Las Vegas always has a little extra for the winners’ podium.  (Tim Marshall photo)

John Force, Matt Smith clinch 2013 titles

Results compiled by Kay Burk
Photos by Tim Marshall and Ron Lewis

John Force claimed his 16th NHRA Funny Car world championship on Sunday, Oct. 27, by winning at the NHRA Toyota Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Matt Smith in Pro Stock Motorcycle also got the event win and clinched his second career world championship.

Antron Brown (Top Fuel) got back in the winners circle for the third time this year and Shane Gray got his first Pro Stock win in more than two years and the third of his career.

The championships in Top Fuel and Pro Stock will come down to the final event at Pomona on Nov. 7-10.

TOP FUEL

Brown and his Matco Tools "Tools for the Cause" Top Fuel dragster led by crew chiefs Brian Corradi and Mark Oswald won the Las Vegas event, which moved him from fourth to second in Mello Yello Series standings. The reigning Top Fuel world champion now trails points leader Shawn Langdon by 102 points. Brown is the only driver with a chance to catch Langdon. The most points a driver can earn at Pomona are 150.

"Going to Pomona, we'll stick with our usual mindset that it's never done until the last race of the year," Brown said. "We're going to give it all we've got. We'll try and get all the qualifying points we can, qualify in the top half of the field, take it one round at a time and see where we end up. This just couldn't have been a better weekend, and we just have to keep doing what we've been doing and see if we can win this championship."

Brown qualified sixth but was dominant through Sunday's four rounds of eliminations by winning with times of 3.790 seconds (323.19 mph), 3.808 (323.58), 3.788 (326.16) and 3.782 (324.51) in the championship round against Clay Millican.