Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Dixon still has chance to win Top Fuel crown

Thursday, Nov. 1, 2001 | 10:50 a.m.

Brian Hilderbrand covers motor sports for the Las Vegas Sun. Reach him at bh@lasvegassun.com or 259-4089.

Technically, Funny Car legend John Force is the only driver who has wrapped up an NHRA Winston Drag Racing championship going into the season finale next weekend at Pomona Raceway.

Although the other four professional categories have not been mathematically clinched, about the only title that realistically remains up for grabs after 23 national events is in the Top Fuel category. Kenny Bernstein leads Larry Dixon by 54 points in the closest of the championship battle, but Dixon needs help in order to win his first NHRA crown.

Without taking into consideration bonus points for a national record, or points deductions for oil-downs, Dixon must win the NHRA Finals and Bernstein must lose no later than the second round for Dixon to win the championship.

"Now we're relying on (Bernstein) to have some bad luck at the last race for us to even have a shot," Dixon conceded after his second-round loss Sunday in the ACDelco Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. "We still have to go out and win; we can't really control anything that goes on with them, we can just go into the last race and try and win and see what happens.

"I am not quitting. Until they tell us that we are out of it, we're in it so all you can do is go into the next race and try and win it."

In Pro Stock, Warren Johnson left Las Vegas with a 103-point lead over Jim Yates and can clinch his sixth championship by qualifying in the top 16 and winning his first-round race on Sunday.

In Pro Stock Motorcycle, Angelle Savoie holds a 73-point advantage over Antron Brown and can win her second straight title by advancing to the semifinals -- regardless what Brown does in the race.

In Pro Stock Truck, Bob Panella Jr. merely has to show up and make a qualifying attempt to earn his third consecutive NHRA title.

Matco Tools again will sponsor the dragster, which Clapshaw loaned to Garlits for this year's U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis. Garlits has not competed at the NHRA Finals since 1986, the year he earned his third NHRA Winston Top Fuel championship.

It also was announced that the classes currently contested in the NHRA Summit Import Drag Racing Series would remain, with the rules modified to accept all vehicles, with some modification, currently categorized in the NIRA series.

More than 800 cars in eight categories, including Federal-Mogul Dragster and Funny Car, are expected to be on hand to compete for the $143,935 purse.

Shields has two wins in six final-round appearances this season in Federal-Mogul Dragster and comes into the weekend third in the NHRA Northwest Division standings and sixth nationally.

Brandon Bernstein, the son of NHRA Top Fuel driver Kenny Bernstein, likely will clinch the Federal-Mogul Dragster national championship in Las Vegas. All the 29-year-old Bernstein has to do to clinch the championship is qualify in the top 16 for Sunday's eliminations.

Racing begins at 8 a.m. each day.