Someone forgot to give the memo to Spencer Massey and Antron Brown.

With the final two championship contenders in Top Fuel — Tony Schumacher and Larry Dixon — separated by just two points and one round away from an epic head-to-head matchup in the final round of the season-ending Auto Club NHRA Finals, Massey and Brown crashed the Party.

Massey ended the suspense with his win over Dixon — to give the championship to Schumacher — and Brown muted the U.S. Army team’s celebration with his own win moments later.

It was a sudden finish to a sensational weekend of see-saw racing that saw the lead change hands twice in qualifying, the last time in the final qualifying session Saturday night when the Army team delivered the second-quickest Top Fuel run in 1000-foot history.

That earned him the No. 1 qualifying position and the three bonus points moved him back around Dixon by two points heading into final eliminations.

Dixon was unphased by the turn of events Saturday night, saying that he still just had to beat Schumacher to win the championship, but as it turned out that opportunity never came and those two points were the difference.

Three other champions were crowned and all were first-time winners:

* Robert Hight and the Auto Club Ford Mustang team in Funny Car;

* Mike Edwards and the A.R.T./Young Life Pontiac team in Pro Stock; and

* Hector Arana and the Lucas Oil Buell team in Pro Stock Motorcycle.

Hight and Edwards celebrated their titles on Saturday night and Arana raised the trophy on Sunday after holding on to a narrow two-point final margin.