NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

E3 SPARK PLUGS PRO MOD SERIES FINAL (4:50 p.m.): Jose Gonzalez became the first Dominican driver to win an NHRA national event title when he drove his turbocharged Q80 Camaro to a win in Pro Mod but all eyes were on runner-up Stevie “Fast” Jackson who crashed his supercharged Bahrain1 Camaro after the finish line. Gonzalez drove to a 5.743, 254.09 for the win over Jackson’s 5.763, 243.68. Rickie Smith and Brandon Snider finished as semifinalists. Jackson’s Camaro made contact with both retaining walls but he was able to emerge from the wreckage under his own power.

LUCAS OIL SPORTSMAN SERIES RESULTS
Final round results for all classes:

Top Alcohol Dragster
Megan Meyer def. Dan Page

Top Alcohol Funny Car
Annie Whiteley def. D.J Cox

Competition
Frank Aragona Jr. def. Al Ackerman

Super Stock
Anthony Bertozzi def. Bryan Worner

Stock
Thomas Fletcher def. Jack Zimmerman

Super Comp
Jonathan Anderson def. Sherman Adcock Jr.

Super Gas
Ken Griffiths def. Steven Furr

Top Dragster presented by Racing RVs.com
Holden Laris def. Larry Roberts

Top Sportsman presented by Racing RVs.com
Don O’Neal def. Sandy Wilkins  

Top Fuel winner Steve Torrence: “It’s pretty unbelievable. We didn’t do the best through qualifying. We haven’t had the best car all year. We’ve been working on some stuff. I think that we could easily go back and run what we did at the end of last year and just stay consistently there but you have to constantly evolve your program. You’ve got to change and try to go quicker. It’s something you have to keep working at so Richard [Hogan, crew chief] has been trying things. No better time to do it than during qualifying. Even though it’s frustrating I know there is some light at the end of the tunnel. The car is doing really well. It did what it was supposed to. I’ll put Richard Hogan up against anyone else when the track gets greasy. That guy can go down a wet street.

“In the final round I went up there and I was looking at the wrong side of the Tree and I ended up double-bulbing. I had to get out and apologize to those guys. I did not mean to do that I just saw the second light come on and realized it was mine before I rolled through. I just drive the race car and make sure I don’t run over anything or do anything dumb. I had my money on Doug. Thought we might have our hands full with those guys. A win is a win. We need those Mello Yello points and we need those gold men [Wallys].

Funny Car winner Cruz Pedregon: “Ninety two is a good number. I didn’t have any number that was even on the record. When I pulled up to the race and I saw Tommy [Johnson]. That’s a DSR car. They’re a good car. We’ve got our work cut out for us and I said, ‘You know, I just don’t want to do everything I can to not finish fourth.’ I actually didn’t believe my ears when Caleb [Cox, team manager] told me we won. I really needed to make sure I heard that right. I was surreal. I still cannot believe we won this race. It’s pretty cool."

“When I signed with Snap-on in 2010 I had a team where everyone had left me. Snap-on came on board and sponsored me and within a year we were winning races. I was tuning the car but my plate was full. We had something that no one else had. We had it going on and then in 2014 we started to win less races and in 2015 we just hit the wall. There was some technology going on in Funny Car that we weren’t privy to and we fell behind. I had to regroup. I hired Aaron Brooks; a young guy who is hungry and very dedicated. Thankfully, we were joined this year by Glen Huszar, who has a lot of years with DSR and Kalitta. It’s been a 1-2 punch. No question Aaron has been a great asset.”

Pro Stock winner Erica Enders: “I am not shy to compliment my guys. In my opinion I have the baddest group in all of motorsports. Rick and Rickie [Jones] are great crew chiefs and chassis builders and more importantly, they are the best people on the planet. [Going to a Jerry Haas chassis] was the change that unfortunately we were needing to make in order to have on-track success and that’s what we did. This is the first time we’ve had a fast really consistent race car in a long time.

“We hurt a motor in the final in Houston last week against Matt Hartford, who was running one of our Elite engines and we got beat. I have also been a runner-up but I’ve never won the Four-Wide. In 2012, we were in the final here and I thought my win light came on. It would have been my first win in Pro Stock and the first win for a female. It turns out the win went to Greg Anderson’s team and he was obviously ahead. It was like one of those bad Aston Kucher videos where you just got punked. It’s great to come back and finally win the four-wide six years later. That’s a long time but it was worth it.”

Pro Stock Motorcycle winner: Jerry Savoie: “We struggled all weekend. We made one hit on the first engine and then changed it. Tim [Kulungian, crew chief] worked hard all winter to get these things right and we’ve been struggling. We made the decision to pull it out and put another one in. We worked last night until about 10:30 and said, ‘Let’s give it all we’ve got.’ We went out there today and I think we showed some real promise. We figured some things out. We ran a 6.76 and that was impressive.

“A guy like LE [Tonglet, teammate] when you put him on the bike you don’t have to judge right or wrong. I’ve known Mr. Gary [Tonglet] for 45 years and I think we click really well. We thrive on each other. In E2 I knew he was in the other lane and I had to cut a good light. You had Andrew Hines and LE and Angelle Sampey. Angelle is not a slouch. She can cut a light. I went up there and it finally came together. I did my job and we ran some good numbers.”

Sunday recap: Pedregon, Enders return to winner's circle; Torrence, Savoie also nab four-wide wins

PRE-RACE FEATURES

Antron Brown holds a unique distinction in four-wide history: He’s the only driver in all four Mello Yello classes to “hit for the cycle”: finishing in all four positions.

He won the event twice (back to back in 2014 and 2015) and was runner-up in 2016. He’s finished third twice (2012 and 2010), and fourth at the four-wide race in Las Vegas earlier this season.

Brown has had good success at both Charlotte events, winning three times at the fall event (2011, 2015, and 2016), making him the winningest driver in track history.

“Charlotte has always been a real special place for us,” he said. “We just love coming here. It's one of those big arena-type tracks. It's the biggest racetrack on the tour. It's just a terrific place to race, the Taj Mahal of racetracks. Our Matco Tools team knows how much that track means and what a big event the Four-Wide is. Running two four-wide races within a month is just going to make it even more competitive.  Everyone is going to be more comfortable having run more four-wide rounds and be able elevate their game. The main thing is just making it to the finals. Once you get to the finals, it's anybody's game. We were close in Las Vegas, we just had a couple of mishaps and now we need to capitalize on it in here."

With a victory, Brown also would become just the fourth driver in NHRA history to win 50 Top Fuel events along with Tony Schumacher, Larry Dixon and Joe Amato.

Amalie Motor Oil Gatornationals Top Fuel runner Shawn Reed and the Hughes Oilfield Transportation/Paton Racing team are making their first outing since that momentous event in March where Reed reached his first career Top Fuel final.

Reed had to bypass a normal outing in Houston last weekend due to a scheduling conflict with his boat-racing efforts as the Lucas Oil Drag Boat Series had its opener in Bakersfield, Calif. Reed is the three-time and defending Pro Mod champ in the series.

The team lost its first run in Charlotte when the parachutes –- which have been giving them fits at the other end of the track -– came out on the launch this time, but they rebounded with a nice 3.83 in the evening session that ended up being gfood enough for the No. 9 spot when qualifying ended. The run. However, was punctuated by a broken connecting rod that quickly broke three others, leaving the team scratching its head.

“It happened after I lifted; we don’t know why,” said Reed. “It’s not as bad s it looks --the crank still spins – but still … We have to figure that out before we try to go much faster. Right now we’re good for low .80s but that can get you to the final.”

The team’s near miss in Gainesville was the result of a rocker-arm that led to a broken exhaust valve on fire up and fuel spewing from one cylinder, forcing them to be shut off on the starting line without a chance to race Richie Crampton for the money.

“That was a shame; I think we could have given him a run,” he said. “He only went 3.85 and I know we could have run that, too.

“We’re really happy with the progress we’ve made over the last four seasons,” he added. “In less than 20 events we’ve gone from being a 4.0 car to a 3.80 car; that’s a big step. We’ve got way nicer stuff than we’ve ever had, we’ve got a new rig –- we don’t look like a snowmobile team anymore -– and we’ve got new [uniforms]. We’re looking the part, too.”

Todd Paton may compete with the car in Atlanta next weekend to keep his license current and may also run Reading later this year. Reed will be back in the car for Bristol, Epping, Sonoma, Seattle, St. Louis, Dallas, Las Vegas, and Pomona.

One week after qualifying in the No. 1 spot in Houston, Leah Pritchett and her DSR/ Pennzoil team have ridden out a frustrating four qualifying sessions in Charlotte, ending up in the No. 15 spot. Her best pass was a 4.00 in the third session and any hopes for a hero run in the final session went out the door in a frustrating way when she was timed out on the starting line.

It’s certainly not the way she imagined that her milestone 100th career event would go.

 “The positive is that we are in the field,” she said. “It’s awesome to qualify for our 100th professional event. There is some obvious frustration with how the last qualifying session went, but the best part is you can win from any qualifying position. There are four lanes to race in and they are all unique. I’m confident we can get down each one of them. 

"Coming into Q4, we were in a similar situation as last weekend in Houston. We had to put it to it. Really go hard at it and that was our plan. And after further review of the video, there was an issue with the (staging) beams. The car moved a significant amount and never turned the bottom bulb on, which of course resulted in us timing out and getting a red light. It’s something we definitely need to take up with NHRA. Those are the complications you are going to have running four-wide at different times of the day. I’m proud of our team that we were able to qualify for this race and we do have a hot rod that has come around every run and made progress each time. If anything, this is just fuel for the fire for us to give everybody an absolute run for their money [Sunday].” 

The news was not much better for Pritchett in her other weekend ride in the SAM Tech Factory Stock Showdown. After qualifying No. 1 in impressive fashion with an 8.047. at 170.64 mph, she was upset in round one by Arthur Kohn, 8.11 to 8.17.

The unique format of the four-wide events, which allows the first two of four finishers to advance to the next round, had made for some interesting stats over the years. From the beginning, racers figured out that, ironically, they could “lose” two rounds (i.e., be second across the finish line) and still win the race if they crossed the finish line first in the final.

Just ask Robert Hight, who looks like the proverbial cat who ate the canary in the photo at right as he shared the winner’s circle with then-crew chief Mike Neff in 2014 after winning nothing but the final.

Hight qualified No. 2 in 2014 and was second across the stripe in round one behind Matt Hagan but just barely edged out Jack Beckman by less than a thousandth of a second to finished second and the right to advance. In the semifinals, Hight trailed his boss, John Force, across the stripe but finished ahead of Tommy Johnson Jr. and Hagan. Hight saved his best run of eliminations for the final, reversing his semifinal outcome by edging Force as both finished ahead of Alexis DeJoria and Tim Wilkerson (Force on a holeshot). 

It’s happened two other times in Charlotte four-wide history, with Greg Anderson in 2011 and Andrew Hines in 2016.

Anderson “lost” the first round on a holeshot to Allen Johnson, but still finished ahead of Kurt Johnson and Ronnie Humphrey. In the semifinals, he finished second to Greg Stanfield but ahead of Allen Johnson and Mike Edwards to reach the final, where he beat Stanfield, Dave Connolly, and Vincent Nobile to claim the win.

Hines’ 2016 win was his third in a row at the event, but it started with a first-round holeshot loss to Jerry Savoie, 6.85 to 6.81, but Hines still finished ahead of Brian Pretzel and Jimmy Underdahl to advance. In the semifinals, he finished second to Harley teammate Eddie Krawiec, 6.81 to 6,85, but ahead of Savoie and Michael Ray. In the final, Hines slapped a .002 light on his foes and raced to the win ahead of Krawiec, Chip Ellis, and Matt Smith.

On the flip side, a number of drivers have won all three of their rounds: Brittany Force (2016), Antron Brown (2015), Spencer Massey (2013), and Del Worsham (2011) all did it in Top Fuel, while Funny Car drivers Tim Wilkerson (2016), Hagan (2013), and Beckman (2011) also pulled off the hat trick. Chris McGaha won last year’s Pro Stock title with a 3-0 record, as did Jason Line the year before that. Mike Edwards pulled off the feat twice, in 2013 and at the inaugural event in 2010. Hines was perfect in winning the 2015 event, as was Matt Smith in 2010.

The turnaround by Ron Capps, tuner Rahn Tobler, and the NAPA Auto Parts team after a tough outing in Houston -- No. 14 qualifying spot and a first-round exit -- was profound as the former world championship team rebounded to seize the No. 2 qualifying spot with a string of good runs including three-second passes on three of four passes, something that no other team in the class was able to do.

“We really put ourselves in a hole during qualifying in Houston, but you’ve heard me brag about Tobler and our team time and time again,” he said. “No matter where we qualify, I think we have a fighting chance, and I wouldn’t want to be the guy or gal in the other lane racing our NAPA car on Sunday morning. 

"I'm so lucky to be able to drive this race car. There's a lot to be said about adapting to conditions, adapting to race tracks, and adapting run to run. These are the most volatile cars, but they're also the most meticulous. They've got to be babied at times, but [yesterday] Tobler really showed the championship form we've had for the past couple of years when we ran a 96 (3.967) in the heat of the day and no one else went down. I was smiling the whole time the 'chutes were out and I got on the radio and said 'That's my boy, Tobler!'

"[Today] is going to bring conditions that we really went to the six-disc (clutch) for. It's going to be fast, it's going to be cool out and we never felt like we could run as good as the six-disc cars did in those conditions. I'm really excited to be able to go up there tomorrow and see what Tobler has in store for us. We won this race last year, and we'll see if we can do that again [today]."

In addition to being the defending event champ, Capps also has three third-place finishes on his event resumé.

Kalitta Motorsports could reach its milestone 100th win today if they can get to the winner’s circle in both Top Fuel and Funny Car. Red-hot J.R. Todd, winner of the last two events -– including the four-wide in Las Vegas -– would appear to be one of their best bets, though the DHL Funny Car team struggled in qualifying with only one good pass out of four.

Doug Kalitta, who’s been to four four-wide Top Fuel finals but never finished better than third (three times!), meanwhile looked great in qualifying with three full pulls and a No. 6 qualifying berth.

Shawn Langdon, in the second Kalitta Funny Car, the Global Electronics Toyota, reached three four-wide finals while in Top Fuel with a best finish of runner-up and, like Todd’s team, only got one good run in during qualifying.

Richie Crampton, who scored earlier this year for Team Kalitta in Top Fuel in Gainesville, struggled worst of all, not making the field until the final qualifying session, but with different conditions today, anything can happen.

The good news-bad news dilemma is that Todd and Langdon are both in the same first-round quad, as are Kalitta and Langdon. If all four can advance, the odds of getting to 100 increase exponentially.

Ten drivers have contributed to the team’s 98 wins, led by the Kalitta clan, which has scored 72 of them -- Doug (44), Scott (18), and Connie (10) – with additional wins scored by Todd, Crampton, David Grubnic, Jeff Arend, Del Worsham, Alexis DeJoria, and Hillary Will.

Alex Laughlin is wheeling the same Jerry Haas-built Camaro this weekend that he raced a week ago in Houston but the car looks much different thanks to his one-race sponsorship with Tige Boats. Laughlin’s car also appears to be behaving differently. Laughlin qualified No. 9 in Houston and reached the quarterfinals but he felt that he had a very competitive race car underneath him. This weekend, he’s starting from the No. 12 spot after a 6.571 best, but he’s nearly four-hundredths off the pace set by low qualifier Drew Skillman.

“I can’t explain it but we just haven’t run very well this weekend,” said Laughlin. “After the way we ran in Houston, and the way we’ve run earlier this year I didn’t expect to come in here and be No. 12. It’s not one big thing; it’s just a bunch of little things that have cost us. Basically, dumb problems.”

Asked to elaborate, Laughlin offered up the following example.

“We changed engines and when we installed the fuel injection we didn’t get it right and the throttle wouldn’t open all the way. We were getting more fuel than air and that obviously killed one of our runs. When that happens, you’re immediately behind the eight-ball because there’s not much data you can use. At this race, you only get to make one [qualifying] run in each lane so that kills whatever data you have for that lane. We ran better on Q4 but even then, I tagged the chip [rev limiter] so that run wasn’t as quick as it could have been. The good news is that all happened in qualifying and we can start over on Sunday. Hopefully, we’ve put all the stupid stuff behind us.”

He is the defending event champion at the NGK Spark Plugs Four-Wide Nationals so Chris McGaha is not only familiar with four-across racing, he’s relatively comfortable with it. Regardless of past experience, McGaha admits that the twice-a-year event is no easier to win than a traditional Mello Yello series Pro Stock race.

“Look at this [qualifying] sheet. There are no easy quads,” said McGaha. “That’s pretty much the case at any race but especially here. There are no gimmes. I guess you could say that you get a second chance because you can get beat twice and still make the final, but that really doesn’t make it any easier. You still need a good car and you need to make good runs and even with that, you’re going to need some luck. I can tell you we had a bit last year when we won this race.”

McGaha qualified his Harlow Sammons Camaro in the No. 10 spot; a bit of a disappointment for someone who has been third, fourth, and sixth at the last three races. His opening quad will also include Greg Anderson, Kenny Delco, and Tanner Gray.

“It doesn’t bother me that we qualified where we did,” McGaha said. “I was third quickest in Q3 but we missed the good session. Hell, lately, we’ve run so bad in that session that we’re not afraid to try something. I never seems to work out anyway. The only thing about this race is that I’d prefer to be in lane four. I think that’s the best of them. Either that or lane one because when you’re in the middle two lanes you have to look across at the Tree. That’s where people get confused. Basically, you just roll up there with your best stuff and see how it all works out. That’s what we do around here, anyway.”

Tanner Gray prides himself on his driving ability so it’s no surprise that winning a four-wide race is something that he covets as much or more than any other national event victory. Gray made it to the semifinals of the recent four-wide race in Las Vegas and he turned in a similar finish at last year’s Charlotte four-wide race.

“For me personally, I feel pretty good. I’m hitting the Tree and my lights have all been good,” said Gray. “The car isn’t perfect but I actually think we’ve been making better runs than we’ve shown. We messed up in Q2 that that was the fast session. It’s hard to come back from that but at the same time, I’m not that concerned about qualifying. This field is so tough that it’s all about who gets the clutch pedal out first. My lights have all been .021 or better so I feel good there. I like this [four-wide] deal. It wouldn’t bother me if they were all four-wide races.”

There are no easy quads but Gray’s is particularly tough with defending event winner Chris McGaha, veteran Kenny Delco, and four-time world champ Greg Anderson.

 

After watching his son, Hector Jr., run the sport’s first official 200-mph Pro Stock Motorcycle run in Gainesville, Hector Arana Sr. knows it’s just a matter of time before he also joins the Mickey Thompson 200 MPH Club. Arana Sr. made a pair of 199-mph runs during qualifying for the NGK Spark Plugs Four-Wide Nationals and admits that he could have run faster if his Lucas Oil EBR would cooperate and make a straight run down the zMax Dragway quarter-mile.

“I’m not sure what the problem is but I haven’t made a straight run yet,” said Arana. “In Gainesville, every run I made was right down the middle but I’m struggling here. I know we spun the tire a couple of times but even when it doesn’t spin, I have to do a lot of corrections and that hurts the speed and the E.T. Still, we’ve got a good bike and I know I can win some rounds.”

Should he run over 200-mph on Sunday, and there is a good chance he will given the cooler air temperatures in the forecast, Arana Sr. will become the second member of the Mickey Thompson 200-mph Club. The club, which was announced prior to the Gainesville event, is open to the first four riders who eclipse the double-century mark at an NHRA Mello Yello Series event. Last year, Arana Sr. ran over 200-mph during a non-NHRA event in Maryland.

As for Sunday’s final eliminations, Arana will have his hands full. The 2009 world champion is in a tough quad that also features five-time champion Andrew Hines, three-time champion Angelle Sampey, and Karen Stoffer, and eight-time national event winner.

As they often do, the Stoffer/Underdahl team brought four Suzuki entries to the Four-Wide Nationals and all four of them qualified for the tough field. Given that there were 21 bikes vying for just 16 spots, that is no mean feat. Scotty Pollacheck put his Suzuki Extended Protection entry into the No. 3 spot with a 6.816, 195.34 while Joey Gladstone is No. 10, Karen Stoffer is No. 13, and Jimmy Underdahl is on the bump with a 6.942, 195.25 on the team’s second Suzuki extended protection bike. It wasn’t part of the plan but all four bikes landed in different quads which means that the possibility does exist for all of them to make it to the final round of the unique four-wide event.

“That would be amazing but first we probably should worry about getting all of them past the first round, “ said Stoffer. “I do think that it’s a big deal just for us to have all four of our bikes in this field. It’s not easy out here; we have a lot of bikes and all of them are good. You can’t come out here and take qualifying for granted. I was No. 13 and Jimmy just barely made it in No. 16 but we’re all here and racing on Sunday and that was our primary goal. That’s a testament to our crew chiefs Gary [Stoffer, husband] and Greg [Underdahl]. They’ve done a great job preparing four bikes and keeping us all competitive.”

Qualifying in the bottom half of the field does not bother Stoffer one bit. She knows that the unique format of the four-wide lends itself to upsets and that lane choice is probably less critical than it is on any other track on the tour. Stoffer also has history on her side. She is one of the few NHRA pros to win a national event from the No. 16 spot. She accomplished that feat during the first of her two Gainesville victories in 2007 when she defeated Matt Smith in the final round.

The one nice thing about the 16-race schedule for Pro Stock Motorcycle racers is the generous five-week break between the first race in Gainesville and the second event in Charlotte. That break gives teams an additional chance to develop new ideas, test, or otherwise right any wrongs they’ve discovered at the start of the season. That philosophy certainly applies to Team Liberty racers Cory Reed and Angelle Sampey.

Reed and Sampey both qualified easily for the Gainesville opener, which was a big departure from last season, where they struggled to make the field at certain events. Three-time world champ Sampey is more than ready to get back on track after the five-week break especially after the team made a huge change when they abandoned their Victory Gunner bodies and replaced them with the more popular Buell bodies. While Sampey spent most of her career aboard a Suzuki, she has also ridden a Buell and admits that body fits her 5-foot frame more comfortably.

“I’m looking forward to a change we have made more than I can explain,” Sampey said shortly after she arrived in Concord. “I haven’t been really comfortable on the bike in a while but this weekend I think that’s all going to change. Confidence is a huge part of what we do. This is such a mental sport and I need to feel like I am capable of winning. Without that feeling, you may as well just stay home.”

During qualifying, Reed nearly matched his career-best with a 6.838 and shot to the top of the qualifying charts on Friday. Even though he was eventually bumped to No. 7, he’s more than happy with the change. Sampey struggled on her first runs, before eventually settling into the No. 12 spot with a 6.898, 196.30 best.  

“I didn’t make a single pass this weekend all the way on the throttle,” Sampey said. “I have been moving around on the bike in all four lanes, so I know we have a ton left in it still and that’s really exciting. This weekend has been a corner-turning weekend for our team and I’m really excited to see our potential moving forward.”

PHOTOS

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and ThorSport Racing drivers Matt Crafton and Myatt Snider (pictured with NHRA’s Joe Castello) joined NHRA stars and fans on the traditional pre-race SealMaster Track Walk. SealMaster is a sister company with ThorSport Racing. 

The always-animated Antron Brown was warmly welcomed by fan during the pre-racer ceremony. Brown is a two-time Four-Wide Nationals winner and the winningest Top Fuel driver in zMAX Dragway history.

For the third time this year, Courtney Force and her Advanced Auto Parts team took the stage as the Funny Car low qualifiers, and Courtney went big with a team-wide selfie.