NHRA’s return to Route 66 Raceway outside Chicago, IL was action-packed for the Camping World Drag Racing Series. After the track’s last 2019 visit by the straight-line crowd, there were four years when the right date and sponsor couldn’t be found, so when Gerber Collision & Glass stepped up to sponsor the race (and Top Fuel racer Mike Salinas), the Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock, Pro Stock Motorcycle and a host of Lucas Oil racers convened to aptly fill the grounds.
Fan participation was good on the weekend and they certainly got their money’s worth. Not only did the series engage in three rounds of qualifying and four action-packed elimination rounds, but they were also treated to the Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty Challenge in Top Fuel, Funny Car and Pro Stock Motorcycle, together with the inaugural Pro Stock All-Star Callout, cacklefests, vintage runs and obligatory fireworks.
There were plenty of surprises once Sunday’s action began. On Saturday, 2022 Rookie of the Year Camrie Caruso prevailed in the eight-driver Pro Stock All-Star Callout, her KB Titan Racing Camaro beating the Elite Motorsports Camaro of Aaron Stanfield. Justin Ashley, driving the newly-reformulated MAR dragster earned his second Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty Challenge, joined by Funny Car victor and reigning champion Ron Capps’ Toyota GR Supra and the Pro Stock Motorcycle Suzuki of Gaige Herrera in this specialty event.
No. 1 qualifiers in the nitro classes, Mike Salinas and Robert Hight, didn’t make it to the Winner’s Circle on Sunday, but No. 1s in Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle sure did: Dallas Glenn and Gaige Herrera in the two Pro Stock categories were victorious; Herrera doubled up on this weekend and is having the kind of season – his first riding for Vance & Hines – that looks like championship material. Of course, the season is still young; this is only the sixth of 21 contests in 2023, so change will occur. Or at least Herrera’s competitors hope he won’t sweep the year.
There were two drivers who earned victory at Joliet without having lifted a Wally winner’s trophy in a long time. Clay Millican, who earned his first victory in five years – his most recent, in 2018 was also at this track – defeated Josh Hart in the finals by a scant .0106 seconds with a pass of 3.801/328.94 in the finals. Hart’s 3.808/324.28 was no slouch for the Floridian, who’s been building momentum throughout this year. For Millican, there was relief, of course. But most of all, throughout his drought, Millican has never lost his love for this sport. “I still love my job. I’ve been doing it a long time and I’m not done yet!”
Throughout these five years it’s been difficult: “This is huge for this team. We’ve been struggling and it’s been tough. We got all new parts and pieces from Rick Ware (who got his first NHRA win with Millican this week) and they believed in us. For a little while, it looked like we were better with the old stuff, but I think we’ve got it figured out and hopefully we can go out and get some more of these this year,” Millican noted. “My very first [NHRA Top Fuel race] was at this racetrack, and 20 years later I won this race. Now 25 years later, we did it again. This group of people never quit and never stop, and they turned this car around flawlessly today.”
Millican entered this race 12th in points and moved to a solid 11th behind Steve Torrence (despite his first round exit), Brittany Force, Austin Prock, Justin Ashley, Leah Pruett, Antron Brown, Josh Hart, Mike Salinas, Shawn Langdon and Doug Kalitta. Incredibly, only 164 points separate the top 11 drivers. It was a day when local T.J. Zizzo made it to the semifinals along with reigning Top Fuel champ Brittany Force, yet both got put down by Millican and Hart, respectively.
In Funny Car, Wilkerson gave the Maynard family its first victory of the year as he raced his Ford Mustang to a first win in 33 races. He earned his 23rd victory of a stellar, fan-favorite career and his first since the 2021 fall Charlotte race. To earn this Wally trophy, Will defeated Ron Capps in the final round after beating Blake Alexander’s Jim head Mustang, Alex Laughlin in Jim Dunn’s Funny Car and 16-time Funny Car champ John Force in the semifinal round. “I was just thinking I didn’t need to screw this up again,” Wilkerson said afterwards.
“We made some nice runs all weekend long and my team did a great job,” with Richard Hartman assisting the driver/owner in tuning duties. “I really can’t complain about a thing. We’re very excited about this team,” that aligned with JCM Racing in the off-season. “To be this close to [his Springfield, IL] home, I have so many people out there, so this is very exciting,” Wilkerson continued. “I didn’t have the best car – Capps had a better car than I did all day long – but it worked out better for us in the finals. I did a lot better job tuning than I did driving, but I was consistent, and that’s what we needed to be able to win this race. The track was tricky!”
With points leader Matt Hagan, driving a Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat for Tony Stewart Racing, going out in the first round against Alex Laughlin, the tally tightened immensely from the fifth race. Hagan’s got a 13-point advantage on former teammate Capps, while No. 1 qualifier Robert Hight, driving his John Force Racing Chevrolet Camaro is third, followed by Alexis DeJoria’s Toyota GR Supra. DeJoria had her first tough weekend of the year in Joliet and was out after the first round with a foul. Wilkerson is now fifth, followed by his technical partner Chad Green’s Mustang, Bob Tasca III’s Mustang, John Force’s Camaro, Cruz Pedregon’s Dodge Charger SRT hellcat and the Kalitta Motorsports Toyota GR Supra of J.R. Todd, who also left competition after the first round.
Winning on Saturday didn’t compute for Caruso, who lost in the first round of Pro Stock on Sunday to Elite Motorsports’ first-year entry for Jerry Tucker. It was another fine weekend for Dallas Glenn, who is showing his Rookie of the Year honors were no fluke (neither was Caruso’s, for that matter). The KB Titan racer’s Camaro has been on rails and he was able to defeat most recent winner Deric Kramer in the final round to earn his third event victory of the young season. In drag racing, of course, consistency in each round is what gets you to the finals and Glenn has been consistent all year. Kramer wasn’t able to mount a final-round challenge, which allowed Glenn to romp to the Winner’s Circle.
By virtue of this win, Glenn now has a huge 168-point advantage on Matt Hartford, while Kramer is third, Troy Coughlin Jr. of Elite Motorsports is fourth, followed by his stablemate Aaron Stanfield. Caruso holds sixth place points, while KB Titan team leader and five-time cham greg Anderson is seventh, Elite’s Bo Butner III eighth, followed by the Elite Mustang of Cristian Cuadra and KB Titan’s Kyle Koretsky in 10th place. Reigning titleholder Erica Enders is mired in 14th; she was defeated by Stanfield in the first round. (If not otherwise stated, all cars are Camaros)
“You get a car this good, you just want to capitalize on it,” Glenn confirmed. “I definitely feel like I’ve got a really good car. I didn’t feel like I drove my best today, but luckily it was good enough. It feels good now, but it can change in a heartbeat in this class. We definitely need to step up and keep the hammer down,” Glenn said, “but I’m definitely enjoying this moment.”
He’s not the only one with rampant enjoyment during 2023 NHRA racing. Herrera’s perfect season continues since the start in Gainesville this March. He’s won everything thus far in the year and has been No. 1 at each NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle event, winning the Mission Challenge en route to Sunday victory. While he had good runs in the first two races of the season, they had nothing on his performance in Joliet, where he demolished the class record at 6.672, qualifying No. 1, taking the Mission Challenge and the win over Matt Smith Racing’s Chip Ellis, riding a Buell. Ellis, who is a part-timer this season.
Herrera marched past the Buells of Ron Tornow and Marc Ingwersen, then knocked off Vance & Hines teammate Eddie Krawiec to earn his third trip to the finals. This was Herrera’s first appearance at his “home” track. “It gives me a whole lot of confidence having a bike like this.” After making the second, third and fourth-quickest runs in class history in Joliet he said, “This whole Vance & Hines team has this bike on rails and it takes a lot of weight off my shoulders. To get a third straight win and do it front of these friends, it means a lot. I’m so excited about this – you couldn’t draw it up any better than this. We’ve got a lot of friends and family here, and it’s a special one. It’s just a dream right now for us.”
Herrera’s “dream” is a nightmare for the balance of the field, obviously. He leads teammate Krawiec by 169 points, six-time champ Matt Smith’s Suzuki, rookie Chase Van Sant’s Suzuki, Hector Arana Jr.’s Buell, Joey Gladstone on a Suzuki, Angie Smith’s Buell, Steve Johnson’s and Jianna Evaristo’s Suzukis and the Buell of Ellis, who is 247 points back.
The seventh race of the year takes place June 2-4 with the 10th annual NHRA New England Nationals at new England Dragway in Epping, N.H.
The competition excitement of the weekend was tempered by the news that Camping World has decided to leave series after the 2024 season.
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