The Full Throttle Hard-Working Crew Award program awards bonus money to teams in all four NHRA Full Throttle categories ($3,000 in Top Fuel, and Funny Car, $1,000 in Pro Stock, and $750 in Pro Stock Motorcycle). ESPN’s NHRA telecast crew will determine the Hard-Working Crew from each class at each NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series event.
After the Big O Tires NHRA Nationals (Oct,. 25-28), the top four Hard-Working Crew Awards of the year in each of the four categories will be posted on NHRA.com, where fans will be able to vote for the 2012 season winners, who will receive $25,000 (Top Fuel and Funny Car), $15,000 (Pro Stock), and $5,000 (Pro Stock Motorcycle).
2012 WINNERS
O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Winternationals presented by Super Start Batteries
Top Fuel: Morgan Lucas’ GEICO team for having a brand-new crew and chassis and racing to the No. 1 qualifying position and the semifinals.
Funny Car: Gary Densham’s team for coming together as an all-volunteer crew and working to get him to the semifinals after a collision with Jack Beckman in the second round.
Pro Stock: Jeg Coughlin’s crew for coming out with a new team and engine program and racing to the final round.
NHRA Arizona Nationals
Top Fuel: Tony Schumacher's U.S. Army team for giving him a consistently quick and fast racecar all weekend and going to his 111th final, the most in Top Fuel history.
Funny Car: Mike Neff's Castrol GTX team for running a 4.099-second pass in the left lane during the semifinal round.
Pro Stock: Ken Black's Summit Racing Pontiac team for competing in their 19th all-Summit Racing final and their first since Indy 2011.
Tire Kingdom NHRA Gatornationals presented by NAPAFilters.com
Top Fuel: Morgan Lucas and his GEICO/Lucas Oil team for recording the third-quickest e.t. in history and also setting a new track record and qualifying No. 1 for the second time this season.
Funny Car: Alexis DeJoria's Tequila Patron team for getting her first career round-win in the first round of eliminations when she defeated John Force.
Pro Stock: Chris McGaha for advancing to the semifinals of Pro Stock with his brand-new Harlow Sammons of Odessa team.
Pro Stock Motorcycle: Eddie Krawiec's Vance & Hines Screamin' Eagle Harley-Davidson team for setting a new national e.t. record with his pass of 6.750 seconds. Krawiec also holds the national speed record with his run of 199.26 mph set at this track last season.
SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals
Top Fuel: Antron Brown’s Matco Tools dragster crew for taking a brand new racecar to the final round.
Funny Car: Bob Bode’s Stupid Fast Racing crew for advancing to the semi's after working hard to replace the body and repair the car after a round-one explosion.
Pro Stock: Greg Stanfield’s Nitro Fish/Coffman Tank Trucks crew for advancing to the semifinals in the debut race for its brand-new Camaro race car.
NHRA Four-Wide Nationals
Top Fuel: Spencer Massey and his FRAM/Prestone dragster team for setting the national speed record en route to their third final-round appearance of the year.
Funny Car: Ron Capps and his NAPA team for making it to the final round in his first race with new crew chief Rahn Tobler, rebounding after a DNQ at the last event.
Pro Stock: Erica Enders and her GK Motorsports team for getting her to her sixth career final round, with potential for making history as the first woman to win in Pro Stock.
O'Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Spring Nationals presented by Super Start Batteries
Top Fuel: Morgan Lucas’ GEICO/Lucas Oil dragster crew for qualifying No. 1 and making their second victory of the season at steamy Houston race.
Funny Car: Mike Neff’s Castrol GTX Ford Mustang crew for rebounding from struggling in two days of qualifying to advance to their third final round of the season and first win of the year.
Pro Stock: Dave Connolly’s Alamo Iron Works/KLR Group Chevy Cobalt crew for advancing to the final round in only the team’s second start of the season.
Pro Stock Motorcycle: Hector Arana Jr.’s Lucas Oil Buell crew for setting low e.t. of the weekend during the heat of the day on Sunday and advancing to the final round.
Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals
Top Fuel: Steve Torrence and his new Torrence Racing/Capco Contractors team for being the most consistent car all weekend and making to their fourth straight semifinal appearance and securing the win in his first final round appearance.
Funny Car: Robert Hight and his Auto Club Ford Mustang for continuing their strong start. The team was No. 1 qualifier and made their fifth final in six races.
Pro Stock: KB Racing for getting all three cars in the semifinals and placing two cars in the finals at their sponsor’s race.
Pro Stock Motorcycle: Michael Ray, who beat three champions on the way to his first career NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Pro Stock Motorcycle final-round appearance.
Dollar General NHRA Summernationals
Top Fuel: Spencer Massey’s FRAM dragster crew for fighting from the bottom half of the field to advance to the team’s fourth final round of the season.
Funny Car: Jack Beckman’s Valvoline/NextGen crew for advancing to the final round after struggling in the last few races after the crew switcheroo with Ron Capps.
Pro Stock: Greg Anderson’s Summit Racing crew for advancing to the final and putting KB Racing team in position to earn its 100th Pro Stock victory.