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QUALIFYING ROUND RECAPS

PRO STOCK Q3 (1:59 p.m.): Alex Laughlin is still chasing his second career No. 1 qualifier. He made his quickest pass of the EFI era with a 6.529-second run, which narrowly snatched pole back from Greg Anderson, who made a 6.53 pass earlier in the penultimate session of the NHRA Arizona Nationals. The top five qualifiers all made their runs in the third qualifying session, as Chris McGaha (6.534), Deric Kramer (6.534) and Drew Skillman (6.55) all stepped up in the favorable Saturday conditions. Still, it looks like Laughlin and the Hot Wheels Car Care Products team has the Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park track figured out as they’ve gotten quicker on every pass.

TOP FUEL Q3 (2:45 p.m.): After Friday night’s hero session, a lot of teams had troubles trying to stay hooked up in the warmer conditions (or were trying to better their Friday efforts) as only eight of the 19 cars that ran registered a three-second pass, led by Leah Pritchett, who jumped to the No. 3 qualifying spot with a 3.679 at 334.15, which tied the fourth fastest speed in class history (five of the top 10 have been recorded this weekend). Antron Brown (3.712) and Blake Alexander (3.728) grabbed the other bonus points.

FUNNY CAR Q3 (3:22 p.m.): John Force started the third session outside of the field and wound up making the best run of the penultimate Funny Car grouping. His 3.864-second hit moved him into the No. 3 slot, which is more than can be said for teammate Robert Hight, who continues to struggle at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park and is No. 10. Ron Capps (3.884) and J.R. Todd (3.914) rounded out the top three of the third session of action. Del Worsham made his best pass of the weekend (5.089), which is also the bump spot. Tommy Johnson Jr. experienced a big boomer near the end of what looked like a great run. He got to the finish line in under four seconds, but not with the supercharger intact as you can see below. 

PRO STOCK Q4 (5:33 p.m.): For the first time in his career, Deric Kramer snagged the No. 1 qualifier position. He ran a 6.522 to lap Erica Enders (6.527), Alex Laughlin (6.529) and teammates Greg Anderson (6.53), Jason Line (6.531) and Bo Butner (6.532). The long time Dodge Dart racer, and current driver of a Chevy Camaro, will race a current driver of a Dodge, Alan Prusiensky in the first round on Sunday. While most of the Camaros driven by Elite Performance racers (see: Enders, Laughlin, and Jeg Coughlin Jr.) made it down the track in quick succession, the No. 1 qualifier from Pomona, Vincent Nobile, was not so fortunate. He experienced major tire shake for the third-straight run and enters Sunday qualified 12^th.

First-round pairings (lane choice listed first): Deric Kramer vs. Alan Prusiensky; Erica Enders vs. Steve Graham; Alex Laughlin vs. Val Smeland; Greg Anderson vs. Kenny Delco; Jason Line vs. Vincent Nobile; Bo Butner vs. Jeg Coughlin Jr.; Chris McGaha vs. Tanner Gray; Matt Hartford vs. Drew Skillman.

TOP FUEL Q4 (6 p.m.): Tony Schumacher made the quickest run of the final session, but his 3.686 was not good enough to better his Friday 3.649 from Friday. Schumacher has made three 3.6-second passes, setting him up as the favorite heading into Sunday’s final eliminations. Father and son, Billy and Steve Torrence, had the second and third best runs of the evening pass with near-identical runs of 3.701 and 3.702 but Steve stayed No. 2 based on his earlier 3.655.

First-round pairings (lane choice listed first): Tony Schumacher vs. Greg Carrillo; Steve Torrence vs. Steve Chrisman; Clay Millican vs. Brittany Force; Leah Pritchett vs. Troy Buff; Richie Crampton vs. Scott Palmer; Billy Torrence vs. Doug Kalitta; Blake Alexander vs. Terry McMillen; Antron Brown vs. Mike Salinas

FUNNY CAR Q4 (6:30 p.m.): Courtesy Force, who recorded seven No. 1 qualifying positions last season, has her first of 2018 after taking the top spot in the final qualifying session. Earlier in the session, Ron Capps went to No. 1 with a 3.844 that knocked DSR teammate Jack Beckman from the pole, but Force trumped that run with a dual-track-record blast of 3.826, 335.98 mph for the No. 1 spot.

First-round pairings (lane choice listed first): Courtney Force vs. Del Worsham; Ron Capps vs. Tim Wilkerson; Jack Beckman vs. Richard Townsend; John Force vs. Jeff Diehl; Jonnie Lindberg vs. Bob Tasca III; Tommy Johnson Jr. vs. Matt Hagan; Cruz Pedregon vs. Shawn Langdon; J.R. Todd vs. Robert Hight

Pro Stock low qualifier Deric Kramer: “It feels great. We definitely try really hard every weekend, and over the past few years we’ve felt like we’ve made great runs. Teaming up with K.B. power along with the rest of our partners, American Ethanol, Novozymes, Poet, we were able to put a good package together and go to the top.

"We went back and looked at the (Q3) run and saw basically how much I screwed up (laughs), and so figured we would go ahead and fix those issues, tuned a little bit on the car, and saw where it took us and got to the top.”

Top Fuel low qualifier Tony Schumacher: "It’s been an excellent weekend. I mean that last round of conditions should have been good enough to take the top spot, I mean even for us, we should have gone out and gone faster. The track is just extremely good. You’ve got cars going through the clutch and going slow all the way, and you just hit the gas and it chews the clutch up. They’re trying out there, but just not getting it done. We earned the three points, we kept the No. 1 spot, it was a good weekend. The first run was on a really good run, but it had the wheels up just a little too long, a little too high and it unsettled the back of the car. The car is good, Mike (Neff) is calm, cool, and the car did what he told it to do."

Funny Car low qualifier Courtney Force: “We tested on this track just a few weeks back and ran a killer number, so I knew we could do it again. I saw [crew chief Brian] Corradi making some changes on the car right before we started, and it flew down there. It felt good; it was pulling hard all the way down.

“We had a lot of No. 1 qualifiers last year [with no wins] and we’re not really disappointed because we had a career-best season [finishing third in points], so nothing to hang our heads about, but we’re hoping to turn this into a win. The most important thing was finding our consistency, but we have to continue to be consistent on raceday. We just need to continue to push our team and hope for a long day [Sunday] and get into that winner’s circle because we definitely need it this year.”

On the trying week with sister Brittany’s comeback from her Pomona accident: “It’s a boost of positive energy in our camp, especially with the run my dad made earlier today. It’s great to be out here to support Brittany; they’ve struggled a little bit, but she’s doing her job getting back in the seat and that’s the most important thing."
 

FEATURES

It hasn’t taken Tony Schumacher and new crew chief Mike Neff long to jell, as evidenced by their quick success. They were runner-ups in Pomona – perhaps only a broken rear end stopping them short in the final – and their low qualifying/national record tandem of 3.649 and 366.57 mph Friday have them standing proud and happy.

“It’s a fine line between having that much power and hurting stuff,” he said. “Mike and I talked before the run about how many blowers we had, and he was like, ‘Don’t drive it past the finish line.’ We go over a lot of things like that, which is what I think makes Mike and me right now just a good team. We’re discussing everything, about situations that could come about and, over the course of the season, that’s going to pay dividends. We talk about ‘Is there any spot on the track you need me to get around/?’ We can discuss it because he’s driven. We can discuss what rights and wrongs might present themselves. He’s a great guy; he’s so laid back and I’m kind of a hyper guy. He’s chill, but he’s confidently chill. I’m enjoying it. He and Phil Shuler are really jelling. We’ve got that old tune-up that goes down the track and Phil knows it well and knows the car as well as anyone, then we’ve got Mike, a Funny Car guy, doing different things and it’s really showing some positive results.

“Most cars were shaking; there was probably a 50-50 chance of it making it. You were either going to shake or give it enough to go fast. There were teams that made mistakes and just tried to slide it down there; then you’re going to be in the mid-.70s on a track that’s mid-3.60s capable.”

Doug Kalitta and crew chief Jim Oberhofer come into the event hot off their victory at the Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals in Pomona, a win that got a lot of attention for them overcoming a massive first-round fireball and some other broken parts during the weekend. The team excelled in qualifying, qith a 3,70 and a pair of 3.72s, then worked their way to the victory, the 44th of Kalitta's career, battling adversity all the way. 

“In Q2 we twisted a camshaft that banged the blower, but really the first round was the only big problem we had,” said Oberhofer. “It started spinning and it was a ‘damned if you do and damned if you don’t’ situation for Doug. He could either pedal it or leg it, and he legged it. It spun a little too much and put out four cylinders and then hydraulicked. It wrecked a lot of parts. Whenever you wreck a blower it’s $15,000 and if you add the injector it’s another $6,000. We spent about a lot of money that weekend, but it wasn’t because the tune-up was wrong or bad; it was just parts breakage.

“The funny thing is that we got through testing without hurting any parts. Pomona, Sunday, was just a weird day. It was more like a day of survival than anything.”

For more than 30 years of racing, Bill Miller has called the shots on his racecar -- where it ran, how it ran, who drove it. Now, he had ceded control of when and where his racing efforts will take place to his wife of 30 years, Virgie.

“I tell guys, ‘You and I couldn’t go to a tea party with five to eight women twice a month for three days straight. How long would that last?’ “ he explained. “Virgie’s been up here [in the trailer lounge] for 30 years, so I think I owe her. No complaints. I’ve been able to come out here and play and do my stupid thing with my race car and done pretty well with what we have, so I’m happy with what she wants to do. Where we run is up to her; whatever she wants to do. She told me if there’s a five-star hotel within an hour of the racetrack I can go racing.”

The upcoming Denso Spark Plugs NHRA Four-Wide Nationals in Las Vegas is in his home state of Nevada, but he’s not committed to it yet.

“One step at a time; we’ll see how the weekend goes,” he said. “I’ve got some new crew guys and only one guy at the shop to work on the car where I used to have two. It’s difficult to do this. When you’re competing against teams with 30 guys, it's tough, plus I still have a business [Bill Miller Engineering] to run, so I can’t be in the racecar shop all day.”

Jonnie Lindberg wasn’t the only person to red light during Funny Car eliminations at the Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals presented by ProtectTheHarvest.com, but that likely comes as little consolation to the second-year Funny Car driver. The Swedish racer drove phenomenally in the first round, pedaling twice to get around Courtney Force, but left too soon in the second against Ron Capps.

“My brain just… something shorted out in my brain and it said to go,” said Lindberg. “It was a while ago that I had that happen, three years ago, I think. But I’m happy, in the first round I pedaled it twice against Courtney to get the win. So… I guess I gave the team a win, and I maybe took one away. But yeah, when you try hard, I guess stuff happens. The car didn’t run the way we wanted, but we learned a lot in Pomona.”

He qualified No. 13 in Pomona and didn’t make much in the way of a representative run after what had been a very encouraging set of test runs at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park. Still, it’s only one race (and Lindberg got out of there with a round win). Plus, there’s plenty of great Phoenix data for Jim Head to lean on this weekend.  

“Testing went well here, so we had a consistent car in testing, but we tried a lot of stuff that you normally wouldn’t try at a race,” said Lindberg. “But I always think we’re going to do well, you know? Positive thinking, it’s something my dad taught me.”

There you go. Confidence is key.

Courtney Force made a habit of snatching “green hats” last season; the attire given to those who grab pole position at national events. Crew chief Dan Hood and the Advance Auto Parts team souped up the red Chevy Camaro for the big-time hero runs on Friday and Saturday night, and Force set track records seemingly wherever she went. That didn’t always translate to Sunday success, but Force was good for at least one killer pass a weekend.

New season, same great qualifying performance. After seven No. 1 qualifier positions in 2017, Force is at least close to getting her first of the season at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park in Chandler, Arizona. She’s currently qualified second with a 3.845-second pass, which is tied with Jack Beckman on time but behind on speed (she clocked in at 328.7 mph).

“We pushed it on the second go to see if we could run better,” said Force, who smoked the tires in Q2. “Nobody technically outran us other than speed. So, we’re just gonna take what we learned today and try again tomorrow. Luckily the conditions are going to be similar, so we can go out there and try to fix what we were attempting in Q2 and get the top spot back in this Advance Auto Parts Camaro.”

Force has qualified No. 2 at the NHRA Arizona Nationals three years in a row and started out the 2018 season in the No. 4 spot at the Winternationals. She lost in the first round in a pedalfest against Jonnie Lindberg. The youngest Force daughter finished in third place after a strong finish to her season but is looking to pick up her first victory since the 2016 Houston event, nearly two years ago. Given her performance at preseason testing, and her great Q1 run, there’s no time like the present.

Phoenix has not been kind to Bob Tasca III so far this season. During pre-season testing, the team destroyed one of their new Mustang bodies in a blower explosion, then heavily damaged another one Friday after the dowel pin that holds the cloverleaf fixture on the shaft inside the blower housing rattled loose, allowing the two spinning rotors to make contact, causing a spark that, naturally, went right down into the engine and created another boomer. No one in the pits has ever seen a dowel pin come loose like that.

“It was going to run .85,” he said before the third qualifying session. “We finally got our clutch issues figured out and it was really going to run a number. The good news is that it didn’t hurt the motor at all; the same one is back in the car for Q3. We’re going to put it right back where it was for that run and this sonofabitch is going to run low e.t. today.”

Tasca will have to bring out his spare body, still unpainted but covered with Ford decals, to complete the event.

If everything goes right today – it didn’t Friday -- Del Worsham will make a full run then deploy the parachutes. All three of them. You read that right.

The Worsham team has added a third parachute to the back of their Toyota that will deploy ahead of the two main parachutes. The first parachute – 30 percent smaller than the main chutes – will blossom eight feet behind the others and will help drag them out of their packs.

A number of teams have struggled in recent years, especially on early-shutoff passes, with a low-pressure vortex sucking the parachutes into the wheelie bars or even under the car. That particular problem bit Tommy Johnson Jr, in Pomona. Teams also are struggling with parachute longevity now that the cars are regularly exceeding 330 mph.

“The thought is to see if the smaller one in the middle will scrub enough speed for the two regular ‘chutes to blossom a little better and not shred so easily,” Worsham said. “With the headers stood back up a bit, we’re all taking more out of the wing and that changes the aerodynamics back there. It’s just something I’ve been thinking about and wanted to try.”

The Worshams had Jerry Bickel create a Pro Mod-style launcher for the new Simpson parachute, which is released at the same time as the mains but will deploy quicker.

When you think “Alex Laughlin” and “rivalry” you almost certainly think “Tanner Gray,” but who do you of when you think of “Alex Laughlin” and “nemesis?” Okay, so maybe you’re still thinking of the 18-year-old 2017 rookie of the year. But you probably should be thinking of Jason Line, who Laughlin went red against in the second round of the Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals presented by ProtectTheHarvest.com to start the season.

“Racing Jason Line right off the bat there was no room for error,” said Laughlin. “I needed to have a .008 to beat him, so I was .003 red and, you know, it was a tough race, a tough loss. I went into that race thinking, ‘this is the time.’ I’ve beaten everyone else in the class except for Jason. Last year it was everyone in the class except for Jason and Allen Johnson, and I beat Allen at his home track in Bristol and I ended up winning the race. I need to get Jason beat at some point so I can move on.”

It’s not quite as lopsided as Laughlin makes it sound. The two have only races each other three times now but given Laughlin’s success against the other heavy hitters in the class, it stands out. At least, it stands out to the ultra-competitive, championship-chasing racer in Laughlin. He’s taking it in stride, of course, and feels good about where the team is at heading into Sunday.

“Honestly, our fastest time in Pomona qualifying (6.558), that put us No. 5, was really only an 85 percent run. We shook the tires in Q1, and it was making good power. After that, Mark Ingersoll was a little timid the rest of the weekend, so we didn’t have it on kill. I missed a shift on our really good run by a couple hundred RPM, so there was a little bit left in it then.”

No doubt some of Laughlin’s confidence in his car’s power can be attributed to how well his teammate Vincent Nobile’s car ran in Pomona. While Laughlin qualified No. 5, Nobile took the pole in a car constructed nearly identically to his.

“It was crazy, we were out here testing before Pomona and my car was the fastest on the property and it had a motor that had about 30 runs on it,” said Laughlin. “Well, Vincent was struggling because it was a new car and they made five or six runs on it and couldn’t get down because it was shaking so bad. Then we go to Pomona, and I shake, and he goes right to the pole.”

Three of the four Elite Performances Camaros got into the second round, and that’s in part because two of them raced each other in the first round. They’ll be looking for similar performance this weekend but sending a car to the semi’s or better is certainly on the docket.

Deric Kramer is coming the best race of his Pro Stock career. He reached his first non-Four Wide semifinal, qualified eighth, and is enjoying all the perks that come with running a K.B. Racing-field race car. This early in the partnership with the team that fields the top three Pro Stock racers, Kramer is most concerned with adding runs to his brand-new Chevy Camaro.

“We’re kind of sticking to what we know and kind of making small changes, and we’re just trying to make as many runs as we can,” said Kramer. “There are only 16 runs on the car at this point, so every change we make we want to come back here and see something and expect the change that we made to do something, and we want to be able to track the changes that we’re making.

“So far, we’ve been able to do that. When we make a change, we come and look at the run and say, okay this is what actually happened. So, with that in mind, we just try to get more data.”

When Kramer lined up against teammate Jason Line in the semifinals, it presented an interesting situation, though not a wholly unique one in the sport. Kramer was, in essence, racing the driver who also helps tune his race car. How did that work?

“Well, Jason walked over here, put a tune up in the car and walked away, and that’s exactly how it went,” said Kramer with a laugh.

Did that concern him at all?

“After watching Bo (Butner) win the championship, it didn’t even cross my mind, it didn’t even matter,” said Kramer.  

It’s hard to argue with his logic – and the big No. 1 on the side of Butner’s car.

Jeg Coughlin Jr. had never driven a turbocharged race car until he hopped into Phil Unruh’s new Corvette Top Sportsman entry this weekend, and the car itself had only a few half-track test passes under its belt, but the duo are trying their best to figure one another out.

Coughlin, who has won this race twice in Pro Stock (2000 and 2009) and in Super Stock (1995), is trying to add a third different kind of Phoenix trophy and what would be a win in eight different NHRA classes. In addition to his wins in Pro Stock and Super Stock, he’s also scored in Comp, Stock, Super Gas, Super Comp, and Top Dragster. No other driver has won in more than six classes.

Unlike his Pro Stock Camaro, Coughlin doesn’t shift this car manually and the turbos are smaller enough and spin up fast enough that he doesn’t have to use a Pro Mod-style “bump button”; when he’s fully staged he can matt the pedal and the turbos will be up to boost by the time the full Tree reaches green.

Early handling issues slowed Coughlin in his first two time trials Friday, but he sped to a 6.49 at 215.75 to qualify No. 3 today, and he’s enjoying the unique feel and sound of the car.

“It’s like music to my ears; it’s quite serene, honestly,” he said.

Coughlin’s career best e.t., which came in his Pro Stocker, in Gainesville in 2014 is 6.484, so he’s just shy of that but his speed is better than his Pro Stock best of 214.62, also set at Gainesville.

Coughlin was defeated in the first round by Bryan Warr, who beat Coughlin off the line and ran a 6.927 on his 6.92 dial while Coughlin, trying to play catch up, broke out by a thousandth of a second with a 6.489 on his 6.49 target.

PHOTOS

Tony Schumacher’s U.S. Army car unloaded the world’s fastest Top Fueler for another day of action.

The pits are packed at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park as Arizona race fans take advantage of great weather to catch the drama of the final day of qualifying.

The grandstands also were packed to near capacity as the Mello Yello cars took the stage.

Funny Car favorite Courtney Force greeted young fans, posed for photos, and signed autographs prior to the third qualifying session.

The traditional Saturday Mello Yello autograph session featured Matt Hagan, Jonnie Lindberg, Doug Kalitta, and Tanner Gray.

After damaging a Mustang body in qualifying Friday, Bob Tasca III had to bring out a new, unpainted body. There was no doubt about which decal went on first.

“Fast Jack” Beckman joined NHRA announcer Alan Reinhart to teach some fuel-racing basics in the popular Nitro School segment in the pits.

Steve Chrisman, son of drag racing pioneer Jack, is back in action driving Del Worsham’s Top Fuel “rental car.”

Tommy Johnson Jr. had a big-time blower explosion and fire in Q3 with the Make-A-Wish Dodge.

Top Sportsman driver Brian LaFlam took a wild ride in the first round after his Mustang started spewing fluid on the launch, bu tthe Gilbert, Ariz.-based racer skillfully brought his ride to a safe stop (animated gif).

PREVIEW

Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park firmly established itself as a haven for Top Fuel performance last season when Leah Pritchett ran the quickest elapsed time in class history. That record no longer stands, but fans, media members, and teams alike knew what to expect when the forecast called for cool temperatures during the NHRA Arizona Nationals: killer numbers. So far, so good.

Tony Schumacher set the national speed record not once, but twice. That’s thanks to Clay Millican setting the Top Fuel record in between Schumacher’s two incredible runs. Schumacher threw the gauntlet first with a pass at 334.65 mph, then Millican answered with a run at 335.23. Finally, Schumacher answered with a seemingly unbelievable run at a speed of 336.57 that was not quite as quick as his earlier pass of 3.649 seconds. He remained the No. 1 qualifier, and fans in attendance got to see the three fastest passes in Top Fuel history. That’s absolutely incredible, and it’s only Friday. The forecast calls for much of the same on Saturday (and Sunday), meaning teams can crank things up to another level the next two days.

Jack Beckman didn’t quite set the national speed record, but he did run consistently, and quickly, over his two passes. He tied Courtney Force on elapsed time (3.845) but bested her on speed (332.43 mph) to put him in the provisional No. 1 spot. Beckman has been in the top three of the qualifying heap for the past four races, and he can stretch that streak to five if he stays in the top three at the NHRA Arizona Nationals. That speaks to the consistency he’s been running with lately, but it’s also the high level of performance the Infinite Hero team is working with. Beckman is a contender – that’s something that couldn’t be said with confidence in Phoenix a year ago.

Then there’s Alex Laughlin, who also finds himself in a great situation at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park. The Elite Motorsports racer qualified fifth in Pomona and advanced to the second round, but certainly felt like there was more on the table. Well, it looks like the Hot Wheels Car Care Products team has found it. Laughlin has a shot to get the second No. 1 qualifier of his career (first since the 2016 Denver event) and his performance is trending in the right direction. That’s happening at the same time as the Elite team gets quicker. It’s one thing to stumble into a great window of performance, it’s another to whittle your way into excellence. It’s still early, but it seems like Laughlin is leaning towards the latter.