Statistically Speaking: 2006 Preview
By Jim Hawkins
2/8/06
| Driver | Best Top 12 Ranking | Worst Top 12 Ranking | Favorite Driver to see in the other lane | Least favorite Driver to see in the other lane | Jim's Comments |
| TOP FUEL (2005 stats) | |||||
| #1 Tony Schumacher | #1 Qualifying Position and W/L % | #6 Elapsed Time | Morgan Lucas 7-0 | Doug Kalitta 2-3 | 11 #1's, 21 first round wins, Doug Kalitta being the only driver Tony had a losing record to last year. |
| #2 Larry Dixon | #2 Qualifying Position and Elapsed Time | #6 Top Speed | Cory Mac 5-1 | Tony Schumacher 2-3 | Only Top Fuel driver to not qualify in the bottom half of any event in 2005 |
| #3 Doug Kalitta | #2 W/L % | #5 Elapsed Time | David Baca 3-0 | Brandon Bernstein 2-3 | Doug doesn't have any outstanding stats other than extreme consistency ... but that is what wins championships. |
| #4 David Grubnic | #4 W/L % | #10 Qualifying Position | Cory Mac or John Smith 3-0 | Brandon Bernstein 1-3 | One of three drivers to run in the 4.440's last years. |
| #5 Morgan Lucas | #2 Reaction Time | #7 W/L % and Top Speed | John Smith or Scott Weis 3-0 | Tony Schumacher 0-7 | Qualified for all 23 events, lost the most rounds on aborted runs (17), was in the 3rd round 9 times. |
| #6 Doug Herbert | #6 W/L % | #10 Elapsed Time and Top Speed | Fuller, Troxel, Foley 2-0 | Tony Schumacher 1-5 | Was the beneficiary of a 4-1 redlight record and the downside was 0-4 in final round appearances-at least he was there! |
| #7 Brandon Bernstein | #1 Elapsed Time and Top Speed | #12 Reaction Time | Cory Mac 3-0 | Morgan Lucas 1-3 | Perfect record in final rounds 2-0, but had trouble getting there 2-7 in third round-on average, quickest and fastest car out there. |
| #8 Scott Kalitta | Going Funny Car Racing - not applicable | ||||
| #9 Cory Mac | #5 Top Speed | #10 W/L % | Morgan Lucas 3-0 | Tony Schumacher 0-4 | Qualified for all 23 events, but amazingly, had losing record in every round. |
| #10 Rod Fuller | #6 Reaction Time | #9 Elapsed Time and Top Speed | John Smith 3-1 | Tony Schumacher 2-4 | Only qualified for 15 events, but made the top ten in points-that's amazing! Went to final round 3 times. |
| Driver | Best Top 12 Ranking | Worst Top 12 Ranking | Favorite Driver to see in the other lane | Least favorite Driver to see in the other lane | Jim's Comments |
| FUNNY CAR (2005 stats) | |||||
| #1 Gary Scelzi | #1 Qualifying Position | #9 Reaction Time | Del Worsham 4-0 | Whit Bazemore 0-3 | Only qualified #1 6 times and won 17 first rounds- |
| #2 Ron Capps | #2 Qualifying Position | Unranked in Elapsed Time | Wilkerson, T Pedregon or Johnson 3-0 | Del Worsham or Cruz Pedregon 1-2 | Had better winning % than Scelzi and was in 7 final rounds. |
| #3 John Force | #1 W/L % | #10 Reaction Time | Tommy Johnson 5-0 or Whit Bazemore 4-0 | Burkart, Hight, T Pedregon, Worsham 1-2 | 5 event wins, 7 final rounds ... best W/L % but finished third in points ... |
| #4 Eric Medlen | #3 Qualifying Position | Unranked in Reaction Time | Tommy Johnson or Phil Burkart 3-0 | Gary Scelzi 0-3 | Recorded 17 first round wins out of 23 |
| #5 Robert Hight | #1 Elapsed Time and Top Speed | Unranked in Reaction Time | Jeff Arend 3-0 | Eric Medlen or Gary Scelzi 1-3 | Tied Scelzi with 6 #1's but tie Bazemore with most abort runs with 12 |
| #6 Tommy Johnson | #1 Reaction Time | #8 Elapsed Time | Frank Pedregon or Phil Burkart 3-0 | John Force 0-5 | 15 first round wins and one of 5 FC drivers over 330 mph |
| #7 Tony Pedregon | #3 Reaction Time | #12 Top Speed | Cruz Pedregon 3-1 | Ron Capps 0-3 | Tony and brother Cruz led in holeshot wins with 3 each |
| #8 Del Worsham | #4 Top Speed | #9 W/L % | Gary Densham 2-0 | Gary Scelzi 0-4 | Was 2-0 in the final round of 2005 |
| #9 Whit Bazemore | #4 Reaction Time | #10 Qualifying Position | Bob Gilbertson or Gary Scelzi 3-0 | John Force 0-4 | Was 2-0 in the final round of 2005, one of two top ten drivers to not qualify for all 23 events |
| #10 Cruz Pedregon | #5 Elapsed Time | #10 W/L % | Jeff Arend 3-1 | Phil Burkart 0-2 | Won 15% of elimination on holeshots, one of two top ten drivers to not qualify for every event |
| Driver | Best Top 12 Ranking | Worst Top 12 Ranking | Favorite Driver to see in the other lane | Least favorite Driver to see in the other lane | Jim's Comments |
| PRO STOCK (2005 stats) | |||||
| #1 Greg Anderson | #1 Qualifying Position and W/L % | #6 Reaction Time | Greg Stanfield 4-0 | Kurt Johnson 4-4 | Greg Anderson didn't have a losing record against any driver last year, the best anyone could do was KJ with a 50% record. |
| #2 Kurt Johnson | #2 Qualifying Position and W/L % | #7 Reaction Time | Kenny Koretsky 5-0 (If he drives at all this year) | Warren Johnson (surprise) 1-3 | Kurt only had losing records against WJ, Jason Line and Tom Martino |
| #3 Jason Line | #2 Elapsed Time and Top Speed | #4 Qualifying Position | Greg Stanfield 5-1 | Greg Anderson (surprise again) 2-5 | Out ran the opponent 24 times, but had the most redlights. |
| #4 Warren Johnson | #3 Qualifying Position | Unranked in Reaction Time | Larry Morgan 6-0 | Greg Anderson and David Connolly 2-5 | 4 holeshot losses to Connolly |
| #5 Dave Connolly | #3 Reaction Time | #8 Qualifying Position | V. Gaines 4-0 | Jason Line 1-3 | Beat Gaines 3 times on holeshots |
| #6 Jeg Coughlin | He ain't racin' this year in Pro Stock! | ||||
| #7 Greg Stanfield | #2 Reaction Time | Unranked in Several Categories | Richie Stevens 3-0 | Jason Line 1-5 or Greg Anderson 0-4 | Loves to Win on a holeshot as much as Dave Connolly |
| #8 Richie Stevens | #6 Elapsed Time and Top Speed | #10 in W/L % | V. Gaines 3-0 | Greg Stanfield or Jason Line 0-3 | Qualified for all 23 races last year, in the top half 13 times |
| #9 Ron Krisher | #6 Qualifying Position | Unranked in Reaction Time | Jim Yates 2-0 | Erica Enders or KJ 0-3 | Although he lost on 5 holeshots, won 4 times with them. |
| #10 Jim Yates | #9 Qualifying Position | Unranked in Several Categories | Jason Line or Mike Edwards 2-1 | WJ - 0-3 | Had two .001 lights last year. |