NHRA’s 36th trip to Texas Motorplex this weekend, for the Texas NHRA Fall Nationals, will have a familiar feel to it. For the first time at a standard NHRA event since 2019, there will be four qualifying sessions. Two on Friday; two on Saturday. Eliminations begin at 11AM CT on Sunday.
All four Camping World Drag Racing Series categories will be on-hand to battle for Wally winner’s trophies, and at least 10 drivers or riders in Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle will continue their quests for season-long championships in NHRA’s seven-race Countdown to the Championship. Pro Stock Motorcycle, which didn’t race at the NHRA Midwest Nationals two weeks ago, returns to action in Texas, while Pro Stock takes the weekend off during next week’s Bristol race.
There are 18 Top Fuel competitors ready to rock in Ennis, home to Texas Motorplex. Reigning three-time champ Steve Torrence, in one of his two home state races, has a 36-point advantage on 2017 titleholder Brittany Force of John Force Racing, leading into this fourth Countdown to the Championship round while his father Billy lies 126 points back in third.
Mike Salinas (-134) and Justin Ashley (-138) round out the top five, while Don Schumacher Racing teammates Leah Pruett (-151) and Antron Brown (-185) hold sixth and seventh places, respectively. Kalitta Motorsports’ Shawn Langdon, Clay Millican of Stringer Performance and Doug Kalitta found out the top 10. Alex Laughlin, who is transitioning from Pro Stock and Pro Mod to compete in Top Fuel, is one of the part-timers set to race at Texas together with Josh Hart, Joe Morrison, Buddy Hull, Keith Murt, Lee Callaway, Mitch King and Krista Baldwin.
In Funny Car there are also 18 entries on the list, with Don Schumacher Racing’s Matt Hagan and Ron Capps leading the list of Countdown-qualified cars. Hagan, who won the most recent race at World Wide Technology Raceway (WWTR) in his Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat, has a 59-point advantage on Capps and 72 points on 16-time Funny Car champ John Force, who is driving exceptionally well this year in his Chevrolet Camaro SS. Cruz Pedregon’s Charger is 99 points behind Hagan while 2018 Funny Car champ J.R. Todd, driving a Toyota Camry for Kalitta Motorsports, holds fifth place points, 116 behind Hagan.
Funny Car actually has 11 cars and drivers qualified for the Countdown, including early season points leader Bob Tasca II and his Ford Mustang (-120), fellow Mustang racer Tim Wilkerson (-160), Force’s teammate and company president Robert Hight (-160), Alexis DeJoria’s Camry (-191), Blake Alexander in Jim Head’s Mustang (234) and Jim Campbell, in 11th place, driving Jim Dunn’s Charger (-268). Joining these championship contenders are Jack Wyatt in a Charger, Paul Lee’s Charger, Terry Haddock driving a Mustang, Jeff Arend in a Mustang, Dale Creasy Jr.’s Dodge Stratus, Todd Simpson in a Camry and “Surfer” Jeff Diehl’s Camry.
Although not entered for the race, Austin Prock was testing John Force’s Chevrolet Camaro SS Funny Car on Wednesday, which is an open test day for the Camping World competitors part of the track’s Stampede of Speed extravaganza that’s been going on since last weekend.
Newly inducted into North Carolina’s Auto Racing Hall of Fame, Pro Stock points leader Greg Anderson is bringing a miserly 17-point lead over reigning and fellow four-time champ Erica Enders, the most recent Pro Stock race winner. First-time winner Kyle Koretsky has a hold on third place and lags 97 points behind Anderson, while Dallas Glenn is 116 points back in fourth, followed by Aaron Stanfield in fifth, -167 points. Stanfield, having clinched his second straight Factory Stock Showdown title, is hoping to leapfrog some of his competitors to aid championship hopes in this truly competitive class.
Third-generation racer Troy Coughlin Jr. is sixth, 192 points back, followed by Mason McGaha (-202), his dad Chris McGaha (-211), Matt Hartford (-232), Deric Kramer (-247) and Kenny Delco, 11th but still eligible for the title, even though he is 279 points behind Anderson. All drive Chevrolet Camaro race cars. With 20 Pro Stock cars on the Texas Motorplex grounds, four drivers won’t be racing by Sunday. Those four could come from the playoff combatants, or from a list that includes Richie Stevens Jr. (Camaro) Rodger Brogdon (Camaro), Alan Prusiensky and Mike Callahan (Dodge Dart), Vincent Nobile (Camaro), and the Cuadra family of Mustang competitors: Fernando, Fernando Jr. and Cristian Cuadra.
This is only the third Countdown event for Pro Stock Motorcycle, which has seen changes in fortune from last year to this. Although four-time and reigning champ Matt Smith continues to put up big numbers on his Buell, he hasn’t been able to close as many deals as he’d like and currently sits third in the standings, 30 points behind veteran Steve Johnson, whose four-valve Suzuki will pass the timing beams without the help of crewman Ervin “Jock” Allen, who suffered fluke gunshot injury after the Charlotte round (PSM didn’t race at WWTR). In between these two is three-time PSM champ Angelle Sampey, having a great season on her four-valve Vance & Hines Suzuki (-17). Sampey’s teammate Eddie Krawiec has a hold on fourth place with his V&H Buell (-39) while Scotty Pollacheck holds fifth place on his Matt Smith Racing Buell, 95 points behind Johnson.
As with two of the other four Camping World classes, there are 11 motorcycle racers eligible to hoist
the massive championship trophy, once the title chase arrives back in Pomona Joey Goldstone’s four-valve Suzuki is sixth (-101) and team leader Cory Reed is seventh but not racing after a nasty fall at Charlotte (-147), Angie Smith is eighth (-150) on her Buell, Karen Stoffer holds ninth-place points on her two-valve Suzuki (-155), six-time champ Andrew Hines is tenth on his V&H Buell (-162), while Ryan Oehler is the caboose on the Countdown-eligible list, lagging Johnson by 164 points with his Buell.
Just like Pro Stock, the Pro Stock Motorcycle class has 20 entries that include the first rider to 200mph, Hector Arana Jr. (Buell), 2016 PSM champ Jerry Savoie (four-valve Suzuki), David Barron’s Buell, Chris Bostick’s four-valve Suzuki, Michael Philips’ two-valve Suzuki, Michael Ray Jr. on a Matt Smith Racing Buell, Jimmy Underdahl’s two-valve Suzuki, Kelly Clontz’s four-valve Suzuki and Jianna Salinas on a two-valve Suzuki. Cory Reed is on the entry list for this race despite his compound fracture above the ankle; we’ll have to see if he’s medically cleared to run this race. I doubt it.
The Dallas area is experiencing an Indian summer this fall, and the temps for this race will be almost as hot as the competition. While no precipitation is in the current forecast, racers can look forward to temps in the middle 90s all three days of racing, with low in the middle 60s. The competition will be scalding and the weather darn close to it. It’s an even bet the standings will change after this race is complete because, well, everything is bigger in Texas.
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