{"id":96960,"date":"2024-07-29T18:03:28","date_gmt":"2024-07-30T01:03:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/?p=96960"},"modified":"2024-07-29T18:03:28","modified_gmt":"2024-07-30T01:03:28","slug":"brown-tasca-iii-stanfield-matt-smith-are-sonoma-nhra-winners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/brown-tasca-iii-stanfield-matt-smith-are-sonoma-nhra-winners\/","title":{"rendered":"Brown, Tasca III, Stanfield, Matt Smith are Sonoma NHRA winners"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

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Antron Brown, Bob Tasca III, Aaron Stanfield and Matt Smith celebrate race wins in Sonoma’s wine country – NHRA photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

NHRA\u2019s 36th annual DENSO Sonoma Nationals provided what most everyone that follows the Mission Foods Drag Racing Series expected: high speeds, low ETs and plenty of surprises. Teams that had been surging, like Kalitta Motorsports, had an off day during Sunday\u2019s eliminations; both points leader Doug Kalitta and his Top Fuel teammate Shawn Langdon were out after the first round. Funny Car Kalitta entry, J.R. Todd took his Toyota GR Supra to the second round before losing to eventual runner-up Ron Capps\u2019 Toyota GR Supra.<\/p>\n

The winners on Sunday were Antron Brown in Top Fuel, gaining his third victory in 12 races held to date in a 20-contest schedule,\u00a0 <\/span>Bob Tasca III taking his Ford Mustang to the Winner\u2019s Circle over Capps, Aaron Stanfield\u2019s Elite Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro victorious for a third win in the last four races over true newcomer Cory Reed of KB Titan Racing, while six-time Pro Stock Motorcycle champion Matt Smith ended a long victory drought (since Reading last September) by beating teammate John Hall, both of them riding Buell motorcycles. Smith capped an exemplary weekend with his Wally on Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n

The weather in Sonoma was picture-perfect for straight-line racing, as predicted. Temps were in the mid-to-high 70s all three days and evening temps dipped to the 50-degree marks. With perfect weather for making horsepower on Friday night, Tasca flirted with the 240-mph mark, yet had to settle for a pass at 3.839 seconds at 338.43mph. The Rhode Island racer had passed the 240-mph mark in Bradenton during the non-points-paying PRO Superstar Shootout in February and thought this race might have been a great opportunity to set an official mark. He settled for the No. 1 qualifier after four rounds of time trials were complete.<\/p>\n

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Matt Smith finally visited the Pro Stock Motorcycle Winner’s Circle this year – twice! NHRA photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Saturday provided plenty of fireworks with the latest Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge augmented by GETTRX\u2019 Pro Stock Motorcycle All-Star Callout. In the latter event, Smith was class of an eight-motorcycle field as he vanquished teammate Jianna Evaristo in the finals to grab that $25,000 prize. In the Mission events, Shawn Langdon won an ugly Top Fuel race over teammate and points leader Doug Kalitta. Funny Car points leader Austin Prock of John Force Racing took home his fifth consecutive Mission trophy (sixth overall) as his Chevrolet Camaro SS defeated Blake Alexander\u2019s Jim Head Racing Ford Mustang. Elite Motorsports\u2019 Troy Coughlin Jr. earned his first Mission nod in defeating his uncle Jeg Coughlin Jr. on a holeshot run.<\/p>\n

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Antron Brown had his “race face” on – Anne Proffit photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sunday changed the game, with eliminations beginning at 10:30am as the fog burned off. The No. 1 qualifiers were Top Fuel\u2019s Kalitta (his fifth No. 1 of the 12-race season), Tasca III in Funny Car, five-time Pro Stock champ and KB Titan Racing team leader Greg Anderson, and Matt Smith, the six-time Pro Stock Motorcycle champion and newly crowned GTTRX Pro Stock Motorcycle Callout winner. Kalitta fell in the first round to journeyman Ron August, after losing traction on this track. August had a bye round but lost to Tony Stewart in the semifinals. Eventual winner Antron Brown took out Shawn Reed, four-time champ Steve Torrence and Brittany Force to meet Stewart in the rookie driver\u2019s first final round. In the finals, it was a close, 10-foot margin-of-victory race as Brown used a 3.746\/329.67 to defeat Stewart\u2019s 3.774\/321.73.<\/p>\n

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Antron Brown stepped up and tied Doug Kalitta with five wins at this track – NHRA photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cTo get three wins this season is a true testament to our team, because this class is the toughest it\u2019s ever, ever been,\u201d Brown said as he tied Kalitta for the most success at this Sonoma Raceway track; each driver has won here five times. \u201cWhat really gave us confidence this weekend is on Q4, when the track got hot like it was today and no one else made it down the track, we went out and ran that 3.71 and got those brownie points by running low of the round. That really helped us out a lot and we just never stopped. I\u2019ve always had a great deal of respect for Tony Stewart,\u201d Brown admitted. \u201cHe\u2019s one of my heroes in NASCAR and INDYCAR. He\u2019s going to be in the winner\u2019s circle soon, trust me!\u201d<\/p>\n

Tasca III\u2019s Mustang was the class of his field for most of the weekend, with only Prock\u2019s Mission win breaking up his momentum for, oh, a few hours. Earning his third 2024 Mission Foods NHRA Drag Racing Series winner\u2019s trophy and his second Sonoma win over the past three years, Tasca III added a weekend best run of 338.77 in his first round against Jim Dunn Racing\u2019s Buddy Hull in the legendary crew chief\u2019s Dodge Charger; he drove past Seattle finalist Paul Lee\u2019s Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat in the second round, and then met up with and beat Prock in the semifinal round. Tasca III earned the semifinal nod with a .022 reaction time that got him a holeshot victory, 3.931\/336.15 to Prock\u2019s 3.901333.99. In the finals, Tasca earned his 18th national event victory against a slowing Capps, using his backup car after Seattle\u2019s violent engine explosion.<\/p>\n

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Bob Tasca III got his third win this year and nearly hit 340mph – NHRA photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s so hard to win these things, and that\u2019s a testament to my crew, to Todd Okuhara and Aaron Brooks,\u201d said Tasca. \u201cThey pulled it back and still ran 337 mph [in the final round]. I was a bit surprised i the final\u2026 it was pulling great and then it knocked the tires off. You have no idea how that feels!\u201d As he looked out the side window, expecting to see Capps roll by, Tasca was relieved to be on his own. \u201cI thought if we could get the car to run like it ran in Q4 we could beat him, and I said that to Todd. I said, \u2018Let\u2019s run as quick as we can and if he beats us, I\u2019ll be the first to congratulate him.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been a magical season for Aaron Stanfield, who had a tough 2023 and was always wondering if it was his driving holding his Pro Stock Camaro from the Winner\u2019s Circle. Winning for the third time in four races, Stanfield earned his Wally trophy this weekend by racing past Pro Stock newcomer Cory Reed. Reed, making only his second class start and defeated KB Titan\u2019s Deric Kramer, Eric Latino and Elite\u2019s Jerry Tucker to reach Sunday’s finals. Stanfield defeated Mason McGaha, teammate and six-time champ Erica Enders and Anderson to race the final round.<\/p>\n

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Elite Motorsports’ Aaron Stanfield has won three of the last four Pro Stock races – Anne Proffit photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In earning the sixth win for Elite Motorsports and being responsible for half that amount, Stanfield noted, \u201cThis is a great win, but I want to shout out to Cory Reed for going to the final in his second race. This week we lost a good friend, \u201cTim \u201cThe iceman\u201d Kelly to cancer. I wanted to get it done for him. I know Cory is fresh to the class so I would have been surprised if he played any games, so I just did my normal routine. I think I\u2019m driving better this year, and I\u2019d love to continue that.\u201d<\/p>\n

He is driving better and the results show. \u201cWe didn\u2019t have a great ladder, since all the hitters seemed to be on one side. I had to race Erica – and we\u2019re teammates – but we still want to beat each other. Then there was Greg and you\u2019ve got to be on your game anytime you race him.\u201d Reed, of course, raced Pro Stock Motorcycle until recently. He returned to that class in September of 2023, following his 2021 two-bike accident at zMAX Dragway, but made the switch to Pro Stock cars just last week at Seattle.<\/p>\n

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This was veteran Pro Stock Motorcycle rider Steve Johnson’s 500th NHRA race. He was defeated by fellow Suzuki rider Gaige Herrera in the first round – Anne Proffit photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In Pro Stock Motorcycle (PSM), it was almost fitting that Matt Smith Racing, partnered with race sponsor DENSO, was the class of the field. at Sonoma. On Sunday, Matt Smith completed one of his most successful race meetings, getting his first Wally trophy of the 2024 season, after winning Saturday’s GTTRX Pro Stock Motorcycle All-Star Callout. It was apparent that if you weren\u2019t racing over 200mph in this class at Sonoma Raceway, you were going to be back on your trailer quicker than you wanted. A short field meant byes for some riders, including M. Smith, who is now a two-time victor at this track.<\/p>\n

He ended his winless drought on Sunday by taking down Eiji Kawakami\u2019s Chris Bostick Racing Suzuki, Seattle first-time winner Chase Van Sant\u2019s WAR Racing Suzuki and then went up against his teammate John Hall, whose season has been oh-so-close-but-no-cigar thus far in the going. In picking up his 39th career victory with a run of 6.700 at 203.77 on his Buell (although Hall was the quicker leaver with a .034 reaction time), Smith chased him down by the 60-foot mark and that was that! Hall\u2019s run was a 6.746\/200.26 as he competed in his second final round of the season.<\/p>\n

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Matt Smith finally got his 60-foot times where he wanted them – Anne Proffit photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThis is very big,\u201d Smith admitted. \u201cThis is a DENSO event, which is our sponsor, and we won everything there is to win. We put a lot into getting our bikes ready for this weekend,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re gaining ground on the rest of the field and that takes a team effort. It\u2019s all in the 60-foot area – our class is so dependent on that.\u201d He realized the Suzuki runners, particularly reigning champ Gaige Herrera of Vance & Hines, had stepped up their game. \u201cI learned to leave low and take power out to get the bike to leave the starting line. I\u2019m 51, and I\u2019m getting older, but I can still do this. To me, the magic number is seven,\u201d Smith declared. \u201cIf I get the seventh title this year, I promise I\u2019ll get off the bike and put some young kid on it who can do the job.\u201d Now there\u2019s a threat!<\/p>\n

Now that the Western Swing is complete, NHRA\u2019s Mission Foods Drag Racing Series takes a short hiatus before returning to action August 15-18 with the 42nd annual Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals, held at Brainerd International Raceway in Minnesota.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NHRA\u2019s 36th annual DENSO Sonoma Nationals provided what most everyone that follows the Mission Foods Drag Racing Series expected: high speeds, low ETs and plenty of surprises.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":65,"featured_media":96967,"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":[9275,7457,82,5624,9825,1704,219,10595,80,8365,9740,10128,7,862],"class_list":["post-96960","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-drag-racing","category-news","category-racing","tag-aaron-stanfield","tag-ab-motorsports","tag-antron-brown","tag-bob-tasca-iii","tag-denso-sonoma-nhra-nationals","tag-elite-motorsports","tag-ford-mustang","tag-gttrx-all-star-pro-stock-motorcycle-callout","tag-matt-smith","tag-matt-smith-racing","tag-mission-2fast2tasty-challenge","tag-mission-foods-nhra-drag-racing-series","tag-nhra","tag-sonoma-raceway"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Brown-Tasca-III-Stanfield-M.-Smith-spray-the-bubbly-min-e1722301402682.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p42YSK-pdS","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96960","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=96960"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96960\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":96972,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96960\/revisions\/96972"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/96967"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}