NHRA Finals: Day 1

Hillary Will is trying to finish second in Top Fuel points this season.

Hi All,

11:26 a.m.: We are here in Pomona for the first day of qualifying at the NHRA Auto Club Finals.
We have a big day planned. We will have a video interview with Top Fuel driver Hillary Will, who has a chance to finish second in points, which would be the highest finish in the class by a woman since Shirley Muldowney won the championship during the early 1980s.
We will then have some live updates of the first qualifying session, which begins with Pro Stock Motorcycle at 1:30 p.m. The Funny Car session should be interesting, because with the tight points battle, positioning in the field is extremely important.

1:28: Pro Stock Motorcycles are on the line, nothing much to talk about yet. But we'll keep you updated for anything big that happens. Matt Smith comes into this session first in points, with Eddie Krawiec 19 markers back and Chris Rivas in third, 39 points behind.
By the way, we had a very good discussion with Hillary Will, who talked about her quest to finish second in the points, her reason for wanting to compete in drag racing and how her and her team have handled the pain of losing teammate and friend Scott Kalitta, who died from injuries suffered in a qualifying crash in June. I think you will enjoy the interviiew. It should be up later tonight.

1:40: Angelle Sampey, a former champion who comes here in fourth place, takes over the lead with a 7.02-second run. But leaders Smith and Krawiec have yet to run...let's see what happens....Krawiec takes the top qualifier award after the first day with 7.01. But Smith is right back of him at 7.024. This should be a fun weekend. Let's see if Funny Car can match it.

1:47: Pro Stock is up next, but not nearly the supsense. Jeg Coughlin, who won the title last year, needs just to qualify for this event to clinch his fourth championship.

2:19: Dave Connolly takes the top qualifying spot in Pro Stock, running the devil's time of 6.660. Coughlin is eighth with a 6.678. Barring a miracle, the championship appears to be his.

2:35: Gary Scelzi and Del Worsham are on the starting line. This is kind of an end of an era for both this weekend. Scezli, a four-time champion, is stepping out of the driver's seat after this race to concentrate on his family business, while Worsham is parking his family team to drive a nitro coupe for Alan Johnson's new team. Worsham stumbles to a 4.21, while Scelzi takes the quick time for now with a 4.12.

2:41: PSM top qualifier Eddie Krawiec visits the media center to dicuss his run, and he talks about how important it is to take the No. 1 spot. If he loses two points in qualifying to Smith, he would have to go two rounds further than Smith on race day. If he can finish ahead of Smith on the qualifying charts, he would just have to advance one round further.
"I can drop that point, because it could put it out of hands," Krawiec said. "We have to continue to stay ahead of him. Our main goal is to continue to stay focused and at the end of the weekend be in the winner's circle holding the Wally."

2:46: Connolly drops by after taking the top spot in Pro Stock. Connolly missed the first five races, but worked his way into the top 10 and is in position to finish as high as No. 2.
"Jeggie looks like he's going to clinch," Connolly said. "But we have shot to finish second, and for the season we've been through, would be a great way to end the season."

2:55: Oh, this is going to be interesting. Mike Neff takes the top spot in Funny Car with a 4:102. Tony Pedregon, who trails by 62 points, and Robert Hight, who is in third 39 points back. Both run 412s and into the top half of the field. Points leader Cruz Pedregon slumps down the track and is 15th with a 4.77, while No. 2 Wilkerson is eighth at 4.15. Tony Pedregon is third, meaning if the eliminations field was set today, he would move to within 58 points, or three rounds of his brother. Hight, who is fourth, stayed with in two rounds.

3:39: Neff drops by the media center and says its all about Robert Hight for the Force Team.
"We want to get all four of our guys in the top five," said Neff, who is seeking his first victory. "We need Robert to get up there. He's our shot at the championship, so we have to get up there to be able to knock this guys off for him.
"We want to have all our cars running good, so we can have a good chance to eliminate these guys who are challenging Robert."
3:49: JR Todd, whose won here before, takes the provisional top spot in Top Fuel, running a 3.851, with his Lucas Oil teammate Morgan Lucas in second at 3.586.
Hillary Will is third at 3.86. Tony Schumacher, who clinched his sixth championship two weeks ago in Las Vegas and has won 10 of the past 11 races, smoked the tires before half track and is 18th at 6.449.
"This is how we planned it," Todd said. "The two cars are set to run the same, and you can't get much closer than (Nos. 1-2). That was great run for us. We've been struggling all year, so to come out of the box and make a good strong run is great. I don't know if that's going to hold, but it will keep us in the show, and that's what matters - to play on Sunday."
Todd also said the performance wasn't as good as he was expecting. But he also said he's not going to give it back.
"I didn't expect it. It kind of got out of the groove down track, but we'll tear it down, and come back ready for tomorrow."
Todd, though, doesn't plan on staying in SoCal long after Sunday's race.
"I used to dream of coming out here," he said. "But after coming out here for a few races, I hate this place. There's no way I'd live out here. It's fun to race here, the weather, the fans are great and the race track is awesome. I love coming here to race, but that's about it."
That's it for today. I'm told we should have the Hillary Will video up sometime tonight, along with video interviews of the top qualifiers from all four pro classes.
And here they are: