The stars aligned right for John Force on Sunday at the Auto Club NHRA Finals and he locked up his 15th career Funny Car title.
Matt Hagan and the Die Hard Dodge Charger was the championship leader heading into the day. All Hagan had do to was stay two rounds ahead of Force to lock up the championship.
Unfortunately for Hagan, Bob Tasca knocked out Hagan in the first round. Hagan led until the 660-foot mark, but the Motorcraft Ford Mustang poured it on in the end and nipped Hagan at the line.
All Force had to do was reach the semifinals and the championship was his. Force took care of business against Gary Densham in the first round, then easily handled Bob Bode in the clinching round.
"I've been 25 years with Castrol and I want to go for 30," Force said. "I've got to give credit to all the kids on my team. It was unbelieveable the race car they gave me all year.
"I want to congratulate Hagan (and his team), those guys fought me down to the wire. But the crushing blow came from Bobby Tasca is his Ford."
The championship completes Force's comeback from a horrific crash in Dallas in 2007 that left his legs and arms broken. On Sunday, Force pulled his own version of the "Lambeau Leap" as he jumped into the arms excited fans on his way to accept the trophy.
"To the doctors and fanatics that got my legs back: I'm 40 again," the 61-year-old Force yelled. "I'm still ugly, but I'm 40."
Force breathlessly thanked his family and crew for all their support during the down times.
"My sponsors, my wife and my children were behind me when I said, 'I'm useless with no arms and legs,'" Force said. "'I can't move with these pins in me.' They told me to quit whining and get up and go."
In Top Fuel, with the strength of a first-round victory over Mike Strasburg, Larry Dixon clinched the 2010 NHRA Full Throttle Series Top Fuel title Sunday morning at Auto Club Raceway in Pomona.
Dixon posted a 3.854-second run at 318.92 mph in his Al-Anabi Racing dragster to dismiss Strasburg and officially wrest the title away from Tony Schumacher, who has won the last six championships.
"I've never had so much excitement for a first round win in my life," Dixon said. "Awesome job by the team all year. It was just one round today, but it was from all the great rounds we've had. The second rounds, semifinals, and wins we've had, they've all added up to this."
It's the third career Top Fuel title for Dixon and first for the Qatari-owned team. Dixon's first two titles came just before Schumacher's reign in 2002 and 2003 when he drove for Don "the Snake" Prudhomme. Dixon's current team is owned by Sheik Khalid al Thani from the ruling family of Qatar.
Schumacher did his part to keep it interesting by beating Dom Lagana in the first round. Lagana smoked the tires off the hit and Schumacher cruised to the finish line to keep his very slim title hopes alive for a few more minutes. But Dixon, who is a perfect 12-0 in final rounds this year, slammed the door for good one pairing later.
There was a bit of redemption in the win for Dixon as he came up two points short of the title in 2009. Dixon's team, headed by Alan Johnson and crew chief Jason McCulloch, contains many of the same crewmen that carried Schumacher to numerous titles.
"I've got to give credit to Alan Johnson, Sheik Khalid, the whole Al-Anabi crew, Jason McCulloch, Toyota, and Valvoline," Dixon said. "Everybody pitches in to make this happen -- this is it, this is what we do it for."
LE Tonglet, 20, became the youngest champion in NHRA history in Pro Stock Motorcycle and he traveled a similar path to Force, who became the oldest champion in NHRA history on Sunday.
"It's been larger than life," Tonglet said. "We just stepped up at the right time."
Tonglet and the NitroFish Suzuki trailed leader Andrew Hines and the Screamin' Eagle Harley-Davidson by two rounds heading eliminations. Hines opened the door for Tonglet by going .016 seconds red in the first round.
Tonglet blasted past Matt Guidera in the first round and followed it up with an impressive win over Steve Johnson in the second round to become the first rookie to win a championship since Top Fuel's Gary Scelzi in 1997.
"We've been on a roll since Indy and this is just huge," Tonglet said. "Especially for my dad, this is just awesome to win the championship."
Tonglet and his team were out of cash and ready to quit before Kenny Koretsky came in to fund the team for the remainder of the season. It was just the boost the newly minted NitroFish team needed to race the home stretch.
Greg Anderson, driver of the Summit Racing Pontiac GXP, wrapped up the Pro Stock title on Saturday.
