In the final Force outran teammate and championship contending driver Mike Neff. Force beat Alexis DeJoria, Tim Wilkerson and Gary Densham to get to the final with Neff. 

The win was a culmination of a busy off-season that saw Force add to his braintrust by bringing back some talent that had slipped away.
“I dedicated the trophy to the brain trust, my crew chiefs Jimmy Prock, Mike Neff, Guido (Dean Antonelli), Ron Douglas, Bernie Fedderly, John Medlen, Dickie Venables, Danny from Indy (DeGennaro), and Scott Wible. We got a group back to the way we used to think and function. This was a good start,” said Force.

“The thing that really mattered to me was getting right. People left for reasons. I didn’t have a car for John Medlen. Dickie Venables left earlier with Tony because he wasn’t really in line for a car. I am getting them back and I am feeling a whole lot better. Two weeks ago Medlen walked into my shop and said I want to come home. I called (Roger) Burgess on it and he said yeah he needs to be with you John. Burgess (R2B2 team owner) is really a good guy.” 

With the win Force clinched the first spot in the inaugural Traxxas Nitro Shootout. Force won the previous race within a race, the Bud Shootout, a record six times.

For Neff it was a tough race to drop. The six-time national event winner was looking for his first Winternationals title as a driver. He had been flawless all day posting three consecutive 4.07 second passes (4.077, 4.070 and 4.074) before stepping on his tune up to post the quickest run of the weekend, a 4.036 second pass at 316.82 mph in the final.

“I got distracted and it sounded to me like someone was revving their engine up and at first I thought, ‘Is John over there revving his engine up?’ And then I thought, ‘Am I revving the engine up?’ So I started to pull back off the throttle to make sure that I wasn’t revving the engine up when the tree came down and I was late. I’m not blaming it on John. I mean, he definitely used his John Force tactics on me out there, but that’s just something you have to be able to deal with,” said Neff.

Burk’s Winternationals Notes: Written on a linen napkin from Columbo’s Italian Steak House; a classic L.A. Steak and Jazz Joint in Eagle Rock, California

Iknew I was in California when I saw that the TV in my room, as well as on the Formica in front of the bathroom sink at the Welcome Inn in Eagle Rock,  had gang signs carved into the front of it.  
 
I knew I was at the Pomona Fairplex when I paid $10 for a  cocktail at the NHRA Museum. I wouldn’t have minded that price so much except I think the Fairplex gets the money not the Museum.
 
Speaking of the NHRA Museum, if you haven’t visited recently (which the old Burkster hadn’t), it is well worth the price of admission to go through. It has some neat cars and a different feel than the Garlits Museum, and is well worth a visit should you be in the area. I highly recommend it.
 
As some of you may have figured by now, I’m not a big fan of Jr Dragsters at any national event, but I just about dropped  my cocktail  when they announced a “cacklefest” for some 30 Jr Dragsters at the Winternationals. The sound of 30 Briggs and Stratton four cycles running at the same time is awesome... not.
 
The manufacturers have spoken. Over the winter the folks in charge of maximizing profits for the NHRA decided to raise the price they charge manufacturers to hang their banners in the staging lanes and on the guardwall. At Pomona there were about a half-dozen different banners as opposed to the two dozen or more we used to see.   

Entries for  the three pro classes contested at Pomona totaled just 56 and there were really only a couple of new drivers in those classes – Funny Car drivers  Todd Lesenko and Courtney Force. Based upon the number of entries these classes used to have, especially at the bookend Pomona meets, the NHRA ought  to be concerned about their car count going forward in their Full Throttle classes.  
 
Speaking of lack of entries, one of the things I was looking forward to seeing at Pomona were those “Factory Experimental”  Stock and Super Stock entries. There was exactly one 2011 Ford Mustang and one 2011 Mopar Challenger in the Stock and Super Stock classes and no “Copo” Camaros. Could it be the owners of those cars are waiting to race in the recently announced ADRL heads-up class for those cars?

Nine of the sixteen cars that qualified for the Pro Stock field at the Winternationals were Pontiac GXPs, a brand that is no longer manufactured by GM. Can you say Nostalgia Pro Stock?  

Kudos to the NHRA Media Department for an outstanding press conference on the Wednesday before the race started, and for the pre-race coverage they got in the Los Angeles media. LA is the NHRA's largest market and virtually every major print and electronic media outlet in the market had a representative at the press conference and the race.  You couldn’t watch a newscast or read a paper in the L.A. area without reading about the Winternationals.
   
I’m thinking that Alan Johnson’s Al-Anabi Top Fuel team might be the best-financed and most independent team, if not in the history of professional auto racing, then certainly in the history of  drag racing. Alan Johnson manufactures his own blocks and heads and probably has the capability to make whatever else he wants. The cars and uniforms have virtually no sponsor decals other than Toyota and, thanks to the royal family of Qatar, virtually all of the money they need. That’s a pretty sweet deal by anyone’s standards.
 
Let’s see... it was an all-JFR Funny Car final and an all-DSR Top Fuel final. It could easily have been an all-Ken Black Racing Pro Stock final.  Remember when the press and racers were concerned about letting team owners such as Force and Schumacher have multi-car teams because they could eventually totally dominate the racing and sponsorships? Current and past history would seem to indicate that those concerns might have been legitimate then and now.

John Force got the holeshot win over Mike Neff.  (James Drew photo)