The difference this time, Johnson said, was consistency, and the team developed that the way it had everything else. By working hard as a family.
 “That is the part that is the most satisfying,” said Johnson, 52, who lives in Greeneville, Tenn. “We did the engines on our own, my dad built them, and we climbed the mountain and learned how to run the cars and developed a crew.

“It’s been 17 long years, a lot of work and a lot of money. This is unexplainable.”

Antron Brown, who lost in the opening round of eliminations, had to wait until the final round before he could grab the championship trophy, when Tony Schumacher lost on a holeshot to Brandon Bernstein.

Brown entered Sunday’s eliminations 67 points ahead of Tony Schumacher and for a while it appeared that Schumacher would put together another magical come-from-behind victory to take the title. Schumacher's U.S. Army dragster ran the Low ET of the meet but still lost the final to Bernstein's ProtectTheHarvest.com dragster by eighth-thousandths of a second.

When the win light went on in Bernstein’s lane, Matco Tools dragster driver Brown was mobbed by his teammates, family and friends in a huge celebration at the starting line.
  
Brown had six victories in 11 final rounds and was top qualifier three times en route to his title.

Jack Beckman claimed the Funny Car world championship title when he won his semi-final race and teammate Ron Capps lost his and Beckman took the title by two points in one of the closest Championship points margins in the history of the category. 

Beckman’s title gave team owner Don Schumacher both nitro championship trophies and more than a million dollars in earnings for the weekend, duplicating his effort from 2005 when his son Tony won Top Fuel and Gary Scelzi took the Funny Car crown.

TOP FUEL

(Ron Lewis photo)

Brandon Bernstein's goal Sunday was to crush some championship dreams and put the ProtectTheHarvest.com/MAVTV Top Fuel dragster into the winner's circle at the Auto Club NHRA Finals at Pomona. It was mission accomplished on both parts for Bernstein as he eliminated both Spencer Massey and Tony Schumacher from the Top Fuel title chase on the way to collecting his first victory since Richmond in 2009.

"It's awesome; I just can't say enough about this MAVTV/ProtectTheHarvest team," Bernstein said. "They did a great job all weekend, coming out qualifying No. 2. It's been a long time since we've had a win and it feels so awesome. I'm so proud of the guys and the whole team."

Bernstein, who has had a frustrating run of 69 races without a win, got to play spoiler for the second time on the day in the finals against Schumacher, who needed to win the race to clinch an eighth championship.

The ProtectTheHarvest car was off the line first, which proved to be crucial because Schumacher wound up having the quicker ET. In the end, Bernstein's .017-second advantage at the starting line got him to the finish line first.