NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

Trying to handicap final eliminations for the 9th annual NHRA Carolina Nationals was an exercise in futility because many of the top qualifiers and incoming points contenders suffered early losses in the opening round of the Countdown to the Championship. Those left standing at the end of the day were Antron Brown, John Force, and Jason Line; three drivers who have combined for 250 wins, including 16 this season. They shared the winner’s circle with Chip Ellis, who claimed his first Pro Stock Motorcycle title since 2008.

Here are the day’s top highlights.

1. Upset city
It was a bad day to be the No. 4 seed in any Pro class because all of them lost in the opening round. Tony Schumacher (Top Fuel), Courtney Force (Funny Car), Allen Johnson (Pro Stock), and Jerry Savoie (Pro Stock Motorcycle) all suffered round-one losses in Charlotte. They were joined by other notables, including Shawn Langdon, J.R. Todd, Jack Beckman, Drew Skillman, and Eddie Krawiec in a day filled with upsets.

2. Force, of course
John Force insists he’s got enough fuel left in the tank for a run at a 17th championship, and after winning his 146th career final round, few would doubt him. With the win, Force is now third in the standings, 50 points behind leader Ron Capps.

3. KB final
In a scene that was repeated often in the early part of the 2016 season, KB Racing teammates Jason Line and Greg Anderson battled to decide the Pro Stock title. This time, Line claimed the win, his eighth of the season, to extend his lead in the standings.

4. Hot start for Brown
Reigning NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series champion Antron Brown began his drive toward a possible third title by winning his fifth race at zMAX Dragway. Brown drove his Matco Tools dragster to a final-round win over Mac Tools-backed rival Doug Kalitta.

5. Ellis gets back on track
Chip Ellis, known as “Tater Chip” to his friends and fans, claimed his first victory since the 2008 season when he rode Junior Pippin’s Buell to an upset win over Andrew Hines in the Pro Stock Motorcycle final. In the process, Ellis closed the gap between himself and leader Hines to just 44 points.

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

Prior to the opening round of eliminations, the 10 drivers vying for the 2016 Top Fuel world championship gathered for a photo around the trophy which they all hope to be hoisting at the end of the season.

In what looked like almost an exact repeat of her semifinal run in the NHRA Traxxas Nitro Shootout in Indy, Leah Pritchett once again shed body panels on the side of her entry near the end of her winning run in the first round against Richie Crampton. Part of the FireAde dragster body peeled back shortly before the engine in her entry let go in a ball of flames, though it did not leave any oil on the track.

“I’m going through the traps and boom, a body panel flies off,” said Pritchett, who lost in the next round to Doug Kalitta but moved up two spots in the points to eighth. “That happens, and then the next thing I look for is the win light, and I’m like, ‘It doesn’t matter because I’ve got a badass crew. We’re going to fix this, and we’re going to go onto round two.’ ”

Even if he had lost in the first round, Cameron Ferre probably would have characterized his Top Fuel debut as a success. After all, he was able to make a solid qualifying pass and make the field at his first event. But what was already going to be a good weekend became even better when Ferre pulled off a big first-round upset, defeating eight-time world champion Tony Schumacher, whose U.S. Army entry blew the tires off early in the pass. Ferre’s run wasn’t perfect, coming in at 4.13 at just 226.73 mph, but it was enough to turn on the win light.

“It’s pretty unbelievable,” said Ferre, whose Cinderella run came to an end in the second round when his team was unable to make the call. “I mean, Tony Schumacher is the best Top Fuel driver in the world, and to be racing him and get my first round-win against him is insane, and I’m super excited. This just goes to show you that a little boy from Huntington Beach, Calif., a little surfer boy, can chase his dreams and drive a Top Fuel dragster. I couldn’t be happier.”

The chances of Doug Kalitta and Antron Brown making it far in eliminations were fairly high considering not only have they been strong all season, but both had great qualifying outings at zMAX Dragway. They were joined by a very unlikely pair in the final four. Wayne Newby (above) and Pat Dakin (below) beat the odds, pulling big upsets in the early rounds to advance to the semi’s.

Newby drove the Rapisarda entry to victories over Shawn Langdon, who had the quickest time on Saturday but smoked the tires in the first round, and Steve Torrence, who was ahead in their second-round match before his Capco entry had a problem and shut off early. Newby was alongside Doug Kalitta in the semi’s, but his car had troubles downtrack and slowed, ending his day.

“The thing that we’ve been looking for is just a bit of consistency, trying to run a little bit quicker average e.t. overall. It’s a very hot racetrack, so we’re trying to learn how to strategically get the car down smoothly every round,” said Santino Rapisarda. “We’re really just happy to be here, and we appreciate our dad giving us the opportunity to run our car in the NHRA series. We’ve got a great team behind us. We’re just having a good time, and we’re enjoying it.”

Veteran competitor Dakin was also able to go a couple of rounds in his independent entry, besting a tire-smoking J.R. Todd in the opener, then singling in the second round when Cameron Ferre was unable to make the call. Like Newby, Dakin’s day ended in the semi’s.

After pedaling his way to a win in the first round, Steve Torrence’s weekend came to a tough end when a mechanical malfunction caused his car to shut off when he was ahead of Wayne Newby in the second round. That allowed Newby, who paired a .046 light with a 3.849, to beat Torrence’s slightly quicker 3.843. It capped what was a frustrating weekend overall for Torrence, who had one of the steadier cars through the regular season but had two tire-smoking runs in qualifying and two less-than-perfect passes in eliminations.

“I don’t know. It just quit,” Torrence said of the problems in the second round. “This was one of those races where it seemed like we were just never in sync. We had problems on a couple of qualifying runs and then we smoked the tires in round one, which was the last thing I ever expected. Second round, it’s hauling butt, and then it just quits. We just didn’t have a happy race car, and we’ve only got a couple days to find out why.”

After a strong regular season that included four wins in eight final rounds, Antron Brown, far lane, entered the 2016 Countdown to the Championship playoffs as the No. 1 seed with a 30-point advantage over Doug Kalitta. Brown was able to build on that lead when he outlasted Kalitta to win the first race of the Countdown. Brown heads to St. Louis with a 44-point edge. This is the second straight year Brown kicked off the Countdown with a win, and he’s hoping to carry the momentum forward like he did last year and win a second straight and third overall world title.

“I’ll tell you what, I’m dreaming right now. Somebody needs to come and pinch me. I know I’m not dreaming. Force kissed me. I can still smell him on my cheek,” said Brown with a laugh. “But the thing about it is when you come here, this is the way you want to start the Countdown. Qualifying didn’t go the way we wanted it to. We missed out a little bit on Friday night, but Brian [Corradi], Mark [Oswald], and this whole Matco Tools/U.S. Army/Toyota/Pennzoil team just kept digging. That was the key, to keep digging. We were low of the fourth, final session, and that gave us some confidence going into today. The track got the hottest that we’ve had all year long, and we knew it was going to be tricky. We navigated down it. We did what we had to do. We had some really monster matchups.”

After struggling a bit in qualifying and ending up in the No. 7 position, Brown’s car came to life on race day, posting steady 3.7s in all but one round as he dispatched Clay Millican, Brittany Force, Pat Dakin, and Kalitta. In the final, Kalitta, who bested Ike Maier, Leah Pritchett, and Wayne Newby in the early rounds, got the slight jump at the Tree, but Brown was able to drive around him and win, 3.76 to 3.81.

“You know what we call Doug, don’t ya? Doug’s just smiles, and he’s quiet. Doug’s that quiet sniper assassin,” said Brown. “Let me tell ya, every time we line up on that starting line, I look over and see that white, red, and yellow car, and I say, ‘Here comes that sniper again.’ Doug will sneak up on you and tip-toe around you. He’s beat us numerous times before in the final, and we owed him a couple. He got us in the final a couple times already this year, and it felt good to pay that favor back. If we want to go out here and compete for a championship, we’re definitely going to have to go through that team. That team is hungry.”

As was the case in the other classes, the Funny Car top 10 posed for a photo with the 2016 world championship trophy before taking to the track for the first round today.

While there were several upsets in the first round of Top Fuel, Funny Car only featured one, and that came courtesy of John Bojec, who made a long solid run in his Speed City entry, clocking a 4.05 to turn on the win light against Alexis DeJoria, who smoked the tires, then hit the finish-line cones while pedaling her entry. Bojec’s team has been making great runs the last two events, including a couple in the 4.00 to 4.01 range that have shown signs of three-second potential in the early numbers but did not make it to the finish line fully under power.

“I’ll tell you, we’re trying to get this thing in the threes, but today it really don’t matter,” said Bojec, whose win against DeJoria was his third career round-win. “I mean, this Speed City machine is a consistent car. I wish we were able to get there, but we’re going to the second round, and that’s all that counts.”

Added crew chief Johnny West, “We weren’t trying to run a three. We dialed in at a 4.04, and safely we ran a 4.05. Just don’t break out, that’s all we’re trying to do.”

Bojec’s bid for another round-win came up short when he red-lighted then smoked the tires against Del Worsham in round two.

The first round was the 600th round of Robert Hight’s career, and he and his Mike Neff-led team certainly made it a memorable one. After watching many teams struggle and smoke the tires in front of him, Hight, who was in the seventh pair of the round, blasted straight downtrack, running an amazing 3.916 en route to victory over Cruz Pedregon, who was slowed by tire smoke.

“That was big,” said Hight. “I’ll tell you what, that was one of the toughest rounds ever. You’re seeing a lot of cars smoking the tires. We had trouble in qualifying, but you always believe in Mike Neff and these Auto Club boys. They know what they’re doing, but you’re racing Cruz Pedregon. That guy, he’s a double-time champion. You know he can run good, so it was tough. You’ve got to be ready to pedal it. That was a statement. You’ve got to do it again, though.”

Unfortunately for Hight and crew, they were unable to repeat and came up short against Ron Capps in a 3.98 to 4.00 race in the second round.

John Force caught a bit of a lucky break in the second round when a mechanical problem messed up his staging routine and led to a late .394 reaction vs. the .079 of Tim Wilkerson, who smoked the tires early in his run.

“I thought I was going to wait for the next round,” Force joked when asked about his late light. “You can say that was a terrible driving job, or you could say that was a fantastic job because I had no brakes. When the thing went in, it kept rolling on me, and I shoved the clutch pedal in, and then I looked up at the Tree, but I hadn’t let the clutch out yet. I was just totally screwed up, and the good Lord blessed me. Wilkerson blew the hot dogs off. I’ve got my bad stuff out of the way, so, hey Cappsie [Ron Capps], I’m bringing my good shit with me.”

Though he was unable to go the distance and collect his sixth Wally of the season, Ron Capps remained No. 1 in the Funny Car points, holding a 42-point lead over Del Worsham heading into St. Louis. Capps’ day came to an end when he dropped a 3.95 to 4.00 match to John Force. Interestingly, this is only the second time in six meetings this season that Capps has lost against Force, but in their six races during the Countdown over the years, Force has Capps’ number, winning all six.

Though he has 16 world championships under his belt, it is still fair to say that John Force, near lane, entered the 2016 Countdown to the Championship flying under the radar a bit. After all, Ron Capps had dominated the regular season, and in recent events, Del Worsham and Matt Hagan had shown a lot of potential. Add in Tommy Johnson Jr., who was the clear leader in qualifying for the NHRA Carolina Nationals, and it’s easy to see why many may not have been looking Force’s direction. That all changed during final eliminations at the first race of the Countdown when Force, who also had a solid qualifying outing, outlasted Johnson to claim the first playoffs Wally and valuable points toward a potential run for a 17th title.

Force, who reset the track speed record to 331.04 mph during qualifying, entered race day as the No. 2 seed, and his car remained steady through all four rounds with times ranging from 3.94 to 4.01 on the hot zMAX Dragway dragstrip. Force, who bested Dave Richards, Tim Wilkerson, and Capps in the first three rounds, saved his best run for last, powering to a 3.94 to edge out Johnson’s 3.98. The victory moved Force from eighth to third in the standings heading into St. Louis.

“I got up this morning, and I was kind of mad, and I said, ‘I’m going to win today,’ ” said Force. “You can’t say you’re going to win. That’s all bull jive talk, you know what I mean. Right before the final, my wife said, ‘Remember what you told me this morning?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I’m going to win,’ and if I don’t, the attitude is that I’ve got a race car now that I can race with, and when you get a race car and when I’m on my game, I can win, and I’m not going to just go in there and accept, ‘Well, maybe I won’t.’ If I got beat, my attitude was going to be the same. I’m going to go to the next race and try to win.

“Tommy Johnson flew all weekend. He outran us, but I was right in the hunt with him. Tommy Johnson’s a great driver. These kids out here — Hagan, Robert Hight, my daughter Courtney — are real good, and it takes everything I can muster to fight with them. I’ve got a lot of work cut out for me.”

Johnson, the No. 1 qualifier, finished as the runner-up of this event for the second straight year, earning a spot in the final with victories over Bob Gilbertson, Hagan, and Worsham, the driver who bested Johnson in last year’s final.

The 10 drivers who will compete for the 2016 NHRA Mello Yello Pro Stock title gathered before Sunday's opening round of eliminations at zMAX Dragway. This year's Countdown field includes five former champions.

Denver winner Allen Johnson, who also enjoyed a strong run at Indy with a runner-up finish to Chris McGaha, suffered a rare round-one loss in Charlotte. The Marathon Petroleum team suffered a setback when they wounded an engine late in qualifying and never recovered. In round one, Johnson’s 6.703 fell to Jeg Coughlin Jr.’s 6.687.

“Not the start we wanted for the Countdown, but we were consistent all weekend,” said Johnson. “We got behind the eight-ball last night when we hurt an engine, and we just flat missed the setup today. We didn’t hit it as hard as we should have in the first round, and it bit us. There was definitely more left. You don’t want a first-round loss in the Countdown, but we’ve got plenty of races left to make it up.”

Jeg Coughlin Jr. didn’t win five world championships and 58 national events without being crafty and resourceful, so minor details like a bottom-half starting spot and lack of lane choice aren’t going to faze him. Coughlin started the Countdown in the No. 10 spot, but he moved up a few notches following a round-one win over Allen Johnson’s Marathon Petroleum Dodge. It was the second time this season that Coughlin has defeated fellow Dodge driver Johnson.

“We are in the Countdown, and there’s no better place to start the playoffs than zMAX Dragway,” said Coughlin. “It’s no secret that we’ve thrashed on these Elite Dodges all year long, so it’s exciting to see the win light come on. There is a lot left in this car, and let’s see if we can’t pick away at it and get another win light or two.”

When the field of 10 drivers for the Countdown to the Championship was finalized in Indy, Alex Laughlin was the odd-man out in Pro Stock. As much as the Gas Monkey driver wanted to race for the Mello Yello championship, he’s happy to be free from the pressure of a playoff battle. Laughlin defeated Kenny Delco in round one and then earned his first semifinal berth by defeating his engine builder, Shane Gray.

“I’m one of the few guys out here who doesn’t have to look at the points to know where I’m at,” Laughlin said. “Don’t get me wrong; I wish I was fighting for the championship, but I can’t do anything about that at this point. All I can do is concentrate on winning rounds and hopefully winning a race. Since we’re not in the points, maybe I can be a little more relaxed and a little less nervous than some of the other guys. Is that an advantage? I don’t know, but if I can get in there and be the spoiler, I’m OK with that. I’m happy to get in there and shake things up.”

As NHRA announcer Alan Reinhart often likes to say, “Drag racing is a right place at the right time sport,” and after another successful weekend in Charlotte, Vincent Nobile would be inclined to agree. After a tough start to the 2016 season, including an encounter with the retaining wall at the season opener in Pomona, Nobile and his Mountain View team are peaking at the right time. In addition to his runner-up finishes in Denver and Seattle, Nobile has been a semifinalist in Brainerd and Indy with his Elite Motorpsorts Camaro, the same car that carried Erica Ender to last year’s title. In Charlotte, he drove to the final four once again, and in the process, he moved from No. 5 to No. 3 in the Mello Yello standings.

“This has definitely been a big weekend for us,” said Nobile, who dropped a close race against Jason Line in the semifinals. “You win the championship by going to the semifinals or better at every race, so we were able to accomplish that goal. We just need to keep it up now.”

Apparently the stories of the KB Racing team being in “test mode” for the last month were not exaggerated. Teammates Jason Line, far lane, and Greg Anderson flipped the switch back to “race mode” in time for the Countdown to the Championship, and the end result was their eighth 1-2 finish of the season. Line, the incoming points leader, earned his eighth title of the season and 45th of his career.

Anderson qualified No. 1, and Line was a close second, and the longtime teammates carried that momentum throughout Sunday’s final eliminations. Line made four solid runs in his wins against Shane Tucker, Bo Butner, Vincent Nobile, and Anderson. In the final round, Line made the best run of eliminations with a 6.621 to hold off Anderson’s 6.639.

“I don’t know how I got it done; I’d have to think about it,” said Line. “Unlike Chip [Ellis], I did not have the feeling I was going to win today, but it’s a great way to start the Countdown. You have to come out smoking if you want to win the Countdown. It was also a gratifying thing to race against Greg. He gets the best of me more often than not.

“This was not an easy day, at least it didn’t seem easy to me,” Line said. “I managed to drive hallway decent. We weren’t great but were definitely good, and my left [clutch] foot worked OK. We raced well today, and that’s what it’s going to take to win. As long as one of the two of us wins [the championship], I’m going to be happy. The selfish side of me wants to win it, but if Greg wins or even Bo [Butner] for that matter, I’ll be happy. To not win the championship would be a letdown to a great season.”

The Countdown to the Championship contenders in Pro Stock Motorcycle assembled on the zMAX Dragway starting line on Sunday morning. With the Countdown points adjustment, the top-10 playoff racers are separated by just 110 points to start the final six events of the season.

There were numerous upsets across all four Professional categories in the opening round of the NHRA Carolina Nationals, but few were bigger than Karen Stoffer’s victory over three-time NHRA Mello Yello champion Eddie Krawiec. Stoffer got off the starting line first and outran Krawiec’s V-Rod to the finish line, 6.932 to 6.948.

“I've done a poor job of tuning this year,” said Stoffer’s husband and crew chief, Gary. “We've had some issues with the bike that we're finally figuring out. We looked at the setup and went over all of our maps last night, and now all we can do is try and be a thorn in the top 10's side.”

“She’s been unhappy all year,” Karen Stoffer added. “This bike has given us fits, but we’ve held our heads high. We’re going the right direction. They’re calling us spoilers, and I’m OK with that. Hopefully, we can earn a new name this weekend. I’d love that.”

Anyone who thinks that Hector Arana Sr. might have taken a dive for his son, Hector Jr., in their round-one race in Charlotte obviously doesn’t know the competitive nature of the Arana family. Hector Sr. was unable to make the run after his Lucas Oil Buell broke an oil-pump belt on his burnout.

“I did that on purpose? No way,” laughed Hector Sr. “I did my burnout and looked down and saw the belt laying there. I knew I had a free restart so I reached down and grabbed the belt, but it was in two pieces, so I knew I couldn’t fix it. I thought about just staging to see if he’d red-light, but that didn’t make sense. Against anyone else, I’d have done that, but against my son, it makes no sense. He had the best bike anyway. We always race each other. When we stage against each other, he’s not my son. He’s my competitor. We’ve never done anything funny before so why would we start now during the Countdown, especially since we are both in the top 10 and we both have a chance to win the championship.”

Hector Sr. also noted that he didn’t want to risk wounding an engine because there are three races in three weeks and because the Lucas Oil team, like many Buell racers, is having difficulty getting replacement crankshafts.

“If I hurt an engine in that round, I might not be able to make it to St. Louis next week,” said Hector Sr. “We have to take care of our stuff so we can make it to the end of the season.”

No one wins a championship without a lucky break or two along the way, and Angelle Sampey is well aware of that, especially after she dodged a bullet in the opening round of eliminations. Sampey broke a rocker arm on her Star/PSE Buell and slowed to a 10.04. She only got the win because opponent Mark Paquette red-lighted by two-thousandths of a second. To make matters worse, Sampey was also close to a red-light with a perfect .000 reaction time.

“I had no idea what was going on during that run,” said Sampey. “I thought he might have red-lighted, but I wasn’t sure. Then I thought I saw his win light on, and I got really mad. I knew the bike was broken so I just tried to get it into high gear and get to the finish line. It turned out to be a rocker arm, but I don’t think the damage was too bad. We didn’t change engines.”

With a fresh rocker arm installed, Sampey rolled to low e.t. of the second round with a 6.89 in her win over Karen Stoffer. Sampey’s chances for her second victory of the season ended when she encountered another mechanical problem against eventual winner Chip Ellis in the semifinals.

Andrew Hines has won five events this season and finished the regular season as the top seed in Pro Stock Motorcycle, but a deeper look at the Screamin’ Eagle Harley rider’s season reveals that he has rarely had the best bike in the field. Hines clearly did not have the best bike in Charlotte during qualifying, where he was just sixth-quickest. Hines also struggled in eliminations, including his narrow 6.921 to 6.926 victory over Steve Johnson in round two.

“We’ve had the horseshoe all year,” said Hines. “We haven’t had the best bike, but it does show how good our tune-up is. We’ve tried a lot of things lately in testing, and some of them have worked, and some of them have not.”

Hines lost the final against Chip Ellis but managed to extend his lead in the standings. With five races remaining in the Countdown to the Championship, Hines leads second-place Ellis by 44 points.

For the first time since the 2008 season, Chip Ellis, far lane, earned a Pro Stock Motorcycle victory, and in the process, he vaulted to second place in the Mello Yello championship standings. Ellis rode his Pippin Trucking Buell to a 6.879 to 6.908 win over five-time champion Andrew Hines in the final round. The win was the first for team owner Junior Pippin, who is continuing to battle cancer.

“I’ve won seven of these, but this is the most important win of my career,” said Ellis. “This is for Mr. Pippin because he’s such an awesome individual. He’s built this team from the ground up, and we’re finally seeing all that hard work pay off. My guys, Brad Moore and Lon Moyer, we all put in a lot of hours. This weekend, my 14-year-old daughter McKenzie serviced the clutch, and whenever she does that, we win rounds. McKenzie, you’re not going to school anymore. At Indy, I felt like we had a shot, but we missed the clutch, but our guys are making more power, and that showed this weekend.”

In addition to riding Pippin’s Pro Stock Motorcycle, Ellis also had a chance to drive Roy Hill’s Super Stock Cobra Jet in Charlotte. Even though he lost early in that car, Ellis said the chance to race something different helped improve his focus.

“I had an amazing time driving that car,” Ellis said. “It was a real challenge for me. On the bike, everything we do is with our hands. We don’t use our feet for much except a bit of steering. It was nice to try out a different routine for a change.”

Eliminations day kicked off with the SealMaster NHRA Track Walk down the zMAX Dragway dragstrip. Today’s walk was led by former Top Fuel racer and B.R.A.K.E.S. founder Doug Herbert.

Fans once again packed the zMAX Dragway pits and grandstands for the final day of racing at the NHRA Carolina Nationals. Conditions were hotter than the previous two days, but that also provided for some great racing and big upsets as tuners tried to figure out the right combination for the hotter racetrack.

Rich McPhillips kept his slim national title hopes alive when he bested Robin Samsel in the second round of Top Alcohol Dragster eliminations. McPhillips, who advanced to the final but lost to Shawn Cowie, is still a long shot for the crown, needing to win his remaining races and hope points leader Joey Severance does not improve on his score of 765 points.

Joining Cowie in the Sportsman winner’s circle were DJ Cox Jr. (Top Alcohol Funny Car), Doug Doll Jr. (Comp), Peter Biondo (Super Stock), C.J. McDonald (Stock), Ray Miller Jr. (Super Comp), Jason Lynch (Super Gas), Bob Mandell III (Top Dragster), and Gerald Milette (Top Sportsman). Bob Rahaim won the NHRA J&A Service Pro Mod Drag Racing Series title.

NHRA Carolina Nationals winners, from left: Antron Brown, John Force, Jason Line, and Chip Ellis

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