The Pro Stock class looks like a bowl of scrambled "egs" -- Greg and Jeg. Greg Anderson and Jeg Coughlin were the finalists, and each has had his dominating streak in the past decade or so. Even though Anderson beat Coughlin in Sunday's final for his third consecutive Winternationals victory with a track-record 6.616-second E.T., he said he knew Coughlin would be one of his toughest customers this year. But Anderson knows not to count any Countdown chickens before they hatch -- he led all throughout the "regular season" under the new format and lost out at the end to Coughlin.
Thank goodness the bikes won't show up until the Gatornationals, two races from now. With that class's cast of characters -- its Gal versus Guys warriors, Harleys and Buells bearing down on the shrinking Suzuki contingent, an NFL Super Bowl winner coming in as a sponsor, a reigning champion who almost didn't have sponsorship to return to action, and one well-beyond-the-edge rider who sports metallic lime-green pants -- no telling what might have happened.
One thing that did get overlooked was Frank Manzo's 72nd career national-event victory in the Alcohol Funny Car class with his all-Chevy final-round defeat of Brian Hough. The 11-time Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series champion was making his 96th career final-round appearance.
"We worked hard all winter," Manzo said. "We've missed a total of maybe five days of working on the car since we raced in Atlanta last season. For Sportsman racers with full-time jobs, that's saying something. We've worked Saturdays and Sundays, and it's starting to pay."
The New Jersey resident and sensation of the Eastern Seaboard said he liked seeing what the other coast had to offer. "A win is a win, and these guys on the West Coast are some bad dudes -- just like the East Coast competition. These guys out here, they put their heart and soul out on the line, every run, and I'll be honest, I was fortunate; this was my weekend. I could have red lighted, I could have shook, and if I'd did any one of those things, I would have been beaten. That didn't happen and now we're in the winner's circle."
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