Pomona Had Much More than Racing on its Agenda!

Last weekend’s Lucas Oil Winternationals on the In-N-Out Burger Dragstrip had more turns and twists than “Dancing with the Stars”. From its Thursday start for Lucas Oil combatants, though, the intent was to make new memories and celebrate the NHRA’s past, as the sanctioning group celebrates 75 years of producing straight-line racing.

Beyond hosting the third race of 20 in this year’s Mission Foods Drag Racing Series and the second Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge contest, there were enough events on the weekend’s calendar to keep anyone that loves drag racing enthralled. From hosting Kenny Bernstein, Don “Snake” Prudhomme and the first woman to win an NHRA race, Shirley Shahan (who was the guest of the 100th woman to join the pro racing NHRA community, Maddi Gordon), there was always something happening at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip.

The lure of being the 1000th Funny Car victor in the category’s 60th season brought more than a 16-car field to this historic track and it was exciting to see who made it through to the finals. And who didn’t even make it into the field! Although he owns two championships and earned the 900th Funny Car victory at Summit Motorsports Park in Norwalk, OH in 2021, Cruz Pedregon was parked on Sunday, the slowest of the 18 cars on the grounds.

On Friday, NHRA celebrated the drivers that earned each of the milestone wins en route to the 1000th Funny Car race. There were two drivers that merited double mentions: 16-time champ John Force secured both the 300th and 800th victories in his class as he rampaged to 157 total Funny Car wins before retiring last year. He  was not on-site and had daughter Brittany, the fastest woman on wheels accept for him. Tim Wilkerson was on-hand to  accept his award for winning both the 400th and 500th Wally trophies in class.

The series, which named the 75 most influential participants of its first 75 years, celebrated five of those honorees on Friday, as well. On tap to receive their recognition were Gary Beck, Brad Anderson, Danny Thompson for his father Mickey, Kenny Bernstein, Susan Arnold for husband Dale Armstrong and Shawn Langdon. All honorees on Friday were joined by Scott Parks and Glen Cromwell, NHRA president.

The absence of John Force at what is most certainly his home race was a disappointment. It appears he’s stepping back a bit, but the show goes on. And his team has been looking good, with Josh Hart in third place after three races; he, along with John Force Racing Funny Car racers Alexis DeJoria and Jack Beckman had quarterfinal results, while first-year team member Jordan Vandergriff, went to thee semifinals after holding provisional No. 1 qualifier on Friday (J.R. Todd earned the nod on Saturday). Of the Funny Car trio, Vandergriff holds fifth place points, DeJoria is seventh and Beckman, the veteran is in tenth place.

The points chase after three races looks enticing, with Top Fuel’s Kalitta Motorsports duo in the lead, Doug Kalitta over Phoenix winner Shawn Langdon. Behind them are Gainesville victor Josh Hart, Pomona winner Tony Stewart, his wife Leah Pruett, rookie Maddi Gordon, Pomona runner-up Justin Ashley, Antron Brown, Billy Torrence and Clay Millican, needing to make up 142 points. Pomona Funny Car finalists Ron Capps and Matt Hagan are tied for the points lead in their class, followed by J.R. Todd, Chad Green, Vandergriff, Spencer Hyde, DeJoria, Daniel Wilkerson (who had a big explosion on Friday), Paul Lee and Beckman, who is 132 points behind first. 

Reigning Pro Stock champ Dallas Glenn leads KB Titan Racing teammate Greg Anderson despite the latter’s Sunday win. They are followed by Elite Motorsports’ Greg Stanfield, KB Titan’s Matt Hartford, Elite’s Erica Enders, KB Titan’s Matt Latino, Elite’s Jeg Coughlin Jr., Cody Coughlin of KB Titan (Dave Connolly drove to a semifinal finish for Coughlin at Pomona), Elite’s Aaron Stanfield and KB Titan’s Eric Latino. There’s a 180-point gap from first to tenth.

With the sole four-wide competition on tap next weekend in Charlotte, all of these standings are apt to change. Four-wide racing is tough to do but there are a few drivers that excel at the task. Will we see them succeed again?