NHRA POWERade Drag Racing is all about performance. It's the one all-encompassing factor which determines how good or how bad a racer's report card will look.

Already in 2003, with seven national events completed, performance has had an enormous presence in the four professional classes that will spring into action this weekend at the K&N SuperNationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in Englishtown, N.J.

Here's what to expect.

Top Fuel
The two best cars in the category -- Larry Dixon's Miller Lite dragster and Brandon Bernstein's Budweiser machine -- have had to negotiate hot and tricky tracks while each have scored victories in the past two events. That shouldn't be a challenge in E-town, where the legendary surface has tremendous bite and weekend weather forecasts call for cool temperatures.

Dixon and Bernstein are the front-runners for the championship. Each has won three races and each has led the points, collectively, since Day 1. They will again be the leading men at Englishtown, a track where their tuners -- Dick Lahaie for Dixon and Tim Richards for Bernstein -- have had years of success.

Will the other top-tier drivers finally get hot in E-town? Doug Kalitta, Cory McClenathan, Doug Herbert, John Smith and Darrell Russell have all had final-round shots at the two "beer cars" and have all come up short. Tony Schumacher continues to battle inconsistency, while Clay Millican has yet to maximize his resources.

So, anything besides a Dixon or Bernstein victory will be a surprise. And along the way, a new national record for either elapsed time or top speed can't be ruled out, especially if cool, dry air and some sufficient cloud cover roll into New Jersey.

Funny Car

	Pedregon

Tony Pedregon is about all you need to know about this category in '03. He has won four races, opened up a substantial points lead and has now crossed over into the rare air of establishing himself as a championship favorite -- the role which his team owner, John Force, has firmly held for over a decade.

Pedregon has four career No. 1 qualifying starts in E-town, but has only won the race once, in 2001. In fact, he suffered a rare DNQ there in 2000. But this is a new year and a new phase in Pedregon's career. With the national elapsed time record at 4.731 (held by Force) and the top speed record at 326.87 (held by teammate Gary Densham), Pedregon has enough car to endanger both marks, while at the same time solidifying his stake to his first career title. With Force mired in the worst slump of his Team Castrol tenure, Pedregon has taken charge and should rock this weekend.

Pro Stock
Besides the eight-car $50,000 King Demon Crown set for Saturday during qualifying, the big story in Pro Stock looks to be the continued superiority of Warren and Kurt Johnson, along with the unfortunate loss of consistency by Greg Anderson. The former shows little evidence of fading while the latter could cast a deep shadow on Anderson's title hopes.

Englishtown has been the scene of numerous milestones in Pro Stock. It was here in May of 1994 that Kurt Johnson was the first driver in the 6s. Three years ago, Jeg Coughlin Jr. tied the then national ET record, which had been set by Warren Johnson, at 6.822 seconds. Just two years ago, Mark Pawuk set a new national record at the Supernationals, a 6.806 run. Based on what we've seen in 2003, the current record, Warren Johnson's 6.720, set just three races ago in Houston, could be in jeopardy.

So far, only Anderson has shown the kind of horsepower it will take to derail the Johnsons. But with three straight holeshot losses in the last three races, the defending event champ can't afford many more errors at the line. The Johnsons are poised to run a way from the pack and it may be up to Anderson to mount the most effective obstacle.

Pro Stock Bike
Three issues now set the tone in PSB.