{"id":6669,"date":"2014-07-07T11:22:42","date_gmt":"2014-07-07T18:22:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/?p=6669"},"modified":"2014-07-07T11:23:29","modified_gmt":"2014-07-07T18:23:29","slug":"john-force-blazes-new-records-at-the-summit-racing-equipment-nhra-nationals-in-norwalk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/john-force-blazes-new-records-at-the-summit-racing-equipment-nhra-nationals-in-norwalk\/","title":{"rendered":"John Force Blazes New Records at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals in Norwalk"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"John<\/a>
John Force and Ron Capps go head to head. Photo: Courtesy of Gary Natase\/JFR Racing<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Photos:<\/strong> Courtesy NHRA<\/p>\n

For Funny Car racer John Force, time only matters on the track as the 65-year old driver added to his legacy by winning his 140<\/span>th<\/sup> NHRA National event, and first ever at Norwalk, at the NHRA Summit Equipment Nationals at Summit Motorsports Park over the July 4<\/span>th<\/sup> weekend.<\/span><\/p>\n

Joining Force in the Ohio winner\u2019s circle were Antron Brown, Erica Enders-Stevens and Andrew Hines at this fan-favorite track.<\/p>\n

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

John Force is still raising the bar after all these years, and Sunday\u2019s victory pushed his Castrol JFR team into the No. 2 position in the Mello Yello Funny Car point standings.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThis win today was special to me,\u201d said a grinning Force.\u00a0 \u201cI had come to Norwalk decades ago for the Night of Fire events and match races but never won the NHRA event here, and I want to win every race. \u00a0I just couldn\u2019t get a NHRA national event win here and I won them all with the exception of Epping, so I really wanted this win.\u201d<\/p>\n

Going into race day, John Force\u2019s Funny Car Mustang had qualified second with a thundering 4.016 second run at 322.04 that set the track speed record at Summit Motorsports Park. \u00a0Crew chief Jimmy Prock and the rest of the team knew just how far they could push the track conditions without overpowering the track.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat Jimmy Prock, I gotta give it to him,\u201d said Force.\u00a0 \u201cHe works with the whole brain trust and calls were being made today and they were being made right. \u00a0Jimmy always swings for the fences and we started out the season killing \u2018em and setting national records. \u00a0Then all of a sudden, our choke got stuck and had five straight first round losses but he made some changes and good calls today and now we\u2019re back on track,\u201d<\/p>\n

In his four rounds of eliminations, he defeated Tim Wilkerson, Chad Head, nemesis Cruz Pedregon, and in the finals, Ron Capps<\/p>\n

In the final round, John knew Capps would be tough as these two have battled it out a total of 73 times with 16 of those matchups in final rounds. \u00a0Despite John\u2019s 9-7 record against Capps, he wasn\u2019t going back down one bit and be denied a long awaited victory at today\u2019s race.<\/p>\n

Both cars left the starting line with nearly identical reaction times but by mid-track, as the smoked cleared the win light in John\u2019s lane illuminated and the scoreboards told the rest of the story: 4.113-second pass to Capp\u2019s 4.135 performance.<\/p>\n

\u201cGood day and great weekend for John Force Racing but luck is a big part of this game. \u00a0I\u2019m just glad I could share it with the fans and my family. \u00a0But when you\u2019re happy and the heart\u2019s right, the mind does everything right,\u201d said John Force.<\/p>\n

Runner-up Capps explained what happened to his NAPA Dodge in the finals.<\/p>\n

“We didn’t expect it to slow down against Force so Tobler started looking at the computer right away to see what happened,\u201d said Capps \u00a0\u201cThe car just moved to the left down there.\u00a0 It was another close race but we raced well today. \u00a0What’s so neat about the sport of drag racing is you wake up on a Sunday morning and it doesn’t matter where you qualified, you know there is uncertainty of where you’ll be at the end of the day; whether you’ll be in your rental car heading to the airport early in the afternoon or you’ll be standing at the starting line getting for the final round at the end of the day.”<\/p>\n

Capps’ third runner-up finish at the Norwalk track in the past four years helped his team move ahead of DSR’s Tommy Johnson Jr. and his team by one point in the NHRA Funny Car standings.\u00a0 Robert Hight is still the runaway leader with 178-point lead over J. Force.<\/p>\n

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

Antron Brown in his Matco Tools Top Fuel dragster scored his fifth NHRA event win of 2014, impressing the corporate Matco staff on hand at their home track in Norwalk.\u00a0 It was announced earlier this week that a Matco Tools sponsorship extension agreement was signed with DSR and Brown through the 2017 season.<\/p>\n

“It’s our primary sponsor Matco’s home race,” Antron said. \u00a0“They’re right down the road in Stow. \u00a0The president of Matco, Tim Gilmore, was here and the vice president of marketing John Green and their families were here with all our Matco distributors and we just knew we needed to win this race and that’s what makes it special.”<\/p>\n

The win capped off an outstanding weekend for the Matco Tools team after qualifying third for Sunday’s eliminations. \u00a0Before earning his fifth win in 13 races this NHRA season, the team clocked their best pass of the weekend, a 3.756-second lap at 324 mph in the opening round of eliminations.<\/p>\n

“It’s just been a true blessing to be at this racetrack this weekend,” Brown said after this 30th career Top Fuel win and 46th including NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle wins. \u00a0“This racetrack was incredible all weekend long. \u00a0The competition right now in Top Fuel is just so tough, when you have four cars run 3.75 in the first round, that just tells you how tight and how crazy tough it is just to win a round, let alone win a race.”<\/p>\n

But it wasn’t an easy day for the team who closed to within less than three round wins behind Top Fuel points leader Doug Kalitta. \u00a0After warming up his dragster for the final round against reigning Top Fuel champion Shawn Langdon, Brown and the well-trained crew members noticed a problem with the dragster after excess smoke was coming from the engine.<\/p>\n

“Coming up to the final round, all I can say is our team definitely went through some adversity and were Army Strong,” Brown said. \u00a0“We had a main bearing problem before the final. \u00a0The boys caught it after we warmed up because the car was smoking badly.<\/p>\n

“They were able to take it down, loosen everything on the car and we only had 15 minutes to get up there. \u00a0It was crazy. \u00a0It was crazy how focused our boys were and the communication was unparalleled.”<\/p>\n

It was the first career win for Brown at Norwalk, who now has wins at all but four NHRA tracks (Bristol, Epping, Reading and Topeka). \u00a0The team also scored the event win near Chicago last weekend, marking the second time they’ve won back-to-back titles (Charlotte, Houston) in 2014.<\/p>\n

He will enter in his 300th career race when the NHRA Mello Yello series reconvenes in two weeks near Denver for the Mile-High Nationals at Bandimere Speedway where Brown is a two-time Top Fuel Denver champion.<\/p>\n

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

Pro Stock driver, Erica Enders-Stevens drove to some impressive numbers for her Elite Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro team at Norwalk.\u00a0 She won her class-leading fourth win of the season, the 10th<\/sup> of her career and the 199th<\/sup> win for Chevrolet in Pro Stock.<\/p>\n

She capped off a perfect weekend of being quickest in all eight rounds, covering qualifying and eliminations which pushed her points lead to 241, the biggest of the all the four pro classes.<\/p>\n

But perhaps her proudest number was .015, as in her reaction time in seconds in the final round against Dave Connolly. \u00a0That allowed her to get a quick lead, and her pass of 6.632 seconds at 210.14 was more than enough to send her to victory lane.<\/p>\n

“I’m proud of my team,” Enders-Stevens said. \u00a0“I’ve got to get my job done and not think about any of the negative things. We were able to do that today, and a big reason is because we have a really fast, consistent race car.”<\/p>\n

Enders-Stevens also exorcised some personal demons that have plagued her over the last few races. \u00a0Every NHRA driver has lost on holeshots in their career, but Enders-Stevens was determined to not let that happen this weekend, especially after grabbing the No. 1 qualifier.<\/p>\n

The pole winner hasn’t won in Pro Stock since the U.S. Nationals last year with Mike Edwards behind the wheel, but Enders-Stevens and her team wanted that streak to end in Norwalk.<\/p>\n

“When we got it I was like, ‘All right, it’s our job to bust it,’ ” Enders-Stevens said. \u00a0“I’m just glad we could get it done, and that’s a big part of this game. \u00a0Having a positive mental attitude and focusing on the things you want and not dwelling on the negative things or the distractions on the outside.”<\/p>\n

And she joined Sampey (41 victories) and Muldowney (18) as the only females with double-digit wins.<\/p>\n

Enders-Stevens missed on getting the 100th victory by a female in NHRA, but she’d love to give Chevrolet its 200th win in Pro Stock.<\/p>\n

“That would be very cool,” Enders-Stevens said. “The 100th win for females is very significant and we were 99 and 101, so we missed it by a little, but 200 for Chevy would be very cool. \u00a0We certainly have the hot rod to do it, and I’m driving better.\u201d<\/p>\n

PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE<\/b><\/p>\n

In Pro Stock Motorcycle, Andrew Hines claimed his third win of the season and fourth victory at Summit Racing Motorsports Park, riding his Screamin\u2019 Eagle Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson to a performance of 6.901 at 193.96 in the final round against Hector Arana\u2019s Lucas Oil Products Buell.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a lot of little things that needed to fall into place to finally come around today,\u201d Hines said of his new bike at Norwalk this weekend. \u00a0\u201cWithout the help of everybody on the crew, we wouldn\u2019t be able to get where we are. \u00a0We struggled in the semis. \u00a0But I was able to outrun Hector and to get around him was big. \u00a0The fourth win light was definitely the prettiest one of the day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hines, a three-time world champion, beat John Hall, Jim Underdahl and Steve Johnson to reach the final round, and increases his points lead with the victory. \u00a0His fellow Sreamin\u2019 Eagle Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson teammate and event\u2019s No. 1 qualifier Eddie Krawiec remains in the second spot, while Hector Arana Jr. is third.<\/p>\n