This past weekend’s penultimate NHRA race for the Camping World Drag Racing Series was filled with surprises and trickery – appropriate for a race that occurred on Halloween. As is traditional, both Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle teams dressed for the occasion with only a few exceptions for teams that take themselves seriously (and maybe a bit too seriously). The results were excellent on this, NHRA’s 1000th National event.
Steve Torrence earned his 50th National event Wally winner’s trophy in Top Fuel during these Dodge//SRT NHRA Nationals on The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and extended his lead over Brittany Force, who went out in the semifinals after, again, earning the No. 1 qualifier with outstanding ETs and top speeds. Mike Salinas, who won most recently in Bristol two weeks ago, ended Force’s day with a hole shot victory. Force has all the tools at her disposal but often gets the “yips” on the tree, as happened this round, where she posted an RT of .058 to Salinas’ .027. Torrence now has 105 points on Force – but there’s points-and-a-half on order at Pomona, so anything goes…
Cruz Pedregon started his march to a third Funny Car crown by notching his 594th round win, placing him No. 13 among all drivers in any category. By the time the final round rolled around, the Cruzer had 597 round wins on his resume as he looks for a third championship – first first title came in 1992, while the second earned in 2008. Changes the California native made to his team during the off-season, including adopting the former crew of Tommy Johnson Jr., led by John Collins, to helm his Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat, paid off in the 2021 season as he’s now a scant 83 points behind Ron Capps, who had a $3 part ruin his run in the finals, also in a Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat.
Eery things happen at a race track on Halloween: Funny Car championship contender and 16-time titleholder John Force and his Chevrolet Camaro SS was silenced in the first round to No. 15 qualifier Chris Morel and his Dodge Charger; reigning, three-time Flopper champ Matt Hagan’s Charger lost a cylinder and fell to rookie Chad Green’s Mustang; Paul Lee (Charger) put J.R. Todd’s Toyota Camry back on the trailer with a .005 light and a solid run to 1,000 feet. And that was just the first round! Capps disposed of No. 1 qualifier and Bristol winner Alexis DeJoria (Camry) in the second round by virtue of his best lap of the weekend (3.884/332.10). To set up the match between Capps and Pedregon, each having disposed of strong talents: Pedregon over Tasca’s Mustang and Capps defeated Robert Hight’s Camaro.
Funny Car is still a toss-up, but now three of the former leaders, Hagan, Todd and Force, well, they don’t look as strong as they did before eliminations began on Sunday morning. It’s now a race between Capps, Hagan (-58) and Pedregon.
Anyone who remembers the 2019 Pro Stock battle for championship rights might chuckle at what happened in the first round of competition at The Strip on Sunday. It was Elite Motorsports’ Troy Coughlin Jr. wheeling his bright pink – in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month – Camaro, matched against championship leader Greg Anderson’s similar machine from KB Racing. Coughlin had qualified 16th and Anderson, the most successful Pro Stock racer of all time, had the No. 1 lap in qualifying, earning it over second-generation racer Kyle Koretsky in the final, Saturday afternoon opportunity. Coughlin wasn’t the only Elite car to have a click-off in the last session of qualifying: Aaron Stanfield qualified 14th.
In the first round of eliminations, Coughlin earned the win over Anderson, a run that certainly aided his teammate and four-time, reigning champion Erica Enders, who would go to the finals against KB’s rookie of the year candidate Dallas Glenn. Theirs was a classic race for the black Wally trophy that signified the 1000th National event: Enders carded a .005 light but Glenn was even better, off the line with only .001 to spare. They battled down the track and Glenn came out on top. These manipulations tightened the Pro Stock championship chase to a 32-point gap between Anderson and Enders. Pomona should be a truly exciting race. Glenn is kinda, sorta still in it, lagging teammate Anderson by 109 points.
There were big changes in Pro Stock Motorcycle once eliminations got underway. Matt Smith, despite failing to turn a single 200mph lap all weekend, still earned the No. 1 and waltzed through the first two rounds of eliminations. By the time the semifinals came around, there were four strong contenders aiming for one another in both the race and the Countdown to the Championship playoffs.
Angelle Sampey’s Vance & Hines Suzuki battled to the semifinals by virtue of a straight-up win against Ryan Oehler’s Buell in the first round and teammate Eddie Krawiec’s Buell’s “lack of oil pressure” in the second go-round. She’d fall to Steve Johnson’s Suzuki in the semifinals when the veteran put up a way better light (.040 to Sampey’s .090), setting up an all-Suzuki final between Karen Stoffer and Johnson. He’d win it on a foul and move within 20 points of Smith, while Sampey is 30 points behind. Krawiec, 142 points behind Matt Smith in fourth place, is out of it, as are the balance of this top 10.
Those are the stories about what happened on the racetrack this past Sunday. The joy of winning was evident, for the most part, when the victors returned to the water box to greet and celebrate with their fans. Although he took his 10th win of the year and the 50th of his career, Steve Torrence just never appeared as overjoyed to be in the Winner’s Circle; he dedicated the victory to Dylan Cromwell and the Head Racing team, who elected to stand down for the race.
Pedregon, on the other hand, had a stampede of smiles on his face – he’s not been this joyful since that 2008 championship year, when his was a relatively new Funny Car single-car team. “After winning today we’re back in the (Countdown hunt),” Pedregon said. “The car runs right with everyone and it’s an honor to win the 1,000th NHRA National race. I’m just glad to be a part of it. We just had to keep our nose tot he grindstone and things worked out for us.”
Dallas Glenn’s third victory of the year with KB Racing had him nearly crowing. Now nicknamed “Double-O Dallas” for his spectacular lights, “I was just trying to do everything I can. I had all the faith in this team and I knew the car was going to be good as long as I did my job,” Glenn said. “I knew I was good on the tree. I hit all my shifts and I was just hoping the win light came on. It feels really good to go up there with a plan and then execute it.”
Steve Johnson’s carnival ride continued this weekend. He’s been either at the apex of success or at its nadir, never anything in between this year. The California native’s success with the new four-valve Suzuki engine has dwarfed even the Vance & Hines team with three-time champ Sampey riding. Johnson’s third win of the year and ninth of his 34-year-long career has him hungry for that elusive title.
“It is very, very special to win this event, but it’s really about the championship,” he said. “It took us 17 years to win our first national event and I’m a sucker for this sport. I really want to bring home a championship; I’d love to be a part of that championship fraternity and to be able to try to do it ion our hometown is going to be really, really special.” (Johnson, Karen and husband Gary Stoffer, as well as three-time Top Fuel champ Larry Dixon, who’s been helping Johnson keep himself and his team together these last few races, all grew up in the San Fernando Valley. They’ve raced together for decades, and their friendships remain steadfast.)
E3 Spark Plugs Pro Mod champion Jose Gonzalez did not show up for the season finale of his class, having secured the title in Bristol two weeks ago. It is the opinion of this writer that he should be fined for failing to appear.
We are real proud Of Steve here in Alabama