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QUALIFYING ROUNDS RECAPS

PRO STOCK Q1 (3:39 p.m.): The Pro Stock drivers were the last group of racers to hit the track at Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park, nearly 24 hours after the rest of the Mello Yello series drivers made their long qualifying attempts on Friday. Jeg Coughlin Jr., the hottest driver in the class with wins at two of the last three races, set the pace with a 6.612, 208.46 in his JEGS.com Chevy. Coughlin banked three bonus points followed by Summit-backed driver Jason Line, who was a hundredth behind with a 6.621, 208.78 and Houston winner Matt Hartford, who was third-quickest following a 6.622, 207.75. The top 12 drivers in the field are already qualified at 6.646 or quicker.

PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE Q2 (4:06 p.m.): Provisional low qualifier Matt Smith was not able to improve on last night’s 6.866-second run after his Victory broke a chain he retained the top spot after no other rider ran quick enough to unseat him. Hector Arana Jr. was low for the session with a 6.872, 196.85 to score three bonus points. Arana Jr. also set top speed for the round with a 196.85 mph run. For the second-straight session, Angelle Sampey was second-quickest after a 6.910, 192.69 and Jerry Savoie improved on last night’s 6.917 with a 6.911 that was the third-best run of the round.

TOP FUEL Q2 (4:55 p.m.): National record holder Clay Millican stole the top spot from Friday leader Brittany Force with a 3.750 (at a track-record speed of 332.67 mph) while Force improved by six-thousandths on her field-leading 3.776 to maintain No. 2. Points leader Steve Torrence moved to third with a 3.786. With one session remaining  -- and with today’s weather that’s certainly not a guarantee -- three-time 2018 runner-up Terry McMillen surprisingly finds himself in the precarious 15th spot, just ahead of Dom Lagana, who’s clinging to the 5.039 bump while his teammate, tour regular and Phoenix runner-up Scott Palmer, is on the outside looking in, along with Audrey Worm, who did not run this session after breaking the input shaft on her launch Friday.

FUNNY CAR Q2 (5:22 p.m.): Ron Capps stayed consistent, running low for the session with a 3.976, 322.65 to follow up his 3.961 from the night before. It wasn’t enough to knock provisional low qualifier Courtney Force from the top spot, but Capps will take another impressive run and the three bonus points. His Don Schumacher Racing teammate Matt Hagan was second-best during the round with a 3.989, 323.43, while Shawn Langdon made a big improvement, going 4.05  to earn one bonus point. Langdon started the session on the outside looking in and jumped all the way to eighth. Del Worsham also made a sizeable move, going from 14th to ninth with his 4.056, 312.57. A pair of class regulars and Countdown to the Championship contenders in Cruz Pedregon and Jonnie Lindberg suffered as a result, dropping to 17th and 18th, respectively, with just one session remaining.

PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE LOW QUALIFIER MATT SMITH: “Tomorrow the weather should be good for everyone. We shouldn’t have to battle what we did today. I was on a good pass this morning and the chain broke. The master link broke and it tore up a little bit of stuff like the sprocket. We had it fixed and ready to make another run tonight. My guys are awesome. We weren’t even going to run this bike this year, but we pulled it out in Charlotte and it’s been a top three bike ever since I can’t say enough good things about them.”

“This track is really smooth and that’s big because in Pro Stock Motorcycle, the most critical thing is bumps on the track. We have a solid suspension, so the only give is the sidewall of the rear tire and that’s not a lot on a motorcycle. The front shocks also don’t do a lot. Having a smooth track like this one is really awesome. We had some issues with rubber coming up with all that rain but hats off to the Norwalk, NHRA and Safety Safari crews for keeping the track prepared. We’re ready for tomorrow.”

PRO STOCK LOW QUALIFIER JEG COUGHLIN JR.: “I don’t know that [the rain delay] presents a lot of challenges. Our engineers and crew chiefs traverse a lot of different conditions during the course of a season. This is a fresh track and I would have liked to have been down it a couple more times but it is smooth and tomorrow there will be more rubber on it, so it will get better and better. The forecast for tomorrow is better and I’d love to go four rounds. We’re on the heels of a four-race stretch. Last week in Bristol we had a great win there and then we came here and ended up No. 1, which is our first of the 2018 season and it feels fantastic.

“Crew chiefs Rick and Rickie Jones have done a fantastic job. We’ve made some transitions within our camp. I think everyone knows we changed chassis and it’s almost been like a light switch. The car is more predictable. After the switch at the first three or four races we had a fast race car and it finally came together for us. We win as a team and go down as a team. We stayed together and weathered the storm and feels nice to see that reward. Chicago was great. I’ve been fortunate to win 79 of these races and that felt like one of my first-ever wins. That’s how special it was. It was my first win as a [member of Elite Motorsports] with a yellow and black car. Everyone was as excited as I was. And then to go and get another win over Father’s Day in Bristol was very special as well. Hopefully we can continue that momentum tomorrow.”

FUNNY CAR LOW QUALIFIER COURTNEY FORCE: "All the drivers are in the same boat. We didn’t get as many runs as we would like to feel comfortable on this racetrack, but having that one good one makes you feel definitely a lot better and more confident going into raceday. Today wasn’t the run we were looking for, but it got down there most of the way. If we can get it to not drop that hole, I think we’ll be okay.

"To be honest, it’s great being in the top spot, for sure, but everything changes on raceday, especially when you only get two runs out there. But, like I said, all the drivers are in the same boat. We just have to get it figured out and stay confident. They’re going to be coming for us tomorrow, so we just have to be on our game and focus on being consistent."

TOP FUEL LOW QUALIFIER CLAY MILLICAN: "Mac Savage and David Grubnic have just really got a good handle on making the car go. I’ve got to tell the truth, we were highly disappointed to have lost second round last week. We had the field covered on Saturday by several hundredths, and it was a big disappointment because I really wanted to win that one, but I love coming to this racetrack. I was looking forward to the new track surface and the Bader family are some of the greatest people on the planet. I love coming here. The track surface is great. 

"When the car does what (Grubnic) wants it to do, it makes everybody on the team pretty confident about what’s going on. When he can hit the numbers that he says it’s going to run, that means things are good. Of course those conditions are going to be a little different than what we see tomorrow, and we’ll see what happens, but this racetrack is good and nice and smooth."

Saturday recap: Millican, C. Force, Coughlin, Smith finish atop qualifying fields in Norwalk
 

PRE-RACE FEATURES

In just his 25th career Top Fuel start, Mike Salinas made his first final-round appearance last weekend in Bristol, an impressive feat for the single-car driver. But after finishing as runner-up to Tony Schumacher, Salinas doesn’t plan on slowing down.

Salinas has made big strides in a short time, but he is confident what he showed in Bristol is just the tip of what his team can accomplish in 2018. The strong showing last weekend sent Salinas back to 10th in points as the season hits the halfway mark in Norwalk, and he knows that performance isn’t a fluke.

“We showed that it’s possible for us to run with the big boys,” Salinas said. “We showed we could do it. There’s guys like me coming along and we’re not messing around. It’s just about being methodical in how we do things. I’ve been learning so much, but we’re in this for the long haul.”

That means contending for a spot in the Mello Yello Countdown to the Championship, and Salinas currently holds small three-point lead against Richie Crampton. 

It is not nearly a gap to feel comfortable over, but Salinas like the direction of his team. He had an electrical problem right off the starting line in the final round in Bristol, and they had the car completely rewired before this weekend.

He’s been inspired by what the Torrence family has done in the class, also consulting with famed tuner Alan Johnson. That has already paid dividends for Salinas and his team, something that was evident during the late rounds in Bristol.

“What’s really nice about working with Alan Johnson is the support group that comes with him,” Salinas said. “He really helped us a lot (in Bristol), and Brittany (Force) came over and helped out as well. I asked her for any advice going to the final round, a she told me just to stay relaxed and keep doing the same thing I’ve been doing.

Life for Clay Millican, crew chief David Grubnic, and the rest of the team on Doug Stringer’s Parts Plus/Great Clips dragster has certainly changed in the last calendar year. Millican went more than 220 NHRA races before getting his first win a year ago in Bristol, then added wins No. 2 and 3 back to back in Topeka and Chicago earlier this season. His streak ended in Virginia -– on, of all things, a red-light -– in the middle of a hot stretch of racing.

For crew chiefs, it’s sometimes like a moving target. In this four-in-a-row, we’ve gone from cooler weather on a decent track in Chicago to scorching hot on the billiard-table-smooth new surface in Richmond to hot again last week on the considerably less smooth track in Bristol to cool and overcast here on the new, all-concrete track here in Norwalk.

“I think after Richmond, the bar was set pretty high and the crew chiefs were loving it, then we go to Bristol,” said Clay Millican. “Saturday we were low et. both runs [3.92 and 3.96] and wide open but only could run 299 and 302 [mph]; it was spinning that bad; hot and bumpy makes a bad combination. Then first round we go 4.01 at 295 which was OK -– not great, but OK -– then the second round, we were trying to hop it up just a little bit, to maybe go 3.90-something, and it went four feet and smoked the tires for no apparent reason. ‘Grubby’ was very frustrated by that because it shouldn’t have done that.

“We only got the one run down this track yesterday but it seems really smooth and we were able to put up a decent number [3.800, good for No. 4], so we’ve got something to build on.”

After making his long-awaited return to Funny Car two weeks ago in Virginia, Terry Haddock is back to Top Fuel for this event but hopes to bring the Funny Car – a Mustang-bodied, ex-John Force Racing piece – back out in Epping in two weeks. Haddock only got to make one run in the new car in Virginia, an aborted up-in-smoke effort, and didn’t qualify.

“It still needs a little more attention,” he said. “We spend to much money and worked so hard to have it ready in Richmond but there were still a couple of things not right with it. We would have liked to make another run that day but I didn’t want to tear anything up. I was glad to at least get a run on it.

“It was an easy decision to go back to the dragster here because there are 18 Funny Cars here and it would be harder to qualify; even though there are 19 dragsters, we think our Top Fueler has a better chance of qualifying. I need to get a paycheck or there won’t even be an Epping to think about.”

Jack Beckman and the Infinite Hero team have had a little bit of everything this year. They’ve qualified No. 1 and won a race (both in Gainesville) and notched a runner-up (Las Vegas four-wide) but they’ve also been knocked out in the second round four times, including three of the last four events.

“We’re better than a second-round car,” said Beckman, a three-time Norwalk winner. “When you leave [a race] and say ‘OK, we won a round and we lost in the second round,’ that’s not what we’re supposed to do. We’ve got the best parts, we’ve got great people. 

“What we have right now is an issue – we have a new chassis, we have a new clutch, and we have a different race track prep, with no data on any of the three. We’re racing while we’re collecting data, so we’re actually not doing a bad job of accruing points, and we’re going to get this Infinite Hero Foundation Dodge Charger pointed in the right direction. 

 Not only [does this event] mark the halfway point in the season, but we’re in that ‘summer swing’ where the races go by super-fast. It’s not the time to be struggling with the tune-up.

“W we’re going to stay Monday and send this car down the track several more times, just to get more data compiled. The whole deal with this (series) is the first 18 races, you want to get some trophies. The championship will be decided in the last six, and I feel like we’re headed in the right direction to accomplish that.”

In the days before data recorders, crew chiefs often didn’t know why their cars would smoke the tires or run poorly. Their only link was what thy saw or heard and what the driver could tell them, so blame was hard to pinpoint. Today, with crew chiefs recording more than 80 channels of data, there’s nowhere for drivers to hide when it comes to exposing their mistakes and weaknesses.

Jim Dunn is a notoriously hard grader -– ask anyone who’s driven for him, from his son, Mike, all the way through Kenji Okazaki, Frank Pedregon, Tony Bartone, Todd Lesenko, Jerry Toliver, Paul Lee, Jeff Arend, and current shoe, Jim Campbell -– and he does not suffer driving fools lightly for theirs. It’s a tough school to get, but the education can be bountiful.

“My biggest problem is almost always the driver,” he said. “I tell them, ‘If you go up there and stage it perfectly and go straight down the track and shut it off one foot past the finish line, that’s as fast as the car will go; anything else and you’re just slowing me down.’ “

Every crew chief will tell you that their job is made easier by a consistent driver, and Dunn is no different.

“How long is he going to the burnout this time? How many times will he push the clutch back in or pull on the handbrake while he’s backing up from the burnout? Even guys like John Force have struggled with that. All of those things factor into how I set up the clutch and the fuel system. For a crew chief, it’s all about consistency. I don’t care how many times he does any of that, just be consistent. I can tune around whatever he gives me, but he has to give me the same thing every time and, believe me, I can track every single thing my driver does from the time we start the car until he turns off. How hard and fast does he push down the gas pedal? When does he let go of the brake? I know it all.”

“We’re very loyal people,” explained Dunn’s son, Jon, who tunes the clutch in addition to getting the numerous sponsors that ride on their car. “We hope that if we were screwing up the tune-up, the driver would stick with us. We love Jim; he makes us laugh, and he’s always cheery. He’s good with the fans and [sponsor] agencies we work with love him. He’ll go to every autograph session and never complains about any of the off-track stuff. That all means a lot; we just to continue to work with him on his driving. I don’t think for a long time he realized how important all of that was, and he’d do things like roll into the throttle or hold the brake longer because he thought he was helping us.”

Campbell, in just his second full season of driving, is getting better at giving Dunn what he needs, and the results have shown. After qualifying routinely in the bottom two or three spots in the field all season, the team qualified No. 8 in Richmond. The more confidence owner Dunn gets in his driver, the better he feels about turning up the wick.

“If you go 2.32 [seconds] to 330, it will run 4.0s; to run 3.98 I have to go 2.29 or so; I know that doesn’t sound like a lot but it is,” said Jim Dunn. “It’s easy for a driver, especially one without a lot of laps, to get behind the car and the next thing you know he’s out of the groove. It gets a lot more violent, more torque on the left-rear tires which wants to drive the car right. I remember doing that with Frankie Pedregon when he drove for me. He made a good run and I told him, ‘Good news and bad news. The good news is that was a good ride and you rode my bull good; the bad news is that was the mechanical bull and I’m putting you on ol’ Blue now and it’s going to kick your ass.’ I picked it up a tenth and he said it was like a whole different car.

“[Campbell] is getting there; we’re working with him, and I think you can see it in the results. The better he gets the better we’ll be.”

It’s understandable if there’s an extra spring in the step of Ron Capps and crew chief Rahn Tobler.

The standout Funny Car team has gone back to the five-disc clutch set-up that had been a key part of their 2016 world championship run and 2017 season that included eight victories. That kind of success has returned to the team after a slow start to 2018, going to a final round in Chicago and winning last weekend in Bristol after returning to the five-disc about a month ago.

It continued Friday in Norwalk with an impressive run of 3.961 at 320.28 mph, putting Capps second and in good position to chase a back-to-back wins.

“It takes me right back to 2016, and it was such a fun ride to win the championship on consistency, and then to go back to last year and win eight races and almost win back-to-back championships, again on consistency,” Capps said. “We just didn’t have that when we switched to the six-disc early this season. I was ecstatic when (Tobler) said he was going put (the five-disc) in, and (team owner Don Schumacher) was with him 100 percent to put it back in. I went home after Topeka and told my wife we’re going to start getting back to where we were.”

It’s been like clockwork and Tobler has clearly been dialed in with a set-up that has a proven track record, especially in the warmer summer months. He told Capps the car would run mid-3.90s last night and sure enough it did just that in an excellent side-by-side run with Matt Hagan.

It was a testament to an ability to adjust on the fly to changing weather conditions, which Capps said has always been a strength of this team.

“We never claimed to be a car that’s going to put up a jaw-dropping run on Friday night,” Capps said. “We do every once in a while, but we’re just not shooting for that. We’re shooting for round wins and race wins. If we can qualify in the top half of the field and then you go from there. We achieved that last night, and it’s nice to have the camaraderie I get with Tobler.

“There’s a lot to be said about having a crew chief that gets to know his car. The whole point is there’s that confidence you have when you have a team and a crew chief that knows what you need to run.”

There has not been much that has gone right for Bo Butner over the last four races, winning just one round in that time. But the way the defending Pro Stock world champion sees things, the worst is hopefully behind him.

Butner heads to Norwalk as the defending event winner, confident those good vibes of winning at Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park a year ago can carry over and help him break out of his current slump.

“About the only way we can go is up, which is a good thing,” Butner said. “But, yeah, we’ve struggled. I think in the last 6-7 races we’ve went from first in points to eighth, so yeah we’ve struggled, but you have that in life. There’s no blame and the rest of the class has definitely gotten better. Whatever slight advantage we might have had is definitely gone.”

Butner picked up where he left off last year, winning the first race of 2018 in Pomona and advancing to a final round two races later. But seven more Pro Stock drivers have graced the winner’s circle since the opener, while Butner has fallen on hard times.

A round win in Richmond is his only success over the past month, but getting a victory at Norwalk would quickly cure those ills for the KB Racing standout. Teammates Greg Anderson and Jason Line are each searching for their first wins as well, which means coming through this weekend would be a big deal for one of the trio. 

“We love this place and we love the Bader family,” Butner said. “It’s a cool track and a lot of great fans, and they know how to pack the place. It’s a Summit race and [their 50th anniversary], and I was lucky enough to win it last year. To win this race would be great and one of the Summit cars has to win this race. It’s not an option.”

Kenny Delco has been racing one and off in the Pro Stock class since the late 1980s so he’s seen the class from almost every angle possible. Delco scored his lone national event win in Gainesville in 1990, but he also remembers the days of domination when it was rare for any driver other than Bob Glidden or Warren Johnson to win a race. Taken into context, Delco believes these are the so-called good old days.

“Back in the 1990s we had 30-40 cars at every race but realistically, only three or four of them were capable of winning the race,” said Delco. “They rest of us were just out there making runs. You felt fortunate just to qualify. It was fun and we had some success, but I actually like it better now although this is far more competitive.”

Today, Pro Stock fields average 16-19 cars so almost everyone who shows up will race on Sunday. The other difference is that there are about 12-13 driver that are capable of winning each race and Delco believes he can be one of them. So far, he is 0-6 on the season but doesn’t believe that reflects the strength of his Chevy Camaro, which he races with the help of partner Ron Caposella and engine builder, Frank Iaconio. Delco’s Jerry Haas-built Camaro is a former Greg Stanfield car that was purchased from Elite owner Richard Freeman.

“We got a new motor and for a while we were running close to the leaders but we lost the handle on it,” said Delco. “That’s Pro Stock for you. You think you’re getting close and then you take a step backwards. We just keep digging trying to find the answers. I know that Frank is frustrated but we’re a pretty stubborn group. We don’t give up easily. We’ve also had an issue with our shocks that we’ve worked to fix. I think we’ve got a handle on that now.”

For all of his struggled, Delco understands that he’s one of just 67 individuals to win an NHRA Pro Stock race and he doesn’t take that lightly.

“It was a big deal back then and it’s still a big deal to me,” he said. “I’d like to think I’ve got one more in me. We’re going to keep working at it as long as we can.”

A disappointing stretch of races for Pro Stock Motorcycle riders Cory Reed and Angelle Sampey led to one of their busiest weeks of the year.

But extensive testing heading into this weekend’s race at Norwalk seems to have paid immediate dividends for the Team Liberty Racing duo.

After not qualifying the past two events, Sampey’s 6.899 at 193.24 mph put her second on Friday, while Reed’s 6.954 at 193.85 put him 10th, far better than his past two events as well. Reed estimated the team made 20 passes in three days heading into Norwalk in hopes of finding what had been ailing their two Buell bikes. As it turned out, it was simply going back to what had been working to open the season.

“(Friday) was amazing and a good break for us,” Reed said. “We had a really good start to the season, and we just kept trying more and more things and just got lost. We took a step back and went back to where we were.

“It was just nice to get the break finally of working so hard and it paying off. It’s funny how just that one run just made everything worth it somehow. It sucks (Angelle) didn’t qualify twice and we struggled, but it always turns around. You always have to have a fall to have a rise.”

Reed hopes to snap a stretch of three straight first-round losses this weekend, but the strong week of testing and solid run on Friday already has the team in better spirits.

Working with Larry Morgan and Jim Yates has been beneficial, too, but Reed’s and Sampey’s teamwork was on display Friday as well. Sampey is running her bike slightly different from Reed when it comes to gear ratios and the clutch, but that has been helpful for the young team. A prime example came in the lone qualifying session on Friday, and Reed hopes that eventually paves the way for his first career win in the class.

“We’re both learning from each other, which is awesome,” Reed said. “Last night, on her bike she ran really good on the gears she had, and we looked at it and said we’re going to go closer to what she has and see if it works for us. We’re learning a lot faster that way, too. We’re both here with one goal and that’s to win the race, and have both bikes run really well each weekend. We’re both here to win a championship, too.”

Even the most experienced pros make mistakes from time to time and Andrew Hines wasn’t afraid to admit that he had a momentary lapse attention when he staged for his first qualifying run on Friday. Hines staged against Harley-Davidson teammate Eddie Krawiec but the pair was shut off momentarily due to a few rain drops. Once he re-fired his Screamin’ Eagle Harley-Davidson Street Rod, Hines staged and dumped the clutch. The engine went to its 11,000 rpm limit but the bike didn’t move. At that point, it became apparent that Hines had forgotten to put the transmission back into low gear. Calmly, Hines reached down, put the transmission into gear, and completed his run with a 6.911-second elapsed time that was good for the No. 3 spot in the field.

“It was a silly mistake to make but hey, it happens,” said Hines. “I did my normal [staging routine] but we got interrupted when they shut us off. Normally, I’d check to make sure the bike was in gear, but I just forgot. As soon as it went to 11,000 and the bike didn’t move I knew what was going on. I knew that I was still in the stage beams, so I could still make a run as long as I got it in gear quickly. I was just thinking, ‘Don’t turn the switch off on me.’”

Hines doesn’t believe that the abnormal routine affected his run to a great extent although he admits to being slightly deep-staged, which likely cost him a couple hundredths in elapsed time.

“When I put the bike in gear I could feel the bike lurch forward,” Hines said. “I had a 1.09 sixty-foot time and it probably should have been a 1.07 and that would have made the run a 6.89 or so. The bottom line is that I almost threw away a run and given the weather this weekend, I couldn’t afford to do that. I had this horrible feeling that we were only going to get one or two runs and that I was going to have my first DNQ in a long time. I’m going to Alaska for a vacation next week and I think that would have made for a rough week if I had to think about that the whole time I was there.”

Hector Arana Jr. has recently become known as “Mr. 200” after officially cracking open the 200-mph barrier for Pro Stock Motorcycles in Gainesville. Now his father, Hector Sr., can rightfully be called “Mr. 300” after becoming just the second rider to make 300 starts in the class. Steve Johnson, who started racing in 1987, is the class leader with 415 starts but after Arana, the active rider with he most starts is Andrew Hines at 252. Matt Smith has 233 and Angelle Sampey 228.

“When I started this, I never thought I’d get to 300 starts,” said Arana. “I was just worried about getting to the next race. I’ve gotten more out of this than I ever expected to. I’ve won races and I’ve won a championship and I’ve won the U.S. Nationals, but I think what’s most impressive to me is that I’ve been with Lucas Oil for almost my entire career. Forrest and Charlotte Lucas have treated my family like their own and they’ve not only allowed me to chase my dream, but they’ve also helped my sons [Hector Jr. and Adam] race too. They’re they most important part of this.”

In his previous 299 races, Arana Sr. has seven wins and 16 runner-up finishes. Even though he struggled often early in his career, he’s persevered to post a respectable 220-235 record in elimination rounds. Arana Sr. has also been the low qualifier 25 times in his career. Arana doesn’t think he’ll ever challenge Johnson for the overall record in the Pro Stock Motorcycle class, but he’s also not about to close the book on his riding career.

“I think I’ve got a couple more good years left in me,” said Arana, who is now fully recovered from the rotator cuff surgery he had a year ago. “I still feel good and I still think I can ride and be effective. Even if I decided to stop riding, I don’t see myself retiring anytime soon. As long as Hector Jr. wants to ride I’ll be out here supporting him.”

Arana also addressed the performance deficit in the Lucas Oil camps. While Hector Jr. has regularly run over 200-mph this year, Hector Sr. does not have a 200-mph time slip other than the one he got from an independent event in Maryland last season.

“My bike isn’t as happy as Junior’s bike is right now,” Arana said. “I’m running big speeds, but not as fast as he has been running. Right now, our best two engines are in his bike but not for long. I hope we have some new stuff done in time for the western swing. I want to be able to run 200 when we get to Sonoma.”

PHOTOS

Despite the less-than-perfect weather, fans have turned out in large numbers at Summit Motorsports Park for the final day of qualifying.

Fans also got to check out the popular Nitro School feature. Funny Car racer Tim Wilkerson and NHRA's Alan Reinhart educated fans in the pits about the inner workings of a nitro-fueled race car.

The Mello Yello autograph session also drew a crowd, with former world  champs Tony Schumacher, Ron Capps, birthday boy Jeg Coughlin Jr., and L.E. Tonglet greeting fans.

The NHRA Legends Tour had a strong turnout with the chance for fans to me and get autographs from Shirley Muldowney, Al Segrini, and Tom Prock.

Joe Welch, winner of last weekend's SAM Tech Factory Stock Showdown last week in Bristol, continued his hot streak, qualifying his Drag Pak Challenger No. 1 with a 8.092 at 169.00 mph.

Rain plagued the day, with numerous showers and sprinkles that kept the NHRA Safety Safari presented by AAA busy.

Top Fuel star Antron Brown checked out the starting line during the long rain delay.

A pound of ice cream for a dollar? We think we will ...

Once the nitro cars started burning rubber, the grandstands were packed.

Top Fuel veteran Luigi Novelli made an unexpected off-course excursion after a parachute-system failure.

The Scott Rods AA/Gas Supercharged machines put on a thrilling show, with tire-melting burnouts and wheels-up launches from the vintage machines.

Unfortunately, rain was a constant visitor throughout the day and ultimately ended it.

Scott Palmer was one of the racers who suffered most from the cancellation of the final qualifying session. After shaking the tires Friday he was on a solid run early Saturday when the blower belt broke and was sure he could bump in on his final pass. It’s his first DNQ since the end of the 2016 season.

PREVIEW

The last time that current low qualifier Brittany Force was the No. 1 qualifier at the end of Saturday, she won the race Sunday. That was in Houston in late April, but the reigning champ hasn’t been to the semifinals –- let alone another final round -– since then and enters the event with three straight first-round losses with her Advance Auto Parts/Monster Energy team. Norwalk, the halfway point of the season, may end up marking the turnaround that her team so desperately needs, and starting from the No. 1 spot would be a good omen.

Courtney Force is halfway towards what would be her eight No. 1 qualifying effort of the season’s first 12 races and her sixth in the last seven with the Advance Auto Parts Camaro. Her 3.935 led the field Friday as the first of four three-second cars with her dad in the fourth spot at 3.991, bookending two Don Schumacher Racing cars –- Bristol winner Ron Capps (3.961) and Pomona champ Matt Hagan (3.981) -– in what promises to be another fight to the finish. Eighteen cars made qualifying runs Friday, meaning a good battle for the top 16 spots.

Pro Stock drivers did not get a run on Friday so Saturday’s two scheduled qualifying runs will take on an added importance when it comes to seeding the field. Points leader Greg Anderson has been riding a hot streak, at least when it comes to qualifying, by taking the pole at the last three events and seven of the first 11 this season. Anderson figures to get a strong challenge from his own teammates, Bo Butner and Jason Line, as well as arch rival Jeg Coughlin Jr., who has won two of the last three Pro Stock races on the tour. One Pro Stock driver who did get a shot at the Norwalk quarter-mile yesterday is Erica Enders, who is also competing in the E3 Spark Plugs Pro Mod Series. Also of interest to Pro Stock fans is the appearance of Charlie Westcott and his Ford Mustang. Westcott, a former Comp and Super Stock standout, has not raced in the Pro Stock class this season.

After a tough start to the 2018 season that included a rare DNQ in Gainesville, Matt Smith has been one of the most consistent riders in the Pro Stock Motorcycle class. The two-time champ and former Norwalk winner currently leads the Pro Stock Motorcycle field after recording a 6.866 last night on his Victory V-twin. Smith enjoys a .03-second cushion over provisional No. 2 qualifier Angelle Sampey, who has appeared to bounce back from two subpar efforts with a solid 6.899. Andrew Hines, Eddie Krawiec, Jerry Savoie, Steve Johnson, Hector Arana Jr. and Angie Smith round out the top eight after one run.