Ashley, Caruso Reflect on 2022 NHRA Campaigns
The 2022 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series saw quite a few break-out results over the course of 22 national events. Having three of four champions crowned in the season finale might be unusual in other sanctions’ racing series, but in NHRA competition, that’s a standard and commonplace occurrence.
Of course, when someone has a totally dominant year, as Erica Enders certainly did in capturing her fifth NHRA Pro Stock championship, everyone else in the class is simply an also-ran. Even those that had exceptional seasons by most reckonings, had to take a back seat to Enders, who capped her dominant year by earning that title in the penultimate race at Las Vegas. This season wasn’t the first time that had happened, but it was unusual, nonetheless.
In Top Fuel, the battle was a 22-race dust-up between eventual champion Brittany Force of John Force Racing and third-year challenger Justin Ashley of Davis Motorsports, for nearly the entire year. True, Force had the upper hand during the “regular” season that closed after the Dodge Power Brokers U.S. Nationals over Labor Day, with her atop the standings but Ashley lurked during that 18-event lead-up to the Countdown to the Championship playoffs.
And when Force faltered during the initial parts of the six-race Countdown playoffs, there was Ashley, ready to chomp away at her. In fact, the 27-year-old, who came to NHRA’s Top Fuel category during the 12-race 2020 season and garnered Rookie of the Year honors after earning a single Wally and blue winner’s cap during that campaign, had a stellar 2022 season. He managed, in his sophomore year, to earn a second victory and, in 2022 increased that annual total to three victories in seven final round appearances.
Leading the dragster standings for the first four – of six – Countdown events, it looked like the title chase was going to come down to Force and Ashley, both second-generation drivers. Justin’s dad Mike raced Pro Mod, Top Fuel and Funny Car before legal issues forced him from the water boxes. Force’s father is, of course, 16-time Funny Car champion John Force who, at age 73, finished fifth in class with a single win and consistent results.
At the penultimate race in Las Vegas, Ashley’s Phillips Connect dragster exited in the first round and Force won the race. Her teammate Austin Prock won the Pomona season finale and, when Ashley again fell in the first round, Brittany Force immediately earned her second Top Fuel title with her first-round win over Steve Chrisman. Still, finishing fourth behind Force, technical partner Antron Brown, a three-time Top Fuel titleholder and Prock wasn’t a poor showing for Ashley, who used his talent on the tree – as well as the track – to amass points throughout the year.
He also showed his acuity for finding and keeping partners. Phillips Connect started the 2022 campaign intending to support Ashley for three races. He won the first race at Pomona and showed consistency and speed, so much so that, at the U.S. Nationals, the [now] year-long partnership received a multi-year extension. That agreement allows Ashley the luxury of coming into next season only having to think about his driving, and keeping his sponsors happy.
“What I love about our relationship with Phillips Connect is that it’s a true win-win,” Ashley confirmed. “Together, we’re going to use this platform to generate business for Phillips Connect and generate growth within our program. It definitely helps provide stability, and we wouldn’t be racing, nor be in this position without Phillips Connect. I am so grateful for our partnership and very much looking forward to representing their company in the best light – on and off the racetrack.”
Partner representation is as big an “ask” as getting everything right to travel down a drag strip. Having the right personnel in place – for Ashley it’s Mike Green and Tommy DeLago leading an energized crew – is essential to having success. That’s why, in so many cases, newcomers like to rely on racers with massive experience to help indoctrinate them to the rigors of making the field and going rounds.
For Camrie Caruso, who announced her Pro Stock entry at the 2021 Performance Racing Industry (PRI) show just one December ago, the 2022 season was an eye-opener. Despite being a third-generation drag racer, starting the year with a new team, one that was unaffiliated with the big guns of Elite Motorsports or KB Racing, was daunting. In many cases she made her first starts at many of the NHRA’s Camping World venues and, as she said, spent the year learning the ropes.
She did have quite a few highlights – and some low lights, of course, en route to earning Rookie of the Year honors, together with a 12th place result in the door-slammer class’ final standings. Caruso had a fulfilling start to her first season in Pro Stock: at the final race to be held on the Houston Raceway Park drag strip, she earned a No. 1 qualifier and went to the finals against Erica Enders. It was a first for the class to have two women battling for a race win, which Texan Enders earned by a 10-foot margin.
That pair of achievements were the biggest surprises – to Caruso – in her first year of Pro Stock competition. Actually, there were three achievements that made for stand-out moments in her first Pro Stock season. “I think if I had to pick a top three, it was qualifying number one in Houston, the final at Houston against Erica and qualifying at every race. I always thought that we could do it, but it’s a lot harder said than done,” Caruso admitted. “I look at the Houston race as a highlight, but also something we want to do more of. I know we will have a team that can run at the top and win rounds,” on every 2023 track where NHRA Pro Stock competes.
Pretty much born into the sport, Caruso is part of a youth movement in Pro Stock, which is looking healthy despite the fact that nearly every competitive car in the class sports a Chevrolet Camaro body and Chevy power beneath. While she’s had access to the knowledge of two-time (1996-7) Pro Stock champion Jim Yates mentoring her throughout her rookie season, Caruso also had the benefit of spending time in the Elite Motorsports pits with Erica Enders before she saw her first tree at Pomona last February, in the Caruso Family Racing Camaro.
It all paid off for her, as she earned NHRA’s 2022 Rookie of the Year award. “I am so proud to win this award and it wouldn’t be possible without the support and love from my Poppa, dad and mom,” she said. “We achieved so many of my goals this season – we didn’t check all the boxes, but I’m very thankful. The competition is so tough out there, and to be recognized as the Rookie of the Year is a tremendous honor.” Caruso was pitted against Scott Farley, who races Top Fuel.
After 19 races, the 24-year-old is ready to tackle 2023, but has to wait until March before she gets to compete in an NHRA Pro Stock race again. With a bumper crop field on hand for the 18-race campaign next year (Reading was added to Pro Stock’s 2022 calendar shortly after the Koretsky family purchased Maple Grove Raceway), she’s got time at every track on the circuit but one: Route 66 Raceway outside Chicago. “I love going to new tracks and Chicago is a great market for our fans and our marketing partners.”
Of all the experiences she had during her rookie season, in a car that added partners and changed colors as the year went on, it was the difficult Western Swing – Denver, Sonoma, Seattle – that was the most fulfilling for Caruso. “I rode in the rig for the Western Swing. Seeing that part of the country was cool and also spending time with my crew guys. I think stretches of races like the Western Swing make our sport really interesting.”
By Anne Proffit