TOP SPORTSMAN

Class rookie Tricia Musi qualified her '09 Dodge Stratus on top of an all-run, nine-car Magnafuel Top Sportsman field in Dallas with the only 3-second pass in the class all weekend. In the same car campaigned by sister Lizzy Musi in Pro Nitrous last season, Tricia ran a career-best 3.983 seconds at 188.36 mph in qualifying, but after making a 4.11 solo pass in round one of racing she lost in round two against Chanse Bulloch and his '63 Corvette.

Dan Ferguson

It was defending class champion Ferguson in his '02 Firebird, however, who drove from a number-two start to a final-round victory over Bob Gulitti and his 2011 Camaro at the PDRA Texas Nationals. After both drivers dialed in at 4.15, Ferguson won with a 4.16 pass, deliberately backing off at the stripe to avoid breaking out after Gulitti shook the tires and had to shut off early.

"I didn't get to win a race last year so this feels great," said Ferguson, a student and part-time auto dealer in Harrisburg, NC. "I heard people say I won the championship on luck, so I had to show them it wasn't all just that."