Nitto NHRA Sport Compact World Finals - One Last Hurrah

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.