{"id":81597,"date":"2021-10-06T16:55:25","date_gmt":"2021-10-06T23:55:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/?p=81597"},"modified":"2021-10-06T16:55:25","modified_gmt":"2021-10-06T23:55:25","slug":"36th-nhra-fall-nationals-everything-is-bigger-in-texas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/36th-nhra-fall-nationals-everything-is-bigger-in-texas\/","title":{"rendered":"36th NHRA Fall Nationals – Everything is Bigger in Texas!"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

NHRA\u2019s 36th trip to Texas Motorplex this weekend, for the Texas NHRA Fall Nationals, will have a familiar feel to it. For the first time at a standard NHRA event since 2019, there will be four qualifying sessions. Two on Friday; two on Saturday. Eliminations begin at 11AM CT on Sunday.<\/p>\n

All four Camping World Drag Racing Series categories will be on-hand to battle for Wally winner\u2019s trophies, and at least 10 drivers or riders in Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle will continue their quests for season-long championships in NHRA\u2019s seven-race Countdown to the Championship. Pro Stock Motorcycle, which didn\u2019t race at the NHRA Midwest Nationals two weeks ago, returns to action in Texas, while Pro Stock takes the weekend off during next week\u2019s Bristol race.<\/p>\n

\"Brittany
Brittany Force gets into her car.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There are 18 Top Fuel competitors ready to rock in Ennis, home to Texas Motorplex. Reigning three-time champ Steve Torrence, in one of his two home state races, has a 36-point advantage on 2017 titleholder Brittany Force of John Force Racing, leading into this fourth Countdown to the Championship round while his father Billy lies 126 points back in third.<\/p>\n

\"Leah
Leah Pruett in-car.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Mike Salinas (-134) and Justin Ashley (-138) round out the top five, while Don Schumacher Racing teammates Leah Pruett (-151) and Antron Brown (-185) hold sixth and seventh places, respectively. Kalitta Motorsports\u2019 Shawn Langdon, Clay Millican of Stringer Performance and Doug Kalitta found out the top 10. Alex Laughlin, who is transitioning from Pro Stock and Pro Mod to compete in Top Fuel, is one of the part-timers set to race at Texas together with Josh Hart, Joe Morrison, Buddy Hull, Keith Murt, Lee Callaway, Mitch King and Krista Baldwin.<\/p>\n

In Funny Car there are also 18 entries on the list, with Don Schumacher Racing\u2019s Matt Hagan and Ron Capps leading the list of Countdown-qualified cars. Hagan, who won the most recent race at World Wide Technology Raceway (WWTR) in his Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat, has a 59-point advantage on Capps and 72 points on 16-time Funny Car champ John Force, who is driving exceptionally well this year in his Chevrolet Camaro SS. Cruz Pedregon\u2019s Charger is 99 points behind Hagan while 2018 Funny Car champ J.R. Todd, driving a Toyota Camry for Kalitta Motorsports, holds fifth place points, 116 behind Hagan.<\/p>\n

\"Paul
Paul Lee burnout.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Funny Car actually has 11 cars and drivers qualified for the Countdown, including\u00a0 early season points leader Bob Tasca II and his Ford Mustang (-120), fellow Mustang racer Tim Wilkerson (-160), Force\u2019s teammate and company president Robert Hight (-160), Alexis DeJoria\u2019s Camry (-191), Blake Alexander in Jim Head\u2019s Mustang (234) and Jim Campbell, in 11th place, driving Jim Dunn\u2019s Charger (-268). Joining these championship contenders are Jack Wyatt in a Charger, Paul Lee\u2019s Charger, Terry Haddock driving a Mustang, Jeff Arend in a Mustang, Dale Creasy Jr.\u2019s Dodge Stratus, Todd Simpson in a Camry and \u201cSurfer\u201d Jeff Diehl\u2019s Camry.<\/p>\n

Although not entered for the race, Austin Prock was testing John Force\u2019s Chevrolet Camaro SS Funny Car on Wednesday, which is an open test day for the Camping World competitors part of the track\u2019s Stampede of Speed extravaganza that\u2019s been going on since last weekend.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Aaron Stanfield at the hit<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Newly inducted into North Carolina\u2019s Auto Racing Hall of Fame, Pro Stock points leader Greg Anderson is bringing a miserly 17-point lead over reigning and fellow four-time champ Erica Enders, the most recent Pro Stock race winner. First-time winner Kyle Koretsky has a hold on third place and lags 97 points behind Anderson, while Dallas Glenn is 116 points back in fourth, followed by Aaron Stanfield in fifth, -167 points. Stanfield, having clinched his second straight Factory Stock Showdown title, is hoping to leapfrog some of his competitors to aid championship hopes in this truly competitive class.<\/p>\n

Third-generation racer Troy Coughlin Jr. is sixth, 192 points back, followed\u00a0 by Mason McGaha (-202), his dad Chris McGaha (-211), Matt Hartford (-232), Deric Kramer (-247) and Kenny Delco, 11th but still eligible for the title, even though he is 279 points behind Anderson. All drive Chevrolet Camaro race cars. With 20 Pro Stock cars on the Texas Motorplex grounds, four drivers won\u2019t be racing by Sunday. Those four could come from the playoff combatants, or from a list that includes Richie Stevens Jr. (Camaro) Rodger Brogdon (Camaro), Alan Prusiensky and Mike Callahan (Dodge Dart), Vincent Nobile (Camaro), and the Cuadra family of Mustang competitors: Fernando, Fernando Jr. and Cristian Cuadra.<\/p>\n

This is only the third Countdown event for Pro Stock Motorcycle, which has seen changes in fortune from last year to this. Although four-time and reigning champ Matt Smith continues to put up big numbers on his Buell, he hasn\u2019t been able to close as many deals as he\u2019d like and currently sits third in the standings, 30 points behind veteran Steve Johnson, whose four-valve Suzuki will pass the timing beams without the help of crewman Ervin \u201cJock\u201d Allen, who suffered fluke gunshot injury after the Charlotte round (PSM didn\u2019t race at WWTR). In between these two is three-time PSM champ Angelle Sampey, having a great season on her four-valve Vance & Hines Suzuki (-17). Sampey\u2019s teammate Eddie Krawiec has a hold on fourth place with his V&H Buell (-39) while Scotty Pollacheck holds fifth place on his Matt Smith Racing Buell, 95 points behind Johnson.<\/p>\n

As with two of the other four Camping World classes, there are 11 motorcycle racers eligible to hoist<\/p>\n

the massive championship trophy, once the title chase arrives back in Pomona Joey Goldstone\u2019s four-valve Suzuki is sixth (-101) and team leader Cory Reed is seventh but not racing after a nasty fall at Charlotte (-147), Angie Smith is eighth (-150) on her Buell, Karen Stoffer holds ninth-place points on her two-valve Suzuki (-155), six-time champ Andrew Hines is tenth on his V&H Buell (-162), while Ryan Oehler is the caboose on the Countdown-eligible list, lagging Johnson by 164 points with his Buell.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Hector Arana Jr at the hit.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Just like Pro Stock, the Pro Stock Motorcycle class has 20 entries that include the first rider to 200mph, Hector Arana Jr. (Buell), 2016 PSM champ Jerry Savoie (four-valve Suzuki), David Barron\u2019s Buell, Chris Bostick\u2019s four-valve Suzuki, Michael Philips\u2019 two-valve Suzuki, Michael Ray Jr. on a Matt Smith Racing Buell, Jimmy Underdahl\u2019s two-valve Suzuki, Kelly Clontz\u2019s four-valve Suzuki and Jianna Salinas on a two-valve Suzuki. Cory Reed is on the entry list for this race despite his compound fracture above the ankle; we\u2019ll have to see if he\u2019s medically cleared to run this race. I doubt it.<\/p>\n

The Dallas area is experiencing an Indian summer this fall, and the temps for this race will be almost as hot as the competition. While no precipitation is in the current forecast, racers can look forward to temps in the middle 90s all three days of racing, with low in the middle 60s. The competition will be scalding and the weather darn close to it. It\u2019s an even bet the standings will change after this race is complete because, well, everything is bigger in Texas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NHRA\u2019s 36th trip to Texas Motorplex this weekend, for the Texas NHRA Fall Nationals, will have a familiar feel to it.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":65,"featured_media":81602,"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":[17,3470,5029,3399,22],"tags":[5614,2,2052,41,7,1632],"class_list":["post-81597","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-guest-column","category-news","category-racing","category-nhra","category-event-coverage","tag-anne-proffit","tag-drag-racing","tag-events","tag-news","tag-nhra","tag-racing"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Paul-Lee-burnout-min-e1633564406128.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p42YSK-le5","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81597","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\/65"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81597"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81597\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81603,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81597\/revisions\/81603"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81602"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}