MORRISON, Colo. -- The trimming of the track did nothing to neutralize the nitro cars.

Racing on a 1,000-foot strip for the first time in NHRA history, Top Fuel dragster Tony Schumacher and Funny Car driver Tim Wilkerson won their respective classes yesterday during the Mopar Mile-High NHRA Nationals at Bandimere Speedway.

Schumacher didn't need the extra 320 feet of track to get his dragster up to speed, reaching 304 mph in his win over Antron Brown in the finals, his sixth victory of the season.

Following the recent death of Scott Kalitta in a racing accident, the NHRA took an interim step, shortening the length of Top Fuel and Funny Car races from a quarter-mile to 1,000 feet. The change kicked in this weekend at Bandimere Speedway.

Wilkerson knocked off Jack Beckman in the finals even though both smoked tires midway down the track. He was satisfied with the performance of a new chassis which he brought out this weekend.

Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) won for a third straight week while Matt Smith (Pro Stock Motorcycle) defended his Bandimere title. Both of those events were run at a quarter-mile.

Rain shortens IndyCar victory for Dixon

GLADEVILLE, Tenn. -- Scott Dixon grabbed the lead on Lap 149 and had enough fuel to stay there until rain ended the Firestone Indy 200 with 29 laps left, giving him his third consecutive victory at the Nashville Superspeedway and his fourth this season.

IRL officials hoped to squeeze in at least 101 laps to make the race official with rain on the radar. This race was washed out a year ago and run on Sunday with lots of empty seats.

Dixon's teammate, Dan Wheldon, finished second. Pole-sitter Helio Castroneves took advantage of a track cleaned of the rubber chunks chewed off the tires by the concrete track to pass both Danica Patrick and Kanaan. He finished third. Kanaan wound up fourth with Patrick fifth.

Short tracks