GETTRX Pro Stock NHRA All-Star Callout round one

Following yesterday’s callouts, Saturday’s action in Norwalk kicked off with the opening round of the GETTRX Pro Stock NHRA All-Star Callout, a special race-within-a-race that will award a $40,000 bonus to the champion. The eight car field, determined by a year-long qualifying process, included multiple world champions and event winners. 

Jeg Coughlin Jr., not stranger to success in any bonus race, opened with a wire-to-wire win against teammate Aaron Stanfield, 6.637 to 6.647. 

One pair later, Matt Hartford upped the ante with an impressive 6.615 that was more than enough to top Eric Latino’s 6.653.

Dallas Glenn also got off the starting line first in his battle against Troy Coughlin Jr., and he never trailed with a 6.596 that easily covered Coughlin’s6.646.

The final pair featured Greg Anderson and Erica Enders, who have combined to win 12 championships and 159 national event titles. Anderson wasn’t bashful about calling out Enders, and he put his money where his mouth is with a 6.587, the quickest run of the round.

Anderson needed most of it as Enders made the third-best run of the race with a 6.600.

To no one's surprise, Anderson quickly called out longtime rival Jeg Coughlin Jr. in the semifinals leaving Glenn to race against Hartford.

Top Fuel Q3

Top Fuel Q3 proved interesting as teams attacked the track with seemingly better conditions than the previous sessions. But the conditions proved challenging, as many of the top teams smoked the tires.

Justin Ashley remained at the top, with little movement in the top half of the field. Antron Brown stays number two after shutting off early, which was the same result for Stewart who is third.

Despite his 4.60, Stewart made the final of the Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty Challenge where he will face Doug Kalitta. Kalitta was marginally quicker at 4.38 and will have lane choice against Stewart. Doug Foley made a clean 3.84 run, while Lex Joon suffered engine trouble in the lights but improved to a 3.88 at 313 mph. They are currently qualified 12^th and 13^th respectively.

Funny Car Q3

Much like Top Fuel, Funny Car teams fought for traction as the mid-day sun produced tricky track conditions. Bob Tasca III went low for the session with a 4.012 at 322 mph. It was the only full pull and moved Tasca III to the 10^th spot.

Cruz Pedregon retained the provisional pole, as no one could get near his 3.89 run from Friday night. Following Pedregon in the top five are Austin Prock, Ron Capps, Jack Beckman and Matt Hagan. Buddy Hull shut off early, but his 4.127 stands as the bump, with five cars below him unqualified.

The Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty Challenge saw Dan Wilkerson defeat Jack Beckman (4.27 to 4.50) with both drivers clicking it early. Wilkerson will face Austin Prock, who got past J.R. Todd in another match where both drivers shut off early. Prock ran 4.13 to give him lane choice in the final.

GETTRX PRO STOCK NHRA ALL-STAR CALLOUT SEMIFINALS

Matt Hartford pulled off what many consider a mild upset when he got the best of Dallas Glenn in the semifinals of the $40,000 GETTRX Pro Stock All-Star Callout. Glenn left first by six-thousandths, but Hartford made up the difference to win by .002, 6.603 to 6.611. 

Matt Hartford pulled off what many consider a mild upset when he got the best of Dallas Glenn in the semifinals of the $40,000 GETTRX Pro Stock All-Star Callout. Glenn left first by six-thousandths, but Hartford made up the difference to win by .002, 6.603 to 6.611. 

Greg Anderson also ran 6.611, but that came on a winning run after opponent Jeg Coughlin Jr., hit the rev limiter and slowed to a 7.038. The final will feature a rematch of last year’s GETTRX Callout.

“We have a good car. Won a lot of races with this car in 2023 and we went back and said what were we doing then?” said Hartford “To go to the final for GETTRX also makes us really proud.”

The GETTRX Callout aside, there were some noteworthy runs during the third round of Pro Stock Motorcycle qualifying. Cory Reed powered to a 6.616 while Aaron Stanfield also impressed with a 6.626 while his father, Greg, was quick with a 6.632.

PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE Q3

Mark Ingwersen hurt an engine on Friday so he sat out the second session but the Ohio native recovered to post a solid 6.901.

Another impressive performance came from John Hall who rode to a 6.850 while Ron Tornow, who is using power and tuning advice from Matt Smith, has also been incredibly consistent with a 6.862 to remain in the top half of the field.

In the opening round of the Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty Challenge, Angie Smith not only made her best run of the weekend with a 6.839, but also defeated Richard Gadson, who never left the starting line on his RevZilla/Vance & Hines Suzuki. 

Gadson took responsibility for the error, stating simply that he did not pop the clutch when the Tree flashed.

So far this weekend, the Smith team has had the upper hand against the rival Vance & Hines squad and that was the case where Matt Smith ran low E.T. of the weekend with a 6.816, but Gaige Herrera turned on the win light via a holeshot with a 6.820.

Top Fuel Q4

After a tough Q3, where tire smoke was the theme, racers refined their tune-ups for the final session, but many still struggled.

Doug Foley ran early and matched his previous 3.84 to remain in the 12^th spot. Ths was followed by lots of tire smoke until Doug Kalitta came to the line. He came into the session as a finalist in the Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty Challenge, despite being unqualified. In the last pair, while staged against Tony Stewart, Kalitta delivered a 3.953 at 294 to win the challenge to slip into the field. This was Kalitta’s fourth win in the Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty Challenge this season.

Justin Ashley will start Sunday’s eliminations from the pole, where he’ll face Scott Farley who ran a career-best 3.97 to make the show.

Funny Car Q4

With 21 Funny Cars at Summit Motorsport Park, the final qualifying session was an important one.

Cruz Pedregon’s Friday-night 3.89 shot held for the pole for the Snap-On Tools Dodge Charger driver. Pedregon will be looking for his second win at Summit Motorsports Park, his first came in 2021. Austin Prock, Ron Capps, Jack Beckman and Matt Hagan round out the top five, while Buddy Hull’s 4.12 held on for the 16^th spot.

Chris King, Bobby Bode, Julie Nataas, Joe Morrison and Mike McIntire went for broke, but each of the five drivers smoked the tires, and failed to crack into the 16-car field for Sunday’s eliminations.

Stand-out drivers Prock and Daniel Wilkerson battled in the Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty Challenge final, with Wilkerson proving victorious after running 4.15 at 305 mph to top Prock’s shut-off 5.01 run.

PRO STOCK Q4

The challenging conditions present on Saturday at Summit Motorsports Park were not confined to the nitro cars as Pro Stock teams also had to make big adjustments in order to navigate the track.

In Q4, the final tune-up run before Sunday’s final eliminations, Matt Hartford not only won the $40,000 top prize in the GETTRX Pro Stock NHRA All-star Callout, but he also collected three valuable bonus points with a 6.609 in his Total Seal Camaro.

Eric Latino lost in the first round of the Callout event, but he’s got a competitive car for eliminations after wheeling his GESi entry to a 6.629 in the final session. 

Dallas Glenn was also quick with a 6.635, two thousandths of a second ahead of Greg Stanfield, who just missed a bonus point with a 6.637. 

There are several intriguing match-ups on Sunday’s docket including Elite teammates Erica Enders and Aaron Stanfield as well as a family battle between Cody Coughlin and his uncle, Jeg Coughlin Jr. 

PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE Q4

As was the case in Pro Stock, the quickest rider in Pro Stock Motorcycle was also crowned the winner of the Mission Foods #2Fast2tasty Challenge and that rider was Gaige Herrera. 

Herrera, who is seeking a landmark 25th win on Sunday, won the Mission Challenge after Angie Smith fouled in the final. It may not have mattered as Herrera rode his RevZilla Vance & Hines Suzuki to a 6.831 to score three additional bonus points.

Herrera’s teammate Richard Gadson, who missed the first run of the day, helped make up for it with a 6.853 while Angie Smith banked a bonus point with her 6.872 run in the Mission final.

The only other rider in the 6.8s was Matt Smith, who rode his Denso Buell to a 6.881. Smith remains the top qualifier with his 6.811 second run from Friday night.