NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

Saturday is going to be a busy day at the Denso NHRA Sonoma Nationals as the jam packed scheduled includes final qualifying for Camping World series pros, the start of eliminations for the Lucas Oil Series sportsman competitors as well as the Misison #2Fast2Tasty Challenge and the NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle Allstar Callout.

Qualifying proved to be a challenge on Friday for professional racers at the Denso NHRA Sonoma Nationals but after two runs, the fields in Top Fuel, Funny Car, and Pro Stock Motorcycle are beginning to take shape. There will be two more runs today so those who did not take advantage of Friday’s conditions will have ample opportunities to make up for lost time.

Those who did perform on Friday included Austin Prock, who leads the Top Fuel field with a 3.70 and Alexis DeJoria, who made a pair of competitive runs in her Bandero Premium Toyota, including a 3.966 under the lights that was by far the best run of the second session. In Pro Stock Motorcycle, Gaige Herrera continued his rampage through the class with a 6.728, that is just a thousandth of a second quicker than Matt Smith’s second-best 6.729.

The Pro Stock Motorcycle class will take center stage today with the running of the NHRA Allstar Callout event. Yesterday, the pairings for the first round were established during a spirited callout meeting. Ultimately, Herrera called out rookie of the year contender Chase Van Sant. Hector Arana Jr. called out Steve Johnson and Eddie Krawiec called out Marc Ingwersen, which left the husband and wife team of Matt and Angie Smith as the final pair.

Today’s Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty Challenge will include the semifinal finishers in Top Fuel and Funny Car from last weekend’s Flav-R-Pac NHRA Northwest Nationals in Seattle. Event winner Steve Torrence will take on Shawn Langdon in round one while runner-up Doug Kalitta will be paired against Denver winner Clay Millican.

In Funny Car, Tim Wilkerson will face a rematch with Norwalk winner Blake Alexander while J.R. Todd races Chad Green, who has been a magnet for the Mission-backed events this season. While Green has yet to win a professional event, or even appear in a final round, he has reached the semifinals seven times with his Bond Coat Mustang.

2022 EVENT WINNERS
Brittany Force (Top Fuel), Bob Tasca III (Funny Car), Joey Gladstone (Pro Stock Motorcycle)

TRACK RECORDS

Top Fuel - 3.662 seconds by Brittany Force, July ‘22; 337.75 mph by Brittany Force, July ‘22.

Funny Car – 3.807 seconds by Robert Hight, July ’17; 339.87 mph by Hight, July ‘17.

Pro Stock Motorcycle – 6.696 seconds by Angelle Sampey, July ’22; 205.04 by Matt Smith, July ‘21

SCHEDULE

SATURDAY, July 29
Pro Stock Motorcycle Callout at 12:30 p.m.
Camping World Series qualifying at 12:40 and 3:30 p.m.

SUNDAY, July 30
Pre-race ceremony, 9:30- a.m.
Camping World Series eliminations begin at 10:30 a.m.

TELEVISION

Saturday, July 29, FS1 will televise one-and-a-half hours of qualifying coverage at noon. (ET).
Sunday, July 30, FS1 will televise one-and-a-half hours of qualifying coverage at 2:30 p.m. (ET).
Sunday, July 30, FOX will televise three hours of live finals coverage at 4 p.m. (ET).