Only two races remain in the 2022 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series and the penultimate contest takes place this weekend on The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The 22nd annual NHRA Nevada Nationals promise to give some clarity in the Countdown to the Championship for Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle.
Only one champion contender has the opportunity to clinch this weekend, barring some natural disaster, and that would be four-time Pro Stock titleholder Erica Enders. Enders is having the best year of her stellar career, with a 48-8 record during eliminations thus far in the season and the highest winning percentage of any NHRA pro racer, at .857 percent.
Enders’ Las Vegas record should make even the other top racers, her Elite Motorsports teammate Aaron Stanfield and KB Racing’s reigning titleholder Greg Anderson, shrug their shoulders and prepare for 2023. Enders has won nine times in Sin City, including the four-wide event held this past April. While Stanfield has been consistent and taken two victories – at Phoenix and Bristol – together with four runner-up results, those 165 points will be more than tough to make up. As for Anderson, while he finally earned his 100th Pro Stock victory at the Dodge Power Brokers U.S. Nationals, he hasn’t had the kind of year that translates to another title and is 195 points behind leader Enders.
Still, there are 18 Pro Stock cars entered in the Nevada Nats and many of them will be looking to push both Stanfield and Anderson behind their current posts, especially with points-and-a-half available in the finals at Pomona in two weeks. Troy Coughlin Jr. is having a banner year in fourth, Kyle Koretsky holds fifth, followed by Matt Hartford, Dallas Glenn and Mason McGaha in eighth place. With tenth-place points holder – and entrant for Rookie of the Year honors – Camrie Caruso a full 408 points behind Enders (and tied for position with Bo Butner), there’s space in this class for plenty of maneuvering once qualifying begins early on Friday afternoon. Please note the attendance of Kenny Delco, Shane Tucker and Alan Prusiensky’s Dodge among the sea of Chevrolet Camaros and the three Ford Mustangs campaigned through Elite Motorsports for the Cuadra family.
Yes, the pits will be full this Halloween weekend, with a full complement of both Camping World, Lucas Oil and Summit Racing competitors. In all, 12 classes are ready to rock on what appears to be a mostly clear and balmy race meeting. It’ll be chilly at night but nice weather is forecast from Friday through Sunday.
There are only 15 Top Fuel entries listed, but there’s not a slouch among them. Justin Ashley currently holds the points lead and, to no one’s surprise, Brittany Force is lurking in second place, just 82 points behind the New Yorker. The third-year driver knows, even with this lead, there’s no margin for error in the next two contests. “We are not taking anything for granted and there is a lot of racing left before someone wins the championship,” Ashley reminded.
Behind the always fast Force, first-year team owner and three-time Top Fuel champion Antron Brown has an 84-point deficit to Ashley, just two points behind Force. A two-time event champion, Brown’s team has a technical alliance with Ashley’s Dustin Davis-owned squad. He’s enjoying a late-season surge, winning three of the past seven races on the docket. Like many in the field, Brown will campaign a bright pink “Tools for the Cause” livery, as he does each October to help find a cure for breast cancer. “There’s a lot riding on this weekend,” Brown said, “but we’re going in with our heads down and focused.”
Reigning and four-consecutive-time titleholder Steve Torrence is in fourth place and needs 96 points, the final driver not holding a three-digit make-up to the leader. The 39-year-old Texan stumbled at Texas MotorPlex, losing in the first round to Shawn Langdon, the 2013 TF champion. “We’ve dug ourselves a hole,” he confirmed. Mike Salinas, too, has stumbled a bit in the Countdown and now needs to find 118 points as he hopes to see Ashley have a weakness here or in Pomona. Josh Hart, Austin Prock, Doug Kalitta, Shawn Langdon, Clay Millican make up the top 10, while Leah Pruett and Tony Schumacher complete the list of those eligible for these Countdown playoffs.
Kalitta will be trying to take his third Nevada Nationals title this weekend, while Kalitta Motorsports teammates Langdon and Toyota GR Supra Funny Car racer J.R. Todd will be bathed in pink livery for this final October race. Tony Schumacher won’t be driving a pink car, but team owners Joe and Cathi Maynard are showcasing “giving” cars in these final two races. In Las Vegas, the eight-time champ will power the American Mobility Project dragster, hopefully to his fifth Vegas Wally winner’s trophy. Gary Linfoot, together with wife Mari helped found this program to provide mobility and adaptive equipment to those living with disabilities like the paralyzed Linfoot. Three drivers not qualified for the Countdown will attempt to upset the other 12’s apple cart. They are Rob Passey, Krista Baldwin and Cameron Ferre.
Three racers won’t make the cut for Sunday’s eliminations in Funny Car, thanks to an over-subscribed 19 entries in the Flopper class. While the start of the Countdown saw Robert Hight’s Chevrolet Camaro SS from John Force Racing leading all comers, the standings have tightened considerably since that time and reigning, two-time champion Ron Capps, a first-year team owner and Toyota GR Supra racer, has only a 10-point lag to Hight, thanks to his victory in Texas and Hight’s early exit. Capps has four wins in Las Vegas and two runners-up results; one of those came last year at this race. With five wins and three runner-up results, along with five No. 1 qualifiers, Capps has momentum on his side, together with a cohesive team led by Dean “Guido” Antonelli and John Medlen.
In contrast, Tony Stewart Racing’s Matt Hagan, a three-time champ like Hight, is a full 78 points in arrears with his Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat, while ageless John Force’s Camaro SS needs a 137-point surge. Ford Mustang stalwart Bob Tasca III, who was third in standings last year, holds fifth place points and is 174 points behind. He’s followed by last year’s Las Vegas winner and fellow Mustang driver Tim Wilkerson, Alexis DeJoria’s and J.R. Todd’s GR Supras, Cruz Pedregon’s Charger, Blake Alexander in Jim Head’s Mustang and, finally, Jim Campbell in Jim Dunn’s Charger. The latter car will have new sponsorship from Nitrous Keys and a bright red and black livery for this race. Paul Lee’s Charger, Terry Haddock’s Mustang, Jeff Arend in Russo Racing’s Chevy, Chad Green’s Mustang, Jeff Diehl in a Camry, Jason Rupert’s Mustang, Gary Densham’s and Bobby Bode III’s Mustangs will be looking to shake up this field.
Are you ready for a 21-bike Pro Stock Motorcycle field at the Nevada Nationals? Five-time and reigning champ Matt Smith leads the field on his Buell, with a 51-point advantage on first-time 2022 winner Joey Gladstone, piloting the Reed Motorsports Suzuki Hayabusa. Team owner Cory Reed is still in recovery mode after his 2021 accident. The White Alligator Racing Suzuki campaigned by Jerry Savoie holds third place (-103) while veteran rider Steve Johnson’s Suzuki is 15 points behind the Louisianan. Angie Smith needs 119 points on her Buell to reign in her hubby, while Eddie Krawiec’s (-140) and Angelle Sampey’s (-164) Vance & Hines Suzukis hold sixth and seventh places, respectively.
Marc Ingwersen is having a great season on his Buell, standing in eighth place 206 points behind Smith’s similar machine, while Karen Stoffer has 237 points to make up on her Suzuki and Ryan Oehler’s Buell is just a single point behind her. These ten riders are eligible for the Countdown, but they better watch their backs, with winners on-site like Hector Arana Jr., who took the honors at Texas Motorplex and has an equally fast partner for these final two races of the 2022 season, Global Electronic Technology, Inc. (GETTRX). The younger Arana, NHRA’s first rider to 200mph on a Pro Stock Motorcycle, has 12th place points, just behind Jianna Evaristo (nee Salinas), who is having an excellent year aligned with Matt Smith Racing.
Arana’s Buell, Evaristo’s Suzuki, Chris Bostick, Freddy Camarena, Richard Gadson, Chip Ellis (on Matt Smith’s Suzuki), Michael Phillips, Katie Justice, Rick Newport, Kelly Clontz and Gaige Herrera, all riding Suzuki motorcycles, will be working to get into this tight field for Sunday’s eliminations,
NHRA is nearly back to “normal” scheduling, with a pair of qualification attempts for Friday and two for Saturday afternoon. While there won’t be any “under the lights” time trials – unless this event becomes an “festival of clean-ups” – the second Friday qualifying round is set for mid-afternoon. Qualifying sessions take place at 12:30 and 3:15 on Friday, while Saturday’s sessions are set for noon and 3:30. Final eliminations began at 11AM – all times Pacific – and qualifying takes to the air on FS2, while eliminations are set for FS1, starting at 5PM ET.
By Anne Proffit
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