"When I left the starting line everything was normal. About half track the car dropped a cylinder and moved toward the center line. I was fighting the wheel to stay off the center line. I remember right at the finish line thinking 'I may have clipped that cone with the body or the rear tire.' I knew I was real close. Either an instant before then or at that time, I reached up or was in the process of reaching up to release the chutes and lifted my foot off the throttle right then. But at that instant, or just prior to that, I saw John's car out of the corner of my left eye heading toward me. He wasn't approaching at a 90-degree angle, but it was a pretty severe angle. I remember seeing the black front end of his car coming toward me and the next thing I knew we hit and then stuff just started flying everywhere. I couldn't see then because the body had gotten knocked up in the air in front of me and my vision was obstructed. I didn't remember going into the wall, but the evidence on the body and the headers show that. Now that I think back, I remember feeling a solid hit on the right side so it must have taken both of us right into the wall. My car was jumping around, I guess the best way to describe it, was like a frog. It wasn't on all fours. It was on the front two tires, the side two, the back two, just everywhere. My first thought was that I was going to hit the wall again or turn over. I had to get on the brake and start driving. During the time I sustained the impact from the initial hit and then the wall contact, I had both hands on the wheel. I had released the brake to try to get the car back in shape. I did manage to get the car back under control. I started to coast and had the brakes on when out of my right eye I saw something go speeding by. In front of me, I saw the remains of the front half of John's car. The engine and the chassis went by me on the right side and went all the way to the end of the track. I thought at that time, John was down there. I released the brake and let the car coast to try to get down to him to see if I could help. But when I got there, I realized he wasn't there. That was just the front half of the car. When I turned around to look, I saw all the people gathered back down the track so I went back to the wreckage to see if John was okay." — Kenny Bernstein with his view of the carnage when John Force’s car split in two just behind the engine as they passed the finish line in the second round
"I couldn't believe what I was seeing, as we came back up the return road. We saw the two cars get together, and they both hit the wall hard, and then we saw them skid down the track toward the sand. It took a second for us to realize John was still down there by us, in the back half of the car. More than anything, I wanted to get over there to help him, but a very serious security guard wouldn't let me. I'm a driver, with clearance to go anywhere on this track, but she was just doing her job I guess, and she wanted no part of me running over there and hopping the wall. I told her 'That's my friend, I want to help him,' but she didn't want any of that. It was frustrating to not be able to get over there, and I'm very concerned for John and how he's doing, but I'm also very relieved that he's still with us, because that was a horrendous crash." — Worsham on his reaction to seeing Force crash shortly after being ousted by his daughter, Ashley, in round two
"Since Rahn [crew chief, Tobler] has come on board, we've made 10 runs in a row going A to B, under full power and pulling the chutes at the end of the 1320. These runs have come under all different track conditions, including the hot, greasy tracks. The streak ended in the finals this weekend, but we feel if we can do it once, we can do it again.” — C. Pedregon expressing optimism despite losing traction against his brother in the final round
"The good news we received was that John will recover from injuries to his ankle, knee and hands. That was the best news of the day; the second best news was that we were able to pull off a win." — T. Pedregon reflecting on his former teammate and team owner’s accident at Dallas
TOP FUEL
“We had some trouble during the day, but the people we were racing, when we needed it, had more trouble.” — Larry Dixon after beating Bob Vandergriff Jr. in the final, on the combination of skill and good fortune that put him in victory lane for the 41st time and gave him his second win at the Texas Motorplex
“This should've happened last week (at Memphis)." — J.R. Todd referring to his DNQ at the previous event after going 4.541 seconds at 318.47 mph to qualify number one at Dallas
"The right rear tire lost traction on some fuel that was leaking because of a broken valve following my burn out. I was able to get it back in the racing groove, but he was way out on me and there wasn't much I could do at that point.” — Tony Schumacher on his first-round loss to Rod Fuller
"I saw the pre-stage lights on Morgan's side flicker twice and then Morgan was gone. I thought maybe I was late leaving and then I saw the win light on my side indicating Morgan had a red light or foul start. I felt bad for him. I know he was upset." — Brandon Bernstein on Morgan Lucas leaving before the tree was activated for their opening-round pairing
"That wasn't the way it was supposed to happen.” — Todd on losing to a holeshot by Clay Millican in round one
“The guys on the crew gave us a good race car and I let them down." — Cory McClenathan on Whit Bazemore’s holeshot win over him in round two
"It was great to take out Tony (Schumacher), but we lost our points lead as quickly as we earned it.” — Fuller on leapfrogging Schumacher in the points with his first-round win, but falling back to second when Dixon beat him in round two
"That was a disappointing loss. First of all we wanted to defend our title here in our hometown, and secondly, we needed to build some cushion between us and fifth place. Richmond is shaping up to be a make or break race for us, a lot more pressure than we would have liked.” — Bernstein referring to the next race, which will determine the final four championship contenders, after losing a very close pedaling match to Millican in round two
"That was a very important round, but it didn't happen. The shaft speed was too high.” — Bazemore after losing traction against Vandergriff in the semis

