Tony Schumacher wins 6th straight NHRA Top Fuel title, 7th overall

Schumacher wins 7th Top Fuel title

POMONA, Calif. — Tony Schumacher won his sixth straight and seventh overall Top Fuel championship on Sunday, beating Larry Dixon by two points in the closest season title race in NHRA history.

Schumacher was on deck, sitting on a two-point lead over Dixon, when Dixon was upset in the semifinals by Spencer Massey, clinching the title for the U.S. Army team.

“This trophy will go to Fort Hood. I don’t think there’s any question in the world where it belongs,” Schumacher said. “We’ll present it to the family, the friends, everyone at that base.”

The win capped an intense battle between rivals Schumacher and Dixon. Schumacher had to completely rebuild his team during the offseason after crew chief Alan Johnson left to form his own team and hired Dixon as his driver.

Hector Arana (Pro Stock Motorcycle) also won a championship on the final Sunday of the season; while the other two championships were decided Saturday as Robert Hight (Funny Car) and Mike Edwards (Pro Stock) clinched their titles in qualifying.

The race winners at the season-ending Auto Club NHRA Finals at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona were Antron Brown (Top Fuel), Mike Neff (Funny Car), Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) and Eddie Krawiec (Pro Stock Motorcycle).

In the Nitro classes, Brown (3.801 at 316.90) won for the Top Fuel-best sixth time this season over Massey, who fouled out; and Neff (5.131 at 285.05) defeated teammate Ashley Force Hood (DQ, wall) in a wild pedal-fest for his first career win.

Each of the Pro Stock finals were decided by a red light as Greg Anderson (6.564 at 210.70) defeated Kurt Johnson in Pro Stock, and Eddie Krawiec (6.905 at 194.32) defeated Doug Horne in Pro Stock Motorcycle.