2021 NHRA U.S. Nationals Memorable for Its Craziness
This year’s 67th annual Dodge//SRT NHRA U.S. Nationals, notably the biggest NHRA drag race in the United States, wasn’t the huge race it once was, just a few years ago. Where formerly the Camping World Drag Racing Series professional show was four days, five qualifying sessions and continued on to Labor Day Monday itself, this year’s was scheduled for three days, three qualifying sessions over Friday night and Saturday. Sunday eliminations replaced the Monday show.
Whether this was done – as it was last year during our first COVID summer – to reduce the implications of that disease we’ll never know because NHRA will never tell us. But this year’s scheduling certainly wreaked havoc on the four pro class standings. The U.S. Nationals is now the final race of the “regular” season before NHRA’s Countdown to the Championship begins, and spots in the top ten for Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle were on the line. In the latter class, only Matt Smith had locked down a spot heading into this race at Lucas Oil Raceway.
Even before the Friday evening qualification runs began, we learned that Funny Car points leader coming into this race, reigning champion Matt Hagan, had tested positive for COVID and wouldn’t be able to come to the race. Don Schumacher Racing arranged for Tommy Johnson Jr., who lives in the area and has driven with DSR for the past several years, to take over the seat and collect whatever points he could to keep Hagan’s position going into the Countdown.That plan went awry when there was a malfunction of the wheelie bar and Johnson Jr. never even had the opportunity to effect a burnout on Friday night.
Friday night qualifying is always a great show, with flames visible to the many fans in the stands, when times and speeds better than what should have followed on Saturday. Had there been Saturday qualifying, that is. About an hour before the allotted time for qualifying to begin Saturday morning, rain came. And it didn’t stop but for minutes here and there throughout the day and into the night. Precipitation halted around 9:30PM EDT, about an hour and a half after NHRA finally called the proceedings to a halt without any drivers or riders taking to the 1,000-foot and quarter-mile surface.
Because Friday night’s single session was absolutely critical, and because points-and-a-half were being awarded at this very special race for all competitors, the Countdown standings changed dramatically in some classes from what they were going in, once four rounds of eliminations were completed shortly after 4PM on Sunday. The only drivers who, expectedly, remained at the top of their classes were Steve Torrence, who recorded his eighth Top Fuel victory in 13 races held to date, Greg Anderson, defeated by eventual race winner Erica Enders (her second U.S. Nationals win in a row) in the semifinals, and Matt Smith, despite being up-ended by Ryan Oehler in the first round.
Two dragster drivers who were either vying to remain in the Countdown or already securely in, Clay Millican and Mike Salinas, failed to make the show but made the playoffs in ninth and sixth, respectively. Doug Kalitta, who finished second to Steve Torrence last year, is qualified tenth for the playoffs after going to the quarterfinals and being beaten by Billy Torrence. Josh Hart, who won the season-opening Amalie Motor Oil Gatornationals in March, looked like he might take out everyone on his ladder and do it again, but he was felled in the semifinals by eventual race runner-up and No. 1 qualifier Brittany Force (her sixth consecutive No. 1). She is seeded second for the playoffs.
With Hagan on the sidelines and no replacement, Ron Capps was the sole DSR Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Car racer in Sunday’s eliminations; he qualified sixth under the guidance of Dean Antonelli and John Medlen. John Force’s Chevrolet Camaro was the quickest and fastest car on Friday night, allowing the 16-time champion to secure his second No. 1 in 2021 and his 162nd overall. The wily 154-race winner would be gone by the quarterfinals when he went up in smoke against eventual winner Tim Wilkerson, who went on to collect his first Wally trophy in more than five years.
On Sunday, the two Pro Stock classes, for cars and motorcycles, became a red-light district. In Pro Stock’s first round Sunday morning – racing started at 10AM, at least an hour earlier than “normal” – there were four drivers who earned fouls for leaving early: Aaron Stanfield, Kenny Delco, Fernando Cuadra Jr. and Troy Coughlin Jr. Matt Hartford fouled out in the second round. Pro Stock Motorcycle’s first round claimed two riders with red-light fouls: Karen Stoffer and Angie Smith. Hector Arana Jr.’s return to the class lasted until the quarters when he, too, fouled out, as did Michael Phillips. Scotty Pollacheck, last year’s U.S. Nationals victor, fouled out in the semifinals to join his two Matt Smith Racing teammates on the sidelines.
And let’s talk about lane choices. On Sunday, starting with the first round at 10AM, it appeared the left land was the place to be. Watching crew chiefs as they marched through the first 300 feet prior to the start of each round per class, those that had to be in the right lane were, for the most part, trying to find the correct spot to align their cars or motorcycles on the right, fallow side of the track. There didn’t seem to be much worry about the left lane. Until the finals. Then three of four winners came from the right side of Lucas Oil Raceway’s drag strip. Only one driver, the final one to earn his trophy, came out of the left lane. Laneology is still an art.
It was a beautiful day on Sunday, especially for the winners: Steve Torrence in Top Fuel, a joyous Ford Mustang racer Tim Wilkerson for Funny Car, reigning and four-time Pro Stock champ Erica Enders and Eddie Krawiec, capturing his first victory of the 2021 season aboard his Vance & Hines-produced Buell. Their victories and others’ issues did change some of the standings, with the biggest shake-up occurring in Funny Car, thanks to that pervasive virus.
Steve Torrence, Brittany Force, Antron Brown (out in Round 1), Leah Pruett, Shawn Langdon (who drove a “Bounty Hunter” dragster in honor of team owner Connie Kalitta), Salinas, Justin Ashley, Billy Torrence, Millican and Kalitta comprise the dragster playoff entries. With his runner-up finish on Sunday to Wilkerson, Capps and his Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat assumed the Funny Car lead, followed by J. Force, Bob Tasca III’s Mustang. J.R. Todd’s Toyota Camry, Robert Hight’s Camaro, Hagan, Alexis DeJoria (Camry), Cruz Pedregon (Dodge Charger), Wilkerson and Blake Alexander (Camry). The Flopper field was so tight coming in that even the final win light couldn’t move Wilk any farther up the totem pole.
In Pro Stock, Anderson Enders, Stanfield, U.S. Nationals No. 1 qualifier Kyle Koretsky, Dallas Glenn, Hartford, Coughlin Jr., Mason McGaha, Deric Kramer and Chris McGaha are playoff-bound in their Chevy Camaro race cars. Those that punched their tickets in Pro Stock Motorcycle are Matt Smith (Buell), Steve Johnson (4-valve Suzuki), Pollacheck on his Buell, Krawiec (who moved up from eighth), race runner-up Angelle Sampey (V&H 4-valve Suzuki), Oehler (Buell), Gladstone (V&H 4-valve Suzuki), A. Smith (Buell), Karen Stoffer’s 2-valve Suzuki and six-time champ Andrew Hines (V&H Buell).
There isn’t much time to commiserate and/or congratulate after this weekend’s activities ended. The first Countdown race is less than a week away, coming up at Reading, PA with the Mopar Exprress Lane NHRA Nationals. A week later it’s the NHRA Carolina Nationals at zMax Dragway and a week after that the NHRA Midwest Nationals on the WorldWide Technology dragstrip. There’s a slight pause before the NHRA FallNationals in Ennis, TX, followed a week later by the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol, TN. The final two west coast events are the Dodge//SRT NHRA Nationals at Las Vegas Halloween weekend and the Auto Club NHRA Finals in Pomona November 11th.