When several big-names DNQ’d at the 10th annual Torco Racing Fuels Route 66 Nationals, held June 8-10 at Route 66 Raceway, near Chicago, it opened the door for some new winners on the ’07 NHRA trail, but championship names still dominated the podium.
Two-time Top Fuel champ Larry Dixon returned to winning form with his first event win in nearly two years, while ’05 Funny Car champion Gary Scelzi won his second for this year. In Pro Stock, Jeg Coughlin Jr., another two-time series champion, scored his first race title since returning to action after an almost year-long layoff, and Andrew Hines, the three-time defending Pro Stock Bike titlist, broke through with his first win of the year.
The event also featured the 23rd running of the NHRA King Demon Crown, a special race-within-a-race conducted during qualifying at Chicago that pairs the top average qualifiers over the last year in a three-round tournament. Kurt Johnson prevailed for a record fourth time over the eight-car field, taking home a cool $50 grand for the effort.
And of course, the racers told the whole story through quotes taken from NHRA and team press releases.
“We're getting better at reading the track and it shows in our results.” — Doug Herbert after a semi-final finish against Dixon
"All I think about, with the point format the way it is now, is being seeded in the top eight. You have to have a second round average all the way up to Indy. There are some places where you'll go out in first round and you're not getting to the second round. You need to got to at least the semi-finals and if you can sneak a win in there, great. This certainly helped the cause."— Larry Dixon on climbing to 4th place in points and remaining in contention for when the NHRA’s new points system eliminates everyone 9th and back from championship consideration
