Force, Millican win Traxxas Nitro Shootout fan vote
Legendary Funny Car racer John Force and 2015 Top Fuel lottery drawing winner Clay Millican are the winners of the fan vote of Traxxas Nitro Shootout that was concluded Tuesday.
Force’s fan base granted him 63 percent of the votes and Millican received 43 percent to earn an advantage to win the final starting positions in their respective categories in the Traxxas Nitro Shootout, which will be decided by a lottery drawing. The winners of the Traxxas Nitro Shootout will be awarded $100,000 each.
Force and Millican will wait alongside their competitors to see which ball emerges during the official Nitro Shootout lottery drawings, held at noon on Wednesday, Aug., 31, during the Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals press conference at Monument Circle in downtown Indianapolis.
In Funny Car, Jack Beckman trailed Force with 15 percent of the votes and is followed by defending world champion Del Worsham with 14. John Hale received 3 percent of the votes as did Cruz Pedregon and Chad Head tallied 2 percent.
The Top Fuel fan-votes panned out with J.R. Todd earning the second most votes with 26 percent. Terry McMillen notched 17 percent and Australian native Richie Crampton has 14.
Each racer will get to add as many lottery balls in the machine as their fan vote percentage indicates. One drawing will be held for the four Top Fuel drivers and another drawing will be held for the six Funny Car racers.
The Funny Car lottery winner will earn a first round matchup with top seed Ron Capps in the Traxxas Nitro Shootout for Funny Car on Sunday, Sept. 4. The winning Top Fuel driver will be paired with top seed Antron Brown in the first round of the Shootout for Top Fuel on Saturday, Sept. 3.
Brown is the defending Traxxas Nitro Shootout winner in Top Fuel and Beckman is the defending Traxxas Nitro Shootout winner in Funny Car.
Below are the drivers and their fan vote amount for the Traxxas Nitro Shootout lottery drawing.
TOP FUEL
Clay Millican 43%
J.R. Todd 26%
Terry McMillen17 %
Richie Crampton 14%
FUNNY CAR
John Force 63%
Jack Beckman 15%
Del Worsham 14%
John Hale 3%
Cruz Pedregon 3%
Chad Head 2%
The Traxxas Nitro Shootout for Top Fuel will take place Saturday, Sept. 3, with rounds at 4, 5:15 and 8 p.m. The Traxxas Nitro Shootout for Funny Car will be held Sunday, Sept. 4, with rounds at 12:30, 3 and 4:45 p.m.
The Traxxas Nitro Shootout will be featured in the FOX and FOX Sports 1 broadcast of the Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals.
Tickets are available for the Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals by calling 800-884-NHRA (6472), or online at www.NHRA.com/tickets.