Lots of changes in NHRA Drag Racing to start the new year. The biggest news is John Force returning from a horrific crash at the end of September of last year. Both hands and feet were affected when his car split in half during a race. Many said career ender. Not John. After a month in the hospital and 3 months of intense physical therapy, he is back in a race car and almost looking like he never left. After setting the low E.T.s and high speeds in practice he came on to qualify 5th for the opening event, the Winternationals. One other thing to add to his legend is that he switched back to a foot brake, as did many drivers, because his hand might not have the strength for a hand brake. (Remember his severe injuries to both feet). He is just one tough son-of-a-gun.

Also Funny Cars have added a few new faces. Melanie Troxel came from Top Fuel, with many big wins and championships, to Funny Cars. Her husband, Tommy Johnson Jr., also drives Funny Cars now. Ashley Force is in her second year in Funny Cars and should be better this year. She did have 4 semi-finals and a finals showing in her rookie year.

Things to watch for:

1. John Force. Can he hold up to the physical challenge of the season and further solidify his legend status? Can he get a 15th Funny Car Championship?

2. Can Ashley Force finish what she started and become the first woman driver to win a Funny Car event? Can she win a Funny Car Championship in her second year? She is at History's door.

3. Will Melanie Troxel come in and beat Ashley Force to history? Will Troxel eventually make more history by being the first woman to win championships in Top Fuel and Funny Car? How many times will she beat her husband in head-to-head racing in Funny Cars?

4. Can Antron Brown make a splash in Top Fuel since making the leap from Pro Stock Motorcycles? Can Hillary Will step out of the shadow of Melanie Troxel and take her place among the great female drivers in the history of Top Fuel? Is there another surprise in waiting? The next legend, the next superstar, the next person to keep the record keepers busy.

The Winternationals got the season started pretty well. Some question were answered but there is still a lot of excitement to come.

John Force's spectacular return was a success. He hobbled around a bit (he still has 5 months of physical therapy to do) but he managed to make the semi-finals before his teammate Robert Hight beat him. Hight went on to win the final. I say teammates even though John Force is the owner and boss. Still, John is back and looks to be taking up where he left off last year. He will always be remembered for his wins but his new focus on improving safety may become his biggest legacy. Ashley Force came out solid and also lost in the semi-finals. There is not letdown in the Force Team. If you know how strong the Hendricks Team is in NASCAR, you know how strong the Force Team is in Funny Cars.

Melanie Troxel made a good debut if just for making it past qualification and having the number 1 qualifying round through 3. Antron Brown's debut in Top Fuel went well too. He was the number one qualifier. Hillary Will stepped it up in Top Fuel by becoming the fastest woman ever. She set a speed record for women drivers in NHRA with a speed of 334.65 mph. That is third best in NHRA history.

I am very glad to see John Force back in action. He is a very strong man to be back so soon. It will be interesting to watch him and all the others try and make history or have good luck in new areas. I will be watching.

The coolest crash last week was when Tony Pedregon's Funny Car blew up at the end of the race against John Force. It was a giant ball of flame after the body blew up into a million pieces. The fire was intense enough to burn through both knees of his firesuit. He walked away with minor burns on his hands. One cool part is he almost won anyway with his car going almost sideways, and fully engulfed, through the finish line.

I knew Force would make a comeback, I spent some time with his family and teams and learned just how devoted they are to the cause. I predict he will win another championship, maybe not this year but sometime in the future. I also predict he will retire after he gets that last championship and focus on the newly created teams. I am trying to plan a visit to the race shop in southern california but it is very hard for me to get away from the happenings in the northern climates of the country. It is outstanding to see John back in his saddle!

BAYTOWN, Texas — Antron Brown become the first driver in NHRA history to win races in Pro Stock Motorcycle and Top Fuel, beating Larry Dixon in the Top Fuel final Sunday in the O'Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals. Brown, who also joined J.R. Todd as the only black Top Fuel winners. Brown, a 16-time winner in Pro Stock Motorcycle before making the jump to the 7,000-horsepower Top Fuel class this year, sped past Dixon in a terrific final, finishing in 4.605 second at 320.28 mph to Dixon's 4.621 at 309.06.

Del Worsham beat John Force in the semis and Ashley Force in the final of the Funny Cars. This was Ashley's second final and she remains the only female driver to make a final.

Ashley Force made her second consecutive final but lost to Tim Wilkerson. It was a close race too. Still, Ashley made more history by becoming the first female driver to be at the top of the points standings in Funny Car. Her wins will come and Wilkerson said there are many great female drivers and Ashley is the best.

Antron Brown came up one race short of winning his second straight Top Fuel final. He has certainly established his driving abilities in short order with Top Fuel.

Hillary Will made the semi-finals in Top Fuel and is clearly one of the best drivers in Top Fuel.

NHRA determined that Don Schumacher Racing committed a fuel violation prior to eliminations Sunday at the SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals in Las Vegas. Schumacher Racing has been fined $100,000 for possessing nitromethane fuel in its professional pit clearly in violation of the fuel regulations. The fuel was not used in the competition this weekend, he is just being fined for having the wrong brand of fuel in his pit. He has used the other brand of fuel in testing with NHRAs approval. He just isn't allowed to have it on the site of a Powerade event.

NASCAR racer and Daytona 500 winner Kevin Harvick and his wife DeLana have teamed with NHRA veteran Bob Vandergriff Jr. to explore the option of fielding a Top Fuel dragster in NHRA competition. The proposed Harvick-Vandergriff Motorsports will specialize in offering its sponsors marketing opportunities in NHRA, NASCAR Sprint Cup, Craftsman Truck, and the Nationwide Series. Harvick said there was a good chance of him fielding a car at about the halfway mark of this season. Harvick won't be driving the car though.

Ashley Force etched her name into the annals of drag racing history when she defeated her father, John, in the final round at the 28th annual Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals to become the first woman to win an NHRA Funny Car title. The final was somewhat anticlimactic when John, who was seeking his 1,000th career round-win, struck the tires immediately; Ashley would have been tough to beat as she sailed to a 4.837, the second quickest time of the day. She remains number one in the points race and is on a roll with her third straight finals appearance.

John will, no doubt, make more history real soon in winning his 1,000th win. Nobody in racing history is anywhere close to the wins John has. He also set history today by becoming only the second driver to ever qualify for 500 racing events.

Anton Brown scored his second Top Fuel win as well. Clearly, he has a handle on the Top Fuel cars.

I love the last two weeks as Danica made history in IRL and Ashley makes her mark this weekend in Funny Cars. Two of the biggest moments in the history of motorsports.

I'm glad that Ashley Force has finally got the monkey off her back by winning. It was cool to see her beat her dad like that. I wish she had beaten one of the other guys first though. By beating her dad, some folks might think he gave her the win. That's something she doesn't need.

We all know that John Force will get his 1000th next week. Go John!!

Now the ladies can relax a little. It's not as hard after the first win. I'll be watching.

John Force did get his 1,000th round win last week.

Team Force has had at least one driver in all but one final round this year. Tonight had his newest driver, Jim Neff, in the final for Funny Cars. He lost but he hadn't won even one round before going all the way to the final in one event.

Even better was who he lost to. Melanie Troxel made the jump from Top Fuel to Funny Cars this year and hadn't won a single round until today. She became the first woman to win in both classes and the second woman to win in Funny Car. I, personally, am glad that Ashley Force won first but am thrilled Melanie Troxel won too. Oh, and Melanie Troxel had to beat Ashley Force in the semi-finals in the first ever Funny Car Race between two women.

Hillary Will is still loking for a win in Top Fuel but she regularly has the quickest car in the field. I don't think her bad luck can last all year. Good cars can last though.

This was another exciting week as Hillary Will did step up and take her rightful place among the great female driver in Top Fuel. Her consistancy paid off in her first event win in her Top Fuel career. She is the seventh woman to win in the class. Sometimes you can just see when a driver is in the zone and relaxed. She was in the zone today.

Also, John Force is back in the winner's circle with his 126th event win in Funny Cars. Less than a year after a horrific crash in Dallas that had everyone speculating about the end of a legendary career he showed why he is a legend. The man creates great drivers and still acts as humble as can be. Winning for him is still exciting and he is just giddy when he wins as he ever was. John celebrated his win by climbing into the stands to be with the fans.

You feeling the pinch with the current gas issues? So is NHRA. Their problem is not enough nitro-methane to finish the season. They have until the two last events to find some more if they want to finish. I am sure they will but you just can't run down the street and get more nitro-methane for your Top Fuel car or Funny Car. They may have to change a rule or two to adjust for this issue. Right now there is only one fuel supplier allowed in NHRA. They may have to let someone else in eventually.

Some teams in NHRA and NASCAR are teaming up to make a Bonneville run at a speed record. They want to go 500 mph in a car. If anyone can fly on four wheels it is these people.

The nitro shortage caused by the one authorized supplier policy is going to make waves Jokul. I dont recall who it was that was penalized for using unauthorized fuel during the event yet NHRA allowed the use during practice. This team might have won the event or the year end title depending on the penalty. Now, NHRA might be telling this same team, duh, it's ok now!

It was awesome to John Force Really Back!!!!!

Funny Car driver Scott Kalitta, 46, died today from multiple injuries suffered after his car went out of control and crashed in a 300 mph racing accident during the final round of qualifying at the Lucas Oil NHRA SuperNationals.

Kalitta, a two-time NHRA POWERade Series Top Fuel champion and one of only 14 drivers in NHRA history to earn victories in both premier nitro categories, earned 18 victories during his career, his last coming in Chicago in 2005 in Top Fuel. Kalitta earned most of his racing success in Top Fuel, where he claimed back-to-back world championship titles in 1994 and 1995. He posted a runner-up finish two weeks ago in Chicago, his 36th career NHRA final round appearance.

Kalitta's father is legendary NHRA racer and team owner Connie Kalitta.

I saw the wreck. It didn't look like a wreck that would kill a person, but I've seen guys die in non-major looking wrecks before. Dale Earnhardt comes to mind.

*tips hat to Kalitta* R.I.P.

I apologize. I mentioned the wrong wreck. They showed one from another race and I got confused. The wreck that killed Kalitta was much worse than I thought. He hit the wall at 300 mph and catapulted him over the wall. This was after the body got blown off his car after he crossed the finish line.

The race must go on. Scott Kalitta's family left thetrack immediately after yesterday's tragic events. All the rest of the Kalitta drivers withdrew from the event. Instead they gave several unique events to honor Scott Kalitta. Each race the drivers of the team were supposed to race in were solo runs by the opposing drivers. The driver's teams gather at the starting line, in the lane they were supposed to run in, and watched the solo run in tribute. When they got to the race Scott was supposed to be in all the Kalitta teams gathered at the line. Robert Hight then ran a slow run down the track. A fitting tribute to their friend and competitor.

The problem that contributed the most to Kalitta's death was generally believed to be the length of the track you have to stop the car in after the finish line. The brakes and parachutes work well to stop the 300+ mph cars in most cases. If both fail the car is moving too fast to stop before they run out of track. Kalitta hit the end of a cement wall at hundreds of miles per hour.

The call is for the tracks to be lengthened so this becomes less likely to happen again. Most of the tracks were built in the 50s and 60s when cars ran more than 100 mph slower. The tracks haven't kept up with the speeds. Cars that can't stop for some reason are now going 100 mph faster when they hit the end now. Some tracks can't be extended as they curve at the end to avoid things like forests or hills. It may take some time before any changes are made on some tracks. Those that can expand will likely be extended before next year.

The big news in NHRA this weekend is a change that has many purists shocked and maddened. Even the racers don't like it but can understand it was a safety move. Drag racing has always been measured on a quarter-mile (1320 feet) track. At least temporarily, the distance for Top Fuel and Funny Cars will only be 1000 feet. They did this to keep the speeds down in the cars in an attempt to prevent another accident like the one that took Scott Kalitta's live recently.

This change would not have prevented Kalitta's death, in my mind. It is a band-aid fix for the real problem. I can understand taking the measure until they can figure out something better. What I can't understand is why they can not figure out how to slow the cars down another way. The speeds at the finish line have dropped about 20 mph to 30 mph to right around 300 mph. Oh, and they now cover the race distance in under 4 seconds for the first time. All the rest of the competitors still run the full quarter-mile. This change is only for the top two classes.

I don't see shorting the distance they race isn't fixing anything. For some reason they think that will stop what happened to Kalitta from happening to others. It won't. The Kalitta incident was a VERY rare thing to happen. Even if he would've only raced for a thousand feet, he still would've ended up the same. Maybe I'm wrong? We'll never know.