clean-up delays forced the day’s activities beyond the track’s strict 10 p.m. curfew. The top-10 qualifiers from the first Top Fuel qualifying round didn’t get to make second runs; however, the E.T.s of those cars that did make a Friday-night run did count toward setting the order.

As always, the comments of the racers as taken from NHRA and team press releases tell the whole story.

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"It's nice to cross another track off the list where we've never won. Now, we're going to some tracks where we've had some decent success." — Tony Schumacher with what may be bad news for the rest of the class after edging Bob Vandergriff in the final round at Sonoma

"We're disappointed because of what was allowed to happen. The sanctioning body is there to maintain a level playing field. If there's a strict curfew, it seems odd to start the session 28 minutes late. It's just not fair. It's not fair to the fans. We're out here competing for championship points and bonus points and the fans are the real losers. We're out here trying to take this sport to the next level and that won't happen if we continue down this path. You can't alienate fans and sponsors like we did tonight." — Whit Bazemore after being the second-quickest from the first qualifying session, thus becoming a victim of the track’s early shutdown on Friday night

"It was not a great day." — Rod Fuller on coasting through in his first qualifying attempt, then suffering a fire-belching explosion in his second pass, leaving him last of 18 entries on Friday night

“We have had plenty of bad luck this year; it’s about time our luck changes and it looks like it started tonight. — Doug Herbert on the 4.556/315.64 that he ran in the second session on Friday night, that also held up to give him the fourth top-qualifier start of his career