Johnson can’t solve LVMS

Monday, April 18, 2005 | 9:13 a.m.

Warren Johnson was able to end Greg Anderson's Pro Stock dominance at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, but he wasn't able to parlay his semifinal victory in his first career win in Las Vegas.

Johnson, who won last week's event in Houston, fell to Dave Connolly in the Pro Stock final Sunday and remained winless in eight career starts here. Anderson had won four consecutive Pro Stock races at The Strip going into the NHRA SummitRacing.com Nationals.

"For some reason, a win in Las Vegas continues to elude us," Johnson said. "It's just one of those things; there are some tracks where we can basically do no wrong, while here we just haven't been able to get it done.

"I guess it all balances out. There's nothing we can do about it other than trying our best and if it doesn't work out, it doesn't work out."

The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway remains the only track on the NHRA Powerade Drag Racing Series circuit where Johnson has failed to win.

Despite losing in the final round and falling out of the Pro Stock points lead, Johnson found reason to be encouraged by his performance over the weekend.

"Although we didn't get the win that we were anticipating, at the same time our GM Performance Parts Pontiac's performance is really starting to jell," he said. "We're pretty optimistic heading into the rest of the season.

"In the big picture, we're doing what we need to do. It's now a matter of working on the little things. We'll go back and analyze the complete package and see what we can do to potentially make it even better."

BECKMAN'S DEBUT: Jack Beckman's Top Fuel debut at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway came to a premature end when he was unable to start his second-round race against Doug Kalitta due to a mechanical problem.

Beckman qualified eighth in his first Top Fuel start and defeated fellow rookie Ben Marshall in the first round.

But Beckman had to back off from the staging lane in the second round when his Menards/MTS/DHL dragster developed a fuel leak.

"If someone had told me last week that we'd qualify in top half of the field and win a round, I'm not sure if I would have believed it," Beckman said. "It was everything we could have hoped for.

"Sure, I'm disappointed to lose, but now that we've claimed the first round win for the Menards//MTS team, we want more."

Beckman earned his first Top Fuel round win when he posted a 5.060-second run at 221.56 mph to Marshall's 5.087 at 220.51. Both dragsters smoked their tires early in the run, but Beckman was able to recover and nip Marshall by approximately 3 feet.

"During the run, I saw (Marshall's) front end and then he disappeared," Beckman said. "It was an awesome feeling when I saw that win light come on. No mater how many races I run, I'll never forget that one."

BRIEFLY: Don Prudhomme became only the third driver/owner in NHRA history to record 100 career victories, joining John Force and Warren Johnson. Force has amassed 151 career wins, while Johnson and son Kurt have combined for 121 victories. ... Greg Anderson had won 18 consecutive rounds at The Strip before losing in the semifinals to Warren Johnson. ... Whit Bazemore scored his first Funny Car victory at The Strip in his fifth final-round appearance here. ... Tony Schumacher retained the Top Fuel points lead despite his semifinal loss to Doug Kalitta. Schumacher leads Kalitta by 60 points. ... Larry Dixon climbed from seventh to third in the points and is 68 points behind Schumacher.

SPORTSMAN CLASSES: Hillary Will captured her first Top Alcohol Dragster victory and Steve Gasparrelli won in Top Alcohol Dragster in Sunday's Sportsman action at The Strip. Other winners: Kevin Smith (Super Stock), Steve Wann (Stock), Robert Haber (Super Comp), Ed Olpin (Super Gas), Mike Ashley (Pro Mod) and Ron Houniet (Top Fuel Harley).

SPORT COMPACT: Ara Arslanian (Pro RWD), Mary Ladwig (Pro FWD), Paul Efantis (Modified), Mike Crawford (Hot Rod) and Shawn Hillier (All Motor) were winners in the sixth annual Nitto NHRA Sport Compact Nationals, held this weekend at The Strip in conjunction with the NHRA Summitracing.com Nationals.