CHANDLER, AZ (February 18) -- The second stop on the 50th Anniversary tour of the NHRA took place this past weekend at Firebird International Raceway. The 17th Annual Checker/ Schucks/Kragen Nationals saw Hoosier-shod competitors make their way to six different finals, with four drivers walking away with a championship trophy. Rick Santos drove to his second straight Federal-Mogul Dragster victory, Pat Austin claimed his 73rd career NHRA victory in Federal-Mogul Funny Car, Rob Slavinski returned to Super Comp and collected the "Wally", and Gary Thompson rounded out the Hoosier victories in Super Street.

Federal-Mogul Dragster
The competition keeps getting tougher, but so does Rick Santos. The Oakwood Homes/Hoosier B/AD driver stayed consistent throughout all four rounds of competition, and in a rematch of the Pomona final, defeated fellow Hoosier-shod competitor Mark Hentges for the victory. Both Santos and Hentges had difficult semi-final round matchups as each was paired with an A/Fuel opponent. Santos pulled away from David Baca to a tenth of a second victory, while Hentges topped fast qualifier Brandon Henkelman with a spectacular .455 reaction time. In the final, Hentges reacted first but could not back up his 5.490 blast from the earlier round, and Santos drove by for the victory with a 5.457 second pass.

Federal-Mogul Funny Car
After a second round loss at the season opener in Pomona, Pat Austin was hungry when the tree dropped at Firebird. Austin used a hole shot and quicker e.t.'s to defeat both John Hyland and John Weaver enroute to a semi-finals match with his Uncle, Bucky Austin. After a friendly side-by-side burnout, the battle was on. Bucky reacted first, but Pat was not to be denied. He muscled his Pro-Max/Hoosier Funny Car past Bucky at the line with a 5.774 blast, the fastest e.t of eliminations. In the final, the competition didn't get any easier as Steve Gasparrelli staged his Prisms Unlimited/Hoosier flopper against Austin. Gasparrelli left first, but the former Federal-Mogul champion drove by to his 73rd career NHRA victory.

Super Comp
After taking a year off from Super Comp racing, Rob Slavinski returned to the 8.90 wars and claimed the class championship at Firebird. Slavinski spent most of his 2000 season campaigning a Pro-Stock Truck, and his first adjustment when returning to Super Comp was an altitude adjusted index of 8.97 seconds. The changes didn't faze the Newark, Ohio driver as he rode Hoosier tires and reaction times of .410, .406, .416, and .420 into the finals, including an incredible double break-out victory over George Tamasi in the semi's. In the final, his mastery of the tree continued as he slapped a .014 head start on Keith Downing and pushed his opponent into a break-out to claim the Super Comp category victory.

Super Street
Hoosier has become the tire to beat in NHRA Super Street competition. The 10.90 index seems perfectly matched to the consistent nature of the USA-built products. Six rounds of competition and an adjusted index of 10.99 tested the strong field of drivers in Super Street at Firebird. Gary Thompson had his 1986 Corvette tuned perfectly and raced away with the victory. His toughest battle came third round when Mike Blodgett Sr. left first with an amazing .506 reaction time. Thompson, who was only three-thousanths behind at the start, outpaced Blodgett to the stripe and advanced to the final. The final round match was over at the start as Thompson shot out to a .026 second head start over Dwight Downing and cruised to the win.