{"id":95851,"date":"2024-04-30T08:49:34","date_gmt":"2024-04-30T15:49:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/?p=95851"},"modified":"2024-04-30T08:49:34","modified_gmt":"2024-04-30T15:49:34","slug":"crazy-nhra-4-wide-weekend-serves-winners-and-whiners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/crazy-nhra-4-wide-weekend-serves-winners-and-whiners\/","title":{"rendered":"Crazy NHRA 4-Wide Weekend Serves Winners and Whiners"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Hagan, Herrera, Ashley and Anderson celebrate their zMAX wins – NHRA photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Racing of all types is filled with the highest of highs and often the lowest of lows. There\u2019s only one winner and lots of losers at every event. While it\u2019s always preferable to see the winning – and losing – occur on the track, sometimes the series has to step in and govern.<\/p>\n

This weekend\u2019s Charlotte (N.C.) NHRA 4-Wide Nationals were held on the zMAX Dragway track next to Charlotte Motor Speedway. The second and final four-across drag race of the 2024 season had two instances in which the technical department of NHRA decreed racers weren\u2019t following the rules. One of those cited nearly packed his bags; the other wasn\u2019t nearly as vocal.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a lot left to be said about disqualifications and their collective upshots, but for three days, NHRA held some truly fine races between quads of drivers and that\u2019s the more important part of the sport. When the monumental dust settled, four-time and reigning Funny Car champ Matt Hagan took his Tony Stewart Racing Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat to a 50th national title, joining double-up Top Fuel winner Justin Ashley, who won the race and the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge race-within-the-race, Greg Anderson in Pro Stock and double-up Pro Stock Motorcycle winner Gaige Herrera hoisting their Wally winner\u2019s trophy late Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n

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Matt Hagan earned his 50th career national win – NHRA photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Hagan passed Don \u201cThe Snake\u201d Prudhomme in earning his 50th career national victory and, in his final round, defeated an ever improving Daniel Wilkerson\u2019s Ford Mustang, J.R. Todd\u2019s Toyota GR Supra and 16-time champ\/No. 1 qualifier John Force. His 0,029-second reaction time helped the Virginian to this title. This was Hagan\u2019s fourth victory at the Charlotte track he considers his \u201chome\u201d circuit. “This is a massive achievement to win 50 NHRA national events,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s great to have Dodge with us in the winner\u2019s circle for so many years and it\u2019s so special to be around a great group of guys at Tony Stewart Racing.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Ashley took his 15th national event win at zMAX Dragway – SCAG photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ashley, who earned the points lead, the No. 1 qualifier, the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge and Sunday\u2019s race, was definitely on a roll this weekend, earning his second 2024 National event victory at this contest. In taking his 15th career victory, 13th in Top Fuel and first at the zMAX Dragway race track, Ashley is vocal about his enjoyment of four-wide racing. \u201cWhen you come out here and you race four-wide, the quads are so good. It really doesn\u2019t matter who you\u2019re racing, especially with the depth of the Top Fuel class now,\u201d he said after defeating local Clay Millican, Doug Kalitta and three-time champ Antron Brown in the final quad. \u201cAs long as we keep our internal focus, I think we\u2019ll have a lot of success,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Anderson had a roller-coaster weekend, racing well but also being disqualified for bypassing a switch when they had to change their ECU following the second session Friday night. Anderson\u2019s 6.502-second pass at 210.77 mph secured the Sunday win in his Chevy Camaro, running against KB Titan Racing teammate Dallas Glenn and Elite Motorsports\u2019 Aaron Stanfield and Cristian Cuadra. He earned his 105th victory, extending his all-time lead in the category. \u201cThis feels fantastic,\u201d Anderson said. \u201cThere is so much talent out there and I\u2019m so proud to be a part of it. We didn\u2019t back into it and it feels good to win a race at zMAX Dragway. It\u2019s my home track and I love it here!\u201d<\/p>\n

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After his Friday and Saturday issues, Anderson prevailed on Sunday – NHRA photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After finally earning No. 1 qualifier and his Mission title on Saturday, Pro Stock Motorcycle\u2019s reigning champ Gaige Herrera made the quickest pass of each session on Sunday. In his final quad, he defeated John Hall on a Matt Smith Racing Buell, along with teammate Richard Gadson and Vance & Hines technical partner LE Tonglet, both riding Suzuki Hayabusa3 motorcycles.\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cIn the end, me and [crew chief] Andrew Hines and the bike bond so well,\u201d Herrera allowed. \u201cWe\u2019re a hard combo to beat. This is just the beginning and it\u2019s all the haters that make us push that much harder. We\u2019re out there to prove them all wrong.\u201d His worst light of .021-sec might shut up a few doubters\u2026<\/p>\n

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Can anyone stop Gaige Herrera’s march to a second straight Pro Stock Motorcycle title? NHRA photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The No. 1 qualifiers, after four rounds of qualifying, were Kalitta Motorsports\u2019 Doug Kalitta, the reigning Top Fuel champ earning his second consecutive No. 1, John Force, who unloaded the 10th best Flopper time in series history Friday night while setting the track\u2019s elapsed time (ET) record for his 167th No. 1, Greg Anderson\u2019s Friday night run in Pro Stock, despite his Saturday morning DQ (see below) and reigning Pro Stock Motorcycle champ Gaige Herrera, who needed all four time trial runs to work his way to the top of the standings.<\/p>\n

On Saturday morning, No. 2 Friday night Funny Car qualifier Bob Tasca III had his quick lap disqualified after the series stated his intake manifold had been modified from its \u201coriginal, accepted state. Tasca\u2019s intake manifold was found to have been media blasted and this violation is considered a technical infraction. Additional penalty may apply after further evaluation,\u201d the NHRA statement said. Because of this, Tasca\u2019s ET from the second qualifying session Friday night was disqualified.<\/p>\n

Less than two hours later, five-time Pro Stock champion, and the most successful race-winning driver in that category, Greg Anderson had his Saturday morning Q3 run disqualified. \u201cNHRA has announced the disqualification of Greg Anderson\u2019s run during the third round of Pro Stock qualifying, due to a technical violation, after bypassing a safety device. He is current No. 1 from his Friday run.\u201d NHRA also disqualified Anderson from the final quad of the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge, placing Erica Enders in that final round, which she won.<\/p>\n

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Bob Tasca III zMAX action – NHRA photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The only reason Tasca remained on the grounds after his DQ is due to the community spirit in NHRA. The CAPCO Top Fuel team of Steve and Billy Torrence loaned an intake manifold to Tasca, whereby the Rhode Island racer promptly won the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge in his Funny Car class. Tasca, who believed his intake manifolds were being questioned by the community, sent some to NHRA for examination before the season began. They were returned to him but NHRA never did state whether those manifolds were legal or not. Tasca decided, for the first time, to use Alan Johnson intakes for this weekend and, per his usual, flowed them to the satisfaction of crew chiefs Todd Okuhara and Aaron Brooks. The color change is what stopped NHRA from permitting their use.<\/p>\n

According to NHRA, any modified part isn\u2019t allowed. \u201cNow that\u2019s a very slippery slope because we all lap manifolds; we sand them down, we sand-blow our cases to blueprint them. Everyone does it. That\u2019s a modification,\u201d Tasca expounded. \u201cWe blow up cylinder heads. We weld them up and we CNC them. None of them return back to the original manufacturer\u2019s specific dimensions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anderson got the yellow hat given to No. 1 qualifiers, but the fact that he secured that status with only two of four planned qualifying runs showed the depth of his KB Titan Racing team. In Friday night\u2019s Q2 session, Anderson\u2019s Chevrolet Camaro suffered an ECU failure that topped his car from firing up. The car ran fine in Q3 but then, in post-run inspection, it was discovered that when KB Titan installed the new ECU, the team neglected to connect a safety switch. That disqualified Anderson, who forfeited his Mission Challenge standing with this DQ.<\/p>\n

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Hagan has had much success at his “home” track of zMAX Dragway – NHRA photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Saturday\u2019s Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge winners were Tasca, Ashley, Enders and Herrera, with two of them continuing to earn a second nod in Charlotte NHRA 4-Wide Nationals competition. Tasca, using the borrowed intake manifold from Steve Torrence\u2019s team, took the 10th fastest run in class history with his Ford Mustang to the Challenge finals, defeating points leader Austin Prock (John Force Racing Chevrolet Camaro SS), 2018 Funny Car champ J.R. Todd\u2019s Toyota GR Supra from Kalitta Motorsports and rejuvenated Paul Lee\u2019s Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat.<\/p>\n

Ashley continued his Saturday excellence – and repeated on Sunday to be one of two double-up victors this weekend. The SCAG racer outlasted Antron Brown, Josh Hart and four-time champ Steve Torrence to earn the Mission win. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter whether it\u2019s qualifying, whether it\u2019s the Mission Challenge or whether it\u2019s race day,\u201d Ashley declared, \u201cWe want to win each and every lap that we make down the racetrack.\u201d<\/p>\n

Erica Enders received a second opportunity to run for the Mission win when Anderson was DQ\u2019d from that event. While he did go on to win on Sunday, she took his place in the Mission Challenge final run. Elite Motorsports\u2019 six-time Pro Stock champion took advantage and, in the final round defeated KB Titan\u2019s Dallas Glenn, along with her teammates Jeg Coughlin Jr. and Jerry Tucker. \u201cNever give us a second chance,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019ll figure it out, eventually. The four-wide can definitely be confusing, but thankfully we figured it out and poked in the winner\u2019s circle,\u201d she said after thanking Mission for conducting these stellar events.<\/p>\n

Gaige Herrera, too, set a track record in Pro Stock Motorcycle in the Mission challenge with his Vance & Hines Suzuki Hayabusa3 and then went on to score the Sunday race win. To earn the Mission Challenge, he defeated teammate Richard Gadson, along with Matt and Angie Smith\u2019s Buells. Herrera, who had forgotten there was a Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge race at Charlotte\u2019s 4-wide contest, made his best run in the Challenge finals (6.672 at 202.70) for his fifth specialty race victory. \u201cIt was great to be in the final quad with two Matt Smith bikes and two Vance & Hines bikes. I feel like it\u2019s going to be like that all year long.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 2024 Mission Foods NHRA Drag Racing Series holds the 24th annual Gerber Collision & Glass NHRA Route 66 Nationals, presented by PEAK Performance at Route 66 Raceway outside Chicago, IL the weekend of May 17-19. It\u2019s the sixth race in a 20-contest season.<\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DQs, records and high-stakes marked the zMax 4-wide NHRA weekend.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":65,"featured_media":95853,"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":[3465,3470,5029],"tags":[10333,846,9952,38,10004,10128,7,4801,10334,9918,73,800],"class_list":["post-95851","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-drag-racing","category-news","category-racing","tag-charlotte-nhra-4-wide-nationals","tag-chevrolet-camaro","tag-dodge-charger-srt-hellcat","tag-funny-car","tag-mission-foods-2fast2tasty-challenge","tag-mission-foods-nhra-drag-racing-series","tag-nhra","tag-pro-stock","tag-pro-stock-motocycle","tag-suzuki-hayabusa3","tag-top-fuel","tag-zmax-dragway"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Hagan-Herrera-Ashley-Anderson-min.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p42YSK-oVZ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95851","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=95851"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95851\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":95875,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95851\/revisions\/95875"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/95853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}