Simoneaux had won the double-breakout semifinal with Harvey Emmons, while Gary’s semifinal opponent, Brent Bratsen, went red.

Tommy Phillips earned his 22nd NHRA national event victory with a Super Comp win. It was his third consecutive win at the annual Houston event, as he won the Super Gas title last season and the Super Comp crown in 2009.

This year Phillips, in his Tigerflow/K&N Engineering-backed dragster, defeated first-time finalist Larry Thomason in the final round. There, Phillips used a .022 reaction time and 8.911 against the 8.855 breakout effort of Thomason’s Plymouth Prowler. 

“Sometimes it just goes your way,” said Phillips. “I really haven’t had much luck in Super Comp over the last year. This weekend I got a lot of breaks; it was like payback in a way.” 

Continuing the double-breakout theme, in Super Gas Ryan Baudoin’s Chevy Camaro got the nod over the Pontiac Firebird of David Jones. After almost identical reaction times (0.033 for Baudoin and 0.032 for Jones) Baudoin ran 9.878/157.14 against Jones’s 9.874/160.14.