NHRA SPRING NATIONALS PREVIEW
by "Straight Line" Corey Atkinson

Well, it’s an off-week in the NHRA. With a handful of drivers competing in NASCAR’s Saturday Night Special (which was won by Sterling Marlin – on a side note), I thought we’d take a look at where we are in the season and where we’re going.

Starting in Pro Stock, it’s looking more and more that it’s going to be a two-man Countdown to the Championship between Jason Line and Jeg Coughlin. Three races into the season, Jason Line has already scored two wins on the season while Jeg holds the other one. Greg Anderson has been ridiculously quiet this season while Mike Edwards has been a threat in all three races, but really hasn’t made much noise on the Pro Stock scene beyond just being a mere threat. Sure, he’s run strong but he’s failed to capitalize. Do I think he’ll capitalize? Yes, I do. But I need to see consistency out of Edwards before I crown him the underdog favorite that I saw him as going into the season.  At this point, I just don’t know if he will be able to compile enough event wins to be a major threat in the Countdown; especially considering how strong Line and Coughlin have been thus far.

In Funny Car, the field to this point had been all Ron Capps – well, up until last week, anyways. Ron Capps went into the Gatornationals undefeated on the season, winning two events (the Winternationals and the Phoenix Nationals), and falls in the first round at Gainesville. Meanwhile, Bob Tasca III steps his game up in his second season in the sport and wins his first career event. All the while, the Pedregon brothers – Cruz and Tony – have been deathly quiet until last week’s race where Tony finally made a run to the finals to lose out to Tasca. At this point, I’m having trouble figuring out if Capps is a trend or a mirage. I’m also waiting on the Force cars. In fact, I’m a little surprised that Robert Height hasn’t been more of a presence this year.

Top Fuel has been a lot of fun to watch this season. Antron Brown takes the Phoenix Nationals. Doug Kalitta wins out at the Winternationals. Last week, the Al-Anabi team gets their first win when Larry Dixon takes down my dark horse pick for the year – Cory Mac. With drivers like Hillary Will and Hot Rod Fuller out for the season due to a lack of sponsorship, there’s a pretty wide open field in the class of Top Fuel. However, the one name that everyone expected to do HUGE things this year – especially following the 15 event win season he had last year – is Tony Schumacher. Tony Schumacher lost crew chief Alan Johnson last year and it’s – as PA would say – getting to be nut-cuttin’ time for Schumacher racing and his new team and crew chief. They need wins and they need them now. If the panic button hasn’t been pushed in that camp yet, it’s getting dangerously close.

We head to Houston next week. Last year, Antron Brown, Del Worsham and Greg Anderson won in their respective classes. This year, I’m expecting Antron to repeat. I’m also predicting a big showing by the Force camp with the patriarch of the team leading the charge – John Force will win in Houston. Lastly, I think Jeg Coughlin evens things out with Jason Line and wins the Spring Nationals. Find out yourself by watching the eliminations on ESPN 2 and keep your ear on your radio for Fan Motorsports!