

FORCE WINS 130TH OF CAREER, SCHUMACHER MAKES 100TH FINAL ROUND APPEARANCE; EDWARDS DEFENDS ’09 WIN AT BRISTOL: John Force raced his Castrol GTX High-Mileage Ford Mustang to his fourth win of the season and 130th win of his career Sunday at the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway. It was Force’s third win at Bristol Dragway, giving him the most of any Funny Car driver at the track. The win also moved Force past teammate and defending world champion Robert Hight and into the No. 1 spot in the Funny Car point standings. “Can you believe this old man just won it?” said Force. “To get the win is really great for me. I ain’t quitting tomorrow and I ain’t gonna have a heart attack tomorrow, knock on wood, but there will be a day when I can’t come back or there will be a day when I won’t win any race. I just keep praying to the Lord to keep me healthy and keep me fighting.” Joining Force in the Winner’s Circle Sunday at Bristol Dragway were defending world champions Tony Schumacher and Mike Edwards. Schumacher raced to his fourth win of the season and fourth at Bristol Dragway, the most of any Full Throttle Series driver. It was also his 100th career final round appearance, the most of any Top Fuel driver ever in NHRA. “To be the first guy to go to 100 finals in Top Fuel is awesome,” said Schumacher. “It just puts so much pressure on you because you want it so bad, and the way Dixon’s running, you don’t have that many shots at being the first to get to that thing. We’re trading places in the finals. It’s just been a heck of a battle, and I think to get there we had to win a couple races by inches.” In Pro Stock, Mike Edwards once again proved he’s got the car to beat in the class. Edwards raced to his eighth win of the season, 28th of his career and second consecutive win at Bristol Dragway. It was Edward’s fourth consecutive win of the season as well. “There’s so much heritage around this track and that track (Bristol Motor Speedway) over there, it’s a real honor to come here and run good and win this race,” said Edwards. “I’ve just got a great team, and I don’t know what to say other than I’m truly living my dream. I’ve been doing this a long time, and I never dreamed I could do this.” For more results from Sunday’s NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals, visit NHRA.com.