Tony Schumacher (Top Fuel) and Ashley Force Hood (Funny Car) remained No. 1 in the nitro classes while Ron Krisher (Pro Stock) and Hector Arana (Pro Stock Motorcycle) jumped to the front of their classes on the final day of qualifying at the United Association NHRA SuperNationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park.
Qualifying was cut short on Saturday after rain hit Englishtown, halting things after the first of the day’s two scheduled sessions was completed. Though the NHRA Safety Safari made a valiant effort, getting the track nearly dry at one point during a momentary dry period, Mother Nature wouldn’t cooperate. The rain that began as just light showers shifted to a steady, heavy rainfall, and officials were forced to call it a day after one run and some Lucas Oil Sportsman action.
Tony Schumacher
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Though there was much shuffling and improvement in the Pro Stock ranks, the nitro cars saw very little in the way of movement, and that meant Tony Schumacher’s 3.818 was never in jeopardy. The best run of the day was nearly seven-hundredths behind Schumacher’s pole-winning time. This is Schumacher’s first No. 1 start this season, the 57th of his career, and second in Englishtown. With just 15 cars entering the event, Schumacher’s U.S. Army team will have a bye in the opening round.
“We’re certainly happy to have our first No. 1 of the year, especially considering we have a first-round bye,” said Schumacher. “We can always use the free 20 points whenever we can get them.
“I’m looking forward to tomorrow. Our team is trying hard to get rid of the bad taste left last week with that first-round loss in Chicago. We want to get the points lead back and leave here with it.”
Second through fifth remained unchanged with Larry Dixon, Cory McClenathan, Morgan Lucas, and Antron Brown holding onto those spots. Shawn Langdon made the best run of Saturday with a 3.882 that moved him from eighth to sixth on the sheets. Brandon Bernstein and Clay Millican round out the top half of the field.
One of the more intriguing pairings of the opening round is Bernstein versus Spencer Massey, the tour’s most recent winner.
Ashley Force Hood
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Force Hood will lead the Funny Cars into race day for the fourth time in the last six events after the 4.071 she posted Friday in her Castrol GTX Mustang easily stood up. This is Force Hood’s seventh career No. 1 start and first in Englishtown.
“Thankfully, all three of our runs were good runs,” said Force Hood, who clocked a 4.202 on Saturday’s run. “We’ll take any of our qualifying runs on race day. We would have liked to have gotten a fourth run, but we are just as content to go into race day with three runs. We’ll see what we can do here at Englishtown tomorrow.
“We are just going to take it one round at a time. You are not always No. 1 because you had three great runs. Sometimes you are No. 1 because you had one stellar run. I think our confidence comes from having three good runs. One of them was in the night session and we got the No. 1 spot, but as a whole, we have made it down the track every run. We will try to do that every time down the track tomorrow. I’ve run down both lanes. I don’t have issues with either lane, so I am very confident about tomorrow.”
Tony Pedregon was quickest of the day with a 4.144 that nearly matched the 4.142 that garnered him the third starting spot behind Force Hood and her teammate Mike Neff. Robert Hight, Bob Tasca III, Del Worsham, Tim Wilkerson, and Jim Head round out the top eight. With just 16 Funny Cars on the property, everyone was guaranteed a starting spot. Jack Beckman earned the final one, giving him a first-round date with Force Hood; it is the second straight race the two have met in the opening round.
Also in the first round, Hight will take on boss John Force, and Tim Wilkerson draws points leader Ron Capps. Cory Lee, who is making his first NHRA appearance in years, placed 14th on the ladder and will race Pedregon in round one.
Ron Krisher
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Krisher stunned everyone when he grabbed the No. 1 spot in Pro Stock. Running in the second to last pair, Krisher wheeled his Valvoline-backed entry to a 6.583 that held through the final pair, which included Mike Edwards and Allen Johnson, the two hottest drivers in the class right now. Edwards made a nice run for the top spot, but his 6.598 came up just short, placing him second. This is Krisher’s first top start of this year, and it came at a particularly good time for him because Krisher entered the event eighth in the K&N Horsepower Challenge points, and this helped him hold on to that final spot in the bonus event.
“It [the bonus event] has been on my mind for a couple of weeks,” said Krisher. “We’ve been struggling; we got into this string of red-lights and it’s just been killing us. It’s always nice to get into the bonus program: everyone’s got a shot to win, and you get a nice jacket and a couple of bucks.
“We’ve got the same motor we’ve had in all year; we’ve just been having trouble with the car and the clutch. But we learned a lot of things this weekend. We knew what we were looking at, and we knew what we had to do to fix it, and when we went out this morning, it was fixed. We were picking it up on every run, but Allen [Johnson] snuck past us last night.”
Greg Anderson jumped up to the third spot when he improved to a 6.600, and Kurt Johnson put a 6.605 on the boards to claim the fourth starting spot. First-day leader Allen Johnson matched his 6.607 from Friday during Saturday’s run, but with others making big gains, that dropped him to fifth. Warren Johnson is sixth, followed by Greg Stanfield and Jeg Coughlin. V. Gaines earned the final starting spot with a 6.667.
One race after qualifying in his Pro Stock debut, Ryan Ondrejko was unable to break into the quick 16. Joining Ondrejko on the sidelines are Dave Northrop, Ronnie Humphrey, Bob Benza, Erica Enders, and John Gaydosh.
In one of the better pairings of the opening round in any category, Coughlin will race Jason Line.
Hector Arana
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Arana put his Lucas Oil-backed Buell at the top of the sheets in Pro Stock Motorcycle, clocking a 6.965 to claim his second career No. 1 start (his first came more than 15 years ago, in 1994 in Gainesville).
“This is the first time in a long time that I’ve been No. 1 and it feels pretty good,” said Arana. “I’ve been close a couple of times but someone, usually Matt Smith, comes along and knocks me down at the last minute. I did my rain dance so nobody got that chance today. Seriously, I think we were going to be okay even if we had run because that 6.96 was pretty good.
“We changed engines for this morning’s run, and obviously the new one is pretty good. I think we’re going to be okay tomorrow.”
Matt Guidera, who won last weekend in Chicago, joined Arana in the sixes, posting a 6.985 for the second spot. Friday’s leader Craig Treble was unable to improve on his 7.008 and dropped to third. Harley teammates Eddie Krawiec and Andrew Hines are next on the sheets with 7.011 and 7.012 clockings. Karen Stoffer, Michael Phillips, and Steve Johnson are sixth through eighth, respectively. Only 16 bikes entered the event, giving them all a Sunday start. Bailey Whitaker is the final qualifier and will face Arana in the opening round.
In some of the other first-round matches, Johnson will face rookie Doug Horne, Phillips has Matt Smith, and Stoffer squares off with Shawn Gann.
On Saturday, June 13, ESPN2 and ESPN2HD will televise one hour of qualifying highlights at 7 p.m. ET. On Sunday, June 14, ESPN2 and ESPN2HD will televise NHRA Race Day presented by Lucas Oil, the 30-minute pre-race show, at 12 p.m. ET and three hours of eliminations at 10 p.m. ET.
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Friday: Schumacher, Force Hood, AJ, Treble first-day leaders in E-Town