2008 was a big year for the NHRA at Gateway, as legendary 14-time Funny Car champion John Force earned his 1,000th career win overtaking Ron Capps. Making the event doubly special was that it take place on his 59th birthday only one week after losing to his daughter Ashley Force in the finals at Atlanta for her first career win in the Funny Car series. Another was that Rod Fuller beat his arch rival Tony Schumacher in the finals, which became a big win for him as it represented one of the very few times Schumacher would be beat in an historic season for The Sarge, who won 15 races with seven of them consecutively with 31 round wins in a row, en route to his fifth consecutive Top Fuel title and his sixth overall.