Five things we learned at testing
Silly Season Scorecard
A look at the Funny Car performance surge
Does Winternationals success equal season success?
Intriguing storylines to kick off the 2017 season
2016 Champions By the Numbers
2016 Pro Stock Qualifying by the Numbers
2016 Nitro Qualifying By the Numbers
Saving the best for last
It all comes down to Pomona
One down, three to go
Rookie report card
Thinning the herd
Survival of the fastest
A St. Louis Shake-up
Welcome to the Countdown
Land of 10,000 horsepower
Upset winners
Emerald City makeover
Heard it through the grapevine
Prime-time players
Sweeping the Western Swing
Chi-Town Turnaround
Funny Car milestones
'Eastern Swing' MVP
A storm is a-brewin'
Super Summernationals
An epic Epping
Holding the Line
Record weekend
Record weekend
The Funny Car class as a whole put on one of the best qualifying sessions in recent memory Friday night. Eleven drivers recorded three-second elapsed times, five of whom ran quicker than the previous national e.t. record. Matt Hagan stood out with an incredible 3.862 at 335.57 mph to set the national e.t. and speed records.
Hagan parlayed his incredible performance into his second consecutive victory in the Mopar Express Lane Dodge Charger. He ran in the mid-3.90s on a warmer racing surface Sunday until the final round, where he and teammate Jack Beckman engaged in a wild pedalfest. Hagan smoked the tires later in the run but fought hard to keep it off the centerline for a winning e.t. of 5.72 seconds, which was a half-tenth slower than the pass made by the winning driver in Top Alcohol Funny Car.
“It was wild,” said Hagan. “It’s important to put everything in perspective. We set world records for e.t. and speed, and then to come back out here to win this race is a tribute to my guys and their hard work. My butt was puckered pretty good on that last run.”
Hagan moved all the way from No. 9 to No. 4 in the Mello Yello standings. His struggles during the early season started in testing, and crew chief Dickie Venables began to turn the corner with changes made after the Las Vegas event.
“We didn’t change much over the winter,” said Venables. “We had a different clutch controller but the same engine combination and clutch setup with some different discs. The only thing we did after Vegas was we reconfigured the lockup part of the clutch and made some disc changes. It makes you think, ‘Are you kidding me?! That’s all that was making us miserable?!’ ”
10,000-horsepower nitro Funny Cars are fickle beasts.
Hagan moved all the way from No. 9 to No. 4 in the Mello Yello standings. His struggles during the early season started in testing, and crew chief Dickie Venables began to turn the corner with changes made after the Las Vegas event.
“We didn’t change much over the winter,” said Venables. “We had a different clutch controller but the same engine combination and clutch setup with some different discs. The only thing we did after Vegas was we reconfigured the lockup part of the clutch and made some disc changes. It makes you think, ‘Are you kidding me?! That’s all that was making us miserable?!’ ”
10,000-horsepower nitro Funny Cars are fickle beasts.
Three-peat: Doug Kalitta achieved a personal milestone by winning three consecutive events for the first time. His performance behind the wheel of the Mac Tools dragster was the deciding factor in all three final rounds. Though Kalitta is far too modest to boast about his driving prowess, crew chief Jim Oberhofer has stated that Kalitta is one of the greatest Top Fuel drivers of all time.
In Houston and Atlanta, both wins were sealed by holeshot victories against respective final-round opponents Steve Torrence and J.R. Todd. Kalitta scored the 11th victory for Kalitta Motorsports at Heartland Park Topeka by defeating Antron Brown in a wild pedalfest. The 1994 USAC Sprint Car champion relied on some of his experience as he pedaled his dragster six or seven times, once in a sideways slide that ripped a side panel off the side of the dragster, to reach the finish line before Brown.
“It’s a seat-of-your-pants kind of deal, and you try to stay off the centerline and not hit the wall,” said Kalitta. “I think I had it more sideways than I’ve ever had a Top Fuel car before. It finally straightened out, and we were fortunate to get the win.”
He made up for lost time by sweeping the table with a No. 1 qualifying position, low e.t., top speed, and the victory. He called the 6.578-second pass that he made Friday one of the best runs he has made in the fuel-injection era when factored for the weather conditions. Line joked about not knowing where to find the pressroom Friday because he had never performed well enough there to merit an interview, and he ended the weekend referencing the facility as his new favorite track.
“It was the perfect weekend,” said Line. “It was an exciting weekend for me, and we didn’t mess it up. It’s a big deal to me. It’s nice to win at some place you’ve never done well. I really can’t stop smiling right now. There were times I had good cars here but didn’t drive well. This weekend, everything came together.”
By defeating teammate Greg Anderson in the final, Line scored his fifth win of the season and has appeared in all eight finals. Drivers from Ken Black’s stable have been in both spots in the final at all but one event this season and have won them all.
Following the incredible Friday night qualifying session by the Funny Car class, a pair of Top Fuel dragsters ran career bests prior to Brittany Force setting a new national record of 3.676 seconds at the back of the line. Two races after his car was destroyed in a huge engine explosion, Terry McMillen triumphantly wheeled his Amalie Motor Oil-sponsored dragster into the 3.7-second zone for the first time with a 3.762. In the same session, Scott Palmer ran his career best of 3.872 seconds. There was minimal parts attrition in both cases.
In Funny Car, Brian Stewart lowered his career-best e.t. three times with runs of 4.080, 4.076, and 4.065 in his Daniel Wilkerson-tuned machine. The car, which he purchased from Tim Wilkerson following Wilkerson’s win in Phoenix, may be back on loan to Wilkerson following a scary semifinal incident in which Wilkerson’s car veered to the wall in his lane and coasted back to the wall on the other side.
Special Awards
Best run: Matt Hagan’s 3.862, 335.57 in Funny Car Q2
The quickest and fastest run of a historic quick and fast session takes this distinction. Crew chief Dickie Venables thinks there was more on the table. Hagan ran harder in the back half of the run than any driver, though there were different split and incremental times during the same session in which Jack Beckman, Alexis DeJoria, and Tim Wilkerson were historically quick or fast.
He has a good hot rod, and he is there to make the difference when it takes that little bit extra to reach the winner’s circle. He had the best reaction time of the race (.023) in the first round and did a masterful pedaljob in the final.
Crew chief of the race: Dickie Venables
They’re back. Matt Hagan won back-to-back races for only the second time in his career and ran the table in the process with national e.t. and speed records. What more can a team accomplish at a single event?
Best race: Richie Crampton vs. Tony Schumacher, Top Fuel round two
The defending event champion had been working hard to improve his reaction times, and it paid off in the second round when Crampton was quick enough on the Tree to hold off “the Sarge” in a 3.781 to 3.782 contest that was decided by a hundredth.
Stat of the race: 12
Twelve Funny Cars recorded three-second runs during qualifying. The previous high mark was 10.
In Houston and Atlanta, both wins were sealed by holeshot victories against respective final-round opponents Steve Torrence and J.R. Todd. Kalitta scored the 11th victory for Kalitta Motorsports at Heartland Park Topeka by defeating Antron Brown in a wild pedalfest. The 1994 USAC Sprint Car champion relied on some of his experience as he pedaled his dragster six or seven times, once in a sideways slide that ripped a side panel off the side of the dragster, to reach the finish line before Brown.
“It’s a seat-of-your-pants kind of deal, and you try to stay off the centerline and not hit the wall,” said Kalitta. “I think I had it more sideways than I’ve ever had a Top Fuel car before. It finally straightened out, and we were fortunate to get the win.”
He made up for lost time by sweeping the table with a No. 1 qualifying position, low e.t., top speed, and the victory. He called the 6.578-second pass that he made Friday one of the best runs he has made in the fuel-injection era when factored for the weather conditions. Line joked about not knowing where to find the pressroom Friday because he had never performed well enough there to merit an interview, and he ended the weekend referencing the facility as his new favorite track.
“It was the perfect weekend,” said Line. “It was an exciting weekend for me, and we didn’t mess it up. It’s a big deal to me. It’s nice to win at some place you’ve never done well. I really can’t stop smiling right now. There were times I had good cars here but didn’t drive well. This weekend, everything came together.”
By defeating teammate Greg Anderson in the final, Line scored his fifth win of the season and has appeared in all eight finals. Drivers from Ken Black’s stable have been in both spots in the final at all but one event this season and have won them all.
Following the incredible Friday night qualifying session by the Funny Car class, a pair of Top Fuel dragsters ran career bests prior to Brittany Force setting a new national record of 3.676 seconds at the back of the line. Two races after his car was destroyed in a huge engine explosion, Terry McMillen triumphantly wheeled his Amalie Motor Oil-sponsored dragster into the 3.7-second zone for the first time with a 3.762. In the same session, Scott Palmer ran his career best of 3.872 seconds. There was minimal parts attrition in both cases.
In Funny Car, Brian Stewart lowered his career-best e.t. three times with runs of 4.080, 4.076, and 4.065 in his Daniel Wilkerson-tuned machine. The car, which he purchased from Tim Wilkerson following Wilkerson’s win in Phoenix, may be back on loan to Wilkerson following a scary semifinal incident in which Wilkerson’s car veered to the wall in his lane and coasted back to the wall on the other side.
Special Awards
Best run: Matt Hagan’s 3.862, 335.57 in Funny Car Q2
The quickest and fastest run of a historic quick and fast session takes this distinction. Crew chief Dickie Venables thinks there was more on the table. Hagan ran harder in the back half of the run than any driver, though there were different split and incremental times during the same session in which Jack Beckman, Alexis DeJoria, and Tim Wilkerson were historically quick or fast.
He has a good hot rod, and he is there to make the difference when it takes that little bit extra to reach the winner’s circle. He had the best reaction time of the race (.023) in the first round and did a masterful pedaljob in the final.
Crew chief of the race: Dickie Venables
They’re back. Matt Hagan won back-to-back races for only the second time in his career and ran the table in the process with national e.t. and speed records. What more can a team accomplish at a single event?
Best race: Richie Crampton vs. Tony Schumacher, Top Fuel round two
The defending event champion had been working hard to improve his reaction times, and it paid off in the second round when Crampton was quick enough on the Tree to hold off “the Sarge” in a 3.781 to 3.782 contest that was decided by a hundredth.
Stat of the race: 12
Twelve Funny Cars recorded three-second runs during qualifying. The previous high mark was 10.