A year of firsts in Funny Car contined Sunday at the O’Reilly NHRA Midwest Nationals with two more notable achievements. First there was NHRA icon John Force becoming the first POWERade Series driver to amass 1,000 round wins. He accomplished the remarkable feat — on his 59th birthday — with his first-round win over longtime foe Ron Capps.

And then there was the achievement by veteran Tim Wilkerson and his Levi, Ray & Shoup team, which steamrolled to a wire-to-wire win on their “home” track to take over the points lead, the first time he’s ever done so in his 13-year career.

The driver he leapfrogged was Ashley Force, who in the past two races made auto racing history by becoming the first female to ever lead the Funny Car standings (Las Vegas) and the first female to win a Funny Car race (Atlanta).

The notable firsts didn’t stop there. The first four races belonged to Cruz Pedregon, whose consistency in the Advance Auto Parts Chevy  Impala placed the former POWERade Champion back on top of the Funny Car standings for the first time in almost 10 years.  What will be the next first?

For a driver like Pro Stocker Kurt Johnson, he’d love it to be his first POWERade Championship.The winningest driver to have never won a championship was back in the winner’s circle at St. Louis Sunday, earning his 37th career victory. Johnson, who finished second in points in 1993, 2000, ’03 and ’05, is currently in third place.