Las Vegas NHRA Nationals: Massey, Hight and Morgan Win in Las Vegas

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Las Vegas NHRA Nationals Motor Sports, Larry Dixon wanted to gain enough ground on Top Fuel point’s leader Tony Schumacher to give his team a legitimate chance to win the championship.

Dixon failed to win at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday, but he closed to within one point of Schumacher with the season finale in Pomona, Calif., left on the schedule.

Sunday's NHRA Nationals Motor Sports Winners were Spencer Massey in Top Fuel, Robert Hight in Funny Car and Larry Morgan in Pro Stock.

Dixon erased most of the 47-point deficit he had at the start of the weekend after Schumacher lost in the second round to teammate Cory McClenathan.

"Man, that was a tough way to go out," Schumacher said. "You have to tip your hat to Cory and his team. They did what they had to do.

"I'm actually pretty upset with myself. I probably did too much thinking out there. That's not how you should perform when you're going for a championship."

Dixon reached the final but smoked the tires of his Al-Anabi Racing dragster off the starting line against Massey's U.S. Smokeless dragster. Massey posted a 3.827-second pass at 314.53 mph to Dixon's 5.503 seconds at 174.87 mph.

"To make up 46 points in one weekend is big, especially against that team," Dixon said. "It's all going to come down to Pomona and it might even come down to those qualifying points. If not for them we might be a round or two back. It's going to be interesting to see how it all turns out."

It was Massey's second victory of the season and will go a long way toward wrapping up the NHRA's Rookie of the Year award.

"If it happens, it happens," Massey said. "We've got a couple of wins now, and if it underlines or puts a check next to my name then that's good. I can't wait to get to Pomona to see if it came out that way."

Funny Car driver Hight's Auto Club Ford Mustang opened up a commanding championship lead thanks to his final-round win over Jack Beckman and the Valvoline/MTS Dodge Charger. Hight ran 4.125 seconds at 304.46 mph to Beckman's 4.154 seconds at 303.16 mph.

"In the past, we've come into Vegas and left a lot on the table," Hight said. "We ran well, qualified good, then lost first round. But [crew chief] Jimmy Prock has done such a great job down the stretch this year. We've got three wins in the five [playoff] races. That is stout, and it's all been on performance. We've not gotten lucky; I've not had to pedal the car. We've just out-muscled these guys."

Hight beat second-place Ashley Force Hood in the first round and now leads his sister-in-law and teammate by 105 points with a maximum of four rounds of racing remaining.

"I believe that if she would have beat me today she would [have won the event]," Hight said. "They are the reason we are in this [championship playoff]. They fixed us when we were lost.

"That was the toughest round we had this year for sure."

Pro Stock's Mike Edwards was denied in his first chance to clinch the class championship. Second-place Greg Anderson and his Summit Racing Equipment Pontiac GXP lost to Greg Stanfield's Pontiac on a holeshot in the second round. All Edwards had to do was win in the same session and the championship was his.

However, a few minutes after Anderson lost, Edwards' Young Life Pontiac GXP lost to Larry Morgan's Lucas Oil Dodge, also on a holeshot. Now Edwards needs only to show up at Pomona and make one qualifying run to take the title.

Morgan took back the borrowed engine that final-round opponent Rickie Jones used in his Quarter Max Dodge before the final round as part of a pre-arranged agreement.

Jones borrowed an engine from Morgan when the weekend began, because Jones was not sure he could qualify much less reach the final with the engine he had. Morgan reclaimed the engine before the final round, forcing Jones to go to a backup. Morgan then ran 6.720 seconds at 205.69 mph to Jones' 6.794 seconds at 203.16 mph.

"They were kind of crippled coming into this race, but they wanted to come here and the World Finals," Morgan said. "They burnt up a pushrod in the engine I had sold them previously so I let him have my spare because I knew he could qualify with it.

"The guys that work for me get a percentage of my car's [winnings]. They thought I shouldn't give the guy an engine to beat me up with. We agreed that if we [both] reached the final, he'd have to run his own engine. I feel real good about our decision."

This win was Morgan's first in seven years.

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