Although there has been but a single national event in the 2003 NHRA season, several observations can be made after last week's Winternationals at the Fairplex in Pomona, Calif.

No championship has ever been clinched in February. In fact, predicting which drivers will finish in what order is nearly impossible this early in the year. But the results of last week's race do point to some interesting issues.

In Top Fuel, Larry Dixon's dominating victory obviously points to his readiness to defend his 2002 title. And Brandon Bernstein's cool, mistake-free debut indicates his likelihood of becoming a contender. But at least two other drivers made significant headway in establishing themselves as frontrunners.

Doug Kalitta's 4.482 in qualifying revealed his team's potential this year. Although Andrew Cowin's 4.490 last February was the low elapsed time for the season, he failed to win a race nor remain consistent enough to challenge for the title in 2002. Kalitta, however, could build on his near-record performance last week if his team can solve its consistency shortfalls.

Cory McClenathan's runner-up finish last week (in the car Cowin drove last year) could make him a real wild card in 2003. He ran 4.59 three times in eliminations after qualifying an unremarkable 13th with a 4.67. For the second year in a row, McClenathan is bringing his experience to a team staffed with personnel working as a group for the first time. But his fifth-place points finish in '02 proved his skills in an identical situation.

In Funny Car, John Force suffered a first-round loss -- something he has done a half-dozen times at the season opener. But his team protege, Tony Pedregon, was just as unbeatable the rest of the day as he appeared in the second half of last season on his way to a close second in the standings.

But what happened to Team Schumacher? All three cars -- driven by Whit Bazemore, Gary Scelzi and Scotty Cannon -- were out by the end of Round 2. In fact, Bazemore and Cannon matched-up in the first round, eliminating the chances of all three Schumacher cars advancing to the second round, while Scelzi's .100 reaction time, the worst in class for the day, doomed him to a holeshot loss to Ron Capps in Round 1.

Capps and teammate Tommy Johnson Jr. both made it to the semifinals and Del Worsham's team driver, Johnny Gray, advanced to his first career runner-up effort, but the team that made the biggest statement in Pomona was Team Castrol. The efforts allowed them to get off to a hot start, which the competition usually lives to regret.

Pro Stock saw the re-emergence of two teams: Warren and Kurt Johnson and Team Mopar. Read between the lines of the super-quick elapsed times and huge top speeds and you see Warren Johnson back in championship form and Kurt no longer chasing the naggy demons from his Cavalier that have kept him out of the title chase over the past few seasons.

Meanwhile, Allen Johnson and Darrell Alderman racked up career numbers last weekend in their older Neons while not a single Stratus made the record-quick field. Greg Stanfield, not a factory Mopar driver, was No. 1 qualifier, but fouled out in the first round. Allen Johnson's runner-up finish was impressive, especially when weighed against the sheer numbers of GM product on the ladder. The new Stratus will be standard issue in a few races for all the factory Mopar drivers, and if they can equal or surpass what the Neons accomplished last week, Warren Johnson and the rest of his GM stablemates will have their hands full every time they face them.