POMONA, Calif. -- Gary Scelzi won the Funny Car season title and Andrew Hines captured the Pro Stock Motorcycle crown Sunday night at the Auto Club NHRA finals at Pomona Raceway.
Scelzi, a three-time Top Fuel champion, won his first Funny Car championship and joined Kenny Bernstein as the only NHRA drivers to win world titles in both nitro categories. Hines won his second world championship in Pro Stock Motorcycle.
Scelzi lost in the second round but so did Ron Capps and John Force, his closest championship opponents. Scelzi won the title by eight points over Capps for the narrowest margin of victory in Funny Car.
"To win a Funny Car championship racing the guys we've had to race this year is just incredible," Scelzi said. "My big concern was not letting (my crew) down because they mean so much to me. I am just numb right now because this is so different than the other three. I've never had so much pressure where everything meant so much."
Hines earned the championship in the two-wheel category after he won his first-round meeting with Chris Rivas. His closest challenger, GT Tonglet, was upset by Mike Berry in the opening round.
"Winning this year is definitely better than last year," Hines said. "It was certainly a lot tougher to win races this year because there were about 10 bikes that could win races."
Tony Schumacher, Tony Pedregon, Jeg Coughlin and Ryan Schnitz were race winners in their categories at the $1.7 million race, the final of 23 events in the $50 million NHRA Drag Racing Series.
Schumacher set single-season records for consecutive victories (five), consecutive finals (seven) and consecutive round wins (20) in taking his 30th career Top Fuel victory. He outran Melanie Troxel in the final for his ninth victory of the season.
Pedregon claimed his second victory of the season in Funny Car and 29th of his career, powering his Chevy Monte Carlo to a 4.751 at 319.22 to defeat Eric Medlen, whose Ford Mustang lost traction at the start.
Coughlin ended a two-year winless drought in Pro Stock by earning his 34th career victory. Schnitz earned a Pro Stock Motorcycle-best third win of the season when Hines fouled at the start.
