2022 NHRA Camping World Titles Come Down to Pomona
For the 22nd and final time in 2022, NHRA’s Camping World Drag Racing Series convenes to race, and is conducting this event at what many consider its ancestral home, currently called Auto Club Raceway at Pomona. The 57th Auto Club Finals take place Thursday through Sunday and crowns champions in Top Fuel, Funny Car and Pro Stock Motorcycle.
Of course one champion is already celebrating: Erica Enders secured her fifth NHRA Pro Stock championship during NHRA’s Nevada Nationals held on The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway the first day of November, tying her with 2021 class champ Greg Anderson. Now Enders’ Elite Motorsports team is looking to secure all top three standings in this tough class, with teammates Aaron Stanfield and Troy Coughlin Jr. looking to keep anyone from KB Racing (last year’s champs) off the podium.
Two of KB’s marauders are lurking close behind Stanfield and Coughlin, who have a gap of only 20 points between them. Kyle Koretsky holds 278 fourth-place points, which is only 34 points behind Coughlin Jr. and trails Stanfield by 54 points. Anderson is fifth, 64 points out of 2nd place while 2021’s Rookie of the Year Dallas Glenn is sixth, 141 points behind Stanfield in second place.
Matt Hartford, Cristian Cuadra, Deric Kramer, Mason McGaha, Bo Butner, Camrie Caruso, Fernando Cuadra Jr, Chris McGaha and Fernando Cuadra Sr are the balance of the door slammer field eligible for the Countdown to the Championship playoffs. There are 18 cars on the entry list, including Kenny Delco, Shane Tucker in the preferred Chevrolet Camaro Pro Stock race car, and Alan Pruiensky with his Dodge Dart breaking up the Chevy and Ford Mustang party.
In each of the four Camping World categories, there are 18 entries for the season finale – and the close of NHRA’s naming rights with the Auto Club of Southern California, which has sponsored this race, owned naming rights to the Pomona track and sponsored John Force Racing’s Robert Hight – in Funny Car – for at least the balance of this decade. Hight and Top Fuel standout, points leader and sister-in-law Brittany Force are fighting for their fourth and second championships, respectively in their classes.
Force, who ramrodded her way through the regular season of 16 races, swooned during the first part of the playoffs but had a big ricochet at Las Vegas nearly two weeks ago, when she won the race and booted third-year and second-generation racer Justin Ashley from the Top Fuel lead. She’s got seven points on the New Yorker, which isn’t much when points-and-a-half are on offer. Right now Mike Salinas is in third, lacking 66 points, while Antron Brown in fourth (-78) and reigning, four-time consecutive titleholder Steve Torrence is fifth, 87 points behind Force. It’s still possible for one of these guys to beat Brittany Force, but she’s ready. And hungry
The remainder of Top Fuel’s Countdown-eligible racers are fighting for crumbs in the scheme of things, all of them at least 100 points behind Force. Austin Prock is sixth, Josh Hart seventh, teammates Shawn Langdon and Doug Kalitta are eighth and ninth, while Clay Millican, Tony Schumacher and Leah Pruett bring up the rear of this Countdown field. Schumacher is, as he did in Las Vegas, racing a ‘giving car”, which for Pomona benefits “A Soldier’s Child” charity. Schumacher has won this race four times and been runner-up five times.
The balance of the Top Fuel field is plenty stout, with Scott Palmer, Alex Laughlin, Krista Baldwin (racing a rail that honors her late father), Cameron Ferre, Ron August Jr. and Steven Chrisman livening up the proceedings. Still, everyone will be chasing Brittany Force, who has amassed five wins, nine No. 1 qualifiers, secured the fastest run in Top Fuel history along with a bushel of track records. Still, Force knows she has work to be done at Pomona. “This team has been winning races and setting track records, and now it comes down to the final race, as we knew it would,” she said. “It’s a lot of pressure, but I’m trying to find a way to enjoy it a little bit and am looking forward to seeing where this ends up!”
Ashley would like nothing more than to “bookend” the 2022 campaign, which he began with victory at this track. That win almost made up for his inability to compete last year when NHRA held its Winternationals in July and Ashely was too physically depleted from the raging heat to race in the finale. Being a nominal seven points behind Force heading into the finale, “We’re keeping everything the same. There’s no reason to change what got us here and we’ve got to focus on being the best version of ourselves and bring out our ‘A’ game. It’s going to be a battle and you’ll see that throughout the weekend,” Ashley said. HIs technical partner, Antron Brown is ending his first season as a team owner with three victories in these 21 races. He’s taken the Wally winner’s trophy at the NHRA Finals three times, twice in Top Fuel and once in Pro Stock Motorcycle; he was the final loser to Steve Torrence at the Auto Club Finals last November.
In order to earn his fourth Funny Car championship, John Force Racing’s Robert Hight will rely on exquisite tuning by Jimmy Prock and Chris Cunningham on his Auto Club Chevrolet Camaro SS. He’ll need everything he’s got with the two drivers trailing him, who have always been the ones to shut Hight down at one time or another. They’re both prepared to do more of the same this weekend. Hight, owner of eight victories, 12 final round showdowns and six No. 1 qualifiers during one of his best season-long outings of a stellar career, has to contend with reigning titleholder and first-year team owner/driver Ron Capps, driving his NAPA Toyota GR Supra, who is 61 points back. Capps has to contend with three-time champ Matt Hagan, who won in Las Vegas for Tony Stewart Racing with his Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat, two points behind Capps.
Former teammates Capps and Hagan have their work cut out for them, but even with points-and-a-half on order, there’s little chance 16-time champ John Force, 186 points behind his company president, can catch up to the top three Funny Car drivers. Last year’s race winner, Bob Tasca III and his Ford Mustang are in fifth and hoping to catch Force, not impossible with a 15-point gap between the two. The balance of the Countdown-eligible players in the Flopper class will be looking to either improve their standings or at least stay where they are: sixth through eleventh are J.R. Todd (Toyota GR Supra), Tim Wilkerson’s Mustang, Alexis DeJoria in her GR Supra, Cruz Pedregon’s Charger SRT Hellcat, Blake Alexander in Jim Head’s Mustang and Jim Campbell, driving the legendary Jim Dunn’s Charger.
Funny Car does have its own group of spoilers waiting in the wings to upset the above apple cart. Wilkerson’s technical alliance with Chad Green has upped that racer’s game this year (Mustang), Paul Lee’s Charger has been looking better as the season’s progressed, Terry Haddock is always a threat in his Mustang, Jeff Arend is, once again driving the Russo family’s Chevy, Steven Densham drives dad Gary’s Mustang, nostalgia Funny Car standout Jason Rupert brings his Mustang, as does Bobby Bode III, who has shown signs of brilliance from time to time.
Matt Smith started his challenge for a sixth Pro Stock Motorcycle championship, and third consecutive, on a new Suzuki, but it wasn’t long before his trusty Buell got the nod as he worked to learn more about this different motorcycle. He’s had some challenges throughout the season, notably from Joey Gladstone of Reed Motorsports, who’s been showing Smith just how well he can ride the Suzuki Haybusa.
In last year’s Auto Club Finals, three of four champions earned the race win as well and Matt Smith was one of them. Only Capps in Funny Car had to cede the race win to Tasca. In 2019, Smith could have, would have won the title but for an improbable parts failure that allowed Jianna Evaristo (nee Salinas) to gain her first race victory and Andrew Hines to earn his sixth championship. Now with Matt Smith Racing, Evaristo, while not a championship contender, is riding better than she ever has, thanks to the tutelage she’s received this season.
But it’s still Gladstone, -104 points in second place, the Suzuki of 2016 class champion Jerry Savoie, Angie Smith’s Buell, perennial Suzuki rider and contender Steve Johnson and Eddie Krawiec on a Vance & Hines Suzuki who are Matt Smith’s primary protagonists, all of them less than 200 points behind Smith. The remaining Countdown-eligible riders, Angelle Sampey on a V&H Suzuki, Marc Ingwersen, having an exceptional year on his Buell, Ryan Oehler on his Buell and Karen Stoffer, in 10th place on her Suzuki, ready to make life difficult for those in the title hunt.
And then there’s Hector Arana Jr., who re-entered the class at Texas and has secured victory in the last two races on his family’s Buell, Having secured financial assistance for these last two races from Global Electronic Technology, Inc., Arana has looked like he’s ready to take on everybody – everybody – in next year’s PSM fight. He and Evaristo, are joined in this week’s pits by the Suzukis of Chris Bostick, Fred Camarena, Michael Phillips , Kelly Clontz, Katie Justice and Gaige Herrera. Where Buell was once the choice of many riders, Suzuki has taken over that position.
Lucas Oil competition begins on Thursday, November 10th for Top Alcohol Dragster and Funny Car, Competition Eliminator, Super Stock, Stock Eliminator, Super Comp, Super Gas, Top Sportsman and Top Dragster. Jr. Dragster, where many current stars got their start, is also on the docket.
On Friday, Pro Stock qualifying begins at the crack of noon, followed by the first nitro qualifying session. The second Friday session begins at 3:15, which could bring Funny Car and Top Fuel under the lights. On Saturday, everything starts a bit earlier, with Pro Stock qualifying beginning at 11:30 and final qualifying starting at 3PM, which should have most cars off the track by sundown.
We can expect partly cloudy skies on Friday with decreasing temperatures, from the high 60s to low 60s in daylight hours – and added sunshine – through the balance of the race meeting. It looks like the rain that inundated the southern California area will take a rest this weekend, producing sunny, clear, cool, horsepower-making skies in Pomona.
FS1 and FS2 will televise all of the activities throughout the weekend, as will NHRA.TV. Sunday’s final eliminations of the year are set to begin at 11am and should be held under rather cool conditions, but the track, the action and the intensity should heat up throughout this NHRA Championship day.
Who else but John Force to sum up this championship weekend: “Racing in Pomona is always exciting. It’s an extra rush for the Auto Club Finals.”