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Scelzi saved his best pass for the last round after beating
Steve Smith when he broke, surviving a peddling contest with Tony Schumacher
and another tire smoking battle with Mike Dunn before outrunning Bernstein.
Scelzi moved up to third place in the NHRA Winston Top Fuel points,
but the runner-up finish keeps Bernstein in the lead, 58 points ahead
of second place Larry Dixon
Coughlin's first career victory came when his Jeg's Mail
Order Chevrolet Cavalier was able to make up the starting line advantage
by Tom Martino, running 6.768 at 203.40 while Martino's Century 21 Pontiac
Grand Am ran 6.847 at 200.59.
After nine attempts in the final, Coughlin finally captured
his first career victory that always seemed to elude him. Coughlin's
three brothers have all won NHRA national events in either Pro Stock
or Pro Stock Truck and Coughlin was the last of the family to join that
elite company.
"It's another family milestone for us," said Coughlin,
the 2001 Winston Showdown winner. "All three of my brothers and myself
have won major events as a professional driver. There is nothing like
it. We're just really excited with it and can't wait to go on to the
next one."
Coughlin becomes the 13th different Pro Stock driver to
win an NHRA national event in 2001. Coughlin defeated Kurt Johnson,
Tom Hammonds, Jeg Coughlin before meeting Martino in the final. Warren
Johnson, Jim Yates and Kurt Johnson all lost in first round upsets but
Warren Johnson still leads the NHRA Winston Pro Stock points standings,
134 ahead of Yates.
The cool autumn temperature and dry air allowed the Pro
Stock cars to blow away the national records. Jeg Coughlin earned an
extra 20 Winston points by establishing the NHRA e.t. record with a
pass of 6.750. Mark Osborne inked his name in the record book by obliterating
the Pro Stock speed record by running 204.35.
Savoie, the defending NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle champion,
picked up the 21st win of her career and sixth this season. Savoie's
Team Winston Suzuki was quicker than Steve Johnson's K&N Filters Suzuki,
running a 7.099 at 185.84 to a 7.168 at 184.98. Although Savoie qualified
eighth, her worst of her career, she was able to defeat Shawn Gann,
Matt Hines, Antron Brown and finally Johnson.
"We looked back at our races before and we noticed that
in Houston we had to race Antron Brown, Matt Hines and Shawn Gann and
we won that race," said Savoie, the winningest female driver in NHRA
history. "I just realized that I had four final rounds today rather
than just one. It was kind of backward today since Steve (Johnson) and
I usually meet in the first round. I tried to stay focused and not care
about who was in the other lane. It was difficult but I did it."
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