NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

The NHRA has returned to Topeka's House of Speed, which this weekend also becomes the home of Speed for All. As in all professional classes of NHRA racing:  Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Star, and Pro Stock Motorcycle. As an added bonus, the Lucas Oil Drag Racing series Top Alcohol Dragsters and Alcohol Funny Cars will run, as will the FuelTech NHRA Pro Mod Drag Racing Series presented by D-Wagon. In fact, it's easier to just list the three NHRA classes that won't run this weekend: the Constant Aviation NHRA Factory Stock Showdown, Top Fuel Harley, and Mountain Motor Pro Stock. 

The Menards NHRA Nationals Presented By PetArmor event comes at a pivotal time in the season when racers vie for the points that will position them for their countdown campaign, and teams reveal their hands by showing what their best tune-ups are really capable of.

In Top Fuel, no one’s hand looks better than Brittany Force's. She’s looking to pick back up on the  Sonoma success she rode into Seattle on. At her sponsors race, the Flav-R-Pac NHRA Northwest Nationals, she was steamrolling through the competition until overpowering the tires in the final round, giving Tony Schumacher his first win of the season.  Look for the Monster Energy/ Flav-R-Pak team to correct that overpowering this weekend.

Doug Kalitta is the only active Top Fuel racer that has won multiple times in Topeka, once in 2006 and again in 2016. The Kalitta and Alan Johnson team are still on a quest for consistency and performance, and fans at this weekend‘s race should watch for the team to make their winning ways a trifecta. Kalitta teammate Shawn Langdon has also won here before and has shown his driving skills and tuneup are competitive with the leaders of the pack. Also worth keeping an eye on this weekend are Antron Brown and Clay Millican, who both won here in 2017 and 2018, respectively. Both could use the wins.

If anyone can claim the House of Speed's deed, it’s John Force. He’s won here ten times, and he’s coming back after winning here with his daughter Brittany in 2021. The 16-time champion and 155-time event winner has been exhibiting superhuman capabilities in 2022, which makes him a threat to the competition. Those competitors include teammate Robert Hight and friend Bob Tasca III who will be measuring themselves against his capabilities here.

The Pro Stock categories have no modern-day repeat winners in Topeka. Dallas Glenn and Kyle Koretzky were the winners and runner up at last year‘s event, and Troy Coughlin Jr. was the number one qualifier. Topeka has been favoring new drivers in recent years, with Derek Kramer and Tanner Gray winning in 2018 and 2017. Could this be the race where Aaron Stanfield puts the pressure on Enders? Or will Koretzky be the one to change Elite Motorsport's momentum? Don't count out Troy Coughlin Jr either, as he could have another breakout performance with his quick qualifying as he did in Sonoma.

Pro Stock Motorcycle returns here for the first time in over a decade. Just 69 points separate the top five racers in the standings, and it looks to be an all-Suzuki motorcycle shootout between Angelle Sampey, Joey Gladstone, Matt Smith, Eddie Krawiec, Steve Johnson, and Matt Smith.  We’ve not seen Pro Stock Motorcycles run here since the 200-mile-an-hour benchmark was eclipsed, and while weather conditions may turn out to be too warm for record-setting runs, Topeka fans will get to see what state-of-the-art Pro Stock Motorcycle is capable of.

Track records: 
Top Fuel - 3.660 seconds by Tony Schumacher, May 2017; 334.90 mph by Clay Millican, May 2018
Funny Car – 3.802 seconds by Matt Hagan, May 2017; 338.85 mph by Matt Hagan, May 2017
Pro Stock - 6.515 seconds by Erica Enders, May 2015; 211.43 mph by Erica Enders, May 2015
Pro Stock Motorcycle-7.381 seconds by Matt Hines, Sept. 1997; 182.88 mph by Matt Hines, Sept. 1996

2021 event winners: 
Brittany Force, John Force, Dallas Glenn

Most victories
Scott Kalitta, 6, TF; John Force, 10, FC; Warren Johnson, 5; John Meyers, 4

Friday’s schedule: 
NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series qualifying and time trials starts at 9:00 a.m.
NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series qualifying starts at 6:30 p.m.

Television:
Saturday, August 13: FS1 will televise qualifying coverage at 4:30 to 6:00 p.m. (ET).
Sunday, August 14: FS1 will televise qualifying coverage at 1:00 to 2:00 p.m. (ET).
Sunday, August 14: FS1 will televise finals coverage at 2:00 to 5:00 p.m. (ET).