{"id":97690,"date":"2024-09-17T11:44:34","date_gmt":"2024-09-17T18:44:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/?p=97690"},"modified":"2024-09-17T11:44:34","modified_gmt":"2024-09-17T18:44:34","slug":"brown-prock-stanfield-arana-jr-are-reading-victors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/brown-prock-stanfield-arana-jr-are-reading-victors\/","title":{"rendered":"Brown, Prock, Stanfield, Arana Jr. are Reading victors"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Stanfield, Brown, Prock and Arana Jr. hoist their trophies at Maple Grove Raceway – NHRA photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

NHRA\u2019s Countdown to the Championship for its four Mission Foods Drag Racing Series classes can be a straightforward path to a title or a cacophony of roadblocks for competitors in Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle.<\/p>\n

Suffice to say, the reigning titleholders from 2023 didn\u2019t make it to the Winner\u2019s Circle and the sole No. 1 seed to last all four rounds of eliminations at this past weekend\u2019s 39th annual Pep Boys NHRA Nationals, held at Maple Grove Raceway outside Reading, PA wasn\u2019t really unexpected.<\/p>\n

Doug Kalitta, whose long wait to claim his first Top Fuel title came at the final pass of the final round of the final race last November? Gone in the first round when he was beaten by Dan Mercier. Four-time, reigning Funny Car champ Matt Hagan of Tony Stewart Racing? His Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat couldn\u2019t overcome J.R. Todd\u2019s hole shot in Kalitta Motorsports\u2019 Toyota GR Supra. Dallas Glenn\u2019s Chevrolet Camaro went as far as the semifinals where Elite Motorsports\u2019 Aaron Stanfield put the KB Titan Racing star back on the trailer and Gaige Herrera\u2019s semifinal foul while riding his Vance & Hines Suzuki Hayabusa3 against Hector Arana Jr.\u2019s Buell stopped Herrera from earning a win at the sole track where he hasn\u2019t yet visited the Winner\u2019s Circle.<\/p>\n

All of those machinations opened doors for other racers of merit to claim winners\u2019 medals and caps in the first of six playoff contests in this year\u2019s Countdown. Antron Brown, a four-time victor this season, earned the Top Fuel nod with his defeat of Kalitta Motorsports\u2019 Shawn Langdon. No. 1 seed Austin Prock earned his sixth win of the year (from the No. 1 qualifying spot) against teammate Jack Beckman, both driving John Force Racing Chevrolet Camaro SS Funny Cars. Stanfield beat Elite teammate and six-time reigning titleholder Erica Enders in a tight, straight-up fight, while Hector Arana Jr. raced Richard Gadson to the quarter-mile lights in a close fight, Buell vs Suzuki Hayabusa3.<\/p>\n

Brown\u2019s romp to the Top Fuel title, as he tries for a fourth dragster championship, came as this nitro class\u2019 points tally grows tight enough to squeeze. With his victory at his “home”, the former two-wheel standout is a single point behind now-leader Justin Ashley, with Langdon six points back and former points leader Kalitta now in fourth place, 33 points behind the New Yorker. Four-time Top Fuel champ Steve Torrence is fifth, leaving competition in the second round after beating Brittany Force. He, too, was beaten by Dan Mercier.<\/p>\n

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A fourth Top Fuel title is possible for Antron Brown – NHRA photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Clay Millican is sixth, lagging by 79 points after being beaten in the 2nd round by Ashley; rookie Tony Stewart holds seventh place (-94), Tony Schumacher is eighth, followed by Brittany Force, Billy Torrence, Josh Hart and Shawn Reed, the latter two gone after Round 1. Brown made the finals by dispensing with Jasmine Salinas, Tony Schumacher and Mercier. Langdon defeated Ida Zetterstrom, Stewart and Ashley.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was a huge boost and we\u2019re just making up the ground,\u201d Brown emphasized. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to start off strong. Going into raceday, we knew we were going to have something, but the track got a little bit tricker than we thought it was. It was medieval out there!\u201d While they struggled at mid-race, Brian Corradi, Mark Oswald and the entire AB Motorsports team held on to earn the win. Just before Brown and Langdon\u2019s classically tight battle, Angelle Sampey earned her first Top Alcohol Dragster career victory in her initial year racing a car. \u201cThis is unbelievable, probably because in 1996 at this very racetrack, is where I won my very first race,\u201d the three-time Pro Stock Motorcycle champ revealed.<\/p>\n

To little surprise, Austin Prock continued his jaw-dropping initial season of Funny Car racing, substituting for Robert Hight – who won this race last year and in 2022. Prock was the No. 1 qualifier for the 11th time in this year\u2019s 15 races held to date, and he marched past Mike Smith, Chad Green and Bob Tasca III to reach the finals against Beckman, who is filling in for injured John Force. He earned his second straight contest, 10th career victory in either Top Fuel or Funny Car and padded his points haul over semifinalist Tasca to 86 points with five races remaining in the season.<\/p>\n

Recording his sixth 2024 win, \u201cIt feels amazing. It\u2019s great to rack up some points and build a bit of a gap over second place again,\u201d after losing his 300-point advantage once the Countdown began.\u201dTo win [the championship] we just have to do what we\u2019ve been doing all year long. We have to execute exactly how we have all season long. We\u2019re racing \u2018lights out\u2019 right now and I feel like we\u2019re consistently making the best runs we\u2019re capable of making.\u201d It didn\u2019t hurt that Sunday was his grandfather Tom Prock\u2019s birthday.<\/p>\n

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Austin Prock’s stellar “substitute” season continues – NHRA photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Beckman, who had been out of the cockpit, working as an elevator repairman for the past three-plus seasons, is looking like he never left. In his first return race as Force\u2019s sub, he went to the quarterfinals; at Indy he made the semifinals and in Reading he was a finalist. Force held second-place points when he crashed at Richmond in June and Beckman knows, \u201cIf we want to win the championship, Austin is the target. We can\u2019t spot him [points] every race and expect to win it, but they did everything right this weekend.\u201d In the 54th John Force Racing (JFR) intra-squad final round and second this year – Force beat Prock in New England the first weekend of June – JFR earned a three-peat at Maple Grove, as Robert Hight won this race the past two years.<\/p>\n

Prock has the largest lead in the Mission Foods series, 86 over the Ford Mustang of Tasca, with John Force\/Jack Beckman 99 points back, J.R. Todd\u2019s Toyota GR Supra fourth and lagging by 127 points, while Hagan has 137 points to make up. Ron Capps\u2019 Toyota GR Supra is sixth (-142), followed by the similar car of Alexis DeJoria (-168), Blake Alexander, Chad Green and Daniel Wilkerson in eighth through tenth in their Ford Mustangs. Cruz Pedregon\u2019s Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat, Buddy Hull\u2019s Jim Dunn Racing Dodge and Dave Richards\u2019 Ford Mustang complete the playoff-eligible, the latter 249 points behind Prock.<\/p>\n

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Aaron Stanfield has won five of the last seven races – Anne Proffit photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Flying high after his first-ever double-up at Indy, where Aaron Stanfield won in Pro Stock and Factory X, the Elite Motorsports stalwart is definitely peaking when it matters. While KB Titan Racing\u2019s Dallas Glenn owned much of the \u201cregular\u201d season, Stanfield\u2019s results over the past few races show he\u2019s filled with momentum. Dominating race day, he earned his fifth victory in the last seven events and took over the points tally by nine over Glenn. Stanfield\u2019s runner-up in Sunday\u2019s final round, Erica Enders is third, 35 behind while five-time champ Greg Anderson of KB Titan holds fourth place, 46 points in arrears.<\/p>\n

That quartet are the sole Pro Stock competitors within shouting range of one another, as the balance of the Countdown-eligible group has at least 50 points to make up: Elite\u2019s Jeg Coughlin Jr. (114), Troy Coughlin Jr. (-131), Cristian Cuadra (-137) and Jerry Tucker (143) are fifth through eighth, while KB Titan\u2019s Eric Latino is ninth, Mason McGaha holds tenth place (-172), Matt Hartford, Deric Kramer and Chris McGaha complete the Countdown eligible. The latter is 187 points behind Stanfield.<\/p>\n

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Elite Motorsports celebrated Stanfield’s win – Elite Motorsports photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If there\u2019s anything Aaron Stanfield recognizes, is that \u201cmomentum is real. Things have been rolling our way and we\u2019ve been getting those round wins when we need them to go our way,\u201d he explained. \u201cWe did our job today, Erica and I and all our guys. We put both of our JHG, Melling cars in the final round here, and that was the goal. I know the equipment I\u2019m in, and I know how hungry my guys are to win. We definitely have a shot; we just need to keep this momentum that we\u2019ve got rolling!\u201d<\/p>\n

For many recent races, Hector Arana Jr. has been in the red-light district, anticipating the start-line Christmas Tree. That didn\u2019t happen in Reading this past Sunday as the second-generation two-wheeler earned his first win of the year and 19th of his career. Was it easy? Of course not, but Matt Smith Racing\u2019s (MSR) Jianna Evaristo made it easier by committing a red-light foul on her Buell in the first round. Arana Jr. beat MSR’s\u00a0 Angie Smith (Buell) in the second round in a close contest, while Herrera red-lit to Arana Jr. in the semifinals, placing Arana Jr. against Vance & Hines\u2019 Richard Gadson in the final round. Both riders were looking for their first win of the year, and it was Arana Jr. who had the goods.<\/p>\n

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Hector Arana Jr. won his first race of the season – Anne Proffit photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The victory for Arana Jr., riding a first-gen Buell (lighter weight than either Gen 2 Buell bikes and any Suzuki) bumped the rider to fourth in the standings, although Gaige Herrera\u2019s V&H Suzuki Hayabusa3 holds 17 points on Matt Smith\u2019s Buell in the official standings. His runner-up result places Richard Gadson\u2019s V&H Suzuki Hayabusa3 in third, 19 behind. Arana\u2019s gap is 60 points, while Chase Van Sant\u2019s WAR Suzuki is fifth, 96 points behind and shadowed by Matt Smith Racing\u2019s John Hall (-99) and Angie Smith (-102). Steve Johnson\u2019s quarterfinal result has him eighth (-135) and tied with Evaristo, while Chris Bostick, on a WAR Suzuki is the final eligible rider, 165 points behind Herrera.<\/p>\n

The objective is always to be in the Countdown so that one can surge when it\u2019s important. \u201cWe tried a bunch of things this year leading up to the Countdown,\u201d Arana Jr. explained, \u201cand now it\u2019s time to turn it on. We collected everything, got it together and here we are in the Winner\u2019s Circle, holding up a Wally (trophy). I couldn\u2019t imagine a better day!\u201d While quite a few of his competitors ended up on the losing side of the \u201ctree\u201d, Arana Jr. was \u201cable to stay green and here we are! We have some more power to make to fight with them, but I came in here with confidence. I said it all weekend, \u2018You have to have a good, consistent bike in order to win the race,\u2019 and that\u2019s what we did.\u201d<\/p>\n

No rest for the wicked in NHRA\u2019s Mission Foods Drag Racing Series, as they travel from Pennsylvania to Charlotte, North Carolina for the second of three races in a row. The 16th annual NHRA Carolina Nationals are set for September 20-22 on zMAX Dragway in Charlotte.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NHRA\u2019s Countdown to the Championship for its four Mission Foods Drag Racing Series classes can be a straightforward path to a title or a cacophony of roadblocks for competitors in Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":65,"featured_media":97696,"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":[10779,9275,7457,3018,82,6606,1704,38,10780,423,1379,10128,7,4801,74,9340,73],"class_list":["post-97690","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-drag-racing","category-news","category-racing","tag-39th-pep-boys-nhra-nationals","tag-aaron-stanfield","tag-ab-motorsports","tag-angelle-sampey","tag-antron-brown","tag-austin-prock","tag-elite-motorsports","tag-funny-car","tag-hector-arana-jr-buell","tag-john-force-racing","tag-maple-grove-raceway","tag-mission-foods-nhra-drag-racing-series","tag-nhra","tag-pro-stock","tag-pro-stock-motorcycle","tag-top-alcohol-dragster","tag-top-fuel"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Stanfield-Brown-Prock-Arana-Jr.-WC-min-e1726598651161.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p42YSK-ppE","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97690","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=97690"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97690\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":97701,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97690\/revisions\/97701"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97696"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}