{"id":26646,"date":"2016-05-02T10:03:05","date_gmt":"2016-05-02T17:03:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/?p=26646"},"modified":"2018-08-16T12:37:13","modified_gmt":"2018-08-16T19:37:13","slug":"kalitta-c-force-and-anderson-win-at-royal-purple-raceway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/kalitta-c-force-and-anderson-win-at-royal-purple-raceway\/","title":{"rendered":"Kalitta, C. Force, and Anderson Win at Royal Purple Raceway"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"NHRA\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The NHRA SpringNationals at the Royal Purple Raceway in Houston saw Doug Kalitta defend his Top Fuel title for the race, winning for a second consecutive year while Courtney Force earned her first Funny Car win of the 2016 season, bringing her up to a tie with Tim Wilkerson in the Mello Yello points standings.<\/p>\n

Greg Anderson and Jason Line still have a stranglehold on the Pro Stock class, extending their streak of six consecutive final rounds for Ken Black Racing, but this time it was Anderson reacting first over his teammate, Jason Line in grabbing his third win of the early season in another show of domination.<\/p>\n

TOP FUEL<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Doug<\/p>\n

It was another starting line mosh pit pile on from Kalitta Motorsports after their flagship driverDoug Kalitta, won his 39th<\/sup> Top Fuel career race defeating the very determined Texan in Steve Torrence.\u00a0 Kalitta marched through eliminations beating Terry Haddock, Kebin Kinsley and Leah Pritchett in the semi-finals to get to his 83rd<\/sup> final round appearance.<\/p>\n

Kalitta had to use his right foot to decide the outcome of his Top Fuel final race of the day, delivering a knockout blow with a .036-second light to leave first despite both cars blowing up right before the finish line.\u00a0 Kalitta produced a pass of 3.813 seconds, 280.60 mph to Torrence\u2019s time of 3.800 seconds, 306.81 mph to win on a narrow holeshot in a great side-by-side challenge.\u00a0 The win now places him in a tie for fourth in the overall standings with Antron Brown and Kenny Bernstein each sharing 39 victories.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am really happy and any time you can get a win is huge,\u201d said Kalitta.\u00a0 \u201cIt was the first time this year that we were able to put a Team Kalitta dragster in the winner\u2019s circle, so that is huge as well.\u00a0 It was a close race out there.\u00a0 I had struggled with the lights today and to deliver that in the final was huge.\u00a0 I actually didn\u2019t realize I had won until I had gotten to the end and turned around and came back.\u00a0 I was real happy.\u00a0 It\u2019s good to get a win and get the momentum going.\u00a0 It just charges everybody up.\u00a0 It was just a really good day for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

The win also propels him into the elite Traxxas Shootout in September at Indy and places him within one point of leader, Brittany Force after the completion of six NHRA National events (464-463).<\/p>\n

Runner-up Torrence was the No.1 qualifier in Houston, setting the record of accomplishment at 3.724 seconds and for the first time ever in his career beating Antron Brown in the semi-finals after 17 straight matchups that had before left Torrence with a loss.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t close the deal and that\u2019s the bottom line,\u201d said the six-time Top Fuel winner and 2005 Top Alcohol Dragster champion.\u00a0 \u201cThat\u2019s a great team over there (Kalitta), but we\u2019ve got a great team, too.\u00a0 The thing is, this isn\u2019t the last time we\u2019re going to see Antron or Doug in the other lane.\u00a0 It\u2019s a long season and we\u2019ve put ourselves back in contention for that championship knowing that we\u2019ve got a great car moving forward.<\/p>\n

\"Doug<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI just hate that we had a chance to win a race on one of our home tracks, with all our friends and family watching, and didn\u2019t get it done.\u00a0 Close doesn\u2019t count over here.”<\/p>\n

In other Top Fuel news, Terry McMillen had a first round explosion that was one for the record books annihilating the top of his engine in a fiery explosion in a losing attempt against Tony Schumacher delaying the start of the race for 25 minutes.<\/p>\n

FUNNY CAR<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Courtney<\/a><\/p>\n

Traxxas Funny Car driver, Courtney Force saw a great opportunity to move up in the standings and went for it, taking her eighth win of her burgeoning career and vaulting her from sixth into a tie for first with Tim Wilkerson in the Fuel Coupe points. In doing so, she joins her sister, Brittany in sharing an NHRA first of having women as the leader in both nitro categories.<\/p>\n

“To be in the points lead, tied with Tim Wilkerson, I didn’t even know that was possible this weekend so that was music to my ears,\u201d said an emotional Force. \u00a0\u201cTo be in the points lead with my sister Brittany in Top Fuel, that’s something that I can’t even describe. \u00a0It’s a moment I can’t even put into words. \u00a0My sister and I are both leading right now and I’m going to cherish this moment for a long time.”<\/p>\n

“This wasn’t even a great weekend for our car. \u00a0We were probably not as consistent at this track in Houston as we have been in the past so that gives us a little more confidence going into the rest of the season because we know we have a better race car than what we showed this weekend and we were able to take home the win.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the final round, it was Force lining up beside veteran driver Tim Wilkerson to go for the Wally.\u00a0 In a classic race, Force clicks the clocks with her best run of the weekend of 3.913 seconds, 327.90 mph to take down the No.1 qualifier of Wilkerson with his great pass of 3.943 seconds, 323.81 mph.<\/p>\n

“He [Wilkerson] was the one to beat out here,\u201d smiled the 27-year old Force. \u00a0\u201cI think everybody knew that. \u00a0I mean, he was running good in the worst conditions. \u00a0Half of the field wasn’t getting down the race track and he’s out there outrunning everybody and improving his time running in the 3.0’s. \u00a0The first thing I did was look [at the ladder] and say, ‘well at least I won’t have to run him until the final’ because I knew he had a good race car and everyone out here knows that. \u00a0For our Traxxas team to be able to improve and come from behind and really be able to take him down for the win is pretty amazing. \u00a0He’s the one who’s really leading the charge since the start of the year and everyone’s really gunning for him right now.”<\/p>\n

With this win, Force locked her team into the Traxxas Nitro Shootout, her sponsor’s specialty $100,000 to win “race within a race” that takes place during the Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals at Indy.<\/p>\n

\"Courtney<\/a><\/p>\n

“Every time we go out there we’re looking to get that win to get locked into the Traxxas Nitro Shootout. \u00a0The fact that Traxxas puts this on every year is amazing for our sport. It’s amazing for the fans and for the drivers. \u00a0I think we need it and everyone loves it. \u00a0It definitely feels good, especially driving for Traxxas to be locked in and not have to worry about it anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

PRO STOCK<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Greg<\/a><\/p>\n

In Pro Stock, Greg Anderson won his third race of the season on a holeshot against Ken Black Racing teammate Jason Line. \u00a0Anderson pushed his Summit Racing Equipment Chevy Camaro to a 6.630-second pass at 209.43 mph to defeat the point-leader\u2019s 6.597 second run at 209.95 mph in his Camaro. \u00a0Anderson, who has three career wins at the SpringNationals, was also the No. 1 qualifier. \u00a0The duo has combined to win the first six races of the 2016 season and share three victories apiece.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a tremendous day today,\u201d said Anderson, now an 81-time Pro Stock winner. \u00a0\u201cI was having a ball today. \u00a0I just kept wondering, \u2018When\u2019s it going to rain? \u00a0When\u2019s it going to rain? \u00a0Please don\u2019t because I feel great today.\u2019 \u00a0My car is great. \u00a0My car was just a dream to drive every run and I knew I had a great chance today to win an event.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anderson, a four-time Pro Stock world champion, opened eliminations with a bye before defeating Vincent Nobile and Allen Johnson in the second round and semifinals, respectively. \u00a0Anderson trails Line in the points standings by 79.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt a little bit bad for Jason there because you want it to be a tough race and you both do your very best job, said the 2016 three-time winner.\u00a0 \u201cObviously, he missed the Tree there, and my car didn’t make a good run there, so there was a bobble on each side and it ended up being a very close race.\u00a0 It was a good side-by-side Pro Stock race. \u00a0You never know what you are going to get. \u00a0You have to go out there and race them on the race track.\u00a0 If you look at the scoreboard in previous rounds, our reaction times were within thousandths of each other and our times were within thousandths of each other. \u00a0It came down to the cars still being very close in a different way. \u00a0It was a fun day and thank the weatherman again for being wrong.”<\/p>\n

\"Greg<\/a><\/p>\n

Two-time world champion Line extended final-round-appearance streak to six \u2013 racing for a Wally in every race so far this season. \u00a0He defeated veteran V. Gaines in the opening round before he had a bye in the second and outlasting teammate Bo Butner in the semifinals.<\/p>\n

The NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series continues May 13-15 with the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals in Atlanta.<\/p>\n

Follow @jaywells500 on Twitter<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The NHRA Spring Nationals brought new contenders to the forefront and granted Courtney Force access to the Traxxas Shootout.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":26660,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3465,17,3470,3399,22],"tags":[3815,553,82,3643,424,77,511,887,512,4417,1355,1552,4416,1942,4223,2723,1093,1321,1022],"class_list":["post-26646","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-drag-racing","category-guest-column","category-news","category-nhra","category-event-coverage","tag-2016-nhra-mello-yello-drag-racing-series","tag-allen-johnson","tag-antron-brown","tag-bo-butner","tag-brittany-force","tag-courtney-force","tag-doug-kalitta","tag-greg-anderson","tag-jason-line","tag-kebin-kinsley","tag-kenny-bernstein","tag-leah-pritchett","tag-nhra-spring-nationals","tag-steve-torrence","tag-terry-haddock","tag-terry-mcmillen","tag-tim-wilkerson","tag-v-gaines","tag-vincent-nobile"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/featured.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p42YSK-6VM","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26646","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26646"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26646\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26661,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26646\/revisions\/26661"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26646"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26646"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26646"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}