NHRA at Houston 4/20/04

randon Bernstein didn't have enough time to digest all that his Budweiser/Lucas Oil Top Fuel Dragster has accomplished in the last nine races. Tim Wilkerson was concerned he and his Levi Ray Shoup Monte Carlo Funny Car might not get enough cooperation from the tricky racing surface. Karen Stoffer didn't think she'd have enough money to continue racing after the Pro Stock Motorcycle season-opener in Gainesville. And Greg Anderson was afraid he might not have enough new ways to phrase how dominating his Vegas General Construction Pontiac Grand Am continues to be in the Pro Stock class.

But each had everything he or she needed April 18 to win at the O'Reilly Spring Nationals at Houston Raceway Park in Baytown, Texas.

Stoffer, of Minden, Nev., became the seventh woman in NHRA history to win a professional race Sunday, earning her first Pro Stock Motorcycle title by beating U.S. Army-sponsored Antron Brown in an all-Suzuki final. After defeating Craig Treble and taking out both Harley-Davidson riders G.T. Tonglet and Andrew Hines, Stoffer took the victory with a 7.159-second pass at 186.38 mph that was better than Brown's 7.176 at 186.05 by a mere 0.0018 seconds, or about six inches.

Stoffer shared her achievement with Super Gas winner Erica Enders, half of the Disney dragster duo, who also recorded her first national-event victory. Enders, driving a Chevy Corvette, recorded a 9.933-second run at 162.51 mph to top Jonathan Johnson, who drove his Pontiac Firebird to a 9.912/150.40. Stoffer and Enders became the 35th and 36th overall female winners in NHRA. It also marked only the fourth time that two female racers won at the same event.

"I knew it was going to be a tough road for us because we had such good competition on our side of the ladder," Stoffer said."But we are a tough team, too, and right now anything seems possible. Wow! I think that's the only way to describe this."

She wasn't sure if her team was going to have enough funding to race this weekend. But sponsor Geico Insurance signed an extension with her, allowing her to compete for the rest of the season. And Sunday she was $10,000 richer.

"For a team that might not have been here, this is just amazing," she said. "To go from almost not being able to race to winning our first event is unbelievable. Geico Cycle-Gard stuck with us after Gainesville so we were able to stay out here. I'm so glad because we were running well and we didn't want to stop.

"All of the teams out here are so tough. We beat the Harleys back-to-back and then a tough Army team in the final. I think we've showed we can handle this level of competition and make a championship push. Why not? The way I feel right now anything is possible."

Stoffer said she and husband Gary, her crew chief, would savor the moment, once it soaked in. "I don't know if I've absorbed all of this yet," she said. "The fans were screaming, and so many people told me they stayed to root for us in the final. One guy even missed a flight out of here."