NHRA’s Camping World Titular Run Ends this weekend at Pomona
It all comes down to this, the final race of a 21-contest NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series season and a six race Countdown to the Championship. The In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals, being held on the In-N-Out Burger Dragstrip at Pomona, CA seems to always bring drama and this year is no different. There are many ways to skin a cat – or so we’ve all heard – and there are also many ways to win an NHRA championship during this Veterans Day weekend.
Only one competitor pretty much has a title in the bag and that’s Gaige Herrera, riding a Suzuki Hayabusa3 in Pro Stock Motorcycle for Vance & Hines. Just as this team did during the high-flying Harley-Davidson years that Pro Stock Motorcycle’s teams wondered what they needed to do to get past Andrew Hines and Eddie Krawiec’s Harley bikes, the same holds true this year for Herrera and Krawiec, who are in first and second places, respectively, in NHRA’s two-wheeled class.
Even with 1.5 points on offer this weekend throughout the Camping World Drag Racing Series grids, Krawiec is a full 181 points behind teammate Herrera and will be looking to join the 50-win club in Pomona, because there’s no way he can overtake Herrera and earn his fifth Pro Stock Motorcycle title. Krawiec topped the two-wheel class in 2008, 2011, 2012 and 2017.
Third place in class belongs to six-time champ Matt Smith, who is also riding a Suzuki motorcycle exclusively this year after earning title No. 6 on both a Suzuki and a Buell. Smith has two points on Buell-riding Hector Arana Jr., while Matt Smith Racing rider Jiaanna Evaristo is fifth, 414 points behind Herrera. Injured rookie Suzuki rider Chase Van Sant is sixth, Marc Ingerwsen is seventh on his Buell, injured Angie Smith (Buell) is eighth – and likely riding a qualifying lap or two to stay in the top 10 in Pomona – while Suzuki riders Steve Johnson, Kelly Clontz and Chris Bostick are next on the list; Ryan Oehler’s Buell is in 12th place, 604 points behind Herrera.
So yeah, Gaige Herrera will make a single pass on Friday and get his championship white hat, trophy and check, but there’s plenty to watch in this class, to see who goes up the ladder and who goes down. The season finale always brings racers out of hiding, so there will be a total of 19 motorcycles in the giant parking lot that serves as pits for this race.
Look for Joey Gladstone on a Reed Motorsports Suzuki, Jerry Savoie making a second straight start on his Suzuki, Blaine Hale coming back to ride his Suzuki after a Las Vegas run – and Monday test on Krawiec’s Suzuki – former 2010 PSM champ LE Tonglet on Freddy Camarena’s Suzuki, Katie (Sullivan) Justice and John Hall on Suzukis, along with the Buell of Lance Bonham. The latter entries could have a lot to do with the finishing order of the top 12 on Sunday.
The landscape is a bit different in Pro Stock, where five-time champions Erica Enders and Greg Anderson are waging a two-driver, two-team battle for a sixth title. Elite Motorsports’ Enders, by virtue of her Las Vegas victory has 114 points on Anderson, but his KB Titan teammates Matt Hartford (-155) and Dallas Glenn (-179) are in third and fourth places, respectively.
Elite’s Aaron Stanfield is with, 213 points behind his teammate Enders, followed by Elite’s Troy Coughlin Jr., a point behind Stanfield, KB Titan’s Kyle Koretsky and Deric Kramer. One of two racers using a Ford Mustang body – everybody else is in Chevrolet Camaros – Cristian Cuadra is in ninth place for Elite (-331) and KB Titan’s Camrie Caruso holds 10th place points, albeit 339 behind Enders.
There are actually 16 Pro Stock racers that have been designated as qualifying for the Countdown to the Championship six-race playoffs, but in reality, those extra six are playing for scraps. Elite’s Bo Butner III, Fernando Cuadra Jr. and Jerry Tucker hold sway over Mason and Chris McGaha, while patriarch Fernando Cuadra is 16th.
There are 23 Pro Stock cars on the entry list, with Jeg Coughlin Jr. making his second start of the season for Elite Motorsports, Alan Prusiensky’s lone Dodge Dart, Val Smeland and Kenny Delco, Eric Latino, Joey Grose and Steve Graham all vying to shake up the Countdown standings. Alas, some of these drivers will be spectators on Sunday morning when the 16-car field lines up.
Enders, who seems to work her best when under the gun to perform realizes the hard work it’s taken to get her here vying for a sixth title: “It’s hard to believe we are back in Pomona again,” she said. “I would have never guessed, after our challenging start, that we would be contending for our 6th World Title. We will attempt to make this another dream weekend. Eight possible runs, one more race, to show the world that we are Elite for a reason.”
Three Funny Car racers will be packing up early on Sunday, but it’s even money they’ll stick around to see who will land the Flopper championship Sunday afternoon. This one is a heck of a lot tighter than the two-wheeled and door-slammer Pro Stock classes, with three drivers less than 20 points apart.
Leader Matt Hagan of Tony Stewart Racing has been using his Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat to record wins when it matters in the Countdown, followed by Bob Tasca III and his Ford Mustang, just 15 points behind the Virginian and John Force Racing’s Robert Hight in third place with his Chevrolet Camaro SS, 17 points behind Hagan. Reigning titleholder Ron Capps is in fourth place in his Toyota GR Supra, but with 139 points needed to pass former teammate Hagan, it’s not a likely occurrence that the Californian would vanquish Hagan to take a third consecutive championship.
Ageless 16-time Funny Car champion John Force, who made a weekend appearance at the sixth Nitro Revival in Southern California last weekend, holds fifth-place points, 242 behind Hagan, followed by Kalitta Motorsports’ J.R. Todd’s Toyota GR Supra in sixth, Chad Green and Tim Wilkerson’s Mustangs, Alexis DeJoria’s Toyota GR Supra in ninth, Alex Laughlin in Jim Dunn’s Flopper in tenth and two-time champ Cruz Pedregon and his Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat the final driver eligible for Countdown honors.
There are some prime competitors joining these 11 drivers for the weekend, each of them looking to upend the standings. Paul Lee has his Dodge Charger on-site, and Terry Haddock could cause trouble with his Ford Mustang. Blake Alexander is always a threat in Jim Head’s Mustang, while Steven Densham is driving the family Mustang, “Surfer” Jeff Diehl makes a second consecutive appearance in his Toyota Camry, former champ Del Worsham returns in a Toyota GR Supra, together with vintage racing standout Jason Rupert’s Mustang and Bobby Bode III in his family’s Mustang.
The top order in Top Fuel has boomeranged throughout the regular season and five times in the six-race Countdown to the Championship playoffs. While Justin Ashley led the standings through to the close of the regular season in Indianapolis during the Labor Day weekend, it’s been four-time champ Steve Torrence of Torrence Racing, 50-race winner Doug Kalitta (Kalitta Motorsports) and Tony Stewart Racing’s Leah Pruett who have taken charge during the Countdown.
As they enter the season finale, Torrence has the lead by a minuscule 15 points over Kalitta, with Pruett just 34 points behind the Texan. After his Las Vegas victory, Mike Salinas has vaulted to fourth place (-76), leaving Ashley in fifth place (-82) at one of his favorite circuits. Torrence has been using his consistent results all season to stay in the hunt, never lower than third from the first race at Gainesville in March! “This car is probably the best race car that I’ve ever driven,” Torrence said. To be in the lead, with a single victory thus far is quite an accomplishment coming to the season’s last race.
Three-time dragster champ Antron Brown is sixth (-146) as he doubles up with his new AB Motorsports Accelerate Program that has brought three-time Pro Stock Motorcycle champion Angelle Sampey to A/Fuel Dragster. This weekend Brown will be looking to pad his points, maybe take a third Pomona Top Fuel win, while he mentors Sampey in her fourth Top Alcohol Dragster competition with Samsel Racing. Thus far in three races, she’s earned a No. 1 qualifier and a runner-up result!
Reigning, two-time champ Brittany Force is 180 points behind Torrence in seventh place. Her John Force Racing teammate Austin Prock is eighth (-227), eight-time champ Tony Schumacher is ninth, Clay Millican’s 10th, while Josh Hart and Shawn Langdon complete the Countdown eligible drivers, albeit more than 280 points behind Torrence.
There are 16 competitors registered to run Top Fuel this weekend so everyone will get at least one Sunday trip down the 1,000-foot dragstrip. Joining the 12 involved in the Countdown are Canadians Dan Mercer and Spencer Hyde, Steve Torrence’s dad Billy (running interference, perhaps?) and Ron August Jr.
In addition to the final Camping World competition, the Lucas Oil sportsman competitors will be out in force this weekend, with both Top Alcohol Dragster and Top Alcohol Funny Car, Competition Eliminator, Super Stock, Super Eliminator, Super Comp, Super Gas, Top Sportsman and Top Dragster on the track. There’s also a Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department exhibition race, Jr. Dragster Shootout qualifying and racing, and a cacklefest in the Hot Rod Junction area that highlights the sport’s original racers.
Sportsman qualifying begins on Thursday, while the Camping World set have four sessions to earn their eliminations slots, two on Friday and a pair on Saturday, Veterans Day, to set Sunday eliminations. Track promoter In-N-Out has announced that, on Saturday but veterans are active duty service members can get free burgers to celebrate their work on behalf of this country. They’ll do so under clear skies all three days with temps increasing from mid-70s to mid-80s by Sunday.