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Event preview: NHRA Summernationals

09 Jun 2016
NHRA News
News

The racers in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series had just a short stroll down the Eastern Seaboard from last weekend’s event in Epping to Englishtown for the 47th running of one of the all-time great NHRA events, the NHRA Summernationals, at one of NHRA’s most historic facilities, Old Bridge Township Raceway Park. The event is the second of four straight weekends of racing that might go a long way toward establishing some additional permanence in the standings as the regular season enters its second half.


At last year’s event, Antron Brown recorded his milestone 50th NHRA national event win at the track where he says he first got the desire to become a Professional drag racer. He was joined in the winner’s circle last year by Matt Hagan (Funny Car), Greg Anderson (Pro Stock), and Jerry Savoie (Pro Stock Motorcycle).

Here’s a look at some of this year’s major storylines:

Brown and E-town
Hot off of his win at last weekend’s NHRA New England Nationals and with points leader Doug Kalitta now within striking range, Brown will be looking to use his home-state advantage to possibly make up the 46-point deficit and take what would be his first points lead of the season. The defending Top Fuel world champ has been in second place since Kalitta stopped him in the semifinals in Atlanta and then again in the tire-smoking final in Topeka. The E-town weekend began on a high note Wednesday at the track when Chesterfield, N.J., mayor Jeremy Liedtka bestowed a special honor upon the town’s native son, naming a street for him in his former hometown: Antron Brown Way.

Pro Stock talk
So, what does one make of what happened in Pro Stock in Epping? Jason Line didn’t reach the final round for the first time in nine races this season (falling in the semifinals to teammate Greg Anderson), and Allen Johnson became just the second non-KB Racing driver to reach a Pro Stock final in 2016 (behind Chris McGaha in Phoenix), breaking up the team’s six-race monopoly of the final round. Whether the Epping race represents a chink in the substantial armor of the KB team —which has maintained all season that it’s only a matter of time before everyone catches up — or just an anomaly remains to be seen. What we do know is that all four of Line’s losses this year came against Anderson, whose only losses outside the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals presented by Lowes Foods have been to teammates Line and Bo Butner. Line hasn’t won in Englishtown since 2006 and has appeared in only one final there since then (in 2012), but it’s hardly time to say that the KB Racing monopoly has ended.

Here's what some of Line's fellow competitors think about the subject:


New Pro Stock players
Charlie Westcott Jr. (right), a rock star in NHRA’s annual Hemi Challenge for Super Stockers, will make his Pro Stock debut at the event in a Ford Mustang. The Parma, Mich., racer’s Militia Racing Products Ford was originally owned by Jim Cunningham but will be powered by one of Westcott’s own homebuilt engines. The car has run mid-6.70s at 204 mph in pre-event testing. In Pro Stock Motorcycle, fans will see the debut of Richard Gadson, son of 1990s Kawasaki Pro Stock Motorcycle rider Ricky Gadson. The second-generation racer, who is 30, will be riding the RPM Insurance Services Suzuki owned by Finnish racer Harri Haapalahti.

Tracking Traxxas access
With repeat winners at the last two events, the NHRA Traxxas Nitro Shootout berths that were going like hotcakes to start the season are becoming harder and harder to get. Ron Capps’ Funny Car win in Epping denied teammate Tommy Johnson Jr. what would have been the seventh and final locked-in spot for the $100,000-to-win special event later this season, so T.J. will continue to scrap with the likes of Jack Beckman, Del Worsham, John Force, Robert Hight, and others for the final Funny Car berth. Top Fuel still has two open slots.

How low can they go?
Two years ago, Cruz Pedregon’s 3.959-second pass at the Summernationals was a bomb out of the blue and remained the class’ best run for more than a year before Jack Beckman and crew chief Jimmy Prock tore the record books asunder last summer. Today, a mid-3.90 pass won’t even get you lane choice, so, given all of that, where will Funny Car’s low e.t. end up after this event? The quickest nine passes in history have already been recorded this season, and with Friday nitro qualifying scheduled for 7 p.m. and cool temperatures in the forecast, how low can they go?

How high can they go?
The Pro Stock Motorcycle track speed record at E-town is 199.37 mph, set last year by Hector Arana Jr. It's still the second-fastest speed ever (behind his own 199.88-mph blast last year in Charlotte), and his father, Hector Sr., also went 199 in E-town last year. The track holds six of the 10 fastest bike speeds in history, and with favorable weather, all they need is a bit of a tailwind to once again threaten the magical 200-mph barrier.

Speaking of broken records …
Really, how long can this go on? We say it before almost every event, but when will Top Fuel’s most successful driver, Tony Schumacher, bust through for his first win of the season? Heck, at this point, I’m sure he’d be happy to even reach his first final of the season. There’s talk around the pits that cagey crew chief Mike Green and the U.S. Army troops are merely testing for a late-season push — they are, after all, still in a lofty fifth place thanks to just two first-round losses — but history tells us that E-town hasn’t been kind for the team. They haven’t won there since 2008, which also was their last final-round appearance at the event. On a positive note, the Army will celebrate its 245th birthday Saturday at the event  — a few days early because the true date is June 14 — with its traditional cake-cutting on the starting line prior to the day’s first qualifying session, and we’re sure “the Sarge” would love to give the Army an early present.

Track records
Top Fuel
3.725 sec. by Antron Brown, June ’15;
329.91 mph by Spencer Massey, June ’12

Funny Car
3.959 sec. by Cruz Pedregon, June ’14
321.04 mph by Del Worsham, June ’14

Pro Stock
6.464 sec. by Erica Enders, June ’14
215.55 mph by Enders, June ’14

Pro Stock Motorcycle
6.747 sec. by Eddie Krawiec, June ’14
199.37 mph by Hector Arana Jr., June ’15

Schedule
NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series qualifying will feature two rounds at 3:45 and 6:15 p.m. on Friday, June 10, and the final two rounds of qualifying on Saturday, June 11, at 1:45 and 4:15 p.m. Final eliminations are scheduled for 11 a.m. on Sunday, June 12.

Tickets
For tickets call Old Bridge Township Raceway Park at 732-446-7800. Tickets also are available online at www.racewaypark.com. 

Television
Saturday, June 11, FOX Sports 1 will televise two hours of qualifying coverage at 1 a.m. (ET).
Sunday, June 12, FOX Sports 1 will televise three hours of finals coverage at 4:30 p.m. (ET).