NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

NHRA Funny Car history was made during the third qualifying session of the Mopar NHRA Las Vegas Nationals presented by Dodge with the first all-three-second field.

With the air temperature a cool 65 degrees and the track at 82 degrees, Jason Rupert’s 3.998-second pass made him the 16th qualifier under four seconds and the bump spot was later lowered to 3.979 by Dave Richards with one qualifying session still to go.

It was 15 years, 1 month, and 15 days ago that Matt Hagan made the class’ first three-second pass, Sept. 16, 2011, at zMAX Dragway in Charlotte, N.C., and more than seven years since Justin Schriefer was the quickest 16th qualifier with a 4.005 at the 2019 U.S. Nationals.

The class has been knocking on the door of this milestone for years. Two weeks ago, at the Texas NHRA FallNationals, the field sported 15 three-second qualifiers, the fourth time in history that there had been 15 qualified below the four-second barrier.