For diehard drag racing fans, this past weekend was a welcome relief as the straight-liners finally returned to head-to-head competition for the first time in 2002.

At the K&N Filters Winternationals in Pomona, the veterans stole the show. This included top name drivers: Larry Dixon, John Force, and George Marnell. Meanwhile, here at GoFantasyDragRacing.com, John Ward took the honors scoring 668 points en route to victory circle. Gary Talbott secured the runner-up position with 643 points, while Allen Smith, Ken Trichak, and newcomer Bill Ralls rounded out the top-five.

Ward's $300.00 prize money came courtesy of picks that included one winner, John Force, and two runner-ups in Kenny Bernstein and Jim Yates. We here at GoFDR congratulate Mr. Ward on his first victory in our game after scoring three top-five finishes in 2001. Way to go, John!

With Dixon, Force, and Marnell taking their respective classes, the inaugural race of 2002 might have seemed predictable on the surface. All three drivers are wily veterans capable of winning on any given weekend. However, John Ward's first victory here at GoFDR wasn't just his own selection prowess. It was more like he pulled a George Marnell and strapped a hole shot on his competition in 3 out of 4 rounds!

And before you credit Ward's quick "physical" reflexes for shooting him off the line early, think again. It was his pre-qualifying selection bonus of fifty points! Many players took a beating with the First Round losses of several popular drivers and top qualifiers at Pomona. Included in this list of shocking early departures was: Whit Bazemore (#2 qualifier) and Tony Pedregon (#4) in Funny Car, Andrew Cowin (#1) and Tony Schumacher (#3) in Top Fuel, and Ron Krisher (#1) along with Mark Osborne (#3) in Pro Stock.

These unexpected First Round losses had the most overall impact on our competition. In excess of 33% of the GoFDR teams selected this past weekend had three of these drivers chosen. Over one out of eight teams had four of these drivers listed. In fact, one unfortunate team owner had five of the six surprise First Round "departees" chosen!

That little tidbit of information had our Competition Director, Forrest Seek, looking over the stats. The cold hard fact he discovered? Simply put, it is extremely difficult for any GoFDR team owner to win with three or more First Round losers on their team. It may not be impossible, but it is unlikely.

And it wasn't a case of the unfortunate, afore-mentioned team owner's selections being poor choices. On paper, they were great picks that could have won just as easily as John Ward's. It's just that sometimes--no matter how well you set the car up--the track changes on you and suddenly you're smoking the tires off the line!

Fortunately, bad luck is a fickle thing. It never stays around for long before some good fortune returns with a .05 second hole shot and blows the door panels off its evil nemesis!

We are happy to announce that there were fourteen new players for our inaugural race of 2002. We would like to congratulate the six team owners who won in their very first race here at GoFantasyDragRacing.com. In fact, three of the six new players, Bill Ralls, Scott Yamashita, and Lee Lones all placed in the top-ten!

For those who missed the top-25, please don't be discouraged. Many of last years season pros suffered the same fate. And you've got to admit, for only $10.00 it sure made the racing more fun knowing you could've won enough money to play the rest of the season off of a single victory here at GoFantasyDragRacing.com.

And have $70 left over for your sweetie on Valentine's Day!

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