NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

Antron Brown locked up the 2016 NHRA Mello Top Fuel championship in Las Vegas, and Ron Capps didn’t need to do much more than qualify to finally seal the deal on his long-awaited first Funny Car title, but that did little to reduce the dramatic setting of the season-ending Auto Club NHRA Finals at the historic Pomona Fairplex. With the championships in Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle still up for grabs, plus additional shuffling in the rest of the top 10, there were plenty of storylines for the sun-soaked Pomona fans to follow.

Like the stock market on a busy trading day, fortunes rose and fell during the six-race Countdown to the Championship playoffs, but in the end, three of the four incoming points leaders at the start of the Countdown managed to hold on to their spots with Jerry Savoie’s surprise Pro Stock Motorcycle title being the lone exception. In each class, the eventual winners had to fend off a strong challenge from their closest pursuers.

Here’s a class-by-class look at the changes:

TOP FUEL

Driver

Antron Brown

Doug Kalitta

Steve Torrence

Tony Schumacher

Brittany Force

J.R. Todd

Shawn Langdon

Clay Millican

Richie Crampton

Leah Pritchett

Antron Brown’s 16 round-wins during the Countdown were the most for an NHRA Pro racer, so it’s no surprise that he was the first to clinch his title. Brown, now a three-time Mello Yello champion, never spent a day out of first place during the Countdown and coasted to the title on the strength of event wins in Charlotte, Dallas, and Reading.

Doug Kalitta wasn’t able to get his long-awaited first title, but a season-ending win in Pomona did preserve a solid No. 2 finish, small consolation to a driver who now inherits the title of “most overdue” from Funny Car champ Ron Capps.

The Countdown’s biggest mover was Leah Pritchett, who barely made the top 10 after a tumultuous regular season that included stints with three different race teams. Given the stability of a full-time ride with Don Schumacher Racing, Pritchett went to the semifinals in Reading and Las Vegas to move from 10th to seventh in the final standings. J.R. Todd and Shawn Langdon also gained ground with solid playoff runs. Todd moved from sixth to fourth thanks largely to his back-to-back runner-up finishes in Las Vegas and Pomona while Langdon moved from seventh to fifth following a victory in St. Louis.

Tony Schumacher wasn’t able to contend for a ninth Top Fuel world title after a rough Countdown that included four first-round losses in six events. The U.S. Army driver, who has traditionally been money during crunch time, tumbled four spots from fourth to eighth.

FUNNY CAR

Driver

Ron Capps

Del Worsham

Matt Hagan

Courtney Force

Jack Beckman

Robert Hight

Tommy Johnson Jr.

John Force

Tim Wilkerson

Alexis DeJoria

After more than 20 years as one of the sport’s most popular and highly regarded Funny Car drivers, Ron Capps finally got his first NHRA Mello Yello championship in 2016, but it wasn’t easy. The NAPA driver entered the Countdown as the top seed and performed admirably with runner-up finishes in Reading and Dallas, but he didn’t get a stranglehold on the title until the Las Vegas event, where he scored a semifinal finish. During the Countdown, Capps’ Rahn Tobler-tuned Dodge was extremely consistent with 14 round-wins and, equally as important, zero first-round losses.

In a Funny Car class that is so competitive that literally any one of the 16 qualifiers is capable of winning, Capps’ biggest rivals turned out to be his own teammate, Tommy Johnson Jr., as well as John Force, who proved that a 17th championship isn’t out of the question. Johnson started the Countdown in the No. 7 position but roared to the No. 2 spot thanks to two wins in Reading and Pomona and runner-up finishes in Charlotte and St. Louis. Johnson’s Make-A-Wish team actually won two more rounds than Capps during the Countdown, but the initial deficit was simply too great to make up.

Force was eighth when the Countdown began but immediately moved into contention with a win in Charlotte. Force also won in Las Vegas, the 147th victory of his Hall of Fame career, but by then Capps had built a nearly insurmountable lead.

Reigning Mello Yello champ Del Worsham would no doubt like to have a second chance at the Countdown after his DHL team struggled in the last six events. Worsham won just six rounds in the Countdown and tumbled from second to seventh in the final standings.

PRO STOCK

Driver

Jason Line

Greg Anderson

Bo Butner

Allen Johnson

Vincent Nobile

Drew Skillman

Chris McGaha

Shane Gray

Erica Enders

Jeg Coughlin Jr.

After combining to win the first 13 events of the season, it seemed highly unlikely that either Jason Line (pictured) or Greg Anderson wouldn’t win the Mello Yello Pro Stock title, and by the time the series traveled to Pomona for the season-ending event, that scenario was a mathematical certainty. Line and Anderson coasted through the Countdown, but in Pomona, they were separated by roughly one round of competition. The battle for the title ended when Line reached the final round, and even though he lost to Anderson, he was able to bank a third title.

Anderson won 15 rounds during the Countdown and Line won 14, and the only other driver who was close was soon-to-be-retired Shane Gray, who drove to 12 round-wins and an event victory in Las Vegas to make a big move from eighth to third in the standings. Gray still finished more than 100 points behind Line and Anderson, who were separated by just three points after 24 races.

There was not a tremendous amount of movement among the top 10 during the Countdown, although former world champion Allen Johnson did drop four spots from fourth to eighth after just one round-win.

Oddly enough, the 2016 season ended with a tremendous showing of parity in the factory hot rod class with six different drivers — Anderson, Line, Gray, Alex Laughlin, Vincent Nobile, and Drew Skillman — winning the final six events. All told, there were nine different Pro Stock winners during the transitional season.

PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE

Rider

Andrew Hines

Eddie Krawiec

Angelle Sampey

Jerry Savoie

LE Tonglet

Chip Ellis

Hector Arana Jr.

Hector Arana Sr.

Matt Smith

Cory Reed

To the surprise of many, the 2016 Mello Yello Pro Stock Motorcycle title did not go to a member of the Vance & Hines Screamin’ Eagle Harley-Davidson team. Instead, Louisiana alligator farmer Jerry Savoie pulled off one of the biggest surprises of the season when he defeated the factory-backed Harley V-Rods in a hotly contested race. The final points battle was one for the ages with Savoie, Eddie Krawiec, and Andrew Hines all separated by just three points heading into the final event of the season. A possible winner-take-all final round never materialized, and when Hines and Krawiec were both upset in the second round, Savoie was assured of the top spot. Savoie had begun the Countdown in the No. 4 spot but moved to first following a 14-round win performance that included event victories in St. Louis and Las Vegas.

Hines, gunning for a sixth championship, won 11 rounds during the Countdown, and Krawiec, in line for a fourth title, won 12 rounds, but both riders came up short in the end against Savoie’s White Alligator Suzuki. Savoie moved up three spots in the final order and so did two-time Mello Yello champ Matt Smith, who ended a three-year winless drought in Pomona when he parked his Victory Gunner in the winner’s circle. Smith began the Countdown in the No. 9 spot and finished a respectable sixth.

No Pro Stock Motorcycle rider lost more than two spots during the playoffs, although Hines did fall from first to third while LE Tongelt went from fifth to seventh and Hector Arana Sr. dropped from eighth to 10th. All told, seven different riders claimed wins during the season, and each of the four major brands — Harley-Davidson, Suzuki, Victory, and Buell — each won at least one race.
 

AWARDS

Best race: Greg Anderson def. Shane Gray, round two
North Carolina neighbors Anderson and Gray met in round two, and Anderson ran his record to 16-10 with a close 6.592 to 6.596 victory that was just .011-second at the finish line. For Gray, it could mark his final run as an NHRA Pro because he’s planning to put his son, Tanner, behind the wheel for the 2017 season.

Marquee matchup: John Force vs. Ron Capps, round two
The two winningest drivers in the Funny Car class squared off in round two and provided the fans with a thrilling side-by-side battle that went to Force on a holeshot, 3.940 to 3.938. The margin of victory at the finish line was just eight-thousandths of a second.

Driver of the race: Doug Kalitta may have finished second in the points battle, but the Mac Tools driver ended the season on a positive note with a holeshot win over his teammate, J.R. Todd. Kalitta’s run to the title also included a crucial 3.734 to 3.747 semifinal win over Shawn Langdon and an equally impressive round-two win over Tony Schumacher.

Upset of the race: Matt Smith def. Eddie Krawiec, round two
In the round that ultimately decided the Pro Stock Motorcycle title in Jerry Savoie’s favor, Smith used a holeshot to get the best of Krawiec, 6.904 to 6.871. It was just the fourth time this season that Krawiec has not made it to the semifinal round.

Best run of the race: Jack Beckman
“Fast Jack” Beckman and his Infinite Hero team traditionally run well in Pomona, and this year was no exception. The former Funny Car and Super Comp national champion drove to a 3.825, the second-quickest Funny Car run to date, to earn the top spot in qualifying.

Memorable moment: At the end of Saturday’s final qualifying session, Ron Capps’ 20-plus-year quest to be a world champion finally came to an end. Capps mathematically locked up the title when he entered eliminations with a lead of 89 points over teammate Matt Hagan. To suggest that Capps will be one of the most popular champions in NHRA history would be an understatement.