By Phil Burgess, NHRA.com
Doug Kalitta and Ron Capps opened the 2009 Full Throttle Drag Racing Series season with wins in Funny Car and Top Fuel at the Kragen O'Reilly NHRA Winternationals at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona. Both had not won since the 2007 season, but got their new seasons off to a flying start with morale-boosting victories in Pomona.

Kalitta joined his uncle Connie (1967) and late cousin Scott (2005) as Winternationals winners and scored the first victory for Kalitta Motorsports since the tragic loss of Scott in a racing accident last summer. Kalitta, last year's Mac Tools U.S. Nationals runner-up who scored his most recent win in late 2007 in Richmond, defeated low qualifier Antron Brown in a tight match, 3.82, 308.57 to 3.84, 307.16, to collect career win number 31.

"It's pretty cool to win this because Connie and Scott have won here, and the rollcage of my car is actually the same one that was in Scott's car when he won here in 2005," said Kalitta. "UI think of scott when I'm up there on the line because he had a couple of things he would do to get himself worked up and I've followed that, o it reminds me of him hen I do them. He's with us all the time and I'm sure he's proud that all thereof us have won at the Winternationals.

"I've always wanted to win here; this one of the places that ranks way up there on my list and the Kalitta name has a long list here. I'm just happy to win with this being Connie's 50th [anniversary in drag racing] and hope we can keep this momentum going and stay in the hunt. We'll just play it by era; hopefully this will help our chances of finding a primary sponsor and take it from there."

Kalitta raced to his 56th career final from the No. 11 spot, blasting past Urs Erbacher with a fire-trailing 4.64 Sunday and then pounded out a 3.82 to 3.86 decision over last year's Winternationals runner-up, Cory McClenathan, in round two. Kalitta moved on into the final when Morgan Lucas shook and smoked his tires in the new GEICO dragster in the semifinals.

Brown, the surprise low qualifier at this event last year in his Top Fuel debut, again started the season from the pole position, but, unlike last year when he exited in round two, the driver of Mike Ashley's Matco Tools dragster took it all the way to the final round. Although Brown led qualifying, his eliminations run was anything but spectacular until the semifinals. He could muster just a 4.22 to beat Top Fuel newcomer Steve Faria in round one, then got a gift in round two when Mike Strasburg was unable to stick around after the rain. Brown's blue digger launched into hard smoke and then banged the blower, which automatically deployed the chute. He crossed the finish line nearly 16 seconds later at just 26.16 mph, but nonetheless reached the final four, where the Brian Corradi and Mark Oswald-tuned machine ripped to a 3.778 at 312.78, the second quickest pass in 1,000-foot history, behind only Tony Schumacher's 3.777 of last year.

Capps, who didn't win his first round of Funny Car racing last year until the fifth event of the schedule, went four straight to open his 2009 campaign, finishing it off with his 25th career win in Funny Car when Jim Head lost traction at the green. Capps' NAPA Auto Parts Dodge roared to the victory with a 4.15, 296.96.

Capps hadn’t visited the winner's circle since the 2007 Madison event, but reached his 55th career final and showed that he, crew chief Ed McCulloch, and the NAPA team are serious about regaining the championship form they had showcased in years past. Although they qualified just 13th in the one-shot qualifying, the car came to life in eliminations by running low e.t. of the first three rounds. A 4.12 in round one dispatched John Force,and a 4.088 sent Bob Tasca III home early. In the semi's, Capps sent packing perennial Pomona finalist Robert Hight, the low qualifier and the last of the Force Racing entries, in a spectacular match, 4.054 to 4.08, which was low e.t. of eliminations.

"We ran 4.07 in the final here last year when we lost [at the NHRA Finals]," said Capps, who also won his first NHRA national event, on a Tuesday in Seattle in 1995, "and that 4.05 against Robert was awesome because we always get up to race him and Jimmy Prock. We bring out the best in each other and we knew we'd have to have our A game. We were worried about Jim Head, too, because he can run low e.t. at any time, and we learned that lesson last year in Seattle against Tony Bartone, where I was already counting that trophy before we ran him in the final. But seeing Doug win in front of us was very emotional, and I couldn't wait to get down there to celebrate with him.

"It's cool to be the first Full Throttle winner," said Capps, whose win was his first for NAPA, "and it's great for NAPA. We really wanted to get them a win this year because they really like our program and are doing so much with us with the TV commercials and everything. This is a big win for us."

Head, who hadn’t been to the winner's circle in Funny Car since the 1985 event in Brainerd and to any winner's circle since the 1997 Memphis event in Top Fuel, reached the final round, his 10th in Funny Car and 18th overall with his self-financed Toyota with a combination of luck and guile. Former world champ Tony Pedregon was ahead of him in round one before hiking the front end on his mount and crossing the centerline. In round two, Head put a holeshot on Ashley Force Hood and walked away with a 4.09 to 4.05 decision, narrowly getting the win as he rode the guardwall all the way down before kissing it just past the finish line. Head then advanced to the final with a 4.10 against local favorite Gary Densham.