National records and beautiful Maple Grove Raceway outside Reading, Pa., have had a long and lustrous relationship since the first NHRA national event was held there in 1985.

This weekend, when the 19th Lucas Oil Nationals get down to business at this near-sea level facility, the weather predictions are for generally sunny skies and temperatures in the 60's and 70's -- and that means there will be plenty of horsepower to be made in all four professional classes.

Although none of the current points leaders have clinched their respective championships yet, they could all take a major step toward doing so at Maple Grove, with six events remaining on the 2003 NHRA POWERade schedule.

Here's a look ahead:

Top Fuel
Defending champion Larry Dixon's 2003 season is beginning to take on an uncanny resemblance to his 2002 effort. Last year, he rolled over the competition between February and June, then, following his Columbus win, he scored only two additional victories in the last 12 races. But the huge points cushion from the season's first half carried him to the title.

This year, Dixon has been winless since his sweep of the Western Swing -- which essentially sealed the 2003 championship. Doug Kalitta's Brainerd win helped him gain slightly on Dixon, but at Indy, they both lost in Round 2, preventing Kalitta from closing in tighter.

Dixon has never won at Maple Grove, but with his penchant for consistency and stubborn avoidance of consecutive early-round losses, Larry's 269-point lead puts him safely out of reach no matter how he fares this weekend, while a strong outing will carry him much nearer to his magic number for the title. An envious position to be in.

Funny Car
Since his win in Columbus back in June, points leader Tony Pedregon has been dead in the water. A semifinal finish in St. Louis and a semifinal finish in Brainerd sandwiched around three first round losses, only to be a Round 1 victim in Indy last week, would ordinarily mean a precipitous drop in the standings.

Pedregon has defied gravity.

He remains 57 points ahead of Whit Bazemore, who must be experiencing the classic nightmare of coming within a short reach of what he desperately wants but his legs won't move. Tony's four first round losses out of the last five races have seen Whit go winless and accumulate a total of six round wins over the same period. Bazemore can win the championship -- Pedregon is almost daring him to catch him -- but so far, the invitation has gone unanswered. And that may be the biggest story in the Funny Car championship struggles this year.

Pro Stock
Greg Anderson is the only name you need to know this year when it comes to the Pro Stock ranks. Only the most catastrophic stretch over the last six races can rob him of what he has been unswervingly headed for all year: the POWERade championship.

Why? Because after losing to Anderson in the last two final rounds and looking at a 7-1 overall round record deficit to the points leader this year, Kurt Johnson will need Greg to go into a steep nosedive in the last six races in order to catch him. Simply put, KJ can't beat Anderson on performance alone. Luck -- lots of "good" for Kurt and plenty of "bad" for Greg -- is the only element that can forestall the inevitable.

And, with excellent air expected this weekend in rural Pennsylvania, Anderson could demolish the record books along with any slim remaining hopes Johnson has for overtaking him in the standings.

Pro Stock Bike
In order for Geno Scali not to win the 2003 Pro Stock Bike crown, he must essentially fail to show up at the four remaining bike events. And that's not likely to happen.

Scali currently leads second-place Shawn Gann by 152 points. That's about eight rounds of racing with 16 rounds left in the season. Anything is possible, but Scali can smell the championship now and third-place Angelle Savoie is surely beginning to come to grips with the unlikelihood of her winning her fourth career PSB crown.

If Scali's points lead was slimmer, if he had not performed solidly throughout the season, or if there were more than four races left on the schedule, there would certainly be more doubt cast on the championship's outcome. But, what was once a wide-open category with at least five title hopefuls has now become a one-horse race.

Bill Stephens covers the NHRA for ESPN and ESPN.com.