NHRA storylines overshadowed by NASCAR controversy

Drag racing gets to the finish line of its season loaded with stories worthy of national headlines.

Larry Dixon is likely to end Tony Schumacher's run of seven straight Top Fuel championships this weekend in the NHRA finale in Pomona, Calif.

John Force is trying to lasso Funny Car points leader Matt Hagan so Force can win his 15th driving championship two years after a near tragic crash and one year after failing to win an event title for the first time in 23 years.

And Greg Anderson should end a run of four consecutive runner-up finishes in Pro Stock after winning three championships in a row. That's Anderson's priority so he can give team owner Ken Black a fifth title a year after Black suffered a major stroke.

Wow. What grist for the media mill.

But any chance of widespread coverage of those stories was wrecked Sunday by a NASCAR Sprint Cup race in Fort Worth, Texas, that produced a fight between two of the sport's most respected drivers, an obscene gesture flashed by another driver, a crew swap during the race and a points leader whose name isn't Jimmie Johnson.

So much for any national media buzz for the NHRA in its final race of the year.

The NHRA even became immersed in controversy last week after announcing penalties will be assessed for any Top Fueler or Funny Car that deposits globs of oil at Pomona after it happened 15 times in the national event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Something had to be done because the Southern California event runs under strict curfew restrictions that prohibit racing past 7 p.m. because of the facility's proximity to neighborhoods. Not much time for hours of delays.

Fines of up to $5,000 will be issued this weekend for major leakers, but, more important, runs will be disallowed if race cars dump oil and a track cleanup is required.

Schumacher and Force need to set national elapsed-time records to earn 20 bonus points to help them take points leads in their classes. That requires pushing engines beyond their limits, and losing a great run could be pivotal.

"I hope to God you don't see a championship decided by penalties," Schumacher said. "Simply put, if they want the money, fine. You go out there, break a throttle cable, oil down (the track), it costs you a championship. It just shouldn't be that way."

Nationally, the drag racing controversy is being heard like a small tree falling in a big forest.

That's partly because Jeff Gordon had a meltdown Sunday after Jeff Burton took him out. Although Burton took blame for the crash, give Gordon credit for not having his helmet on when he assaulted Burton.

Another gift to motor sports scribes came when an ESPN in-car camera clearly showed Kyle Busch's fickle middle finger pointed at a NASCAR official after Busch was docked a one-lap penalty for speeding on pit road.

But topping each of those NASCAR lowlights in the soap-opera category was when Johnson's crew chief, Chad Knaus, gave their over-the-wall pit crew the rest of the afternoon off and secured the services of Gordon's crew after Gordon crashed to finish the race.

Follow-up stories and replays of those incidents will bombard us this weekend during the Cup race near Phoenix. And the stockers -- with Denny Hamlin threatening to dethrone Johnson as series champion -- still have their finale a week later.

Drag racing can't catch a break unless it involves parts that hold oil. Not even when it has a barrel full of good stories.

Jeff Wolf's motor sports column is published Friday in the Las Vegas Review-Journal. He can be reached at jwolf@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0247. Visit Wolf's motor sports blog at lvrj.com/blogs/heavypedal/throughout the week.