NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

The AAA Texas NHRA FallNationals kicks off the second half of the 2016 Countdown to the Championship, and with just three races remaining to determine the world champions in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series, there is a greater sense of urgency among those still within striking distance of the titles. That was certainly evident in the strong performances during the opening qualifying day, during which contenders — as well as some looking to spoil the aspirations of title contenders — tried to one-up each other on the famed Texas Motorplex dragstrip. The end result was a thrilling day of qualifying, which treated fans to some of the quickest and fastest runs in history.

Here are today’s highlights:

1. Hight shows off for sponsor
Though he would certainly love to win every event on tour, it’s fair to say Robert Hight most wants to do well at events sponsored by his primary sponsor, Auto Club. He was able to do that today at the AAA Texas NHRA FallNationals, wheeling his AAA Texas Chevy to a 3.839, the third-quickest run in history, to claim the provisional No. 1 spot in Funny Car.

2. Brown continues to build on lead
Antron Brown entered Dallas with the biggest lead in the four Pro classes, and the two-time defending world champion just continued to build on his advantage with two great passes from his Matco Tools Top Fuel entry. After ranking third in the first session, Brown blasted to a 3.682 to end the day first in the order.

3. Line back at the top
Hard as it may be to believe, the last time Jason Line qualified No. 1 was in Bristol back in June, but the points leader appears to be on his way to correcting that because Line leads Pro Stock after day one, thanks to a 6.56 in the first session.

4. The Harleys hold sway after day one
They’re Nos. 1 and 2 in the Pro Stock Motorcycle points, and that’s exactly where the Vance & Hines Screamin’ Eagle Harley-Davidsons sit following the opening day of qualifying at Texas Motorplex. Andrew Hines is No. 1 with a 6.81, followed by teammate Eddie Krawiec with a 6.82.

5. Record field in Top Alcohol Dragster
With 30 Top Alcohol Dragsters at Texas Motorplex, everyone expected an incredible show as they fought for one of the 16 starting spots, and the group certainly delivered, producing the quickest field in history. Marty Thacker’s 5.352 anchors the record field, which is led by Rich McPhillips’ 5.190. This year’s bump betters the previous record of 5.370, set last year at this event.

Funny Car | Pro Stock | Pro Stock Motorcycle | Etc.

Kebin Kinsley’s ride to the Texas Motorplex was a short one, just 20 miles up Highway 287 from his Kennedale home, to saddle up for just his third event of the season with the Hennen Motorsports/Road Rage Fuel Booster entry. The team successfully qualified at both previous events, including most recently in St. Louis, and with warm conditions similar to those that weekend, the John Smith-tuned team is optimistic.

“We had some of our best down-low numbers at this race last year,” said Kinsley. “We had a lot of stupid stuff happen – like broken push rods and a blower pulley that pulled out – or we could have done a lot better, but it gave us a good baseline for this year.

“We got a lot of positive ink in St. Louis, which is the home of Road Rage,” he added. “They just got their product into Lowe’s stores, which is really great, so we’ll have a lot of folks out here this weekend cheering us on.”

Halfway through the Countdown, Tony Schumacher sits in fifth place, faced with overcoming a hefty 141-point deficit if he wants to win a ninth season championship, and he knows that this could be a make-or-break weekend.
 
“It goes without saying that it would be incredible to wipe out the entire deficit at Dallas and then hit Vegas and Pomona on equal ground,” he said. “It’s not exactly mathematically possible, but, like we did at St. Louis [where he was runner-up], we could certainly take a big chunk of it back. You never know what’s going to go down on any given weekend, so the way we approach it is to take care of what we can control, and that is to go out and try to be fastest in every qualifying session, then run the table on Sunday. That’s the best we can do. The rest is out of our control because you never know what’s going to happen with those guys and girls in the other lane and the other matchups on Sunday.”

Home-state hero Steve Torrence made the two-hour drive from Kilgore, taking time to reflect on the important weekend ahead. His Capco Contractors dragster sits in sixth place – down three spots from where he entered the Countdown – and 163 points behind leader Antron Brown.

“It’s pretty much a make-or-break weekend for us,” said Torrence, runner-up to Richie Crampton here last year. “Mathematically, we’re still in it, but unless [the leaders] go out early and we win, it’s going to be tough. We’ve made it tough on ourselves. St. Louis [where he lost in round one] was a heartbreaker because we’ve done so well since we faltered at the first of the year only to have it happen again now. The good news is I’ve done pretty well here over the years – I won the Alcohol Dragster championship here [in 2005] – and we’ll have a lot of friends and family cheering us on.”

Despite running a 3.770, there wasn’t a lot to cheer about Friday as that solid pass left the Capco team in just the No. 10 spot.

Scott Palmer warmed a cooling night with a big fireball in his entry, losing what undoubtedly was a run better than his opening 3.99 blast. Despite the fire and the hands-full detour, Palmer still ran a 4.33.


In three attempts, Brittany Force has not yet had the type of success enjoyed by her famous father, John, at Texas Motorplex, with a pair of second-round finishes bookending a DNQ in 2014, but she could use some this weekend as she fights from third place to chase down points leaders Antron Brown and Doug Kalitta.

“I just try and not think about the pressure,” said Force, runner-up at the most recent event on the tour. “My job is to just do what my crew chiefs tell me to do and not try and do anything different. This whole season has been a new experience for me, and I am still learning. I still get butterflies, but I think everyone does when you get into situations like this. This season, I have learned to just relax and focus on doing the little things. My Monster Energy teammates have been very supportive all season, and we are really working well together down this last home stretch.”

Force finished Friday in the No. 4 spot with a 3.723 effort.

Red-hot Antron Brown, leading the points and flying high on his Reading win, was third-quickest in the opening qualifying session, but as great run after great run unfolded before him in the second session, he found his Matco Tools entry all the way down to the No. 7 spot before he could even take the Tree. He quickly went from seventh to first with a track record blast of 3.682 seconds.

“That was some crucial points for us in this race for the championship,” said Brown, who earned four bonus points on the day; second-place Doug Kalitta earned none, pushing Brown to an 81-point lead, or more than four rounds. “We messed up in the beginning of the Countdown by not qualifying well [seventh in Charlotte, 12th in St. Louis] and missing the 'little' bonus points, and Doug was getting a lot of them and chipping away at our lead. We tested before Reading and qualified No. 2 there and started getting those 'little points.'

“That points lead could be gone at the end of the weekend. If we lose in the first round and Dougie wins the race, then we’re back at ground zero with two races to go. We can’t afford any mistakes; there’s only a few ways to win and 1,000 ways to lose.

"We saw the weather coming in, and everyone had their stuff set on kill tonight," he added. "Everyone was licking their chops. Brittany [Force] went .72, and we saw Leah [Pritchett] go a career-best .69, so we knew it was out there. I hit the gas, and once it got through the first 100 feet where it can be iffy and I felt it stay hooked up, I knew I was going for a ride. When I went through the traps, I saw that number pop up on the scoreboard and said, ‘That’s what I’m talking about.’ "

John Force has won a record seven times at Texas Motorplex but has not won here since his near-career-ending wreck in 2007, and it weighs heavily on his mind.

“There are a lot of memories at that track, a lot of scars, a lot of pain, but it is a track that I truly do love,” said Force, whose chassis broke in two on a winning second-round race that year, leaving him with devastating injuries to his legs and hands. “I love going to Dallas. I love all the racetracks, but there is something about Ennis, and maybe it is because I spent more time in Texas because I was in [Baylor Medical Center in Dallas] for two months after my crash.”

Force’s last Motorplex win came in 2005; in 2000, when the track held two races each year, Force won both. He finished Friday in the No. 8 spot with a 3.873 best.

Auto Club Road to the Future Award candidate Brandon Welch and grandfather and car owner Chuck Beal are back on track for their sixth outing of the season with their AutoAnything.com Funny Car, eager to make up for lost opportunities at their last event in St. Louis, where Welch just missed qualifying for the third time. In addition to still working on a new clutch system installed in Seattle, Welch is still learning what a handful the team’s laid-back headers have added to the driving equation even with nearly 50 pounds of weight bar hung on the front end to offset the loss of downforce.

“It makes a lot harder and more sudden moves, especially if you drop a cylinder at speed,” said Welch, who tagged the wall with the headers on his last pass in St. Louis. “It’s a lot, but we’re running out of runs this season.”

“It doesn’t show it yet on the scoreboard, but we’re making a lot of progress,” said Beal, a former national event winner in Top Alcohol Funny Car. “It’s a lot to throw at Brandon, but he’s going to have to figure it out sometime, so why not now?”

The team will finish its season with outings in Las Vegas and Pomona.


Jack Beckman’s incoming track records of 3.909 and 326.32 mph, both established last year, didn’t last long. The e.t. mark was broken in the fifth pair of the first qualifying session by Courtney Force, whose Traxxas Chevy ran 3.895, and bettered one pair later by her teammate Robert Hight and his AAA Texas Camaro, which ran 3.870. The record did not remain in the Force camp, though; in the final pair of the session, points leader Ron Capps ran 3.864. The three bonus points he earned probably pleased him more in his tight points battle with second-place Tommy Johnson Jr., pushing his teammate to 27 points back.

The NAPA Dodge came into the event leading all Funny Cars with 28 bonus points in qualifying based on being among the three quickest in a session and for points earned based on the final qualifying order.

Six drivers (including Beckman) ran quicker than his incoming mark, but that track record would not survive the day.

Robert Hight briefly held both ends of the track record as his 3.870 came at a speed of 329.34, but it, too, did not survive the remainder of the first session as the class’ speed king, Matt Hagan, ran 330.23 in his special-edition Pennzoil colors. Hagan’s team owns three of the four fastest speeds in class history, including No. 1, a 335.57-mph ripper recorded this year in Topeka. Jack Beckman got his track speed record back with a 333.66-mph shot, the sixth fastest in class history, in the second qualifying session.


Robert Hight completed a wild day of track-record-shattering passes atop the field with a 3.839 in his AAA Texas Camaro, the third-quickest pass in class history. The track e.t. record was broken six times before it ended up with Hight on the final pass of qualifying. All told, four of the 10-quickest Funny Car passes went into the record books Friday.

“I remember when I was a kid watching all of the big guys setting records every time they came to Texas, and 31 years later, I get to race on that surface, and look how well it’s held up: third-quickest run in history, 330-mph Funny Cars. It shows you that concrete is the way to go and that Billy Meyer was way ahead of his time. 

“Going up for that run, [crew chief] Mike Neff told me that he thought we could run 3.84; I thought, ‘We’ve never run 3.84; how do you go about doing that? How could he be that confident?’ And it went 3.839, which shows he knows what he’s talking about.

“We made a bunch of changes to our car in St. Louis, and it ran really well, then we went to Reading in crazy conditions and didn’t run well, so to come right back in here and pick up where we left off in St. Louis shows my team is on the right track, and, so far so good, a lot of the parts we put on the car are showing a lot of potential.”

Behind Hight on the qualifying sheets are Jack Beckman (3.843), Tommy Johnson Jr. (3.847), and Matt Hagan (3.851). Points leader Ron Capps finished a disappointing No. 7 despite a 3.864. The 12-car bump is an impressive 3.961 by Alexis DeJoria.
 

Drew Skillman’s Countdown run so far has been a bit of a challenge with just one round-win in the first three events, so he and his team decided to use the time between Reading and here to do a little testing in hopes of righting the ship.

“We made 11 runs in two days,” said Skillman, who posted times of 6.61 and 6.62 on his two attempts today. “We just struggled down low there [in the first session]. We’re No. 1 out back, so we got the car a lot happier. We just kinda underestimated how good the track was. We’ll come back out swinging. I think we’ve got a top-five car, so we’ve just got to put it out there.”

Skillman finished the opening day ranked seventh in the order.

Odessa, Texas’ Chris McGaha is playing a home game this weekend, but it didn’t quite get off to the start he had wanted with a pair of runs that weren’t 100 percent perfect. It started with a 6.66 at just 202.21 mph, and the slowed pass can be attributed to a mechanical malfunction.

“It lost a push rod at about 4.07 seconds into the run. Half-track, it lost a push rod,” said McGaha. “It was at least going to go a 6.60, which wouldn’t have been bad. Of course, those other guys are running 6.57, but I would have taken my 6.60 with a smile.”

McGaha improved in Q2, posting a 6.61, but that run could have been better as well.

“At night, I have a little trouble. I bounced off two gears, going on the chip,” said McGaha. “I’m disappointed. I wish we could have gone faster, but I’ll take it.”

Shane Tucker has had a bit of a struggle since returning to Pro Stock in Indy, including not qualifying at that event, but it appears his team may have corrected course on its second run today, posting a 6.64 that has him in the No. 11 position heading into Saturday.

“I think we left a little bit on the table. You’ll probably be able to tell here in a minute. They’re all going to step up, but we’re a lot closer than where we’ve been,” said Tucker. “We haven’t really been happy with how we’ve started the last three races. We made mistakes, and we just need to be able to fix them and be a little bit better. Hopefully tomorrow we’ll be better.”

One thing possibly working in Tucker’s favor this weekend is a strong support system at this event.

“This is a home race for our company, Auzmet Architectural, so it’s good to be out here with friends and family and some of my folks from back home,” he said.

The second pair of the second session was plagued with troubles. First, Aaron Strong shut off and was pushed off the starting line after three attempts at doing a burnout failed. Then, Jeg Coughlin Jr.’s Dodge (pictured) had a rare-for-Pro-Stock oildown, causing a starting-line cleanup that delayed things a bit. According to reports from the top end, the oil was coming from the breather on the dry-sump tank.

Vincent Nobile is looking to carry the momentum he picked up in Reading into this weekend and the rest of the Countdown, but though he had a solid first day, posting a best of 6.59 that places him fifth in the order, Nobile admits his team did not get the most out of that run.

“That’s really not the run that we were looking for,” he said. “I’m pretty sure Jason [Line] will go fast again, probably another 6.56. There’s more water in the air, which hurts these naturally aspirated cars, but not bad. I made it down the track, didn’t hit nothing, gonna get to race tomorrow.”

Points leader Jason Line certainly helped his cause in his chase for a third world championship when he was among the quickest two in both sessions today, including posting a 6.56 in the first qualifying round that gives him the provisional pole heading into Saturday. That run and his 6.58 in Q2 gave Line five qualifying bonus points today.

“[The qualifying bonus points] are important,” said Line. I didn’t think [my first pass] was a great run, but that goes to show what I know because the time slip says otherwise, so very good way for the Summit Chevys to start. .965 [60-foot time] — well, I was definitely shallow, I can tell you that.”

Though others may have been surprised that Line slowed on his second attempt, Line himself was not.

“No, we ran too fast in the first one,” Line said with a laugh when asked if he was surprised he didn’t improve in Q2. “We didn’t expect to go any faster. I think we probably could have, but we maybe weren’t willing to be aggressive enough to make that happen. We felt like we were pretty safe with the first run. It was a good run, so yeah, all in all, good day for us.”

Line also doesn’t expect to improve tomorrow when conditions are supposed to be sunny and hotter.

“I think the air’s going to be a little worse tomorrow,” he said. “These two runs today were very important runs. We’ve done a really bad job of qualifying during the Countdown, so hopefully this will hold up, and this would be good for us. We’ll at least be on opposite sides of the ladder and gives us a much-better chance. I think so far I’ve lost to Greg [Anderson] in the Countdown and Bo [Butner], so if I can avoid those two, that might help my cause.

“Do you know my teammates?” Line added when queried about his teammates being his worst enemies, so to speak. “They’re definitely my worst enemies, on and off the racetrack. [Laughs] They’re obviously not enemies, but I need to avoid them at all cost.”

 

 

Now who wants to go drag racing??? As many think drag racing is all glorious.. Many do not see this side of it!! Blew a tire.. Killed the fender on the trailer.. Started 3 fires on the highway.. Called the fire department.. Called the truck service to come change the tire.. Minimal 2 hour wait.. So.. Don't get me wrong racing is a dream job at times but VERY CHALLENGING AND TEST YOUR LIMITS.. But it can be very rewarding also.. So who wants to go drag racing now!!!

A photo posted by Angie Smith (@angiesmith77) on Oct 12, 2016 at 4:35pm PDT

There is an old adage that states, “Getting there is half the battle.” That certainly rings true for Pro Stock Motorcycle riders Matt and Angie Smith, who had an adventure-filled trip to Texas Motorplex. As they were driving along Interstate 20, the Smiths had a tire blow on their hauler, which created more than just the need to replace the tire.

“By the time we got it stopped, pieces of tire had rolled around in the grass in three different spots and caught the grass on fire,” said Matt. “We emptied a fire extinguisher out, but it got out of control. It went so far in the grass that it got into some trees. It was going to be a mess, but [the fire department] got it under control.”

With the fire out, the Smiths and crew changed the tire and continued on their way, though in addition to causing the fires, the blown tire bent the fender on the hauler, something that will need to be fixed over the winter.

It was a mixed first day for the Smiths. Matt made two solid passes, posting times of 6.88 and 6.87, but Angie struggled a bit, slowing on her first run and recording a 7.16, then running a 6.98 in Q2.

The Smiths weren’t the only ones who had challenges getting to the track — Chip Ellis also blew a tire on his Junior Pippin Racing rig en route to Texas Motorplex. Ellis’ blown tire came before the Smiths’ troubles, and that led him to quip that the Smith team was “just trying to one-up me.” Like the Smiths, Ellis got his blown tire fixed and made it to the Motorplex with no further problems. Ellis came to Dallas after testing earlier this week in hopes of finding the problem that caused his Buell to shut off shortly after leaving the starting line on both passes in Reading.

“We went and tested [in Darlington, S.C.,] on Tuesday, and we learned a lot over there, but it wasn’t until the last run that we made that we figured out what was going on,” said Ellis, who started the weekend strong with a 6.86 in the first session. “We came here and went back old school and did a dry hop. I don’t think nobody’s done a dry hop in about 10 years, so we did that, and it was fun. We went 6.86, and I short-shifted two gears, so I think we’ve got a little bit left in it. I think we can go 6.83. I don’t know that we can run 6.81 with the boys, but we’re going to do our best and see what happens.”

Unfortunately for Ellis, he was unable to improve on his second run when the gremlins returned, and his bike shut off at the hit of the throttle.

There’s a new face in the Pro Stock Motorcycle pits this weekend: Gunner Courtney, who lives in Springtown, Texas, about an hour and a half from Texas Motorplex, is making his NHRA debut. Though this is his first foray into the Pro Stock Motorcycle class, it is not the first time Courtney has been on a dragstrip. Courtney began his racing career behind the wheel of a Jr. Dragster, but more recently, he has focused on motocross.

“The old drag racing ties brought us back because we were tired of getting hurt in motocross, and we miss our friends, and we have a lot of respect out here with everybody,” said Courtney, who admits to big nerves before his first official run today. “It was very nerve-racking. I’ve never been that nervous. I’ve been down the dragstrip a million times, and that had me sick, but after I went down the strip, I was good.”

Courtney will enter Saturday with no official time on the boards after posting a best of 7.36. Courtney, who is getting help from Freddie Camarena this weekend, will look to improve tomorrow with the primary goal of qualifying for the 16-bike field.

“We’re a new team out here, trying to get everything done,” he said. “We’re also going to be running Las Vegas and Pomona and then hopefully over this winter get everything fixed for next year for a full circuit.”

Jerry Savoie’s White Alligator Racing Suzuki is sporting a new look this weekend, wrapped in pink in support of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. However, his support extends beyond just changing his gator theme to pink for the rest of the season; Savoie also intends to support the cause with a monetary donation.

“I’ve been thinking about this for a while, and I hadn’t really told anybody that I’m trying to put a deal together where I’m going to donate through WAR Racing and myself and Savoie’s Alligator. I’m going to put up $5,000 for breast cancer,” said Savoie. “It’s really hit home for me. My sister had breast cancer at 32, I think it is, or 30, and she’s a survivor. Now my mom’s fighting it, and for a while there, she was having a real rough time, and now she seems to be doing a lot better. And friends of mine, Junior Pippin’s wife, Redell Harris’ wife now has it — just everybody that you talk to has had these problems. If I can bring awareness to women out there to go get checked and if the little bit of money I put up can pay the way for some of them or research or whatever, then God bless them. It’s better for them than it is for me. And I think the pink bike is beautiful, and everybody’s been commenting on it. Usually when you wrap something in pink, it’s pink, but with the alligator pattern and the magenta colors mixed in and stuff, it’s really sharp. I’m excited to do this, and it’s not for publicity; it’s for what I believe in my heart, and if God’s blessed me in a way to help other people, then that’s what I’m going to do.”

Savoie’s new-look entry was strong out of the trailer, posting a 6.831 that was the second-best run of Q1. On his second attempt, Savoie had solid early numbers, but his bike got out of the groove midway through the pass, and he was forced to get off the throttle.

Though the Vance & Hines Screamin’ Eagle Harley-Davidsons entered the AAA Texas NHRA FallNationals ranked 1 and 2 in points and they have combined to win nine of the first 13 events, Andrew Hines admits his team is still looking to solve a consistency problem that has plagued them throughout the season. Therefore, even though his teammate, Eddie Krawiec, won the last time out in Reading and they are in the catbird seat when it comes to the championship, the duo did not rest on their laurels in the short break between events, instead spending many hours on the dyno, then testing earlier this week.

“Coming into this race, we tested on Monday in Indianapolis, made six runs on each motorcycle, and I think it paid big dividends for us,” said Hines, who had two good runs today to back up that assertion, including a 6.81 that gives him the provisional No. 1 spot heading into final qualifying tomorrow. “We figured out a couple races ago some consistency problems we were having with our bikes. We just don’t have enough laps on our new setup yet to figure out how to go and make ’em a little bit faster every time. They’re more consistent. Our performance, it’s there, but obviously, we want to be better every single time. It’s just a learning curve every race right now because we don’t have enough laps on our new setup.”

The new setup seemed to work extremely well for Hines and Krawiec, both of whom ranked in the top three in both sessions today. Hines was the quickest of the first session with that 6.81 that ultimately stayed No. 1 and followed it up with a 6.825 that was .004-second slower than Krawiec’s session-leading time. The net result for Hines was earning five qualifying bonus points, which, considering the level of competition and the still-tight points race, could be very important down the road.

“We obviously want to break away and have some more points leaving here, even more points where it will be closer to getting a championship for one of us,” said Hines. “We’re moving in that direction. I got a bunch of 'little points' today — I got five of ’em, so I’ll take every little bit I can get right now. It’s so tough. You’ve got Angelle [Sampey] and Chip [Ellis] and Jerry [Savoie] that are all running real strong, and then LE [Tonglet] can get in there and mix it up too, so you never know what’s going to happen.”

Friday got off to a wet start with a pair of rain showers that left the Texas Motorplex quite soggy and pressed the Chevrolets of the NHRA Safety Safari presented by AAA into action to dry the track.

 

 

Recent St. Louis Pro Stock winner Alex Laughlin’s debut in Top Alcohol Dragster was a mixed affair for the popular young Texan. His initial lap of 5.58, 265 mph was a solid opener, but his mount died on the starting line as he was preparing to stage for his second qualifying attempt, the victim of a bad bearing in the fuel pump. Morning rain showers caused a shift in the schedule, which ultimately led to the cancellation of Saturday’s final qualifying session, leaving Laughlin outside the field in the No. 23 spot, well short of the very quick 5.35 bump spot.

Jeff Jones had a scary moment in the second Top Alcohol Funny Car qualifying session Friday with his Imperial Construction Camaro. Jones, already qualified well with an earlier 5.48, took out the finish-line lights and very nearly collected qualifying mate Shane Westerfield. Westerfield’s CP-Carrillo Camaro, which will take on Nick Januik Saturday in the rain-delayed Seattle final, ended up the No. 2 qualifier, Jones No. 4.

 

Robert Hight, representing event sponsor AAA Texas, is in another battle off the track in a fan-voting poll with NASCAR teammate Joey Logano in the Drags or Checkered Flags contest. Hight took to the AAA stage to plead his case, and fans took to the voting machines to support him.

 

Ronny Young thrilled the Texas fans with an exhibition pass from the replica Blue Max Funny Car.