It was a nail-biter right to the end for many of the NHRA pro racers Sunday at Pomona as the 2017 champions were crowned.

Brittany Force became the second woman to win a Top Fuel championship, 35 years after Shirley Muldowney became the first. Force clinched her first title with her quarterfinal win over Richie Crampton, after points leader Steve Torrence lost to Antron Brown. Force went on to win the Top Fuel final.

Fellow JFR teammate Robert Hight got his second Funny Car title in the first round of eliminations. Hight took the win over Tim Wilkerson while Ron Capps, who was Hight’s nearest contender, lost to Del Worsham. Tommy Johnson Jr. was the event winner over

Bo Butner claimed his first Pro Stock championship by winning over final-round competitor Tanner Gray. Butner defeated points leader Greg Anderson in the semifinal. He went on to the final-round win over Tanner Gray.

Points leader Eddie Krawiec won the Pro Stock Motorcycle championship just by qualifying for the Pomona event. His teammate Andrew Hines took the event win against Krawiec.

An emotional John Force after daughter Brittany and son-in-law Robert Hight clinched two championships for John Force Racing.  (Ron Lewis photos)

We’ll have a look at the whole event coming tomorrow. [11/13/17]

Bad weather and an absence of makeup dates may have shortened this year’s Hoosier Tires Carolina Coalition Series to four races but that made it no less sweet for Top Eliminator co-champs John Bridges of Shelby, NC, and Robert Vogler III of Lewisville, NC, who represent the old and the new in Carolina bracket racing. The final event was held at Rockingham Dragway.

John Bridges

Robert Vogler

Bridges, who was the first winner of the old B&M Series promoted by Rockingham Dragway owner Steve Earwood and the late George Howard, and Vogler, a former Jr. Dragster champion at The Rock, finished with 25 points each, one more than a quartet of drivers that includes Richard Alford Jr. of Raleigh.

In addition to finishing in a third-place tie in Top Eliminator, Alford ran away with the Footbrake title thanks to a sweep at Rockingham.

Kaden Haynes of Mount Carmel, Tenn., came away with the Jr. Dragster championship, turning back challenges from Michael Hypes of Blacksburg, Va., and 2016 Coalition champion Isaac Bridges, son of the 2017 co-champion.

Bridges and Vogler will split the first and second place bonuses and while both will wear Coalition champion’s jackets in 2018, Bridges also will get a set of Hoosier Racing Tires as a reward for riding Hoosiers to the top of the point standings.

When he’s not drag racing, Vogler is a cylinder head specialist at NASCAR’s Richard Childress Racing.

Because of weather issues and full fall schedules, officials had to cancel the race at Mooresville Dragway after two complete rainouts. As a result, championships were determined in two races at Farmington Dragway and two at Rockingham.  [11/13/17]

The 2018 NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Racing Series schedule has been announced.  The series, in its eleventh season, includes classes for front engine dragsters, altereds and gassers, and is highlighted by the nitro burning Nostalgia Top Fuel Dragsters and Nostalgia Funny Cars.

The NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Racing Series consists of two nitro categories -- Nostalgia Top Fuel dragster and Nostalgia Funny Car -- and two groups of additional classes. Group 1 includes A/Fuel, Jr. Fuel, and 7.0 Eliminator, and Group 2 includes Nostalgia Eliminator I, Nostalgia Eliminator II, Nostalgia Eliminator III, A/Gas, B/Gas, C/Gas, D/Gas, and Hot Rod eliminator. Racers in each class will run a combination of events at which they will score points toward the championships.

Mar. 1-4: Good Vibrations March Meet, Auto Club Famoso - TF/FC/Groups 1&2

April 6-7: Nostalgia Reunion, Sacramento Raceway - Groups 1&2

May 4-6: NAPA Auto Parts Ignitor, Firebird Raceway - FC

May 5-6: Heritage Nostalgia Drags, Wild Horse Pass Motorsports - Groups 1&2

May 25-26: Summer Kick Off, Rocky Mountain Raceways - FC

June 9-10: Nitro Night of Fire, Sacramento Raceway - Groups 1&2

June 14-16: Holley National Hot Rod Reunion, Beech Bend Raceway - TF/FC

July 21-22: NHRA Lucas Oil National Open, Mission Raceway Park - FC

Aug. 9-12: Pepsi Nightfire Nationals, Firebird Raceway - TF/FC

Sept. 21-22: Nostalgia Nitro Nationals, Osage Tulsa Raceway Park - TF/A-Fuel

Oct. 19-21: California Hot Rod Reunion, Auto Club Famoso - TF/FC/Group 1

Classes Key

TF – Nostalgia Top Fuel (will count all 5 events for points)

FC – Nostalgia Funny Car (will count 6 of 7 events for points)

Group 1 – A/Fuel, Jr. Fuel, 7.0 Eliminator (A/Fuel will count 5 of 6 events for points)

Group 2 – NE 1, NE 2, NE 3, A/Gas, B/Gas, C/Gas, D/Gas, Hot Rod

Schedule subject to change

It may not have ended with a win the way she wanted, but Alexis DeJoria’s NHRA Funny Car career came to an end on Sunday at Pomona. She has been drag racing for 12 years, the last six in Funny C

After getting a first-round win over Jim Campbell, DeJoria was out after a second-round loss to Tommy Johnson Jr.

DeJoria hands over the reins of her Nicky Boninfante and Tommy DeLago-led operation to Kalitta teammate Shawn Langdon with sponsorship from Global Electronic Technology beginning with the 2018 season.

Part of her real family was on hand at Pomona for Alexis’s last race. That’s dad John Paul DeJoria with grandmother Lillian. Husband Jesse James was also at the event. (Tim Marshall photos)

“I’m going to miss racing against all of these guys and girls,” DeJoria said. “When we’re on that line, it’s one thing, we’re out for blood, but behind the scenes, we’re family.

“Lastly, thank you to all of our incredible fans for coming out and supporting us through thick and thin for all of these years.”  [11/13/17]

Lucas Oil Products has signed a multi-year agreement to become the title sponsor of the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series national event held in Pomona, Calif. each February. Lucas Oil is a longstanding partner of NHRA supporting several ongoing drag racing series and events.

The 58th annual Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals presented by ProtectTheHarvest.com will be held February 8-11, 2018, and will kick off the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing season.

Lucas Oil also sponsors the Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series, the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals in Brainerd, MN, and Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis in Brownsburg, IN.   [11/13/17]

The Agent was shocked and saddened to hear of the death of Jr. Dragster driver Anita Board, 8, at Perth Motorplex on Nov. 11. She was competing in her first drag race.

She had turned eight only four days before, receiving a helmet for her birthday present. Saturday’s trial run ended when her 210cc dragster crashed into a concrete barrier. She was taken to the hospital, where she died on Sunday afternoon.

The Australian National Drag Racing Association is working with Western Australia police to determine what went wrong.

Our condolences to Anita’s family and friends. This saddens the entire drag racing community.   [11/13/17]

Wilwood Disc Brakes has welcomed Bob Roese back to the Wilwood Business Development team.

Roese spent three years with Wilwood in multiple capacities within the sales and tech department before semi-retiring in 2015 as manager of the sales department.

In his new role, Roese will not only focus on generating new business and strengthening Wilwood’s relationships with its current customer-base, but also on dealer education and training. Roese officially returned to Wilwood on November 1.  [11/13/17]

Bob Tasca III will be competing in Funny Car at most of the 2018 national events with help from Ford.

Ford Performance will help the team make the car as “slippery” as possible through the company’s investments in aerodynamics engineering, including racing and production vehicle wind tunnels.

Ford and its selected brands will sponsor Tasca Racing for the entire season as the primary sponsor for 16 races and as a co-sponsor the rest of the season.

With Tasca Racing’s new technical alliance with Don Schumacher Motorsports, and the engineering support of Ford Performance, the team is focused on making a run for the NHRA Funny Car title.

“This is a very exciting day for me personally, and for everyone involved at Tasca Racing,” said Bob Tasca III. “We have always been a Ford family and have a long history with drag racing, so to be able to return to NHRA Funny Car full-time in 2018 with the support of our long-time friends at Ford is the perfect scenario for us.”

During his decade as an NHRA Funny Car competitor, Tasca has four race wins, 11 finals appearances and qualified for the Countdown to the Championship three times.  (photo courtesy Ford Motor Co.)   [11/13/17]

It happened by accident, but now that it's working, no one is more excited about the future than Lucas Oil Pro Stock Motorcycle rider Hector Arana Jr.

After detonating a motor in Friday's first qualifying session of the Auto Club NHRA Finals, Arana Jr. and crew discovered enough damage to their trusty Buell that they made the call to switch machines and finish the race with the EBR V-Twin Hector Arana Sr. captained two weeks ago in Las Vegas.

The first run Friday night -- a 6.953/194.94 -- was decent, but given a night to fine-tune the new bike to their horsepower, the team put together the best run they've ever had on the bike, a 6.828 at 198.15 mph, in Q3. Considering future plans call for the Buell to be retired permanently, this weekend is a great start on next year's championship charge.

"This bike, she's fast," Arana Jr. said. "We are excited to run it. It's a fast bike, the motor in it is really strong so we are excited about tomorrow and the future.”

Arana Jr. qualified fifth with a 6.828 at 198.15 mph but didn't complete his opening-round race against Matt Smith when the Lucas Oil bike shut off at the launch. Although they weren’t sure just what happened in that run, Arana Jr. is still optimistic.

"The way this EBR ran two weeks ago in Las Vegas when my dad was riding it and then again this weekend when I switched over to it has all of us very excited. It's going to be a great bike for us for many years."  [11/13/17]

The Goodguys Rod & Custom Associations has released their schedule of events for 2018. Two of their events will include drag racing.

The Goodguys PPG Nationals will run July 6-8 at National Trail Raceway in Ohio and the Pacific Northwest Nationals will be at Pacific Raceways in Washington on July 27-29.

For their car show entries, the Goodguys have changed the date of eligibility to take part to 1987 and earlier vehicles, with the exception of the West Coast Nationals in Pleasanton, CA, on Aug. 17-19.

In addition, the AutoCross racing program has been completely restructured. Instead of separating competitors into five classes, Goodguys will now run all competitors in one class in a Shootout event culminating in a 16-car elimination field.  [11/13/17]

The 30th annual Motorsports Hall of Fame of America (MSHFA) Induction Ceremony Presented by Bridgestone will be held on Tuesday, March 13, at The Shores Resort & Spa in Daytona Beach, Florida.

The ceremony will be preceded on March 12 by the annual “Heroes of Horsepower” Reception and Dinner at the MSHFA Museum, located in the Daytona International Speedway Ticket and Tours facility. Both MSHFA events were previously held in July.

“March is magical in Florida. During a 10-day period, in addition to Bike Week – which includes the DAYTONA Supercross, DAYTONA TT and the historic DAYTONA 200 races at the speedway – you have Indy Cars in St. Petersburg, the NHRA Gatornationals in Gainesville, the 12 Hours of Sebring plus the Amelia Island Concours D’Elegance,” said MSHFA President Ron Watson. “With our hall of fame structured to honor all forms of American motorsports, we feel like these new dates are a perfect fit. We hope to have individuals involved in all of those events attend our 30th annual induction activities.”

Tickets for all of the 30th annual MSHFA induction activities can be purchased by calling 386.681.6843 or through the MSHFA website at www.mshf.com.  [11/13/17]