Cromwell Sees a Rosy NHRA Future

Glen Cromwell, president of the National Hot Rod Association is totally bullish on his next season leading the professional Camping World Drag Racing Series, as well as the whole of NHRA. Even before crowning the 2021 championships in Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle, Cromwell is, well, crowing about the changes coming to the series in the upcoming year and the possibilities for even more enhanced competition.

For the longest time, pro NHRA racing has been dominated by mega-teams like Don Schumacher Racing (DSR), John Force Racing (JFR), Kalitta Motorsports and Torrence Racing (for the past half-decade). When Al-Anabi Racing was around, they, too, were a big, big force to be reckoned with in the NHRA pits. Smaller teams didn’t stand much of a chance.

But now, change is in the air and under-foot. The biggest change is the contraction of DSR, which is losing both Leah Pruett and Matt Hagan to Tony Stewart Racing next year, as well as the planned departure of Antron Brown to AB Racing, his bespoke organization. While Tony Schumacher is returning to race Top Fuel with Todd Okuhara as his crew chief and it’s expected, with the re-signing of NAPA Auto Parts that Ron Capps is in for the longer haul, that makes for two cars: one Top Fuel rail; one Funny Car.

While JFR is expected to remain intact with Brittany and John Force, together with company president Robert Hight, having the exceptionally talented Austin Prock on the driving sidelines isn’t really good for business. So it’s the hope that John Force and his marketing team are able to find sufficient funding to bring back the third generation driver to the fold. Or allow him to travel elsewhere to make his mark.

There are changes expected at Kalitta Motorsports, too, which is having a tough year in Top Fuel. 2018 Funny Car champ J.R. Todd is having a good  (but not great) year and is still in the running for the title behind Capps and Hagan in third, but both Doug Kalitta and Shawn Langdon haven’t been able to perform to their capabilities. It’s unknown – since only those inside the Kalitta organization are aware – whether this is a parts or personnel issue, or a combination of the two. We can expect added changes in 2022. The team already jettisoned Rob Flynn from Doug Kalitta’s car and, while Aaron Brooks is doing his best to bring cohesion, there’s got to be more than a change of crew chiefs to bring this team back to center.

Many have noted the resurgence of Alexis DeJoria and her DC Motorsports toward the close of the 2021 season. Please remember she came back from two years off in 2020, only to have the pandemic absolutely ruin the plans DeJoria, along with crew chiefs Del Worsham and Nicky Boninfante, had to bring the squad success. They could barely test and were using older, saved parts bought in late 2019 because new ones weren’t readily available when the country shut down. When they showed up at Indy last July, they were making baby steps to bring their team together, get personnel and parts on the same page. It took until the middle of the 20-race 2021 campaign to get everyone and everything marching in lockstep.

Torrence Racing continues to steamroll; they had people and parts in place at the start of 2020 and took their third straight championship with Steve Torrence. Father Billy placed third last year despite not running every race (something he’s continued in 2021) and they’ve simply built on those successes. Next year could have this team even stronger with their planned affiliation with Toyota Motorsports. Toyota never does anything halfway and neither does Torrence Racing.

New names in Top Fuel like Justin Ashley, Josh Hart, Alex Laughlin portend a more fluid title chase should all of them return for 2022. Ashley, of course, is certain and has Mike Green on-hand to crew chief his one-car team. The ascension of crew chief Ron Douglas to partnership with Hart is a positive sign, as this particular tuner has been worthy of a positive and permanent home for a long time. Clay Millican’s crew chief Mike Kloeber was out of the sport for a bit and returned in 2020 – not the best time to do that, right? They’re getting better as a team with every single race and look good for next year. Mike Salinas won at Bristol; there’s been talk that Alan Johnson won’t be with him in 2022 (and that likely would mean the departure of Brian Husen too) but rumors are just that until they’re verified.

This has been an excellent development year for Cruz Pedregon, who nabbed crew chief John Collins for his Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat when DSR shut down Tommy Johnson Jr.’s team. They’ve been working exceptionally well together, good enough to have the two-time champ in fourth place with this weekend’s Dodge//SRT NHRA Nationals still to be run; he’s not out of it yet, in fourth place and tied with hungry, 16-time champ John Force. Tim Wilkerson has had a good year with his single-car Ford Mustang team and lies ninth in the title chase, but is out of the loop for that elusive championship. Ford Mustang stalwart Bob Tasca III was strong at the start of the year but has faded to sixth place. That’s a head-scratcher.

It’s best to focus on those two nitro classes, because the parity in Pro Stock is quite good, considering that most teams in the hunt for the title are running the same equipment: Chevrolet’s Camaro race car. While there are a few Dodge Dart and Ford Mustang entries, none of them appears to have the chassis and development funding the Chevy teams enjoy, which is why we’re seeing the same folks battling for a title again this year – and it’ll be razor-close through Pomona.

Greg Anderson and Erica Enders are again fighting for the title, but there’s new generational blood in Dallas Glenn, Kyle Koretsky, Aaron Stanfield, Troy Coughlin Jr., and Mason McGaha ready to assume the next title chase when/if either of these two falters in the near future.

In Pro Stock Motorcycle, the formerly dominant Harley-Davidson bike is gone, replaced by Vance & Hines bespoke Buell motorcycle for that mega-championship team. At the same time, this team has been producing four-valve Suzuki Hayabusa heads for their three-time champ Angelle Sampey, as well as selling that product to other racers, notably the Cory Reed team that’s now without its injured leader but continuing with the excellent Joey Gladstone. At the same time, Monster’s Suzuki four-valve head is on a resurgent Steve Johnson’s motorcycle and the independent entrant is looking as good as he has in a decade. Or two.

At the same time, four-time reigning titleholder Matt Smith is exploring a Suzuki entry for himself in 2022, even as he puts up run after run over 200mph on his Buell and leads the title chase here in Las Vegas. He has Sampey nipping at his heels, with Johnson not far behind and V&H’s Eddie Krawiec and Scotty Pollacheck still mathematically eligible. In some cases this might look like “same ol’” but with folks like Gladstone, Reed, Chris Bostick getting their teams together, 2022 could portend some big changes, especially if the Suzuki set improve, get more riders and teams involved after so many years of being on the bargain basement shelf.

So Glen Cromwell is excited and with good reason. The changes being wrought in NHRA’s pits are those that could mean more competition and, thereby more money for the organization. If the latter situation is the case, I’m hoping NHRA will do the right thing and spread the wealth by restoring purses to those that keep the fan base coming and enjoying the races. With a better financial outlook that’s the way it should be. Glen, ball’s in your court!

Correction: The initial post contained a typo calling JR Todd the 2017 NHRA winner instead of 2018. That has been corrected.