Two unbelievable semifinal races propelled Litton and Cox into the finals.

Litton was up first against No. 7 qualifier Mitch King, who reached the semis with a stunning upset of Bobby Lagana Jr. in the first round. King was anxious to make it two in a row with a slight jump on the line, but Litton chased him down and beat him to the line on a 4.835 pass at 297.81 mph to King’s 4.885 run at 282.30 mph.

Cox knocked off 2008 Nitro Funny Car champ Terry Haddock in another spectacular race as Cox nipped Haddock at the line with a 4.835 time at 304.53 mph to Haddock’s 4.953 at 231.16 mph.

With two straight final round appearances, Litton remains on top of the Top Fuel point standings with 204 points. Cox has moved up to second (202) followed by Lagana (132), Haddock (127) and Lee (123).

PRO MOD

Pro Mod class winner Tim Tindle of Santa Rosa Beach, Fla., can usually be found racing at NHRA or ADRL Pro Mod events. In fact, the veteran driver and his team had never raced in IHRA competition before this race, but that inexperience wasn’t an issue as Tindle put down four unbelievably consistent laps to pick up his first victory in IHRA Pro Modified competition and his first win at Rockingham Dragway.

Making the win even more impressive was how he did it. Tindle had to defeat defending IHRA Pro Mod World Champ and No. 1 qualifier Kenny Lang from Grande Pointe, Manitoba, to get the win.
“It is just awesome. I red lighted against Kenny the last time we raced in a round where we had the fastest car,” Tindle said.