Drag Racing / Northwest Nationals -- Anderson Proves Rival Wrong Again -- Dunn On Losing End In Record-Setting Final

KENT - When Shelly Anderson expressed an interest in driving a dragster, her father said she first must graduate from college. So she earned a degree in speech communications from Cal State-Fullerton . . . and slipped into a Top Alcohol Dragster within two weeks.

When Brad Anderson buckled his daughter into the cockpit yesterday and issued a one-word command - "Win" - before the Top Fuel final in the NHRA Northwest Nationals at Seattle International Raceway, she obeyed again.

"Hey, he's my dad," she said after posting her career-best elapsed time (4.663 seconds) to edge Mike Dunn (4.710) in the quickest side-by-side race in NHRA Top Fuel history.

For Anderson, the victory was particularly gratifying because it came against Dunn.

The two don't speak to each other, "but that's OK - I speak to everybody else," she said.

Their disagreement surfaced last year in Richmond, Va., where, she said, she learned "he doesn't believe women belong in race cars - and we won. We (also) beat him last weekend," in Sonoma, Calif.

Dunn, who won June 23 in Memphis, Tenn., did not address the professional feud but said of the duel yesterday, "It was close enough at the finish line that I didn't even know who won until I got the car stopped."

Anderson took advantage of troubles by Connie Kalitta, Andy Woods and Bob Vandergriff Jr. to advance to the final.

"We definitely were lucky . . . until the final," she said. "The final, we were good."

Anderson earned $40,000 for her first victory since May 5 in Richmond. Her older brother, Randy, who won the Top Alcohol Funny Car final yesterday, said, "I think I'll make her buy me dinner."

The victory moved Shelly Anderson from ninth to eighth in the points standings, inching closer to her goal of the top five. She is one point behind Kalitta, 20 behind Joe Amato and 32 behind No. 5 Cory McClenathan.

John Force twice broke the track elapsed-time record for Funny Cars en route to his fourth Northwest Nationals title.

Force beat Cruz Pedregon with the first sub-five-second Funny Car pass (4.990) in SIR history in the semifinals, then beat Tony Pedregon - Cruz's brother and Force's teammate - by 63-thousandths of a second in the final with a time of 4.965.

Both finalists said the matchup brought mixed emotions. "You never feel good beating your teammate," said Force, whose victory was worth $40,000.

"I'm getting better about (racing his boss) the further into it we go," Pedregon said. "You've got to have that killer instinct."

He said it was "weird trying to get into the groove on Monday," but the final was satisfying for the fans. "They don't want to see a tire-smoking contest or one car roll over and play dead. We put on a good show," he said.

Force is the runaway points leader with 1,420 - 522 ahead of Cruz Pedregon. Tony Pedregon remained third but sliced his brother's margin from 44 points to 27 with six events left. "We're going after Cruz," Force said.

Mike Edwards beat Kurt Johnson off the starting line to capture his second career Pro Stock victory.

Edwards' reaction time (.427 seconds to Johnson's .446) was key, because Johnson had a better elapsed time (7.046 seconds to 7.042).

Edwards, a 38-year-old rookie from Broken Arrow, Okla., who serves as his own crew chief, earned $25,000. That ought to dispel any self-doubts he had at the beginning of the season.

"I've been a crew chief on other teams," he said. "Doing all the physical things to the car - the clutch, the chassis set-up - that part I knew I could do. The driving was suspect."

No. 1 qualifier Jim Yates lost to Edwards by 15-thousandths of a second (6.994-7.009) in the semifinals in the quickest side-by-side race in Pro Stock history.

It was Yates' career-best elapsed time, and he finished with the faster speed, 196.46 mph to Edwards' 195.52. But Edwards' quicker reaction time (.448 to .473) made the difference.

Notes

Shelly Anderson downplayed the fact that she's the fastest woman in NHRA history and one of only four women to win a Top Fuel title at an NHRA national event. The others are Shirley Muldowney, Lucille Lee and Lori Johns.

"I'm quickest and fastest because they didn't run at this time," Anderson said. "Once I retire, there'll be somebody else."

-- Cruz Pedregon beat John Force in the July 28 final in Sonoma, Calif., and in their Funny Car rematch yesterday in the semifinal, Pedregon thought he had defeated Force again.

"At half-track, I thought I had it in the bag," he said. "Then I hit the bump at around 800 feet, the engine started to rev, and that was the first time I saw his fender. Once the tires started to spin, I knew we were in trouble."

-- Defending Northwest Nationals Pro Stock champion Warren Johnson discovered that he lost to Rickie Smith in the first round this year because of a broken drive shaft. His original diagnosis was a problem with his experimental clutchless five-speed transmission.

-- Tacoma's Mike Austin was runner-up in the Top Alcohol Dragster class, losing to Californian Bobby Taylor. Jim Mabry of Maple Valley won the Super Street title over Ed Hutchinson of Victoria, B.C., and Jody Lang of Puyallup beat Eric Waldo of Richland in the Stock Eliminator final.

Mike Ferderer of Buckley was second to Californian Stephen Casner in the Super Comp class, and Bruce Wentz of Sunnyside lost the Super Gas championship to Paul Farrow of Sacramento, Calif. Other sportsman-class winners were Bob Panella, Stockton, Calif., in Competition Eliminator and Jeff Taylor, Lumberton, N.C., in Super Stock.