Trying to make Indy
Rookie sensation LE Tonglet, who enters the Countdown playoffs as the seventh-ranked Pro Stock Motorcycle
competitor, hopes to continue his quest for the Full Throttle world championship and the Automobile Club of
Southern California Road to the Future Award at the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals presented by Lucas Oil. Tonglet,
winner of the United Association Route 66 NHRA Nationals presented by Miller Welders in Chicago, destroyed
his only engine during an opening-round loss at the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals in Brainerd. Racing on a
shoestring budget, Tonglet initially posted a note on his Facebook page that said that his family-run team was done
for the season and would not attend the six events in the Countdown playoffs. However, after returning to their
Louisiana home, Tonglet and his father, Gary, and brother, GT, have begun to evaluate their options and are hopeful
presented by that they can continue. “We are trying to get some help to fix the engine,”
said Tonglet. “It’s gonna come down to the wire, but don’t count us out just
yet. We could always use some funding, and it’s still race to race for our
Regular season team. We’re trying to get this engine fixed, and hopefully it will be a cheap
ends dramatically fix because this was a fast engine. We’re scraping together every dollar we
can in order to fix this thing because I don’t want to go out without a fight.”
The Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals at
Brainerd Int’l Raceway marked the end of
the 2010 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series regular season,
setting the 10-racer fields for the Countdown to the Championship
playoffs in the NHRA Full Throttle classes. Larry Dixon (Top Fuel),
John Force (Funny Car), Mike Edwards (Pro Stock), and Andrew
Hines (Pro Stock Motorcycle) locked up the top spots in their categories and will enter the Mac
Tools U.S. Nationals presented by Lucas Oil 30 points ahead of their nearest pursuer. Dixon
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handily grabbed the No. 1 spot in Top Fuel, topping Cory McClenathan by 280 points. Force
barely earned the Funny Car top spot, edging teammate and reigning Full Throttle world champ
Robert Hight by one point. Edwards dominated the Pro Stock regular season, which gave him a
Upcoming events
328-point lead over Allen Johnson. Hines took the Pro Stock Motorcycle lead in dramatic Old Bridge Township Raceway Park
fashion, securing the No. 1 seed when he won the Brainerd race to finish 13 ahead of reigning Englishtown (Sept. 10-12)
world champ Hector Arana. Below are the final regular-season points standings; the adjusted
points, reset for the Countdown playoffs, are on page 135. Atlanta Dragway
Top Fuel Pro Stock Atlanta (Sept. 10-12)
1. Larry Dixon. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,639 1. Mike Edwards. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,631
2. Cory McClenathan . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,359 2. Allen Johnson. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,303 Tri-State Raceway
3. Tony Schumacher. . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,346 3. Jeg Coughlin Jr. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,227 Earlville, Iowa (Sept. 10-12)
4. Doug Kalitta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,243 4. Greg Anderson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,095
5. Antron Brown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,180 5. Jason Line. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 931 O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Nationals
6. Brandon Bernstein . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,109 6. Shane Gray . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 857 Charlotte (Sept. 16-19)
7. Shawn Langdon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 815 7. Ron Krisher