Anderson has won five of seven final rounds in the last eight events. And Anderson said he isn't done for the season, despite posting 59 round-wins and 12 No. 1 qualifying positions and both ends of the Pro Stock national record (6.670-second elapsed time and 207.18 mph, both set in May at Englishtown, N.J.). "We're going after the race win record," he said. "That's the only thing I see left that we need to do this year. We have to win both races to do that. That would make this campaign complete."

Added Anderson, "What a year we've had. This team, our program, the performance of our Pontiac Grand Am -- we've got the total package. It's pretty amazing, and I feel very

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fortunate. It looks like the smartest thing I did was hire this crew. (Team owner) Ken Black has been great, and I wouldn't be here if it weren't for him. He has given me this opportunity, and I will forever be grateful to him."

Two Top Fuel drivers whose promising weekend quickly went south were Schumacher and Clay Millican.

Millican was having a rough enough week, dealing with the shooting of his mother the previous Wednesday during an attempted robbery at the family's small country store in Drummonds, Tenn. Martha Millican urged her son to drive his Team Werner/104 + Octane Boost/Lehman Racing Dragster at Dallas, and he gave her the provisional No. 1 qualifying effort Friday as a birthday gift. But Schumacher eclipsed that with a pass that at the time was a track-speed-record 331.12 mph. Millican lost on race day to first-round opponent Jim Head. That was just the second time all season Millican had been dumped in the opening round.

Schumacher, who had been on such a roll in the five races from Brainerd through Reading, lost his Round 1 race against Doug Kalitta, who uncharacteristically was the No. 16 qualifier. Then he saw his track speed record fall to Scott Kalitta in the quarterfinals.