First Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge set for Phoenix
Qualifying at the next NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series event, the NHRA Arizona Nationals at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park outside Phoenix, will be more than a sad adieu to a track where NHRA has raced for decades. The track, formerly known as Firebird Raceway, is being shut down after the March 24-26 race weekend.
The first Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge will take place on Saturday, giving 12 drivers the opportunity to actually race on qualifying day. NHRA, for this race, is returning to its pandemic scheduling and holding a single qualifying session for Top Fuel, Funny Car and Pro Stock on Friday, with two on Saturday.
The single qualifying session is set for 5PM Pacific Time on Friday, while the #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge takes place at the close of the final qualifying session for each class on Saturday. The first qualifying session on Saturday is set for the crack of noon, while the second takes place at 3PM, and that is when the Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge takes place. The three winners and runners-up will take on their Gainesville semifinal challengers after the last qualifying session.
The Mission #2Fast2Tasty N HRA Challenge brings competitive racing to the qualifying schedule at 12 regular season events during this 21-contest calendar. It pits semifinalists from the previous race against each other in a pair of rematches, with the two winners then matching up in the final qualifying session. There is a bonus purse and bonus points for the Countdown to the Championship on the line, which makes drivers thrilled to get this race within a race started in Phoenix.
“To have a race on Saturday, it’s really exciting. Our guys are already talking about it,” said Gatornationals Funny Car winner Matt Hagan, driver of the Tony Stewart Racing (TSR Nitro) Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat. “That’s how excited they are about it, and it’s huge for all of us. I’m pumped that NHRA was able to put it together [with Mission Foods] and I think it’s going to be a big thing for everyone!” Hagan will match up against the Toyota GR Supra of Alexis DeJoria, while Gainesville runner-up J.R. Todd of Kalitta Motorsports, also in a GR Supra from Toyota, again battles Chad Green’s Ford Mustang. Green is a technical partner of Tin Wilkerson and Tim’s son Daniel is his crew chief.
In Top Fuel, Gainesville winner Mike Salinas again races Leah Pruett in their [semifinal] rematch, while runner-up and four-time consecutive dragster champ Steve Torrence faces off against Doug Kalitta, the No. 1 qualifier last year at Phoenix, who raced a closed canopy dragster for the first time in Gainesville and was quite pleased with it. Salinas, who raced well at this track in 2022, is excited to race Pruett again in this specialty race. “I want to go race and I want to have fun,” the Gatornationals winner said. “We’re going to have fun, but we won Phoenix last year and we run well there.”
Elite Motorsports’ Troy Coughlin Jr. notched his third NHRA Pro Stock victory at the season opener and will meet up with KB Titan Racing’s Dallas Glenn in this specialty race, while independent Harlow Sammons Racing driver Mason McGaha, who was the runner-up in Gainesville to Coughlin Jr., gets another opportunity to vanquish five-time Pro Stock champion Greg Anderson. McGaha, son of Pro Stock stalwart Chris McGaha, used an impressive reaction time of .019-sec to defeat the KB Titan team leader. All of these competitors are competing in Chevrolet Camaro race cars.
Winners in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge in the two nitro classes, Top Fuel and Funny Car, will earn $10,000 at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park, while the Pro Stock winner earns $7,500. There are also bonus points on the line, as each challenge winner earns three bonus points that will be added to their point total at the start of the Countdown to the Championship playoffs in Reading in September. The runner-up will get two points and the quickest losing semifinalists earns a point, adding another major incentive for race teams to chase a Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge victory.