By the time the smoke settled from the burnouts, and the Christmas tree lights were shut off, it was already clear who won their respective classes at NHRA's Sport Compact World Finals, held at the usual final stop at the Autoclub Raceway or what used to be known as the Pomona Raceway. Fighting hard all year 'round, Ed Bergenholtz's win was the most emotional (no surprises there) as he captured his back-to-back championship, earning him his ninth career win and another ring after besting Chris Rado with a 7.60 at 190mph against Rado's 7.73 at 185.66mph. Stephanie Eggum not only cruised through as being one of the fastest Hondas on the face of this earth, but did it while beating Ron Lummus after passing the finish line with a 7.97 time at 180.77 mph. Stephanie ended her year with a much deserved win and as an unsponsored driver, but hopes that her performance here can change that for '07. Paul Efantis won both the Modified category and the NHRA World Championship, but had to dodge four drivers who were all within 25 points of taking the title from him. In the deciding final round against Jorge Lazcano, Paul barely squeezed by with a 7.39 ahead of Jorge's 7.44, but the win also ties Paul as one of the top winners in NHRA's sport compact racing series. Saul Salceda took the Honda Tuning All Motor category with his Integra, beating Leslie Durst-Armendariz with a time of 9.57 seconds at 141.28 mph.
Final Results | Pro RWD | ||
Winner | Gary Lee White | {{{Titan}}} Motorsports {{{Celica}}} | 6.{{{850}}} at 202.12MPH |
R/U | Brad Personett | {{{Scion}}} | 6.544 at 216.72mph |
Pro FWD | |||
Winner | Ed Bergenholtz | Audiobahn '06 Mazda6 | 7.607 at 190.00 |
R/U | Christian Rado | World Racing {{{tC}}} | 7.736 at 185.66 |
Modified | |||
Winner | PAUL EFANTIS | Little Dooey Barbeque and Blues Solara | 7.392 at 185.59 |
R/U | Jorge Lazcano | '85 {{{RX-7}}} | 7.447 at 183.89 |
HOT ROD | |||
Winner | Stephanie Eggum | '00 {{{Civic}}} | 7.973 at 180.77 |
R/U | Ron Lummus | Garrett Turbo '04 {{{Pontiac Sunfire}}} | 8.298 at 155.72 |
Quick 16 | |||
Winner | Hector Urias | N/A | 14.638 4.488 |
R/U | Pete Selders | N/A | 10.182 -0.348 |
Honda Tuning All Motor | |||
Winner | Sual Salceda | Clutch Masters '00 Integra | 9.573 at 141.18 |
R/U | Leslie Durst-Armendariz | '06 {{{Scion tC}}} | 9.508 at 141.28 |
Sport RWD | |||
Winner | Julie Stepan | '06 WRX | 9.158 at 145.58 |
R/U | Dan Schechter | '93 RX-7 | 11.688 at 135.67 |
Sport FWD | |||
Winner | Tyler Hara | '98 {{{Honda Civic}}} | 10.124 at 147.68 |
R/U | Theodore Aasen | '99 Honda Civic | 10.115 at 144.16 |
Street Stock | |||
Winner | Jerry Nguyen | '92 Honda Civic | 22.573 at 50.64 |
R/U | Loan Nguyen | N/A | DNF |
Series Results | |
Pro RWD | Brad Personett |
Pro FWD | Ed Bergenholtz |
Modified | Paul Efantis |
Hot Rod | Ron Lummus |
All Motor | Jeremy Lookofsky |
Sport RWD (East) | Julie Stepan |
Sport RWD (West) | Ryan Woon |
Sport FWD (East) | John Ferguson |
Sport FWD (West) | Tony Palo |
Street Stock (East) | Loan Nguyen |
Street Stock (West) | Chris Dye |
Quick 16 (East) | Erica Nocita |
Quick 16 (West) | Karl Martin |
Javier, why do you look so nervous?
Jeremy Lookofsky and his Civic took the All Motor championship and helped push the class into mid-nine second territory this year. Check it, these are naturally-aspirated four cylinder FWD cars. Oh. My. Gawd.
Ed Bergenholtz captured his second consecutive Wally for his efforts in the Pro FWD category.
Earlier in the season Stephanie Eggum's 7.90 @ 184.25 marked the first FWD drag Honda into the sevens, but was also good enough for a Hot Rod class record.