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Nationals qualifying records fall away

The records continue to tumble at O’Reilly Raceway Park in Indianapolis.

On a weekend that’s turned the record book into charcoal, Larry Dixon, Matt Hagan, Mike Edwards and Andrew Hines emerged as the top qualifiers heading into the final eliminations for the 56th annual Mac Tools NHRA U.S. Nationals today.

And all four did it with record qualifying runs.

Dixon’s 3.776-second run in Top Fuel shattered Tony Schumacher’s 3.816 record time Saturday and was never challenged Sunday; Schumacher, meanwhile, set a track speed record of 324.83 mph, obliterating Antron Brown’s old mark by almost 6 mph.

Dixon’s established his fast time Friday, and it was never challenged Sunday. He’ll enter the finals today – where he’ll race his neighbor, Bruce Litton, in the first round – having won all five races this season in which he was the No. 1 qualifier, and all 20 lifetime eliminations when he was the polesitter.

In Funny Car, Hagan wiped out Tony Pedregon’s record time of 4.073 with a 4.039 run, and John Force led four drivers who topped Ashley Force Hood’s record speed of 309.84, hitting 312.86 mph on the quarter mile.

It was his second pole of the year and something of a surprise considering he was the low qualifier two events ago in Denver, and qualified 15th at the U.S. Nationals in 2009.

Edwards was part of a gang of four to break his own record time in Pro Stock, churning out a 6.579 time. His record 209.1 speed, meanwhile, was eclipsed by Allen Johnson’s 210.28.

In the Pro Stock Motorcycle class, Hines simply blew up the Matt Smith’s 6.918 national record, clocking 6.185 seconds and also raising his own speed mark from 193.85 to 196.76.