NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

The Pro Stock Motorcycles and cars get two shots today, while the nitro cars only get one. Saturday will be two Pro Stock-class runs and three each for Top Fuel and Funny Car.

Pro Stock Motorcycle Q1

This race is the final event where drivers can earn points towards the GETTRX NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle All-Star Callout next weekend at the Denso NHRA Sonoma Nationals, and positions can still shift.

Steve Johnson, who is currently in the eighth and final spot for the Callout field, is not in attendance — his first national event miss in 38 years, according to his personal records —and neither is ninth-ranked Marc Ingwersen, which means that Chris Bostick should pass them both with a successful qualifying effort. He's just 45 behind Johnson, and with a small bike field, he'll obviously qualify and get the necessary points.

Just as important is the top spot, where Gaige Herrera and Matt Smith are tied for the honor of making the first callout, which can dramatically influence how the Callout eliminations play out, especially because Smith has four bikes in the field, including his wife, Angie, Jianna Evaristo, and John Hall. Whomever qualifies higher between the two will get that important first pick.

Herrera’s teammate Richard Gadson will likely pick third, and Angie Smith will likely end up fourth, giving her no choice of opponent, meaning she will probably end up facing an MSR teammate (Hall or Evaristo) in round one by default. (That is, of course, unless Herrera or Matt Smith go big and pick the other with their first choice.

Neither Herrera nor Smith was the star of the opening session as Gadson grabbed the top spot with a  6.735, with Herrera second at 6.749 and Smith third at 6.765 at a booming 202.11 mph, top speed of the meet.

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Pro Stock Q1

Homestate hero Dallas Glenn broke Chris McGaha's 10-year-old (!) track record of 6.488 with a 6.484 to lead the first session of the factory hot rods with teammate Greg Anderosn right behind with a 6.489.

The Stanfield clan — father Greg and son Aaron — were third and fourth at 6.518 and 6.525 while McGaha showed that he still knows a fast way down  Pacific raceways with a 6.545 for fifth. Jeg Coughlin Jr. (6.550), Deric Kramer (6.560), and Mason McGaha (6.562) round out the top eight,

Troy Coughlin Jr. is again sporting the black with yellow stripes (as opposed to the traditional yellow with black stripes) livery on his JEGS Camaro. The design debuted in Norwalk on a Jerry Haas-built car previously owned by Brandon Foster; the car, dubbed "Midnight," shook hard on its first try. Coughlin’s Elite teammate, Factory Stock graduate Stephen Bell, is driving another ex-Foster machine this weekend, but couldn't make his opening run due to a lack of battery power.

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Deecell “After Dark Low Qualifier”

Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle will kick off the Deecell “After Dark Low Qualifier” festivities, followed by the nitro categories. The top qualifier of this session will earn bonus money in each class, with the low qualifier in Top Fuel and Funny Car earning $4,000 each. The Pro Stock low qualifier will get $2,500, and the top qualifier on Friday night in Pro Stock Motorcycle earns $1,500. The Top Fuel low qualifier will also be gifted a TAG Hauer watch from Ben Bridge Jewelers as part of a daylong celebration in which fans who won a lottery were assigned a driver to root for from the starting line. 

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Pro Stock Motorcycle Q2

John Hall, fresh off his drought-breaking win in Norwalk a few weeks ago, kept the momentum going by qualifying low for the Deecell bonus with a career-best 6.717. Is if sticks, it will be the first No. 1 of Hall's long career.

World champ Gaige Herrera was second-quick in the session with a 6.721, with Matt Smith going 6.733 for third, all three of them passing Q1 low qualifier Richard Gadson, who sat up early on his run and coasted to an 8.86. 

Jianna Evaristo is fifth at 6.774, also recorded in Q2, followed by Angie Smith (6.789), defending event champ Chase Van Sant (6.848), and Chris Bostick (6.854).

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Pro Stock Q2

After an unfortunate and lengthy starting-line oildown by Stephen Bell — his second failed attempt to make a run today — the action was heated in pursuit of the Deecell bonus as the lead changed hands fives times before ending up in the hands of Greg Anderson, who raced to a new track record of 6.472 alongside teammate Dallas Glenn, who bettered his opening lap of 6.484 with a 6.479 but nonetheless slipped to second.

Greg Stanfield also got into the 6.40s with a 6.493 for third while Cody Coughlin slots fourth with a 6.511.

Deric Kramer (6.512), Aaron Stanfield (6.522), Jeg Coughlin Jr. (6.523), and Norwalk winner Cory Reed (6.543) round out the top eight halfway through qualifying.

Troy Coughlin Jr., who shook hard for the second straight attempt, is on the bump with a 9.43 with only Bell on the outside looking in with two sessions to go Saturday.

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Funny Car Q1

The nitro teams come into this night session in kind of a weird space, as normally their nighttime "hero" run is preceded by an earlier Friday lap, but their first run today is in the best conditions, so if anything, they may be overly cautious with no data or, with nothing to lose, maybe they throw everything at it and hope it sticks.

The first four pairs bore that out as six cars shook hard at the hit while the seventh, Funny Car rookie Dylan Winefsky, making just his second start after his debut in Las Vegas, looked pretty sporty with a full run but lost a competitive 4.31 when his Nitro Moose entry clipped a finish-line timing block. Among the first six were Jeff "the Surfer" Diehl, who made a career-best 3.95 at this race last year, but, like qualifying mate Hunter Green, shook hard early and shut off. Green, still subbing for Blake Alexander, is officially in the race for Rookie of the Year after running his fifth race of the year in Norwalk.

Gatornationals champ Chad Green temporarily broke the spell with a 3.92 to grab the No. 1 spot, the result of a lot of work between races by the team, including a chassis front half and a reworking of the clutch system. They came into this race on the heels of four straight first-round losses, so it was time for something drastic, and it worked.

Green's lead lasted just one pair until J.R. Todd took the lead for the Deecell bonus with a swervy 3.901, but that was it as the next three pairs all ended up with aborted passes. Points leader and defending event champ Austin Prock's 5.58 was the third-best run of the session.

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Top Fuel Q1

Top Fuel cars didn't suffer nearly as badly as their shorter nitro brothers, and while some did struggle to make a full pass, there were plenty of quick and fast fireworks.

Top Fuel's speed queen, Brittany Force, flashed that David Grubnic horsepower again, racing to a 340.47-mph speed — the third fastest in history and her fourth above 340 — on a 3.703 pass in the HendrickCars.com dragster, but it didn't land her the No. 1 spot. That honor went to Doug Kalitta with a 3.671.

Kalitta finished just ahead of his Kalitta Motorsports teammate Shawn Langdon, who clocked a right-there 3.689 while Force fell to third. Clay Millican (3.708), Shawn Reed (4.140), Antron Brown (5.993), Josh Hart (6.385), and Tony Stewart (6.439) rounded out the day's top eight.

Cameron Ferre is behind the wheel of local favorite Ron Smith’s dragster this weekend. Smith, who annually makes the Northwest Nationals his lone event of the season, broke his right leg in three places while unloading his car in June. Standout Northwest Top Alcohol Dragster driver Kim Parker attempted to license in Smith’s car recently in Spokane, but didn’t run quick and fast enough to get her license, so Ferre was asked to step in. Ferre shook hard on his opening lap.